Jan. 11
ROMANIA:
PM Tudose: For some criminals even the death penalty is too gentle
Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said in a televised interview on Wednesday that he
thinks the death penalty would still be too gentle for some criminals, and that
he takes responsibility for his statement.
Tudose stated: "I'll be a little non-European, but I'll take responsibility.
It's going to cost me. I think even the death penalty is too little. For those
who mess up a child, who take a life. You see them smiling. For some, life in
prison is a gift. I know this is going to cost me a lot, because world policy
is against lethal injections... Someone who does something like this cannot be
human. Killing elderly people for RON 10, abusing children in a lift. What do
you do when it happens to you, to your family? Aren't you going to grab an axe?
Let's be humane with those who are human. 4 years later they're back at it. How
in God's name can you go wrong with that?"
(source: business-review.eu)
INDONESIA:
Indonesian death penalty laws to be softened to allow reformed prisoners to
avoid execution
The proposed new laws would impose a 10-year stay on executions, after which
the death penalty could be commuted to a prison term.
"The legislation in the draft penal code is a small step towards abolition,"
said death penalty critic Ricky Gunawan, the director of Indonesia's Community
Legal Aid Institute.
"It's a compromise between groups who are for and against the death penalty."
The changes would give authorities much greater leeway to avoid executing
reformed prisoners, like Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran who were
shot by firing squad in 2015.
Both men were model prisoners who were praised for helping their fellow
inmates.
They were among 18 convicted drug smugglers executed in 2015 and 2016.
"There are so many death row prisoners who show transformation," Mr Gunawan
said.
"The issue at stake is how to ensure prisoners like Andrew Chan and Myuran
Sukumaran could be seen by the Government as eligible to have their sentence
commuted."
Change makes commutation decision 'highly political'
The 10-year stay on executions would be followed by an automatic review of the
penalty by Indonesia's law and human rights minister.
The minister could recommend a death sentence be commuted to life in prison or
a 20-year term.
Mr Gunawan said he would like to see the review done by an independent
committee rather than a politician.
"The decision rests with the minister for law and human rights - therefore it's
highly political," he said.
"There is a need for an independent body to advise the President."
Legislators have agreed on the proposed law changes, but they are part of
sweeping review of the nation's criminal code that will not be enacted for
several years.
Eighteen people have been executed under the rule of President Joko Widodo.
Most were foreigners and all were convicted of drug smuggling.
The executions caused significant damage to Indonesia's relationship with
Australia, among other countries.
(source: abc.net.au)
PHILIPPINES:
PHL Charter prevails over treaty obligations on death penalty - Panelo
The 1987 Constitution will prevail over the Philippines' treaty obligations on
the issue of the reimposition of the death penalty, President Rodrigo Duterte's
chief legal counsel said on Thursday.
Secretary Salvador Panelo in a statement said that the 1987 Constitution allows
Congress to revive the death penalty "for compelling reasons involving heinous
crimes."
This despite a mandate to abolish capital punishment under the Second Optional
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the
Philippines ratified.
Treaties ratified are not superior to the country's laws, Panelo argued. He
added that the treaties cannot be in conflict with the Constitution.
"The same, however, cannot prevail over the authority of Congress under the
Constitution to re-impose the death penalty if it determines that there are
compelling reasons to penalize or prevent the commission of grievous, odious
and hateful offenses that equate to heinous crimes," he said in a statement.
"Like any other law, a treaty may be repealed by a later act of Congress if it
deems that such is warranted under the present circumstances or is violative of
our Constitution," he added.
(source: gmanetwork.com)
INDIA:
Team Dastangoi's Rendition of Experiencing Prison and the Death Penalty
The experience of prison and the death penalty were the themes of the
performance The Tihar Players' - The Gallows Project by Team Dastangoi at The
Attic in New Delhi on January 5-6, 2018. Directed by the Peepli Live
co-director, Mahmood Farooqui, the performance was a blend of music, poetry and
dialogue, recreating the experience with performances of the travails of former
inmates.
Beginning with depictions of Tihar jail, the performance was interwoven with a
number of historical accounts as well - including readings of excerpts from
Malcolm X's accounts of his imprisonment in Charlestown prison, and a reading
of a letter written by Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy to journalist and author of
Behind Bars: Prison Tales of India's Most Famous, Sunetra Choudhury,
remembering Afzal Guru.
