July 26
INDONESIA:
Indonesian woman appeals for clemency
A last-minute clemency appeal has been launched for an Indonesian woman
believed to be facing the firing squad in the country's next round of
executions, feared to be imminent.
The woman, known as MU or Merry Utami, was a poor woman who had been
"manipulated" by a drug syndicate, when she smuggled 1.1 kilograms of heroin at
Jakarta airport in October 2001, activists say.
The mother of 2 lost her appeal to overturn her death sentence in 2003.
On Saturday when she was transferred to the notorious Nuskambangan island
prison, she received a copy of the decision of the judicial review into her
case saying that her final legal pathway had failed.
The island is the same location where Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran
Sukumaran faced the firing squad, along with 6 others, in April last year.
Holding a press conference in Jakarta, the women's rights group Komnas
Perempuan said they had filed an emergency clemency request to President Joko
Widodo on Tuesday while MU met with her family and a preacher at the prison.
Head of the organisation, Azriana, said MU should be granted a reprieve as her
case highlighted how easily poor women in Indonesia fell prey to drug
syndicates.
"Most women involved in drug syndicates come from poor family ... We need to
postpone the death penalty to these poor women who are manipulated."
MU, Komnas Perempuan says, became a migrant worker in Taiwan in the late 1990s
after divorcing from her husband who allegedly beat her.
(source: news.com.au) When she returned to Indonesia, they alleged she became
embroiled in a relationship with a man named "Jerry", who organised for her to
go to Nepal. Here she collected a package which she brought back to Jakarta on
October 31, 2001.
"These kind of women are innocent. MU was excited ... her boyfriend promised to
marry her. In reality once she got caught, that was the end (of their
relationship)," Adriana Venny from the organisation added.
The comments come amid increasing signs in Indonesia that the next round of
executions could be carried out as early as this week.
Local undertaker Suhendro Putro - who prepared coffins for Andrew Chan and
Myuran Sukumaran - told AAP on Monday that he was given directions to be
"ready" to bathe the bodies of more death row prisoners.
However, the Attorney General Office has yet to announce how many people will
be executed or when.
They have previously said they only wanted to give the required 3 days' notice
in order to avoid the "soap opera" that surrounded last year's executions,
which drew widespread condemnation from the international community.
(source: news.com.au)
*************************
Indonesia to hold next round of executions on Friday
Indonesia will execute several people including a Pakistani on Friday, a
Pakistani embassy official said, its first executions since last year when it
put to death 14 people, most of them foreign drug convicts, sparking an
international outcry. Indonesian officials have said 16 people will be executed
this year, including citizens of Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, though they
have not confirmed any more details.
Syed Zahid Raza, charge d'affaires at the Pakistani embassy in Jakarta, said
the embassy had been informed about the imminent execution of the Pakistani,
Zulfikar Ali, convicted of smuggling drugs.
"We were invited to meet with officials from the attorney general's office
today who told us the executions will take place on Friday," Raza told Reuters
on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office declined to comment on any time
frame. Pakistan on Monday urged Indonesia to stay Ali's execution, citing
concern that his 2005 trial had been unfair. Ali will make a last-ditch attempt
to escape the death penalty by appealing directly to Indonesian President Joko
Widodo for clemency, Raza said.
Indonesia says it is facing a "drugs emergency" and has vowed no mercy for
traffickers. Its executions by firing squad have caused outrage overseas though
surveys show Indonesians are largely in favour of capital punishment. Last
year, Australia recalled its envoy to Jakarta, and Brazil said it was shocked
and was evaluating ties after their citizens were executed. But President
Widodo has disregarded diplomatic pressure and vowed to ramp up a war on drugs
in what is among Southeast Asia's biggest markets for narcotics.
The executions will take place at a maximum security prison on Nusakambangan
Island in Central Java but it is not clear how many prisoners will face the
firing squad this week.
Authorities have not given a breakdown of the numbers of foreigners on death
row but citizens of France, Britain and the Philippines are known to be among
them.
(source: timesofoman.com)
****************
Executions imminent in Indonesia as spiritual advisers told to be ready
The spiritual advisers who will spend the final hours of life with those
condemned to die in Indonesia's next round of executions have been told they
will be carried out around midnight on July 29 to 30.
