Oct. 1
GLOBAL:
How states are trying to slowly kill off the death penalty
Switzerland and other countries last week managed to push through a resolution
against the death penalty at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Over the
past decade the small alpine nation has strongly opposed capital punishment,
which has seen a slow decline.
While critics have accused Switzerland of keeping a low human rights profile
since Ignazio Cassis took over as head of the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs (FDFA) in 2017, the country has continued its strong commitment to
abolish the death penaltyexternal link and keep the issue at the top of the
international agenda.
“Switzerland strongly deplores the fact that in 2019 the international
community has again witnessed mass executions and those of minors,” Swiss
ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Valentin Zellweger told the
councilexternal link, which concluded its 42nd session last Friday.
In his speech, the Swiss diplomat urged the 10 countries with the highest total
number of executions - China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Iraq, Egypt, the
United States, Japan, Pakistan and Singapore – to abolish or suspend capital
punishment.
But according to Amnesty International’s most recent report on the death
penalty covering 2018external link, these countries are not all exactly in the
same position.
“Overall, the total number of executions recorded fell by more than 30%
[between 2018 and 2017], mainly due to sharp decreases seen in some of the
countries that use it most, such as Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Somalia,” it
noted.
But Amnesty noted reversals: “For the 1st time since 2009, Thailand has carried
out an execution, and several other countries reported an increase in the total
number of executions recorded during the year, including Belarus, the United
States, Japan, Singapore and South Sudan.”
There were also significant increases in the number of death sentences handed
down in countries such as Egypt and Iraq, the NGO said.
The few statistics made public by the Vietnamese authorities indicate that
Vietnam has made extensive use of the death penalty. In China, the use of the
capital punishment is still surrounded by secrecy, but Amnesty believes that
the country continues to condemn and execute thousands of people.
Successful resolution
It was not surprising, therefore, that some of these states tried to weaken a
human rights resolution on the death penalty, via amendments or by voting
against it last Friday. In the end the resolution, which was co-sponsored by
Switzerland, was adopted by 26 states, 14 were against and there were 6
abstentions.
Hilary Power, a representative of Amnesty International at the UN in Geneva,
welcomed the result and stressed the continuing positive momentum for the
abolition of the death penalty. But she added: “We are concerned about the
possible resumption of executions in Sri Lanka and the possible reintroduction
of the death penalty in the Philippines".
In the resolution approved last week, the council decided that the upcoming
biennial high-level panel discussion to be held at the 46th session of the UN
Human Rights Council will address human rights violations related to the use of
the death penalty, in particular with respect to whether the use of the death
penalty has a deterrent effect on crime rate. It also requests the Office of
the High Commissioner to prepare a summary report on the panel discussion and
to submit it to the Human Rights Council at its 48th session.
Long-term programme
What is exact purpose of such a resolution? Presented every 2 years, it
examines human rights violations caused by capital punishment legislation when
it targets, for example, homosexuals, minors or ethnic minorities. The
resolution does not directly aim to abolish the death penalty or call for a
moratorium, which is the subject of a resolution adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly. It simply tries to encourage countries where the death
penalty is still in force to reduce its scope.
Iran, for example, has abandoned the death penalty for drug cases, which led to
a sharp drop in the number of executions last year.
Friday’s resolution is part of a Swiss foreign ministry’s 2017-2019 action plan
for the universal abolition of the death penaltyexternal link, which was drawn
up a decade ago and renewed. The strategy involves different channels and
approaches, with support from an ?ad hoc coalition of external NGOsexternal
link. A similar strategy was pursued in the case of the 1997 Ottowa landmine
ban treaty.
(source: swissinfo.ch)
IRAN:
Iran sentences 1 person to death for spying for the US and jails another for 10
years for spying for Britain
Iran has sentenced an alleged US spy to death and imprisoned 3 others including
an alleged British agent.
3 people face 10-year prison sentences, one of them accused of spying for
Britain and another specifically accused of working for the CIA.
The death penalty case was said to be under appeal in the Supreme Court.
'One person has been sentenced to death for spying for America, ... but the
ruling has been appealed', said judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili.
The other 2 alleged U.S. spies, identified as Ali Nafarieh and Mohammad Ali
Babapour, received 10-year sentences in final decisions from an appeals court.
The alleged British spy was named as Mohammad Aminnassab.
Iran has made frequent claims of espionage against Britain and the United
States and it is unclear how these cases relate to earlier allegations.
In July, Iran said it had broken up a CIA spy ring and sentenced some of its
alleged members to death.
