Feb. 15
SINGAPORE----female foreign national faces death penalty
Indonesian helper in Singapore faces death for alleged murder of elderly
employer
An Indonesian domestic helper in Singapore has been charged today with the
murder of her 78-year-old employer, media reports said.
Wheelchair-bound Tay Quee Lang was found dead in her flat at Block 276 Tampines
Street 22 with a knife reportedly lodged in her neck.
Channel News Asia reports that Minah, 37, is accused of causing the death of
Tay at about 2.10pm on Monday in the Tampines flat Tay shared with her husband,
who was not home at the time of the alleged killing. Police said they received
a call for assistance at about 2.10pm. When officers arrived at the unit on the
5th floor, they found the woman lying motionless. She was pronounced dead at
the scene by paramedics.
In court today, Minah, dressed in a black and white striped T-shirt, appeared
calm as the capital charge was read to her by an interpreter. She will be
remanded for a psychiatric evaluation and will next appear in court on Mar 8.
If she is found guilty of murder, Minah will face the death penalty.
(source: thestandard.com.hk)
NIGERIA:
Lagos NAWOJ to FG, states: Pass death penalty for rape
The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Lagos State Chapter, has
called on the Federal Government and all state governments to pass death
penalty for rape.
This call was contained in a communique signed by the Lagos NAWOJ Chairperson,
Hajia Sekinah Lawal at the association's February Congress which held in Lagos
State.
The group commended the Lagos State House of Assembly and Governor Akinwunmi
Ambode for passing death penalty for kidnapping in the state noting that rape
is also a big problem in the country.
"The Police and parents should be ready to report and follow cases of rape to
the last conclusion. Mothers should also make sure their grown-up girls were
well-dressed as a strategy to curb rape while those found guilty should be
sentenced to death in order to serve as deterrent to others," it added.
Lagos NAWOJ also called on Federal and state governments to urgently do
something about the economy with a view to tackling high inflation, saying
access to drugs, medical care and food items is becoming more difficult.
Similarly, members expressed concern over the likelihood of emergence of fake
drugs due to unavailability of the originals.
The group also commended the first lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari for the women
empowerment programme through vocational trainings and called for more
empowerment programmes for unemployed graduates and women.
"A place like Lagos State for instance has a lot of riverine communities; with
this, we can have more fish farmers so as to meet the deficit of fish farming
in Nigeria," the communique suggested.
The group urged all and sundry to do everything within their capabilities to
end female genital mutilation.
(source: The Nation)
IRAN----executions
13 Prisoners Executed
9 prisoners on death row, 3 verdicts for hand amputation
The mullahs' regime's henchmen sent 10 inmates to the gallows in Qum and Zabol
on February 13. One of them was executed while his appeal had been sent to the
regime's judiciary. Also, 3 other prisoners, 29 and 30 years old, were executed
in Jiroft and Mashhad prisons on February 11 and 12.
On the other hand, 9 prisoners have been reportedly transferred to solitary
confinement in Gohardasht prison for execution. Iranian Resistance calls all
relevant international authorities to take urgent and effective action to
prevent these executions.
A few days ago, Ali Alizadeh, an official in the so-called anti-drug campaign,
called for the continuation of brutal punishments and said, "Adjusting death
penalty does not contribute to the campaign, and faces it with challenges."
(Khaneh Mettlat, state-run news agency- 5 February 2017)
In yet another case, the mullahs' judiciary in Tehran issued the ruling for
cutting off the hands of three individuals charged with theft. (Hamshahri,
state daily- 12 February 2017)
Unable to cope with the growing domestic and international crises, and in fear
of public uprising, the hated regime of mullahs finds the only way out in
intensifying suppression. The regime's officials should be expelled from the
world community for their anti-human crimes, and must be tried for crime
against humanity. Silence and inaction before the crimes of this savage regime
over the past three decades has encouraged it to continue and intensify these
crimes.
