May 23
INDIA:
Nirbhaya rapists to hang: Supreme Court has ordered death sentence to the 4
convicts
Finally. Today humanity has won its combat. The apex court has ordered to hang
4 out of 6 convicts of Nirbhaya rape case. This heinous crime was executed by 6
people in 2012, and the girl lost her life. These 4 men are Vinay, Pawan,
Akshay, and Mukesh. Ram Singh who was 1 the 6 accused hanged himself in prison.
Another of them who was a juvenile that time was sent to reform home in August
last year.
The Supreme Court while delivering the order said that this murder case was the
rarest one. We are bound to give them the extreme punishment to ensure justice.
This is a really a marvelous decision taken by the honorable court. In fact,
such steps will stop similar incidents from happening in the future. When the
court read out its verdict, an echo aroused. The crowded courtroom was filled
with applauds.
Back in March 2014, the convicts of the rape case appealed the Delhi High Court
when the trial court ordered to hang them in 2013. Delhi High Court also
rejected their plea. Later, they approached Supreme Court but failed to secure
their life.
Today, Nirbhaya's parents are surely on top of the world as their daughter has
got justice. The criminals who have committed this brutal, barbaric crime don't
really deserve any leniency. Not just Nirbhaya's father but the whole nation
has similar feelings. The order is appreciated by the whole country.
6 men raped a 23-year old medical student in a moving bus in Delhi. Her
intestine was pulled out. After the rape, she and her male friend were thrown
out of the bus. She was sent to AIIMS for immediate treatment. But because of
her critical condition, she was moved to Singapore hospital On December 29th;
there she lost her battle for life. The accused really deserve this punishment.
The only thing that makes us sad is why this decision is taken so late. They
were to be hanged immediately. Unfortunately, we are bound by laws and
regulations.
Nirbhaya's parents have similar feelings. Before the hearing this morning, her
mother, Asha Devi said that not just the apex court, even supreme God would not
forgive such people. They must be sentenced to death. She said that only death
penalty was the right punishment for these criminals.
Talking to media, she said that they had full trust in the judiciary system and
they were sure that the apex court would order the death sentence. She added
that Supreme Court would surely do justice to their beloved daughter and would
set an example for the world.
When media approached the defending lawyer of these criminals, he said that it
was not fair to give death sentence just to set an example for the society. Mr.
AP Singh who is fighting the case of these convicts added that justice was not
done. They would file a review petition against this order.
Today court has praised the work of Delhi Police for arresting the criminals.
The SC added that the probe done by Delhi police was commendable and fair. It
has passed all tests of fairness and reliability. Based on the medical
evidence, the death sentence is fairly justified.
5 years back this rape case had shocked everyone. Everyone was moaning when
they have heard this brutal rape story. But today Nirbhaya has got justice; her
soul may now rest in peace.
(soruce: brinkwire.com)
****************
Malaysian state-linked media left scrambling after polls upset----The pace of
the trial, the intensifying push for speedy hearings in rape cases, and
questions about the legal defence provided to Gadke - who pleaded not guilty -
have raised concerns among some legal rights advocates.
Naveen Gadke was arrested on April 20 and charged with the rape and murder of a
baby girl in central India.
3 weeks later a court sentenced the 26-year-old odd-job man to death in the
fastest such trial known to have happened in modern India, a nation where
public outrage is running high because of a series of rapes and related
killings.
Police, prosecutors and the district court in the city of Indore worked at a
furious pace to get the conviction quickly, amid a backlash on the streets,
including marches in this city of about 2 million, 550 miles south of Delhi.
This is in a country where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government last month
introduced the death penalty for rapes of girls under 12 years in response to
public pressure but which has a notoriously slow court system, with cases
taking at least six years on average to the final ruling, according to
governance tracking group Daksh.
But the pace of the trial, the intensifying push for speedy hearings in rape
cases, and questions about the legal defence provided to Gadke - who pleaded
not guilty - have raised concerns among some legal rights advocates.
They are fearful there will be wrongful convictions and hangings when a
defendant cannot afford to hire a good lawyer.
"While expeditious trials are ideal, these should not be at the cost of fair
trial safeguards like the right to adequate time to prepare a defence and the
presumption of innocence," said Leah Verghese, senior campaigner at human
rights group Amnesty International India, in an email response to questions.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Rebecca John said she was concerned. "As a
principle, I am opposed to rushing through investigative processes and trial
processes" she said.
But reflecting the mood of the nation, well-known Supreme Court lawyer Dushyant
Dave, a vocal supporter of capital punishment, said India "needs to send at
least 500 people to death in the next one year to end this endemic" of rape.
