May 18
INDONESIA:
Human Rights Watchdog Calls for End to Capital Punishment
As preparations for the third round of executions continue on Nusakambangan
Island near Cilacap, Central Java, human rights activists and legal academics
have criticized Indonesia's continued use of capital punishment.
Respublica Political Institute executive director Benny Sabdo said the death
penalty is a violation of human rights, inhumane and ineffective as a form of
punishment.
"The death sentence still applies in the United States, but violent crime rates
are still high there. Meanwhile in Canada, where capital punishment has been
abolished, crime rates have receded," the law professor said on Wednesday
(18/05).
Benny believes capital punishment equals man playing God.
"Punishments for crime should not violate basic human rights, and should not
degrade human dignity in any way," said the professor, who also believes that
the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to crime.
According to Amnesty International, Indonesia is 1 of 37 United Nations member
states that continue to use the death penalty in law and practice, while 102
have completely abolished it for all crimes.
The University of Indonesia constitutional law alumni emphasized that death row
inmates are not objects and therefore still entitled to basic human rights. He
added that Indonesia must be consistent in enforcing human rights for all.
Besides Indonesians, citizens of China, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are expected to be
on the list of inmates facing the firing squad in the third round of
executions.
(source: Jakarta Globe)
******************
Indonesia strives to avoid media frenzy over drug executions
While Indonesia prepares to execute 15 prisoners convicted of drug offences, it
seems the government is keen to avoid the media attention that surrounded
executions last year. 5 Indonesians, 1 Pakistani, 4 Chinese, 2 Senegalese, 2
Nigerians and 1 Zimbabwean are due to face a firing squad this month, according
to local media.
Speaking to Southeast Asia Globe, Indonesian lawyer Ricky Gunawan, who
represented one of the convicts executed last year, said the death sentences
were likely to be carried out soon.
"Lots of government officials have said that they want to avoid the hysteria
and media frenzy and spotlight on Indonesia," Gunawan added.
Indonesia's chief security minister, Luhut Pandjaitan, appeared to confirm this
when he recently told journalists that "the executions can take place any time,
but there will not be a 'soap opera' about it this time".
14 prisoners were executed in 2015, all but 2 of them foreign nationals. They
included Australian citizens Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, members of the
so-called Bali 9, and Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte. Philippine national Mary Jane
Veloso was given a last-minute reprieve but remains on death row. All these
cases were followed closely in their home countries and further afield.
Notably, of this year's batch of 10 foreigners, 7 are from countries that also
employ the death penalty.
Last week, the Anti-Death Penalty Civil Society Coalition, a group of 16
Indonesian NGOs, held a press conference to decry the executions, saying they
were not the solution to address drug crime in their country.
The head of the Indonesian Drug Victim Advocacy Brotherhood (PKNI), Totok
Yulianto, said the number of drug convicts has been rising, despite two rounds
of executions last year. 6 people were executed in January and 8 more in April
2015.
According to PKNI, nearly 62,000 prisoners were incarcerated for drug-related
crimes in October 2014, and by February this year the number stood at 69,662.
This meant that almost 40% of all prisoners were in jail for narcotics
offences.
"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," the Jakarta Post reported
Yulianto as saying last week.
In April, the UN's General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the global drug
problem. Indonesia delivered a statement in defence of retaining the death
penalty, on behalf of a coalition comprising China, Singapore and Malaysia,
among others.
A statement released by PKNI on Monday said that the lack of fair trials in
Indonesia is another reason why the use of death penalty should be reviewed.
They pointed to the use of torture to extract confessions and a lack of
adequate legal representation for those without the resources.
(source: Southeast Asia Globe)
***************
A year on, Indonesia gears up for executions again
Only a year after the execution of Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew
Chan, Indonesia is gearing up for another round of executions. Determined to
keep it low profile, Indonesian authorities are remaining tight-lipped about
the condemned.
