April 20
GUINEA:
Guinea prosecutor demands death penalty over Ebola murders
A prosecutor called Monday for the death penalty for 15 people accused of the
murders of a nine-member Ebola education team in southern Guinea, judicial
sources said.
The victims, including local health officials and journalists, went missing
after their delegation came under attack from angry locals during an outreach
visit to the southern town of Womey in September last year.
8 bodies were recovered from the septic tank of a nearby primary school 2 days
after the attack.
Williams Fernandez, prosecuting at the trial in the southern city of
N'Zerekore, said 26 defendants had been accused of a raft of offences including
murder, criminal conspiracy, robbery, assault and theft.
He called for 15 accused to be sentenced to death and for the remaining 11 to
be acquitted.
Michel Labile Sonomou, who is defending 1 of the accused, told AFP the 5-week
trial was due to sum up at the end of the week. Closing arguments for the
defence begin on Tuesday.
The deadliest Ebola epidemic on record has killed nearly 11,000 people in west
Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus emerged in Guinea in December 2013 and quickly spread, accompanied by
fear and paranoia among villagers who felt the government and the international
community could not be trusted.
Many Guineans believed local and foreign healthcare workers were part of a
conspiracy to deliberately introduce the outbreak, or invented it as a means of
luring Africans to clinics to harvest their blood and organs.
A police lieutenant told AFP the Womey outreach team was targeted by protesters
who had come "to kill them because they think Ebola is nothing more than an
invention of white people to kill black people".
At least 21 people were wounded during violent scenes in which the team was
pelted with stones, according to local police.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
IRAN:
Executions in a week reaches 81
Coincident with mass executions in the prisons of Ghezel-Hessar, Karaj and
other cities, the anti-human regime of mullahs sent 16 other prisoners to the
gallows in Mashhad and Birjand (northeastern Iran). 12 of them were hanged
collectively in Vakilabad prison of Mashhad on April 16, and the other 4 were
executed in Birjand prison the following day. Thus, the number of executions
from 12 to 18 April reached 81, meaning 12 executions per day.
The unprecedented increase in the wave of executions after the Lausanne nuke
framework is a clear indication of the mullahs' desperate need of creating an
atmosphere of fear in the society to confront the explosive situation.
Iranian Resistance calls on Iranian brave youths to express their solidarity
with the families of the executed and prisoners, and to protest against this
criminal move in the country. It also underscores the need for ousting this
bloodthirsty and fascist regime from the world community.
(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)
INDONESIA:
Bali nine executions: Iranians on Indonesia's death row have sentences commuted
to life in prison
2 Iranians found guilty of smuggling 40 kilograms of methamphetamine in
Indonesia have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
The Bandung High Court said in its decision that sentencing was not about
revenge, but a form of education so that in the future the defendant wouldn't
conduct another criminal act, according to news website Rappler.
This ruling is at odds with Indonesian president Joko Widodo's repeated claims
that the death penalty for drug felons is a necessary "shock therapy" for a
country facing a drug emergency.
10 drug offenders, including Bali nine organisers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew
Chan, are facing imminent death by firing squad in Indonesia.
The date has not yet been fixed but the Attorney-General said it would be
unseemly to kill them while the Asian African conference was being held this
week.
The Iranians, Mosavipour bin Sayed Abdollah, 36, and Moradalivand bin Moradali,
32, were arrested by the National Narcotics Agency on February 26, 2014.
They were caught picking up the methamphetamines in bags which had been buried
in the Tangkuban Perahu Nature Reserve in West Java.
The Iranians were sentenced to death in January, even though the prosecutors
only sought sentences of 15-20 years.
However the death penalty was overruled by the Bandung High Court on March 30,
according to the decision published on the court website on Monday.
The inconsistency of the application of the law in Indonesia is deeply
distressing for those on death row and one of the reasons advanced for the
abolition of capital punishment.
Meanwhile, 1 of the 10 felons on death row, Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami, had
his appeal thrown out of the Administrative Court on Monday.
The court said clemency was the prerogative of the president and it did not
have the jurisdiction to rule on the matter.
This was the same reason given in a similar appeal mounted by lawyers for Chan
and Sukumaran.
A man purporting to be Raheem Agbaje Salami, from the southern Spanish city of
Cordova, was arrested in 1998 smuggling 5.3 kilograms of heroin into Surabaya,
Indonesia's 2nd largest city.
However Raheem's passport was false. His real name is Jamiu Owolabi Abashin, a
Nigerian national. And although he was arrested 17 years ago, Indonesian
authorities continue to use the fake name in prison on Nusakambangan.
Raheem's lawyer, Utomo Karim, argued the prosecution of his case was illegal
because his fake identity was used from his arrest to his conviction in the
district court right through to the rejection of his clemency plea.
Mr Utomo is considering lodging a request for a judicial review of his client's
case in another court.
However he said funding it was a problem because the Nigerian Embassy can't
help pay for it.
(source: Sydney Morning Herald)
*****************
Indonesia court rejects death penalty for 2 drug smugglers----'Sentencing a
defendant is not about revenge, but more a form of education and lesson so that
in the future the defendant won't conduct another criminal act'
Not all drug smugglers in Indonesia are sentenced to death, even under the
current administration, which has taken a hard-line stance on drug trafficking.
