August 16
GLOBAL:
Time to work for global abolition of the death penlty
In 1976, after an impassioned, last-minute speech by Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau, the House of Commons narrowly passed Bill C-84, abolishing the death
penalty in Canada. It was abolished after a decade of fierce debate. Sister
Helen Prejean writes Dead Man Walking and narrates the movie of the same name
for which Susan Sarandon received an academy award playing the role of Sister
Helen. Years later I attended a talk by Sister Helen at UQAM in Montreal. She
was forceful and dynamic in expressing why she was against capital punishment.
At the end of the Conference I introduced myself as John Walsh, and she adds,
Father John Walsh? I had no idea how she knew who I was. The story is that she
attended Divine Word Centre in London Ontario as a student and completed her
course the year before I began to teach there. Her words:" I have followed your
career. " I was with CJAD at the time and asked her for an interview. She was
rushed but accepted a half hour interview. There are 2 things I remember to
this day.
She began: " I lived in a suburb of New Orleans where life for me was very
comfortable. I lived with other sisters and we followed an easy schedule of
work, prayer, and meals together. Then I was transferred to the other side of
New Orleans. My first night in my new home there was a knock at the door. I
opened the door and a woman almost bowled me over. That's when I saw she was
being chased by a man with a knife in his hand. That night my God changed. "
Helen was also very happy to have lived in Canada and was extremely delighted
to know that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had passed legislation abolishing
capital punishment.
In New Orleans her work with residents of the St. Thomas housing project made
her realize that in order to live up to her faith and ideals, now with a very
different idea of who God was, that she must shoulder the struggles of the poor
as if they were her own.
She began to correspond with Patrick Sonnier who was in death row. She becomes
aware of the cruelty of capital punishment and the widespread abuse and
injustice of the American judicial system. Witnessing Patrick's execution
altered Prejean forever. She becomes a full-time anti-death penalty advocate
and witnesses a 2nd execution, that of Robert Willie. Helen's work to abolish
the death penalty remains incomplete until she realizes that in addition to
ministering to the men on death row, she must also try to heal the families of
their victims.
I can only imagine the happiness she feels today when she reads what Pope
Francis recently said about the death penalty. Francis declared that the death
penalty is wrong in all cases, a definitive change in church teaching that is
likely to challenge faithful Catholic politicians, judges and officials in the
United States and other countries who have argued that their church was not
entirely opposed to capital punishment.
Francis said executions were unacceptable in all cases because they are an
attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The Church will now work
with determination for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide.
It could set off a backlash among American Catholic traditionalists who have
already cast Francis as being dangerously inclined to change or compromise
church teaching. It could also complicate the lives of judges who are
practicing Catholics.
In 2015 he said that from the beginning of his ministry he had been led to
advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. The
challenge remains today.
(source: Opinion; Father John Walsh, The Suburban)
AUSTRALIA:
Senate hopeful calls for death penalty for murderers, rapists
A controversial Senate hopeful has mounted an online campaign calling for the
death penalty to be introduced for murderers and people who rape children.
Steve Mav, who ran as a candidate for the Legislative Council seat of Prosser
earlier this year, will stand as an independent Senate candidate at the looming
federal election campaign, expected in 2019.
Fairfax Media understands he has paid to boost his social media posts.
On Facebook on Thursday, Mr Mav called for a popular vote on the death penalty,
saying change was possible and that one just had to look at the postal survey
on marriage equality for proof.
Prominent LGBTI rights advocate Rodney Croome took umbrage with Mr Mav's
comments.
"If this raw, hate-platforming populism gathers pace don't blame marriage
equality advocates," he said.
(source: theadvocate.com.au)
MALAYSIA:
Women charged over Kim Jong Nam murder faces death penalty
2 women charged with murdering the half-brother of North Korea's Supreme Leader
Kim Jong Un in Malaysia will be forced to defend themselves after a judge
refused their acquittal. In 2017 Indonesia's Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnam's
Doan Thi Huong, 29, allegedly wiped VX nerve agent on the face of Kim Jong Nam
in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The pair face a possible death sentence
if they are found guilty.
(source: adelaidenow.com.au)
THAILAND:
Malaysian 'Iceman' sentenced to death in Thailand
A Malaysian drug dealer dubbed the "Iceman" was sentenced to death Thursday
(Aug 16) by a court in Thailand after he was convicted of running a narcotics
network that funnelled huge profits into legitimate businesses.
Tun Hung Seong was arrested in April last year after a tip-off that he had
hired a man to smuggle nearly 300kg of crystal meth - known as ice - through
the violence-scarred south.
