August 31
TAIWAN----execution
Taiwan carries out 1st execution in 2 years amid anti-death penalty pleas
Taiwan executed a death-row inmate on Friday, the 1st execution carried out
under President Tsai Ing-wen's government and despite ongoing calls from rights
groups to abolish the death penalty.
Lee Hung-chi was executed at a jail in southern Kaohsiung city Friday afternoon
by firing squad, according to the justice ministry, for killing his ex-wife and
5-year-old daughter in 2014.
Lee stabbed his ex-wife to death outside the kindergarten their 2 daughters
attended and then took 1 of the girls to his car, where he attempted to commit
suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Lee survived after they were rescued but the girl died 2 months later despite
treatment.
"His actions were brutal and ruthless ... and inflicted irreparable harms to
the victims' families," deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters,
adding that the court had ruled there was no likelihood of Lee reforming.
Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a 5-year hiatus, with the death
penalty reserved for the most serious crimes such as aggravated murder and
kidnapping.
Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various
opinion surveys show majority support for the death penalty.
Chen said the government was gradually decreasing its use, but would not
abolish it for now.
"Abolishing death sentence is an international trend and a long-term goal for
the justice ministry ... but there is no consensus in our country," Chen said.
There are currently 42 prisoners on death row in Taiwan.
Lee's execution was the 1st since a former college student was put to death in
May 2016 for killing 4 people in a random stabbing spree on a subway that
shocked the generally peaceful island.
In 2012 the murder of a young boy in a playground reignited the debate over the
death penalty after the suspect reportedly said he was anticipating free board
and lodging in jail and would get a life sentence at most even if he were to
kill 2 or 3 people.
(source: newsinfo.inquirer.net)
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Taiwan executes convict on president's birthday----Murderer was 1st convict to
be executed since president took office in May 2016
A man who stabbed his former wife to death outside a school and caused the
death of a 6-year-old daughter became the 1st death row convict to be executed
since President Tsai Ing-wen came to office in May 2016.
Even though Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party includes several prominent
opponents of capital punishment, the practice still receives overwhelming
support from the public according to opinion polls.
Lee Hung-chi, 39, was shot Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Justice said. It
added he formed a serious threat to law and order and showed no possibility of
remorse.
Before the murder, he had already spent 11 months in prison for violating a
restraining order and trying to kill both his daughters and commit suicide.
In April 2014, he first stabbed his ex-wife to death and then abducted 1 of
their 2 daughters from the school.
Having driven to a mountainous area, he drugged the girl and burned charcoal
inside the car in order to cause both of their deaths, according to the Apple
Daily. He survived, but the girl died 2 months later, the Central News Agency
reported.
The Kaohsiung District Court sentenced him to life in prison, a combination of
a 15-year jail term for killing his wife and life for the death of their
daughter.
However, the Taiwan High Court changed the sentences to life for the death of
his ex-wife and capital punishment for the death of the girl. In 2016, the
Supreme Court confirmed the verdict, making it the 1st death sentence issued
since Tsai was sworn in as president.
The Ministry of Justice said the order for Lee's execution was signed on
Thursday, and rejected reporters' questions about a link with the fact that the
president was marking her 62nd birthday Friday.
Taiwan's most recent execution until now occurred just days before Tsai took
over, when student Cheng Chieh was shot for killing 4 people on a Taipei Mass
Rapid Transit train.
With Lee's death, there were reportedly still 42 convicts on death row in
Taiwan.
(source: Taiwan News)
CANADA:
Canadians shouldn't support executions
Canadians can influence Florida's death penalty, Aug. 26
Dec. 11, 2018 will mark 56 years since 2 men were hanged in Canada. These last
state-sanctioned executions to happen here took place at Toronto's infamous Don
Jail in 1962. In 1976, Canada abolished capital punishment.
Before some Canadians take issue with Florida's use of the death penalty - a
punishment I am against - we should take note of our own country's attitude to
sanctioning state murder.
