June 26
SAUDI ARABIA:
Saudi Arabia says it will support human rights as long as they can still kill
gay people----Middle Eastern country faced criticism for acts of torture
against LGBTI people
Saudi Arabia convicts homosexuality with anything from whipping to a death
sentence.
Saudi Arabia has said it will support human rights as long as they can still
kill LGBTI people.
Earlier this week, the country was heavily criticized during a meeting of the
UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
It was pointed out that punishing homosexuality with life imprisonment,
torture, chemical castrated, whipping and the death penalty does not fit in
with internationally recognized human rights protecting people on the basis of
sexual orientation or gender identity.
But government officials have said calls for Saudi Arabia to support LGBTI
rights were 'unacceptable' and a 'flagrant interference in its internal
affairs'.
Faisal bin Hasan Trad, Saudi Arabia's representative at the UN, said the
country will not tolerate criticism of its human rights record.
According to Arab News, Trad said 'some were attempting to portray the country
in a bad light'.
The country's Interior Ministry confirmed on Twitter: 'Saudi Arabia opposes any
resolution for gay rights. Saudi Arabia reaffirms its support for human rights,
and respect towards all international conventions, as long as it is in
accordance with Islamic law.'
The LGBTI community is forced to go underground in Saudi Arabia, mostly in the
capital Riyadh. But the religious police are cracking down.
Several men were arrested in a raid on two 'gay parties' earlier this month.
And last year, a 24-year-old was sentenced to jail and 450 lashings of a whip
just because he was trying to meet other gay men on Twitter.
(source: Gay Star News)
NIGERIA:
Kano Sharia Court sentences 9 to death for 'blasphemy'
An Upper Sharia Court, Rijiyar Lemo, in Kano, has sentenced 9 persons:
Abdul-Inyas, Hajiya Mairo and 7 others to death for blasphemy against the
Prophet of Islam.
The trial was done in secret, and details of its proceedings are yet to be made
public.
Even the name of the judge who conducted the trial is being kept secret.
The court initially said 2 people were convicted but a court official, who
simply gave his name as Nasir (he declined to provide his full name) later said
9 people were sentenced.
He declined to provide the names of the 7 others.
The offence, committed in early June, triggered protest in Kano.
The demonstration was however promptly quelled by law enforcement agents. The
court where the trial began was burnt down prompting the authorities to assign
the case to another court.
A statement by the State Sharia Court of Appeal, signed by a man named Nasiru,
said the 9 persons were found guilty under section 110 and section 382b of the
Sharia Penal Court law year 2000.
"They are hereby sentenced to death," the statement read.
The statement acknowledged that some Muslim faithful in Kano threatened
violence if the accused were set free.
The court however freed Alkasim Abubakar, Yahya Abubakar, Isa Abubakar, and
Abdullahi Abubakar, who were arrested alongside the nine convicted persons.
They were found not guilty by the court.
Already, news of the judgment has sparked jubilation by a section of Kano
residents.
(source: Premium Times Nigeria)
************************
'Nigeria spends N3.50 daily to feed 1 prisoner'
The Nigerian government spends a meagre N3.50k to feed an inmate in Nigerian
prisons each day, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project has said.
Speaking at a round table for media and civil society organizations in Lagos,
Thursday, Chino Obiagwu said that the current cost was increased by the new
Comptroller-General of Prisons from the previous N2.10k per prisoner.
The round table was themed 'Moving Nigeria Towards the Abolition of the Death
Penalty.'
"The truth is that many prisoners supplement their meals because all kinds of
businesses and activities go on inside the prisons," said Mr. Obiagwu, National
Coordinator, LEDAP.M
"If you allow Nigerian prisoners to survive on their ration, they will all
die."
There are about 56,000 inmates scattered across Nigerian prisons, according to
Mr. Obiagwu whose organization champions the rights of Nigerian prisoners.
"A lot of philanthropy goes into our prisons, churches like the Catholic
church, The Redeemed church carry out on regular prison visits to improve the
welfare of inmates," said Mr. Obiagwu.
(source: premiumtimesng.com)
IRAN:
Iran Attorney General: The province of Fars carries out an execution or
retribution sentence about once a week
The province of Fars carries out an execution or retribution sentence about
once a week, but not all are exposed to the public.
On Wednesday Ali Alghasi Mehr, the Attorney General of the province of Fars
reportedly alleged that it is the Iranian public who demands for executions to
be carried out in public.