Investigators believe he acted as a gatekeeper to the Malaysian drug market
just over the border and laundered money through karaoke bars, hotels and
restaurants.
The Bangkok court convicted Tun, 65, on drug trafficking charges alongside 2
Thai women and a Taiwanese man.
All 4 were sentenced to death, although the sentences of the Taiwanese man and
one of the Thai women were reduced to life imprisonment due to their "useful"
confessions.
Situated along the drug-running routes of the "Golden Triangle," Thailand
provides overland routes for the smuggling of meth from factories in lawless
parts of neighbouring Myanmar and Laos, in a trade estimated to be worth US$40
billion a year.
Drug seizures across the region have shot up to record levels in recent months.
Malaysian authorities in May said they seized a record 1.2 tonnes of crystal
meth from Myanmar hidden in tea packets, believed to be the largest ever in the
country in terms of value and weight.
Thailand torched more than 6 tonnes of narcotics in June, most of it meth.
From October to July this year, some 1,705 drug cases were reported in the
kingdom, compared to 453 in the same period the year before.
Suspects convicted of serious drug offences face harsh sentences in Thailand in
one of its many overcrowded prisons.
The country carried out its 1st execution since 2009 in June, after previously
sending signals it would abolish the practice.
(source: channelnewsasia.com)
LIBYA:
Libyan court sentences 45 to death over protest killings----54 people sentenced
to 5 years in prison over killings of about 20 people in 2011, as 22 others
acquitted.
A Libyan court has sentenced 45 people to death by firing squad for killings
committed in the capital, Tripoli, during the 2011 uprising
The statement published by the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday did not give
any further details about the case.
However, an official said the sentences were linked to killings perpetrated by
forces loyal to former ruler Muammar Gaddafi shortly before he was toppled.
A further 54 people were sentenced to 5 years in prison over the deaths of at
least 20 people, while 22 others were acquitted.
Defence lawyers and relatives of the accused were present for the verdict, but
the defendants were not in court.
A picture of the proceedings posted by the ministry showed 2 guards with large
guns standing close to black-robed judges inside the courtroom.
It is not known whether other death sentences handed down in Libya since 2011
have been carried out.
Rights group Amnesty International, in its latest annual report, described
Libya's court system as "dysfunctional."
The group said many suspects had been held since 2011 with no judicial
oversight or means to challenge the legality of their detention.
(source: Reuters)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Saudi Arabia's death penalty
6 men were pushed before the watching eyes of countless men, women, and
children - they were thieves and murders, and they were set to be executed in
public. The style of execution? Beheading.
1 might expect such a scene from medieval England or ancient China, but this
particular anecdote? Early June 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
6 men publicly executed in a single day - it brought the country's death toll
via capital punishment up to 44.
Saudi Arabia remains one of the most prolific users of capital punishment, and
it is based on a literal interpretation of Sharia law integrated into the
government. Sometimes this is followed up with a crucifixion of the headless
body after the execution, as was seen recently during the controversy between
the Middle Eastern country and Canada when a man accused of murder was beheaded
and then hung on a cross.
Just behind China and Iran, Saudi Arabia takes third place in the number of
death penalties carried out in the world, according to Amnesty International.
In fact, they said that, "Excluding China, 84% of all reported executions took
place in just 4 countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Pakistan." Amnesty
International also says that "the proceedings [which lead to the death penalty]
did not meet international fair trial standards." In 2017, they executed a
recorded 146 people.
There are a number of crimes in Saudi Arabia that can get someone the death
penalty, though they do not always get that far. These crimes include murder,
atheism, treason, rape, drug smuggling, burglary, witchcraft, and sometimes
adultery - this is not an all-inclusive list.
Homosexuality is also taught in many places in Saudi Arabia as being punishable
by death. However, the punishment for this "crime" can range anywhere between
prison time, lashings, fines - all the way up to death. In early 2017, 2
Pakistani transgender people were allegedly tortured and killed. This was after
a police raid which wound up arresting 35 transgender people.
The country's history is punctuated with instances of mass executions as well.
In 2016, 43 people were beheaded on accounts of terrorism, and 4 were shot by a
firing squad.
The extensive use of capital punishment has come under international criticism
time and time again, not only because of the method, frequency, and charges
under which they execute people (not to mention any international pushes to ban
the death penalty outright) but also because of many specific cases that have
come under question. Examples of this include political protesters or their
notoriously vague definition of terrorism, which still warrants execution.
(source: sofrep.com)
IRAN:
Iranian Lawyers: Kurdish Dissident's Prison Transfer Violated Rights
Iranian lawyers who say they are representing an Iranian Kurdish dissident
facing a death sentence have criticized authorities for transferring him to a
prison near Tehran, far from his home.
