April 23
BANGLADESH:
Nusrat murder: Relatives of accused seek capital punishment for
murder----Madrasa student and Alim examinee Nusrat lost her battle for life, 5
days after she was set afire on April 6, an incident that touched off outrage
all over the country
Relatives of the accused in the murder case of Feni madrasa student Nusrat
Jahan Rafi, demanded exemplary punishment of the killers.
Shahidul Islam, the father of Umme Sultana Poppy, who was directly involved in
the killing, said his daughter fell in the trap of the institution's jailed
principal SM Siraj-ud-Daula.
He said on Monday his daughter should be punished for committing the crime.
He added though Siraj is his brother-in-law, he hates him for the incident.
Fatema Begum, the mother of Shahadat Hossain Shamim, one of the prime accused
in the murder case of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, said : "I want capital punishment of
my son."
"I am feeling shame being a mother of a culprit son, " she added.
Rahmat Ullah, father of Javed Hossain alias Sakhawat Hossain Javed, who was
directly involved with the murder, said his son was very simple in character.
He alleged that the madrasa principal used him as a tool to commit the crime.
"I also demand punishment of my son as he has committed the crime," he added.
Meanwhile, demonstrators under the banner of several organizations in Feni
organized protest rally demanding a judicial inquiry into the role of police
over the Nusrat murder.
Madrasa student and Alim examinee Nusrat lost her battle for life, 5 days after
she was set afire on April 6, an incident that touched off outrage all over the
country.
A group of 5 people poured kerosene on the 18-year-old girl and set her afire
allegedly for refusing to withdraw a case against the principal of the madrasa
over sexual assault on her late last month.
(source: Dhaka Tribune)
IRELAND:
65 years ago today, Ireland executed a person for the last time
On April 20, 1954, Michael Manning, a 25-year-old man from Limerick, became the
29th and last person to be legally executed in Ireland.
By 1964 the death penalty was abolished for all cases apart from the murder of
police, diplomats, and prison officers. It was abolished by statute for the
remaining offenses in 1990 and was expunged from the Constitution of Ireland by
referendum in 2001.
The Limerick man, the last man executed at the hands of the state, was found
guilty of the rape and murder of Catherine Cooper (65) who worked at
Barrington’s Hospital, in the city. The crime took place in February 1953. He
was found by police because he left a distinctive hat at the scene of the
crime.
He had been married just the year before the crime and his only child was born
just weeks before his execution.
Manning blamed his actions on “too much drink.” The statement in police files
describes Manning movements on the day of the crime, November 18, 1953. It
lists the pubs that served him drink and recounts how he had been refused by
the barmaid at the Munster Fair Tavern.
His trial opened on February 15, 1954, and lasted only 3 days. The trial was
widely attended and hundreds of people gathered outside the courthouse.
The defense team had claimed insanity and claimed the charges should be dropped
to manslaughter as Manning had not planned the attack ahead of time. However,
the prosecution said that Manning had changed his routine to give himself more
time to commit the crime.
While there was a history of mental health issues in his family the judge sided
with the prosecution and told the jury to discard the argument, as he claimed
the fact that Manning has shoved clods of grass into the victim’s mouth to stop
her screaming showed he was aware of the crime he was committing.
After just 3 hours of deliberation, he was sentenced to death despite the fact
that the victim’s family had petitioned to court to show him mercy. When he was
found guilty he is said to have “paled visibly.”
Manning was the 1st person to be condemned to death since 1948.
The Limerick man wrote a letter to the Government begging for a reprieve.
He wrote:
“I ask the Minister for Justice to show his mercy upon me as it is so near to
Easter and Good Friday and it is our Holy Mother’s year. I am not afraid to die
as I am fully prepared to go before my God, but it is on behalf of my wife as
she is so young and so near the birth of our baby.
“Instead of one life being taken there could be three as it would be a big
shock to my wife if the execution will be carried out on the date mentioned
[April 20]. So I would be grateful to you if you showed your mercy toward my
wife and me.”