Fairfax Media understands around 16 convicted drug felons could be killed
including foreign citizens from China, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
"We were told just today of the execution date, it's the 29th of July," a
source told Fairfax Media.
Amnesty International and Indonesian human rights groups have called for an
urgent moratorium on the executions, and for retrials that comply with fair
standards, citing disturbing incidences of torture, coercion, corruption and
unfair trials in the cases of many of those on death row.
Pakistani deputy ambassador Syed Zahid Raza? has also issued a statement saying
the embassy had approached officials to convince them its citizen, Zulfiqar
Ali, had not been given a fair trial.
Zulfiqar was on Monday transferred to the execution island of Nusakambangan
from the nearby port town of Cilacap, where he had been in hospital for 2
months for illnesses he claims are partly related to the torture he suffered
when arrested in 2004.
Vigils will be held outside the Indonesian consulate general in Melbourne at
7pm on July 26 and the Perth consulate general at 5pm on July 27.
Three of those expected to be executed this week - Zulfiqar and Indonesians
Agus Hadi and Pujo Lestari - were among 12 death row prisoners named in last
year's Amnesty International report Flawed justice: Unfair trials and the death
penalty in Indonesia.
"Amnesty International found in the ... cases documented in this report that
the defendants did not have access to legal counsel from the time of arrest and
at different stages of their trial and appeals; and that they were subjected to
ill-treatment while in police custody to make them 'confess' to their alleged
crimes or sign police investigation reports," the report said.
4 Chinese men who were found guilty of drug trafficking after a 2005 police
raid on a meth lab in Banten are also expected to be executed.
However co-accused Frenchman Serge Atlaoui?, who was slated to be executed in
April last year but won an eleventh-hour reprieve, has once again been spared.
"It's a relief, it's reassuring, but the fight is not over yet. And I can't
possibly celebrate knowing that the relatives of the inmates to be executed
will suffer," Mr Atlaoui's wife, Sabine, told Le Republicain Lorrain.
Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo said on July 13 that no convicts from the
United States, Europe or Australia were on the list to be executed this year.
Tellingly, given the international backlash sparked by last year's executions
in countries such as Australia, the Netherlands and Brazil, all foreigners
included on this year's list come from countries that also enforce the death
penalty.
A source told Fairfax Media the 4 Chinese to be executed - Chen Hongxin, Gan
Chunyi, JIan Yuxin and Zhu Xuxiong - would not have a spiritual counsellor with
them during their final hours.
"They don't believe in religion, they are atheist, they believe in 1 person,
Mao Zedong, the Chinese communist leader," he said.
"They were asked if they believed in God, they said religions are made by
people, they created statues, idol and asked everybody to worship it. One of
them take a photo [of Mao Zedong] out, put it on the wall, and they all stand
up straight before it."
Families of the Chinese men are expected to arrive in the port town of Cilacap,
the gateway to Nusakambangan, on Wednesday or Thursday.
Others on the execution list include Nigerians Eugene Ape, Seck Osmane, Michael
Titus Igweh, Humphrey Jefferson Ejike Eleweke and Obinna Nwajagu and
Indonesians Freddy Budiman and Merri Utami.
(source: Sydney Morning Herald)
**********************
Halt Upcoming Executions (UA 179/16)
2 death row prisoners were moved on 24 and 25 July to Nusakambangan prison
island, where 13 executions were carried out in 2015. A lawyer has been
informed about the imminent execution of his client and 3 other Nigerian
nationals. The authorities have suspended family visits to the prison complex
and completed preparation of the executions grounds, indicating that another
round of executions by firing squad will be carried out soon.
Please write immediately in English, Bahasa Indonesia or your own language:
-- Calling on the authorities to immediately halt plans to carry out any
executions;
-- Urging them to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to
abolishing the death penalty and to commute all death sentences to terms of
imprisonment;
-- Reminding them that drug-related offences do not meet the threshold of the
"most serious crimes" to which the use of the death penalty must be restricted
under international law and that international safeguards guaranteeing
protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty must be strictly
observed in all capital cases.
see:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/indonesia-halt-upcoming-executions-ua-17916
(source: Amnesty International USA)
******************
Executions taint Indonesia';s rise as global player
Indonesia may have felt proud when its delegation was chosen to represent 16
like-minded countries at a UN General Assembly Special Session on the world
drug problem at the UN headquarters in New York last April.