"The idea was always to portray our lives while we were working inside in
prison, because not only is it cathartic but it also gives you a distraction,
therefore working to heal you at so many levels," explained Farooqui, referring
to his performances with the former inmates in jail.
The performance exhibited the everyday reality pertaining to the experiences of
a man behind bars - from unpalatable food and water inside the jail to the
system that makes bribing wardens an inevitable actuality.
Adding to this was former inmate Bilal Khan's real-life demonstration of the
blot that prison leaves on one's life. "Whatever has been shown is real and a
projection of our own experiences. Since we have been through it, it was easier
to enact it," said Golu, a former inmate and performer.
Juxtaposed against this thread of the realities of prison was the theme of
positivity - many prisoners, much like Malcolm X's account says, have enough
time on their hands to learn how to read and write, among other things.
"In an atmosphere of negativity that is made worse because you do not have
independence unlike the outside world, we indulged ourselves in drama. I
practiced yoga and comforted those who seemed depressed," says Dinesh Sharma,
another former inmate, who, through his performance in The Gallows Project,
showcased his determination to remain positive inside prison.
Set against the above background was prison reforms activist Vartika Nanda's
recitation of poetry penned by incarcerated women in Tihar jail from her book
Tinka Tinka Tihar. A poignant excerpt from a poem by Seema Raghuvanshi, an
undertrial at Tihar, dealt with the latter's imaginations in prison, in a world
beyond the cells of Jail no. 6 in Tihar.
Enacting Mirza Ghalib's rumination on incarceration from Quaid-e-Hayat, a book
based on the life of the Urdu poet, the performance by dastango Darain Shahidi
featured the poet remembering the days of his childhood spent in the alleys of
Akbarabaad (now Agra) - a pleasant world that had just drifted away in a blink
of his eye.
The concluding act was by Farooqui himself, where he narrated Oscar Wilde's The
Ballad of Reading Gaol about his experiences in prison - particularly about
witnessing the sentencing and execution of a fellow inmate.
"I saw the misery and helplessness that everyone goes through, when I was in
prison. It is not a question of wrong or right but rather what one goes
through," said Farooqui when asked why he chose to do The Gallows Project. "I
had read about so many writers, so many artists, who, after being imprisoned,
left their writings, and such moving writings ... It is time to showcase that
again and make us reexamine the notion of punishment," he added.
(source: Shreya Valiramani is a final year student at Jindal Global Law School,
Sonepat, Haryana, and an intern with The Wire----thewire.in)
ISRAEL:
Why a Death Penalty for Terrorists Won't Solve Terrorism ... and What Will
The death penalty for terrorists law being promoted in Israel by Defense
Minister Avigdor Liberman once again highlights an issue at the center of a
tug-of-war, showing the inability of the Israeli people to unify on a specific
stance. Arguments for and against the law have flooded the Israeli press on
whether it would really deter terrorists, and what it would mean for Jews.
At face value, the Talmud justifies the death penalty for a person who acts
with an intention to kill another person: "If someone comes to kill you, rise
early and kill him first" (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 72:1). This law is no
different for a terrorist as it is for any person making a move to murder
another person.
However, whether or not the death penalty will pass in Israel will not
influence the problem of terrorism at its root. The whole discourse around the
topic is like discussing whether chemotherapy or natural treatments are better
for treating cancer: you will always get a different opinion depending on who
you ask, and the entire discussion doesn't deal with analyzing the problem, and
its solution, from its causal basis.
Therefore, I have no interest in meddling with the laws of the State of Israel,
which are based on laws from the time of the British Mandate and also slightly
earlier. If the State of Israel and the Jewish people really wanted to solve
terrorism, then we would need to reach further back into our roots, to
understand what makes us a Jewish people to begin with, and what laws we
followed when we first became a Jewish people. Then, we might learn something
about the laws that would have the power to completely uproot the problem of
terrorism.
