Nov. 24
INDIA:
Sent to the gallows
Some honourable members of the Rajya Sabha had raised a proposal to do away
with capital punishment. D. Raja, a CPI leader, even moved a resolution for the
abolition of such punishment in India, because in his opinion it has its own
basis of formulating laws and it should respect the prevailing sentiment of the
people. According to him, it is not a question of technicality or legality but
a crucial matter of philosophy and morality. So in his view the time has come
to abolish capital punishment from the country.
However, the resolution was rejected by the House by a voice-vote. But some
other members advised the Government to consider the issue with necessary care
and wisdom. According to them, it should amend the rules relating to death
sentence and until then such penalty needs to be stopped. Moreover, some laws
which provide for such life-penalty should be changed, because many crimes are
committed due to predicament and deprivation. This is why it has been suggested
that the issue should be referred to the Law Commission for its meticulous
consideration.
But Kiren Rejiju, the Minister of State for Home, emphatically informed the
House that the government is not in favour of abolishing the death-sentence in
the prevailing circumstances. It means that it would remain in force, because
in the present condition we can do away with it at the cost of our own peril.
It is absolutely true that many countries have abolished such punishment for
some obvious reasons. They felt that some people may commit heinous crimes like
murder but the state cannot kill them by law. It has the serene duty to save
the life of every citizen and the time and date of one's death is to be decided
by Providence alone. Moreover, they believe that death-penalty of a person can
by no means prevent crime in society because out of a distrust on the legal
system, some people feel that they should take the law in their own hands and
some offenders fondly think that they might go away with impunity.
But Rijiju countered all arguments of the dissidents by some cogent logic.
First, the Constitution has expressly provided various safeguards against the
miscarriage of justice regarding death-penalty. We have a 3 or4-tier legal
system and, more often than not, a case comes up to the higher court on appeal.
If capital punishment is awarded by a lower court by judicial mistake, it can
be corrected by the appeal-court. Moreover, even if such case is not moved to
the higher court, the sentence pronounced by the Judge is to be approved by the
High Court which can correct the error.
Thirdly, our Supreme Court has made it crystal clear that this judicial power
must be exercised in 'exceptional circumstances' and as 'an unavoidable
alternative'. In other words, the apex court clearly ruled that such sentence
can be pronounced only in the 'rarest' case.
Above all, the accused can, under Art. 72 (i), appeal to the President to grant
pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend or
commute the sentence. Almost similarly, he can under Art. 161, also send an
appeal to the Governor to exercise his mercy power. In such case, the President
can, if he deems fit, save the life of the offender and the Governor can, in
some cases, use his clemency-power.
Such power has been conferred upon the executive for a valid reason. The courts
apply the law and they cannot go beyond it. But the President and the Governor
can consider several non-judicial factors such as the offender???s
socio-economic condition, motive, health, age, sex, psychological stage,
background of the crime and circumstantial sequence. So there is sufficient
scope for commutation of the death-penalty.
While a pardon absolves the offender from punishment, commutation substitutes
one form of punishment to another of a light character. Remission reduces the
amount of sentence without changing its nature. Respite means a lesser
punishment due to some reason like pregnancy and reprieve implies a stay of the
execution of the sentence.
In this matter, the Constitution has granted almost concurrent power to the
President and the Governor. So if one of them refuses to respond, the
petitioner can approach the other. However, V.D. Mahajan points out the
President alone should be vested with such clemency-power, because it is
normally a prerogative of the Head of the State which cannot be claimed by
others. Of course, this gubernatorial power is not so wide as that of the
President, because he can exercise it in case the punishment is inflicted for
violating a law relating to the executive power of the state.
But, it has practically widened the range of executive mercy to the accused by
keeping 2 alternatives. Thus, the President's power does not affect the similar
power of the Governor. Of course, there seems to be some inconsistency between
Art. 161 and Art. 72(1) (c), because both the President and the Governor have
been granted clemency-power. But, according to G.S. Pandey, the 2 can surely be
reconciled. In cases where death-sentence has been awarded, the President alone
can leniently deal with it.
Thus, there should be little fear for judicial 'murder'. Before pronouncing the
death-sentence, the courts meticulously consider all sides of the case and,
very rarely, do they issue an order to hang the offender. Moreover, such
verdict can be modified by the executive Head of the State on humanitarian
grounds.
