August 30
INDIA:
4 given death penalty in three cases for raping minors in Rajasthan; DGP says
police officials directed to take swift action
4 persons have been given death penalty in three cases of rape of minors in
Rajasthan since March, when the state introduced a provision for capital
punishment if the rape victim is up to 12 years of age, a top police officer
said here.
Rajasthan Director General of Police (DGP) O.P Galhotra said that all police
officers have been directed to take swift action in cases of POCSO Act and file
charge sheet in courts.
The Rajasthan government had passed The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment)
Bill, 2018 in March entailing death penalty for rape convicts if the victim is
up to 12 years of age.
Galhotra, in a statement, said that a rape case was registered at Jhalawar
Kotwali on 14 February in which the victim was a 6-year-old girl. A charge
sheet was filed on 28 February in court after the probe was completed in 16
days. The court sentenced the accused to death on 24 August, 2018.
3 other accused, 2 in Barmer and 1 in Lakshmangarh of Alwar district, were
awarded death penalty in rape cases involving minors.
He said that 56 special courts (POCSO court) have been notified in the state to
deal with cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences (POCSO) Act.
The 1st POCSO court was set up in Jaipur on 10 July, 2017. Law and legal
affairs department had issued a notification on 6 August to set up 55 new POCSO
courts, he added.
(source: firstpost.com)
THAILAND:
Whatever happened to...Thailand's abolition of the death penalty?
Almost a decade since the last execution in Thailand, a 26-year-old man was
killed by lethal injection for the frenzied stabbing of a teenager. And though
no one is saying why the nation has suddenly reversed its position on capital
punishment, rumours that it is connected to the royal succession are difficult
to ignore.
2 months ago, 26-year-old Teerasak Longji was stretched out on a rack and
killed. In decades past, the young Thai man would have stared down a firing
squad in his final waking moments. But in 2018, his end came via a lethal
cocktail of drugs.
Teerasak, whose family was not notified until after his death, was just 20
years old when he was arrested for stabbing a teenage boy in a bloody robbery
in Thailand's Trang province. His victim, who was stabbed 24 times by Teerasak,
lost his wallet, his phone and his life.
Teerasak's execution marks the 1st death sentence to be carried out in Thailand
in almost a decade following an arduous campaign against it in the Buddhist
nation. Although Thai courts continue to hand down death sentences - 75 last
year alone, down from 216 in 2016 - hundreds of men and women have remained on
death row for years, waiting for the final blow to fall.
Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson described the move as a
slap in the face to all the people who had campaigned for an end to executions
in the Kingdom.
"Seeing Thailand make such a total reversal on a core human rights issue like
the death penalty is really disconcerting," he told Southeast Asia Globe. "The
Ministry of Justice had previously been touting that Thailand was moving
towards abolition and then boom, it was all gone. The NCPO [National Council
for Peace and Order, the name adopted by the military junta that seized power
in 2014] needs to provide some serious explanations to the entire international
community for its unjustified and unacceptable resumption of capital
punishment."
Despite widespread international condemnation of the move, no explanation for
the apparently arbitrary reinstitution of the death penalty has been offered.
For some observers, though, the decision marked a logical next step in the
junta's ongoing attempt to paint itself as the stern guardian of the Thai
people. Exiled political scientist Pavin Chachavalpongpun told Southeast Asia
Globe that the revival of a practice long thought left in the past fit with
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's self-proclaimed strongman image.
"I think somehow this is part of the junta's attempt to 'toughen up' society,"
he said. "It's the junta trying to redefine what social order is. And I don't
think it's just about the junta - the whole of the Thai state, the system has
been going in that direction. I'm also talking about many smaller details,
instructed by the new king: you have to dress properly, you have to have a
certain haircut - this is all part of the redefinition of order."
The new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who served in the Thai military as both
officer and pilot, has taken an interest in the discipline of the nation's
security forces - illustrated by a widely shared video from earlier this year
showing soldiers and police dutifully practicing a new salute personally
created by the monarch, complete with a stiff chest puff and an abrupt twitch
of the head. Even more recently, dozens of police officers were temporarily
suspended for failing to adopt an ultraconservative short-back-and-sides
haircut made popular by the king???s own royal guard. But just how deep the new
sovereign's interest in the nation's law and order extends remains a matter of
much speculation.
