June 8
MALAWI:
No death sentence for albino murderers - Mutharika
Coming hot on the heels of yet another angry outburst from Mulanje South
legislator Bon Winiko Kaalindo that he will walk naked if the people who are
murdering people with albinism are not given a death sentence when caught,
President Peter Mutharika has said that he has no plans to have a death
sentence for the convicts.
Speaking when he met with members of Amnesty International who are pushing for
the protection of people with albinism who are facing persecution, Mutharika
indicated his unwillingness to sign for execution of any person caught and
sentenced to death for the murder of people with albinism.
"We already have the death penalty in our penal codes, we do not need a special
one to use to target anyone who kills albinos," said Mutharika.
Mutharika then indicated that the death penalty was also a contentious issue as
Amnesty International which is petitioning him to protect the people living
with albinism was against it.
"This is also a contentious issue because you (Amnesty International) are
pushing for the abolition of the death sentence," said Mutharika.
Meanwhile Mulanje South legislator Bon Kalindo who threatened that he will walk
naked to Parliament if there is no commitment on the use of death penalty for
albino killers has maintained that he will go ahead with his naked protest.
"I am consulting my lawyers to see how best to go about with the naked
protest," said Winiko to a local radio station.
(source: malawi24.com)
INDONESIA:
Death penalty up to judge: Indonesia
The Indonesian government is continuing to shy away from a public guarantee
that the death penalty will not be carried out in the case of a woman accused
of murdering her friend with a cyanide-laced coffee.
During a joint press conference in Sydney on Wednesday, Justice Minister
Michael Keenan said Australia had received written assurance from the
Indonesian government that the death penalty would not be carried out in the
matter of Jessica Kumala Wongso, thus paving the way for the Australian Federal
Police to provide assistance.
But when Indonesian Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan was asked during the same
conference to guarantee that undertaking, he replied: "Well, I think we leave
it to the judge, the court, but I believe we work it out (the) Indonesian way."
The comments followed annual talks in Sydney between Australia and Indonesia on
law and security and come more than a week after Jakarta prosecutors and police
stated it was still "possible" Jessica could face the death penalty were she to
be convicted of murder.
Jessica is accused of killing her 27-year-old friend Wayan Mirna Salihin in
January with a poisoned Vietnamese ice coffee at a popular Jakarta restaurant.
The AFP helped with investigations into the case only on the proviso that the
death penalty would not be sought or carried out were Jessica convicted.
In the event that a death sentence was handed down by the judge, Indonesia's
president could grant clemency.
In a case that has dominated local press, Jessica is accused of killing
27-year-old Mirna, with whom she studied in Australia - first at Billy Blue
College in Sydney and later at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne
in 2008.
Jessica met up with Mirna and their friend Hani on January 6 during a trip home
to Indonesia.
She allegedly laced Mirna's Vietnamese iced coffee with cyanide and she
collapsed and began convulsing moments after sipping it.
Prosecutors have more than 90 days to prepare the indictment against Jessica
and hand it to Central Jakarta District Court.
(source: Yahoo News)
IRAN----executions
7 prisoners hanged in Mashhad, Shiraz and Tehran
The clerical regime's news agencies reported that 7 prisoners were executed in
the past 3 days in Mashhad, Shiraz and Tehran.
The state-run Rokna website wrote on Tuesday, June 7, that 3 men, aged 30, 35
and 40, who had been sentenced by the so-called Revolutionary Court in Mashhad,
north-east Iran, were hanged on Monday in the central prison of Mashhad.
Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian regime's Revolutionary
Guards (IRGC), reported on Monday that 2 Afghan citizens were hanged in a
prison in Tehran. It did not give the names of the victims. The agency wrote
that at the time of the execution, the regime's prosecutor in Pardis and the
chief of the city's repressive police force were present.
The clerical regime's official news agency, IRNA, announced on Sunday, June 5,
that 2 prisoners were hanged in public in Shiraz, southern Iran. The 2
prisoners were identified as 22-year-old Amin D., and 28-year-old Mojtaba G.
They were executed simultaneously in Shiraz.
The latest hangings bring to at least 127 the number of people executed in Iran
since April 10. 3 of those executed were women and 2 are believed to have been
juvenile offenders.
Ms. Farideh Karimi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
(NCRI) and a human rights activist, last month called for an urgent response by
the United Nations and foreign governments to the recent spate of executions
and the appalling state of human rights in Iran.
Iran's fundamentalist regime last month amputated the fingers of a man in his
30s in Mashhad, the latest in a line of draconian punishments handed down and
carried out in recent weeks.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement on April
13 that the increasing trend of executions "aimed at intensifying the climate
of terror to rein in expanding protests by various strata of the society,
especially at a time of visits by high-ranking European officials, demonstrates
that the claim of moderation is nothing but an illusion for this medieval
regime."
Amnesty International in its April 6 annual Death Penalty report covering the
2015 period wrote: "Iran put at least 977 people to death in 2015, compared to
at least 743 the year before."
"Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions recorded" in the Middle East
and North Africa, the human rights group said.