For Indonesia, its selection to read a joint statement on behalf of countries
that maintain the death penalty showcased trust from others in its persistence
to keep capital punishment intact. But Indonesian representatives to the UN
forum received boos from many among the 193 delegations attending the session.
The jeers sent a message of derision for defending the death penalty as "an
important component of drug control policy".
While 140 states, or the majority of UN members, have applied a moratorium or
abolished the death penalty altogether from their legal systems, Indonesia has
preserved with pride its tough enforcement of the law, particularly against
drug-related crimes.
Under the pretext of a "drug emergency" and based on figures that are subject
to challenge, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has declared a war on drugs. Since
Jokowi took office in October 2014, there have been 2 rounds of executions of
death-row prisoners, mostly drug traffickers, with another round imminent.
Executions seem like an annual ritual to save the younger generations from
drugs.
On the 1st day after the Idul Fitri holiday, Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo
confirmed that a third round of executions before a firing squad was only a
matter of time. Preparations have been underway over the past week for the
execution of at least 13 death-row convicts from Indonesia and other countries,
including China, which will take place somewhere on Nusakambangan, an island
south of Central Java that houses maximum security prisons.
The executions, if they happen, will not be the last as another round could
follow next year with more than 30 convicts having already exhausted their
legal rights to escape capital punishment.
Regrets and condemnation poured in, including from UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, when Indonesia executed 14 convicts last year despite numerous calls
for a reprieve. The executions also strained diplomatic ties, with close
neighbor Australia as well as the Netherlands and Brazil recalling their
ambassadors after their nationals were executed.
International pressure for Indonesia to stop the death penalty has not
subsided. Jokowi???s recent visit to Europe was overshadowed by criticism of
the practice. German Chancellor Angela Merkel openly asked Jokowi to end
capital punishment, but he remained resolute that executions would solve drug
problems.
Indonesia inherited the death penalty from the Dutch colonial period and has
kept it intact, although the former ruler abolished the harsh penalty in 1870
and removed all references to capital punishment from its law in 1991.
For a popular leader like Jokowi, the death penalty matters as it is the wish
of his people. A number of surveys have found that most Indonesians support
capital punishment, which is perceived as a legitimate and effective method to
cleanse the country of criminals.
As a champion of democracy and human rights, however, executions will not only
taint Indonesia's reputation but also undermine its ambition to become a major
player in Asia and the world.
Indonesia has been pursuing a role as a global player, being recognized as the
3rd-largest democracy in the world and the biggest predominantly Muslim nation,
which has proved that democracy and Islam can live together. Indonesia, too,
has engaged in numerous multilateral negotiations and bound itself to
international norms to stake a claim as a global power.
Indonesia, for example, ratified the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2005, which signifies its commitment to respect for
the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life. The
adoption of such an important international instrument enables Indonesia to
rank among other modern states but, rather than increasing its standards, the
country preserves the cruel punishment that clearly violates human rights
principles.
Currently, Indonesia holds a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, representing
Asia Pacific until 2017. Citizens are proud of the honor, but ironically
Indonesia ignores the very duty of a council member to uphold the highest
standard of human rights promotion and protection both at home and around the
world.
Executions clearly run counter to Indonesia's rise as an emerging power, a
member of the prestigious Group of 20 ( G20 ), an East Asia Summit (EAS) member
and the largest member of ASEAN. As a nation of critical importance given its
size, growing economy and strategic relevance to regional security, Indonesia
needs to show leadership and set a good example, including in the global
campaign against the death penalty.
What a contradiction that we are working hard to gain global status but do not
care about our own record at home.
Executions have also failed to curb the rate of drug crimes. After last
year???s executions, we have seen an intensification of arrests of people in
possession of or trafficking drugs, some of them security officers. Suffice to
say, executions have provided no deterrence.
We must also bear in mind that miscarriages of justice occur in many countries
when it comes to the death penalty. Indonesia is not immune to that, especially
with judicial corruption considered entrenched.
Whatever the reasons behind the executions, Indonesia lacks grounds to appeal
to other countries to show compassion to 281 Indonesian migrant workers
currently facing the death penalty overseas. Stop capital punishment now and
President Jokowi will stand a greater chance of saving the lives of many of his
people.
