Sept. 2
NIGERIA:
Shell denies involvement in crude theft, opposes death penalty
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has denied the reports linking oil
companies with the theft of crude oil in the Niger Delta region, saying they
were complete misunderstanding of happenings in the oil industry.
Reacting to reports that as much as 400,000 barrels were lost daily to illegal
bunkering against the backdrop of recent increase in oil theft in the
Delta/Bayelsa states axis of the delta, Shell's General Manager, Communication,
Mr. Philip Mshelbila said, such figure did not necessarily represent what were
stolen by criminals, but production lost as a result of shutdown of operation
in the affected areas..
Speaking with newsmen in Warri, Delta State at the weekend, he said the figure
given by a top official of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, is lost by all
players in the oil and gas industry - including multinationals and local firms.
Msehilbila said loss by his company fluctuates on a daily basis, adding that it
could hit as much as 60,000bpd.
He explained that when oil facilities like flow stations are shut down in the
event of attack by criminals, productions from wells serviced by the facility
is deferred, giving rise to the figure bandied.
Specifically, he disclosed that about 150,000bpd would be deferred if such
attack forces SPDC to shut down its Nembe Creek Pipeline, which conveys crude
to Bonny Terminal.
Also debunking allegation of underreporting of exported crude oil, SPDC's Asset
Manager, Swamp West, Mr. Mesch Maichibi said there were meters for crude inlets
and what is loaded from terminals, maintaining, "DPR (Department of Petroleum
Resources) has the key and the password.
"It is impossible to do anything (allegation) because as you pump it is
recording and no way anybody can falsify account. As far as I am concern the
problem is between the trunk line and terminal," he said.
Mshelbila said crude theft had increased in recent times and expressed concerns
over increase in crude oil theft in the Western Delta, comprising facilities in
Delta and Bayelsa states.
He called for all hands to be on deck to tackle the scourge, stressing, "If we
keep finger pointing, we will never address the situation. We have a duty to
protect our future and pipelines."
However, while canvassing for sterner measures to tackle the crime, Mshelbila
dissociated the company from calls for to make illegal bunkering punishable by
death.
He said, "We are not talking about extreme measures. Some people have talked
about death sentence, but we say 'No'. What we ask for is due process and
appropriate punishment should be given but by no way do we support the extreme
measure."
(source: worldstagegroup.com)
TANZANIA:
Women MPs want 51 pct rep, scrap of death penalty
Tanzanian women parliamentarians have decided to set aside their political
ideologies to advocate for 51 % representation in various positions while also
clamouring for eradication of death penalty.
The gathering is a Constitutional Forum of the Tanzania Women Parliamentary
Group (TWPG) which has one thing in mind, to ponder over what should be
incorporated in the coming Mother Law.
The Speaker of the National Assembly Hon. Anne Makinda compares women
legislators with headlights saying they are the ones to show the way for the 51
% women representation in various fields.
Makinda says statistics indicate that women account for more than 1/2 of
Tanzanians and as such all economic, social and cultural programmes should also
take this into account.
"The new Constitution should incorporate inheritance matters and special
groups' rights such as women, children and persons with disabilities due to
their vulnerability," says Makinda.
Makinda calls upon the need to come up with a Constitution that will make it
mandatory for men and women to engage into lawful income generating activities
to curb not only poverty but also Gender Based Violence (GBV) problem.
Experience indicates that non-involvement into income generating activities
makes women prone to various forms of violence thus turning them into slavery
for fear that once they leave the marital bliss, they can never cater for their
basic needs.
A legal expert who is also a member of the Committee of Experts on Constitution
matters from the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) Advocate Magdalene
Rwebangila calls upon the need for the country to come up with an anti-GBV law
as well as shelter homes for its victims.
This is so because, more often than not, victims of GBV end up returning to the
very same homes where they have been abused and thus causing such acts to
prevail.