How to Override State Laws With Nature's Laws: A Primer for the People of
Israel
What makes us a Jewish people is the tendency to unite (the Hebrew word for
"Jew" [Yehudi] comes from the word for "united" [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part
2, Drush no. 2]). Our ancestors realized this tendency back in the time when
Abraham founded groups not according to State laws, but according to nature's
laws. While the ancient Babylonian society was crumbling into devastating
levels of social division around him, Abraham refused to accept the divisive
norm of the day. Instead, he dedicated his life to a process of self-discovery
and the research of nature and the system of creation. Through his research, he
discovered how nature's most fundamental laws are of love, giving, kindness and
unity. Moreover, he found how these laws operate on reality's every element,
and gathered individuals who also sought better lives, formed groups out of
them, and guided them on how to realize nature's laws of love and unity in
social relations. That group became known as "the Jews."
As a united Jewish people, we enjoyed times of happiness and prosperity during
the times of the First and Second Temple. Over time, however, human egoism
evolved to a new level in humanity, including the Jewish people. It drove us
apart and we became remote from our accordance with nature's laws of unity.
Ultimately, we replaced following nature's laws with following man-made State
laws.
Egoism makes us consider personal benefit as having greater importance than
benefiting others and the whole society we exist in. If we don't apply
ourselves to unite above our natural egoistic tendency, then we build our lives
more and more in a way that is opposite to nature. Terrorism is just one of the
obvious ways in which our world today shows us the outcome of our natural,
egoistic development over thousands of years.
We have sliced up humanity into myriad segments, sub-segments and
sub-sub-segments. We value individuality over integrality, and the personal
success of unique individuals or select groups over the collective success of
society as a whole. This is opposite to how nature works. Nature views the
planet and all its inhabitants as a single system, placing equal importance on
all its parts. It is akin to cells and organs of a human body all playing a
vital role in the health, sustenance and functioning of the entire body.
Our increasingly egoistic and separated approach from nature not only divides
us as a people, it is the cause for every misfortune and pain in humanity. As
with the example of the human body, when a certain cell or group of cells start
receiving more than what they need on account of other cells, it is considered
as cancerous growth. Our emphasis on self-benefit over benefiting human society
as a whole separates us from identifying with and following nature's laws of
love and unity, and makes us succumb to following our man-made State laws
instead. Then, the more problems surface worldwide on personal, social and
global scales, the more we have to revise our man-made laws, like how we
continually need to revise our medicines for treating new epidemics.
Therefore, if we approach the diagnosis and cure of the world's many problems,
including terrorism, at their source - our separation from following nature's
laws of unity - then by learning what nature's laws are, and how we can observe
them, we could pave the path to a harmonious and unified society, in balance
with nature.
The Resurgence of the Method for the Discovery and Application of Nature's Laws
The method for the discovery and application of these laws is the same method
Abraham developed, the wisdom of Kabbalah. Today, this method is undergoing a
modern resurgence as thousands of people worldwide, who feel the world's
current paths are leading to dead ends, start regularly gathering to discover
their long-lost connection with nature, and revitalize the sense of purpose,
love, unity and closeness with nature that Abraham's group once pioneered.
Using this method, this worldwide group has become a research lab of a society
based on the discovery and application of nature's laws. If there are strong,
united ties in social relations propelled by the continual learning,
encouragement and promotion of pro-social values, such as unity, love, giving,
mutual consideration and kindness, then negative egoistic phenomena won't have
a chance to surface. For instance, punishment would not surface as we know it
in our world today, as a penalty for an offence that was done. Punishment would
be felt as an inner sensation within the person, when the egoistic inclination
grasps the person's desires and thoughts with its demand for personal
fulfillment on account of others.
In a society functioning according to nature's laws, each person would have the
necessary grounding, tools and supportive social environment to work with their
egoistic, criminal inclinations before they materialize. Likewise, a person
would be able to apply punishments, including even a "death penalty" to his own
egoistic inclinations, as he would not want to harm the social atmosphere. In
the Kabbalah method, such a version of punishment is called a "correction" of
our nature. These corrections bring us closer and closer to the opening of a
new, expansive nature where threads of love, unity and consideration bind us
together.
Other than the above-mentioned times of the First and Second Temples, we have
never created this kind of social atmosphere, and today our egoism runs rampant
in society. As its effects of growing social division, Nazi, fascist and
xenophobic tendencies, and terrorism flare up, we can either continue trying to
create different kinds of band-aids and plaster them all over the place, or we
can start aligning ourselves with nature's laws and treat these problems and
others at their root.