If Indonesia has learnt anything from the diplomatic fiasco ignited by last
year's execution of 14 death-row inmates, it seems to be this: if you're going
to kill drug offenders, and particularly foreign nationals, keep it low
profile. Or better still, assemble a line-up from countries that are less
likely to remonstrate. Not the lesson, perhaps, that the international
community might have hoped for.
As Indonesia gears up for another round of executions, it's becoming
depressingly clear that after the intense media coverage of 2015 - the
political posturing, the desperate pleas and impassioned headlines - this
year's condemned will go to their deaths in the forests of central Java with
barely a murmur of protest. The final wishes of executed Australians Myuran
Sukumaran and Andrew Chan - for an end to the death penalty - will not be
granted. Or not yet.
Indonesian lawmakers are remaining tight-lipped about the condemned - who they
are, and how many - but there are rumoured to be up to 15 drug offenders,
largely non-Western foreign nationals of retentionist countries, who could be
executed as early as this week. "There is only the choosing of the specific
date. That's what I haven't been able to decide," announced Attorney-General
H.M. Prasetyo, as though pondering when to hold a luncheon rather than when he
will usher the next desperate band of convicts onto the killing fields of
Nusakambangan.
If the public pronouncements from senior figures are distasteful, though -
desultory remarks about sprucing up the execution site, drilling the shooters,
or preparing facilities to accommodate the bodies of the not-yet-dead - that's
not exactly unique to Indonesia. The recent debate in Virginia on the merits of
the lethal injection cocktail versus 1800 volts of electricity reminds us that
there's no nice way to talk about state-sanctioned murder.
Authorities are resolved to avoid any "drama" this time around, as though the
macabre theatre of last year - the armoured Barracuda carriers and brigades of
masked security personnel - was not scripted by Indonesia itself. "There won't
be a soap opera like the last time", according to Minister for Political, Legal
and Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan "because I think that wasn't pretty". No
indeed.
Of course, the less said about these executions, the harder it is to scrutinise
the mechanics of Indonesia's capital punishment apparatus or the narratives of
those that are caught within it. Like Zulfiqar Ali, for instance, sentenced to
death for possession of 300g heroin: except that Ali wasn't in possession of
the drug at all, and the individual who was - and who fingered Ali as his
supplier - has since retracted his testimony.
This bleak situation may not come as any surprise to legal experts or anyone
else who witnessed, with dismay and disbelief, the events of 2015. Young
Filipina Mary Jane Veloso came within minutes of an encounter with the firing
squad before new evidence - suggesting Veloso wasn't, in fact, a drug
trafficker but a trafficked person - was finally conceded. And in this, too,
Indonesia is not alone.
Research from the United States reveals that, conservatively, about 4 % of
those sentenced to death are innocent. That's around 8000 men and women in the
US that have been placed, falsely, on death row since the 1970s - and only a
fraction of these will ever be exonerated. The rash of forced confessions that
undermines the integrity of capital sentencing in Indonesia appears to be part
of an epidemic that spans the Middle East and even the United States. The death
penalty, it turns out, is not the ultimate way for the community to mete out
justice, but injustice.
In some respects, the tide is turning. In April, an Indonesian delegate at the
United Nations general assembly special session on drugs was booed for
defending the use of the death penalty for drug crime - and there's no doubt
its use in this context is deeply troubling. But it's not clear why such public
demonstrations of scorn are reserved for Indonesia alone, and why the
conversation around capital punishment is perennially hijacked by a focus on
the crime, rather than the punishment. The number of offenders allegedly on
Indonesia's hit list is almost identical to the number put to death in the
United States this year so far; similar to that executed by state of Texas in
2015 alone.
Whether or not the death penalty should be applied to drug crime or only
reserved for more serious crimes like murder is missing the point. Worse, this
type of thinking lures us into a dangerous moral calculus that leaves us at the
mercy of our greatest fears and our deepest prejudice: terrorism but never
murder; murder but never drugs; drugs but never apostasy. Because here's the
thing - the fatal flaws in the death penalty are the same regardless of crime.