After Mass and Holy Communion on Sunday before his execution, Manning played
handball with other inmates. They noted that he seemed completely normal.
A fellow inmate of Manning's recalled later,
“Friends of mine who worked with me, I was serving my time at the time, went up
to visit him on the Sunday before he was hanged. And they went to mass and holy
communion together and they played a game of handball that day. He couldn't
have been more normal.”
He was then taken from his cell at Mountjoy prison and hanged by Alert
Pierrepoint. The hang house remains today in the grounds of Mountjoy. The
execution was carried out by Albert Pierrepoint, who had traveled from Britain
where he was 1 of 3 Senior Executioners. Pierrepoint executed at least 400
people in his career as a hangman – 13 of those in Mountjoy.
Manning’s body was buried in an unmarked grave in Mountjoy prison as was the
custom for executed prisoners.
After his death, his widow wrote a letter to the Governor of Mountjoy thanking
him for the kindness he showed her husband. The letter read:
“We really adored each other and will until I join him in heaven someday. I can
assure you, sir, that Micheal [sic] is also praying for you all and he will
return his thanks to you in another way.”
After the execution of Manning, it was common that death sentences be commuted
by the Irish government. In 1851 the right to commute a death sentence became
restricted to the President only.
Ireland had previously considered abolishing the punishment from the
constitution and an early draft of the constitution included a provision to ban
it.
Before Manning’s execution questions had been raised over the death of William
Gambom who was the 2nd-last person to be put to death. He was a casual laborer
who had killed his friend after getting into a drunken fight. When Gambom read
in the newspaper that his friend had died he handed himself into the police.
Despite the fact that it was a clear-cut case of manslaughter he was condemned
to death.
It was argued that he had been sentenced to death due to his social standing
and had he been a richer man his sentence would have been lower.
In 1964 the criminal justice act abolished the death sentence. However, it was
only entirely squashed by a referendum in 2001. Ireland was the last country in
Europe to constitutionally forbid the use of capital punishment.
While the EU has abolished execution it still takes place elsewhere in the
world. The top five locations where the most executions take place are the
United States, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China.
(source: irishcentral.com, April 20)
LEBANON:
Lynn Maalouf on death penalty: “Lebanon could play a role model”----Amnesty
International’s Middle East research director Lynn Maalouf answers ByTheEast’s
questions about human rights in Lebanon: violations of different kinds, death
penalty, torture, women’s rights, rights of sexual minorities, and finally the
situation of Syrian refugees. Maalouf has a lot to say.
"Even though courts continue to hand down sentences, Lebanon has had an
unofficial moratorium on the death penalty and has not carried out an execution
since 2004."
ByTheEast: Let’s begin by getting a general overview of the human rights scene
in Lebanon. Do you see any signs of progress over the last 10 years?
Lynn Maalouf: The situation of human rights, as anywhere in the world, hinges
on an operational state – with an independent judiciary, an active parliament
and government – as well as on rigorous laws and a strong, mobilized and
strategic civil society. It’s a good indicator of where a society stands in
this respect.
If you look back at the past 10 years, you see a state that was largely either
paralyzed, or non-functional, or actively pushing back against demands for an
improved human rights situation (for instance, the security forces’ excessive
use of force against protestors in 2015 during the waste management crisis as
one case in point), but coupled with a more mature, strategic, and active human
rights community.
On paper, Lebanon has made the right commitments to ensure its citizens their
main rights: it is a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the International Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
But in practice, if we’re to look at citizens’ access to basic services today,
such as affordable housing, clean water, air and electricity, which it should
in principle be ensuring as per its obligations under ICESCR, there’s no
question the Lebanese state has much to improve on. When looking at the
situation of migrant domestic workers, who suffer from a range of serious
violations reaching to the level of forced labor, the Lebanese state needs to
up its ante on putting in place improved and functioning protection measures,
as well as carry out legal and administrative reforms that would address the
dire situation of a quarter million workers in the country. There are growing
concerns around the ability of individuals to express their opinion freely,
without fear of repercussion – we continue to document cases of people who are
summoned for questioning, ill-treated, threatened, made to sign pledges that
have no legal foundation by a host of security institutions.