It is my hope that we will discover this positive social atmosphere that
aspires to balance with nature's laws sooner than later. The worldwide group
now working on implementing this method is open for everyone to join, and
already in its early stages, people immediately vouch for wondrous new
sensations and perceptions that open up to them as a result of even minutely
making tiny efforts towards connection and love in a society that upholds those
values. It is also my hope that human society will discover the splendor of
living according to nature's laws, and that it happens sooner, through learning
and encouragement, rather than later, through pains and sorrows.
(source: Dr. Michael Laitman, PhD in Philosophy and Kabbalah. MSc in Medical
Bio-Cybernetics. Founder and president of Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education &
Research Institute----Jerusalem Post)
IRAN:
Iran halts death penalty for minor drug crimes
Iran has begun implementing new guidelines that will prevent thousands of
convicted drug smugglers from being executed, Iranian media reported Wednesday.
The new regulations, approved by parliament in October, would limit the death
penalty to drug kingpins, armed dealers and those convicted of smuggling more
than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of opium or 2 kilograms of heroin. Previous law
prescribed the death penalty for smuggling 20 kilograms of opium or 30 grams of
heroin.
The pro-reform Shargh newspaper and other dailies reported Wednesday that
Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani, the head of the judiciary, has ordered
officials to "quickly" review cases and implement the new regulations.
The report said the decision would affect more than 5,000 convicts.
Rights groups have long criticized Iran for being among the world's leading
executioners.
Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa deputy
director, acknowledged that the new rules could "spare hundreds from the
gallows," but said Iran "must stop using the death penalty for drug-related
offences with a view to eventually abolishing it for all crimes."
(source: Associated Press)
****************
Easing of deadly drugs laws may spare hundreds from gallows
Responding to news Wednesday that Iran will implement amended drugs laws and
remove capital punishment for some drug trafficking offenses, Magdalena
Mughrabi, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director,
said:
Iran's deadly anti-drugs campaign has had an enormous human toll over the
years, resulting in gross human rights violations in the name of ill-conceived
crime prevention policies.
Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy
Director
"Iran's deadly anti-drugs campaign has had an enormous human toll over the
years, resulting in gross human rights violations in the name of ill-conceived
crime prevention policies."
"The Iranian authorities have executed thousands of people for drugs offences
in Iran, in blatant violation of international law which restricts the use of
the death penalty to the most serious crimes involving intentional killing."
"If implemented properly this long-overdue reform will spare hundreds from the
gallows, but that should be just the start. The Iranian authorities must stop
using the death penalty for drug-related offences with a view to eventually
abolishing it for all crimes."
(source: Amnesty International)
********************
Removal of death penalty for some drugs offences welcomed----Iran has one of
the highest execution rates in the world
Responding to news that Iran will implement amended drugs laws and remove
capital punishment for some drug trafficking offences, Magdalena Mughrabi,
Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said:
"Iran's deadly anti-drugs campaign has had an enormous human toll over the
years, resulting in gross human rights violations in the name of ill-conceived
crime prevention policies.
"The Iranian authorities have executed thousands of people for drugs offences,
in blatant violation of international law, which restricts the use of the death
penalty to the most serious crimes involving intentional killing.
"If implemented properly, this long-overdue reform will spare hundreds from the
gallows, but that should be just the start. The Iranian authorities must stop
using the death penalty for drug-related offences with a view to eventually
abolishing it for all crimes."
Hundreds executed each year for drugs offences
Last year, Amnesty called on the Iranian parliament to amend proposed
legislation to ensure that the death penalty was prohibited for all non-lethal
crimes, in line with international human rights law.
Each year Iran executes hundreds of prisoners, the vast majority of whom have
been convicted of drugs offences. Most of these are from the poorest and most
vulnerable sectors of Iranian society, including Afghans and ethnic and
religious minorities.
According to Iranian parliamentarians, there are currently an estimated 5,000
people on death row for such offences across the country. About 90% of them are
1st-time offenders aged between 20 and 30-years-old. A high-ranking Iranian
official has stated that since 1988 Iran has put to death some 10,000 people
for drug-related offences.
(source: Amnesty International UK)
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