Rick Halperin
Thu, 1 Jan 2009 00:29:26 -0600
Dec. 31 PAKISTAN: Chishti demands death penalty for ex-generals President Ex- Servicemen Society and chairman Tameer-e-Pakistan Party, Gen (R) Faiz Ali Chishti has demanded trial of all those retired army generals including Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf, who staged coup against the elected government on October12, 1999. In an interview with The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt on Wednesday, Gen Chishti said that the then army generals which include: Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf, Lt Gen (R), Saeedul Zafar, Lt Gen (R) Aziz Ahmad Khan, Lt Gen (R) Mahmood and Lt Gen (R) Usmani, refused to accept the appointment orders of Lt Gen Ziauddin Butt as army chief and dismissal of Gen Pervez Musharraf by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and thus committed rebellion against the elected set up. He said Gen Musharraf, who was no more army chief after appointment of Gen Ziauddin incited his subordinates to remove Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in defiance of the Constitution. Gen Chishti demanded judicial trial of these generals, saying that the punishment prescribed for the act of committing rebellion was death. Pervez Musharraf should also be held accountable for declaring emergency on November 3, 2007, as he could not issue such order being a paid servant of Pakistan, he observed, and added that no assembly has granted him indemnity for his unconstitutional acts. Replying to a question about bringing improvement in the institution of army and extermination of terrorism, the retired general said that Pakistan army needed re-organisation. He suggested setting up of national service comprising retired army men and civilians to give back up support to the army in war times. He also stressed the need for imparting compulsory army training to female and male students. The law of 3-year tenure for the army chief should be implemented in letter and spirit, he further said. He said government should take necessary measures to end all causes of terrorism, whereas traditional watch and ward system should be introduced to overcome the problem. Giving solution to multiple crises facing the country, he said that introduction of Islamic system of justice, agriculture reforms and uniform education system would go a long way in reforming the society as a whole. He stressed upon the PPP, which stood for supremacy of Constitution, to ensure that office of President of Pakistan and 4 provincial governors maintain impartiality. (source: The Nation) ST. KITTS: Public speaks out on issue of hanging THE most recent hanging to have taken place in the Federation has caused not only and international stir, but it has also evoked opinions from the local public and the general consensus points to widespread approval of the execution of the death penalty. Charles Elroy Laplace, also known as Al Laplace, was executed in accordance with the law as punishment for the murder of his wife of 10 years, Diana Laplace. The murder occurred in 2004 and the man was convicted 2years later and sentenced to death. At 8:00 on the morning of December 19, 2008, Laplace was hanged within the walls of Her Majesty' Prison, Basseterre and his remains buried therein. Prior to the execution there seemed not to be much buzz, but many comments were made following his death and the majority of them were in support of the execution. SKNVibes took to the streets of Basseterre to glean the publics opinion on the hanging which was the Federation' first after a 10-year lapse. " think they are doing the right thing about the hanging. I think it would serve to decrease crime in the Federation. Some people don' want to die and if they see they start hanging I believe they would change their mind from killing people,"one woman opined. Another female, who appeared unyielding in her stance, supported the death penalty and noted that even if it were her son to be hanged the deed should be done. "he person that was hanged was supposed to have been hanged a long time ago. I believe if he wasn' hanged we would have had another murder. I realise from time they hanged someone no one else died. All who are supposed to be hanged let them hang them. It could be my child...once he does anything wrong, hang him." As simply expressed by one gentleman, " believe hanging will make the bad boys frighten and the killings will stop." Persons who are murdered leave family members, including children, to mourn their death and one woman expressed that the death penalty would cause potential wrong-doers to think about all possible consequences of their actions. " agree with hanging because why should you take a like and you know you there are those who will suffer because of your actions? The others on death row should have been hanged already! They need to hang the others and those who want to join them, let them get it." Another citizen explained that with the expiration of a 10-year period since the last hanging in the Federation, criminals seemed to have gotten content with the idea of carrying out senseless killings. He further expressed that if other efforts have failed in lowering the level of crime in the Federation, the death penalty would bring about some change. " support the death penalty, definitely! We tried all kinds of things before and, to be honest, I believe the criminals were becoming content with the idea of just killing people. I believe knowing now that their lives would actually be on the line, they would think twice about it. I honestly believe it would act as a deterrent." While in support of the death penalty, the gentleman said the execution of it must be supported by better investigations into criminal activities. " do support the death penalty but I definitely need the level of crime investigations to be stepped up, because we need to ensure that we don' hang the wrong individual because it is a life." Reflecting on the 23 murders that occurred during this year, another individual told SKNVibes that this could not be tolerated and the execution