Believe it or not, most Canadians favour bringing back capital punishment, even
while Americans are slowly moving away from it. Repeated polls reveal that a
majority of Canadians to this day favour some return of the death penalty.
According to a 2016 survey by Abacus Data, 58 % of Canadians want their country
to join the likes of China, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia in sanctioning state
murder!
The ultimate punishment is wrong. Abolitionists argue the death penalty is more
expensive than imprisonment, has little effectiveness as a deterrent and risks
the execution of innocent people. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated
the death penalty. Since then, more than 100 convicted people have been
exonerated and freed from death row.
Most democratic governments have done away with capital punishment. Of all the
major democracies, only three still execute criminals - India, Japan and the
U.S. Capital punishment is viewed in most of the civilized world as unfair and
cruel. A condition of entry into the European Union specifies that any country
wishing to join cannot practice capital punishment.
And yet, a majority of Canadians want this form of punishment reinstated under
certain circumstances! Go figure. Amnesty International Canada should
prioritize, focusing its efforts on educating Canadians on the immorality of
capital punishment, not on calling upon snowbirds to advocate for its
abolition.
Emile Therien, Ottawa
Gee, Canadians drop bigger coin and stay longer as tourists in Florida than do
others. Therefore, they can "call upon Florida to change direction?" Can you
imagine the outrage if Americans similarly mobilized to influence Canadian law,
based on the fact that they spend more money in Canada than others do?
Talk about hypocrisy.
Randall Bell, Whitby
(source: Letters to the Editor, The Star)
NIGERIA:
Igbo group recommends death penalty for rapists
An Igbo pressure group, Voice from the East, VEAST, has recommended death
penalty for rapists, stressing that rape should be punishable by hanging in
order to reduce the increasing cases of rape in the society.
The group in a statement by its convener, Mr Kindness Jonah, Thursday, noted
with sadness, the rape of one Matha, a virgin by her uncle, as published in the
Vanguard newspaper of August, 2018.
He said: "This enterprising beautiful virgin Christian lady who should be
protected by her uncle, guided and given out in marriage as a matter of pride
and honour to her husband by her uncle was contrariwise, raped by her uncle. As
Igbos would say, 'dog has eaten the bone on its neck.
"This incestuous act cannot and should no more be tolerated in Nigeria. We call
for the full weight of the law to be invoked on this uncle of hers to ensure
that this satanic fellow is soundly punished with nothing short of life jail.
"We make case for death by hanging for all cases of rape from now on in
Nigeria. The rate of rape and the concomitant wriggling out of the case by the
guilty via the instrumentality of the law and the so-called legal lacunas
occasioned by burden of proof in limbo, makes a raped victim, a laughing stock
in Nigeria, thereby emboldening the criminal and furthering the course of this
despicable act.
"It is sad the increasing cases of incest in our society where father rapes or
sleeps with his daughter, where brother rapes or sleeps with his sister, where
uncle rapes or sleeps with his aunt. From Biblical times, incest was condemned
and can never be tolerated in our society any more. We call on the National
Assembly to as a matter of urgency, make laws that punish rapist by hanging him
publicly."
(source: vanguardngr.com)
PAKISTAN:
ATC sentences 2 suspects death penalty in Zahra Shahid case
The Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi on Friday sentenced 2 suspects to death for
the murder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zahra Shahid .
The court, announcing its verdict in the case, awarded death sentences to
Rashid alias 'Tailor' and Zahid Abbas Zaidi for murdering the PTI leader.
2 other suspects, Irfan alias Lamba and Kaleem, were acquitted for lack of
evidence.
Zahra Shahid , who was the vice president of PTI's Sindh chapter, was shot dead
in May 2013 by gunmen outside her residence in Karachi's DHA Phase-IV locality,
hours before her controversial re-election in National Assembly constituency
NA-250.
The convicts in the case belonged to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party and had
confessed to the killing, Rangers prosecution team said.
Witnesses at the scene of the incident had also identified the guilty, the
prosecutors informed.
(source: The Nation)
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