October 29
SOUTH AFRICA:
Death penalty return reports a hoax
The report claims those found guilty of raping girls under the age of 12 years
could face the death penalty.
Reports of the death penalty returning in the country have been labelled fake
news.
Oft discredited website HINNews led with the headline "South Africa to
introduce death penalty for rapists and murderers".
The report has been confirmed to be fake news by the department of justice and
fact-checking organisation Africa Check.
The news report by HINNews said the country was following India’s example where
convicted rapists of girls under the age of 12 could face the death penalty.
"The situation is even worse in South Africa, the statistics of rape has
assumed an all time alarming rate, with rapist spreading diseases and infection
to their vulnerable victims [sic]," reported the site.
"Since South Africa is also experiencing a similar deadly act of rape by some
heartless individuals, some advocates have proceeded to pass a piece of
legislation which would be of good interest of all concerned."
The HINNews article has gained momentum and is being shared rapidly on social
media.
Both the department of justice and Africa Check have labelled the report fake.
Spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said nothing about the death penalty's return
was ever tabled.
The death penalty is considered unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.
The HINNews site has been linked to a Nigerian businessman. The acronym HIN is
short for Happenings in Nigeria, according to Africa Check.
(source: citizen.co.za)
SOUTH KOREA:
South Korean Man Kills Ex-Wife, Daughters Demand Death Penalty For Him----The
murder has shone a spotlight on South Korea's poor handling of domestic abuse
cases, where the perpetrators are often assigned to counselling or given
restraining orders.
Nearly 150,000 South Koreans have backed a demand by 3 sisters to have their
father executed for the brutal killing of their mother, in a case highlighting
the country's lax punishment of domestic violence.
The trio's mother was stabbed to death by her ex-husband in the car park of her
apartment complex last week after years of physical abuse.
"Our father is a heinous criminal who must forever be isolated from society,"
the daughters said in a petition filed on the website of the presidential Blue
House. "We are petitioning for him to be sentenced to death to prevent further
victims."
It had received more than 147,000 signatures by Monday afternoon.
South Korea retains the death penalty in law, but last carried out an execution
in 1997 and is regarded as abolitionist in practice.
The murder has shone a spotlight on South Korea's poor handling of domestic
abuse cases, where the perpetrators are often assigned to counselling or given
restraining orders.
According to a report by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women, nearly 1/2of 16,868 cases of domestic violence
reported to police in 2015 did not result in any criminal punishment.
Rights groups say that the current law focuses more on maintaining a family
structure rather than punishment of the abuser, perpetuating the problem.
"A perpetrator is a subject for punishment, not a subject for counselling,"
said activist Kim Myung-jin at a rally in downtown Seoul on Monday.
"Counselling cannot be punishment."
Last week's assailant -- identified only by his surname, Kim -- was arrested
and reports said he had admitted the killing during police questioning, quoting
his lawyer telling reporters that Kim was "regretful" for his actions.
His daughters said their mother had endured more than 20 years of physical
abuse and death threats from their father.
"Even after their divorce, our father came to our home with a knife," 1 of the
3 told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper. "Whenever that happened, we had to move."
Their mother was always on the run from their father, hiding at women's
shelters and in the countryside for months but every time she would be
discovered and beaten, her daughters said.
"At one time, my father followed my sister and found out where we were living,"
they said. "He brought a knife, some tape and ropes and threatened to kill us."
(source: ndtv.com)
SINGAPORE:
The last man executed in Singapore, until the next<P>
"All death penalty will be abolished. Full stop. Since we are abolishing the
sentence, all executions should not be carried out," declared Malaysia’s de
facto law minister Liew Vui Keong on 10 October, designated the World Day
Against the Death Penalty.
Abolitionists in Malaysia rejoiced - Liew's announcement had gone beyond the
Pakatan Harapan's manifesto promise of removing only the mandatory death
penalty, which ties judges' hands when it comes to sentencing.
But the moves in Malaysia were cold comfort for 31-year-old Prabu N
Pathmanathan. A Malaysian citizen, Prabu wasn't on death row in his home
country, but in neighbouring Singapore.
Unlike the new Malaysia, Singapore maintains an uncompromising stance on the
death penalty. Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam said at a forum in
2017:
You have to focus on reducing supply and the death penalty comes within the
context of trying to reduce the supply by making it clear to traffickers that
if they get caught, they will face the death penalty. That substantially
reduces the number of people who seek to traffic drugs into Singapore.
There is, however, no concrete evidence that the death penalty is actually more
effective than any other punishment in deterring crime.
Prabu was arrested in 2014 and convicted in June last year for committing acts
prepatory to and for the purposes of trafficking in 227.82 grams of heroin.
