Nov. 28
VIETNAM:
6 arrested in drug smuggling busts over the weekend
About 100 kilograms of heroin and 60 kilograms of marijuana were seized on
Saturday.
6 Vietnamese and Laotian people were arrested for smuggling heroin and
marijuana on Saturday as Vietnamese authorities increased their crackdown on
criminals.
Police in the northern province of Phu Tho arrested 4 men at 11 p.m. on
Saturday who were carrying about 100kg of heroin in 2 cars in Viet Tri.
Vang A Cang (42), Mua A La (43), Mua A Sau (30) and Vang A Du (28) all come
from the Moc Chau District in the mountainous province of Son La, which borders
Laos.
Cang, the gang leader, had promised to pay La and Sau VND100 million ($4,327)
each, and Du VND200 million ($8,654).
Also on Saturday, border guards and police in Vietnam's central province of Ha
Tinh detained 2 Laotian men for smuggling about 60kg of marijuana across the
border.
The men, 31 and 17, were arrested near Vietnam's Can Treo International Border
Gate in Ha Tinh Province at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
The Laotians said they intended to carry the drugs from Laos to sell in
Vietnam.
On October 24, 2 other Laotian men were also arrested in Vietnam's central
province of Thanh Hoa for smuggling nearly 23kg of heroin across the border.
Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. Those convicted of
possessing or smuggling more than 75 kilograms of marijuana, more than 600
grams of heroin, more than 5 kilograms of hashish, 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.
Although the laws are strictly enforced with capital punishment handed down
regularly, drug running continues in border areas. Several drug raids are
reported at the Vietnam-Laos border every month.
(source: vnexpress.net)
TURKEY:
AKP deputy head Turkes says he is against reintroduction of death penalty
Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chair Tugrul Turkes has said
he is against the reintroduction of the death penalty, a hotly-debated issue
since Turkey's failed July 15 military coup attempt.
"I think the reintroduction will bring more harm than benefits. It's also
difficult to bring it back," Turkes told daily Hurryet, adding that he had
voiced his opinion on many platforms.
"We've been talking about this with our lawmaker friends and they all know that
I'm against it," he said.
Turkes also stated thatconstitutional changes were not possible under the state
of emergency in Turkey, commenting on recent debates on a charter change.
"The charter cannot be changed under the state of emergency," Tugrul Turkes
told daily Hurriyet, adding that charter changes were absolute agreement texts.
"Charter changes are absolute agreement texts. The Republican People's Party is
the main opposition and carries responsibilities," he also said.
Saying the "CHP cannot solve the constitutional change issue on the street,"
Turkes said the decision to lengthen the state of emergency had not yet been
given.
"We'll see if the state of emergency will be extended, but a country in a state
of emergency cannot change its constitution," he added.
Turkey declared a 3-month long state of emergency after the July 15 failed coup
attempt, widely believed to have been masterminded by the followers of the
U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. It was later extended for another
3 months.
During his interview, Turkes also said his ideas on the timing of the
constitutional change may cause debates inside the party.
"If it creates a debate it's fine because this needs to be discussed inside the
party," he also said.
(source: Hurriyet Daily News)
INDIA:
HC acquits 3 death convicts in murder case
Citing severe discrepancies in the prosecution's case, the Hyderabad high court
on Friday acquitted 3 convicts, who were sentenced to death in a murder for
gain case.The bench, comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice M Seetharama
Murti, acquitted Yekkaluri Siva Krishna alias Yogi, Akkinapalli Muralikrishna
alias Murali, and Pappula Amar Nageswara Rao, who were accused of murdering
Banawath Badya Naik, an engineer at Nagarjunasagar project in 2011.
Earlier, a special sessions judge-cum-IV additional district judge of Guntur
had sentenced them, natives of Dachepalli of Guntur district, to death. On
February 26, 2011, the 3 picked up Daravath Badya Naik, while he was returning
from Vijayawada after meeting his son in a college hostel. They killed the
engineer when he resisted them and dumped the body in a canal, before escaping
with some gold and Rs 3,500 in cash.
