April 8
INDONESIA:
2 Taiwanese arrested in Jakarta over drugs: CIB
Criminal Investigation Bureau officials and Indonesian police officers join
hands at a news conference at the Jakarta Police Narcotics Division in
Indonesia to signify their solidarity in a joint effort to fight illegal drugs.
Photo: CNA, courtesy of the Indonesian police
2 Taiwanese were arrested last month in Jakarta for allegedly trying to smuggle
almost 3.8kg of amphetamines into Indonesia, the Criminal Investigation Bureau
(CIB) said on Wednesday.
Lai Chen-yu and Huang Ming-wei, both 24, were allegedly caught with amphetamine
packets taped to their legs when they landed at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport on a flight from Taiwan on March 13, the bureau said.
The 3.776kg haul has an estimated street value of NT$4.6 million (US$150,322),
it said.
The Jakarta Police Narcotics Division, together with CIB officials, announced
the arrests at a news conference on Wednesday in the Indonesian capital.
Jakarta Police Chief Inspector General Mochamad Iriawan credited cooperation
between Indonesian and Taiwanese police for the arrests.
"The Taiwanese police told us earlier about the 2 Taiwanese suspects. Their
tip-off helped us track down the suspects' flight," he said.
CIB officials assisting in the investigation said that Lai was a language
student at a Kaohsiung university, and that he had signed a confession after
being questioned by Jakarta police.
"Lai said he was introduced by friends to a contact person for a drug ring, but
he does not know the person's real name or identity," said Cheng Hui-ming,
captain of the bureau's Third Investigation Unit.
Cheng said the contact told Lai he could make easy money and that Lai, who was
unemployed, agreed to do so, with the promise that he would be paid NT$150,000.
"It is not worth losing your life getting involved in drug smuggling, because
Indonesia has severe punishments against such crimes. [The 2 suspects] may face
a minimum of 20 years in prison or be given the death penalty," Cheng said.
7 Taiwanese were sentenced to death for drug smuggling in Indonesia last year,
he added.
3 of them were found carrying 2kg of amphetamines and were arrested at the
airport. The other 4 were convicted for possession of 26kg of amphetamines in
an Indonesian city, he added.
Since Indonesian President Joko Widodo assumed office in 2014, he has presided
over the execution of 18 people convicted of drug charges, including 15
foreigners, Cheng said.
Jakarta police officials said they are still trying to track down the
ringleaders, and evidence point to collusion between Taiwanese syndicates and
an Aceh-Jakarta drug network.
The 2 suspects were supposed to take the amphetamines to a restaurant in West
Jakarta and hand them over to a man known by the initials of T.A.W., Iriawan
said.
(source: Taipei Times)
INDIA:
SC: Death penalty breaches reformative theory of punishment ---- In its 262nd
report, the bench noted, the Law Commission of India recommended abolition of
the death penalty for all crimes other than terrorism-related offences and
waging war.
The Supreme Court on Friday commuted to life term the capital punishment
awarded to a murder convict, noting that death penalty "somehow breaches the
reformative theory of punishment under criminal law".
A bench of Justices P C Ghose and Rohinton F Nariman also underlined that death
penalty had in fact become a "distinctive feature" of criminal law in India,
and that the apex court had been encouraging discussion and debate on the
subject.
"Today when capital punishment has become a distinctive feature of death
penalty apparatus in India which somehow breaches the reformative theory of
punishment under criminal law..." said the bench.
It recalled that the top court had recently referred to the Law Commission to
study the issue of death penalty in India to "allow for an up-to-date and
informed discussion and debate on this subject".
In its 262nd report, the bench noted, the Law Commission of India recommended
abolition of the death penalty for all crimes other than terrorism-related
offences and waging war - offences affecting national security.
Making these observations, the court said it was not inclined to award capital
punishment to the convict in the murder case. "Therefore, confinement till
natural life of the accused respondent shall fulfill the requisite criteria of
punishment in peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case," it held.
The court was hearing an appeal by the Maharashtra government, which had
pressed for death penalty for one Nisar Ramzan Sayyed, who had in October 2010
set on fire his pregnant wife and thrown his minor son into the blaze, causing
their death. While the trial court sent Sayyed to the gallows, the High Court
acquitted him for want of concrete proof.
The apex court, after taking note of the dying declaration of his wife and
other circumstantial evidence, held that Sayyed's guilt was proved beyond
reasonable doubt but this was not a "rarest of the rare case" that warranted
him to be sentenced to death.
(source: indianexpress.com)
GAZA:
Palestinian rights groups condemn Gaza executions
Palestinian human rights groups have condemned the execution by authorities in
the Gaza Strip of 3 civilians accused of collaborating with Israel.
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the Hamas-controlled
interior ministry in Gaza hanged the men, aged 55, 42 and 32, on Thursday
morning. They have been identified only by initials.
The 55-year-old was from Khan Younis in southern Gaza and had been detained
since 2011, according to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. He had originally
been sentenced to 15 years in prison, but a military court later changed the
sentence to death.
The 42-year-old was accused of passing information about Palestinian resistance
factions to Israeli occupation forces. He had also been in detention since
2011. The 32-year-old was identified as a resident of Gaza City.
PCHR called the executions "a clear violation" of the Palestinian Basic Law,
which requires death sentences to be ratified by the president of the
Palestinian Authority.
The current incumbent, Mahmoud Abbas, has not ratified a death sentence in a
decade. In total, 38 persons have been executed since the Palestinian Authority
was established in the early 1990s, 36 of them in the Gaza Strip, according to
PCHR. 25 executions were carried out without ratification from the PA leader.
PCHR has long campaigned against the death penalty as a matter of principle and
reiterated following the latest executions that the measure is neither just nor
a deterrent.
The group also stated that "torture is systematically used against those
convicted of collaboration while being interrogated."
Al Mezan reaffirmed its condemnation of the death penalty, stating that it is
ineffective and "violates the human right to life."
(source: electronicintifada.net)
*********************
UN rights agency condemns PLO's executions in Gaza, urges moratorium on death
penalty
The United Nations human rights office today strongly condemned the execution
of 3 men in Gaza for "collaboration with the occupier" and urged authorities to
halt all further executions and comply with Palestine's obligations under
international law.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR) told reporters in Geneva that the executions took
place "despite our appeal and those by other international and Palestinian
organizations for the sentences not to go ahead."
OHCHR stressed that the executions "were carried out in breach of Palestine's
obligations under international law," including the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, whose conditions on the use of the death penalty
were not abided.
The defendants had been convicted of treason under the PLO Revolutionary Penal
Code on the basis of what is termed "collaboration with the occupier".
The conviction of "treason" does not meet the threshold of "most serious
crimes," as stipulated by the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, Ms. Shamdasani said. These are typically understood as intentional
killings.
In addition, the defendants were tried in military court, in contravention of
international law.
"We are also concerned that trials in Gaza resulting in the imposition of a
death sentence do not appear to meet international fair trial standards," the
spokesperson said.
She said that the accusations were insufficiently investigated, raising the
possibility that the confession may have been coerced.
"We urge the authorities in Gaza to halt further executions and comply with
Palestine's obligations under international law," said Ms. Shamdasani.
"We also call on the State of Palestine to immediately establish an official
moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to its abolition."
(source: un.org)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