According to IRNA, an official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Alghasi Mehr said: "We do not carry out all [execution and retribution
sentences] in public. Approximately once a week an execution or retribution
sentence is carried out in the province of Fars, but not always in public.
Public punishment is reserved for criminals who have wounded the sentiments of
society or whose offense affects the public safety and security of society."
Since the start of 2015, official sources in Iran have only reported on 9
executions in Fars.
Iran Human Rights expresses regret for the implementation of countless death
sentences in Iran and also the ongoing silence of the international community
and calls on the Iranian authorities to reconsider the implementation of this
inhumane punishment.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director and spokesperson of Iran Human Rights:
"In recent years the province of Fars has had the highest numbers of public
executions. If we assume it is true that the majority of people call for public
executions, then this would be considered a rare instance when the Judiciary
has actually listened to the demands of the people."
(source: Iran Human Rights)
THAILAND:
Thailand battles to contain rising drug use
In a rehab centre north of Bangkok, 1 recovering addict remembers the highs as
well as the lows.
"I felt like I could do anything and the world was mine," said the 25-year-old,
who gave her name only as Sai. "I was happy and free of all stress."
"Then I became depressed, confused and paranoid. So I needed the drugs again. I
wanted to end that cycle."
Sai is trying to control her drug addiction at Thamkrabok Monastery, Thailand's
oldest and largest free drug rehabilitation facility, 140km north of Bangkok.
She started using methamphetamine tablets and crystals at 17 and developed a
compulsive habit.
Around 1.4% of Thais are addicted to amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS),
including methamphetamine and MDMA, or ecstasy, among the highest percentage in
the world, according to estimates by the United Nations Office of Drugs and
Crime (UNODC).
Thai users of these and other drugs are estimated at more than 1.2 million
people, or around 2% of the population, and that number may be rising fast.
Between 2009 and 2014, the numbers of drug cases more than doubled from about
151 000 to about 347 000, while the number of registered drug offenders rose at
a similar rate from nearly 168 000 to almost 366 000, officials figures show.
Strict laws appear to have made little impact.
"The harsh punishment never crossed my mind," said Sai, who has been in jail
three times for drug abuse. "All I thought about when I needed drugs was that I
had to get it."
Death penalty
Thailand is one of 32 countries that imposes the death penalty for some drug
offences.
Producing or trafficking illicit drugs can lead to capital punishment, while
users face imprisonment, fines or mandatory rehabilitation, depending on the
type and amount of drugs.
Thailand has executed 30 people for drug crimes since it became a capital
offence in 1979, and 14 are currently on death row.
Since the lethal injection was adopted in 2003, 5 out of 6 people executed in
Thailand were killed for drug offences.
Drug offenders account for nearly 77% of all prison inmates.
"Drug problems have become more prevalent and persistent," said Chuenjit
Iemwimangsa, principal of Chaengarkart Amrung Primary School, whose pupils were
on a school trip to Thamkrabok on the day that dpa visited.
"There are news reports about drugs everyday, more frequently than before," she
said.
Thai authorities say they seize about 100 million methamphetamine pills, a ton
of crystal methamphetamine and 800kg of heroin each year, with official figures
showing an upward trend.
The key problem, however, is that the authorities only manage to seize an
estimated 20% of the drugs that are trafficked through the country, according
to the Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).
Police corruption may play a role. After a drugs raid earlier in June, 12
police officers were suspected of participating in the drugs trade and were
reassigned.
About 3/4 of the drugs are trafficked through northern Thailand near the Golden
Triangle - an area along the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos - where the
majority of opium and synthetic drugs in the region are produced, said Sucheep
Kotcharin of the northern branch of ONCB.
'I can't function each day without it'
"The traffickers take advantage of the country's good road networks," he said,
adding that they also used routes through forests and mountain ranges.
"There was never a shortage of drugs when I needed them," said Tui, another
patient at the monastery, who has been using methamphetamine for 19 years,
since he was 14.
Sai said she could walk to a street corner in her hometown near the
Thai-Cambodian border to buy drugs, while Tui had dealers' numbers on
speed-dial and could call for a delivery any time in Bangkok.
They both paid around 200-300 baht (between $6 and $9) for a single
methamphetamine pill, which they would ingest. The current minimum wage in
Thailand is 300 baht per day.