The question of who is sentenced to death and who is ultimately executed - and
when - has nothing to do with judicial impartiality and, in some cases,
precious little even to do with the penal code. The lottery of a system that
can arbitrarily hand death to one individual and a 10-year sentence to another
for the same crime is chilling, as is the unnerving correlation between
politics and executions - evident from Iran, to Indonesia, to the cynical
timing of Afghanistan's executions of Taliban prisoners a fortnight ago.
Research on US state elections reveal an even more dismal statistic: executions
are 25 percent more likely in election years than other years, and elections
increase this risk by an even larger amount if the defendant is
African-American. God bless America.
Capital punishment - no matter where or how it's used - targets the
disadvantaged with a savage specificity. The key predictors of a death sentence
in the US are not the severity of the crime but victim race and geography, and
in the same way that capital punishment takes aim at blacks and Hispanics in
the US, in Asia it is largely reserved for 'the poor, and the poorly
connected'. Corruption may be rife in many Asian judicial systems - prompting
some academics to tacitly advocate the bribery of public officials - but in the
US, too, capital sentences are simply not handed to those that can afford good
legal representation, according to Supreme Court justices. Indeed, the litany
of incompetence, including unethical and even criminal conduct, from attorneys
in capital cases is no less stunning in Dallas than it is in Denpasar.
And if that's so, what difference does it make whether a death sentence is
handed to a drug smuggler in Bali or a murderer in Oklahoma? It's time we
realised there's no such thing as a justice system that's infallible, and
dispensed with the collective delusion that a death sentence - in Texas or
Tehran or Tangerang - is reserved for those most deserving of this ultimate
measure of justice. And while we're at it, it's time we abandoned the notion
that capital punishment has anything to do with justice in the first place.
(source: Commentary; Sarah Gill is an Age columnist who has worked as a writer
and a policy analyst. She is undertaking postgraduate legal studies at the
University of Western Australia----Sydney Morning Herald)
*******************
Bekasi Drug Dealers Arrested With Two Kilos of Crystal Meth
2 alleged drug dealers who had been on the run were arrested on the weekend
with 2 kilos of crystal methamphetamine and around 34,000 ecstasy pills worth
around Rp 3 billion ($225,000) in their possession in Bekasi, West Java, police
said on Tuesday (17/05).
Bekasi Police chief Sr. Comr. Herry Sumarji told reporters the alleged drug
dealers - identified only by their initials E.D. (30) and D.S. (45) - were part
of an Indonesian drug syndicate led by one of Indonesia's most wanted drug
fugitives, identified as U.G.
Herry said E.D. was arrested with 14 grams of crystal meth in his possession at
a rented house on Jalan Masjid Hudal Islam in Pondokgede, Bekasi on Friday at
around 10 a.m. The next day, police arrested D.S. in the neighboring
subdistrict of Jakasampurna thanks to E.D.'s tip-offs.
After questioning both suspects, police again searched D.S.'s rented room and
found 2 kilos of crystal methamphetamine and 34,000 ecstasy pills.
Herry said the drugs allegedly belonged to drug fugitive U.G. who lived in the
same rented room with D.S. in Jakasampurna.
U.G. served a sentence for drug dealing at the Karawang Prison last year. He is
believed to have returned to the drug business and now controls the drug market
in Bekasi and surrounding areas.
According to Indonesia's anti-narcotics law, the amount of drugs confiscated in
the raid was more than enough to charge the alleged dealers with the death
penalty.
(source: Jakarta Globe)
SINGAPORE:
UN calls on the Singapore Government to halt the execution of Kho Jabing
The following is a press release by the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights' Regional Office for South-East Asia/
----
We urgently call on the Singapore Government to halt the execution of Malaysian
national Kho Jabing, who is due to be hanged on Friday.
Kho, 31, has endured years of immense suffering on death row as his sentence
has been changed several times.