(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)
**********
9 Prisoners Hanged
2 unidentified prisoners were reportedly hanged at Mashhad's Vakilabad Prison
on Sunday February 12 on murder charges, and 7 unidentified prisoners were
reportedly hanged at Qom's Langroud Prison on Monday February 13 on drug
related charges.
According to the state-run news agency Rokna, 1 of the prisoners from Vakilabad
Prison comitted murder on March 11, 2007 at the age of 19 while the other
prisoner committed murder on December 19, 2007 at the age of 21.
The human rights news agency HRANA reported on the 7 executions carried out at
Langroud Prison. Their report identifies one of the prisoners as Saeed Shokri,
26 years of age.
"The prosecutor of Qom is newly appointed, and these seven executions were his
way of spreading fear. Unfortunately, they didn't even allow Mr. Shokri's
lawyer to file a request for a retrial. Instead, they ridiculed him and said
that he should attend his client's funeral the next day," a source close to Mr.
Shokri tells Iran Human Rights.
Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and the media, have been
silent on these 7 executions.
(source: iranhr.net)
PHILIPPINES:
ASEAN parliamentarians urge Duterte: Reject death penalty
Parliamentarians from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on
Wednesday urged Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies at the
House of Representatives to reject the re-imposition of the death penalty in
the country, and to respect the Philippines' international obligations and
standing in the ASEAN as a regional leader in human rights protection.
Instead of bringing back the death penalty, the Philippines and ASEAN should
think about reforms, preventive measures, and rehabilitation, as ways of
deterring crimes instead of the old "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth"
doctrine, Cambodia Rep. Mu Sochua, Battambang Representative of the National
Assembly of Cambodia, said.
"Killing, in whatever form, is a form of violence. Death penalty is the extreme
form of violence," Sochua said.
Malaysia, a nation that still imposes capital punishment, still gets opposition
from its legislators lobbying for the abolition of the punishment that has been
labeled as anti-poor.
Malaysian Batukawan Representative Kasthuri Patto of the Parliament of Malaysia
said most victims, if not all, of capital punishment in Malaysia are the poor.
"The ones who are normally victims of this are the marginalized, the poor.
Members of the opposition have been lobbying to push for the abolition,
particularly in drug trafficking," Patto said.
"Of the 1,000 people who are in death row, 600 are foreigners," Patto added.
She added that the Malaysian government has already put up a committee that
will look into the methods of the death penalty.
The Philippines, represented by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, argued that there is
consensus worldwide that the death penalty is not an effective means of
combating crime, including illegal drugs.
"Iran has had the death penalty since 1959 and yet they admitted the death
penalty did not solve their drug problem," she said.
"Singapore and Hongkong...Hongkong has no death penalty, Singapore does, but
they have the same crime rate," Hontiveros added.
The ASEAN Parliamentarians also reminded the Duterte administration about the
country's international obligations.
The Philippines formally abolished capital punishment in 2006 and ratified in
2007 the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) aimed at the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.
"We have always been inspired by your people power movement, democracy. We want
to continue to put you in that high platform, to play that role to protect
fundamental rights for our people," Sochua said.
"The Philippines must commit to its true self of being a righteous nation, a
nation of faith, a nation that is looked upon," Patto said.
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said that since the
Philippines abolished capital punishment in 2006, it has inspired other
countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam to restrict the use of the
death penalty, which denotes positive regional progress in the move toward
abolition.
(source: abs-cbn.com)
**************************
Palace to ASEAN lawmakers: Death penalty 'apt' for PH----The Philippine
government, responding to criticism from Cambodian and Malaysian lawmakers,
says the death penalty is needed to enforce discipline
Malacanang reacted to Southeast Asian lawmakers' opposition to the revival of
the death penalty in the Philippines, arguing that capital punishment is an
appropriate measure for the country.
"While some countries may have their opinion, we find the move to reimpose
death penalty, reserved for certain heinous crimes, as apt for exercising
discipline in a culture that now treats adherence to law an option rather than
a rule of community life," said Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella in a
statement on Wednesday, February 15.
