Jan. 5
CANADA/GLOBAL:
Primate calls for end to death penalty
Protesters calling for the global abolition of the death penalty gathered
on Nov. 30 at Torontos city hall and walked to St. James' Cathedral, which
was illuminated after the march. Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the
Anglican Church of Canada, joined the march and spoke to the crowd of
about 100 people.About 100 people, including Archbishop Fred Hiltz,
primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, braved a cold, rainy night in
Toronto to make the city a "City for Life," 1 of 8 in Canada and more than
900 worldwide.
On Nov. 30 each year, people in cities around the world speak out against,
and call for the global abolition of the death penalty. Events are
supported by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which Amnesty
International helped found.
Toronto's event began at city hall, where protesters with placards and
banners gathered. They marched through downtown streets chanting calls for
an end to the executions. Then they were welcomed into St. James'
Cathedral by the rector, Dean Douglas Stoute, to listen to speakers,
including Alex Neve, secretary-general of the Canadian chapter of Amnesty
International. He brought a message from Louise Arbour, the former UN high
commissioner on human rights, who said that those working to end the death
penalty should be encouraged that about 2/3 of countries in the world have
stopped the practice. She described the Cities for Life event as a
"gesture of hope."
But Mr. Neve reminded the crowd of the reasons to increase their efforts
when he spoke of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, a 13-year old girl, who was stoned
to death in October in Somalia by a group of 50 men with a crowd of 1,000
looking on. She was accused of adultery after she reported that she had
been raped.
Mr. Neve also noted that, although Canada has been a leader in the work to
abolish the death penalty, the government has stepped back from that
leadership role in the last year. When Resolution 62/149, calling for a
worldwide moratorium on executions, was put before the United Nations late
last year, Canada voted for it but refused to co-sponsor it.
Inside the cathedral, Archbishop Hiltz asked the audience to reflect on
Jesus' words in the Gospel of Matthew: "I was in prison and you visited
me."
Archbishop Hiltz said that God takes no pleasure in the deaths of the
innocent, but neither does he take pleasure in the deaths of those who
have committed wicked acts.
Aubrey Harris, co-ordinator of the Amnesty International Canada's campaign
to abolish the death penalty, described the plight of 2 young Canadians,
Mohamed Kohail and his brother Sultan Kohail of Montreal, who are in
imminent danger of being executed in Saudi Arabia. He said there is an
urgent need for Canadians to write letters to the Saudi government, asking
it to show mercy.
(source: Anglican Journal)
INDIA:
Supreme Court verdict important in Afzal Guru case: Munde
BJP leader Gopinath Munde lambasted former Union Home Minister Shivraj
Patil for his remarks on the death sentence of Parliament attack convict
Afzal Guru, saying it was important to give effect to the Supreme Court
verdict in the case.
He said Afzal Guru's case cannot be compared with other pending mercy
petitions, referring to Patil's statement that it was unseemly to single
him out and make haste in hanging him when some 35 files were still
pending.
Commenting on Patil's statement that the Afzal issue was being
"politicised" and there was no bravery in hanging him, Munde said the
death sentence to the terrorist mastermind had been pronounced by the
country's apex court and not by any political party.
Munde, who was addressing a 'Brahmin Mahasabha' convention here last
night, also said that it was a pity that former Union Minister was not
able to comprehend the nature of crime for which Afzal was convicted.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena working President Uddhav Thackeray, who was also
present at the convention, criticised Patil.
Citing policy adopted by the Britishers, Thackeray said the colonial
rulers lost no time in hanging Indian revolutionaries who gave their lives
for the country's freedom but in free India those who undermine her
sovereignty were being spared despite the apex court's verdict.
(source: Economic Times)
UGANDA:
Bishop calls for death penalty
THE former bishop of Kigezi Diocese, the Rev. William Rukirande, has
called for the death penalty for civil servants and politicians who
embezzle public funds and abuse their offices.
Rikirande said the weak laws, which contributed to corruption in
government institutions, should be revised.
He cited the Global Fund saga, saying no suspect had been punished to
deter others from similar offences.
Rikirande also criticised the rampant theft of drugs in public health
centres, saying many patients had lost their lives because of this.
"Many people convicted of corruption are given weak sentences, which
encourage others to commit the same offenses," he said.
Rikirande was preaching to hundreds of Christians who turned up at the
end-of-year service at the All Saints Church in Kabale town on Thursday.
