April 8
NIGERIA:
Nigeria plans stoppage of execution of criminals
Nigeria is to work with Amnesty International to stop the execution of
convicted criminals.
The Attorney General of Nigeria, Mr. Abubakar Malami, said the country would be
pleased to support any bill from Amnesty International on the abolition of
death sentence.
"Studies have shown that death penalty has not stopped people from committing
crimes," he said.
Malami explained that because of the country's respect for human rights,
members of the Boko Haram sect arrested were tried under Terrorism Prevention
Act, which does not carry death penalty.
In spite of their heinous crime, he said, convicted Boko Haram members could
not be executed because the maximum sentence prescribed by the law is life
sentence, he said.
At the launch of Amnesty's report on Global Death Sentences and Executions
2015, in Abuja, he said government was working towards ensuring that the prison
system was corrective and not punitive, as it is currently.
Earlier, the Country Director of Amnesty International, Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim,
said: "There is dramatic global rise in the number of executions recorded in
2015, which saw more people put to death than at any point in the last
quarter-century."
The surge was largely fuelled by Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which brought
the number of people executed worldwide to 1,634 people, a rise of more than 50
% on the year before and the highest number Amnesty International had recorded
since 1989.
(source: Star Africa)
UGANDA:
The death penalty: On whose hands is the blood of the innocent?
On March 25, as Christians worldwide commemorated the most important event in
Christianity - The death of Jesus Christ, some families were grieving for their
relatives who were executed on the same day.
In Japan Yasutoshi Kamata (a 75 year old) and Ms. Junko Yoshida (whose request
for a retrial was rejected) were executed. Although I have not read all the
details about their cases, as I attended the way of the cross and passion of
Christ service, I thought about these 2 cases as well as those who have
previously faced the death penalty and those currently facing it in the 92 out
of 195 Independent states that have not yet fully abolished the death penalty.
(So far 103 countries including 18 in Africa have fully abolished, 6 have
abolished for ordinary crimes, 50 have abolished in practice i.e. not executed
persons for over 10 years including Uganda while 36 are executing).
An important event in the run up to Jesus' crucifixion particularly stood out
for me; Jesus' betrayal by Judas as written in all gospels (Matthew 26, Mark
14, Luke 22 and John 18) at a price of 30 silver pieces. It is possible that
for Judas this was a money making scheme with the expectation that Jesus whom
he had seen performing miracles including raising the dead would find a way of
escaping because when he found out that Jesus had been condemned, he took the
30 silver pieces back to the chief priests and confessed to betraying innocent
blood. This however could not reverse the events. Judas ended up hanging
himself and the chief priests knowing that it was blood money that could not
even be put it into the treasury for worthy causes, used it to buy a graveyard
for foreigners.
Jesus Christ an innocent man thus faced what in modern day would have been the
hangman's rope, firing squad, lethal injection or any other mode of execution
for those found deserving of the death penalty, because of a close friend's
wrongful act. Although it is true that many of those sentenced to death are
guilty of the crimes for which they are condemned, it is also an undisputed
fact that some are condemned unjustly leading to innocent persons being put to
death. This is because of various reasons including; poor investigations,
prosecutorial misconduct and lack of effective legal representation. This
explains why it is usually the poor who end up at the gallows. In America
alone, the use of DNA evidence on the already condemned prisoners has so far
led to the exoneration of 337 people who had been wrongfully condemned to
suffer death. Back home in Uganda, we have testimonies of former death row
inmates like Patrick Zizinga condemned for the murder of his wife who was later
found alive leading to his release.
On whose hands is the blood of the innocent already executed and those among
the 208 currently on death row in Uganda? Is it the witnesses who give false
witness, the police that do poor investigations, the advocates who offer poor
legal representation, the judge who hands down the sentence, the public whose
opinions influence some case outcomes, the public who sits in watch and do
nothing, the President who signs the death e warrant, the executioners? On
whose hands?
(source: Opinion; The writer, Lucy Nantume, is a human rights
lawyer----newvision.co.ug)
PHILIPPINES:
Lorna Kapunan says no to death penalty----To have [the death] penalty, [we have
to be] morally certain we have a justice system that works'
She's a tough-talking lawyer who wants to see a change in the country's justice
system, but there's one thing Lorna Kapunan will keep the same: the abolition
of death penalty in the Philippines.
During Rappler's 1st senatorial debate on Friday, April 8, Kapunan said she's
not in favor of bringing back the death penalty, especially with the kind of
justice in the country.
"Kung nabibili hustisya, p'wede mang-bribe, magbigay ng pera [para] manalo ka,
hindi fair ang justice system natin. Hindi tayo sigurado [na 'yung] dapat
ikulong, nakukulong," she explained.
(If you can buy justice, if you can bribe and give money in order to win cases,
then our justice system is not fair. We're not sure if those deserving jail
time actually get jailed.)
Kapunan added, "To have [the death] penalty, [we have to be] morally certain we
have a justice system that works."
The death penalty was abolished in 1986 when President Corazon Aquino took over
the reins of power from Ferdinand Marcos. It was reintroduced by President
Fidel Ramos in 1993, then suspended again in 2006.
Part of Kapunan's legislative agenda is to push for an honest government where
the justice system is "inclusive regardless of one's status in life."
She said this justice system not only includes the country's penitentiaries,
but also the rehabilitation of offenders. She zeroed in on minors in
rehabilitation centers.
"Dapat tingnan natin. Hindi offenders, kriminal ang minors. They are
victims.... [We have to] reassess the system of rehabiliation of victims,"
Kapunan added.
(We have to review it. Minors are not offenders, criminals. They are victims.
We have to reassess the system of rehabiliation of victims.)
Kapunan faced off with Liberal Party senatorial bet Jericho Petilla and
independent candidates Levi Baligod and Greco Belgica during Friday's
senatorial debate held at the AMA University in Quezon City.
Kapunan is part of the Senate slate of presidential candidate Grace Poe and
running mate Francis Escudero.
(source: rappler.com)
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