April 18
INDONESIA:
Indonesian President Defends Death Penalty for Drug Crimes
Indonesia's president is defending his country's use of the death penalty for
drug offenses, arguing that drug abuse constitutes an emergency.
Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and more than 130 people on death row,
mostly for drug crimes. Authorities recently said Indonesia is preparing to
execute more foreigners convicted of drug offenses. Executions last year caused
an international outcry.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Monday that "Indonesia currently has an
emergency, above all in drug abuse." He said 30-50 people a day die in
Indonesia because of drugs.
Jokowi said through an interpreter: "Implementation of the death penalty is
carried out very cautiously."
He spoke after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who underlined
Germany's opposition to capital punishment and its wish for Indonesia "not to
implement it if possible."
(source: Associated Press)
*********************
German president urges abolition of Indonesia's death penalty
German President Joachim Gauck urged his Indonesian counterpart to abolish the
country's death penalty during a meeting in Berlin on Monday, telling Joko
Widodo that, especially when it comes to human rights, government heads must
sometimes take the 1st step, according to attendees.
Reassuring Joko that Germany supports Indonesia's path towards more democracy,
Gauck said that it's especially in times of transformation that wise social
policy is needed to bring a society forward.
Gauck and Joko got into an intense discussion on the topic, with the Indonesian
president arguing that the death penalty was still necessary to fight against
drug-related crimes.
He added that with 85 % of the population supporting capital punishment, it was
not up to him to go against the will of the majority.
Gauck said that Germany's relationship with Indonesia was especially important
in the fight against radical Islamism, and that the archipelago showed that
Islam and democracy are far from incompatible.
(source: DPA)
CHINA:
5 Hongkongers could face death penalty over one of China's biggest cocaine
seizures----Police seized 400.5kg of cocaine hidden in flats occupied by Hong
Kong suspects in Shenzhen
5 Hongkongers could face the death penalty along with 4 others arrested on the
mainland and in Vietnam in connection with China's biggest seizure of cocaine
in recent years.
Announcing details of the operation yesterday, mainland police said they seized
400.5kg of the drug hidden in 2 flats occupied by the Hong Kong suspects in
Shenzhen last month. The haul had an estimated street value of HK$600 million
on the mainland.
Chinese woman, 67, accused of acting as drugs mule, travelling over 30 times
across China with narcotics strapped on her.
Mainland police said they had smashed the drug-trafficking syndicate
responsible, which was controlled by a Hong Kong drug kingpin and arranged a
1-stop service - cross-border delivery, storage and distribution, according to
the state-owned China News Service.'
Details were made public about a week before the International Drug Enforcement
Conference is held in Lima, Peru. It is understood mainland public security
officials will also attend to exchange intelligence with their counterparts
from South American countries that are sources of cocaine.
The latest seizure was based on a tip-off received by Shenzhen police last
month, with the Ministry of Public Security's narcotics division and the
Guangdong Public Security Bureau playing coordinating roles.
Chinese man growing poppies on his roof to make drugs caught by police after
posting videos of flowers online.
After identifying the key figures of the syndicate, Shenzhen police picked up 2
of the Hongkongers in the mainland city's Futian district on March 24. They
seized 140.2kg of cocaine from the flat the suspects were occupying.'
The next day, police arrested another Hong Kong man on the Shenzhen side at
about 1am when he tried to return to Hong Kong through the Huanggang border
checkpoint. In his rented flat, officers confiscated 260.3kg of cocaine.
With the help of Vietnamese police, another suspect was nabbed in Ho Chi Minh
City on April 10 and handed over later to the mainland authorities.
On the same day, another 2 suspects were arrested in Taishan, Guangdong.
Another Hongkonger was arrested along with an 8th suspect on April 11 in
Quanzhou, Fujian, and the last suspect was nabbed 2 days later in Taishan.
Some of the Hongkongers were said to have strong triad backgrounds.
Among the biggest seizures in the past, the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau in
June 2008 seized 530kg of cocaine with an estimated value of 500 million yuan,
the biggest haul since the establishment of modern China in 1949.
9 people were arrested in the bust, with the authorities believing they had cut
off a supply chain from South America.
Hong Kong's biggest cocaine seizure was a 649kg haul worth HK$760 million in
July 2012, which customs found in a cargo container from South America.
(source: South China Morning Post)
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