(source: Yohanna Ririhena; The Jakarta Post)
SOUTH AFRICA:
SA killed the death penalty, but Trump will keep it alive in the US
Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump said last year that, if he was
elected, he would sign an executive order to make the death penalty mandatory
for murderers of police officers.
So far this year, 29 police officers have been murdered in the US, some of them
apparently as a result of anger at police officers over the killings of black
people.
Whether or not Trump would have the power to issue an order making the death
penalty mandatory is not clear. Any such order would certainly be challenged in
the Supreme Court. Last year, Pennsylvania became the 18th US state to abolish
the death sentence. By the end of last year, 2/3 of all countries had stopped
executing people.
South Africa abolished the death penalty in June 1995 following a decision by
the Constitutional Court. It declared that capital punishment was "cruel and
unusual". One of the judges, Pius Langa (later a chief justice), said that the
emphasis he placed on the right to life was influenced by our history. Although
heinous crimes were the antithesis of ubuntu, so was cruel and unusual
treatment.
While Trump appeals to popular opinion, our Constitutional Court was careful to
say that human rights were more important. Ironically, it was an American
judge, Robert Jackson, whom our court quoted in this regard: "The very purpose
of a Bill of Rights is to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of
political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and
officials, and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the
courts. One's right to life, liberty and property, to free speech, a free
press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be
submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections."
One of the reasons the Americans have not yet put the death penalty behind them
is that the US's Constitution is ambivalent.
Although it outlaws cruel and unusual punishment, it also permits the death
sentence. The US Supreme Court has tried to deal with this apparent
contradiction by authorising capital punishment in states that have introduced
guidelines for judges and juries to ensure that the death sentence is not
arbitrarily carried out, therefore avoiding the "cruel and unusual" problem.
Our Constitutional Court decided that this was impossible. Arbitrariness was
unavoidable because judges needed discretion to find whether or not there were
extenuating circumstances.
This problem could be avoided only by mandatory sentencing - which undermined
the vital principle of individualised sentencing.
Research by the Institute of Race Relations for a forthcoming study on capital
punishment shows that some judges in the past bent over backwards to find
extenuating circumstances so that they could avoid imposing a mandatory death
sentence. So, as our Constitutional Court admitted, whether or not an accused
was sentenced to death could depend on which judge tried the case, or even
which judges heard any appeal.
Another point made by our Constitutional Court was that "poverty, race and
chance play roles in the outcome of capital [punishment] cases, and in the
final decision as to who should live and who should die".
One of the reasons for differential outcomes was that poor people charged with
capital offences would often have to rely for their defence on dedicated but
nevertheless inexperienced pro deo counsel. Richer people would be able to
engage the best counsel and firms of attorneys, along with expert witnesses,
and private investigators and researchers.
With the help of the Wits Justice Project, the Institute of Race Relations
identified several people in South African prisons sentenced to life
imprisonment for the murder of police officers who were released more than a
decade later - after their innocence was demonstrated. The project said that
there were no official statistics on wrongful convictions, but that there were
probably other people behind bars who were in a similar predicament.
Wrongful imprisonment is, of course, a terrible wrong, but at least the victim
can be released if the wrong is uncovered. This is impossible with a wrongful
execution, and it is the most powerful argument against the death penalty. One
of the judges in the decision made by the Constitutional Court, John Didcott,
admitted that mistakes "do occur now and again". This has definitely happened
in the US.
Many people will no doubt argue that murder is itself so "cruel and unusual"
that it warrants the cruel and unusual punishment of the death sentence.
However, as Lord Gardiner, a top British judge quoted by our court, said:
"Human beings who are not infallible ought not to impose a form of punishment
which is irreparable."
(source: John Kane-Berman is a policy fellow at the Institute of Race
Relations, a think-tank promoting political and economic freedom----City Press)
PAKISTAN----executions
Sialkot jail hangs murderer of his 2 sister
A criminal accused of murder has been hanged on Tuesday morning in the Sialkot
District jail.
The name of murderer was Shafeeq and he was accused of killing his 2 sisters in
Narowal in year 2004. Shafeeq planned to rob his own sisters and upon resisting
he killed both of them at the spot.
Before the suspect was to be hanged, a meeting with his family had been
arranged after which he was hanged to his death at dawn on Tuesday.