"The profit made by traffickers and dealers is the main motivator," said ONCB
Secretary General Permpong Chaowalit. "For them, the money is worth the risk of
getting caught."
"I started using because I wanted to have fun," Tui said. "But it's not fun
anymore. I can't function each day without it."
Sai and Tui felt the effect of drugs on their health: fatigue, pain, premature
ageing, insomnia and loss of appetite. With several days left at the monastery,
both vowed not to return to drugs.
"No matter how harsh the law is, the reason not to do it should be that you
love yourself," Sai said. "I wish someone had told me not to do drugs then."
(source: news24.com)
INDONESIA:
Narcotics Agency Chief: "The death penalty in Indonesia is constitutional,
don't diminish it"
Indonesia has gotten some scathing criticism from the international community
over its use of the death penalty as a form of punishment for drug smuggling,
but don't expect that to change anytime soon.
National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Chief Anang Iskandar reiterated that the death
penalty is the appropriate punishment for drug smuggling in Indonesia.
"The death penalty in Indonesia is constitutional, don't diminish it," Anang
said at an International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking event
in Cawang, East Jakarta yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
Anang added that he hopes Indonesia will stay true to its principles and remain
as 1 of 34 countries in the world that allows capital punishment.
"Those who don't agree wish for a world without the death penalty. This can't
be allowed [in Indonesia], the sovereignty and law of each country can't be
forced [to be changed]," he said.
(source: Coconuts news)
*****************
Death row Frenchman has exhausted appeals
Indonesia's Foreign Ministry says a French citizen sentenced to death for drug
offences has exhausted all options in his legal fight to avoid execution.
Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said on Thursday that Indonesia will
proceed with its legal process "in accordance with the sentence that has been
imposed against the convict."
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said his government is "totally
mobilised" in support of Serge Atlaoui, whose final appeal was denied by an
Indonesian court last week.
Nasir said Indonesia recognises that governments have an obligation to protect
their citizens when they get in trouble abroad but they must do so in
compliance with local laws.
Indonesia has executed 14 people, including 2 Australians, for drug trafficking
this year.
(source: news.com.au)
PAKISTAN:
Christian Mother of 5 Asia Bibi Marks 6th Year of 'Brutal' Incarceration in
Pakistan as She Faces Death Penalty for Blasphemy Charge of Drinking Water
As Christian mother of five Asia Bibi marks her 6th year in prison in Pakistan,
placed on death row for blasphemy charges, a U.K. Christian group reports that
some attempts are being made to reform sections of the country's controversial
blasphemy laws that punish religious minorities. The group also believes that
Britain and the U.S. must rethink the way they provide financial aid to
Pakistan if they want to see reforms in the country.
"The proposed changes will ostensibly make it more difficult for blasphemy
charges to be laid, focusing on proving that any blasphemy was intentional
under a legal concept termed Mens Rea translated as 'guilty mind,'" Wilson
Chowdhry, president of the British Pakistani Christian Association, told The
Christian Post on Wednesday.
"However the large number of extra-judicial killings and insouciance from local
police to get involved in blasphemy charges or a pattern of local police
authorities cowing under pressure from mobs led by local imams, suggest this
law change will have little effect."
Bibi was charged in 2009 after she was accused by a group of Muslim women to
have committed an act of blasphemy when she drank from the same water supply as
them. She was later sent to prison and sentenced to the death penalty.
The 50-year-old mother has been suffering from a number of health problems
while in prison, including intestinal bleeding, and is having trouble walking,
her family has said.
In a separate press release explaining more about her case, Chowdhry called her
fate a "travesty of justice."
"For some time we have been told that there has been a moratorium on the death
penalty because of pressure from Western donors. But even before this vanished
at the end of last year, it has become clear that her treatment was, in effect,
a slow death sentence by neglect and worse, all for allegedly committing a
crime that should not exist - blasphemy," he said.
Christians and other minorities in Pakistan are often targeted by the loosely
written blasphemy laws, and there have been on and off attempts in parliament
to try and strengthen their definition.
Mission Network News reported earlier this week that international pressure is
pushing the country's legislators into considering changes to the laws, which
could potentially prevent other Christians from suffering the same fate as Bibi
in the future.
Chowdhry told CP that a 2nd proposed change to the blasphemy laws are
punishments for misuse of the law.
