Oct. 28
CANADA:
Survey respondents cite the business case for the death penalty
Earlier this year, Canada marked 4 decades since the abolition of the death
penalty. Last July, Insights West looked at how Canadians feel about this issue
and found some eye-catching results, both in policy and motivations.
Across the country, 53% of Canadians support reinstating the death penalty for
murder in Canada; 36% are opposed. It must be outlined that support, while
high, is tepid, with 29% of Canadians saying they are "somewhat" in favour of
bringing back capital punishment. Still, the fact that a majority of Canadians
would change such a fundamental component of the justice system merits a deeper
look.
Men (at 56%) are slightly more likely to be in favour of the death penalty than
women (52%). Canadians aged 55 and over are also more supportive of changing
the law (59%) than those aged 35 to 54 (51%) or 18 to 34 (also 51%).
Alberta boasts the highest proportion of capital punishment supporters (57%),
but British Columbia is not far behind (52%). When the results are analyzed
through party lines, people who voted for the federal Conservative Party in
2015 are overwhelmingly in favour of reinstating the death penalty (68%).
Canadians who voted for the New Democratic Party or the Liberal Party last year
are not as convinced (53% and 48%, respectively).
Our views on the death penalty are also affected by recent news and events.
Pollsters who asked this question in the aftermath of the Karla Homolka trial,
for instance, garnered higher support for the death penalty than at previous
times in the country's history. This might also explain why Alberta scored
higher than any other region this year, because the survey was conducted
immediately after Calgary resident Edward Downey was charged with 2 counts of
1st-degree murder.
What was truly surprising about the latest survey is that the reasons cited by
supporters of capital punishment are not purely moral.
When those Canadians who would like to see the death penalty return to Canada
were asked about their motivations, only 24% agreed with the notion that
"murderers cannot be rehabilitated."
Half of death penalty supporters (50%) suggest that capital punishment would
provide "closure to the families of murder victims," while a similar proportion
(53%) subscribe to the "eye for an eye" dictum: if a murderer has taken a life,
the death penalty fits the crime. The idea of capital punishment acting as a
deterrent for potential murderers is endorsed by 59% of death penalty
supporters.
Surprisingly, none of these reasons are top of mind for Canadians who would
like to bring back the death penalty. Almost 2/3 of them (63%) believe the
death penalty would save taxpayers money and the costs associated with having
murderers in prison.
The survey shows that fiscal concerns are the main reason cited for Canadians
who want to change a law that has been in place for 4 decades. It is atop the
list of motives for men (70%), Canadians aged 55 and over (73%) and
Conservative voters (also 73%). It is not a shock to see a large majority of
Albertans who support the death penalty (78%) side with the notion of saving
money. The surprise is that the proportion is slightly higher in British
Columbia (82%).
Conversely, opponents of the death penalty in Canada cite the possibility of
wrongful convictions (76%) as the main reason to resist any change in existing
legislation. Several high-profile cases in the United States have not gone
unnoticed by Canadians, who are keenly aware of the mistakes that a justice
system can make.
(source: Commentary; Mario Canseco is vice-president of public affairs for
Insights West----Business Vancouver)
PAKISTAN:
Lawmakers to seek clemency for schizophrenic man on death row
A human rights committee in Pakistan's upper house of Parliament has called on
the government to spare a mentally disabled man from the death sentence which
is due next week.
Lawmaker Farhatullah Babar says the committee will seek a pardon from President
Mamnoon Hussain for 50-year-old Imdad Ali, a convict who was diagnosed with
schizophrenia in 2008.
Thursday's development comes days after Pakistan's highest court rejected Ali's
final appeal, claiming his disease does not qualify as a mental disorder.
Ali has been on death row since he was convicted in 2001 of murdering a
religious scholar.
Babar says the committee was taking action because 2 Pakistani brothers were
"wrongfully hanged" last year while their appeals were still pending.
