May 22
PHILIPPINES:
Lacson wants death penalty for 'habitual' public fund stealers
Senator-elect Panfilo Lacson thinks if the death penalty will be reimposed,
those found guilty of plunder or even the crime of graft, especially if is a
"habit," should be subject to capital punishment.
Lacson said the law should bear down hard on those who "habitually" steal
public funds, even if the amount is less than the P50 million as specified by
the present law.
"Kung puwede, kung mabalik ang death penalty, masentensyahan siya ng death.
Kasi sa hirap ng buhay lalo sa mga kanayunan, ang P50 million, P10 million, P20
million, it doesn't matter. Kung repetitively ginagawa dapat talaga parusahan
nang mabigat," Lacson stressed.
He noted that Republic Act 7080, punishes anyone who accumulated ill-gotten
wealth through a combination or series of overt or criminal acts involving P50
million.
(source: journal.com.ph)
************
Duterte told: Executions antipoor
The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) on Saturday warned presumptive
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte that his plan to revive the death penalty and
implement a "shoot-to-kill" policy against criminals would be antipoor and
violate international law.
In a statement on Saturday, FLAG chair Jose Manuel Diokno reminded Duterte that
before the death penalty was abolished in 2006, about 70 % of death row inmates
were poor and had been wrongfully convicted.
He also reminded Duterte that the Philippines ratified in 2007 an international
treaty prohibiting executions and providing for the abolition of the death
penalty.
"The death penalty and shoot-to-kill policy are antipoor," Diokno said.
"These actions are illegal and unconstitutional, render our legal system
impotent and meaningless, and blatantly violate international law," he added.
According to FLAG, majority of the 1,121 inmates on death row before the death
penalty was abolished in 2006 were poor.
Diokno said the poor were "vulnerable to the death penalty because they have no
voice, no money, no power and lack the resources to hire good lawyers."
'Disregard for human dignity'
"For exactly the same reasons, they will also be vulnerable to the proposed
shoot-to-kill policy of the (presumptive) president-elect," said Diokno, a son
of the late senator and antimartial law activist Jose Diokno.
He said the death penalty and the shoot-to-kill policy, along with Duterte's
proposal of death by hanging "reflect a callous disregard for human dignity not
befitting a chief executive."
"Advocating state-sanctioned killings is not just antipoor but antilife,"
Diokno added.
"The death penalty and shoot to kill policy will not deter crime. Only the
certainty of being caught and punished can do that. What the country needs is a
better justice system, not a new one based on the barrel of a gun," he said. He
said Duterte was bound to the international treaty called the Second Optional
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which the
Philippines signed on Sept. 20, 2006, and ratified about a year later.
'A great stigma'
That treaty is the only internationally acknowledged treaty to prohibit
executions and provide for the total abolition of the death penalty, he said.
Quoting other death penalty experts, Diokno said it would be "unprecedented and
illegal" for a state that signed that treaty to restore the death penalty.
"If the Philippines reinstates capital punishment, the county would be
condemned for violating international law. It would be a great stigma," he
quoted University of Oxford criminology professor emeritus Sir Roger Hood and
Leiden University law professor William Schabas as saying.
(source: Philippine Inquirer)
*****************
New Negros solon to oppose re-imposition of death penalty
A newly elected lawmaker has joined the House leaders in opposing incoming
president Rodrigo Roa Duterte's plan to breathe life into efforts to re-impose
the death penalty.
Negros Oriental Rep. Manuel Sagabarria, who belongs to the Nationalist
People???s Coalition (NPC), agreed with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. that the
restoration of death penalty is not the antidote to the rising cases of crimes
in the country.
"I am a Catholic and it says in my religion that 'Thou shall not kill.' So by
conscience, I am not in favor," he said, in rejecting Duterte's planned public
executions by hanging, especially for drug-related crimes.
Duterte vowed to push for the restoration of death penalty for heinous crimes,
including robbery with rape.
(source: ManilaBulletin)
***********
Still no to the death penalty
First, a legal reason. In 2007, after a long period of hesitation, we acceded
to the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil Political Rights. This
agreement binds state-parties to abolish the death penalty. The Philippines
therefore has a treaty-obligation to abolish this form of barbarism. We can, of
course, denounce the treaty but that certainly would mark us out as
retrogressive in the very important matter of human rights. The most egregious
crimes are those over which the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction -
genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war.
Significantly, however, for none of these is the death penalty imposed. Even
before the Treaty of Rome, the statutes of the ad hoc criminal tribunals - the
International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda - defined and punished among the most atrocious
acts recorded in history, but for none of them could the death penalty be
imposed. Definitely, the persuasion among penal theorists and in progressive
legal systems is towards abandoning the death penalty.
