May 12
PAKISTAN:
Army Chief awards death penalty to 5 terrorists including Sabeen Mahmud's
killer, IBA student Saad Aziz
Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Thursday signed the death warrants
of 5 hardcore terrorists, including the killers of Sabeen Mahmud.
An ISPR statement said the men were convicted for "perpetrating the Safoora bus
attack". They were also involved in improvised explosive device (IED) blast
near Saleh Masjid Karachi, the killing of social worker Sabeen Mahmud and
various attacks on law enforcement agencies, according to the statement.
(source: Daily Pakistan)
EGYPT:
Irish juvenile Ibrahim Halawa marks 1000 days facing death penalty in Egypt
An Irish student who was arrested in the wake of protests in Egypt marks 1000
days of detention facing a potential death sentence.
Ibrahim Halawa faces the death penalty despite having been a juvenile - aged
just 17 - at the time of his arrest in August 2013. He is being subjected to an
ongoing mass trial alongside hundreds of adults, which has been delayed on
multiple occasions.
Following his arrest, the Egyptian police beat Ibrahim and denied him medical
treatment. He has since been subjected to periods of solitary confinement in
cells with no light or toilet.
Despite the fact that Ibrahim was a juvenile when he was arrested he has been
held in adult prisons and is being tried by adult courts. International human
rights organisation Reprieve has discovered that hundreds of children -
including some as young as 6 - were arrested in the same breakup of protests as
Ibrahim. Efforts to have Ibrahim's case transferred to a juvenile court have
been rejected.
The 493 defendants in Ibrahim's mass trial are charged with attending an
illegal protest during which protesters allegedly caused deaths and criminal
damage. They are being held jointly responsible for these offences, despite a
lack of specific evidence linking the vast majority of them to these crimes.
Commenting, Harriet McCulloch, Deputy Director of the death penalty team at
Reprieve, which is assisting Ibrahim, said:
"Ibrahim has now suffered 1000 days of appalling mistreatment in violation of
both international and Egyptian law. It is a scandal that the Egyptian
authorities continue to seek the death penalty for Ibrahim despite his having
been a child at the time of his arrest. The Egyptian authorities must
immediately call an end to this mass trial and others like it and release
Ibrahim and the hundreds of others like him who have been illegally detained
for so long."
(source: reprieve.org)
BANGLADESH:
Legal notice served to abolish death penalty
A Supreme Court lawyer today sent a legal notice to the government requesting
it to abolish the provisions of death penalty from all laws of the country
within 24 hours.
Eunus Ali Akond served the notice to cabinet secretary, law secretary and home
secretary for taking the step in this regard.
In the notice, he said there are 140 countries in the world including the
Europeans have abolished the provisions of death penalty from their laws.
He will file a writ petition with the High Court seeking necessary order if the
government does not repeal the provision of death penalty, Akond said.
Death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading, Akond said.
(source: The Daily Star)
*******************
UN raises concerns over hanging of JI leader in Bangladesh
United Nation (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon regrets the hanging of the
Bangladesh Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Motiur Rahman Nizami.
The spokesman of the Secretary-General in a press briefing said that UN chief
stands against the death penalty under any circumstances, reflecting the global
trend away from capital punishment.
He said we have raised our concern to Bangladesh over the handling of this
case.
(source: Pakistan Today)
IRAN----executions
2 Prisoners Hanged in Northern Iran
2 prisoners with murder charges were reportedly hanged at Karaj's Rajai Shahr
Prison (northern Iran) on Wednesday May 11.
One of the prisoners has been identified as Reza Cheshmenour, the identity of
the other prisoner is not known at this time. According to close sources, these
2 prisoners were among 12 who were transferred to solitary confinement at this
prison on Saturday May 7 in preparation for their executions. The other 10
prisoners were returned to their cells after they received an extension on
their execution order or received consent for a suspension by the plaintiffs on
their case files, say close sources.
Iranian official sources, including state-run media and the Judiciary, have
been silent on these 2 executions.
One of the prisoners has been identified as Reza Cheshmenour, the identity of
the other prisoner is not known at this time. According to close sources, these
2 prisoners were among 12 who were transferred to solitary confinement at this
prison on Saturday May 7 in preparation for their executions. The other 10
prisoners were returned to their cells after they received an extension on
their execution order or received consent for a suspension by the plaintiffs on
their case files, say close sources.
