Feb. 6
EGYPT:
Death penalty verdict issued for Coptic alcohol merchant murderer----The
defendant confessed to crime saying he "would kill all alcohol sellers if he
could"
In just 2 consecutive court sessions, the Alexandria Criminal Court on Sunday
sentenced a defendant to death, charged with 1st-degree murder and caught on
CCTV cameras slaughtering a Coptic alcohol merchant.
The 1st trial session was held on Saturday. The death penalty verdict was sent
to the Grand Mufti for consultation and the final sentence shall be announced
on 9 March, a Sunday state media report said.
Investigations revealed that the accused man, named Adel Soliman, confessed
that he deliberately slaughtered the merchant named Youssef Lamaei while he sat
in front of his store in Sidi Beshr in Alexandria.
The defendant reportedly told the court that he killed Lamaei and that he would
kill all alcohol merchants if he could.
According to a report, published by state-media on 8 January, Soliman was
referred to a criminal court, as he added to his confession statement that the
reason he murdered the merchant was that he sold alcohol and that he had
previously asked him several times to stop such business.
Video footage from the store's security camera showed a bearded man approach
the victim from behind before slitting his throat with a knife. There were
eyewitnesses to the crime, including the victim's family members.
(source: Daily News Egypt)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
Family of baby 'killed by maid' ask Sharjah court for death sentence
The father of a 9-month-old girl allegedly killed by her family's maid has
demanded the death sentence for his daughter's killer.
The Emirati child, called Salama, died in hospital last July. She had been
comatose for 2 weeks after being treated for a fractured skull and broken rib.
After her death police questioned her parents and the family's Indonesian maid
before the woman was arrested by officers from Wasit police station.
At Sharjah Criminal Court on Monday, Salama's father submitted his daughter's
death certificate and asked the court to hand down the death penalty.
"We will not forgive and demand the death penalty," the serviceman told the
court.
The child's mother said that on day of the incident she left her baby with the
maid and left the house.
"When I came back from my outing after 30 minutes, I found Salama in a very bad
shape. Suddenly she fell unconscious and I rushed her to hospital,"said the
Emirati, adding the maid was the only person in the house.
"We have other maids in the family, however, none of them are allowed to enter
our home. The defendant is the only one allowed to be around my child," she
said.
Dr Satish Krishnan, a senior consultant and neurological surgeon at Al Qassimi
Hospital, said the girl was unconscious and not breathing when she arrived at
hospital.
"Emergency teams resuscitated her and once she started to breathe and was
stabilised, a CT scan was carried out and found a blood clot in her brain from
an old injury. The scan revealed a skull fracture and broken rib from a
previous injury."
The defendant entered a plea of not guilty to a murder charge
The next hearing is set for February 27.
(source: The National)
PHILIPPINES:
De Lima pledges to fight revival of death penalty----Senator to also champion
alternative bill imposing reclusion perpetua for heinous crimes
Senator Leila de Lima on Monday vowed to fight the proposed restoration of the
death penalty in the country as the Senate is set to start its discussion on
the issue this week.
The Senate committees on justice and human rights, and on constitutional
amendments and revision of codes are scheduled to tackle the proposal at 10:00
a.m. on Tuesday.
"It is shaping out to be a fight. It is not a fight that we are called to fight
with our fists, weapons or even words. It is a fight we must fight in our
minds: the fight to resist being psychologically and morally broken down by
events," De Lima said in a statement.
"Death was never as much an effective instrument of justice, as it has been a
horrifyingly potent weapon for the politically and militarily powerful to wield
against those they seek to oppress and subjugate," she added.
De Lima, former Justice Secretary, pointed out that even during the Aquino
administration, she has always been vocal against the capital punishment, which
she said "is especially deleterious and prejudicial to the poor."
"My insight as former justice secretary is that by far, the most damning
testimony against capital punishment is the wrongful sentences that have
plagued different jurisdictions in the world pursuing the hallow promise of
death penalty," she said.
"If you think about it, the most certain promise of death penalty is the
collective nightmare of a people who will eventually wake up to realize that an
erroneous death sentence is immutably and tragically irreversible."
The senator said she would instead push for the immediate passage of her Senate
Bill (SB) 368, which seeks to increase the period for reclusion perpetua or
life sentence to 50 years with no possibility of parole as an alternative to
death penalty.
"I am not only fighting several legislative measures pending before the Senate
that will bring back the death penalty, but also I am championing my own
alternative bill imposing qualified reclusion perpetua for extraordinary
heinous crimes," the senator said.
De Lima explained that under the bill, the penalty of reclusion perpetua would
be imposed against those convicted of extraordinary heinous crimes, such as
trafficking, terrorism, kidnapping, carnapping, rape, murder, plunder, among
others.
The senator has also filed SB 369 which seeks to streamline and strengthen the
process of criminal investigation that would expedite and improve the
administration of the criminal justice system in the country.
Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero, member of the Senate minority bloc, has also
promised to campaign against the revival of the death penalty.
"I am against Death Penalty Bill. I will interpellate, I will vote against it
and as best as I can, try to convince my colleagues not to support it,"
Escudero said during last week's forum in the Senate.
(source: newsinfo.inquirer.net)
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