The agitation, emanating of course from the presumptive president, to re-start
the killing machine is the wrathful, perhaps panicky, reaction to different
forms of criminality that stubbornly evade law-enforcement and, like some
protuberant malignancy, know no remission! But this is precisely the reason for
distancing ourselves from this dangerous inclination. An essential dimension of
criminal justice is establishing a distance between the atrocity of the
criminal act and the infliction of penalty - because retaliation is the
antithesis of justice! At all times it is the vindication of humanity that is
the issue: the humanity of the victim, as well as that of the offender. The
dehumanization of the offender does not improve the lot of the victim. It is
silly, ludicrous even to think that by worsening the lot of the offender,
murdering him even, we better the position of the victim, unless of course, we
grant that it is ultimately revenge that we are after. In this case, it would
be more candid on our part to set aside all talk of justice. The point is to
disrupt the cycle of violence - not to perpetuate it by stylizing it through
state-sponsored execution! The Constitution forbids "cruel and unusual
punishment" and past jurisprudence that exempted the execution of the death
penalty from the characterization of "cruel" punishment was thoroughly silly
and hypocritical. What is cruel does not become any more benign just because it
is ordained by the law. And there can be nothing more cruel than making a
doomed man await his execution, dreading the passing of each minute - an
experience we all vicariously shared as Mary Jane Veloso awaited the dreaded
moment when a volley of shots was to bring an end to life, visiting the agony
of impending death not only on her but on the members of her family. There is
everything cruel about stigmatizing and branding her children for life as
children of an executed man - even if they may have had no part in the
commission of the offense.
As for the well-worn argument from its supposedly deterrent effect, 2 things
only need be said. No matter that something may be a deterrent, if it is
objectionable and abhorrent, whatever its value may be as a deterrent will not
negate the objections to it. Towing boatloads of migrants back to the high seas
there to face the cruelty of the elements if not certain death is undoubtedly a
deterrent to attempts at illegal migrations, but it is certainly immoral,
reprehensible and even criminal to do so! More importantly, the aggressive
campaign against smoking should easily show the fallacy of the argument from
deterrence. Every possible device has been employed to deter smokers from
indulging in their vice: dire warnings about the health risks, posters with the
most revulsive pictures of diseased lungs, very convincing statistics on the
incidence of deaths among smokers. Smokers are threatened with death most
painful. None of this has really deterred smokers who continue happily puffing
away, and breathing on innocent others their lethal fumes. No, the argument
from deterrence has never really convinced me. The certainty of being dealt
with by the criminal justice system - arrest, prosecution, trial and conviction
- is what gives the criminal pause, not the severity of the penalty. It is
because the moneyed are convinced that they can bribe their way through the
police, prosecutorial and justice systems that impunity is unabated. But when
law-enforcement is thorough, prosecution is relentless and judgments go solely
by the evidence adduced, the efficiency and reliability of the system will be a
disincentive to crime, in just the same way that the thoroughness of a
professor and the mercilessness of graded recitation provide the most effective
disincentive to intellectual sloth!
Finally, there is the imperfection of our judicial system. I do not refer
principally to the susceptibility of some of our prosecutors and judges to
corruption. I am confident that most of them honestly do their jobs. But there
is no fool-proof technique for distinguishing between truth and prevarication,
no infallible test of a truthful witness. And many a judge will admit that most
of the time (if not all the time), a guilty verdict is more a statement about
how the judge appreciates the evidence than any claim about what may or may not
have happened! Once more, this is not because of any ill will on the part of
judges. It has to do more with the crucial epistemological issue of drawing
conclusions about the past from what you have in the present!
We are worn out from rampant criminality. We are a nation beleaguered by
remorseless drug peddlers, war lords, plundered and extortionists. But it will
not serve our goal of national renewal to seek umbrage from the false and
deceptive security of the law of the talion or to think that our national
salvation comes from the macabre shadows of a death chamber!
(source: Opinion, Fr. Rahilio Aquino; The Standard)
GAZA:
Hamas planning public executions in Gaza Strip-----Terror group seeks to kill
13 men, most convicted of murder connected to robberies, 'before a large crowd'
Authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip are planning to carry out a series of
public executions, the attorney general for the Palestinian enclave said on
Sunday.
The terror group has carried out previous executions in Gaza, although rarely
in public and mainly of people accused of collaborating with Israel. Sunday???s
announcement involved those convicted of criminal offenses.
"Capital punishments will be implemented soon in Gaza," attorney general Ismail
Jaber told journalists. "I ask that they take place before a large crowd."