This trend has led to loss of life, and the only way to salvage the situation
would be to shelter victims, while at the same time counselling and giving them
medical care.
TWPG's Secretary General Hon. Angellah Kairuki is of the view that
incorporating rights of special groups will enhance the laws and policies in
place.
On the other hand, Professor Ruth Meena calls upon the Constitution to be
gender responsiveness while stressing that GBV should be a public issue unlike
now where it is kept under the carpet.
"Article 27 of the Draft Constitution guarantees ones' right to privacy. There
is a need to review it as it leaves a lot of gaps where perpetrators of GBV may
use it to shield themselves on the pretext that it is a private matter. The
Constitution should also protect elderly women from violence," stresses Meena
while giving an example of the killings of elderly women due to witchcraft
beliefs in the Lake Zone.
Retired Judge Hon. Eusebio Munuo on her part calls upon the Constitution to be
clear on harmful practices rather than leaving it to be vague. She cites Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM), widow cleansing, widow inheritance as well as the Law
of Marriage Act of 1971 as being some of the hindrances towards attainment of
women and girl's rights.
In a nutshell, the new Constitution is the only way out for emancipation of
women and girl's rights, and as Hon. Kairuki says, anything incorporated into
the Constitution would mean changes in laws and Policies.
A lot has been said and done, and our only hope now lies on the Proposed
Constitution to be endorsed by the Constituent Assembly set to debate and adopt
all we have been praying for.
Whatever happens however, let us hope that those debating and adopting the
Proposed Constitution will be done for the best interest of all Tanzanians.
As Speaker Anna Makinda stresses, what matters is not who says it, but on how
they say it and on whether whatever is said is for the best interest of
Tanzanians.
I concur with her lest we forget that the Constitution we are writing is not
only for ourselves but also for generations to come.
Meanwhile the Tanzania Women Parliamentarians Group (TWPG) has called upon the
new Constitution to abolish the capital punishment from the country's statutes
due to it's implementation on humanitarian rights.
TWPG thus, calls upon the need to repeal Article 69 (1) (k) from the Draft
Constitution due to the latter specifying one of the duties of the President as
to endorse execution of death sentence.
Speaker Anna Abdallah who is the TWPG's Chairperson made the call recently at
the Constitutional Forum to ponder over additional inputs to the recently
launched Draft Constitution.
"We have problems with the death penalty in the country perhaps we should
abolish it as the fact that it has not been implemented in all these years is a
vivid testimony that we don't need it in our Country's Statute Books" said MP
Abdallah, amid applause from majority of TWPG's members.
Article 69 (1) k of the recently launched Draft Constitution specifies clearly
that "the President shall have the powers to endorse the execution of a death
sentence as declared by the Court in accordance with the laws of the Country."
Subsequently, Article 82- (b) of the very document gives the President the
power to commute a death sentence into life imprisonment.
The 2 articles however contravenes with Article 23 of the very same document
which guarantees the individual's right to life and protection for the same
from the Government and the society in accordance to the laws.
The World Congress Against the Death Penalty recently called upon Judges in
Countries whose law books still retain the capital punishment to use their
discretionary power to individualize sentences, to not sentence to death or to
encourage juries to decide not to condemn to death.
The call was part of the final declaration of the 5th World Congress Against
the Death Penalty held in Madrid recently, a document endorsed by its members
from various organizations in the world including the Legal and Human Rights
Centre (LHRC) of Tanzania.
The move comes as a case to challenge the legality of the death sentence lags
at the High Court of Tanzania for almost 6 years now.
On the 10th October 2008, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) in
collaboration with the Sahringon Tanzania Chapter and the Tanganyika Law
Society filed a case at the High Court of Tanzania challenging the imposition
of the capital punishment on account that it violates the right to life.
Their argument is also based in the fact that no system is safe from judicial
errors a situation that has more often seen innocent people pay for a crime
that they did not commit.