Iranian official sources, including state-run media and the Judiciary, have
been silent on these 2 executions.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
PHILIPPINES:
The Philippines' new president vows to 'butcher' criminals. Here's his plan.
Criminals of the Philippines, you've been warned. The new president-elect wants
to butcher you in public.
No, really. He actually said that.
And for those who fret over the rights of "drug pushers, hold-up men and
do-nothings," the incoming president promises a special viewing ceremony: "I
will butcher [the criminals] in front of them if they want."
Rodrigo Duterte is known by many names. The Punisher. Duterte Harry. And more
recently, the Donald Trump of Asia.
The citizens of Davao, a bustling industrial hub in the southern Philippines,
have long known him as their tough-talking mayor. Soon, the entire nation will
call him president.
Duterte, 71, is the presumptive victor of the May 9 presidential election.
Internationally, he has been reduced to caricature: a Trump-like, swaggering
provocateur who wants to burn down the status quo.
Duterte actually dislikes the Trump comparison. "Donald Trump is a bigot," he
says. "I am not." But the horrifically sexist jokes and references to his own
penis don't help.
Examined more closely, Duterte is harder to pin down. He is a devout Catholic
who supports gay marriage. He???s known to tote a pistol but, since childhood,
has slept with an old blanket received from his mom. Unlike Trump, he appears
fond of Muslims and seeks peace with Islamist rebels in the southern Philippine
jungles.
But Duterte's ascent to the presidency was driven by a constant refrain: Elect
me and I will hunt down and kill criminals en masse. Courts be damned. Screw
human rights.
"I'll dump all of you into Manila Bay," he said, "and fatten all the fish
there."
This is Duterte's promised purge by the numbers: 100,000 unspecified
"criminals" killed. Corruption and crime - 2 of the biggest blights on
Philippine society - somehow eradicated in just 6 months.
He has also suggested installing a nanny state seemingly designed to please the
anxious parents of teenagers. His team has suggested a 10 pm curfew for
unescorted minors. Add to that a nationwide ban on singing karaoke - a
quintessential Filipino pastime - after 9 pm, and a post-1 am ban on public
boozing.
But how could Duterte compel a national police force rife with dysfunction to
cleanly enforce these rules? That's not entirely clear.
"Stopping people from singing karaoke at 1 am won't deal with poverty," said
Cristina Palabay, general secretary of Karapatan, a prominent human rights
alliance. "And it won't really stop criminality."
Here are a few specifics. Duterte's platform calls for hiking low-ranking
police salaries from $315 to $2,000 per month - a measure to curb the desire to
take bribes. He also wants thousands of cameras installed in government offices
to catch bribe-taking officials. And, of course, the death penalty for drug
trafficking and robbery.
"But the Philippine National Police won't reverse course easily. There needs to
be a total overhaul of their mindset," Palabay said. "Remember that these
institutions are born out of the martial law era."
She is referring to the dictatorial US-backed Ferdinand Marcos regime, which
fell in 1986 after 2 decades of obscene graft. During its reign, Filipinos
toiled in poverty and lived in fear.
But today, Filipinos younger than 35 - the majority of the population - have
scant memories of life under dictatorship. Many of those old enough to remember
the regime fear youth may be too easily compelled by promises to fix disorder
with an iron fist - which is exactly what Duterte is offering.
"There might be people seduced into favoring another authoritarian system,'
said Walden Bello, a former member of the House of Representatives of the
Philippines, in a recent interview with GlobalPost. "But we can't just blame
the youth for being ignorant. We have to blame the system for failing to
deliver on so much democratic promise."
According to Palabay, the current administration "has done nothing to alleviate
poverty and gross inequality in Philippine society. That's how the Duterte camp
won the election with these slogans."
Those slogans include promises to make criminals "eat bullets" and impose the
death penalty on officials guilty of "plunder." This is crowd-pleasing rhetoric
in the Philippines, where crime is up and the country ranks poorly on global
corruption surveys.
Meanwhile, the Philippine press is sounding grim warnings about Duterte's
coming rule. According to Rappler, a Manila-based outlet: "If he wins, his
dictatorship will not be thrust upon us. It will be one we will have chosen for
ourselves ... The streets will run red if Rodrigo Duterte keeps his promise."
As for vows to mow down criminals and dump their corpses in the sea, a clear
violation of Philippine law, Duterte hopes to grant himself the impunity he
claims to disdain. His solution? "A pardon given to Rodridgo Duterte for the
crime of multiple murder. Signed, Rodridgo Duterte."