"Outwardly these would seem to be a more positive step; however, Article 153-A
of the Penal Code prescribes punishments for promoting 'enmity, hatred or
ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or
castes or communities.' Ineffective implementation has led to mass mob attacks
across the country, often targeting Christian communities."
The killing and burning-alive of Christian couple Shama and Shahzad Masih in
November 2014 by a Muslim mob for allegedly desecrating the Quran stands as a
prime example of extremists taking the law into their own hands.
Chowdhry also said that it's hard to believe the changes to the law will be
approved, however, noting that similar changes have been proposed before, but
were never ratified.
"The whole of the country came to a standstill after Sunni Muslim leaders
called for a strike and effigies of the pope were burned after he openly
supported the changes. In a country with so much animosity to change it will be
hard approve such law changes and even harder to enforce."
Back in May, human rights activist and former minority member of parliament
Pervez Rafique also told CP in a separate interview that it is hard to see real
changes coming soon to the blasphemy laws.
"It's hard to change or relax the laws," Rafique explained, "especially the
Blasphemy law 295-A-B-C of Pakistan's penal code."
He said that while to change or abolish laws the parliament needs only simple
majority, amending the constitution or any article of the constitution requires
2/3 majority - and the present government that supports the blasphemy laws
still has enough support to continue upholding them.
Chowdhry noted that both the U.K. and U.S. governments spend big in aid
programs to help Pakistan, which is an important strategic partner in the fight
against terrorism in the region. He suggested, however, that the budgets need
to be used to "eradicate the existing schism between Muslims and non-Muslims
through grassroot programmes" and work with schools.
"The hatred and animosity that exists is the culmination of labeling minorities
as anathema, culturally, and reinforcing this through a curriculum that
caricatures and demonises minorities. Earlier generations lived in relative
peace as they would not have suffered the same brainwashing, and it will take
an equally long term commitment toward peace to reverse the hatred," he added.
The BPCA president concluded that Britain and the U.S. need to move away from
realpolitik if they want to affect real change.
"Anything less will only serve to continue the existing malaise which
essentially will culminate in our nations being embroiled in a similar societal
divide within our own communities."
"BPCA has also started an online petition for Bibi's freedom, and has called on
Christians to pray for her family, who are in hiding."
(source: christianpost.com)
****************
150 executions - Pakistan's race to kill
Pakistan has executed over 150 people since a 7-year moratorium was lifted on
state executions just 6 months ago.
If we continue at this pace, we will quickly surpass China, North Korea, Iran
and Saudi Arabia in the number of executions carried out by the state this
year.
It is not only the pace of executions that is alarming, it is the fact that
many of these cases are marred by corruption, torture and a flagrant disregard
for international human rights standards.
A recent case was that of Aftab Bahadur, a Christian man who was accused of
murder when he was just 15 years old.
His confession was extracted after allegedly enduring prolonged torture, which
involved being burnt by cigarettes and having his fingernails removed.
Aftab Bahadur was hanged on June 10 despite calls by thousands of concerned
individuals, human rights organisations, Christian leaders, and even the United
Nations to grant him a reprieve.
Shafqat Hussain's story is similar. He was also sentenced when he was a
juvenile, and his confession too was allegedly extracted under torture.
Shafqat Hussain was arrested along with several others for the same crime.
According to reports, while the others were freed after paying a 80,000 rupees
(US$786) bribe, Shafqat was not because he did not possess the funds.
Doubts about his guilt have led to the postponement of his sentence 4 times,
but he has yet to be exonerated.
While Pakistan is racing to execute people, most of the rest of the world is
moving in the opposite direction.
In fact, nearly 2/3 of all countries have abolished the death penalty due to
the growing belief that it is cruel, inhuman, degrading, discriminatory and
ineffective in deterring crime.
In the US, where the death penalty exists in 32 out of 50 states but is
practised in only a few, stories of innocent people being sentenced to death
periodically surface.
The Innocence Project, an organisation dedicated to reforming the US justice
system, has successfully exonerated over 300 people, some of whom had been
sentenced to death, largely through the use of DNA testing - a facility not
readily accessible here.
In fact, since 1973, 154 people have been freed from death row in the US after
spending years in prison because their guilt could not be proven beyond
reasonable doubt.
If the US justice system, which many would cite as being one of the most
robust, can make so many mistakes, one can only imagine how many wrongful
convictions there have been in Pakistan where corruption plagues every level of
the state's structure, particularly the police.
Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International point out that the
application of death penalty is inherently flawed, with members of marginalised
groups far more likely to receive death sentences.
In the US, you are 3 times more likely to face execution if you are African
American than if you are white.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan, among the marginalised are members of minority
communities some of whom have been sentenced to death for allegedly committing
blasphemy.
While more Muslims have received the death penalty for allegedly committing
blasphemy, minority communities feel themselves at far greater risk because of
their religious, caste and class identity.
Despite this, many in Pakistan blindly support the death penalty because they
believe it deters crime and is sanctioned by religion. Not only does this
overlook the countless studies, which prove that states that apply the death
penalty do not have lower murder rates, it mistakenly assumes the state acts in
a manner that is fair and just. Interestingly, many of those who support the
death penalty do not trust the state with their alms or even their tax money
due to fears of rampant corruption, but yet they trust it with deciding the
gravest of matters - that of life and death.
There are more than 8,000 people who are counting the days till they will be
called to the gallows.
Many of these people were likely tortured in order to extract their
confessions, some when they were children.
Many may have been offered clemency if they could pay the required bribe or
blood money.
Many were probably the victims of some personal enmity on the part of the
accusers.
Many are mentally challenged or ill. And many more were just the most
convenient and vulnerable suspects who could be found at the time.
The state has taken a respite from executions for the holy month of Ramadan.
This represents a small window of opportunity for the Pakistani public to
reflect on the effectiveness of the death penalty as it is applied today - by a
severely broken and corrupt justice system.
If we choose not to speak out now, not only will the state have blood on its
hands, we all will.
(source: Nida Kirmani; The writer is assistant professor of sociology at the
Lahore University of Management Sciences----The Jakarta Post)
CZECH REPUBLIC:
Poll: Most Czechs still favor death penalty ---- Prague and South Bohemia buck
the trend, with opponents in the majority
Some 58 % of Czech people polled support the death penalty, with 26 % strongly
in favor, according to a poll by CVVM. The number is down from 76 % in total
strongly or moderately supporting it in 1992.
While support has wavered up and down over the years, opposition has steadily
increased. Currently, 35 % strongly or moderately oppose the death penalty,
while 7 % are undecided or have no opinion.
In 1992, when the poll question was first asked, only 13 % opposed it and 11 %
were undecided.
Oponents of the death penalty more often include people with higher education,
those who professes membership in the Roman Catholic religion, and inhabitants
of Prague and the South Bohemian Region. In both regions, opponents slightly
outweigh supporters of the death penalty. In Prague 46 % are for and 51 :
against, in South Bohemia for 43 are for and 49 % against," statisticians said
in a press release.
The strongest support of the death penalty was in the Karlovy Vary, Usti nad
Labem and Olomouc regions, and among people who were not members of any
religion.
The death penalty was banned in Czechoslovakia in 1990. The last execution in
what is now the Czech Republic was Feb. 2, 1989, when Vladimir Lulek was hanged
for killing his wife and 4 children. The last execution in what is now Slovakia
was Stefan Svitek, who was convicted of killing his pregnant wife and 2
daughters. He was executed June 8, 1989.
In Europe, only Belarus and Kazakhstan have the death penalty. It is
indefinitely suspended in Russia. The so-called Donetsk People's Republic, part
of the Ukraine that is now the focus of a pro-Russian separatist conflict,
introduced the death penalty in 2014 for cases of treason, espionage, and
assassination of political leaders.
The poll took place between May 11 and 18 with 1,043 Czech citizens over the
age of 15.
The Public Opinion Research Center was established Jan. 1, 2001 by transferring
the Public Opinion Research Institute from the Czech Statistical Office. The
team members are lecturers at the Philosophical Faculty and the Faculty of
Social Sciences of the CharlesUniversity and at the Political Sciences
Department of the University of Economics in Prague.
(source: Prague Post)
GAMBIA:
Regime keen to make capital punishment easier
The opposition in Gambia are fighting government plans to make more crimes
punishable by death. Under Gambian law, capital punishment can only be meted
out to murderers who use violence or poison. But the government is set to hold
a referendum to allow the execution of convicts whenever "the sentence is
prescribed by law".
A referendum had been expected in Gambia not to broaden capital punishment, but
to abolish it.