Statistics by the World Congress Against the Death Penalty indicates that at
least 93 Countries in the world still retain the death penalty in their books
while 58 countries still implement it every year.
Tanzania still retains the death penalty in its legislation and the last time
someone was hanged was in 1994.
In Tanzania, the death penalty is imposed in capital offences such as murder,
treason, and military related offences.
(source: Rose Mwalongo, IPP Media)
PAKISTAN:
Moratorium on executions: Ignorance, confusion about legal complexities prevail
The moratorium on executions, which was imposed by the previous PPP led
government in 2008 and lifted recently, has sparked off a debate on the death
penalty while also revealing the lack of awareness available on the lengthy
legal procedure that kicks into place once a man or woman is condemned.
This came to light when the Senate Standing Committee on Interior took up the
issue on August 27, 2013.
A senator had asked which authority issues the death warrant and the answer was
the relevant trial court which could either be the session court or the
anti-terrorism court that has awarded the death sentence.This death warrant is
commonly known as the 'black warrant'.
The question was asked because a moratorium imposed by the federal government
in 2008 was lifted recently by the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) government.
However, after a brief gap of 2 months, which started in the last week of June
2013, the ban was re-imposed in August when 3 convicted terrorists were to be
hanged.
It was against this background that the senator had asked the initial question
and the answer provided by the Interior ministry led to a general discussion
and more questions.
A participating senator asked the interior ministry officials present how the
session courts or the relevant ATC found out that the appeal of the condemned
prisoner had been dismissed by the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan in order to
issue the back warrant.
A number of prisoners, who are condemned to death, appeal to the higher courts
against their convictions - and the senators were interested in finding out who
kept track of appeals filed and rejected in order to then finally kick-start
the process of implementing the conviction once the appeals had been exhausted.
Under the current law, anybody awarded a death sentence by a lower court can
appeal at the high court in 7 days. If the appeal is dismissed by the high
court, the convict has 60 days to approach the SC.
The final authority, however, to waive off the death sentence is the president
of the country and a mercy petition can be forwarded to the president after the
death sentence is awarded by any court.
In addition, one senator also wanted to know if the interior ministry had
informed all the Sessions Courts during the period the moratorium was lifted so
that they could issue the black warrants.
The officials incorrectly informed the parliamentarians that the registrar of
the apex court informs the relevant High Courts and the information is passed
to the session court of the ATC, so that the black warrant(s) can be issued.
The officials of the Law Ministry talking to Dawn contradicted this.
"The interior ministry people are either ignorant or they were not speaking the
truth," the official said, adding that the session court or the ATC are
approached by the prosecutor general office of the concerned province for
issuance of the black warrant.
"But I am not clear how the home department of the province will find out that
the appeal of a condemned prisoner has been rejected by the Supreme Court?" the
official added.
He was not the only one.
Even the spokesman of the interior ministry was not clear on how the home
department would find out that a prisoner's mercy petition had been rejected by
the president of country or his appeal against his sentence had been rejected
by the SC.
Conversations with various officials revealed the ignorance prevalent.
One official said, "The moratorium will never be lifted so there is no need to
find out about the procedure to obtain the black warrants," while another
claimed that it was the responsibility of the jail superintendent to get the
black warrant.
Inspector General Prisons, Sindh, Nusrat Mangan said the jail authorities were
on the operational side of the whole episode and hence were not concerned with
the legal or administrative proceedings.
"The routine procedure is that the black warrants are issued by the session
court or ATC - however before implementing the warrant, we intimate the home
department," he added.
The IG prisons explained that the executions were carried out by the
authorities early in the morning - prior to the Fajr aazan.
"The kin of the condemned prisoner is informed and the execution is carried out
in the presence of the local magistrate," he said.
Fortunately Sadaqat Ali Khan, Prosecutor General Punjab, finally provided the
answers that had evaded the federal government officials.