of the death penalty would cause those with mal-intentions to give serious consideration to all possible outcomes of their actions. I believe hanging is a real deterrent, and for persons who normally are involved in these gang-related activities in which murder is the ultimate vengeance, they will now have to reconsider the penalty; in that, if they have to go to court and be prosecuted and convicted, not only would they spend time in prison but the death penalty could be implemented. This is especially with the public becoming more vigilant and concerned about having these guys taken out. As you listen to more and more persons talking about the death penalty, you realise that the public at large is in favour of it because we cannot tolerate 23 murders in 1 year and ask ourselves who is going to be next." One of the world's most popular human rights activist groups, Amnesty International issued a press release on Laplaces hanging condemning and referring to it as a "shameless act". An article carried by this media house on Amnestys release concerning Laplace's hanging has caused several to comment registering and or reiterating their support for the death penalty while expressing their disapproval of Amnesty's "interference". "I am totally outraged at Amnesty International for meddling in the internal affairs of my independent country. They have absolutely no solutions for the crime problems in the country. Hanging that man was a just and fair act." "Amnesty international need to keep out. They don't live here and they are certainly not providing any assistance to tackle this crime problem in our Federation. We have tried everything else and the problem keeps getting worse. Why they don't worry themselves about the innocent people who are getting killed in these forms of genocide all over the world. They just talk and we need solutions. The US and other regions carry out capital punishment & we not going to allow those TALKERS to affect us." "When a country has reached a certain level of development in which the state is very financially stable and the resources for proper crime prevention are present such as forensics, etc. and the rate of crime has been brought under control, then maybe they can think about abandoning the death penalty. The Caribbean is not such a region. Crime has been spiraling out of control due to the mindset that nothing can be done to the perpetrators. We, unlike Europe, etc., cannot abandon death penalty." "Where is Amnesty International when our Federation is being plagued by gang violence, violence against women and such crimes? It is always easy to judge when you are not in the situation where it affects you directly. Let Amnesty International come and feel the pain of the families devastated by the crimes such as this. The victims had rights too and those were violated by their killers. It is grossly unfair to rush in to protect those who have no regard for others." (source: SKNVibes.com) CANADA/IRAN: Former Miss World Canada keeps fighting Iran's child executions About 2 years ago, Vancouver-based human-rights advocate Nazanin Afshin-Jam started a campaign to stop child executions in Iran. When the Straight spoke in March 2007 to the former Miss World Canada and 2003 Miss World runner-up, her Web site identified 27 juvenile offendersthose who had committed crimes before reaching the age of 18languishing on Iran's death row. As of today (December 31), the organization cofounded by Afshin-Jam, whose family fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution, lists 155 such persons awaiting execution. "We are trying to put a permanent end, so were always encouraging people to sign the petition on our Web site," Afshin-Jam, president of Stop Child Executions, told the Straight in a recent phone interview. According to her, Iran executed at least 6 child offenders in 2008. Iranian Behnoud Shojaee almost made that list. Shojaee was 17 years old when he was involved in a fight that resulted in the death of another boy. According to the Stop Child Executions Web site, Shojaee was scheduled to face execution on Christmas Eve but he was spared. "He's still in a dangerous situation but at least he was taken out of the list of people who were supposed to be executed," Afshin-Jam said. She said that international pressure could help save more child offenders from certain death. Afshin-Jam also said that Iran isn't complying with its obligations under 2 international treaties banning child executions: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The country is a signatory to these agreements. (source: Straight Talk) INDONESIA: Anger after Indonesian spy cleared of murder Angry protests greeted the acquittal Wednesday of a former Indonesian intelligence official accused of killing a respected human rights activist 4 years ago. Muchdi Purwopranojo was accused of plotting the murder of lawyer Munir Said Thalib. A court in Jakarta cleared Muchdi Purwopranojo of murder charges in the September 2004 death of Munir Said Thalib, a lawyer heavily involved in human rights work. Protesters outside the courthouse chanted, "Who killed Munir? Muchdi killed Munir." Munir's widow, Suciwati, said she was angry and disappointed in the verdict. And Usman Hamid, head of the National Commission on Missing Persons, said the family "is hurting from the verdict." "The decision has turned people's faith in the justice system upside down," said Hamid, who now leads Munir's organization. Munir died after being poisoned while on a flight to the Netherlands. Munir's supporters say he was the victim of a conspiracy by Indonesia's national intelligence agency, the BIN. Two other people have been charged and convicted in Munir's death -- a pilot for the national airline Garuda Indonesia who was directly linked to the poisoning, and a former Garuda official who authorized him to be on the same flight. Prosecutors argued that Muchdi gave the orders in the conspiracy. But Hamid said judges treated the case as a personal vendetta by Muchdi, and he said more people from the agency should have been implicated. (source: CNN)