Under Pakistan's Constitution, the president has the authority to pardon any
convicted person but Mamnoon had rejected an earlier mercy petition in May. The
legal team filed a new petition last month.
Since reintroducing the death penalty in 2014, Pakistan has executed 425
people. The reintroduction of the death penalty was prompted by the mass
killing of more than 150 schoolchildren at a Penshawar school by Taliban
gunmen.
Yesterday, Imdad's lawyer Sara Bilal, from the Justice Project Pakistan, said
authorities have set Nov 2 as the date of execution unless Pakistan's president
issues a pardon for him.
"Imdad's death will serve no retributive purpose, as he remains completely
unaware of this reality," Sara said.
Psychiatrist Tahrir Feroze said the deathrow inmate, who he had treated in the
last 8 years, was a genuine schizophrenic.
Imdad was due to be sent to the gallows after Pakistan's High Court rejected
his final appeal last week.
Last week's decision by the 3-judge bench of Pakistan's supreme said the
condition was "not a permanent mental disorder" and was a recoverable disease.
Imdad's wife said she would seek forgiveness from the family of the murder
victim in a last ditch attempt at allowing her husband to be spared execution.
Under Islamic law, the victim's family's forgiveness may reverse the decision
to execute a convicted murderer.
(source: Asian Correspndent)
IRAN:
Iran executed 3 Turks days after visit of President Erdogan ---- Alleged drug
traffickers were hanged in April 2015 despite pleas of family members, who
claim they were ignored by authorities in both countries
Iranian authorities executed 3 Turkish nationals for drug trafficking last year
only 11 days after a high-profile visit to Tehran by Turkey's president, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, it has emerged.
Iran - which executed nearly 1,000 people last year, more than any other
country apart from China - usually refrains from sending foreign nationals to
the gallows, especially in cases involving countries with which Tehran has
maintained friendly relations.
The family of a 46-year-old man, Faruk Guner, a father of 9 children, confirmed
to the Guardian that he was executed. He was a lorry driver working between
Afghanistan and Turkey who passed through Iran. "We tried for 4 years to save
him. They didn't tell us that he was going to be executed. They hanged him in
the morning; we got the news in the afternoon," Guner's brother said.
The information about the executions was first received by the Norway-based
Iran Human Rights (IHR), which closely monitors Iran's use of capital
punishment. The group said 2 other Turkish nationals, identified as Mehmet
Yilmaz and Matin, whose surname is not known, were executed at the same time.
Activists say drug traffickers do not usually receive a fair trial in Iran.
Most executions in Iran are for drug offences. As a neighbour of Afghanistan, a
leading supplier of the world???s drugs, Iran faces big challenges at home,
with a young population susceptible to an abundance of cheap and addictive
drugs. However, the alarming rate of executions has sparked a debate inside the
country and parliamentarians are considering a proposal to replace the death
penalty in such cases with imprisonment.
The 3 Turks were executed in April 2015, a little more than a week after
Erdogan met with Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, and the country's supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran.
The countries, which have maintained good ties for several decades, have been
at odds over regional issues in recent years and relations were frosty at the
time of Erdogan's visit. However, they have since improved. Iran firmly backed
Erdogan against the failed coup attempt earlier this year and Turkey is
realigning itself towards Russia, Tehran's main ally.
IHR said the convicts were executed at Vakilabad prison in the eastern city of
Mashhad after being arrested separately for alleged drug trafficking. "These 3
prisoners were reportedly not granted their last prison visit with family
members before they were executed," it said. "Additionally, close sources say
that the Iranian authorities did not inform their families of the executions"
until late April but "their bodies were reportedly returned to Turkey" in May.
Guner's brother said his family's pleas to Iranian as well as Turkish
authorities fell on deaf ears. "We asked help from many places; nobody helped
us," he told the Guardian via telephone. "We found a lawyer and we went to
Iran; we tried to prove that he was innocent, but one day they just executed
him. This is inhuman. He had 9 kids."