9 members of the Cambodian Parliament and 6 from the Malaysian Parliament
signed a solidarity statement opposing the planned reimposition of capital
punishment, a measure strongly supported by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The Cambodian and Malaysian lawmakers called the death penalty a "barbaric and
outdated form of punishment" and one that "puts the Philippines' internatonal
credibility at risk."
Despite the criticism, the Palace said the reimposition of the death penalty
"remains a priority legislative measure."
It pointed out that several other Southeast Asian countries, like Singapore,
continue to impose the death penalty in order to deter crime.
The Philippines' House of Representatives is currently holding debates on the
bill for the revival of the death penalty. Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is eyeing
the bill's passage by mid-March.
The Senate, however, is not keen on approving the measure.
Last February 10, Duterte reiterated his support for the reimposition of
capital punishment, saying that government statistics prove it is an effective
deterrent against crime.
The Philippine President, elected partly for his hardline stance against crime
and drugs, said he also believes the death penalty is the only fitting
punishment for certain crimes.
***************
Death penalty lifting did not increase incidence of heinous crimes
President Duterte last week argued for the return of the death penalty by
referring to the purported statistics reported by the Bureau of Corrections
head Benjamin de los Santos in his recent testimony to the Senate.
The bureaucrat testified: "BuCor statistics show that before the abolition of
the death penalty we had 189 inmates convicted for the commission of heinous
crimes. After such abolition, a staggering 6,024 were sentenced for heinous
crimes, an astonishing 3,280 percent increase."
That's a total lie, a patent fabrication: The Senate must cite the BuCor
official for perjury, and for attempting to fool it to pass a law re-imposing
the death penalty by presenting false information.
There is no such data: Neither the BuCor nor its mother agency, the justice
department, has collated information on convictions on heinous crimes.
The only BuCor data that could approximate the number of "inmates convicted for
heinous crimes" are the number of its yearly admissions of convicts. The number
of those convicted of heinous crimes - such as murder, rape, and kidnapping -
may be estimated based on its data that 48 % of convicts in its prisons are
"maximum security" inmates.
(To clarify, the BuCor under the justice department is charged with supervising
6 national prisons, including the biggest, the national penitentiary at the New
Bilibid Prison, with its inmates consisting of those already convicted and with
sentences of more than 3 years. On the other hand, the inmates in the jails of
the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which is under the Philippine
National Police, are those still on trial and with convictions of less than 3
years.)
As the data below show, after the June 2006 ban of the death penalty, there was
very minimal increase in the number of those convicted for murders and rapes,
the 2 most frequent crimes punishable by death, with very little deviation from
the yearly average of 2,558 incidences.
The slight increases are due of course to the increases in our country's
population, which grew from 87 million in 2006 to 101 million in 2015. Indeed,
for both 2016 when there was no death penalty, and 2005 when there was, the
heinous crime rate per 100,000 population, was the same, at 2.8.
Lifting of capital punishment in 2006 had no impact on incidence of murder and
rape.
The data therefore indisputably shows that the abolition of the death penalty
had not encouraged more heinous crimes, contrary to the claims of the BuCor
official and proponents of the death penalty.
The Philippine data isn't at all surprising: rigorous, scientific studies show
that the death penalty has no impact on the incidence of heinous crimes. 2
studies in the United States that claimed to prove that the abolition of the
death penalty increased murder rates in certain US states, were later proven to
be "fundamentally flawed" by that country's National Research Council.
In fact, murder rates from 1900 to 2010 in American states in which there is no
death penalty were even lower than in states with capital punishment. A 2009
survey of criminologists showed that over 88 % believed that the death penalty
was not a deterrent to murder.
The issue is really so commonsensical. As Amnesty International has pointed
out: "The threat of execution at some future date is unlikely to enter the
minds of those acting under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, those who
are in the grip of fear or rage, those who are panicking while committing
another crime (such as a robbery), or those who suffer from mental illness or
mental retardation and do not fully understand the gravity of their crime."
