Oct. 11
GLOBAL:
Moving away from the mandatory death penalty
Today marks the 16th World Day against the Death Penalty, once again providing
an opportunity to reflect on the use of the death penalty around the world. The
path towards abolition is frequently paved by progressive restriction in the
imposition and application of capital punishment. Accordingly, this year we
consider the decline of the mandatory death penalty, a practice which an
ever-increasing number of countries have recognised as cruel, unfair and
ultimately incompatible with fundamental human rights protections.
Approximately 29 countries around the world continue to impose mandatory death
sentences for crimes including murder, drug trafficking and blasphemy, amongst
other offences. In many countries, the practice of imposing the death penalty
automatically originates in laws inherited under British colonial rule. Since
then, an increasing number of countries have rejected the archaic practice as
incompatible with evolving standards of decency.
In the past 12 months the global consensus against the mandatory death penalty
has continued to grow. 2 more courts, in Kenya and Barbados, have ruled the
automatic imposition of a death sentence incompatible with their national
constitutions, bringing the total number of countries where The Death Penalty
Project has successfully brought or supported constitutional challenges to the
mandatory death penalty to 13 nations. As a direct consequence, thousands have
been removed from death rows around the world.
We look forward to continuing to support efforts to end the mandatory death
penalty and are hopeful that movement away from this practice will continue.
For instance, there are promising signs in Malaysia, where the new government
is exercising leadership and has pledged to abolish mandatory death sentencing.
Nevertheless, even with discretionary sentencing it is impossible to guard
against arbitrariness in the application of death penalty. The experience of
India, taking just one example, shows how judicial discretion can give way to a
lethal lottery, where the decision to impose the death penalty depends
significantly on who is hearing the case. Stringent sentencing guidelines and
adherence to safeguards may provide some protection for those facing capital
charges but ultimately, whether the sentence is mandatory or discretionary, it
is impossible to ensure that the death penalty is applied consistently and
without arbitrariness, discrimination or error. Despite this, it is clear that
moving away from the mandatory death penalty is a step in the right direction
on the road towards complete abolition of capital punishment.
(source: deathpenaltyproject.org, Oct. 10)
***********************
'Put an end to the death penalty now', urges Guterres, marking World Day
Progress made toward eliminating the death penalty has been "marred by
setbacks,' said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in a
statement on Wednesday, marking the 16th World Day Against the Death Penalty.
He noted that hundreds of offenders - often impoverished, women or hailing from
minority groups - have been executed without legal representation or
transparent criminal proceedings, which might have spared them from the death
penalty.
"In some countries, people are sentenced to death in secret trials, without due
process, increasing the potential for error or abuse" - UN chief Guterres
Some 170 States have abolished or put a stay on executions, since the UN
General Assembly's 1st call for a moratorium on its use, in 2007. Mr. Guterres
noted the lack of transparency in some countries where the death penalty is
still used, underscoring its incompatibility with human rights standards.
Mr. Guterres said he was "deeply disturbed" in particular, by the number of
juvenile offenders being executed. Only last week, Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran of
Iran, was executed for killing her husband, when she was 17, despite a trial
marred by irregularities.
"In some countries, people are sentenced to death in secret trials, without due
process, increasing the potential for error or abuse" said the UN chief.
These comments echo those of UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights,
Andrew Gilmour. In an interview with UN News last November, he said there was
"far too much secrecy, and it's quite indicative of the fact that although many
countries are giving up the practice, those that retain it, nevertheless feel
that they have something to hide."
He noted the majority of executions today are carried out in China, Pakistan,
Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Guterres concluded with a call for all nations to abolish the practice of
executions. "I call on those remaining, to join the majority and put an end to
the death penalty now," he added.
(source: un.org)
FRANCE:
16th World Day Against the Death Penalty (10 October 2018)
On this 16th World Day Against the Death Penalty, France reaffirms its
opposition to the death penalty everywhere and in all circumstances.
France is committed to the universal abolition of this unjust, inhumane and
ineffective punishment and calls on all nations that still apply the death
penalty to establish a moratorium on it with a view to its definitive
abolition.
France welcomes the decision by Mongolia, Guinea and Burkina Faso to abolish
the death penalty. It also welcomes Gambia’s ratification of the Second
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
aimed at abolishing the death penalty, as well as Guatemala’s abolition of
capital punishment for ordinary crimes.
