Oct. 6
VIETMAN:
3 Vietnamese face death for trafficking meth
Vietnam's tough laws have not managed to stop drug trafficking crimes from
getting rampant. Photo by Vietnam Plus
The ring mailed 5 kilos from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City using an express courier
in April 2015.
A court in Hanoi sentenced 3 Vietnamese to death for mailing 5 kilograms of
methamphetamine from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, last year.
Dam Trong Thang, 53, Hoang Bich Ngoc, 31, and Nguyen Huy Thong, 34, received
the death penalty for drug trafficking. Ta Chung Thanh, 25, received a life
sentence for the same crime; another woman received 18-months imprisonment for
failing to report the criminal activity.
Investigators say Thang and Thong first met in March 2015.
Roughly a month later, Thang gave Ngoc VND670 million (approximately $30,000)
and told him to use it to buy methamphetamine from Thong and Thanh in Hanoi.
Once in the capital, Ngoc parcelled the drugs out and express mailed them to Ho
Chi Minh City. Thong and Ngoc were stopped with thousands of ecstasy pills at
Noi Bai Airport in late April 2015.
Investigators say Thang has ties to another drug ring currently being
investigated in HCMC.
Vietnam has some of the world'-s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of
possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5
kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty.
The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal
narcotics is also punishable by death.
(source: e.vnexpress.net)
TAIWAN:
UK group seeks to sway opinions on death penalty
A group of UK human rights experts yesterday said that it requires strong
political leadership to steer a nation toward completely doing away with
capital punishment.
Leading a delegation of 3 people on a 3-day visit to Taiwan, British Member of
Parliament Keir Starmer told a news conference in Taipei that strong public
disapproval is an issue that confronts every nation that moves away from the
use of the death penalty.
"It certainly confronted the UK when we abolished the death penalty," Starmer
said. "At that time public opinion was in favor of death penalty."
"Almost every country made the argument that there is something special about
their cultural traditions which require it to keep the death penalty," said
Starmer, cofounder of a London-based law firm that specializes in civil
liberties and human rights.
With President Tsai Ing-wen's administration pledging to be a government guided
by public opinion, Starmer said that there were 3 things that helped prompt
changes in the UK 5 decades ago to restrict the use of capital punishment.
"The first was strong political leadership, which said: 'This sentence is wrong
in principle and we will have nothing more to do with it,'" he said.
As most people only talk about the death penalty in the abstract, he said the
2nd motivator was to offer the public a glimpse into how capital punishment was
actually carried out.
When people saw how it worked in practice, they were very uncomfortable with
the death penalty, he added.
Starmer said the third element was that capital punishment has become an
indicator of whether a country is progressive, forward-looking and wanting to
join the family of countries that have gotten rid of the death penalty.
"Or, whether it wants to be seen by others as being stuck in the past with
countries that are unwilling to change," Starmer said, adding that courageous
political leadership combined with a better understanding of the death penalty
could cause public opinions to change.
Starmer declined to reveal details of his meeting with Vice President Chen
Chien-jen and Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san on Wednesday, saying only that
the discussions were "constructive."
As one of three democracies worldwide that still carry out death sentences,
Taiwan has executed 33 death-row inmates since 2010, with the last one being
Taipei MRT killer Cheng Chieh in May last year. There are 41 people on death
row.
Death Penalty Project co-executive director Saul Lehrfreund, who is a member of
the delegation, said research he has done with academics, universities and
criminologists show that public perceptions of capital punishment are not
black-and-white.
"For example, if you ask the public an abstract question: 'Do you support the
death penalty?' It is very probable that the vast majority of people would
support the death penalty," Lehrfreund said.
"However, if you ask people how strongly they support the death penalty, you
will find the majority of people do not come back and say they support the
death penalty strongly," Lehrfreund said. "They may support it, but not so much
that they would not accept changes."
(source: Taipei Times)
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC of CONGO::
Ugandan rebels face death for crimes against humanity ---- 10 rebels get death
sentence for killing innocent civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo
A Congolese military court has sentenced 10 Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces
(ADF) militiamen to death for crimes against humanity, official sources told
Anadolu late Wednesday.
"These 10 terrorists were given the heaviest sentence, the death penalty, by
the Operational Court Martial of Beni," government spokesman Lambert Mende told
Anadolu Agency by phone.
Mende said that the Ugandan rebels were captured during a military operation
that started last year in Beni, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, near
the Ugandan border. They were convicted of terrorism, crimes against humanity,
and rebellion.
The same sentence was passed in September against 10 other rebels of the same
group.
The trial of ADF rebels charged with killing innocent people in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo began in August.
The trial, conducted by the Operational Court Martial in collaboration with
high military court magistrates, considered charges that the rebels killed
innocent civilians with impunity, attacking their homes, and hacking them to
death.
The Congolese army, backed by the UN mission in the country, have vowed to
neutralize ADF militiamen in eastern DRC.
The ADF, which has been based in the eastern DRC since 1995, is made up of
several armed groups opposed to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
Between 1,200 and 1,300 civilians have been killed by the ADF since October
2014, according to a report released Monday by the coordination of Civil
Society of Beni, a local NGO.
(source: worldbulletin.net)
INDIA:
5 of family awarded death penalty for killing 4 persons
A man and his 4 sons were awarded capital punishment today by a court in Pali
district of Rajasthan for killing four persons, including three of a family,
over a land dispute dating back to 2009.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Sukesh Kumar Jain sentenced Shahabuddin,
Shakur Khan, Kalu Khan, Usman Khan and Rahim Baksh -- all residents of Indrikon
ki Dani in Pali district -- to death, after finding them guilty of attacking
Sharif Mohammad, Babu Khan, Lal Mohammad and Shabir Mohammad with sharp weapons
and sticks and then, killing them by pouring acid on them over a land dispute
on July 19, 2009.
The accused were found guilty under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 149 (unlawful
assembly).
The judge also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 on the accused.
(source: Press Trust of India)
*************
Umesh Reddy 1st to be hanged in Karnataka since 1983?----The prison authorities
have, meanwhile, informed the condemned prisoner, who is housed in the
high-security Hindalga prison at Belgavi about the apex court's dismissal of
his petition.
Will Karnataka witness a judicial hanging after 1983? After the Supreme Court
on October 3 rejected the review petition of serial rapist and killer B.A Umesh
Reddy against the death penalty, there are chances that he will be hanged to
death unless he applies for a curative petition in the apex court before the
executive order of his execution is passed.
"He (Umesh) still has a window of opportunity by the way of curative petition.
He will have to move the court immediately before the executive order of his
execution is passed," said senior advocate and former State Public Prosecutor
B.T. Venkatesh. Curative petition is an extraordinary and last legal remedy for
redressal of grievance against the final judgement/order of the Supreme Court
after dismissal of a review petition.
The prison authorities have, meanwhile, informed the condemned prisoner, who is
housed in the high-security Hindalga prison at Belgavi about the apex court's
dismissal of his petition. The Superintendent, Hindalga prison, Sesha on Monday
received a soft copy of the apex court order and informed Reddy
(source: Deccan Chronicle)
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