Perhaps Duterte will soften up once he takes power in late June. He has
promised to dismiss with foul "banter" and "really behave" once he becomes
president.
Indeed, shortly after claiming victory in the polls, Duterte let his machismo
rest during a brief moment of reflection. The future president was filmed
sobbing fitfully at his parents' graves and asked their spirits for guidance.
He will certainly need it.
(source: pri.org)
INDONESIA:
Death penalty has no deterrent effect: Activists
The number of drug convicts keeps rising despite the implementation of the
death penalty, showing that capital punishment is not that effective in
fighting drug-related crime, activists have said.
At least 16 NGOs grouped in the Anti-Death Penalty Civil Society Coalition told
a press conference that the death penalty was not the solution to address crime
in Indonesia, especially crime related to drugs.
The coalition's statement comes ahead of the third round of executions of drug
convicts, which many expect to be conducted very soon.
Indonesian Drug Victim Advocacy Brotherhood ( PKNI ) head Totok Yulianto said
there had been a rise in the number of drug convicts despite the executions
carried out in 2015.
Under the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, the government has
conducted 2 rounds of executions.
6 death row inmates were executed on Jan.18 last year, followed by 8 more in
the 2nd round on April 29, 2015.
Totok said there were 65,566 drug convicts recorded in January 2015, adding
that that number had rose to 67,808 people by May 2015.
"Even though the government had carried out executions in January and April.
This shows that the death penalty does not create a deterrent effect. This is
data from the directorate general of corrections," Totok said, as quoted by
Kompas.com on Wednesday.
Impartial director Al Araf said punishment in the modern era no longer followed
the principle of retaliation; rather, it was aimed at correcting the behavior
of someone who has broken the law.
"We do not support criminal acts at all. We reject the death penalty and
instead lean more toward life sentencing, because the death penalty clearly
violates human rights principles," he said.
Given the nation's fragile justice system, procedural violations in the
implementation of the death penalty were still common, Araf added.
Citing the example of Zainal Abidin's case, whose appeal was rejected almost
immediately, Araf suggested this was because the convict, found guilty of
possessing 58.7 kilograms of marijuana in 2000, had already been listed in the
second round of executions.
"Just imagine, the legal process hadn't yet finished, and when he lodged his
appeal it was rejected within 4 days. This is clearly outside of the principles
of justice," he added.
Meanwhile, police have said the 3rd round of executions was ready to be carried
out in May 2016. The firing squad has been prepared for the execution of 15
drug convicts.
The Central Java police, in charge of Nusakambangan prison island where the
convicts will be executed, said it was awaiting instructions from Attorney
General Muhammad Prasetyo.
So far, the Attorney General's Office has not disclosed the execution date or
the identities of the convicts.
(source: The Jakarta Post)
*****************
Joko Widodo supports calls for chemical castration, death penalty for rape
offenders----The young girl from Sumatra was allegedly gang raped as she walked
home from school in April.M
This week 7 teenagers were sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime, but
the government said it wanted the death penalty and chemical castration to be
punishment options in the future.
Sexual violence against women is rampant in Indonesia, with 35 cases reported
every day, according to the national commission.
In April, when the school girl was brutally raped and murdered, there was
barely a word in the Indonesian press.
But now an intensified outcry from a nation belatedly shocked has led the
Indonesian government to revise its laws.
"The jail term should be up to a life sentence," said the Minister for Law and
Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly.
"But if the victim is dead the punishment option will be up to the death
sentence.
"Also if the victim becomes disabled the death sentence should be an option."
Another inclusion in the law could be chemical castration of alleged offenders,
with the full support of the Indonesian President, Joko Widodo.
"I want to give a warning about sexual violence against children," Mr Widodo
said.
"I want this to be considered an extraordinary crime, so the handling of it
would also be in an extraordinary way."
The changes could come into force as early as today, with presidential rather
than parliamentary approval needed.
But human rights groups said the new punishment proposals were a dangerous
step.
Haris Azhar, from the NGO Kontras, said from the human rights point of view he
thought they would be barbaric punishments.
"We need to have a very correct and - sometimes people here, we call it hard or
heavy punishment - but this does not necessarily need to be a barbaric
punishment," he said.
The new proposals come as Indonesia prepares for the next round of executions
of convicted drug traffickers.
It is not clear when the next group will face the firing squad or how many
people it will include.
(source: abc.net.au)
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