May 24
SAUDI ARABIA----mass executions
Saudi Arabia Announces Mass Execution Of 37 Men
The Saudi Arabia government recently announced the mass execution of 37 men on
23 April. According to the Human Rights Watch (HRW), 33 of the men were Shia
Muslims, the maligned minority Muslim community within Saudi Arabia. One of the
executed Sunni men received the most horrific punishment under Islamic Law 8-
beheading and a public exhibition of the beheaded corpse. This is the largest
single execution since January 2016 and brings Saudi Arabia’s execution rate to
100 for this year alone, HRW reports.
Global actors have condemned and shamed Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United
States government commission on religious freedom asked its government take
action against Saudi, which is a close ally to the U.S., Al Jazeera reports.
Further, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet
condemned the mass execution, calling it “shocking” and “abhorrent.” She also
stated that Saudi Arabia ignored multiple warnings from rights officials about
unfair trials amid allegations of forced confessions through torture. Michael
Page, the HRW deputy Middle East director, commented that “Saudi courts are
largely devoid of any due process.” Shockingly three of the suspects killed
were minors at the time of arrest, causing many to call for prohibition of the
death penalty for minors, HRW reports. According to Amnesty International, the
youngest was Abdulkareem al-Hawaj who was charged with partaking in violent
protests when he was just 16. Following his death sentence, the United Nations
pressured Saudi Arabia to reconsider, to no avail.
The use of the death penalty has long been a contentious issue in many regions
worldwide. Saudi Arabia’s casual use of the death penalty reflects a lack of
motivation in improving the country’s poor human rights record. It is an
especially extreme punishment given the apparent lack of due process in the
criminal legal system. According to Mr. Page, authorities often characterize
those executed as “terrorists and dangerous criminals.” In reality, the men
convicted accused authorities of forcing confessions through torture for a
range of crimes, including protesting, espionage and terrorism. Some men
claimed their confessions were written by the same people who tortured them,
and others claimed to have evidence of this torture, CNN writes. What’s worse
is the secrecy around the trials, as the U.K. Foreign Office was denied access
when they sought trial details, The Guardian reports.
Mr. Page commented that the death penalty should never be the answer, yet Saudi
Arabia has shown little interest in addressing human rights concerns. Perhaps
the U.S. could have a larger role to play, but President Trump has remained
silent on this issue. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely the US will undermine
Saudi’s actions, as they risk jeopardizing this important relationship.
President Trump has promised to maintain a close relationship with Saudi, which
makes notable purchases of U.S. weapons while providing oil exports and sharing
hostility towards Iran- a significant rival of the U.S.. However, the U.S. must
realize that the actions of its allies reflect on their government as well.
They are sending the message – intentionally or not – that they condone such
practices by continuing to engage amicably with Saudi Arabia as if 37 men were
not killed unjustly.
The British Government censured the massacre, and Labour MPs have demanded that
the country be banned from hosting the G20 summit next year. Hopefully such
actions are taken so that the Saudi government realizes that these atrocities
will not be ignored. As for the U.S., it seems unlikely they will publicly
criticize their ally, considering Trump continued talks with Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman despite global uproar over the death of Jamal Khashoggi
late last year.
(source: theowp.org)
BRUNEI:
Brunei's sultan returns Oxford degree after gay sex death penalty backlash
Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has returned an honorary degree awarded by
Britain’s Oxford University after a global backlash led by celebrities
including George Clooney and Elton John for proposing the death penalty for gay
sex and adultery.
Nearly 120,000 people had signed a petition by April calling on Oxford
University to rescind the honorary law degree awarded in 1993 to the sultan,
the world’s second-longest reigning monarch and prime minister of the oil-rich
country.
Oxford University said the sultan had decided to hand back the honorary degree
on May 6, while it was reviewing its decision to award it.
News of the decision was made public on Thursday.
“As part of the review process, the university wrote to notify the sultan on 26
April 2019, asking for his views by 7 June 2019,” the university said in an
emailed statement to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Through a letter dated 6 May 2019, the sultan replied with his decision to
return the degree.”
The small Southeast Asian country sparked an outcry when it rolled out its
interpretation of Islamic laws on April 3, punishing sodomy, adultery and rape
with death, including by stoning.
Seeking to temper the backlash, the sultan earlier this month said the death
penalty would not be imposed in the implementation of the penal code changes.