. AP's public prosecutor Posani Venkateswarlu justified the death penalty for
the accused on the ground that they were notorious decoits who would not
hesitate to kill their victims even for smaller gains. He said the state would
appeal against the HC's acquittal order.
(source: The Times of India)
PAKISTAN:
Travesty of justice
It is better that 10 guilty men go free than one man be wrongly convicted - the
words of the English jurist William Blackstone in the 18th century encapsulated
a basic precept of criminal justice. That precept was found desperately wanting
in the case of Mazhar Farooq, a death-row prisoner convicted for a murder that
took place 24 years ago in a village in Punjab's Kasur district. On Friday,
after hearing his appeal against his sentence that had been upheld by the
Lahore High Court in 2009, a Supreme Court bench found him not guilty and
ordered his immediate release. By this time, the prisoner had spent two decades
of his life on death row for no fault of his own, but because an appallingly
flawed criminal justice system let him down every step of the way.
It may be cold comfort, but Mr Farooq can at least take solace in the fact that
he can finally breathe the air of freedom. In October, the apex court acquitted
2 brothers in a 2002 murder case, only to find that the men had already been
hanged 1 year back. Miscarriage of justice is not exclusive to Pakistan, but in
countries like ours, where the criminal justice system is riddled with
shockingly fundamental problems, the chances are that much greater - which is
one of the reasons why this paper has consistently opposed the death penalty.
People without means or connections are disproportionately impacted. Convenient
scapegoats for corrupt law-enforcement officials wanting to demonstrate
'results', once they are ensnared in the slow and torturous legal process,
there is no telling what the outcome will be, even if the investigation is
obviously shoddy and the evidence wholly unconvincing. Indigent accused who
cannot afford to hire defence lawyers have to make do with state-appointed
counsel who are already overburdened and unlikely to be the cream of the crop.
Trials take inordinately long because of repeated adjournments; sometimes also
on account of logistical issues such as shortage of transport to bring
prisoners to court. Corruption at the trial court level is endemic, with
witnesses, police and sometimes even judicial officials susceptible to
financial blandishments to influence the outcome of a case. It bears thinking
then, that in such a defective system where miscarriage of justice is
inevitable, how much of it goes undetected? Or to put it another way: how many
people have we executed for crimes they did not commit?
(source: Editorial, dawn.com)
IRAN:
The Psychological Impacts of the Widespread Executions on the Iranian Society
One of the members of the parliament in Iran admitted that the widespread mass
executions under the sovereignty of the Mullahs' regime bring wrath and fright
to people. He called for reconsideration to these executions.
On 23rd November 2016, MP Ezzatollah Yousefian who is the representative of
Amol City in the parliament had a speech in the parliament and said: "we have
carried out many executions, every day. The number of executions in drug sector
is very high. Do we have to carry out execution every day? We need to
reconsider it eventually, don't we?"
Ezzatollah Yousefian referred to the psychological impacts of the executions in
the society and said: "when I was the attorney general of Mazandaran Province,
a report came from the Ministry of education in 1990.It was stated that as 1
person is executed in a day, nearly 20 to 30 students do not attend school
anymore. I asked them about the reason and they told me that those who are
being executed have a kind of family relationship with the students.
A woman in the court said to the Judge:"Your honor, I said to my son not to
marry this girl because his father is sentenced to death penalty."
At the end, the Iranian MP stressed the significance of the fact that it is not
only the matter of death penalty when one person is executed. The psychological
impacts will remain in his family for years. In other words, this condemnation
is not only for the victim but also for his family. The families, relatives and
generation also suffer about the execution in Iran."
Ezzatollah Yousefian also discussed the increasing number of executions in
Iran. He addressed all members of the parliament and said:"are we going to
continue this way in 20 years? What are the consequences? Take a look at the
age of addiction among the students. Look closely at the age of addiction in
our society. In our country, there are people who are waiting to sell their
kidney due to poverty whereas on the other part of the world the kidney
receivers are naturally waiting for a kidney transplant. Nevertheless, the
kidney seller has to wait for his turn since there are many people out there
who actually want to sell their kidney. Note that I have not yet mentioned
about selling other body parts. The issues are not trivial, however. The words
are only spoken but there is no action towards them."
(source: NCR-Iran)
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