Jan. 19
BAHAMAS:
Bethel Insists Death Penalty To Stay Despite Un Calls
ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel yesterday informed the United Nations that The
Bahamas has no immediate intention of abolishing the death penalty despite
calls from scores of member states to formally end the practice.
Mr Bethel addressed the international recommendations that the country has not
accepted during his national report to the United Nations Human Rights
Council's (UNHRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group session in
Geneva, Switzerland.
"It is one of the popular mind," Mr Bethel told the international body during a
response period, "there is no appetite on the streets if you will in The
Bahamas for any ability for compromise on that issue (capital punishment). It
is an emotive matter and so what we try and do is to show through raising our
conviction rates, through our prosecutors, to give a sense of comfort to the
populace that there is a remedy, there is a punishment that fits the crime."
While there is no formal moratorium, Mr Bethel noted there has not been a
mandated execution in 17 years.
"The Bahamas maintains its position on the retention of the death penalty. In
fact, 1 of the recommendations submitted by the Constitutional Commission,
after consultation, was the retention of the death penalty. The Bahamas
continues to recognise the lawfulness of the death penalty as a punishment for
the crimes of murder and treason, on a discretionary basis and subject to the
conditions laid down in the case law.
"That said," he continued, "The Bahamas is not considering any immediate action
to establish a formal moratorium on the death penalty. The last mandated
execution took place 17 years ago, even in the absence of a formal moratorium."
He also reflected on calls for the removal of discrimination on the grounds of
sexual orientation and gender identity, referencing the country as a Christian
nation as described in the preamble to the Constitution.
Mr Bethel revealed that persons who are in the process of gender reassignment
are currently provided with psychological assistance from the Ministry of
Health with other forms of assistance being possibly considered.
"Consideration might be given to other forms of assistance," Mr Bethel said,
"however, as this issue remains highly controversial in popular discourse, a
cautious and modulated approach has been adopted.
"Persons who are in same sex relationships are able to avail themselves of the
regular protection and remedies available under the law in respect of violence
or assault or property rights. And, it should be noted that consensual
relations in private between adults of the same sex has been lawful in The
Bahamas since 1991."
On the matter of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender
identity, Mr Bethel acknowledged these elements have not been identified as
prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Constitution or legislation.
However, he maintained the government's position that there has been no
instances recorded of any legal discrimination of this nature, nor any formal
reports made to law enforcement or government agencies.
Mr Bethel stressed that the country, as a "Christian nation", believed that the
family is the foundation of a strong nation and marriage by law defined as the
union of a man and a woman.
He also said that the local LGBTQI community had access to local and
international platforms with representation on a number of national and
regional organisations, and noted a 2016 press conference held by the
transgender community to address concerns on the equality referendum that was
conducted without interference.
In response to recommendations from member states during yesterday's session,
Mr Bethel underscored the importance of partnering with civil and religious
leaders to "advance the cause of a more moderate public approach to issues."
"We live in a constitutional democracy," he said, "we have had uninterrupted
democracy, we have (had) 2 (constitutional) referenda. There has always been
the political woe of the political class to advance all of the issues in
controversy, except for the one of capital punishment, but the issue of gender
equality, identity, transitioning, the difficulty in a democracy is that it is
a question of developing a social consensus. And this is why we have adopted a
modulated approach, cautiously, seeking to advance rights in areas that are
very strongly held negative points of view in the populous."
(source: tribune242.com)
BANGLADESH:
HC upholds death penalty of 2 for raping, killing minor----According to the
case statement, the convicts killed a 7-year old child, Alpona, after raping
her in a jute field at Mahespur in Jhenaidah in 2008
The High Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence of 2 people for killing a
7-year-old girl in Jhenaidah after raping her in 2008.
The division bench of Justice Md Ruhul Kuddus and Justice Bhasmi Deb
Chakrabarty upheld the trial court verdict after disposing of appeal petition
by the perpetrators.
The death row inmates are Md Saiful Islam and Md Arif Hossain.
According to the case statement, the convicts killed a 7-year old child,
Alpona, after raping her in a jute field at Mahespur in Jhenaidah in 2008.
Later in 2011, a Jhenaidah court sentenced the duo to death over the rape and
murder case.
(source: Dhaka Tribune)
MALAYSIA:
Man, 55, faces death for having ecstasy
A 55-year-old self-employed claimed trial at the High Court here to trafficking
1,387.26gm of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), or commonly known as
ecstasy.
Norain Lamilah pleaded not guilty before Judge Datuk Nurchaya Hj Arshad on
Wednesday to committing the offence at Nov 28, 2017 at noon at the Customs
Office, Postal Parcel Branch, here.
The charge under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act carries the death
penalty on conviction.
The court set April 2- 5 for trial.
Norain was ordered be remanded further as the charge framed against him has no
provision for bail.