As a stark reality, every civilized society requires some sort of penalty for
individual acts of offence. A cold-blooded murder or a gang-rape cannot go with
impunity and if one deliberately destroys another's life, he cannot have the
right to live. Moreover, the capital punishment definitely has a deterrent
effect - the fear of death often prevents people from committing a heinous
crime.
However, it does not in any way imply that the legal system should be based
upon the cruel principle of 'eye for an eye' or 'tooth for a tooth.' It simply
means that society must be legally cleansed. When an enemy agent sells a secret
document to his master for sabotage or the terrorist takes away innocent lives,
no legal system can show him any mercy. Even our Law Commission has suggested
that in the case of terrorism and waging war, death-sentence shall be the
befitting penalty. In other words, some kind of fear is really needed in order
to stem the rot in the polity.
The aim of the law is to protect people from the terror and tyranny of the
miscreants. So, when the crime is diabolical, the law should be sufficiently
severe in order to punish the offender and prevent its recurrence by other.
This is why the death-penalty should remain in force until peace and
tranquility are within our reach. We can, at best, codify some crimes which, in
effect, would entail death-penalty.
(source: Nirmalendu Bikash Rakshit; The writer is a Griffith Scholar, Author
and Former Reader, New Alipore College----The Statesman)
IRAN----executions
4 People Publicly Hanged In Southern Iran
4 men were publicly hanged in the Persian Gulf Island of Qeshm, on Wednesday
November 23, according to the local "qeshmeazad" news website. The 4 prisoners
were convicted of raping a girl in 2014 said the report.
The pictures published on this website show hundreds of people watching the
public hanging in a beach area. None of the prisoners were identified by name.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
*********************
Hassan Rouhani: Iran's Executioner
There has been an atrocious rise in the number of executions in Iran under the
mullahs??? president, Hassan Rouhani, according to dissident writer Heshmat
Alavi writing in the American Thinker on November 23.
The following is the text of the op-ed:
November 23, 2016
Hassan Rouhani: Iran's Executioner
By Heshmat Alavi
As we begin to wind down to the end of Hassan Rouhani's term as president of
the regime in Iran, it is time to take a look back at the past four years. We
all remember how the West joyfully welcomed his election -- read selection --
as a change of gear in Iran aimed at moderation. However, what the world
witnessed ever since has been anything but. An atrocious rise in executions,
continued public punishments and an escalating trend of oppression has been
Rouhani's report card during his tenure. With a new administration coming into
town, Washington must make it crystal clear to Tehran that human rights
violations will no longer be tolerated.
Unprecedented executions
Despite pledging to hold the "key" to Iran's problems, Rouhani has failed to
provide even an iota of the freedoms the Iranian people crave and deserve. His
record has revealed an unrelenting loyalty to the regime establishment in
regards to social oppression and continued crackdowns. Iran sent 18 to the
gallows last week alone, according to official reports.
As the international community continued its policy of appeasement, Rouhani and
the entire regime used this opportunity to launch an execution rampage. Over
2,500 people have been sent to the gallows ever since Rouhani came to power,
shattering all records held by this regime itself in over 2 decades.
In 2015 alone, Iran was executing an individual every eight hours, as reported
by Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights
in Iran.
Vast social crackdown
Rouhani's commitment to regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the ruling elite
has rendered a wide-ranging, escalating crackdown. In addition to the
executions mentioned above, state-sponsored social oppression has resulted in
horrific scenes of public hangings, floggings, and even limb amputations.
The prisons are overwhelmed with inmates, leading to intolerable and inhumane
conditions. Political prisoners, specifically, are subject to horrendous
treatment by the authorities. Renowned human rights organization Amnesty
International has recently issued an Urgent Action call expressing major
concerns over the case of Maryam Akbari Monfared, a Green Movement organizer
still in prison 2 years after her family put up her bail.
And this is merely a single example of the dreadful results of Rouhani's
domestic policies. The regime, with the West unfortunately falling in line, had
claimed that the Iranian nation welcomed Rouhani's presidency with open arms.
While such assertions were politically motivated from the very beginning, the
ordinary Iranian has been the first to pay the price of such a failed
engagement policy.
A call for justice
The Iranian population is extremely fond of the Internet and millions are
actively using social media. Despite its vast censorship efforts, the regime
has failed to completely firewall the entire globe from the clever and highly
motivated Iranian netizen. Various clips, images, and stories from inside Iran
are leaking to the outside world as we speak, revealing ever more the regime's
atrocities.