France reiterates its concern over the continued use of the death penalty in
all too many countries.
France invites all nations to mobilize ahead of the Seventh World Congress
Against the Death Penalty to be held from February 27 to March 1, 2019, in
Brussels. It also calls on states to support the adoption of the resolution
calling for a universal moratorium on the death penalty by the 73rd session of
the UN General Assembly.
(source: diplomatie.gouv.fr)
ITALY:
Italian government says Capital punishment is "unjustifiable under any
circumstance"
Capital punishment is "unjustifiable under any circumstance", the Italian
government said on Wednesday, underlining its opposition to state-sanctioned
execution.
"On European and World Day against the Death Penalty, Italy reaffirms its firm
opposition to the death penalty, which is unjustifiable under any
circumstance," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Italy has always sought to marshal "the widest possible support" for the 2007
UN moratorium on the death penalty and keeps working to "broaden the consensus
of the international community" on the resolution, the statement said.
"Over many years now, this effort has involved the whole diplomatic network in
a continuous dialogue also with civil society," the statement added.
(source: devdiscourse.com)
AUSTRIA:
Austria Continues to Call for Global Moratorium on Death Penalty - Foreign
Minister
Austria along with other EU countries continue to call for introduction of the
global moratorium on death penalty in the United Nations, the country's foreign
minister, Karin Kneissl, said on Wednesday.
Speaking on the World Day Against the Death Penalty, Kneissl pointed out that
there was no place for capital punishment in the 21st century.
"Along with the European Union and other countries that share this point of
view, we will continue to call for the global moratorium [on death penalty] as
a first step toward the global ban," Kneissl said, as quoted by the ministry's
press service.
The minister added that Austria condemns the use of death penalty under any
circumstances and attaches significant importance to fighting for the global
ban of capital punishment.
(source: urdupoint.com)
INDONESIA:
AGO Still Waiting to Execute Death Penalty Inmates
The Attorney General`s Office is still waiting for the right time to execute 91
death penalty inmates on drug cases.
"Later," said Attorney General M. Prasetyo when he was asked about the time of
death row inmates' execution at his office in South Jakarta, Wednesday, October
10.
Prasetyo once stated that the death row inmates were buying time for the
execution by using their legal rights because the law provided opportunities.
"They all tried to buy time," Prasetyo said, September 28.
The Constitutional Court also provides an opportunity for the death row inmates
to test the verdict through a judicial review (PK) more than once.
In addition, the absence of a deadline for filing clemency also becomes an
obstacle for the execution. "This is our problem," he said.
In coincidence with the World's Anti-Death Penalty Day on Wednesday, Oct. 10,
the coalition of death penalty elimination (HATI Coalition) urged the
Indonesian government to abolish and review the law on the death penalty.
HATI Coalition also explained that the death penalty applied in Indonesia shows
injustice since the law often targets vulnerable groups with high poverty
rates.
The death penalty inmates often experience difficulties in obtaining access to
justice, information, participation, equality and they often experience
discrimination.
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) noted that
throughout 2018, Indonesian courts had sentenced to death 43 defendants in 19
cases. 7 cases include murder cases and 12 others were narcotics cases.
(source: tempo.co)
PHILIPPINES:
3 out of 10 Pinoys favor death penalty for 6 drug-related crimes - SWS poll
Most Filipinos do not see the death penalty as the solution for 6 out of 7
crimes related to illegal drugs, results of a special Social Weather Stations
(SWS) survey commissioned by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) showed.
About 33 % or less demand the death penalty for 6 crimes related to drugs,
namely importation of illegal drugs, maintenance of drug dens, manufacture of
illegal drugs, murder under the influence of drugs, sale of illegal drugs, and
working in drug dens.
SWS found that for these 6 crimes, about 51-55 % of Filipinos prefer life
imprisonment as the penalty. Another 15- 24 % prefer imprisonment for 20 years
or 40 years.
The only exception, where 47 % think the death penalty should apply, was for
rape under the influence of drugs.
These are the main findings of the March, 2018 National Survey on Public
Perception on the Death Penalty, conducted by SWS for the Commission on Human
Rights (CHR) of the Philippines.