13 men, most convicted of murder connected to robberies, are currently awaiting
execution, Hamas official Khalil al-Haya said on Friday at the mainly weekly
Muslim prayers.
"The victims' families have the right to demand that the punishments be
implemented," he said.
The families obtained rare permission on Sunday to stage a demonstration
outside parliament, with dozens demanding that the executions be carried out.
The last public executions in Gaza were in 2014 during the last war with
Israel, when a firing squad from Hamas's military wing shot dead 6 men before
Gaza City's main mosque following prayers.
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), 9 death sentences
were handed down in the Gaza Strip in 2015 and 2 in the West Bank, run by the
Palestinian Authority.
So far Palestinian law allows the death penalty for collaborators, murderers
and drug traffickers.
Of the more than 170 Palestinians sentenced to death since the creation of the
Palestinian Authority in 1994, around 30 have been executed, mostly in Gaza,
according to the PCHR.
All execution orders must in theory be approved by PA President Mahmoud Abbas
before they can be carried out, but Hamas no longer recognizes his legitimacy.
(source: The Times of Israel)
MONGOLIA:
Mongolia Court Finding 18-Year-Old Killed by Firing Squad in 1996 Innocent of
Crime Further Bolsters Argument vs Death Penalty
There is a lot of debate on capital punishment, whether by lethal injection or
firing squad, in many countries. Those who argue against executing people on
death row cite the rising number of cases when higher courts overturn a
decision and exonerate a person convicted of a heinous crime.
In some cases, such as Scottish man Edward McInnis, who was falsely accused of
rape, robbery and burglary in 1988 at age 26, it robbed him 27 years of his
youth for crimes he did not commit. But still, McInnis is lucky because he
still attained freedom after DNA samples proved he was not the criminal,
reported Faye Observe.
However, in the case of Huugjilt, the decision by the Inner Mongolia Higher
People's Court to exonerate him for rape and murder charges in 1996 when he was
18 is almost 2 decades late. That's because Huugjilt was already executed by a
firing squad that year.
Zhao Jianping, deputy president of the court, said while he gave a 30,000-yuan
compensation to the family of Huugjilt, that it was a heartbreaking lesson. The
wrongly executed man's parents visited his grave after the meeting with Zhao
and burned a copy of the verdict overturning a lower court's death sentence as
their way of telling him his wrongful conviction has been redressed.
A similar case is for review of the Shandong Provincial Higher Court which was
ordered by the Supreme People's Court to go again over the conviction of Nie
Shubin in 1994. Nie was executed for the rape and murder of a woman at age 21.
In February 2016, the 27 officials behind the wrongful execution of Huugjilt
were given warnings and demerits. Feng Zhiming, the deputy district police
officer in charge of the case, would undergo further investigation. He
allegedly ordered investigators to torture Huugjilt to force the youth to admit
the crime. Feng would be charged with dereliction of duties and accepting
bribes, reported Daily Mail.
(source: en.yibada.com)
NIGERIA:
uhari's 1 year: Let Nigerians take capital punishment for corruption and
economic sabotage to a referendum
Given the fact that corruption has become systemic in Nigeria, I think the time
has come for us to take the issue of capital punishment for corruption and
economic crimes to a plebiscite
"There is a complex web that links the Petroleum Ministry, the DPR, the Navy,
the NPA,NIMASA,PPPRA, DMO, CBN and Commercial Banks in the Oil subsidy fraud.
Documents like the sovereign debt statements and the sovereign debt notes flew
about and our money kept disappearing. From about 30 companies in the scheme
under both Obasanjo and Yar'Adua, the number shot up to 300. Monthly, billions
of Naira was paid out to people who have never had any contact with a Jerry can
of fuel in their lives. No verification, no authentication, nothing. Money was
being paid with reckless abandon. It got so bad that some people will arrange
with ship owners..., take a 2 day hire of an empty ship, move it to Lagos Port,
and berth it there. Officials of the PPPRA, Petroleum Ministry, DPR will come
there to inspect an empty vessel and certify that the empty vessel carried
10,000 metric tons of petrol, collect their money and walk away. The vessel
simply sails away and 3 weeks later, close to N6 billion will be paid as
subsidy when not even a single drop of petrol was brought in". Being the online
testimony of a Legal counsel in one of the biggest indigenous players in the
downstream petroleum sector during the Jonathan administration.Given the fact
that corruption has become systemic in Nigeria, leading President Goodluck
Jonathan to bequeath both a collapsed economy and an empty treasury to
President Buhari, I think the time has come for us to take the issue of capital
punishment for corruption and economic crimes to a plebiscite. For me, this
will also be a logical reaction to the weighty criticisms that are daily being
heaped on the APC, but more specifically, on President Buhari. I shall
illustrate these insults with the views of one single commentator who praised
contestant Buhari to high heavens in 2014/15 but today so viscerally derides
him. No, please don't misunderstand me. I have 1001 reasons of my own for which
I am unhappy with the President, among them: his politically amateurish: "I
belong to nobody", his "I can work with anybody", his sentimental retention of
anti-Buhari Jonathanians in government for far too long, leaving his party
members helpless and at the mercy of PDP governors all with deleterious
consequences; the most being the totally uncooperative National Assembly. But
truth be told, President Buhari did not cause our current problems. Rather, we
should look to former President Olusegun Obasanjo as Nigeria's kill joy. More
about that anon.