Although Pavin was adamant that there was no way of knowing what role - if any
- the palace had played in the decision, the complete silence from the Thai
bureaucracy and media alike on the timing of the execution suggests a link to
that most unutterable taboo in Thai society: the sovereign. Writing for New
Mandala in June, a Thai journalist - anonymous to avoid prosecution under the
nation's notorious l???se majeste laws that make all criticism, and sometimes
merely discussion, of the reigning sovereign or his family punishable by years
in prison - pointed out that the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej had played an
essential role in the death penalty's effective abolition by refusing to
respond one way or another to the petitions filed with him after the initial
death sentences were handed down. With the petitions still pending the King's
decision, the journalist wrote, no execution could be carried out without
infringing on His Majesty's royal authority.
That the doomed Teerasak would fail to seek the same clemency as more than 500
men and women before him seems improbable. His sudden execution - carried out
even before his family had been notified of his impending death - suggests that
the palace has given up its long deliberation on the pleas of the condemned in
favour of swift and decisive action.
While he stressed that there was little more than speculation to go on,
Naresuan University's Paul Chambers told Southeast Asia Globe that rumours of
the palace's involvement did seem in keeping with the more active role played
by the sovereign since the 2016 succession.
"I've talked to some Thai academics and journalists about this issue, and they
tell me that there has been a more proactive role played by His Majesty in many
different dimensions of Thai society - and one of them is in regard to the
justice system," he said. "That means that they see the execution of that man
as an indicator of this royal intervention. Indeed, we are likely to see a
faster turnaround of those on death row getting proceeded through the system -
if you know what I mean. Because he seems to have a proactive interest in these
sorts of things."
Unlike his father, who, despite being widely revered throughout the Kingdom,
wielded power in a much more subtle manner during his 70-year reign, Chambers
said the new monarch appears to have a more hands-on approach to his authority.
"You can see this not just in the death penalty system but in other areas as
well, like the fact that many different laws are suddenly coming under direct
control of the palace," he said. "It seems like this particular sovereign is
taking a more direct, proactive role in society - unlike that of his father,
which was more indirect."
For Pavin, though, a junta that justifies its own existence through the
maintenance of peace and order may well have its own reasons for wanting a
return to the death penalty.
"The junta might want to gain political points among conservative minds, who
have the loudest voices in society," he said. "There have been a lot of
high-profile cases that have worried the Thai public involving crime, involving
rape."
Opinion polls gauging public appetite for execution in Thailand have found a
people still overwhelmingly in favour of capital punishment: a survey of 1,123
Thai citizens carried out in the days following Teerasak's execution found that
a staggering 93.4% supported the death penalty in the case of "cruel
murderers". Viewed through this lens, Pavin said, the decision to again follow
through on the death sentences still regularly handed down by the courts
appears less a betrayal of public trust than a desire to court it.
"There have been so many polls - most of them agree that the majority of Thais
agree with the death penalty," he said. "So I think this is partly a political
decision: the junta wants to become popular, wants to please the majority."
But the 517 men and women who remain on death row after years of uncertainty
stand to pay the highest price to satisfy that majority. "The NCPO appears to
be playing a game of public intimidation against criminal elements using the
classic tactic of 'killing the chicken and showing it to the monkeys'," Human
Rights Watch's Robertson said. "Many diplomats in Bangkok are already
expressing concerns that this will not be the last execution - and that more
may be in the pipeline."
(source: Southeast Asia Globe)
ZAMBIA:
Its Neighbors Ban the Death Penalty, but Zambia Has 252 - and Counting - on
Death Row----Zambia last executed someone in 1997, and neighboring countries
have long outlawed capital punishment. Even as courts continue to condemn
convicts to death row, many organizations are asking Zambians: Isn't it time to
abolish the death penalty?
On January 24, 1997, Frederick Chiluba, then the president of Zambia, pardoned
600 inmates from a federal prison. On the same day, 8 prisoners were hung. 7
had been convicted of murder, and 1 had been convicted of both murder and armed
robbery.
Christopher Siame, a murder convict formerly on death row, says he'll never
forget how he felt at the time.
"I went into prison shortly after the 1997 execution," recounts Siame, whose
sentence was commuted to life in prison in 2008 and who later became a free man
thanks to a presidential pardon.