It is the 1st survey in the Philippines to explore thought processes and
disentangle layers of perceptions about the death penalty. It was conducted
through face-to-face interviews of 2,000 respondents aged 15 and above
nationwide during the period March 22 to 27, 2018.
For all the crimes, the survey found only minority support for the death
penalty.
The strongest demand for the death penalty is at 47 %, for rape under the
influence of drugs.
For the other 6 crimes, the demand for death penalty is from 22 % to 33 %.
Meanwhile, on the demand for imprisonment, instead of death, is over 70 % for
those found guilty of working in drug dens (78 %), sale of illegal drugs (76
%), and maintenance of drug dens (73 %).
It is followed by murder under the influence of drugs (69 %), importation of
illegal drugs (68 %), and manufacture of illegal drugs (66 %).
Demand for imprisonment as a punishment for those guilty of rape under the
influence of drugs is 53 %.
(source: Manila Bulletin)
PAKISTAN:
Daughter of Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy speaks of
emotional final meeting with her mother waiting to hear if she will be executed
for 'insulting Mohammed'
'I was very close to her, and there hasn't been a day that I haven't been
praying for her to come home.'
She was a young child when her mother was first accused by fellow villagers in
Sheikhupura, Punjab, of insulting Islam in 2009.
They were the only Catholic family in the village, but although their religion
had seen her parents sometime struggle to find work, Ms Ashiq had a happy
childhood in a loving home.
It was a hot day in June 2009, when her mother went to fetch water for her
fellow farmhands while working in a field picking berries.
The Muslim women she was labouring with objected, saying that as a non-Muslim
Ms Bibi was unfit to drink from the same water bowl as them.
Ms Bibi would later say that the women insulted her religion, to which she
responded: 'I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross
for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save
mankind?'
This prompted the Muslim women to go to a local imam and accuse Ms Bibi of
blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed.
Before Ms Bibi could be arrested on any official charges, a violent mob
descended on their family home, and beat Ms Bibi up in front of her children.
The abuse was so violent, police were called to the scene, but after rescuing
the mother-of-five, they arrested her and threw her in jail - and a year later
she was convicted of blasphemy.
Over the past 9 years, Ms Ashiq, her father and her siblings - sisters Naseem,
29, Sidra, 26, Esha, 17, and brother Imran, 27 - have been taking turns in
visiting Ms Bibi on death row.
It takes them 6 hours to travel from their home in Punjab to the prison where
Ms Bibi is being held, in the same solitary confinement cell since her 2009
arrest.
They are allowed to see her for around 15 to 20 minutes under the watch of
prison officers, before making the 6-hour trip home.
Ms Ashiq and Mr Masih say they are only able to make the long and expensive
journey every few months, with 2 or 3 of them going each time.
The family last saw Ms Bibi last Monday, a meeting which may well have been
their last.
Ms Ashiq said: 'It was a very emotional meeting, but I am confident in God and
that He will set her free.'
Ms Ashiq said she had to 'find inner strength' to overcome her mother being in
prison while growing up.
She currently attends a local school along with her sister Esha, who has a
developmental disorder and is a special needs student.
She dreams of becoming a lawyer, hoping to help poor people and those who, like
her mother, have been accused of blasphemy.
Mr Masih, a builder by trade, tells MailOnline: 'Asia is always saying "I am
missing my children" and she is praying and praying to be free.
'We always trust in God to care for her during her suffering days. Physically
and mentally she is as well as she can be.
'She has been in solitary confinement since day one as they fear someone might
attack her.
'We believe they will set her free, but the circumstances are such that she
would be unable to live in Pakistan as a free woman. She would not survive.'
Ms Bibi's case has outraged Christians worldwide and been a source of division
within Pakistan, where two politicians who sought to help her were
assassinated, including Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who was shot by his own
bodyguard.
Fundamentalist groups have been protesting in the streets, calling for her
execution to be carried out.
One of the most vocal groups, the ultra-religious Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan
(TLP), has warned of 'terrible consequences' if she is granted leniency. M
The Supreme Court reached a decision on Monday, but their announcement is not
expected until later this week or perhaps next, potentially due to a fear of
mob violence.
If the 3-judge Supreme Court bench uphold the 53-year-old's conviction, her
only recourse will be a direct appeal to the president for clemency.
Ms Bibi has always denied blaspheming and her representatives have claimed she
was involved in a dispute with her neighbours and that her accusers had
contradicted themselves.
