Oct. 23
INDIA:
Death penalty hangs by a thin thread
While not revisiting the subject of the constitutional validity of the death
penalty, the Supreme Court recently took up the matter of the mode of execution
of those on the death row and issued a notice to the Centre, with the
observation whether the State could think of an alternative mode to hanging by
the neck.
A Delhi advocate has challenged Section 354 (5) of the Criminal Procedure Code,
which states that when any person is sentenced to death, he shall be hanged by
the neck till he is dead. The petitioner has sought the court's intervention to
reduce the suffering of the condemned prisoner, contending that when a person
is hanged, his dignity is destroyed.
While admitting the petition, the court observed, "Legislature can think of
some other means by which a convict, who under law has to face death sentence,
should die in peace and not in pain. It has been said since centuries that
nothing can be equated with painless death,"
This is not the 1st time that the Supreme Court is examining the mode of
execution. In Deena Dayal vs Union of India, decided in 1983, it reviewed the
provision of S.354 (5) and said, "It is clear from this narrative that neither
electrocution, nor lethal gas, nor shooting, nor even the lethal injection has
any distinct or demonstrable advantage over the system of hanging. Therefore,
it is impossible to record the conclusion with any degree of certainty that the
method of hanging should be replaced by any of these methods. ...torture,
brutality, barbarity, humiliation and degradation of any kind is impermissible
in the execution of any sentence. The process of hanging does not have any of
these, directly, indirectly or incidentally."
In its 187th Report submitted in 2003, the Law Commission of India examined the
same subject and stated that administering a lethal injection is a less painful
form of execution. It recommended that Section 354(5) needs to be amended by
providing an alternative mode of execution of death sentence by administering
lethal injection until the accused is dead. It also felt that the convict
should be given an opportunity to choose the mode of his execution.
Amnesty International reports that 2,666 persons were executed in 2015 and 2016
in the world. China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan are the top five
countries where most executions took place.Beheading, hanging, lethal injection
and shooting are the four major methods of execution. In India, the law
provides for execution by hanging and shooting, the latter method prescribed in
laws relating to the armed forces.
In cases of hanging, the prisoner is taken to the gallows enclosure which
contains a beam for the rope to be tied and a platform with a trap door on
which he stands and the noose is tied around his neck. When a lever is pulled
by the executioner, the doors open, resulting in a sudden drop of the prisoner,
which tightens the noose.
The weight of the prisoner's body becomes the constricting force. Death is
caused due to asphyxia and venous congestion. While normally death can occur
within 3-5 minutes, if the convict has strong neck muscles, or is very light in
weight, or if the 'drop' is too short, or the noose has been wrongly
positioned, death can take a longer time.
When interviewed by this author, a hangman, who has hanged over 20 convicts,
stated that in his long service, excepting for one convict, all had died almost
instantaneously. He also revealed that availability of hangmen like him has now
become a problem in India.
Painless death
Until 1890, hanging was in vogue in the United States. Subsequently, many other
methods of execution like the electric chair, gassing and lethal injection have
been tried. A large number of American states now use the lethal injection,
wherein 3 drugs are injected. The bound convict is given intravenous drips
containing an anaesthetic, followed by a muscle paralytic that stops the
prisoner's breathing, and a drug which stops the heart.
This method of execution is reportedly painless. Due to shortage of
availability of the 3 drugs, many states in the US are now using a single drug.
Medical ethics precludes doctors from giving lethal injections.
The last hanging in India took place in July 2015 when Yakub Memon, convicted
for the 1993 Mumbai blasts, was hanged at Nagpur prison. In February 2013,
Afzal Guru, convicted for the 2001 Parliament attack, was hanged at Tihar Jail.
Ajmal Kasab, convicted for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, was hanged in
Yerawada jail.
While the above cases were convictions for acts of terrorism, Dhanonjoy
Chaterjee was hanged in August 2004 in Kolkata for raping and murdering a
child.
Despite several discussions on the modes of execution, the legislation has not
been amended so far. Considering that in the last 17 years, only 4 persons
(including three for terror offences) have been hanged to death, the current
discussion on the mode of execution might become just another academic
exercise.
(source: D V Guruprasad; The writer is a former Director General of Police and
recently conducted a study on death row convicts in India----Deccan Herald)
BANGLADESH:
HC: Bangladesh needs a guideline on death sentencing
The judiciaries in many countries also discourage death penalty, but Bangladesh
has not been able to come to that position yet, says the High Court
The High Court has said that Bangladesh is still not in the position to abolish
the death penalty but it may consider introducing a guideline on what and how
the sentencing system should be applied.