"It was horrifying to hear the cells being opened in the condemned section. We
thought we were next to be hanged," he says nervously.
The execution of the 8 is the last known execution in Zambia, but courts across
the south-central African nation continue to put people on death row. According
to the Zambia Correctional Service, 252 Zambians are currently facing the death
penalty for murder, armed robbery or high treason.
International organizations and local human rights advocates, including
Zambia's Human Rights Commission, want the government to abolish the death
penalty. But some Zambians argue against this proposal, saying capital
punishment deters people from committing heinous crimes.
During a 2016 constitutional review, the government gave the Zambia Prison
Service a new name: the Zambia Correctional Service. Officials say the name
change promotes the rehabilitation of inmates and marked the end of years of
punitive practices.
Even with the change, the government agency struggles to provide the growing
prison population with adequate services. The agency's deputy
commissioner-general, Lloyd Chilundika, says prisons are extremely overcrowded.
The country's correctional facilities are meant to accommodate 8,000 inmates
but house more than 21,000, he says.
The parole system has not helped with decongestion, a 2014 government report
reveals. Neither have the decisions by courts and Zambian voters to keep
inmates on death row, says Derick Malumo, executive director for the Prisoner
Re-integration and Empowerment Organisation, a local nongovernmental
organization.
Siame, who received a presidential pardon in 2013, agrees.
"Death row contributes to congestion, because everyone is lumped in the
condemned section and for years are not hanged," he says. "It takes time for
them to be commuted. Until then, we are forced to be congested."
While nearby countries such as Angola, Mozambique and Namibia have long
outlawed capital punishment, a majority of Zambians voted during the 2016
constitutional review to uphold the law that allows the state to punish certain
offenders by hanging.
Cornelius Mweetwa, who was chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal
Affairs, Human Rights, National Guidance, Gender Matters and Governance at the
time of the vote, says those who voted in favor of keeping the death penalty
presented some strong arguments.
"If you have killed, you have taken away the most basic right of a human being.
Then why should the state be quick to protect your right to life, when you
yourself have taken another? Those were the majority of the arguments," he
says.
Some voters put forth another rationale, Mweetwa says, in which the death
penalty functions as a deterrent to crimes.
"Even with the death penalty, people are still committing crimes. Imagine if it
was removed - people would be killing each other like I don't know," he says.
Critics believe otherwise. Godfrey Malembeka, executive director of Prisons
Care and Counselling Association, a local NGO, says the death penalty does not
complement the government's efforts to build a more rehabilitative criminal
justice system.
"There is no correctional in the grave. Besides, [if the] death penalty has not
deterred people from committing the heinous crimes, then why should we maintain
it?" Malembeka asks, adding that the practice is inhumane.
Mweelwa Muleya, the spokesman for the Human Rights Commission, a national
agency, says the death penalty dehumanizes criminals. His organization has been
running many media campaigns to promote their stance on the issue.
"We are educating the public, to widen the understanding that [the] death
penalty is against human rights," he says.
Siame also says the death penalty must be abolished. Between 1997, when Siame
was convicted of murder, and 2008, when his sentence was commuted, he lived in
fear with no idea whether his execution would ever be scheduled, he says.
"It is torturous to be on death row," he says. "Most of the people on death row
die of depression. Others would just die in their sleep; others would just
collapse."
Although Chilundika admits that the death penalty conflicts with the 2016
change in his agency's name and with other government efforts to improve the
criminal justice system, he says that, in practice, Zambia has abolished the
death penalty. Those on death row often receive commuted sentences.
"There is hope for correctional," he says. "Once their sentences are commuted
to life, we start engaging them in reformatory activities."
(source: globalpressjournal.com)
BOTSWANA:
The paradox of Botswana's death penalty
In Sub-Saharan Africa, a region with no shortage of development challenges,
Botswana stands out for its strong economy, stable democracy, and commitment to
the rule of law. But by one measure - its support for capital punishment
-Botswana is frighteningly narrow-minded. If the country of my birth is to
retain its reputation as one of Africa's most liberal states, it must confront
its affinity for the gallows.