There have been more than 2,400 executions during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as
President. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation
in Iran in March announced that the number of executions in Iran in 2015 was
greater than any year in the last 25 years. Rouhani has explicitly endorsed the
executions as examples of "God's commandments" and "laws of the parliament that
belong to the people.
(source: NCR-Iran)
INDIA:
Most death-row convicts economically poor
A landmark study on the socio-economic background of prisoners on death row
across the country has revealed that around three out of every four of them are
from "economically vulnerable" sections of society, while 61.6 % of the
prisoners have not completed their secondary education.
The Death Penalty India Report by the National Law University in Delhi studied
the backgrounds of 373 prisoners in 20 states across India. In Tamil Nadu, 12
prisoners face the death sentence.
Following interviews with prisoners and their family members, researchers found
that 74.1 % of all death row convicts are "economically vulnerable". The
prisoners were deemed to be vulnerable based on the occupations they pursued
even before they were incarcerated for their offences.
According to the data, 23 % of prisoners on death row never attended school,
while 9.6 % did not complete primary education. Further, 61.6 % of those on
death row failed to complete their secondary education.
Moreover, 45.2 % of those on death row are either from the SC/ST communities or
belong to religious minorities, while 34.6 % are from Other Backward
Communities.
The proportion of prisoners from the SC/ST communities in some states is
higher. For instance, 50 % of the prisoners on death row in Maharashtra are
either from the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe groups.
The study also highlighted the intersection of social marginalisation, economic
deprivation and lack of access to education.
For instance, 85.4 % of SC/ST prisoner population on death row and 76 % from
religious minorities are from economically vulnerable backgrounds. Moreover,
43.5 % of those on death row are economically vulnerable, have never attended
school or completed secondary education, and are either a member of a religious
minority or from the SC/ST communities.
On why the educational profile of prisoners was important, the report states,
"Our immediate task in this sub-section is to present data on educational
profile that gives us a much more nuanced understanding of the socio-economic
status of the prisoners sentenced to death in India. While caste and religious
composition give us a certain dimension of marginalisation, educational status
further underscores the impact of other socio-economic factors."
Shailesh Rai, a senior policy adviser at Amnesty International India, said the
report raises the question of indirect discrimination against Dalits and
religious minorities. Highlighting the fact that Muslims and in certain states,
Dalits, are disproportionately represented among death row convicts, he said
there is enough "anecdotal evidence" to raise serious questions about the use
of the death penalty.
"The report is in line with what the Law Commission has stated, that the only
real way forward is to abolish the death penalty," he said. Unlike the
recommendations of the Law Commission that the death penalty be implemented for
terror-related offences, Rai believes that the death penalty in its entirety
needs to be abolished, pointing out that several Asian democracies such as
Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have in effect abolished it.
(source: The New Indian Express)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan and the Rights of the Child
On 24-25 May, the Government of Pakistan was reviewed by the Committee on the
Rights of the Child, regarding its implementation of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 1990, Pakistan became the 6th country
in the world to ratify the UN Convention following its adoption by the General
Assembly in 1989. However, since the ratification there has been little to
celebrate in the country as Pakistan has consistently failed to deliver upon
its obligations to its children.
The delegation tasked with presenting Pakistan's 5th periodic report was headed
by Mr. Zafarullah Khan, the Special Adviser for State on Law. Amongst the many
grave issues raised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the
executions of juvenile offenders since the lifting of the moratorium on the
death penalty seemed to occupy centre-stage. The Committee noted with concern
that despite the existence of the Juvenile Justice System's Ordinance 2000, a
law prohibiting the executions of juveniles, the Government of Pakistan
executed at least 5 juveniles since December 2014. The Committee additionally
noted that it had not heard of any cases of juvenile offenders being granted
pardon by the President of Pakistan under Article 45 of the Constitution.
Addressing the members of the delegation from the Ministry of Human Rights, the
Committee asserted that they expected the Ministry of Human Rights to at the
very least be working to decrease the number of offences that carry the death
penalty in Pakistan. The current total stands at an alarming 27 offences that
include non-lethal crimes like blasphemy, drug trafficking and kidnapping. As
an illustration of Pakistan's failure to abide by its obligations towards
juvenile offenders the Committee specifically raised the case of Muhammad Anwar
- a juvenile offender who has been on death row for over 23 years. The Supreme
Court of Pakistan is set to hear a Petition in Anwar's case that asks for an
inquiry into his juvenility and therefore a revision of death sentence. Despite
reassurances given by the delegation at the Review session that they will
ensure that justice is done in this individual case, no steps have been taken
to provide any relief to Anwar and his family.
Anwar was arrested in 1993 when a fight between 20 people resulted in the death
of one. Anwar was represented by a court appointed lawyer who failed to conduct
requisite cross-examinations of the witnesses with the result that his
co-accused were acquitted and he was sentenced to death for murder in 1998.
Muhammad was born on 28 December 1975 and his birth is substantiated local
government record, thereby making him 17 at the time of the occurrence alleged
offence.
In 2000 Pakistan enacted the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance which was
designed to bring Pakistan's juvenile justice system in line with international
human rights law. Section 12 of the JJSO explicitly prohibits the imposition of
the death penalty on anyone under 18 years of age at the time of the offence.
