December 16
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan army chief confirms death sentence for 15 militants
Pakistan's army chief has approved death sentences for 15 people convicted by
military courts of involvement in attacks that killed 32 security forces and 2
civilians.
A military statement issued Sunday says Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa also approved
prison terms for 20 alleged militants. It says they were involved in attacks on
security forces and Christians, and the destruction of educational
institutions. It did not say when the men would be executed.
Military trials are not open to the public in Pakistan, but defendants can hire
their own lawyers.
Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty after a 2014 militant attack
on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed more than 150 people, mostly
schoolchildren.
(source: Associated press)
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So far 310 terrorists awarded death penalty: ISPR updates on military courts’
performance
Special military courts have so far decided a total of 546 cases out of 717
sent to them for trial by the government, the Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR) said on Sunday.
The army’s media wing in a statement updated on the military courts’
performance, saying since the establishment of these courts, the cases of 717
suspected terrorists were sent to them by the federal government out of which
546 have been decided thus far.
It said the military courts awarded death penalty to 310 terrorists while 234
others were handed rigorous imprisonment of varied terms ranging from life
imprisonment to a minimum prison term of five years. Two accused were also
acquitted.
Out of the 310 death row convicts, 56 have been executed after completion of
the legal process following military courts decisions which included their
appeal in superior civil courts and rejection of their mercy petition both by
the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and the President of Pakistan.
The remaining 254 terrorists on death row are awaiting completion of the legal
process, including their appeals pending in higher courts.
Those who have been awarded death penalty included masterminds, executers and
abettors/ facilitators of major terrorist incidents, including the Dec 16, 2014
Army Public School (APS) Peshawar attack (5 terrorist executed), Marriot
Islamabad terrorist attack (September 2008), Parade Lane terrorist attack
(December 2009), attack on the ISI office Multan (December 2009), a terrorist
attack on 4 SSG soldiers including 2 officers( April 2009), attack on the ISI
office Sukkur (November 2010), Bannu Jail Break (April 2012), Mastung Sectarian
terrorist attack (April 2012), killing of foreigners in Nanga Parbat (June
2013), a terrorist attack on civilian and security officials at Chalas (August
2013), an attack on SSP Chaudhary Aslam (January 2014)
Other incidents of terrorism include Karachi Airport attack (June 2014),
terrorist attack on Sabin Mehmood (April 2015), terrorist attack Safora Ghot
Karachi (May 2015), Bacha Khan University attack (January 2016), and terrorist
attack on Amjad Sabri (June 2016).
(source: arynews.tv)
INDIA:
HC abolishes solitary confinement for prisoners facing death penalty
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday abolished the practice adopted by
the jail authorities in Punjab to segregate convicts immediately after the
pronouncement of death sentence by the trial court and its confirmation by the
High Court.
The ruling came as a convict escaped the gallows with the High Court commuting
to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded to him by a Mansa court for
raping and murdering a minor. Directing the state to modify the Punjab Jail
Manual, the Bench of Rajiv Sharma and Justice Gurvinder Singh asserted that
the convict would not be segregated or isolated till death ntence becomes
final, conclusive and indefeasible and could not be annulled or voided by any
judicial process.
The period to keep a convict sentenced to death in segregation or isolation was
also required to be for “shortest possible time” of 2 to 3 days.
Dubbing solitary confinement as unconstitutional, the Bench asserted there was
no scientific reason why the convict sentenced to death should be kept in
isolation for indefinite period till he exhausted all his constitutional and
legal remedies.
It caused immense pain, agony and anxiety to the condemned convict.
It was also violative of Articles 20(2) and 21 of the Constitution of India.
“A man, even if he is sentenced to death, has certain privileges and rights
which cannot be denied to him due to a colonial mindset. The provisions of the
Punjab Jail Manual are anarchic, cruel and insensitive,” the Punjab and Haryana
High Court Bench added.
Referring to the Punjab Jail Manual, the Bench said a warder would not allow
any person to go near or communicate with the prisoner except by an authorised
person.
He was supposed to be in isolation for more than 23 hours in a day. This was
against the Nelson Mandela rules.
Speaking for the Bench, Justice Sharma asserted that the practice to keep the
convict in custodial segregation or solitary confinement before the exhaustion
of his constitutional, legal and fundamental rights was without authority of
law and amounted to additional punishment. It also amounted to torture and was
violative of his basic human rights.
Justice Sharma referred to the United Nations Standard Minimum rules for the
treatment of prisoners, articles published in foreign countries and a plethora
of judgments while reaching the conclusion.
The development took place in the case of Kala Ram awarded death sentence by
the Mansa Special Judge under Section 376-A of the IPC for committing rape and
murder of a 6-year-old.
(source: tribuneindia.com)
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