Some of the suspects were recruited by a 'visa trap' in which the CIA would
target Iranian nationals as they applied to visit America, Iran claimed.
A documentary which aired on Iranian TV at the time purported to show U.S.
agents trying to recruit Iranian spies in the Middle East.
Britain and Iran also remain at loggerheads over the detention of dual national
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on spying charges.
The mother-of-one was arrested in 2016 and has been kept in solitary
confinement for some of her time in prison.
The latest announcement comes amid ongoing Middle East tensions, especially
over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Tehran has scaled back its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal since Donald
Trump abandoned the pact and re-imposed sanctions last year.
Rouhani has said he would consider meeting with Trump if sanctions were lifted,
but Trump instead announced an increase in sanctions on Iran last month.
On top of that, a series of alarming incidents on Gulf ships - widely blamed on
Iran, but always denied - have added to fears of a sudden conflict.
(source: dailymail.so.uk)
KENYA:
Kakamega death row convict now gets reprieve
A death row convict found guilty of robbing a businessman has got a reprieve
after the High Court substituted his sentence with a 20-year jail term. Justice
Jesse Njagi, in his judgment, said although the offence was serious and almost
claimed the life of the complainant, the death penalty was excessive. Benedicto
Kwarula Ingosi, 51, filed the petition seeking a re-sentencing following the
Supreme Court declaration that the mandatory death penalty for robbery with
violence was unconstitutional.
Kwarula was convicted alongside 2 others for jointly robbing Manase Wachira of
Sh8,000, a bicycle and an assortment of shop goods worth Sh16,000 on November
9, 2004, at Mukango village in Kakamega South District.
During the time of such robbery, Kwarula and his accomplices, who were all
armed with crude weapons, were found to have used actual violence by cutting
the complainant severely.
Medical documents presented in court revealed that Wachira sustained fracture
of tibia and fibula bones whose degree of injury was grievous harm.
Wachira identified Kwarula, Joseph Chumba and John Lumwachi, who were charged
and found guilty of robbery with violence and an alternative count of handling
stolen property.
Consequently, the then Principal Magistrate Stephen Kibunja, now a judge at the
Environment and Lands Court in Kisumu, convicted the three to hang.
Kwarula, however, filed a petition against the State seeking a review of his
sentence, a petition which the Director of Public Prosecutions did not oppose.
He submitted that he had served a sentence of 14 years, which he prayed be
considered enough punishment, saying he had reformed while in custody. Justice
Njagi allowed the petition but noted that the sentence served was insufficient
since offence could have led to the death of the complainant.
(source: standardmedia.co.ke)
SINGAPORE:
Chin Swee Road death: Mother accused of killing daughter remanded for
psychiatric observation
A woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, with her husband as her
accomplice, was ordered to be sent for psychiatric observation on Tuesday (Oct
1).
The 30-year-old woman, who cannot be named due to a gag order, appeared in the
State Courts via video-link in the afternoon for a further mention of her case.
She appeared on the screen in glasses and in a white shirt with her name
printed on it, listening through an interpreter.
The judge granted the prosecution's request to remand the woman for psychiatric
observation at the Changi Prison Complex Medical Centre for 3 weeks.
This came a week after her husband and co-accused was remanded for the same
purpose.
District Judge Terence Tay ordered the woman to return to court via video-link
on Oct 22.
The woman had been charged along with her husband for murder with common
intention.
They are accused of killing their daughter in their flat at Block 52 Chin Swee
Road, just across from the State Courts, in March 2014.
Police found the child's remains in the flat last month after receiving a call
for help there.
The woman received the fresh charge about a week after being sentenced on Sep 9
to jail for 5 years and 2 months for drug charges and theft.
She faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted of murder with
common intention.
The father is set to return to court via video-link on Oct 15.
(source: channelnewsasia.com)
INDIA:
MP man given death penalty for raping, killing girl
A court here on Monday sentenced a man to death for kidnapping, raping and
killing a 4-year-old girl.
Special Judge Savita Singh sentenced Hani Athwal (22) alias Kakku to death
after finding him guilty under section 376-A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well
as 363 (kidnapping) and 302 (murder), District Prosecution Officer Mohammad
Akram Sheikh told reporters.
Besides, he was also convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences (POCSO) Act, the prosecutor said, adding that 36 witnesses were
examined in the case.
On October 25 last year, Athwal had kidnapped the girl from Dwarkapuri area
after her tuition classes.