Since the law was not enacted retroactively, in 2001 the Ministry of Interior
issued a notification whereby all juvenile offenders convicted prior to 2000
would be granted an automatic pardon by the President under the Constitution.
Subsequently the Supreme Court decided that the benefit of this Notification
would be conditional upon a determination of age conducted by a Sessions Court.
For the past 15 years, Anwar's family has approached several forums including
the Sessions Court, the Home Department, the Supreme Court Human Rights Cell
and the Presidency to seek a determination of his juvenility only to be turned
away. During this time, Muhammad has languished on death row - having now
served almost 23 years in prison, far longer than he would have served if his
sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment. On 19th December 2015, he also
come within 24 hours of his execution, simply because no-one has taken
responsibility for making a final decision in the case.
During his time in prison, Muhammad has developed severe heart problems, which
were first diagnosed in 2009. As a result of these problems he suffers from
loss of movement in the left side of his body, and has severely limited
mobility
Muhammad Anwar's case represents major flaws inherent under Pakistan's death
penalty, particularly with regards to its lack of safeguards for juvenile
offenders. The Pakistani Government made several reassurances last month in
Geneva before the Committee on the Rights of the Child to strengthen its
commitment to juvenile justice reform and the implementation of safeguards.
Muhammad Anwar approaches his 24th year on death row and may face execution.
Will the Government of Pakistan finally deliver on its promises made at
international forums or will they be forgotten for the next 4 years till the
next UN review?
(source: The Nation)
BANGLADESH:
Crackdown on Bangladesh Islamists - Death penalty sought for 24 over massacre
Bangladesh police on Tuesday launched a deadly crackdown on Islamist militants
as a 70-year-old Hindu priest became the latest victim in a series of gruesome
killings by suspected jihadists. As a government minister tried to portray the
recent attacks as part of a conspiracy involving Israel's Mossad spy agency,
security forces waged deadly gunbattles with members of a homegrown jihadist
group. 2 "high-ranking" members of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
were shot dead in a battle in Dhaka and another was killed in a northwestern
district, police told AFP. The 2 JMB members killed in the capital had roles
"in most of the recent attacks" including the bombing of a Shiite mosque and
the murder of a liberal professor, said deputy commissioner of police M.R.
Khaled.
Killed
The 3rd victim was killed in another gunfight in the town of Godagari in the
northwestern district of Rajshahi, said local police chief Abu Forhad.
Bangladeshi authorities have been coming under mounting international pressure
to end the string of attacks on religious minorities and secular activists that
have left more than 40 people dead in the last 3 years.
Authorities have blamed homegrown Islamists for the attacks, which have surged
in recent weeks, rejecting claims of responsibility from the Islamic State (IS)
group and a South Asia branch of al-Qaeda. IS claimed the latest victim, Hindu
priest Ananda Gopal Ganguly, whose head was nearly severed. The group, through
its Amaq news agency, said it "assassinated" the priest, according to the SITE
monitoring group, as he was walking to prayers. Farmers discovered Ganguly's
body in a rice field near his home in the village of Noldanga in the western
district of Jhenidah. Investigators said the murder bore the hallmarks of
recent attacks by local Islamist extremists who have carried out 10 other
similar killings in the last 10 weeks.
Witnesses saw three unidentified men on a motorcycle attack him with a bamboo
stick before "they slit his throat", the district's deputy police chief
Gopinath Kanjilal said. "He left home this morning saying that he was going to
a Hindu house to offer prayers," Kanjilal told AFP. "Later, farmers found his
near-decapitated body in a rice field." Although most of the recent attacks
have been claimed by IS or the local offshoot of Al-Qaeda, Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina's government has blamed its domestic opponents for the attacks.
Speaking to AFP on Tuesday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan again linked the
main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to the attacks, saying they
were part of a wider conspiracy that also involved Mossad. "These killings are
part of a national and international conspiracy. Those who are carrying out
these incidents are communicating with Mossad," Khan told AFP.
Israeli officials had no comment on the minister's remarks. A senior BNP
official was charged with sedition last month for allegedly plotting against
the state when he met an Israeli government adviser. Aslam Chowdhury, a joint
secretary of the party, was arrested after local media reported he had met the
adviser, Mendi Safadi, in India in March. Experts say a government ban on
Bangladesh's largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami following a protracted
political crisis has pushed many towards extremism.
Jamaat is a traditional ally of the BNP whose leader, two-time former prime
minister Khaleda Zia, is facing a series of charges in connection with deadly
firebombings. Victims of the recent murders by suspected Islamists have
included secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority
religions. Amnesty International on Tuesday demanded "a prompt, thorough,
impartial and transparent investigation" of the recent killings, adding that
the government must "protect those still under threat".
"In the current climate of impunity, increasing numbers of people have reported
facing threats that the authorities have repeatedly failed to address," the
group's statement said. Although it is officially secular, around 90 % of
Bangladesh's 160 million-strong population is Muslim.
(source: Arab Times)
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