About 104 countries have abolished the capital punishment until 2016, while 63
countries retained it, according to Amnesty International.
The court on Sunday said that the judiciaries in many countries also discourage
death penalty but Bangladesh has not been able to come to that position yet.
It made the observations in the full text of the June 5 verdict where it
commuted the death sentence of Oyshee Rahman for killing her parents - Special
Branch (SB) inspector Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Swapna Rahman - back in
2013.
The full verdict was published on the Supreme Court's website on Sunday.
Citing the criminal justice system in India, the High Court also said that the
punishment for murder is usually life imprisonment and the court has to reason
a death penalty if they award that in a verdict.
The death penalty there is usually awarded in extreme cases, such as to the
perpetrators of the 2012 Delhi gang rape case.
In comparison, the High Court said that in Bangladesh the 1st option for
sentencing in a murder case is the death penalty and then life imprisonment,
and explain why the death sentence has been commuted.
"Our criminal justice system has no provision to reduce the death sentence by
mitigating circumstances as the rights of the offender but in practice the
judges have powers to determine the punishment to be awarded for an offender,"
it observed.
"So, in order to impose the sentence upon a perpetrator, if proved, there must
be a guideline or rules as to how it can be imposed."
(source: Dhaka Tribune)
**************************
Man gets death penalty for killing wife
A Chittagong court yesterday sentenced a man to death for killing his wife in
the district's Fatickchhari upazila in 2011.
The convict, Eliash, of Kechiya village, did not want to marry his cousin and
also his girlfriend Papiya Begum for her dark complexion, but later he had to
do so under family pressure in 2011, according to the case statement.
The same year, on October 14, Eliash strangled Papiya with a rope outside their
home.
(source: The Daily Star)
IRAN:
The Human Rights Organization "Don't Touch Cain" Protests Increasing Wave of
Executions in Iran
'Don't Touch Cain' Human Rights Forum issued a statement on increasing wave of
executions by Iranian regime as the world record holder for executions,
announcing that: "To understand the nature of the Iranian regime, it is
important to point out the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 in
Iran and that the current government is continuing the same killings."
"This massacre has recently been referred to by the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, and the regime has recently acknowledged
that it has committed the massacre."
Referring to the presence of Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi and Alireza Avaii, 2
members of the "Death Commission" in Tehran and Khuzestan, in the 1st and 2nd
governments of Hassan Rouhani, the Human Rights Association "Do Not Touch Cain"
adds: "The silence of the international community in this regard has encouraged
the regime to continue to violate international human rights law."
"It is therefore important for the United Nations General Assembly to form an
international commission of inquiry on 1988 massacre in Iran and call on the
ruling regime in Iran to stop the death sentence. The abolition of the death
penalty and respect for human rights should be at the center of any
multilateral or bilateral meeting with the ruling regime in Iran," the human
rights organization said.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
******************
Stockholm academic given death sentence in Iran: reports
Ahmadreza Djalali, a researcher at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, has been
sentenced to death in Iran, according to reports.
Researcher Ahmadreza Djalali has been detained since April 2016. He was
arrested in Tehran for espionage and 'enmity with God' - a crime which in Iran
can result in the death penalty - during a visit for a conference.
An Iranian citizen, the academic has a permanent residence permit in Sweden,
where he conducted research in disaster medicine at the prestigious Karolinska
Institute, and lived with his wife and 2 children.
"We have received reliable information that suggests he has been sentenced to
death. We are working to obtain a confirmation. We would like to stress that
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs condemns the use of the death penalty in all
cases," Lina Eidmark of the Swedish foreign ministry told TT.
Acting on the basis of information available to it, the ministry has raised the
issue with high-level Iranian representatives, according to the report.
Eidmark said that Sweden would work to the extent it could on "all diplomatic
levels".
"In general I can say that he is an Iranian citizen, he is not a Swedish
citizen, which makes it very difficult for Sweden to assist [him] in
circumstances like these," she added.
In August, human rights organization Amnesty International urged the
authorities to release Djalali or give him a fair and secure trial.
"We hope he will be released. He has been in prison since April last year on
extremely vague grounds," Amnesty Sweden spokesperson Ami Hedenborg said.
"You have to ask yourself what it is really about. There is a great deal of
concern over what may happen," Hedenborg added.
(source: thelocal.se)
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