Kho was sentenced to death in 2010 for murder. At the time, a mandatory death
penalty applied to all cases of murder in Singapore. In 2012, Singapore amended
legislation regarding the mandatory use of the death penalty and his sentence
was changed to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane. However, Kho's
death sentence was reinstated in January 2015 by the Court of Appeal. In
November 2015, Kho was granted a temporary stay of execution less than 24 hours
before he was due to be hanged. On 5 April, his death sentence was upheld by
the Court of Appeal.
Despite several appeals by the UN Human Rights Office and civil society groups,
Singapore said Kho would be hanged on 20 May 2016. During Singapore's human
rights review in Geneva in January, several states called on the Government to
abolish the death penalty. Singapore has yet to respond to the recommendations.
We call on the Singapore Government to immediately take steps to establish a
moratorium on the death penalty as part of a process toward the full
abolishment of capital punishment.
More than 160 Members States of the United Nations with a variety of legal
systems, traditions, cultures and religious backgrounds, have either abolished
the death penalty or do not practice it. In South-East Asia, only Cambodia,
Timor-Leste and the Philippines have fully abolished the death penalty.
For more information on the death penalty in South-East Asia, view our
publication entitled "Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Lessons in South-East
Asia".
(source: The Independent)
**************
Lawyers plead for Kho Jabing's life in last-ditch effort
In a last-ditch effort to save the life of the death row inmate Kho Jabing, the
3 bar associations of Malaysia have submitted a letter pleading for clemency to
Singapore President Tony Tan.
In the letter, the Advocates Association of Sarawak, the Sabah Law Association,
and the Malaysian Bar asked for Kho's death sentence to be commuted to life
imprisonment.
They argued that the decision on whether Kho should live or die should not
depend on the collective decision of a majority of judges, and pointed out that
some of the Singaporean judges that have presided over the case have expressed
doubt on whether Kho intended to kill.
"The fact that learned judges of Singapore have expressed doubts that Kho
Jabing exhibited sufficient mens rea or intention to commit the crime of murder
should, in and of itself, give rise to concerns whether Kho Jabing should be
made to pay the ultimate price for his crime and be sentenced to hang.
"If there is any doubt at all about his level of intention, and there genuinely
is, that doubt must be resolved in Kho Jabing's favour," says the letter signed
by the presidents of the three associations, Leonard Shim, Brenndon Soh, and
Steven Thiru.
"The death penalty is an irreversible punishment. Once taken, Kho Jabing's life
cannot be returned to him or his family," the letter cautioned.
The letter was handed to the Singapore High Commissioner to Malaysia Vanu
Gopala Menon today by Bar Council Human Rights Committee co-chairperson Andrew
Khoo, on behalf of the three associations.
Speaking to reporters outside the Singapore High Commission building in Kuala
Lumpur later, Khoo said the high commissioner has agreed to relay the contents
of the letter to the Singaporean government.
Kho, 31, is a Malaysian citizen from Sarawak who is now being held at Changi
Prison, Singapore.
He was convicted of murder in 2010 and was given the mandatory death sentence,
but was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane when the
Singaporean government reviewed its death penalty laws in 2012.
'Wrong in principle'
On Jan 14 last year, however, the Singaporean Court of Appeal reportedly
reimposed the death penalty in a unanimous decision, following an appeal by the
prosecution.
He is slated to hang on Friday, which is also reportedly the birthday of one of
his 2 sisters.
Meanwhile, lawyer Khoo told reporters that the Malaysian Bar is opposed to
mandatory sentencing - be it a jail or a death sentence - and the death
sentence itself.
He said mandatory sentencing takes away the discretion of judges to decide what
should be the appropriate punishment for the cases they presided, and this
appears to be creeping into Malaysia's own statute books.
"It is wrong in principle. After all, we train our judges and we rely on their
experience to mete justice, and justice cannot be served by mandatory
sentencing," he said.