One significant case involves the exposure of a controversial sound file
shedding light on a private meeting between the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali
Montazeri and the main officials involved in the horrendous 1988 summer
massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners across Iran. Montazeri was the
successor to Iranian regime founder, mullah Ruhollah Khomeini, set aside by
Khomeini himself considering his opposing perspectives.
This disclosure sent shockwaves amongst the Iranian people from all walks of
life, and throughout the globe. As a result a global movement is demanding
accountability from those responsible for the horrific massacre of thousands of
innocent political prisoners. The victims of this carnage included members and
supporters of the main Iranian opposition entity, People's Mojahedin
Organization of Iran, and other dissident groups and minorities. The PMOI, more
commonly known as the MEK in the West, has also been the focus of a lobbying
campaign launched by Iran. Tehran's mullahs are terrified of MEK supporters
such as former New York City mayor and ambassador John Bolton being considered
for senior cabinet posts in a Donald Trump White House.
Conclusion
The entire regime in Iran, including the so-called "hardliners" and
"moderates," are shifting gear for the upcoming presidential elections in June
2017. Members of the Rouhani faction have described U.S. President Barack
Obama's tenure as a "golden era." This signals how Tehran took full advantage
of Obama's rapprochement as a green light to escalate executions and further
implement social crackdown.
With a new administration set to take the reins in Washington, the opportunity
has arrived for America to raise the issue of Iran's human rights violations.
Such outrageous crimes have no place in the 21st century, and all eyes are on
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. Supporting the call to hold all senior
Iranian regime officials involved in the 1988 massacre accountable for their
crimes is a good start.
**************************
Execution of 4 young men in public in Qeshm
Iranian Regime's Member of Parliament: 5,000 young people of 20 to 30 years old
in Iran's prisons are on death row
The religious fascism ruling Iran, in order to intensify the atmosphere of
intimidation and to prevent popular uprising, has resorted to public hangings,
and everyday shows horrendous scenes of hanging bodies from the cranes in
public.
On Wednesday November 23, the mullahs' henchmen publicly hanged 4 young people
collectively in the Qeshm Island in Hormozgan province.
Hassan Norouzi, a member of the regime's Parliament in a shocking confession
said: "5,000 people aged 20 to 30 years old are on death row. Most of them are
1st-time drug offenders" (Mehr state run news agency - November 23).
Youssefian, another member of parliament said: "We have executed so many, we
execute every day. ... Rajaeeshahr 30, another place 20, another place 10, what
was the result? In 1990 when I was the prosecutor in Mazandaran province, a
report came from the office of education that when you execute 1 person, 20 to
30 other students don't come to school ... a lady said in the court ... in Iran
a whole family is executed, it is not the individual who gets executed."
(Farhag state-run radio November 23).
Any relationship with this medieval regime, which maintains power only through
torture and execution, must be contingent upon a halt to executions. Ignoring
the appalling record of human rights violations by the clerical regime under
any pretext further emboldens Iran's ruling criminals.
(source for both: NCR-Iran)
BELARUS:
Belarus' efforts to uphold democratic values are "insufficient", MEPs say
MEPs say that Belarus' progress in upholding democratic values is
"insufficient" in a resolution voted on Thursday. They note that Belarus is
taking new political prisoners, harassing the opposition, using capital
punishment, and failing to address safety concerns about its first nuclear
power plant, being built in Ostrovets.
MEPs stress that "since 1994 no free and fair elections have been conducted in
Belarus" and that its attempts to make progress during 2015 presidential and
2016 parliamentary elections were insufficient. Key sectors of the Belarusian
economy are still under state control, no new political party has been
registered since 2000, new ways to harass or even jail the opposition are being
found, they add.
The resolution calls on Belarus to stop these developments, reiterates the
European Parliament's commitment to support the pro-democratic aspirations of
its people and calls on the European External Action Service and the EU
Commission "to continue and strengthen support for civil society organisations
in Belarus and abroad."
Stop capital punishment
MEPs urge Belarus, the only country in Europe still applying capital
punishment, to "join a global moratorium on execution of the death penalty as a
1st step towards permanent abolition." The Belarusian Supreme Court confirmed
four death penalties in 2016, they note.
(source: europa.eu)
ANTIGUA:
Reports say ex-death row inmates awaiting re-sentence are risks to society
In a hearing yesterday to determine their fate for the murders they committed,
2 former death row convicts awaiting resentencing - Atley Alexander and Fitzroy
Jarvis - have been described as potential "risks" to society.