The Turkish foreign ministry did not respond to emails seeking its reaction on
the news and on why it did not publicise the executions at the time.
"They think that they are Muslim, but they are not. If my brother were in
Israel, even in Israel, he would be alive," Guner's brother said. "We asked
help from Turkish authorities; they didn't help. We couldn't even see him for
the last time," the brother added. "There are no laws in Iran. If he were in
another country, at least we would be able to see my brother for the last time.
They just executed him without telling us. Everything happened suddenly.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, IHR's spokesman, said it was not clear if the cases
were discussed by the Turkish president in Tehran. "It's also unclear whether
the Turkish government took any action to help save their lives. [The] timing
of the executions and lack of public reactions by the Turkish government is
highly questionable," he said.
Michael, Mehmet Yilmaz's son, told the IHR: "I travelled to Iran 7 times in
order to deliver my dad's medication to him. The Turkish authorities did
nothing for my dad. All they did was introduce our family to a lawyer. The
Iranian authorities confiscated my dad's truck, which was worth 80,000 Turkish
lira (21,000 pounds). My family is currently still paying off the truck through
monthly instalments."
Madyar Samienejad, who monitors the human rights situation in Iran, said more
than 450 people have been put to death in the country this year. He said at
least 264 of them were executed for drug offences. Iran has also been reported
to have executed at least 7 people who committed their crimes while they were
under the age of 18 - 2 of those executions have been confirmed.The execution
of juveniles is prohibited under international law.
"More than any other time, people in Iran, including those in the government
and the judiciary or media, are debating whether to abolish [the] death
penalty," Samienejad told the Guardian.
"On 26 October, [reformist newspaper] Etemaad ran a front-page editorial on
abolition of [the] death penalty, which talked about how ineffective this
punishment has been. It's the 1st time this debate is taking place at such a
national level and it's a positive development highlighting the work of
abolitionist activists."
(source: The Guardian)
PHILIPPINES:
House to approve death penalty bill before Christmas break
Before it goes on Christmas break, the House of Representatives plans to
approve on 3rd and final reading a bill that would bring back the death
penalty, a priority measure of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has often
threatened to kill criminals.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the House would work to approve state-sanctioned
killings of drug convicts and those involved in heinous crimes.
"I don't know with the Senate, I don't control it, but as far as the House is
concerned, we will approve it before the Christmas break," Alvarez told
reporters in Tokyo, where he joined Mr. Duterte on his official visit to Japan.
He said the House plans to leave it up to the executive to set the method for
executing hardened criminals.
"If they want to hang them, shoot them by firing squad, it's up to them. The
criminals would be dead either way," he said.
He also defended the controversial measure, saying it did not work before
because the state did not kill enough criminals when it was in effect.
He noted that critics of the death penalty often insisted that it was not a
deterrent to crime.
"Before they speak, they should look at the record first. How many were killed?
It had not been a deterrent because they kept on objecting, so it was not
implemented," he told reporters in Tokyo, where he joined Mr. Duterte in his
official visit to Japan.
It would have been different had it been implemented properly, he said.
"What if it had been implemented like in Indonesia, where you will be executed
if they say so?" he asked.
Mr. Duterte himself made a fresh pitch for the death penalty when he spoke
before the Filipino community in Japan, whom he faced upon arrival in Tokyo,
where he railed against criminals who prey on innocent, hard-working Filipinos.
He also responded to the contention that the death penalty had not been
effective when it was in place.
"They said, 'Duterte, the death penalty was in place and nothing happened, it
was all the same. Why do you want to bring it back?'" he said.
"Fool ... I was not the President back then. Had I been the President, we won't
have to talk about this now," he added.
Capital punishment in the Philippines was abolished in 2006 during the term of
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who approved the measure because it did not
serve to deter crime.
The 1987 Constitution states that the death penalty should not be imposed
unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, Congress provides for
it.
(source: inquirer.net)
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