In my trilogy of articles: "Periscoping the ideal APC Presidential candidate",
in which I concluded then, and still maintain, that Nigeria needed Buhari more
than the obverse, I quoted a young Nigerian Actuary who wrote as follows on 21
September 2014: "WHO SHOULD FLY THE APC FLAG? "The simple answer to this poser
is that in the eyes of most Nigerians, evidences of previous electoral contests
affirm that the most acceptable of APC's likely candidates, and who can surely
win massively, is General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd). The simple truth is that he
is honest and associated with honesty of purpose, and to date, no Nigerian has
come up against him with any shred of a shady financial deal in all the
positions of responsibility he held. Unfortunately, his weak campaigns did not
publicise his personal qualities of honesty, and unalloyed commitment to the
public good." Now, compare the views of that same individual in an April 2016
Whatsapp message: "Buhari uses 10 jets, runs a large government of 36
ministers, pays politicians the old way they were paid under PDP, runs huge
expenses on unnecessary foreign trips, leaves privatised PHCN entities in the
hands of Jonathan and his thieving associates, runs a fake anti-corruption
agenda that has failed woefully to date, has no strategic thinking to halt
unemployment, carries on with huge number of government ministries and agencies
he met on ground. What then is Buhari doing differently to justify why people
elected him? Buhari has no single bill before the National Assembly in his now
1 year leadership. Can any person reasonably justify Buhari's continuous
occupation of the presidency of Nigeria when he is not solving any problem, has
not solved one to date, and has not shown how he would solve any?
I haven't the slightest doubt that he was, of course, unduly hasty, sentimental
and superficial in his critique of the President given the Augean stable
Jonathan left, smack in Buhari???s hands. And this, in my view, is where former
President Obasanjo comes in and why I am suggesting that Nigerians should
seriously consider capital punishment for corruption. What, for instance,
should make anybody steal billions, if not a pulsating sickness in their
medulla oblongata? Capital punishment for corruption and economic crimes looks
like the only thing that can put the fear of the Lord in these crazed
Nigerians. Relying on his past knowledge of Nigerian politicians, Obasanjo was
particularly hard on the traditionally corrupt legislature. Unfortunately, he
goofed when, in an unprecedented act of one-upmanship, he opted to become the
power behind the throne of his successor/s. For that selfish reason he
single-handedly inflicted on Nigeria, 2 pathetically weak successors whose
concern in office was how to sustain their rule and be victorious at the next
election.
Hence, they both governed by abdication.
(sourve: thenatinoonlineng.net)
ANTIGUA:
Duo found guilty of murder
The unanimous guilty verdict delivered yesterday against Omari Phillip and
Timorie Elliott on the charge of murder is sitting well with the family of
Dorothy Prince who was gunned down on the job at Dee's Service Station during a
robbery on February 17, 2012.
While the duo appeared disappointed at the finding of the jury after exactly 4
hours of deliberations, the dead woman's sister Julinda Prince told OBSERVER
media that the decision gives the family "some peace and relief" though it
"doesn't bring back our loving sister".
The woman, who broke down in tears several times during the two-week trial,
said, "I knew that they killed Dorothy. She was a very nice sister. We miss her
very much and I know she will rest in peace now and I know she's happy she got
the verdict."
Julinda said her sister's 2 children miss her dearly and the family will
continue support the daughter who was just 2 years old at the time and her son
who was in Grade 6 preparing for Common Entrance examinations back in 2012.
"She was very nice to everybody and she was very intelligent. I know we all
miss her, her children miss, her brothers and her sisters and I know we are all
very happy," Julinda told OBSERVER media.
The dead woman's family had no comment on what sentence they'd like Justice
Keith Thom to impose come June 24 when he has to make that decision.
The death sentence, by hanging, is the country's maximum penalty for the
capital offence.
However, it has not been ordered in years. Instead, murder convicts have been
given life sentences or a specified number of years to be served in jail as
punishment.
(source: The Daily Observer)
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