Same finding here: Death penalty no impact on murder rates.
In essence, the death penalty has been a remnant from our civilization's
violent past, unenlightened by humanity's higher values, mainly the recognition
of the mystery and wonder of a human life, that took more than 1,000 years to
develop. We have only learned in the past 50 years that a human does not
totally have free will, with his baser instincts capable at times of completely
taking over his reason or values, even as we have to pretend we are captains of
our souls.
From being a penalty imposed by all nations in the past, 140 nations have
abolished it in law and in practice, and only 54 retain it in practice. Only
the US (31 out of its 52 states) among the Western nations retain it, and not
even "violent" Russia in practice.
It's not a coincidence that many of the American states that do have the death
penalty are those where Christians who take the Bible literally dominate.
Excluding in the discussion China and other nations whose cultures are still
dominated by the primacy of the group - as in an ant colony - rather than the
individual, the most important reason why there is still capital punishment in
this day of enlightenment and age of reason will surprise you.
Religion
It is religion, particularly Christianity and its offshoot, Islam. Christianity
and Islam have molded most of humanity's values for at least a thousand years,
and these 2 have always brainwashed people to believe that God himself sees
vengeance as a value to be upheld, that an eye must be paid for an eye taken, a
life for a life extinguished.
As late as 1952, Pope Pius XII even made the ridiculous argument that the
"State does not dispose of the individual's right to life." Rather, he argued,
"in expiation of his crime, [the criminal]has already disposed of his right to
life." Until 1969, the Vatican City's statutes had capital punishment - for the
crime of attempting to assassinate the Pope.
Pope Francis has stated that he is against the death penalty, but that it is
his personal opinion and he is appealing for a consensus to end the death
penalty on the ground that it is "cruel and unnecessary." The Vatican had
officially supported the 2015 United Nations campaign against the death
penalty.
But believe it or not, Catholic dogma still doesn't see anything wrong with
capital punishment as a right of the state to defend itself. No wonder the
support of many, if not most, Filipinos for the return of capital punishment in
this unlucky, dominantly Catholic nation.
We will be the 1st country to re-impose the death penalty, and the second time
around after the ex-general Fidel Ramos rammed a law through Congress in 1993
authorizing it. Gloria Arroyo abolished it in 2006. Duterte wants it back,
after given false information.
What a country that keeps changing its mind on such a fundamental issue.
(On Friday, it was not the 2006 abolition of the death penalty that encouraged
more crimes, rather it was the incompetence of the BS Aquino III regime and I
will show that with facts, figures, and logic.)
****************
House opposition: Pointless to push for death penalty if Senate rejects it
Representative Raul Daza says the House debate on capital punishment will be
'moot and academic' if the Senate kills the death penalty bill Opposition
lawmakers advised the House leadership to "pause and think" given that a
majority of senators are not keen on passing the controversial death penalty
bill.
In a press conference on Tuesday, February 14, Northern Samar 1st District
Representative Raul Daza cited a resolution passed by 14 senators declaring
that the Senate has a say in the termination of any treaty or international
agreement.
During the Senate's first hearing on the proposed revival of capital
punishment, anti-death penalty Senator Franklin Drilon forced a government
lawyer to admit that restoring the death penalty is illegal under an
international treaty that the Philippines ratified in 2007.
The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights bans states party to it from reimposing capital punishment.
"So this raises a prejudicial question: Should the House now proceed on HB 4727
given that the Senate or a majority of the Senate has already put in writing
their sentiment that we should not tamper with our treaty obligations without
first according to the Senate due respect to look at how the bill will affect a
treaty that has been ratified by it?" asked Daza.
He said that if the Senate ultimately decides to block the passage of the death
penalty bill, all the efforts of the House leadership to push for the measure
will be "moot and academic."