"All 4 provinces have representation in the SC in the shape of the office of
the Advocate General while the deputy prosecutor general of all provinces also
appear regularly there," Mr Khan said, adding, "Whenever there is any such
development, the deputy prosecutor general gets all the details and documents,
and forwards it to the home department of his province."
This is how, he said, the home department comes to know that the final appeal
of certain condemned prisoner has been rejected by the apex court. At the High
Court level, lawyers from the office of the prosecutor general are aware of
appeals filed and rejected.
Once the appeals process are complete, the officials of the prosecutor branch
of the home department, in coordination with the relevant jail authority, then
approach the relevant session court/ATC to obtain the black warrant.
"The hanging date is set in consultation with the relevant jail authority, as
there are chances that the sentence has been awarded by a court in one
district, while the prisoner might be housed in a jail located in a different
district," Mr Khan said.
"However, implementation of the death sentence is carried out according to the
government policies and can be stopped at the last moment as it has been done
recently."
In the 50 days that the moratorium had been lifted, Sindh and Punjab were found
to be the most active with death row prisoners.
Punjab issued black warrants to around 26 condemned prisoners, which mainly
included criminals and no terrorist.
Sindh was scheduled to execute four condemned prisoners last week in Central
Prisons Karachi and Sukkur.
The information available from the IG Prisons office says that of these 4, 2 -
Attaullah alias Qasim and Mohammad Azam alias Sharif - belonged to the banned
group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. These 2 were to be executed on August 20 and 21, 2013
respectively.
The other 2 condemned prisoners were ordinary criminals.
However, the federal government has stopped the executions until further
orders.
(source: Dawn)
*********************
Calls for resumption of death sentence grow in Pakistan
The top judge of the Sindh High Court (SHC) has called on the government to
resume capital punishment, adding to the debate whether death penalty should be
abolished in the country hit hard by terrorism and violence.
"The government should do away with the moratorium on the death penalty and
hardened criminals on the death row should be given capital punishments,"
Justice Mushir Alam, Chief Justice of the SHC, was quoted as saying in the
local media.
The judge also dispelled the impression that courts were not imparting justice,
and said that if police investigated cases honestly and professionally, no
criminal could escape punishment.
The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had initially scrapped a 5-year
moratorium on the death penalty after it came into power following a
comprehensive victory in the May general elections. Hangings were set to resume
late last month but a temporary stay was once again granted following
objections from President Asif Ali Zardari as well as rights groups.
Supporters of the capital punishment maintain that the penalty was necessary to
support efforts to crackdown on hardened criminals and militants involved in
terrorism as well as sectarian killings.
However, rights groups and others opposed to the punishment say the penalty is
a violation of basic human rights.
Just recently, a delegation of the European Union warned Pakistan that resuming
executions would be seen as a "major setback" as the European parliament
considers the country's application for preferential trade status.
"We value as extremely positive the fact that Pakistan adopted the moratorium
on the death penalty," the delegation's chief, Ana Gomes, a Portuguese MEP, had
said in Islamabad after talks with government officials, political parties and
campaign groups.
But several politicians, as well as members of the country's higher judiciary,
have repeatedly urged the government to lift the moratorium.
Justice Alam, who also heads a committee formed on the directives of the
Supreme Court to monitor the law and order situation in Karachi, also said that
a meeting has been called on Monday to review the law and order situation in
the metropolis and the performance of the authorities concerned with regard to
the implementation of the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
He was referring to a case on the situation in Karachi, which initially started
as a suo motu back in August 2011, hearing of which was held for 3 consecutive
days in Karachi last week.
The 5-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar
Chaudhry, during the hearing called for strict action by law enforcement
agencies against criminals and reprimanded top officials of the police as well
as the paramilitary Rangers for failing to ensure peace in country's commercial
capital.
The court also formed a commission to look into the issue of smuggling and
movement of weapons through land and sea routes, and will resume the hearing in
the case on September 18.
(source: Khaleej Times)
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