He said district officials embezzle funds by awarding contracts to friends
and relatives, who later carry out shoddy work.
The Government loses billion of shillings through such actions, he said.
In the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, I hereby curse corrupt
officials and thieves including the one who stole my beloved Friesian cow
from the farm, Rukirande said.
The Service was led by the Vicar of the Church, the Rev. Amos Tweteise,
who asked Christians to share with the needy for God to continue blessing
them.
At Christ the King Church Kabale, Monsignor Narisezio Gumisiriza called
upon Catholics to abandoning their reckless lifestyles.
He asked the Christians in the district to embark on income generating
projects to fight poverty.
(source: New Vision)
JAPAN:
UNMASKING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT--Irreparable losses-- Bereaved want
unrepentant killers to feel victims' pain
This is the 12th and final installment of the second part of a series of
articles focusing on capital punishment.
"If you were to ask me if I feel sorry about the incident, the answer is
'no.' If you were to ask me if I feel remorseful, the answer is again
'no.'" Those words were spoken by death row convict Yukio Yamaji, 25, and
recorded in his affidavit.
In November 2005, Yamaji broke into an apartment in Naniwa Ward, Osaka. He
sexually assaulted Asuka Uehara, 27, and her 19-year-old sister, Chihiro,
before stabbing them to death with a knife. Yamaji set fire to the
apartment in an attempt to destroy evidence.
"Obviously, I will be sentenced to death...I am not afraid of death,"
Yamaji said, devoid of expression, at his trial at the Osaka District
Court that began in May 2006.
"He [Yamaji] has no desire to live and his feelings do not extend to the
life of another person either. It will probably be impossible for him to
sincerely repent from the bottom of his heart," the defense counsel
surmised from interviews with Yamaji.
Immediately after the death sentence was handed down, his client only
said, "It was in accordance with what the public prosecutors had argued
for."
The lawyer appealed against the ruling. However, every time the lawyer and
Yamaji met, the death row inmate would always say, "I don't know when the
appeal will be withdrawn."
In May 2007, Yamaji's statement was realized as he withdrew the appeal and
his sentence was finalized.
Urns containing the ashes of Asuka and Chihiro are placed on a Buddhist
altar at their parents' home in Heguricho, Nara Prefecture.
"It was a foregone conclusion that the death sentence would be handed
down. When [the death sentence] was confirmed, I didn't feel much
emotion," said Kazuo Uehara, 59-year-old father of the murdered sisters.
In the mornings when Kazuo was to attend the court hearings, he would,
without fail, sit in front of the Buddhist altar and eat his daughters'
bone fragments. "Let's attend the hearing together with father," he would
say to their portraits.
However, during the hearings, Yamaji spoke indifferently about his vicious
crimes and not once did he offer any kind of apology to the bereaved
family.
"I want him to understand the fear, pain and the loss of consciousness
[that my daughters suffered] when they were stabbed. I can't die until the
life of the accused has been extinguished," Kazuo said tearfully at the
top of his voice while stating his opinion in the court. But he later
said, "No matter what I say, it won't reach the accused."
About 18 months have passed since the death sentence was finalized. "My
hatred [for Yamaji] just keeps growing," Kazuo said. "I want the [death
sentence] to be carried out as soon as possible. Both apology and
repentance is impossible."
Between February and June 2005, Hiroshi Maeue killed three people he met
through suicide-related Web sites by putting his hands over their mouths
and noses. Maeue had hoped to get sexual gratification watching their
faces as they suffocated. At the trial at the Osaka District Court, Maeue,
40, said even if he were to return to society, there would always be the
fear he would attack other people.
In March 2007, Maeue received the death sentence and his defense counsel
appealed against the ruling. 3 months later, however, Maeue withdrew the
appeal on his own.
A 66-year-old mother of a 25-year-old woman from Toyonaka, Osaka
Prefecture, who was killed by Maeue, blamed herself for not protecting her
eldest daughter. The victim, who had suffered from depression for many
years, liked using her personal computer.
Several years before the incident, there were signs of recovery from her
illness. However, her mother lamented not checking her online activities.
"For him [Maeue], the death penalty might be the only escape from reality.
The bereaved family members have to endure the pain as long as we live. If
he [Maeue] can escape reality through the death sentence, it would
probably be better to make him suffer a lifetime of regret [by keeping him
alive]," she said.
Over the past five years, 79 capital punishment cases have been finalized.