According to Amnesty International, most of Africa is abandoning the death
penalty. Today, just 10 African countries allow for capital punishment and only
a handful ever use it. Botswana - an affluent, landlocked, diamond-exporting
state - is among the leading exceptions. After a lull in killings in 2017,
Botswana has resumed executing convicted murderers; Joseph Tselayarona, 28, was
executed in February, while Uyapo Poloko, 37, was put to death in May.
Botswana's legal system - and the basis for capital punishment - is rooted in
English and Roman-Dutch common law. According to the country's penal code, the
preferred punishment for murder is death by hanging. And, while the
constitution protects a citizen's "right to life", it makes an exception when
the termination of a life is "in execution of the sentence of a court".
But the country's relationship to the death penalty predates its current legal
statutes. In the pre-colonial era, tribal chiefs - known as kgosi - imposed the
penalty for crimes such as murder, sorcery, incest and conspiracy. To this day,
history is often invoked to defend the status quo. In a 2012 judgment, the
Botswana court of appeals wrote that capital punishment has been imposed "since
time immemorial", and "its abolition would be a departure from the accepted
norm." After Tselayarona was executed, the government even Tweeted a photo of
then-president Ian Khama under a caption that read, "Death penalty serves
nation well".
To be sure, the number of executions in Botswana pales in comparison to the
world's leaders. Of the 993 executions recorded by Amnesty International last
year, 84 % were carried out by just 4 countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and
Pakistan. The total does not include China, believed to be the world's largest
executioner, because death-penalty data there are classified as a state secret.
By contrast, Botswana has executed roughly 50 people since independence in
1966. And yet the very existence of capital punishment will remain a stain on
the country until it is abolished.
According to Amnesty International, 142 countries have abolished the death
penalty. In its most recent death-penalty survey, the group pointed to
Sub-Saharan Africa as a "beacon of hope" in the global effort to eradicate the
practice. Last year, Kenya took a positive step by ending mandatory imposition
of the death penalty for murder. And Guinea became the 20th country in the
region to abolish capital punishment for all crimes. When will Botswana follow
suit?
Botswana has been in the vanguard on human-rights issues before. For example,
after South Africa's threat to withdraw from the International Criminal Court
(ICC) in October 2016, Botswana's leaders defended the ICC and reaffirmed their
commitment to international law. Then, in February 2018, Khama broke the
silence among African leaders and called for Joseph Kabila, the autocratic
president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to "relinquish power". The
same month, the Botswana government criticised the UN Security Council for its
handling of the crisis in Syria.
Taking a progressive stance on the death penalty would seem a natural step in
the evolution of Botswana's liberal agenda. But the government has only dug in
deeper, and contradictory international laws mean that Botswana is under no
great pressure to change course. While both the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contain de facto
prohibitions on capital punishment, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) recognises a state's authority to retain the practice.
An "optional" auxiliary amendment to the ICCPR, adopted in 1989, sought to
close this loophole, but Botswana did not sign it.
Public opinion also favors preserving the status quo. According to an online
survey conducted by the national newspaper Mmegi, support for capital
punishment remains high among voters, which explains why the issue has never
gained traction in parliament.
And yet there is simply no evidence to support the authorities' argument that
the death penalty lowers rates of violent crime. Convincing the public of this
will require visionary leadership, not to mention more legal challenges that
force the courts to take up and debate the issue.
Botswana's would-be abolitionists need not look far for inspiration. When South
Africa's constitutional court ended capital punishment in 1995, opponents of
the decision argued that the court was not in tune with public opinion; some
even called for a referendum. But the framers of South Africa's post-apartheid
constitution, which entered into force in 1997, held their ground and the
practice was abolished.
As the South African court wrote in its opinion: "Everyone, including the most
abominable of human beings, has the right to life." The goal for leaders in
Botswana must be to convince their constituents - and perhaps also themselves -
to embrace the universality of that sentiment.
(source: Opinion, Mary-Jean Nleya is an associate fellow at the Royal
Commonwealth Society and founder of The Global Communique, a digital
current-affairs magazine----The Jordan Times)
TURKEY:
Turkish leaders agree to death penalty for 'terrorists' and child killers:
Report----Reinstatement of capital punishment could spell the death of Turkey's
application to join the European Union
Turkish political leaders have agreed to restore the death penalty in the
country for "terrorists" and killers of women and children, a move that - if
implemented - would automatically put an end to Turkey's European Union
ascession bid.