The law, which the United Nations condemned, had prompted celebrities and
rights groups to seek a boycott on hotels owned by the sultan, including the
Dorchester in London and the Beverley Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.
Several multinational companies have since put a ban on staff using the
sultan’s hotels, while some travel companies have stopped promoting Brunei as a
tourist destination.
Socially conservative attitudes prevail across Asia where Myanmar, Malaysia and
Singapore ban sexual relationships between men, and Indonesia has seen an
increase in raids targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
recently.
Brunei, a former British protectorate of about 400,000 people nestled between 2
Malaysian states on Borneo island, was the 1st country in the region to adopt
the criminal component of sharia at a national level in 2014.
(source: Reuters)
SINGAPORE----stay of impending execution
Malaysian on death row in Singapore granted stay of execution
A Malaysian man who was scheduled to be executed in Singapore on Friday (May
24) for drug trafficking has been granted a stay of execution by the republic's
Court of Appeal.
P. Pannir Selvam, 32, who was due to be executed in Changi Prison on Friday,
had filed the application himself from prison.
The Singapore Court of Appeal heard the application on Thursday (May 23)
afternoon.
“The court has just granted stay. Execution will not take place,” Lawyers for
Liberty adviser N. Surendran told Star Online in a brief message.
Surendran said the court granted the stay to Pannir, on the grounds that he is
given time to file a judicial review to challenge the clemency process.
He added that the challenge must be filed within 2 weeks.
Singapore President Halimah Yacob had previously rejected a clemency appeal
from Pannir’s family.
Pannir was convicted in 2017 of trafficking 51.84g of diamorphine or heroin at
the Woodlands Checkpoint on Sept 3, 2014.
(source: thestar.com.my)
******************
Untenable to give special moratorium on execution of Malaysian death-row
prisoners: Shanmugam----Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on May
24 that the Pakatan Harapan government has made three requests to stop
executions of Malaysians in Singapore since it took over in Malaysia.
Since the Pakatan Harapan government took power in Malaysia around a year ago,
it has made three requests to stop executions of Malaysians in Singapore, two
of whom are drug traffickers, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam
on Friday (May 24).
But Singapore cannot make exceptions for Malaysians who have been sentenced to
death for their offences as it would undermine the rule of law here, he added.
"Let me be quite clear, it's not possible for us to do so, regardless of how
many requests we receive," said Mr Shanmugam.
He added that the Singapore Government will not intervene when there are no
legal reasons to do so and when the courts have already imposed a sentence.
"It is not tenable to give a special moratorium to Malaysians, and impose it on
everyone else, including Singaporeans who commit offences which carry the death
penalty," said Mr Shanmugam.
He added that the death penalty is imposed because evidence shows that it is an
effective deterrent.
"And we are not going to be deflected from doing the right thing for
Singapore," he said.
Mr Shanmugam revealed that his Malaysian counterpart, Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong, who is the de-facto Law Minister, had
spoken to Senior Minister of State for Law Edwin Tong and written to the
Singapore Government over the case of Pannir Selvam Pranthaman.
The 31-year-old Malaysian drug mule is on death row here and got a temporary
reprieve after the Court of Appeal granted him a stay of execution on Thursday
(May 23), a day before he was due to be hanged.
"We will respond to Mr Liew once the case is over," said Mr Shanmugam.
Speaking at the Central Narcotics Bureau's workplan seminar at the Home Team
Academy, Mr Shanmugam said some ministers in the Pakatan Harapan government are
"ideologically opposed" to the death penalty.
"And we have to respect that," he said. "At the same time, we do impose a death
penalty in Singapore, and I expect that Malaysia will respect that condition as
well."
He added that Singapore's population is supportive of that stand, and the death
penalty is imposed because it is an "effective deterrent" against drug
offences.
Mr Shanmugam revealed that last year, almost 30 % of drug traffickers caught
here were Malaysians, and nearly 30 % of the heroin seized here, by weight, was
brought in by Malaysians.
He added that 1 in 5 traffickers who brought in drugs above the threshold that
brings the death penalty was also a Malaysian.
"How do we go easy on Malaysians in the face of these statistics? And if we
did, what will it mean for the rule of law? It will become a joke if there is a
request made and we go easy. That is not the way Singapore works," said Mr
Shanmugam.
He said that when he responds to Datuk Liew, he will make three key suggestions
to get to the root of the problem.