Blasphemy is a charge so sensitive in Pakistan that anyone even accused of
insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.
The charge is punishable by a maximum penalty of death under legislation that
rights groups say is routinely abused by religious extremists as well as
ordinary Pakistanis to settle personal scores.
The law does not define what blasphemy constitutes, and evidence is often not
reproduced in court for fear of committing a fresh offence.
Despite this, calls for reform of the blasphemy law have regularly been met
with violence and rejected.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a wholehearted defence of the
laws during his election campaign earlier this year, vowing his party 'fully'
supports the legislation and 'will defend it'.
(source: dailymail.co.uk)
***************
Asia Bibi awaits judgment on final Supreme Court appeal against 'blasphemy'
death penalty
Pakistan's Supreme Court has heard the final appeal of a Christian mother of 5
who was sentenced to death for blasphemy - her crime was to drink from a water
fountain used by Muslims. The conviction and sentence handed down to Asia Bibi
has led to international condemnation of the country's much-abused blasphemy
laws. In 2016, members of the Anglican Consultative Council, meeting in Lusaka,
said it "stands in solidarity and prayer with Asia Bibi" and asked that "her
case be re-investigated and that she be honourably acquitted." They also
expressed their "solidarity and prayer with other victims" of Pakistan's
blasphemy law.
Bibi has been held in custody since June 2009 after her co-workers said that by
drinking water meant for Muslims she had made it ritually unclean. In November
2010, she was sentenced to death and has had numerous appeals postponed.
Hardline Islamists in Pakistan have campaigned against her release. In January
2011, Salman Taseer, a governor of Punjab, said that Bibi was innocent and
called for a review of Pakistan's blasphemy laws. In response, he was shot and
killed by his own bodyguard. 2 months later, Shahbaz Bhatti, the country's
Minority Affairs Minister, was ambushed and killed by gunmen near his Islamabad
home. He had previously told reporters that he would campaign for Bibi's
release.
After years of delays and adjournments, a tribunal of three Supreme Court
judges, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, and supported by Justice Asif
Saeed Khosa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, heard her final appeal
October 8.
"They have come to a decision, but it has been reserved," said Mehwish Bhatti,
an officer with the British-Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), said from
the court house. "The Chief Justice has banned media interference, but all the
journalists are talking about this.
"Earlier they took my mobile [phone] for almost 2 hours after I tried to take a
picture of the court house. The entrance of high-profile people was from the
other side, so nobody could see them."
Last week, Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih, spoke at an event organized by Aid to
the Church in Need at the Catholic chaplaincy of Lancaster University in
northwest England, alongside the couple's eldest daughter, Eisham. "She is
psychologically, physically and spiritually strong, having a very strong
faith," Masih told BPCA's chairman Wilson Chowdhry. "She is ready and willing
to die for Christ."
Chowdhry commented: "News of her poor health and early signs of dementia are a
paramount concern for our community, and the date of this appeal is very
timely. These charges have been proven false time and again, and it is time for
her to return home to her family. Clearly, she will need asylum in a Western
country where she can live out the remainder of her days in peace.
"We hope this time she will be completely exonerated and this wrongful
conviction will finally be overturned, as this is her last chance to be heard
at court."
Many churches in Lahore held a day of prayer and fasting. "All around Pakistan,
and even many parts of the world, the sense of anticipation...regarding Asia
Bibi's final appeal hearing are now at fever pitch," BPCA outreach officer
Leighton Medley said ahead of today’s hearing. "There is a sense here in
Pakistan that once again, battle lines are being drawn: the battle between
those who support hatred and intolerance and those who fight for peace and
justice.
"There is no doubt, that...you will be able to cut the atmosphere with a knife.
There will be protests on both sides, and you can bet there will be trouble
ahead."
He added: "We must have faith that God can intervene in this situation and this
mountain will be removed. It is very much like going into the lion's den.
"It truly is D-Day for Asia, this is the final countdown, and we will soon know
whether the extremists win or lose. And whether there will be peace and justice
in Pakistan or just more hatred, prejudice and intolerance, which sadly has
come to typify Pakistan today."
Pakistan's blasphemy laws are often used to settle personal scores. The death
sentence has never been carried out; but at least 20 people have been murdered
in prison after being convicted.
(source: Anglican Journal)
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