"Our system is archaic and extremely inefficient," he added.
Such views have resonated with the mother of the dead 3-month-old girl as she
sat on the front yard of a 200-year-old palace where her homeless family sleeps
in the open.
She told Reuters she was happy with the swift verdict but her daughter would
get justice only when Gadke is hung to death, just as quickly.
"Once such men are hanged, no one will dare to do anything like this to any
girl," she said.
Rape victims and their families cannot be identified under Indian law.
Gadke could not be contacted as journalists are not allowed to speak with
convicts in jail as per a home ministry directive. Sachin Verma, Gadke???s
lawyer, said his client told him that his estranged wife "framed" him, but said
little else.
Reuters could not trace Gadke's wife to seek comment.
Slapping and Shoving
At trial, the mother, police officers and the prosecution lawyer said security
cameras showed Gadke taking away the infant as she lay asleep by her parents.
15 minutes later, he was seen coming out of the basement of a nearby building,
where her blood-smeared body was found, police said.
Medical tests, completed quickly under instructions from government officials,
confirmed she was raped, and the semen from a vaginal swab was found to be a
DNA match with Gadke, according to court documents reviewed by Reuters.
Gadke's lawyer Verma, who specialises in matters related to crimes against
children, said he reluctantly took the case on state government orders.
That was after 4 other lawyers refused to defend Gadke, Verma said. In a sign
of how high temperatures were rising in the community, around a dozen lawyers
attacked the defendant outside the court when he first arrived, slapping and
shoving him, according to police.
Prosecutors presented 29 witnesses, including police and shopkeepers who found
the victim's body, and "everybody supported the prosecution", said Verma. He
presented no witnesses for Gadke's defence.
Verma said he could have done better if he had more time to prepare for the
case.
"They had to create a story and they had to decide quickly," said Verma, who is
expecting to receive 4,000 rupees (RM 232.82) from the state government for
representing Gadke. "My client told me: 'Everyone has already decided I am
guilty. What's the point of all this?'"
Special prosecutor Mohammad Akram Shaikh said that they had "conclusive
evidence" against Gadke.
Judge Varsha Sharma, who deals with matters related to crimes against children
and ruled on the case, declined to comment.
Sending Message
Police pressed charges against Gadke within 7 days of the crime, said Police
Inspector Shivpal Singh Kushwah.
"All of us wanted to send a message that the law can work fast, and we
succeeded," he said.
The court sat for seven straight working days to hear the case, unusual in
India where one court is often dipping in and out of several cases on the same
day. A government-run laboratory conducted tests on forensic evidence within 4
days of a police request. This usually takes more than a month, Kushwah said.
After hearing details of his crime from Shaikh and the witnesses, Judge Sharma
found Gadke guilty and ordered his death by hanging.
"This falls under the rarest of rare case and it would be appropriate to hand
such a criminal the toughest punishment," the judge declared.
The sentence has to be confirmed by a higher court, for which Gadke will be
provided a different lawyer by the state government. The court's decision can
be challenged in the Supreme Court. An appeal to India's president is the last
resort. The entire process can take years.
Acceleration Demanded
Even before Gadke's trial, there were growing calls to speed up child rape
trials.
Lower courts take an average of 5 years to complete cases of prisoners
sentenced to death, high courts 1 year and 4 months, and the Supreme Court 2
years and 1 month, according to a 2016 report by the Centre on the Death
Penalty in the National Law University of Delhi.
The university study found that 74% of 373 death row prisoners they interviewed
were economically vulnerable. The majority were from low castes and religious
minorities. In the Indore case, Gadke did various jobs like cleaning utensils
in eateries.
By contrast, trials involving India's rich and powerful sometimes take more
than 10 years. Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a wealthy self-styled godman who had many
followers, was convicted last year on charges of raping 2 followers - 15 years
after the case was registered.
Government statistics show that since 2012, when a young woman was gang-raped
in a moving bus in Delhi igniting national uproar, reported rape cases have
climbed 60% to around 40,000 in 2016 - about 1 every 15 minutes - with child
rape accounting for about 40%.
(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)
ALGERIA:
Blogger facing death penalty for online posts
The trial of an Algerian blogger who faces the death penalty on trumped-up
espionage charges based on online posts is yet another stain on the country's
human rights record, Amnesty International said today ahead of the opening
hearing on 24 May.
Merzoug Touati faces charges relating to a Facebook post and YouTube video that
authorities claim encouraged civil unrest. He has been in detention since
January 2017.