There have been nonetheless some wins in the recent past – mostly in areas
where there was sustained, and strategic campaigning and lobbying on specific
issues, coupled with diplomatic pressure, or where the political cost of
addressing the issue diminished – for example the ratification of the law on
the missing and disappeared: 10 years ago, one would have never thought
possible such a law could pass in the country, even less with a clause that
included the possibility of seeking criminal prosecutions. In September 2017,
parliament finally passed the country’s first anti-torture law; and a month
earlier it abolished the infamous “marry-your-rapist” law. We can and should
expect to see more positive change in areas where the discourses resisting
change have lost legitimacy, or credibility, and thus that represent
low-hanging fruits for decision-makers at little cost – for instance one can
think of issues concerning children’s rights, women’s rights, domestic workers,
etc. Human rights organizations and civil society partners need to keep pushing
– now that all three bodies of the state are finally functioning, and Lebanon
is under pressure to clean its house so to speak, there can be room for
improvement in the coming period.
“There has been a drop in over 30% in executions worldwide in 2018, with the
lowest number that Amnesty has recorded over the past decade.”
BTE: In 2017 and 2018, although Lebanese courts continued to hand down death
sentences, your report states “no executions were carried out”. What is your
opinion on abolishing death penalty in the foreseeable future?
Maalouf: Indeed, even though courts continue to hand down sentences, Lebanon
has had an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty and has not carried out
an execution since 2004. It has stopped short though of abolishing the death
penalty, and pressure on decision-makers to resume executions returns every
once in a while. It wouldn’t be a wild assumption to think that the state could
decide to abolish it altogether, if decision-makers today decide they want to
follow the global trend and even play a role model in the region in this
respect. Amnesty just released its global Death Penalty report, which shows
that there has been a drop in over 30% in executions worldwide in 2018, with
the lowest number that Amnesty has recorded over the past decade. This would be
an example of the low-hanging fruit that I mentioned earlier.
BTE: Let us focus on torture. According to Sahar Mandour from Amnesty’s Lebanon
office, “The authorities have recently taken steps to align Lebanon with its
international obligations, namely by ratifying the anti-torture law and a just
last week, by appointing the members of the National Preventive Mechanism. Ziad
Itani’s case is a real litmus test of their intent to implement the law and
meaningfully address torture.” And yet, although a year has gone by since the
release of Ziad Itani on March 2018, he still carries signs of physical and
psychological sequelae. What role can Amnesty International further play to
implement, facilitate and act as a catalyst towards the implementation of this
new anti-torture law which came into effect from October 2018?
Maalouf: Amnesty has documented the case of Ziad Itani and communicated both
privately and publicly with the Lebanese authorities, first to call for his
unconditional and immediate release, then for his case to be transferred from
the military to a civil court and now for his right to seek redress for the
claims of torture during his detention. Ziad’s case gained momentum in the
public domain, and brought pressure on the authorities to address his case.
Just last Friday, the military prosecutor decided to refer the case back to the
civilian court, which Amnesty and others have been pushing for – it shows that
with the right laws, and solid mobilization, there can be impact.
Lebanon has already signaled its willingness to address torture, by enacting
the anti-torture law and then forming the Committee members. It now needs to
take the next step which will be enabling the Committee to perform its duties,
and a judiciary that will follow through on claims of torture with rigorous
investigations and holding those responsible for the acts of torture or other
forms of ill-treatment accountable.
BTE: In March 2019, the Lebanese government had approved the appointment of a
five members committee towards the creation of the National Prevention
Mechanism against torture and such ill-treatments. Further, the U.N. Convention
against Torture specifically mentions that such detention centers should be
physically visited by inspectors in order to discourage and prevent such
inhumane treatments. In practical terms, what steps should be taken towards
implementing this mechanism in Lebanon?
Maalouf: The members of the committee were just recently appointed – even
though this should have happened some 10 years ago, it is still a very welcome
step. Now the state needs to empower that committee, afford it a budget so it
can start operating fully.