First, he will request for statistics on how many drug traffickers the
Malaysian authorities pick up on their side of the border.
"I assume their border control is as good, (that) they have strict laws on
drugs. I assume they have as much of a will and intention to enforce them as we
do," said Mr Shanmugam.
"If they can make sure they arrest the traffickers before they come into
Singapore, that helps them and it helps us. The traffickers do not have to face
the death penalty – they can keep them in Malaysia."
He will secondly ask about efforts to catch drug kingpins who operate in
Malaysia and are "too scared to come into Singapore".
"We have good cooperation with Malaysian agencies; they do a good job, we
cooperate effectively. And I hope they can be given every support, and we can
get more evidence on the other kingpins operating in Malaysia to be picked up,"
said Mr Shanmugam.
Third, he said it would be helpful if the penalties that Singapore imposes on
drug traffickers are widely publicised among the potential drug-trafficking
group.
He identified the group to be predominantly poor, less educated and Indian, who
traffic drugs to earn "a few hundred ringgit".
Mr Shanmugam said that the drug trafficking situation, if dealt with, would
benefit both countries, adding that a practical way is to address the social
situation of the vulnerable in Malaysia.
"If we worry about lives - both governments, and we do - then I would suggest
that these are concrete, practical steps that can be taken," he said.
"It is simply not doable to keep asking Singapore not to carry out the
penalties imposed by the courts," said Mr Shanmugam, who later elaborated on
the serious drug problem in the region.
Pannir Selvam, represented by Singapore lawyers Too Xing Ji and Lee Ji En, had
applied for his death sentence to be stayed on the basis that he intends to
mount a legal challenge against the rejection of his petition for clemency to
President Halimah Yacob.
A 3-judge Court of Appeal that granted his request had noted that Pannir Selvam
was told of the rejection and his execution date just 1 week in advance.
Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said this did not leave the prisoner much time to
obtain legal advice on what options he has to challenge the rejection of his
clemency plea.
Mr Too had raised questions during the hearing about the "lack of transparency"
of the clemency process in relation to Pannir Selvam, who was convicted of
importing 51.84g of heroin in 2017.
In a statement on Thursday night addressing Malaysian media reports about the
case, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the petitions were carefully
considered.
It added that the President acted on the advice of the Cabinet, in accordance
with the Constitution, in not exercising the clemency power.
(source: straitstimes.com)
******************
Rights lawyer slams Singapore minister over defence of death penalty
A human rights lawyer today slammed Singapore’s Law Minister K Shanmugam over
his defence of the death penalty which he claimed was an effective deterrent
against drug offences.
Shanmugam had also claimed that the republic’s citizens were supportive of the
death sentence following news that the execution of a Malaysian drug mule had
been put on hold.
In a series of tweets, Lawyers for Liberty adviser N Surendran said Shanmugam’s
claim that the death penalty deterred drug trafficking was not only without
basis but the minister had failed to provide any evidence to back his claim.
Studies on the death penalty, Surendran said, revealed otherwise.
“He then childishly suggests that Malaysia ‘arrest the traffickers’ before they
enter Singapore. This is silly talk for a Cabinet minister.”
The former Padang Serai MP also wondered how Shanmugam knew that Singaporeans
were in favour of the death penalty as there’s “barely any freedom of
expression in Singapore”.
“Faced with repressive laws, the timid Singaporeans daren’t criticise their
government. Malaysia is a beacon of freedom in comparison.”
Earlier today, Shanmugam had said it was “not tenable” to make exceptions and
stop the execution of Malaysian drug traffickers.
He said this would undermine the rule of law in Singapore, he said.
Shanmugam also said some members in the Pakatan Harapan coalition were
“ideologically opposed” to the death penalty.
Surendran said it was “arrogant and unbecoming” of a senior minister like
Shanmugam to take such a tone with a minister from a friendly country like de
facto law minister VK Liew.
“Liew wrote a letter to the Singapore government appealing for the life of a
Malaysian drug mule,” he said.
“What’s wrong with that?”
It was reported that Liew had written a letter to appeal on behalf of Pannir
Selvam Pranthaman, a drug mule on death row in Singapore.
The 31-year-old was caught trafficking in more than 51g of heroin at the
Woodlands Checkpoint in 2014. He was supposed to be executed at dawn today, but
the Court of Appeal in Singapore granted a stay of execution yesterday.