Amnesty International has reviewed the court documents which list as "evidence"
the posts published by Touati before his Facebook account and website were
deleted, and found that there was no incitement to violence or advocacy of
hatred, rather his posts were covered by freedom of expression in relation to
his work as a citizen-journalist. Amnesty International therefore considers
Merzoug Touati a prisoner of conscience held solely for expressing his peaceful
opinions.
"Every day Merzoug Touati spends in prison is one day too many, and is a
further stain on Algeria's human rights record. It is ludicrous that a Facebook
post expressing peaceful opinion could lead to the death penalty. Touati
represents the broken dreams of a generation in a country where freedom of
expression has been repeatedly undermined," said Heba Morayef, Middle East and
North Africa regional director at Amnesty International.
"Algeria must immediately free Touati, a prisoner of conscience, awaiting trial
solely for expressing himself online."
Merzoug Touati has been in detention since 22 January 2017 and is currently
held in El Khemis prison in the northern city of Bejaia. He has conducted at
least 3 hunger strikes to protest against his extended detention. His trial is
scheduled to begin tomorrow (Thursday 24 May).
Merzoug Touati is a university graduate who was unemployed at his time of
arrest. He was not affiliated to any political party or association. In 2015,
he began to run a Facebook page and a blog called alhogra.com, since deleted,
writing mostly about political and human rights developments in Algeria.
During his interrogation, Merzoug Touati told the investigative judge that the
interviews he had conducted with diplomats, human rights defenders and
activists from different religious and political backgrounds were solely for
documentation purposes for his online articles.
Background
Police arrested Merzoug Touati on 18 January 2017 after he published a post on
Facebook and a video interview on his YouTube channel.
In the 1st post on 2 January 2017 he called for Bejaia residents to protest
against a new Finance Law. In the 2nd post on YouTube on 8 January 2017,
Merzoug Touati interviewed an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson in which he
disputes accusations by the Algerian authorities that the Israeli authorities
were involved in protests in Algeria.
On 22 January 2017, the investigative judge in the Bejaia Tribunal ordered
Merzoug Touati's pre-trial detention pending investigation on charges including
incitement to violence and also espionage.
On 24 October 2017, the Indictment Chamber of the Bejaia Court formally
referred the case to the Criminal Court charging Merzoug Touati with
"incitement to take up arms against the authority of the state", "incitement to
non-armed gathering", "foreign intelligence aiming at harming diplomatic ties",
as well as "incitement to gatherings and sit-ins in public spaces".
In November 2017, defence lawyers appealed the indictment decision before the
Supreme Court, but in April 2018, Merzoug Touati asked his lawyers to drop the
appeal for fear that it would take longer than the verdict of the Criminal
Court.
Merzoug Touati's lawyer Salah Dabouz told Amnesty International that "the
blogger's detention has been extended on 2 occasions for 4 months, the 2nd of
which expired on 22 January 2018. However, the investigative judge failed to
order another renewal since then". Article 59 of the Algerian Constitution
states that provisional detention should be exceptional and that arbitrary
arrest is punished by law.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception
regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or
the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. The death penalty is a
violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment.
(source: Amnesty International)
BAHRAIN:
Bahrain court upholds death, life sentences----Defendants charged with murder
of police officer
Bahrain's Cassation Court on Monday upheld the death sentence for 2 men
convicted by lower courts on the charge of the premeditated murder of a police
officer.
The court also upheld life in prison for 3 defendants and jail terms for the
others varying from 3 to 10 years.
Only 1 of the 13 defendants was acquitted in the case where they faced charges
of premeditated murder, attempted murder, forming a terror group, harbouring
fugitives, failing to report a terrorist plot and possessing incendiary
devices.
The public prosecution said it received information on April 14, 2016, from the
police directorate in Manama about a group of terrorists who used Molotov
cocktails to set a police patrol vehicle ablaze to kill officers.
Investigations revealed the terrorists had ambushed the patrol in Karbabad and
doused it with petrol before setting it alight. 1 man burned to death and the
other 2 suffered burns.
On June 5, 2017, the high court sentenced 2 defendants to death, 3 to life in
jail, 3 to 10 years, 1 to 7 years, 1 to 5 years and 2 to 3 years. 1 suspect was
acquitted.
The court of appeals on February 27 upheld the sentences.
(source: Gulf News)
**************
Bahrain court issues death sentences against 2 activists, revokes citizenship
of none others
Bahrain has upheld death sentences against two activists as the ruling Al
Khalifah regime intensifies its crackdown against political dissidents and
pro-democracy campaigners in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.