BTE: OK, let’s go in a different direction. I would like to talk about women’s
rights. Lebanese civil society has called on the authorities to repeal articles
505 and 518, which allow for marriage with minors aged between 15 and 18 as a
way to escape prosecution (in case of rape). What can you do to change this
tragic reality?
Maalouf: On this issue, Amnesty can support and join forces with the very
active and leading women’s rights organization who have been successfully
fighting against child marriage, the marry-your-rapist law, domestic violence
amongst other issues. The success of rights’ groups in recent years hasn’t been
to only push for legal reforms but also in changing mentalities, in raising
awareness, in making it more and more difficult for decision-makers to be
taking regressive and repressive positions – so there is still much to be done
but I do have hope for impact on women’s rights issues in Lebanon in coming
years.
BTE: Lebanese women are not allowed to transmit their citizenship to their
children. Many officials are afraid of Palestinians; they say it would mean a
“raz-de-marée” of naturalizations. But reliable figures and statistics clearly
say it’s a false reasoning since it would apply only to 3000
Lebanese-Palestinian families, a minority compared to the 18000 bi-national
families. What can be done to change Lebanese authorities’ perception on this
issue?
Maalouf: So the “raz de maree” argument has become quite difficult to hold in
our day and age. The Lebanese government itself in fact commissioned the first
survey of Palestinians living in both official camps and informal settlements –
and the results showed that there was less than half of the estimated 450,000
Palestinians in Lebanon. So of course, this provides a good entry-point to push
for a change in policy in this respect towards ensuring women’s right to pass
on their citizenship – which affects Lebanese women primarily in fact, married
to Palestinians or any non-Lebanese person.
“On homosexuality, mentalities have changed […] but the Lebanese authorities
are still very much influenced by the pressure of religious institutions.” BTE:
With regard to the LGBT community, they are prosecuted and stigmatized in
Lebanon. Traditional habits and archaic legislations condemn homosexual
practices as they “contradict the laws of nature”, which is a moral and
religious point of view. But recently, a military court cleared staff by ruling
that sodomy’s “not punishable by law”. Could we consider this decision as a
huge step forward?
Maalouf: Actually even though the law itself hasn’t been abolished, there have
been a number of judicial decisions in the recent past that have all but made
the law irrelevant, arguing that a homosexual act is not contrary to nature.
There is no doubt that in the past decade or so, mentalities have changed and
this has provided a backbone to the judges who have taken such decisions. This
is in no small part due to the very brave activism by LGBTI groups sustained
over the past years.
However, the Lebanese authorities are still very much influenced by the
pressure of religious institutions and groups in the country in this area – and
in the past couple of years, there have been a number of attempts by security
institutions to shut down IDAHOT activities or conferences for example, that
came on the back of threats proffered by religious groups.
So the need to keep pushing back against such repressive moves, with the
overarching goal of abolishing the law altogether, is still very much needed –
even though the recent judicial decisions can be seen as bearers of potential
positive change.
BTE: Let’s conclude with your statement about Syrian refugees in Lebanon. For
the past 4 years, Lebanese government forbid UNHCR to register new refugees’
entries in Lebanon. Therefore many refugees faced difficulties to renew their
residency. What have done Amnesty International for them?
Maalouf: Indeed the Lebanese state stopped allowing UNHCR to register refugees
since May 2015, which Amnesty called out since the decision had been taken, and
has since been advocating for a reversal of this decision. Many refugees are
struggling with a host of legal and administrative difficulties in the country,
which all represent what we call “push” factors – or in other words, an
environment in which the conditions of life are so dire that some refugees
prefer to risk going back to their country where the situation is far from
safe. Lebanon, along with Jordan and Turkey, have carried the greatest weight
of the Syrian crisis and war; at a time when the rest of the world has to a
large part closed its doors and fallen behind on supporting the host countries.
Since the beginning of the refugee crisis, Amnesty has called on the world to
“share the responsibility” and step up its support of host states; but also
continues to raise its concerns, publicly and privately, to the Lebanese
authorities about its handling of the refugees in the country.