The Singapore Court of Appeal granted the stay to Pannir on the grounds that he
be given time to file a judicial review to challenge the clemency process.
The challenge must be filed within 2 weeks.
(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)
PHILIPPINES:
Marcos leaning towards reimposition of death penalty for drug crimes
Senator-elect Imee Marcos is leaning towards the proposed reimposition of death
penalty for high-level drug crimes as she favored the current anti-illegal
drugs campaign of President Duterte.
In a TV interview Friday morning, Marcos said that, while she voted against the
death penalty bill when she was an Ilocos Norte congresswoman, there was now a
need to study the proposal.
She cited the call of President Duterte for Congress to reimpose the death
penalty only on drug-related cases that could fall under the category of
heinous crimes.
Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, former chairman of the Dangerous Drugs
Board (DDB), continued to stick to his position that the death penalty should
be re-imposed on high-level drug crimes.
Marcos, recently proclaimed as one of winners in the May 13 senatorial
elections, said she was thankful that President Duterte was persistent in
implementing his anti-illegal drugs campaign because it helped her native
Ilocos Norte province.
The daughter of the former president Ferdinand Marcos said her province was
awash with illegal drugs that come from China as some drug shipments were found
floating in the seas near Ilocos Norte.
There were also suspicious shipwrecked yachts adjacent to Ilocos Norte, she
added.
As she prepares to formally assume her post in the Senate on July 1, Marcos
said she would begin to concretize her promises to the electorate through
measures she would be filing.
Also set to assume their new Senate posts include pro-administration
Senators-elect Roland dela Rosa, Christopher ‘’Bong’’ Go and Francis Tolentino.
Denying that she would become a “Yes Man’’ to the legislative agenda of
President Duterte, Marcos said she and the three other new senators have their
own studied policies and that independent voting would be the hallmark of their
Senate floor actions.
Pro-administration senators said they would vote on measures that benefit the
people and the country.
“Let’s start with a clean slate,’’ Marcos said.
After President Duterte delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) IN
2017, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, chairman of the Senate public order and
dangerous drugs committee, said that there was no future for the death penalty
bill in the present Senate despite President Duterte’s push.
“I am an author of the death penalty bill for almost the same reasons cited by
the President. Even with his prodding, however, I don’t see the death penalty
being revived under his watch or at least with the present composition of the
Senate,” Lacson said.
Lacson filed Senate Bill 42, which covers a wide range of heinous crimes
punishable by death, including drug-related cases, plunder, rape, terrorism,
treason, murder, qualified bribery, kidnapping, and serious illegal detention,
among others.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon also earlier said the measure was
already “dead”.
It could not be ascertained whether there would be enough votes to pass a bill
reimposing the death penalty when the 12 new and 12 old senators begin their
jobs in the forthcoming 18th Congress that starts July 22.
(source: Manila Bulletin)
CHINA:
Man sentenced to death for murder of students
A man who stabbed and killed 2 school children outside a primary school in
Shanghai last year was sentenced to death on Thursday, according to the
Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
The court handed down the death penalty to Huang Yichuan for intentional
homicide. Huang was also deprived of political rights for life.
On June 28, 2018, Huang stabbed 3 children and a parent with a knife outside
Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School. 2 students died, while another
and a parent were slightly injured.
Believing that he had been insulted and hurt by others, Huang got the idea of
killing innocent children to vent his anger, according to the court.
An investigation has shown that the killing had been well planned by Huang.
Although he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, the court said the diagnosis
cannot exempt him from punishment because the mental illness had no significant
influence on his ability to identify and control his behavior during the crime.
(source: xinhuanet.com)
JAPAN:
Osaka High Court upholds death penalty for 'black widow' serial killer Chisako
Kakehi
The Osaka High Court on Friday upheld the death penalty imposed on a
72-year-old woman dubbed Japan’s “black widow” for murdering her husband and
two common-law partners with poison to inherit money and escape debt.
In handing down the sentence to Chisako Kakehi, presiding Judge Hiroaki Higuchi
said there was no error in the lower court ruling that recognized she had
murdered the three men and attempted to murder another. The judge also rejected
her lawyers’ claim that she cannot be held responsible due to dementia.
“The crimes were premeditated and she properly understood the situation,” the
judge said, referring to capsules containing cyanide that were prepared for the
victims.
The lawyers for Kakehi, who has pleaded not guilty, immediately appealed the
ruling.