Ever since the Army Public School massacre in 2004, Pakistan's Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif had lifted the moratorium on death penalty in the country. Ever
since, death sentences have been carried out and more than 160 prisoners have
been executed by the state since then.
(source: Daily Times)
BANGLADESH:
Father, son in Barisal ordered death sentences for 2010 murder of local
journalist
A Barisal court has given the death penalty to a man and his son for the murder
of a journalist.
An additional district and sessions judge's court delivered the verdict on
Thursday in the 2010 murder of Monir Hossain at Muladi Upazila.
The court found Alauddin Rarhi, his son Rasel guilty and ordered the death
sentences. It also fined the 2 by Tk 50,000 each.
Rarhi's other son Sohag has been acquitted of the charges.
On Dec 21, 2010, local journalist Monir Hossain was attacked over a feud. He
died of the injuries later at a hospital.
Hossain's family filed a case, accusing Alauddin Rarhi, his wife, 2 sons and
neighbour Motaleb Rarhi.
Police pressed charges against Rarhi and his 2 sons.
The victim's family said they were not happy with the verdict and would appeal
against it.
(source: bdnews24.com)
TURKEY:
Erdogan says Turkish people want death penalty restored
The Turkish people want the death penalty restored and those governing the
country must listen to them, President Tayyip Erdogan said, despite European
officials saying such a move would immediately stop Ankara's EU accession
process.
"What do the (Turkish) people say today?" Erdogan asked during an interview
with German television station ARD that was broadcast on Monday.
"They want the death penalty reintroduced. And we as the government must listen
to what the people say. We can't say 'no, that doesn't interest us.'"
Earlier, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that if Turkey
reintroduces the death penalty - something the government has said it must
consider, responding to calls from supporters at public rallies for coup
leaders to be executed - it would stop the EU accession process immediately.
(source: Reuters)
INDIA:
Rane for death penalty to drug peddlers
Opposition leader Pratapsingh Rane on Monday demanded that the government
should consider awarding death penalty to drug peddlers. He mentioned that he
would table a resolution for the purpose during the ongoing session of the
state legislative assembly.
Speaking during the general discussion on the budget, Rane cautioned the
government that drugs and other contraband substances are being made available
in the hinterlands of the state and it will be the biggest menace that will hit
Goa.
Suggesting the legislators to watch the movie 'Udta Punjab', he said, "I am
afraid we will have 'Udta Goa' very soon. Drugs are entering the state, and it
is not enough that we blame a particular community (tourists) for peddling.
Ultimately the consumers are our local young boys and girls."
He said that drugs have entered the educational institutions in remote areas
and are killing young people and destroying generations.
Demanding capital punishment to those dealing in the drug trade, he said, "Give
them death penalty on lines with Singapore. I will discuss on this when I get
to table my resolution." "It is trending day by day and the existing policing
and intelligence efforts have failed to curb the illegal activity," he said
emphasizing on the need for the state to intensify its effort on drug detection
and conviction.
(source: The Navhind Times)
PHILIPPINES:
New Philippine Congress opens with death penalty at top of agenda
The newly convened Philippine Congress heard a proposal on Tuesday to re-impose
the death penalty for "heinous crimes", giving priority to President Rodrigo
Duterte's push for capital punishment in its first legislative session.
The death penalty bill was received the same day Duterte took office on June
30, and it cites illicit sales and use of drugs as the root cause of "the most
perverse and atrocious crimes".
Introduced by 2 lawmakers, including a house speaker allied with Duterte, the
bill cites the need for a war on crime and argues that existing laws were not a
deterrent and had "emasculated" the criminal justice system.
The death penalty was repealed in 2006 following pressure from church groups.
The bill comes as Duterte's war on crime is in full swing, with at least 200
people killed in the past month, according to police, who say many of the
deaths are the work of vigilantes.
Other estimates of the body count are far higher and human rights groups are
outraged.
Duterte's vow to wipe out crime and drugs by the end of the year resonated
among millions of Filipinos when he campaigned for election on threats to kill
drug dealers who refused to surrender and dump their bodies in Manila Bay.
He will not get everything his way, however, with the bill calling for lethal
injection as a method of administering the punishment. Duterte had called for
death by hanging, which he described graphically during speeches.
(source: Reuters)
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