BTE: According to your 2018 report, around 9900 Syrian citizens have returned
to their hometown in 2018. It sounds really short. What can Amnesty
International do to facilitate their return? Can you work properly in Syria?
Maalouf: Amnesty, as a human rights organization, is not involved in the
returns process. Our role is to monitor the situation and raise our concerns
before the authorities and globally. To our knowledge, at this point in time,
not one party or organization is able to ensure the safety of refugees
returning to their country. There are credible reports that those returning,
whether in an organized manner or not, are doing so without sufficient clarity
or information about the situation on the ground in their places of origin –
and that includes first and foremost the issue of safety.
With regards to our access to Syria, we have requested access on a regular
basis from the authorities but receive no response. Our teams have been able to
access the northeastern part of the country in the past couple of years, but it
has been restricted to that area.
(source: bytheeast.com)
BRUNEI:
Brunei defends death penalty against homosexuals in absurd letter
Brunei demands “tolerance, respect and understanding” from the EU when it comes
to the death penalty for homosexuals. The sultanate had triggered a worldwide
wave of protests with the tightening of criminal law.
The sultanate Brunei has defended the internationally heavily criticized
introduction of the death penalty against homosexuals in a letter to the
European Parliament. The “Guardian” cited a four-page letter from the Sultanate
to the European Parliament stating that stoning as a punishment for same-sex
sex would be rare, since 2 men of “high moral rank and piety” were required as
witnesses. In view of the country’s desire to preserve its traditional values
and its “family line”, it demands “tolerance, respect and understanding”.
On April 3, harder criminal laws came into force in the Sultanate. The
penalties for theft have also been tightened: in the future, thieves will have
to expect that their hands and legs will be amputated. The basis for this is
Sharia, which regulates the religious and legal norms in Islam in a broad
sense.
George Clooney calls for boycott of luxury hotels
In the letter cited by the Guardian, it was said that international criticism
was due to a misunderstanding. “The criminalization of adultery and fornication
should ensure the inviolability of the family line and the marriage of various
Muslims, especially women.” The EU was also asked to review assets freezes,
visa bans and a blacklist of hotels owned by the Sultanate. Among other things,
the actor George Clooney had demanded to boycott hotels belonging to the
sultan.
(source: noblenashville.com)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
Enforce death penalty: Steven
THE DEPARTING Justice minister has made a strong recommendation to the national
government to fully implement the death penalty.
In announcing his resignation last Thursday, Davis Steven said the delay in
implementing the death penalty is taking too long amid rising serious crime in
the country.
He said: “One of the final submissions I have signed is to give the National
Executive Council is an information paper giving an update on where this issue
is with a strong recommendation that we begin to enforce the death penalty.
“The current government has recognised the importance of that particular
provision of law as a deterrent to the rising crime situation.”
He said the delay lies with the relevant authorities, especially the
Correctional Services and prison system, identifying the proper method to
effect the sentence.
In many countries that enforce the death sentence, prisoners are put to death
by various means, including by firing squad, hanging, electric chair or lethal
injection.
PNG has more than 50 death row prisoners but none has been put to death since
the first man was sentenced to die by Justice (now retired) Tracy Doherty in
the 1990s.
Mr Davis said: “The death penalty is part of our laws. Question is whether it
can be enforced. The judges say it can be because they have imposed judgments
with penalties reflecting the death penalty.
“The executive arm of government under Prime Minister did what it could to help
our authorities, mainly the CS Commissioner, and relevant institutions to
decide on the method that should be employed in executing the death penalty
ordered.”
Mr Steven said the delay is “one of a political will, and the implementation
and they call it the resourcing constraint”.
“The current government has recognised the importance of that particular
provision of law as a deterrent to the rising crime situation.
“So I think it is time, that question and the implementation of death is timely
and must be encouraged, so that is now before cabinet again as one of my final
submissions which I will not be there to deliberate on.”
(source: postcourier.com.pg)
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