As for death sentencing, Khoo said it is wrong to respond to a killing by also
taking the killer's life, which in essence lowers a society to the offender's
standards.
He said the Malaysian government has already conceded that the mandatory death
penalty does not deter crime, and hopes it would expedite the proposals for its
repeal.
"Mandatory death sentences are on their way out; it is merely a question of
when. They (the government) has made certain public commitments or public
statements about reviewing it, and we urge the government to really expedite
and finalise their proposals so that they can be presented to Parliament as
soon as possible, so that we can end this idea of mandatory death sentences.
"We also hope they will realise that mandatory sentencing in itself is also
wrong in principle," he said.
(source: malaysiakini.com)
****************
With Malaysian to hang in Singapore, Bar says death penalty not answer to crime
Mandatory death sentences are ineffective deterrents to crime, a representative
of the Malaysian Bar argued today ahead of a Sarawakian's capital punishment in
Singapore on Friday.
Commenting on the case of Kho Jabing who will be hanged on Friday, the Bar
Council???s Human Rights Committee chairman Andrew Khoo said death sentences
would put society on the same level as convicted killers.
"Justice cannot be served by mandatory sentencing. Secondly, you don't respond
to someone who killed by also killing that person," Khoo told reporters today
after submitting a clemency appeal for Jabing, to Singapore president Dr Tony
Tan via the Singapore High Commission here.
Khoo was representing the Malaysian Bar as well as the Advocates Association of
Sarawak and the Sabah Law Association, who signed the appeal.
In the appeal, the legal bodies pleaded with Tan to review Jabing's sentence,
pointing out that judges were divided over the death penalty in his case.
"The fact that learned judges of Singapore have expressed doubts that Kho
Jabing exhibited sufficient mens rea or intention to commit the crime of
murder, should, in and of itself, give rise to concerns whether Kho Jabing
should be made to pay the ultimate price for his crime and be sentenced to
hang," the joint appeal letter read.
Jabing was convicted of killing a Chinese construction worker in 2008 and
sentenced to death in the island state.
He was previously scheduled to be executed on November 6 last year but won a
temporary reprieve pending a court appeal.
Singapore authorities have informed the family that the execution date has been
fixed for Friday morning.
(source: themalaymailonline.com)
***************
I discovered the truth about Singapore's 'war on drugs'. Now I campaign against
the death penalty
Yong Vui Kong was my 1st encounter with the death penalty in Singapore. I was
21 years old, and so was he. But we couldn't be further apart when I sat in the
public gallery of the courtroom and he in the dock, behind a glass pane. At
that age I was considered by many older people as young, idealistic, naive,
prone to mistakes and immaturity. Yet the Singaporean criminal justice system
was expecting Yong Vui Kong to die for a mistake he'd made when he was just 19
years old.
Born to a poor family in the east Malaysian state of Sabah, Vui Kong was
arrested in 2007 with 47.27 grams of heroin. Under Singaporean law, 15 grams
and above is enough to attract the mandatory death penalty. Seeing his youth,
the trial judge had asked the prosecution to consider reducing the charge, so
he wouldn't have to face the gallows.
The prosecution refused.
This is the reality of the 'war on drugs' in Singapore. An uncompromising
attitude is sold as being 'tough on crime', and largely bought by the populace
as the secret sauce to keeping Singapore the safe, relatively low-crime city it
is.
An uncompromising attitude is sold as being 'tough on crime'.
"When we talk about death penalty for drug traffickers, what are we talking
about? The person brings across heroin enough to feed 950 people for one week,
that person faces death penalty. People look at the drug traffickers that we
impose a death penalty on. Very little of the literature focuses on the death
penalties that drug traffickers impose on society," said law and home affairs
minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam at a question and answer session with
university students in March.
This mentality makes capital punishment look like a logical trade-off; we
sacrifice the lives of a number of nasty people for the good of hundreds or
thousands. It's taught to Singaporean children from a young age, with little
critique or question.