According to the ruling, Kakehi murdered her 75-year-old husband, Isao Kakehi,
and common-law partners Masanori Honda, 71, and Minoru Hioki, 75, and tried to
kill her acquaintance, Toshiaki Suehiro, 79, by having them drink cyanide.
The murders, which took place in Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo prefectures between
2007 and 2013, drew a great deal of attention, with the media portraying her as
a woman who preyed on wealthy and elderly men.
Kakehi was married or associated with more than 10 men and inherited about ¥1
billion. She eventually fell into debt following failed stock investments.
At the Osaka High Court, the lawyers called for new psychiatric tests to check
whether Kakehi is competent to stand trial. But the request was rejected,
clearing the way for Friday’s ruling.
Kakehi did not appear in the first and only hearing at the high court in March,
but attended Friday. A defendant has no obligation to attend an appeal trial.
She talked quickly when the judge asked her to give her name and date of birth,
and she looked as though she was wiping away tears when listening to the
ruling.
In November 2017 the Kyoto District Court’s ruling acknowledged that the
defendant had developed dementia from around 2015, but determined that she was
competent to defend herself at trial because the symptoms were not serious and
the progress of the disease was slow.
(source: The Japan Times)
PAKISTAN:
2 LeJ militants handed down death penalty for killing lawyer
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday sentenced 2 Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
militants to death in an eight-year-old case of a lawyer’s killing in a
sectarian attack outside a former judge’s residence.
The ATC-VI judge awarded capital punishment to Jameel Ahmed and Muneer Ahmed
after finding them guilty of killing the lawyer, Zain-ul-Abideen. The convicted
men were also sentenced to 10-year imprisonment for an encounter with the
police.
Zain, 30, was shot by 3 men in a Suzuki Cultus when he was parking his car
outside the house of a former judge of the Sindh High Court, Zawar Hussain
Jafferi, a friend of his father, in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 5 on November 4,
2011.
After the shots were fired, Ali Hassan, a guard of the former judge, rushed out
of the bungalow and saw that Zain was in a pool of blood and the assailants
were fleeing. The guard opened fire on the car of the assailants. In the
meantime, the assailants’ car collided with a rickshaw, which made them abandon
their car and run to escape arrests.
A mobile van of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station, which happened to be in the
area at the time and had been alerted by the gunshots, headed for the scene of
the crime and signalled the assailants to surrender.
Upon seeing the police mobile, the assailants opened fire on the police van.
The police returned fire and arrested 2 of the suspects while 1 of them managed
to flee. The police seized three TT pistols and one Kalashnikov rifle found on
them.
The lawyer was hit by 8 bullets. He was shifted to Aga Khan University Hospital
where he succumbed to his injuries. The body was later shifted to the Jinnah
Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.
According to the police, Zain had gone to the former judge’s house to take him
to a mosque for Juma prayers. As he reached the house, Zain asked the guard to
inform the judge about his arrival. Just as the judge and his guard were coming
out of the house, they heard the gunshots.
The ATC judge observed that the prosecution successfully established its case
against the accused “beyond any shadow of doubt”.
The FIR of the incident was registered under the sections 302 (premeditated
murder), 324 (attempting to murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter
public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the
Pakistan Penal Code 1860 read with the Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997
at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station.
(source: thenews.com.pk)
*********************
ATC hands down death penalty to 2 in murder case
An anti-terrorism court here on Thursday handed down death sentence to 2
convicts in a murder case in Karachi.
The convicts had killed a man outside the residence of Justice Zawar Hussain in
Karachi, the police said and added that the deceased was reportedly a friend of
Hussain’s son.
The officials said that the suspects had been arrested after an encounter in
Karachi.
The ATC further awarded them 10-years imprisonment each on the account of
encounter and attempt to murder.
The convicts, Muhammad Jamil Ahmed and Munir Ahmed were found guilty of killing
the man outside the house of Justice Zawar Hussain.
Earlier on March 13, at least 20 gangsters including those affiliated with
infamous Chotu gang had been awarded death sentence by the anti-terrorism court
on charges of killing policemen in 2016.
The convicts also include the Chotu Gang leader Ghulam Rasool aka Chotu. The
criminals were accused of murdering six policemen in Rajanpur 3 years ago.
The other gangs who had been convicted by the court were identified as Sikhani
gang, Inder gang and Changwani gang.
(source: arynews.tv)
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