Exiled Iranian rights group Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil
Prisoners published a statement from the 3 lawyers about the case of Ramin
Hossein Panahi on Wednesday. In it, Hossein Ahmadiniaz, Osman Mozayan and
Maziyar Tataei said they learned from Panahi's family that he had been
transferred Monday from a prison in the northwestern city of Sanandaj to Rajaei
Shahr prison in Karaj, on the western outskirts of the Iranian capital.
Transferred without consent
The lawyers said Panahi's transfer to Karaj, a more than 500 kilometer drive
from his hometown, happened without his consent and prior notice to his family.
They said judicial authorities who carried out the transfer violated
regulations that say prisoners should be detained near to home and family
unless they request a transfer to another location.
The regulations of Iran's Prisons Organization say authorities can initiate a
process to transfer an inmate between prisons if the inmate's presence in the
original prison poses a threat to the host city and if necessary approvals are
obtained from senior judicial officials. But the 3 lawyers said they saw no
signs of such a transfer process being followed in Panahi's case when they
reviewed relevant documents and met with a senior official of Kurdistan
province, whose capital is Sanandaj.
Iranian authorities had no immediate comment in state media about the move of
Panahi, whose case has drawn global attention and appeals from international
rights activists to Tehran to annul his death sentence.
Signs of torture
Panahi was arrested in June 2017 for belonging to Iranian Kurdish nationalist
group Komala and allegedly drawing a weapon against Iranian security forces
operating in northwestern Iran's predominantly ethnic Kurdish region. He was
sentenced to death by a Sanandaj Revolutionary court in January.
International rights group Amnesty International has said Panahi was sentenced
after what it called a "grossly unfair trial" that lasted less than an hour. It
quoted Panahi's family members as saying he appeared in court with torture
marks on his body and was denied an investigation into accusations that he had
been forced into confessing to the crime of taking up arms against the state.
(source: voanews.com)
VIETNAM:
Politically-motivated case against environmental activist must be dropped
Ahead of tomorrow's trial in Nghe An province of environmental rights activist,
Le Dinh Luong, accused of taking part in activities aimed at "overthrowing the
state", Clare Algar, Amnesty International's Director of Global Operations,
said:
"For peacefully campaigning on behalf of fishermen affected by an environmental
disaster, Le Dinh Luong could face a life sentence or even the death penalty.
This is a patently unjust and politically-motivated case that should be dropped
and Le Dinh Luong must be released immediately and unconditionally.
"There are also serious concerns over whether Le Dinh Luong can expect a fair
trial. Having spent more than a year in police custody, he has only had access
to a defence lawyer for little more than a month."
Background
Le Dinh Luong, 52, is a veteran and an activist who campaigned for compensation
for affected fishermen in the wake of the Formosa environmental disaster in
2016, which saw toxic waste dumped in Viet Nam's waterways by Taiwanese
company, Formosa. The incident sparked a huge social movement in Viet Nam,
leading to a crackdown bv authorities that resulted in around 40 arrests and
forced dozens of people to flee the country.
Le Dinh Luong was arrested for "activities attempting to overthrow the state"
on 24 July 2017, under Article 79 of the 1999 Criminal Code. Denied any access
to his family, he was held in incommunicado detention for almost a year, and
was only granted access to a defence lawyer in early July 2018.
In addition to his environmental activism, Le Dinh Luong has also campaigned on
behalf of Viet Nam's political prisoners and against laws limiting freedom of
expression.
(source: Amnesty International)
******************
Vietnam arrests trans-national drug smuggler
Police of Vietnam's central highlands Dak Lak province have detained a
38-year-old woman from northern Bac Kan province for transporting heroin from
Laos to Vietnam.
Phan Thi Dao was detained on Tuesday when she was transporting 22 cakes of
heroin hidden in a power generator on an interprovincial coach to Ho Chi Minh
City, Dak Lak police said Wednesday.
The detainee said she was hired by a Vietnamese woman to go to Laos via a
border gate in the central region, buy the heroin, carry the drug to Vietnam
through another border gate in the central highlands region, and transport it
to Ho Chi Minh City with a wage of 50 million Vietnamese dong (nearly 2,200
U.S. dollars).
Dao confessed that before her arrest on Tuesday, using the same route and
trick, she had successfully transported heroin from Laos to Ho Chi Minh City
twice. A cake of heroin weighs 340 to 350 grams.
According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of
heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making
or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces
death penalty.
(source: xinhuanet.com)
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