Of these, appeals were withdrawn by the inmates themselves in 12 cases,
and three of them have been executed.
"I want a death sentence," Masahiro Kanagawa, 25, reportedly told
investigators after being arrested for a stabbing spree in which one
person was killed and seven injured at JR Arakawaoki Station in Tsuchiura,
Ibaraki Prefecture, in March.
Unrepentant death row inmates who court death raise questions about the
significance of the ultimate punishment for bereaved families who have
lost family members and, also, for society at large.
(source: Yomiuri Shimbun)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Justice to die for ----Saudi Arabia needs to review more than just
individual death sentences; its justice system has no penal code at all
Abdullah al-Shammari was scheduled to be executed shortly after this
month's Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Holiday of the Sacrifice, but King
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia decided to grant him a reprieve and study his
case. This is welcome, but King Abdullah should not only halt
al-Shammari's execution. He should abolish the death penalty in his
kingdom.
Many nations have abolished capital punishment, recognising its inherent
cruelty and finality. Some nations that still have such sentences have
strict legal rules and precedents for their use. But in Saudi Arabia,
trials are often unfair, and sentences are based on judges' personal
interpretations of religious teachings rather than on law. The nation has
no penal code, no formal definitions of what constitutes a crime, and no
tradition of following established legal precedent. It is also one of the
very few countries that continue to execute juveniles.
On the issue of equal justice and legal standards, al-Shammari's
conviction is a case in point. The courts found that he killed another man
in a fight in Ha'il in 1983, hitting the man on his head with a metal
object. A decade later, he was found guilty of "quasi-intentional murder"
and ordered to pay blood money. He paid, was freed, married, and fathered
children. However, a review court objected and a new set of judges then
ruled the murder "intentional," confirming head injuries as the cause, and
condemned him to death.
In another case in Saudi Arabia the religious police beat and kicked a man
until he died. A coroner found the cause of death to be a blow to the
head. But in late December 2007, a court found the policemen not guilty
saying that under the Hanbali tradition of Islamic law a person could not
suffer a fatal injury to the head.
In a third case based on interpretations of religious mandates, judges in
Quraiyat convicted Fawza Falih of witchcraft in April 2006 based on
evidence such as substances found in her jars and the claims of a man who
said he became impotent from her spell. The judges, who sentenced her to
death, reached their conclusion not on Quranic verses or even examples of
the Prophet Muhammad, but quoted unspecified actions of unspecified
companions of the Prophet.
Saudi trials often violate the most fundamental standards of fairness. 2
young men, Muhammad Kuhail, a Canadian, and Muhanna Sa'd, a Jordanian,
were sentenced to death in Jeddah for "intentionally killing" another
youth in a schoolyard brawl in 2007. A blow to the stomach had caused
internal bleeding, leading to death from a pre-existing heart condition.
The trial judges barred the lawyer for one of the men from attending court
sessions and from presenting several defence witnesses and cross-examining
prosecution witnesses. But a review court still affirmed the verdict.
The review court judges conceded that the youth who died and his
companions started the fight and that witnesses contradicted one another.
Nevertheless, the judges vaguely invoked the writings of a 13th-century
Islamic scholar to sentence the men to death for "intentional killing,"
saying that "ignorance of an illness" is no excuse.
Sultan Kuhail, Muhammad's Canadian brother, who was 16 years old at the
time of the fight, now faces a possible death penalty in the case because
the review court ordered him retried in an adult court after a juvenile
court had sentenced him to one year in prison and 200 lashes for his role
in the brawl.
Saudi Arabia is among only five countries that retain the death penalty
for juveniles in contravention of the Convention of the Rights of the
Child, to which the kingdom is a party. In July 2007, a 16-year old was
executed for a crime he allegedly committed when he was 13. In June 2007,
a court sentenced 17-year old Sri Lankan domestic worker to death after a
four-month old infant in her care choked to death. Saudi Arabia's Shura
Council, an appointed parliament, recently passed a law to raise the age
of majority from puberty to 18. But even if it is ratified, the
consequences for the criminal justice system remain unclear.
Saudi Arabia has executed at least 92 persons so far in 2008, most by
public beheadings without warning to them or their families. 2 recent
beheadings were for dealing amphetamines, which is not among the severe
crimes for which international law still permits the death penalty. The
government would do well to take a hard look at whether the death penalty
is just and whether it actually reduces crime or serves justice for
victims of crime.
(source: Human Rights Watch, Dec. 26)