He raped the girl, smothered her to death and then disposed of the body in a
nullah 2 days later, Sheikh said, adding that Athwal was known to the family of
the girl.
Athwal was arrested from Hussain Takri, a religious place, in Jaora in Ratlam
district some 175 km from Indore.
A police officer said Athwal had raped and killed a seven-year-old girl in 2013
in Mandsaur district, but was sent to a correctional home for three years as he
was a minor at the time.
(source: outlookindia.com)
*******************
Death Penalty Cases Should Be Commuted To Life In Jail: Amarinder
Singh----Amarinder Singh, however, said the Congress party's stand on Beant
Singh's killers has always been clear and consistent -- that they should serve
their full sentence.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today said that all cases of death
penalty should be commuted to life imprisonment. His comments come after the
Home Ministry decided to commute the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana,
who was convicted for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant
Singh, to life imprisonment.
Amarinder Singh, however, said the Congress party's stand on Beant Singh's
killers has always been clear and consistent -- that they should serve their
full sentence.
The chief minister, in Ludhiana today, said he is personally against death
penalty, which he had said back in 2012 too.
He said the Centre had demanded a list of 17 prisoners booked under the
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act from the state government.
"Rajoana's name was in the list of the 17 prisoners submitted to the Centre as
he was a TADA prisoner who had completed more than 14 years in jail, like the
other prisoners on the list," he said, adding that the state had no role in the
Centre's decision.
He said the state government is yet to receive the names of the 9 prisoners who
had been given a special exemption by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Ludhiana Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who is the grandson of Beant Singh,
has questioned the Centre's move, saying the dreaded terrorist should not be
"spared" at any cost.
"Who are they to commute the death sentence to life term when the Supreme Court
has given capital punishment (to Rajoana)," Mr Bittu said. "He (Rajoana) is a
dreaded terrorist and should not be spared at any cost."
He said the BJP indulged in petty politics to woo Sikh voters despite the prime
minister vowing to fight terrorism on a global platform.
Apprehending that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were
playing with fire and putting peace in Punjab in jeopardy, the Beant Singh's
grandson said they won't let this happen. "My family suffered a huge loss with
the killing of my grandfather but we are prepared for another battle and would
not let the BJP push Punjab into days of terrorism," Mr Bittu said.
"As an ex-Armyman, I can assure the people that we are fully prepared to
counter any threat and will not let the peace of Punjab be disturbed under any
circumstances," the chief minister said.
He said Pakistan was striving to destroy Punjab's hard-earned peace by pushing
terrorists and weapons into the state and his government would take all
possible steps to tighten the security further.
Meanwhile, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) welcomed the
decision on Rajoana. SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal said the matter related
to sentiments of the Sikh community.
(source: ndtv.com)
*****************************
Cong slams govt over death sentence commutation of convict in Beant Singh
assassination
The Congress on Monday lashed out at the government over the decision to
commute the death sentence of terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana in the
assassination case of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, saying it has
exposed the BJP''s "false patriotism".
Congress'' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala termed the development as
"painful and shameful" even as Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he is
personally against capital punishment, taking a divergent view from his party.
The Home Ministry has decided to commute the death sentence of Balwant Singh
Rajoana, who was convicted for the assassination of Congress leader Beant Singh
in 1995, to life imprisonment, officials said on Sunday.
Taking a swipe at the Modi government''s slogan ''sabka saath, sabka vikas''
(together with all, for the development of all), Surjewala said the new slogan
is "together with terrorists, for development of terrorists".
He said it was the saddest day for the country in the fight against extremism.
"BJP''s false patriotism exposed! It is now with the killers of Sardar Beant
Singh," he said in a tweet in Hindi.
However, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told reporters in Ludhiana he
was personally against death penalty, which he had said back in 2012 too.
At a press conference, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi alleged that the
Home Ministry''s decision was an example of the BJP playing politics as its
ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had
file a mercy petition for Rajoana.
"Beant Singh was the sitting chief minister in a constitutional post, in a
democratic system and was assassinated by a suicide bomber who died on the
spot, not only killing the CM, but 16 other innocent persons – many of them
police personnel," he said.
"The principal person accused was Balwant Singh Rajoana. Rajoana suffered a
death sentence conviction in August 2007. While in High Court it was upheld in
October 2010 – I am talking only of Rajoana – and the execution by hanging was
delayed because the SGPC and the SAD – the (then) ruling party of Punjab –
filed a mercy petition," Singhvi said.