"It's very perplexing," said Amadou Scattred Janneh, an exiled former
information minister who is now with the opposition Coalition for Change. "We
don't know why [President Yahya Jammeh] is broadening the death penalty except
to find the means to punish his political rivals and to sow greater fear in the
population."
Janneh, who was in 2012 sentenced to life in prison for treason after
distributing t-shirts with the slogan "End Dictatorship Now", fears that he
would have been executed had the new law been in place.
"[The judge] cited the fact that his hands were tied, that he could not give me
a death sentence because there was no violence in my activity," Janneh
remembered. "So this type of change would give President Jammeh and his judges
leeway to pass death sentences on people who are involved in purely political
matters."
Some observers believe President Jammeh is cracking down on civil liberties and
on the opposition to assert his authority in light of a failed coup that
exposed weaknesses in the presidential retinue last year.
In Banjul, the Gambian capital, opposition leader Halifa Salla believes a
victory for the "yes" side - 75 % on a turnout of at least 50 % is required to
carry the motion - would give the regime immense latitude.
"It means the government would be able to [impose] the death penalty for any
crime it deems fit, by just passing a bill at the national assembly," Salla
told AFP.
Sallah said his People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism
would "leave no stone unturned" in organising people to vote "no" in the
referendum, for which a date has yet to be set.
Although the government has cast the extension of the death penalty as a
law-and-order issue, capital punishment is unpopular in The Gambia, according
to the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP).
The UDP is not only convinced that the "no" side will win but that voters may
use the referendum as an opportunity to register their discontent with the
government.
"The death penalty as an instrument of justice is not something that enjoys
popular support," said an exiled UDP spokesperson Karamba Touray. "It's a
deeply unpopular regime because of its record of abuse and violence and
terror."
There are doubts that the referendum will allow citizens - all Gambians aged
over 18 are entitled to take part - to express themselves freely. "For the last
20 years no vote conducted in that country has been nor free nor fair,"
remarked Touray.
There are also fears that the constitutional change could also affect business.
Opposition activist Janneh noted: "With this change the Jammeh regime would
have the final say in terms of who's eligible to be executed - even people
convicted of economic crimes."
In 2012 the execution of 9 convicts by firing squad triggered international
outrage, especially in neighbouring Senegal, which had 2 citizens among those
put to death. Lawyers lamented that the men were shot before they were able to
appeal against their sentences.
Rights groups estimate that about 30 people are on death row in Gambia but no
executions have been announced since 2012.
Jammeh, an outspoken military officer and former wrestler, has ruled Gambia
with an iron fist since seizing power in a coup in 1994.
According to the Gambian State House website, he must now be formally addressed
as "His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh Babili
Mansa".
(source: Michael Arseneault, RFI English)
JAPAN:
Man sentenced to death over 2012 random killings in Osaka
The Osaka District Court on Friday sentenced a 40-year-old man to death over
the fatal stabbings of two pedestrians in random attacks in downtown Osaka in
2012.
A panel of 3 professional and six citizen judges handed down the death sentence
to Kyozo Isohi, who was a jobless man, as demanded by prosecutors. The ruling
said death penalty "cannot be avoided as he had a strong intention to commit
random murders and cruelly" stabbed the victims.
Isohi killed music producer Shingo Minamino, 42, and restaurant manager Toshi
Sasaki, 66, on a busy street in downtown Osaka by stabbing them with a kitchen
knife in broad daylight on June 10, 2012.
Even though the defendant said he stabbed the victims following auditory
hallucinations telling him to do so, the ruling said he was "mentally fully
competent" to be held criminally responsible for the killings.
Isohi pleaded guilty in the 1st court hearing of his trial in May and
apologized to family members of the victims, saying, "I will atone for the rest
of my life."
His defense counsel said many murder cases in which death penalties were handed
down were "premeditated," but Isohi's rampage was "not planned" and the
stabbings occurred "after he failed to commit suicide."
Prosecutors argued his criminal acts were the "most malicious" type of murder
where anybody could be the victim.
In their closing statements, prosecutors said Isohi, who became distraught over
not being able to get a job he wanted, exhibited a "strong intent to kill" by
stabbing the victims repeatedly and without mercy.
They contended even if Isohi experienced hallucinations due to past use of
stimulant drugs as he claimed, that would only have been a subordinate factor
that led to the attacks.
Lawyers representing the victims' family members had also demanded the death
penalty for Isohi, claiming that the accused showed "no signs of regret."
(source: The Mainichi)
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