By the time I entered the picture in 2010, Vui Kong's case had been taken over
by human rights lawyer M. Ravi, who had won him a stay of execution and was
mounting a challenge to the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty
(which would later fail). Outside the courtroom, the long-running Singapore
Anti-Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC) was doing its best to work within the
limits of Singapore's restrictions on advocacy, activism and protest to raise
awareness of his case. By the end of that year, 2 18-year-old students and I
would set up We Believe in Second Chances, a campaign for Vui Kong meant to
emphasise his youth through ours.
We had originally intended for Second Chances to just be a campaign for Vui
Kong. But his story led to a deeper examination of capital punishment, criminal
justice and drug policy, and we quickly realised that the issue went far, far
beyond one young Sabahan.
We've since worked, or are working, with multiple families of death row inmates
- we aren't able to get permission from the prison to visit the inmates
themselves. Some of these capital cases are for murder, but the vast majority
were convicted of drug trafficking.
Proponents of the 'war on drugs' would have you imagine that the drug
traffickers who are caught and put to death are murderers in their own right:
evil, greedy criminals who care little for anyone or anything apart from
enriching themselves.
If these cold-blooded hoodlums are getting caught and sent to death row, we're
not seeing them.
If these cold-blooded hoodlums are getting caught and sent to death row, we're
not seeing them. The people we see are scared, bewildered parents, siblings and
partners, representing similarly scared and bewildered inmates desperate for a
chance, any chance, to avoid a date with the long drop. They are often from
ethnic minority groups, or low-income, less-educated households. Many of the
families are broken or dysfunctional in some way: estranged parents and abusive
environments.
Society might prefer to imagine that people offend because they are inherently
malicious, but we more often than not see how different socio-economic
circumstances create communities or individuals more vulnerable to being both
offenders and victims.
There is Muhammad Rizuan, who languishes on death row because the prosecution
chose not to grant him a "certificate of cooperation", a prerequisite before
one can avoid the death penalty. In his case, we see people sent to the gallows
not just for their crime, but for their subsequent lack of usefulness to the
authorities. Yet how useful could a low-level courier really be?
There is Roslan bin Bakar, whose conviction relied more on testimony than hard
evidence, showing that there are far more problems with the death penalty than
its failure to deal with drug offences.
And then there is Yong Vui Kong himself, a boy from a plantation in east
Malaysia whose journey to prison was paved with poverty, neglect, abuse and a
dearth of opportunities beyond gang membership. (Fortunately for Vui Kong,
changes in the law allowed his death sentence to be changed to life
imprisonment with caning.)
It is unlikely that being 'tough on crime' would have saved any of these men
from their current predicaments. There is even less evidence that being tough
on these men, as part of Singapore's 'war on drugs', will prevent any others
from being recruited into drug syndicates, or abusing drugs themselves. As long
as there are poor, under-served and vulnerable communities, drug lords will
enjoy a steady supply of hapless young men and women to use as mules. And as
long as we continue to execute these mules, we are shifting focus and resources
away from the greater task of education, advocacy, rehabilitation and social
justice that is truly important in addressing the problem.
(source: Kirsten Han; opendemocracy.net----This article is published as part of
an editorial partnership between openDemocracy and CELS, an Argentine human
rights organisation with a broad agenda that includes advocating for drug
policies respectful of human rights. The partnership coincides with the United
Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs)
INDIA:
2006 Mumbai Train Blasts Final Verdict: Death penalty to 5, life imprisonment
for 7
The special court in Mumbai on Wednesday pronounced verdict in Mumbai local
train serial blasts awarding death sentence to 5 while life imprisonment to 7
other convicts. It is to be known that the blasts had killed 188 people
travelling through Mumbai local trains.
Special Judge Yatin D Shinde had finalized the hearing in the case last week 9
years after the blasts rattled Mumbai. The prosecutor was demanding death
punishment for 8 of the accused while life imprisonment for four others.
On September 23, the MCOCA court had reserved its verdict on sentencing the 12
accused in the case and had scheduled September 30 to make the final verdict.