According to a report in the Cumhuriyet newspaper on Tuesday, Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and ally Devlet Bahceli, leader of the far-right
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), discussed the restoration of the death
penalty at the end of July and came to agreement.
The news comes as Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the reactivation
of the Reform Action Group, the committee for pushing forward on reforms
required for EU ascession.
Speaking on Wednesday at a press conference in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius,
Cavusoglu said that putting Turkey back on the path to EU membership would be a
focus for the government.
"After the lifting of the state of emergency, our priority is reforms," he
said, referring to the state of emergency that was put in place in July 2016
after a failed coup attempt and lifted almost exactly 2 years later.
The Reform Action Group has not been active since 2015, while Turkey's
increasingly authoritarian climate has made the prospect of EU membership
appear remote.
Cavusoglu said that the group, which is composed of Turkish interior and
justice ministers, would "evaluate a road map for reform and action plans".
"Turkey's expectation from the EU is very clear. We don't want any gestures
that are not deserved. We just want the ones Turkey deserves and the ones
promised," he said.
The death penalty was abolished for peace time offences in Turkey in 2002 by
the then-coalition government, of which the MHP was a member. The abolition
came as part of the ascession talks with the EU, which includes a blanket ban
on the death penalty as part of its Charter on Fundamental Rights.
Then prime minister, Erdogan fully abolished the death penalty in Turkey in
2004.
However, since the 2016 coup attempt a number of politicians - including
Erdogan - have called for the return of executions, particularly for the coup
plotters.
In July 2017, a year after the failed coup attempt, Erdogan said that he would
restore the death penalty "without hesitation", regardless of the EU's stance.
"The stance of the European Union is clear to see... 54 years have passed and
they are still messing us about," he said.
"We will sort things out for ourselves. There's no other option."
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the EU should engage
with Turkey without dangling the prospect of membership over its head.
Although he said he supported security relations with Turkey, he said that
while Turks "keep asserting a pan-Islamist and apparently anti-European agenda
day after day, how can we think clearly and honestly of continuing talks for
Turkey's EU membership?"
His remarks were slammed by a Turkish government spokesperson who said Turkey
was "a democratic and secular country" that was "determined to proceed on the
path to full membership to the EU".
(source: Middle East Eye)
SINGAPORE:
High Court hands down death sentence to man for murder (NST TV)
An unemployed man was sentenced to death by the High Court here today after he
was found guilty of murdering a man at a coffee shop, here, 2 years ago.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh ordered Lim Hup Yap, 44,
to be hanged, after ruling that the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt in
the case.
He said the accused had failed to prove that he was insane at the time of the
incident.
"Also, the accused knew his action then was wrong," he said before handing down
the sentence.
Lim was found guilty of murdering Lim Cheong Wah, who was stabbed to death, in
front of the Mei Heung coffee shop at Gat Lebuh Macallum here between 6.30pm
and 7pm on April 5, 2016.
He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the mandatory
death penalty upon conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Khalid Abdul Karim prosecuted while Lim was
represented by counsel, Harpal Singh.
It was reported that Cheong Wah, then 58, was stabbed in the back at the coffee
shop by an unknown man.
He was rushed to the Penang Hospital with the knife still stuck in his back but
succumbed to the injury.
(source: New Straits Times)
IRAN----executions
At Least 3 People Executed During the Last Week in 1 Prison; 2 More in Imminent
Danger
At least 3 prisoners were hanged at Rajai Shahr Prison during the last week. 2
prisoners were transferred to the solitary confinement of Rajai Shahr Prison
yesterday.
According to a close source, on Sunday, August 26, at least 3 prisoners were
executed at Rajai Shahr Prison. The prisoners were sentenced to death on murder
charges.
1 of the executed prisoners was identified as Abbas Aqaiy. He was transferred
to the solitary confinement from ward 1. 2 other prisoners have possibly been
transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison from other prisons to be executed.
The 3 prisoners were executed on Tuesday while executions at Rajai Shahr Prison
are normally carried out on Wednesdays.
These executions have not been announced by the state-run media so far.
Additionally, on Monday, August 27, at least 2 prisoners were transferred to
the solitary confinement. The prisoners, sentenced to death on murder charges,
are identified as Mojtaba Asadi, and Shamsali Abdollahi.
According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the
517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
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