"I think the House leadership, given this new development, should pause and
think. Because in the event that the Senate asserts its authority and expresses
its sentiment to uphold and restate our treaty commitments under the protocol,
which is that we committed not to reimpose the death penalty, the House bill
now becomes moot and academic," said Daza.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is bent on ending the plenary debates on the death
penalty by March 8. He had already warned congressmen that he would strip them
of their leadership titles if they vote against HB 4727.
The Speaker also said he "does not care" if the Senate ends up blocking the
bill so long as it is passed in the House. But Albay 1st District
Representative Edcel Lagman disagrees with Alvarez.
"This is a bicameral legislature. No one acts solely and independently of the
other. So kailangan mangialam (you need to care) because of the bilateral
nature of the Congress of the Philippines," said Lagman.
He also urged the House and Senate leadership to meet and iron out the
differences in their approach to the reimposition of the death penalty.
"Otherwise, we in the House will be engaged in an exercise of futility if after
all, the Senate will not approve any measure reimposing the death penalty,"
said Lagman.
(source for all: rappler.com)
****************
Minority solons to House leadeship: Pause, think about death penalty
An independent minority lawmaker called on the leadership of the House of
Representatives to reconsider its support for the death penalty bill due to the
country's treaty obligations for the abolition of capital punishment.
In a press conference at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Northern
Samar Rep. Raul Daza urged the House leadership to "pause and think" about the
country's obligations to abolish the death penalty, the central issue that
stalled the deliberations in the Senate.
Senators centered on the country's obligations to the United Nations
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which under the
Second Optional Protocol states that "Each State Party shall take all necessary
measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction."
Daza urged the members of the majority supporting the bill to allow Senate to
first consider the treaty obligation, which if found valid would render the
House bill seeking to restore the death penalty moot and academic.
"The House leadership, given this new development, should pause and think
because in the event that the Senate asserts its authority to uphold and
restate our treaty commitments under the protocol, the House bill becomes moot
and academic," Daza said.
For his part, Albay Rep Edcel Lagman said the House should not waste its time
on deliberatingon the death penalty if it would be an exercise in futility.
He called on the congressional leaders to meet and thresh out its differing
positions on the death penalty.
"I'm urging the House as well as the Senate leadership to meet in order to iron
out this particular difference. Otherwise, we in the House would be engaged in
an exercise in futility if the Senate will not approve any measure reimposing
death penalty," Lagman said.
The House bill is expected to limit crimes punishable with death to the most
heinous, making the proposal more favorable to lawmakers, and indicating that
the death penalty bill has better chances in the lower House than in the
Senate.
House Bill 4727 restoring death penalty is seen to be a priority legislation in
the House of Representatives.
The bill seeks to impose death penalty on more than 20 heinous offenses, such
as rape with homicide, kidnapping for ransom and arson with death.
According to the original version of the bill, the following are punishable by
death under the Revised Penal Code - treason, qualified piracy, qualified
bribery, parricide, murder, infanticide, rape, kidnapping and serious illegal
detention, robbery with homicide, rape, intentional mutilation or arson and
destructive arson.
Plunder is also punishable with reclusion perpetua to death according to the
Republic Act 7080 or the plunder law as amended by Republic Act 7659.
Some lawmakers, however, believe plunder should not be punishable with death
under the bill.
The following offenses under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act are also
punishable with death - importation; sale, trading, administration,
dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation; maintenance of a den,
dive or resort; manufacture; possession of certain quantities of dangerous
drugs; cultivation; unlawful prescription; misappropriation or failure to
account confiscated, seized or surrendered dangerous drugs; and planting of
evidence.
Carnapping is also a criminal offense punishable with death under the
Anti-Carnapping Act or Republic Act 6539.
Justice committee chairperson, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, said the
House leadership is willing to reduce the list of crimes punishable under death
only to the most heinous - drug trade and abuse, murder, kidnapping, carnapping
and rape.
Umali said though that plunder may be removed from the list as it is not as
heinous a crime as those committed against persons and life.
(source: newsinfo.inquirer.net)
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