Before than on September 11, the MCOCA court had convicted 12 of the 13 accused
for playing an important role in executing the massive blasts in India's
commercial capital. The court also found them guilty of having connections with
banned terror organization SIMI. However, it also acquitted one accused.
The accused were found guilty of charges under IPC, Explosives Act, Unlawful
Activities Prevention Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and
Indian Railway Act and those under MCOCA.
The court also held all 12 of them guilty under Sections 3 (1) (i) of MCOCA,
which also amount up to capital punishment.
The convicts were identified as Kamal Ahamed Ansari (37), Tanvir Ahmed Ansari
(37), Mohd Faisal Shaikh (36), Ehtesham Siddiqui (30), Mohammad Majid Shafi
(32), Shaikh Alam Shaikh (41), Mohd Sajid Ansari (34),Muzzammil Shaikh (27),
Soheil Mehmood Shaikh (43), Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36), Naveed Hussain Khan (30)
and Asif Khan (38).
Post 12 accused were convicted, Judge Shinde, later, also allowed the defence
lawyer to cross-examine witnesses to dig out the mitigating circumstances in
the case.
(source: pardaphash.com)
************
Gangland murder: 2 sentenced to death
A district court here on Tuesday sentenced to death 2 of the 7 accused found
guilty of the gangland-feud related murder of Santosh, alias Jet Santosh, here
in December 2004.
Judge K.P. Indira imposed the death penalty on Anil Kumar alias Jackie and Soju
alias Ajith Kumar.
The other accused, Binu Kumar, alias Pravu Binu Kumar, Suresh Kumar, alias
Sura, Shaji, alias Kochu Shaji, Biju Kuttan, alias Biju, and Santosh were
sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life.
The prosecution had described them as a violent criminal gang suspected of
several other serious crimes in the capital.
The gang had suspected Santosh of having an adulterous relationship with the
sister of one of its members. The accused also believed that he had underhand
dealings with an opposing gang, which like them, profited from running
protection rackets.
Brutality of crime
The brazen brutality of the crime which occurred on December 22 evening had
shocked the capital and, temporarily, raised questions about public safety.
(source: The Hindu)
NIGERIA:
Corruption will not die early, we must kill it
Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye is a former Director of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
CBN, a lawyer and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. In
this interview with ROBERT AWOKUSE, he speaks on the activities of President
Muhammadu Buhari's administration in the last one year, urging Nigerians to
give the President more time to fulfil the promised change. Excerpts:
President Muhammadu Buhariled APC government will be 1 year in office in about
2 weeks time . What is your assessment of the Buhari administration in this one
year and why is the change promised becoming what can be best described as
hardship on Nigerians, looking at the strait economic situation and what is the
way forward?
In answering your question, let me start with my old teacher, Dr Tai Solarin's
statement, published in the Daily Times of January 1, 1964 as his New Year
greeting to all Nigerians. The statement has been reproduced in Dare
Babarinsa's recent publication on the 1st Century of Nigeria.
I quote: "May your road be rough. I'm not cursing you; I'm wishing you what I
wish myself every year. I therefore repeat, may you have a hard time this
year.... Our successes," he continued, "are conditioned by the amount of risks
we are ready to take." Dr. Tai Solarin, the great patriot, pointed to a
significant psychological feature of human life. The Bible had earlier
identified the same philosophy that the seed you sow does not grow until it
first decays. It dies first before it springs out life. The hues and cries of
Change should be expected like when you change the gear of your car; you hear
some noise; or when you snatch the feeding bottle from a baby, the baby cries.
In the same way, corruption has been like a feeding bottle to many Nigerian
public servants, politicians and business men. That is exactly what Nigeria is
passing through right now. The hardship we are experiencing should be expected
by any prudent person. It will be foolish to expect that the Change we expect
will be smooth and noiseless. Let's endure it. What went on during the previous
16 years of PDP government, the current awful exposures which seem more awful
than Maria Monk's exposures are no longer secret.