The Bandung High Court, for instance, did not agree with the death sentence
given by a lower court to two Iranian nationals found guilty of smuggling 40
kilograms of crystal methampetamine.
"Sentencing a defendant is not about revenge, but more a form of education and
lesson so that in the future the defendant won't conduct another criminal act,"
the court decision stated, according to a report on Detik.com on Monday, April
20.
The March 30, 2015 Bandung court decision saved the lives of Seyed Hashem
Mosavipour bin Sayed Abdollah (36) and Moradalivand bin Moradali (32). The pair
was reportedly arrested by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) on February 26,
2014, after they took drug-filled travel bags buried in the Tangkuban Perahu
Nature Reserve in Sukabumi, West Java.
In January 2015, the Cibadak district court in Sukabumi, West Java, sentenced
the 2 Iranians to death, even though the prosecutors only sought sentences of
15-20 years.
Instead, the pair will serve life sentences, which according to the Bandung
High Court should also serve as a deterrent and discourage others from
violating the law.
BNN protest
BNN said it regretted the high court decision, which it said did not take into
consideration the amount of drugs smuggled.
"If you estimate that 1 gram of meth is used by about 7 people, then almost
280,000 people could have used those drugs," BNN spokesperson Slamet Pribadi
was quoted as saying.
He added BNN hoped an appeal would reverse the decision again.
The news comes as Indonesia prepares to execute up to 11 people, 8 of whom were
convicted of drug cases. These include Filipino citizen Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso
and the Australian "Bali 9" pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has rejected their clemency requests, claiming
that Indonesia is in a drug emergency, and has ignored calls from foreign
governments and human rights activists to reconsider.
On Monday, he reiterated his call again for other countries to respect
Indonesia's laws.
"We will practice our constitution. The law does allow for execution, and I
think other countries should respect Indonesian laws," he said in an interview
aired by Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN.
(source: Rappler.com)
****************
Philippines VP to visit Veloso in prison
Vice President Jejomar Binay is planning to visit Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina
on death row in Indonesia, in prison on the sidelines of his visit to Indonesia
this week to attend the Asian-African Conference Commemoration (AACC), a senior
diplomat from the Philippines has said.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Jesus Domingo, the assistant secretary for
office of UN and international organizations at the Philippines Department of
Foreign Affairs, said Vice President Binay was hoping to save Veloso from the
firing squad.
"We've requested the opportunity to visit her," he said on the sidelines of the
Asia-Africa Ministerial Meeting (AAMM) on Monday. "Our Vice President is
seeking the chance to visit her and to speak with the proper officials in the
Indonesian government to see if there are any other legal remedies that can be
exhausted to secure her release, or at least spare her from the death penalty."
Veloso, who was involved in trafficking 2.6 kilograms of heroin via Adi
Sutjipto Airport in Yogyakarta in 2010, is one of several foreign nationals set
to be executed by the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
The 30-year-old woman is currently awaiting transfer from Wirogunan
Penitentiary in Yogyakarta to the Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap,
Central Java, where she will face a firing squad in the near future, together
with 9 other convicts.
Last month, Veloso filed for a 2nd case review with the Sleman District Court
after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo rejected her clemency request. The Supreme
Court later rejected her 2nd request.
Binay, a front-runner in the 2016 Philippines presidential race, is set to fly
to Indonesia on Wednesday to attend the AACC, held in Jakarta and Bandung, West
Java, from April 19 to April 24.
(source: Jakarta Post)
INDIA:
Death penalty demanded for murderer
Expressing serious concern over the murder of suspended CPM leader's wife
Kalpana Das, Tripura Pradesh Mahila Congress on Sunday demanded capital
punishment for the guilty persons.
"It's a horrifying incident that Kalpana Das was brutally killed by her
husband, who was a leading CPM leader and that's why we want capital punishment
for all those who have committed the heinous crime", said Kalyani Roy,
president of Tripura Mahila Congress Committee at a press conference here.
Roy said the killer husband, former Sabhadhipati of Paschim Tripura Zilla
Parisad, Jiten Das is a very influential leader who can influence the
investigation into the gruesome murder.
"We want the government to undertake trial of the case in the fast-track court
for speedy justice. Besides, we also want the trial process should be ended
keeping all the accused persons in jail keeping in mind of Jiten Das's
political influence", she said.
Roy said the alleged mastermind - Jiten Das - claimed that Kalpana had
committed suicide but later it turned into a murder case. "Sensing trouble, the
CPM had to take action against the party leader for his alleged involvement in
the murder case", she said.
Around one month back, Kalpana, who was a teacher, met one of the Ministers of
Left Front Government and revealed misdeeds of her husband Jiten Das but nobody
knows if the Minister took any step against the leader, she alleged.
Jiten Das was suspended only to save the party image but not for justice to the
victim. "He (Jiten) was a man of ill-repute since long. Inspite of his dirty
background, the party had not taken any action against him before the gruesome
murder", she also alleged.
The 62 year-old woman was found in a pool of blood in her bed-room at
Bridhinagar, near the capital town on April 16. Later, a murder case was lodged
against the former CPM leader and 3 of his close relatives for their hand in
the murder. All the suspected killers are in police remand for investigation.
(source: Assam Tribune)
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