The defendants, Ahmad al-Abbar and Hussein Mahdi, were sentenced to death by
the Bahrain Criminal Court after they made forced confessions, according to the
Manama Post website. Their charges were not immediately known.
Another Bahraini court also sentenced 9 citizens to jail and revoked their
citizenship.
Separately, a court in the capital Manama on Sunday also sentenced 20 activists
to prison sentences ranging from 3 to 15 years after they were convicted on
"terrorism" charges.
This came days after a Bahrain court on Tuesday revoked the citizenship of 115
people at a mass terrorism trial.
The court ruling came as much of the Mideast was focusing on Israeli forces
killing over dozens of Palestinian protesters as the US relocated its embassy
from Tel Aviv to the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds the day before. Like much of
the crackdown, it has quietly escaped attention.
The trials in Bahrain are often tainted with allegations of torture and coerced
confessions. Hundreds have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Activists say the number of those who have lost their citizenship in Bahrain
since 2012 has risen to over 700.
Rights groups have accused Manama of employing its anti-terror legislation to
jail and torture regime critics.
Lynn Maalouf, Middle East Director at Amnesty International, said in a
statement on May 16 that "the Bahraini government is using revocation of
nationality - rendering many of its citizens stateless in the process - and
expulsion, as tools to crush all forms of opposition, dissent and activism."
The right to a nationality is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which
Bahrain is a state party.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in
Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the
country on February 14, 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just
system representing all Bahrainis be established.
Manama has spared no effort in clamping down on dissent and rights activists.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were
deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown on
peaceful protesters.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained
injuries or got arrested as a result of Al Khalifah regime???s crackdown on
anti-regime activists.
On March 5, 2017, Bahrain's parliament approved the trial of civilians at
military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being
tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.
Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional
amendment on April 3 last year.
(source: abna24.com)
IRAN:
Urgent Action Update: Execution Looms for Iranian Kurdish Prisoner (UA: Iran
171.17)
Iranian Kurdish prisoner Ramin Hossein Panahi, sentenced to death in January
2018, is at imminent risk of execution. The Office for Implementation of
Sentences has said that his execution will be carried out soon after the end of
the Muslim month of Ramadan on 15 June. He was convicted and sentenced to death
after a grossly unfair trial.
TAKE ACTION
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
Halt plans to carry out the execution of Ramin Hossein Panahi immediately;
Ensure that his conviction and death sentence are quashed and that he is
released unless there is sufficient evidence not obtained through torture or
other ill-treatment to charge him with a recognizable criminal offence and
grant him a fair trial, without recourse to the death penalty;
Order a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into his enforced
disappearance, prolonged solitary confinement and allegations of torture and
other ill-treatment, bringing to justice anyone found responsible in fair
trials.
Contact these 2 officials by 2 July, 2018:
High Council for Human Rights
Mohmmad Javad Larijani
Esfandiar Boulevard, Niayesh Intersection
Vali Asr Avenue, Tehran, Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency
H.E. Gholamali Khoshroo
Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 687-2020 I Fax: (212) 867-7086
Email: i...@un.int
Salutation: Your Excellency
(source: Amnesty International LUSA)
SUDAN:
#JusticeForNoura: Will outcry overturn death penalty for Sudanese
teen?----Activists urge Sudan to enact legal reform that would protect women
and girls.
A 19-year-old Sudanese woman was sentenced to death by hanging for killing her
husband after he allegedly raped her. Now, international groups including the
UN are asking the Sudanese government to spare the life of Noura Hussein. Her
story has generated outcry online and is being shared with the hashtag
#JusticeForNoura.
Forced into marriage at 16, Noura Hussein rejected her husband and went into
hiding for 3 years. Her father allegedly tricked her into returning home, and
when she continued her refusal to consummate the marriage in April last year,
her husband had male relatives hold her down while he raped her. When he tried
to rape her again, Noura said she stabbed her husband in self-defence. In
Sudan, marital rape and child marriage are not considered crimes.
Advocates for women's rights say Sudan's legal system often fails to protect
the vulnerable and criminalises rape victims. In this episode, we'll discuss
Noura's case and the challenges Sudanese women and girls face when seeking
justice for sexual violence. Join the conversation at 1930GMT.
On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:
Mohamed Seifeldein @MoSeifeldein
International lawyer
moseif4council.com
Naitore Nyamu-Mathenge @NaitoreNyamu
Programme officer, Equality Now
equalitynow.org
Nahid Gabralla
Director, SEEMA Center
facebook.com/SEEMACenter
Hala al-Karib @Sihanet
Director, SIHA Network
(source: aljazeera.com)
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