To fix that or to put things right, certainly there must be some hardship or
suffering by all, including those who did not partake in the abuse of office.
To expect that we will just have a smooth ride of change is illusionary. It
will be foolish for anybody to think that a magician will just come and say
"Nigeria change to better. Corruption I decree you disappear and it will be
so". No, we have to sweat for it. We have to harden our laws. We have to be
more vigilant. Corruption will not die easily. We must kill it. So I'm happy
that the Legislature has now approved death penalty for kidnappers. But it
should not be kidnappers alone. We need it for a few more offenders.
Confiscation and restoration should not be sufficient for those who stole the
nation's resources in the past. Maximum terms of imprisonment allowed in
existing laws should be applied.
Since the Law does not allow retrospective effects on offenders, harsher laws
should now be enacted including death penalty for new/future offenders after
due prosecution. Jungle behavior deserves jungle laws! If you notice the amount
of suffering Nigerians are going through because of the wickedness and lack of
consideration of those who are in position, it is not a thing we should handle
with kid gloves.
(source: National Mirror)
UGANDA:
Besigye has treason charges read to him afresh, is further remanded ----
Besigye is charged under chapter five of the Penal Code Act under which treason
attracts the death penalty.
By 7am, the roads leading to Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court had been blocked
and traffic diverted in anticipation of the arrival of FDC's Kizza Besigye.
Security operatives stood on guard outside and inside the court premises.
The court, presided over by Chief Magistrate, James Eremye Mawanda, was called
to order at 8:30am.
The Chief Magistrate read the fresh treason charges to Besigye but declined to
offer him the chance to defend himself since the court had no jurisdiction to
try a suspect for treason, which is a capital offence.
Besigye is charged under chapter 5 of the Penal Code Act under which
punishments for misdemeanors are listed and treason attracts the death penalty.
The former presidential candidate had no legal representation and when city
Lawyer and opposition politician, Shifrah Lukwago, tried to stand in for him,
Besigye refused saying he had not expected any lawyers.
Besigye's attempt to raise issues about the unfair treatment he had experienced
while in prison was thwarted by the chief magistrate who asked him to take his
concerns to the authorities at Luzira prison.
Besigye has been in police custody since 11th May when he was arrested in
Kampala, charged in Moroto magistrates court on 13th May and detained on
charges of treason, arising from a video clip that showed him swearing in as
president of Uganda.
FDC officials Wasswa Biriggwa, Goeffrey Ekanya and Wafula Oguttu have been
summoned to the Police special investigations unit in Kireka to explain their
involvement in the alleged event.
(source: ntv.co.ug
*************
Ugandan court to pass judgment in terror suspects case
Court Judgment in a case against 13 men suspected to have masterminded the twin
bombing of Kampala in July 2010 is set for Wednesday.The case involves 13 men
of Ugandan, Kenyan and Tanzania origin believed to be behind twin bombing of
merrymaker's who were watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup final between
Netherlands and Spain at Kyaddondo Rugby Club and Ethiopian Village Restaurant
in Kabalagala.
Trial judge Alphonse Owiny Dollo set the date upon conclusion of hearing of the
matter last month.
Court assessors last month advised the High Court to convict 12 of the suspects
on the charge of terrorism, murder and attempted murder for their alleged
participation in the July 2010 attack that left 76 people dead.
The suspects, who have been on remand since 2010, could face a death penalty if
found guilty of terrorism and murder charges.
Prosecution alleges that the 13 men and others still at large, on July 11,
2010, intentionally and unlawfully delivered and discharged an explosion into
Kyadondo Rugby Club and Ethiopian Village Restaurant with intent to cause death
and serious bodily injury or extensive destruction likely to or actually result
into major economic loss.
The suspects also face other charges which include murder, attempted murder,
being an accessory, aiding and abetting terrorism and belonging to a terrorist
group.
(source: starafrica.com)
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