They campaigned in the election on Rajoana''s mercy petition which was referred
by the then President to the Home Ministry as is the rule, he said.
The Home Ministry after all this gap announces that it is commuting Rajoana''s
death sentence to life imprisonment, Singhvi said.
"Remember, here is a heinous offence against a constitutional post holder...
here is a party which ignores the loss of 16 other lives. So I ask them through
you as to what is this new very cheap definition of pure politics. I ask them
what is their commitment to basic values and principles," he said.
(source: outlookindia.com)
NEW ZEALAND:
The Execution That Changed New Zealand
THIS MORTAL BOY ---- By Fiona Kidman
One December night in 1955, a 20-year-old Irish immigrant named Albert Black,
wearing heavy boots to make his hanging snap, shuffled to the gallows of a dark
prison in Auckland, New Zealand. He’d stabbed and killed another young migrant,
maybe over a girl, maybe in self-defense. Asked for his final words, he
replied: “I wish you all a Merry Christmas, gentlemen, and a prosperous New
Year.”
That real-life moment — reported more sensationally at the time, when Black was
known as “the jukebox killer” — is both a final scene in Fiona Kidman’s bracing
new novel, “This Mortal Boy,” and the story’s spark. Black’s hanging was the
penultimate execution in New Zealand and, as the book’s title implies, Kidman’s
focus is on frailty: the weaknesses of youth and the cracks in society that let
fear, panic and punishment thrive.
For Kidman’s fans (and they are legion in the Antipodes) the approach will feel
familiar. The author of more than two dozen books spanning fiction, nonfiction
and poetry, she has often rebuilt the past for her characters. One of her most
admired novels, “The Book of Secrets,” told the story of three women entangled
in the 1850s settlement of a small northern town, led by a stern historical
figure, a Scottish preacher named Norman McLeod.
“This Mortal Boy” brings Kidman’s reconstruction talents forward to the 20th
century, with a young man from Belfast. In her telling, “Paddy” Black is
restless and homesick. The eldest surviving son of war-weary parents, he landed
near Wellington at a time of social panic: New Zealand’s prime minister, “a
craggy, thick-browed man called Sid Holland,” had just published a report on
the failing morals of teenagers. Capital punishment had been restored a few
years earlier.
Kidman captures the country’s anxious mood through Rose Lewis, a widow and
mother of three who took in Black and another boarder. Like Kidman, I suspect,
who was a teenager at the time, she is bewildered by the burning of Mickey
Spillane paperbacks and her neighbors’ voyeuristic concerns about sex and tight
clothes: “It all started with the war, some muttered, when the bloody Yanks
moved in and corrupted people’s minds, never mind their role in the Pacific.
They brought candy and flattery and jitterbug dances, petting in the back seat
of movie theaters and free love.”
Paddy Black, unsurprisingly, develops a taste for it all. He heads to Auckland
for more. There he oversees an empty boardinghouse, works when he must and
mostly hangs out wherever dancing leads to “carnal knowledge.” Just as he falls
in love, he meets a big, brusque English seaman who goes by the name of Johnny
McBride — and Black blurts out an invitation to stay with him.
McBride’s name is fake, but his volatility is as real as that of cracked
artillery. After a party and a fight over a girl neither knows well, a badly
beaten Black decides to carry a knife. The next day, he and McBride scuffle
again by a jukebox, and Black lands a fatal blow to McBride’s neck.
Murder or manslaughter is the question that builds suspense, but the strengths
and weaknesses of “This Mortal Boy” are revealed by the way Black’s single act
ripples through an ensemble cast. Kidman moves easily between crowds, from the
New Zealand court to the slums of Belfast to the bars where Black’s itinerant
friends gather, but at times it’s too much and too many. The jurors blur more
than punctuate and the weight of politics feels necessary but also a touch too
rote. It makes you wonder if the attorney general, John Marshall, really did
declare: “Frankly if you want my opinion, we could do without these deplorable
migrants.”
And yet when Kidman shows us Black at his most vulnerable, he and the novel are
magnetic. His letters from prison and final visits with friends perfectly
capture the dark humor, omissions and shame of young men more broken than they
can admit. When his mother reaches into the pockets of his childhood jacket,
remembering where his hands once were, the fabric can practically be felt
through the page.
There’s wisdom in Paddy Black, too, as he approaches death. Humility and honor
converge. The ending of a life involves decisions made by many, Kidman reminds
us, with opportunities for compassion that are regularly missed until it’s too
late.
(source: Damien Cave is the Australia bureau chief for The (NY) Times)
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