Justice Darshan Ramdhani, who presided over the case, will be spending the next
few days reviewing arguments on the appropriate sentence for the convicted
killers who will be re-sentenced on Monday, because the Privy Council has ruled
that the automatic sentence of death is unconstitutional.
And further, even if the death penalty is warranted in the two cases, the Privy
Council has already handed down a landmark decision making it impossible to
carry out the death sentence if a person has been on death row for more than 5
years.
Each man has been on death row for more than a decade.
Alexander was des-cribed as someone with antisocial personality disorder and
his risk for recidivism (to re-offend) is, according to a psychiatric report,
considered high.
The court heard that he has been in solitary confinement by request to avoid
interaction with other inmates and "to avoid problems".
Jarvis's relatives said they do not think he should be released. His
psychiatric evaluation report indicates he is a risk and residents who were
interviewed by the Probation Department said they are concerned that he could
be a risk to them.
Alexander was initially sentenced to death in 1999 but has been behind bars
since his arrest in 1997 for killing his ex-partner Jacqueline Simon, who was 9
months pregnant, and her 2 children - Amber James, 13 and 10-year-old Sophia
Jones.
He had doused the house with gasoline and set it alight while they were asleep.
Another of Simon???s daughters who was in the house managed to escape to tell
the story of what transpired right to the end of the tumultuous relationship.
The DPP argued that the crime was heinous, premeditated and done in a manner to
ensure the victims had no chance to escape. Up to yesterday, Alexander denied
he was the killer and the court noted he showed no remorse.
The alibi he gave claiming he was at his own home at the time of the incident,
was discredited and proven false at trial.
(source: The Antigua Observer)
NIGERIA:
Kano State Governor Signs Death Penalty for Kidnappers, Others into Law
Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has signed the State's
Kidnapping, Abduction and Forced Labour bill into law.
This was contained in a press statement in Kano on Wednesday by the Director
General of Media and Publicity to the Governor, Malam Salihu Tanko Yakasai.
The statement explained that the law became necessary in view of the spate of
kidnappings in the state, particularly in local government areas neighboring
Falgore forest.
"The law provides for death sentence for kidnappers who abduct and kill their
victims, while kidnappers who abduct but did not kill their victims, if
apprehended and found culpable, would be jailed for life", the statement
revealed.
According to it, Ganduje therefore advised kidnappers to repent and hand over
their weapons to security agencies.
He explained that those who do so would be considered for rehabilitation, to
enable them re-integrate into the society.
(source: nigeriatoday.ng)
KENYA:
Man to hang for stealing child's slippers and shoes in Nakuru
A man who stole a pair of slippers, a pair shoes and a wrist watch has been
condemned to death.
Samuel Ndung'u had initially been sentenced to seven years in prison by the
Magistrates Court for using a metal rod to steal the items which belonged to a
child.
But aggrieved with his conviction in 2011, he moved to the High Court which
enhanced the sentence.
The Court of Appeal has upheld the death penalty, saying the State has proved
the robbery with violence charge.
He had filed a second appeal before a three-judge bench composed of justices
Phillip Waki, Roselyne Nambuye and Patrick Kiage hoping that he could get his
freedom back.
"The position in law is that due process had to be followed for the proof or
otherwise of the offence charged. In the instant appeal due process of the law
was followed and the offence established and proved to required threshold
against the appellant. We cannot therefore, interfere with their concurrent
findings on guilt and punishment. In the result we find no merit in this
appeal. It is dismissed in its entirety," the appeal court ruled.
According to the evidence before the court, Ndung'u together with an accomplice
stole the items in broad daylight.
The incident occurred in Molo, Nakuru County.
The court was told that on June 6,2011 Samuel Macharia was on his way home when
he noticed 2 men standing at his gate.
The old man ignored the duo and entered his compound only for them to force
their way in.
The robbers went for Macharia's grandchild's pair of slippers and shoes that
had been left out to dry.
Macharia raised alarm as he grabbed Ndung'u and wrestled with him to the
ground. Passers by heard his cry and assisted him to arrest Ndung'u. His
accomplice escaped.
"We also find that the violence meted on the complainant was in the assailant's
attempt to prevent the complainant from thwarting the said robbery," said the
judges.
(source: standardmedia.co.ke)
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