Customs Deputy Public Prosecutor Nazir Amir Johari prosecuted while Norain was
represented by appointed counsel Dato' Seri Rakhbir Singh.
Meanwhile, t2 men were charged separately in the Magistrate's Court with drug
trafficking.
Lee Eng Kian, 43, and Yong Vui Leong, were brought before Magistrate Stephanie
Sherron Abbie, Wednesday.
Lee is accused of trafficking 390.15gm of MDMA at 2.45pm on Jan 4 at a unit in
Api-Api Apartment, here together with one still at large.
Yong is accused of having 110gm of MDMA at 11am on Jan 4 at a car park in 999
Bar in Kg Air, here.
The offence under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act and punishable
under Section 39B(2) of the same Act carries the death sentence, on conviction.
However, no plea was taken from Lee and Yong as their plea would be recorded at
the High Court.
Abbie set March 13 for mention pending the chemist's reports and ordered them
remanded further as the charge against them has no provision for bail.
Inspector Suzie Kupit appeared for the prosecution while counsel Luke Ressa
Balang defended Lee and Yong.
(source: Daily Express)
INDIA:
3 Dalit men killed: Prosecution seeks death for 6 convicts----The defence
advocates submitted that since there was no direct evidence in the case and the
accused were found guilty based on circumstantial evidence, death penalty
cannot be granted to them.
The prosecution on Thursday sought death penalty for all 6 men convicted of the
murder of three Dalit men over an inter-caste relationship. Special public
prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam submitted to the court that the accused were guilty of
a "violent, casteist attack" on 3 "defenceless" victims and deserved nothing
less than the most severe punishment for the offence.
Sachin Gharu (22), Sandeep Thanvar (26) and Rahul Kandare (20) were murdered by
6 men in Sonai in Ahmednagar in January 2013. A special court in Nashik on
Monday had found 6 men - Popat, Ramesh, Prakash and Ganesh Darandale, Sandip
Kurhe and Ashok Navghire - guilty of offences including murder, destruction of
evidence, criminal conspiracy and relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The 6 include family members of
the girl with whom Gharu was in a relationship.
"The accused had hatched a conspiracy much in advance to kill the 3 victims.
They called 1 of them on the pretext of cleaning a tank and then brutally
killed not only Gharu but his 2 friends as well. Not only were the men
murdered, Gharu's limbs were chopped and severe head injury was caused to
Kandare. Their bodies were thrown in a borewell while Thanvar was drowned in a
septic tank. This showed the brutality of the accused in committing the
murder," Nikam said.
He further said the reason for the violence was "caste" and by punishing the
accused, a message needed to be given to the society that casteism should be
abolished in the society.
"The victims were defenceless, young and were killed without any provocation,"
he said. He added that the accused after committing the offence also tried to
mislead the police by claiming that a body was spotted in the septic tank. The
defence advocates submitted that since there was no direct evidence in the case
and the accused were found guilty based on circumstantial evidence, death
penalty cannot be granted to them.
Among the convicted men, Navghire claimed mercy stating that he was not present
at the spot and was not aware of the intentions of his co-accused.
"According to the prosecution's case, my client (Navghire) had called Thanvar
asking him to come to clean the septic tank. He was not present at the spot and
was not aware about what the intentions of the accused were or what conspired
later," said advocate Avinash Bhide. The court will pronounce the quantum of
punishment on January 20.
(source: Indian Express)
UGANDA:
Uganda's leader to sign death warrants again after 19 years
Uganda's president said Thursday he will sign the 1st death warrants in nearly
2 decades to create fear among criminals in the East African country, vowing to
"hang a few."
President Yoweri Museveni said he had not ordered executions in 19 years but
was changing his mind because people were taking advantage of the "leniency."
"I am going to revise this and hang a few," he said. "We must hang some of
these people because if you see how they kill people, they deserve to be
killed."
He was speaking at a graduation ceremony for prison wardens in the capital,
Kampala.
Museveni last signed death warrants in 1999, when 28 people were executed.
Uganda Prisons Service data says 278 prisoners were on death row as of
December.
The executive director of the local Foundation for Human Rights Initiative,
Livingstone Ssewanyana, disagreed with Museveni's approach, saying that
"executing prisoners won't end crime."
He instead blamed a recent series of high-profile killings in Uganda, including
the murders of 23 women in the city of Entebbe, on the country's "failed"
criminal justice system.
"The police are very weak with no capacity to investigate crimes extensively,"
Ssewanyana said. "It is underfunded and the judiciary is also underfunded. As a
result, you find serious failures in the systems."
In a report last year, Amnesty International said sub-Saharan Africa had "stood
out as a beacon of hope and positive progress on the abolition of the death
penalty" in recent years, though it said 2 countries in 2016 had resumed
executions: Botswana and Nigeria.
The human rights organization as of the end of 2016 listed several African
nations that retained the death penalty including Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia,
South Sudan and Zimbabwe.
(source: Associated Press)
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