Although he hadn't been in the car in which the drugs were found, his
co-accused identified him as the vehicle's owner. According to the High Court
judgment, the prosecution's case was that Prabu had provided the car and
instructed the other man to drive it into Singapore, where they would then
distribute the drugs together. In his defence, Prabu claimed that his
statements had not been accurately recorded, and he had been induced by the
investigating officer to change his statements.
There is no concrete evidence that the death penalty is actually more effective
than any other punishment in deterring crime.
In a letter dated 19 October 2018, the Singaporean authorities informed Prabu's
family, who live in Johor across the Causeway, that his execution had been
scheduled for exactly a week later, on 26 October. The letter's arrival forced
Prabu's older brother to confess to his parents that their son was on death
row. Fearing for their health, he'd previously told them that Prabu was serving
a long prison sentence.
I learnt of Prabu's case late on Tuesday evening; by then, there were only
about 2 days before the scheduled dawn execution. Singapore's death penalty
regime is notably opaque; imminent executions are not announced, and are
usually only made known to anti-death penalty activists like myself when the
family or friends of the inmate make contact. Prison officers, counsellors,
medical staff, and executioners are all bound by the Official Secrets Act.
Efforts were made in both Malaysia and Singapore to save Prabu in the very
limited time left: Liew, the Malaysian minister, publicly appealed to the
Singapore government to commute death sentence to life imprisonment. Prabu's
family submitted a plea for clemency to the President. Statements were released
by Lawyers for Liberty, the Malaysian Bar Council, the United Nations Human
Rights Office for Southeast Asia, Amnesty International, the European Union
Delegation to Singapore, and the International Federation for Human Rights.
Australian Senator Janet Rice raised the issue at the Australian Senate
Estimates Committee, asking the Australian government if any action was being
taken.
All appeals were met by a wall of silence on the Singaporean front. Even the
mainstream media - widely seen as under the thumb of the ruling People's Action
Party government– - was quiet on the issue. On Thursday night, Prabu's family
received a response to their clemency petition.
"Dear family members of Prabu N Pathmanathan," opened the letter signed by
President Halimah Yacob's principal private secretary. It went on to say that
"we are unable to accede to your request for a further reconsideration of the
matter" as the clemency process had already been concluded.
The President, acting on the advice of the Cabinet, hasn't granted a single
pardon to a death row inmate since 1998.
Prabu was executed in the early morning of 26 October. But he wasn't the only
one; another inmate was put to death in the same morning. All in all, a total
of 4 men were hanged in the same week: 1 on Wednesday, with another 2 on
Friday. This effectively makes this past week the deadliest I've seen since I
began campaigning against capital punishment in Singapore 8 years ago.
Driving his car behind the van of the casket company that had collected Prabu's
body from the prison, Prabu's friend slipped me a thin stack of glossy photos.
They were Prabu's final photo shoot; in some of the photos, he smiles, posing
with the books he read on death row. It's part of the protocol in Singapore:
after they're informed of the impending execution, the inmate's family is asked
to supply clothing for him, which he puts on for a photo session some time in
the week. The photographs are then given to the family.
"Prabu wanted us to make his photo public," his friend said. "He wanted people
to know about him and he wanted to tell people not to get involved with drugs."
It's clear that the conversations about death penalty that are taking place in
Malaysia aren't happening in Singapore. In fact, executions in Singapore are
increasing. 4 executions took place in 2016; a year later, it doubled to 8. We
won't know the official number until the annual prison report is published
early next year, but activists have so far counted about 9 executions this
year.
That's not to say that popular support for the capital punishment is that much
higher in the city-state. According to comparable public opinion surveys done
in Malaysia in 2012 and Singapore in 2016, both countries demonstrated
pro-death penalty attitudes for murder (91% in Malaysia, 92.2% in Singapore),
drug trafficking (74-80% in Malaysia, 86.9% in Singapore), and firearms
offences (83% in Malaysia and 88.8% in Singapore).
The difference lies not in the populace, but the political will of the
leadership.
(source: lowyinstitute.org)
MALAYSIA:
Abolishing of death penalty: Comprehensive study necessary, says former IGP
A comprehensive study regarding the implications that will be faced must be
conducted by the government on the proposal to abolish the mandatory death
sentence, former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai said.
He said the abolition of the death penalty would have many effects, including
to the general public.
"Therefore, the study should also take into consideration the views of society
and be carefully assessed," he told reporters after a Former Brickfields
District Officers' and Policemen's Reunion and Dinner here tonight.
On Monday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong
said the government’s move to abolish the mandatory death sentence received
positive feedback from the international community.
Prior to that, Liew also informed the study to abolish the mandatory death
sentence in the country was at the final stage before being presented to the
cabinet.
More than 200 former Brickfields district police officers and policemen
attended the event.
(source: malaymail.com)
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