July 28
INDONESIA----impending executions
Jokowi called on to stop imminent executions
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo should commute the death sentences of at least
14 people who face imminent executions for drug trafficking, the Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday.
The group says the government has not announced a date for the executions, but
has warned that "the time is approaching." Jakarta-based diplomats have
reported that the Attorney General's Office (AGO) informed them that the
executions will take place on Friday, it further says.
"President Jokowi should acknowledge the death penalty's barbarity and avoid a
potential diplomatic firestorm by sparing the lives of the 14 or more people
facing imminent execution," HRW deputy Asia director Phelim Kine.
"Jokowi should also ban the death penalty for drug crimes, which international
law prohibits, rather than giving the go-ahead for more multiple executions,"
he went on.
Merry Utami, a Sukoharjo resident, and Pakistani national Zulfiqar Ali, have
been transferred to Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, where
the executions will take place.
The death row prisoners also include 4 Nigerians, 1 Zimbabwean, and several
other Indonesians. The Nigerians are Eugene Ape, Humphrey Jefferson Ejike
Eleweke, Michael Titus Igweh, and Obinna Nwajagu, who were all arrested for
drug trafficking in 2002 or 2003.
"Indonesia's use of the death penalty is contrary to international human rights
law, statements of UN human rights experts, and various UN bodies," HRW says.
The group says human rights law upholds every human being's "inherent right to
life" and limits the death penalty to "the most serious crimes," typically
crimes resulting in death or serious bodily harm.
"Indonesia should join the many countries already committed to the UN General
Assembly's December 18, 2007 resolution calling for a moratorium on executions,
a move by UN member countries toward abolition of the death penalty."
***************************
RI pressed to abolish death penalty
Pressure is mounting ahead of the executions of at least 14 drug convicts to be
carried out later this week, as international organizations and foreign
countries call on Indonesia to put off using the death penalty, which they say
has tainted Indonesia's reputation as an emerging democracy.
Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo confirmed on Wednesday that 14 people -
including convicts from Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe - had been put in
isolation on the Nusakambangan prison island off Cilacap, Central Java, and
would be executed this week.
The executions will be the third round under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo,
after the country put 14 drug convicts, mostly foreigners, to death in 2 groups
in 2015, to much international outrage.
The upcoming executions are no different, with a number of foreign missions in
Indonesia and international rights organizations having conveyed their concerns
about how the planned killings might lead to Indonesia committing miscarriages
of justice.
EU Ambassador to Indonesia Vincent Guerend said that if the executions were
indeed confirmed, the EU would come out with a statement as it does worldwide,
including about countries with which it has friendly relations.
The EU, he said, was against the death penalty as a matter of principle and was
in favor of a worldwide abolition of the death penalty and the EU is calling on
all states and all members of the international community to abolish the death
penalty or to implement a moratorium on the death penalty.
"Indonesia is a strong democracy and Indonesia is, in many respects, a model in
this part of the world. We believe that Indonesia should strongly consider
joining the vast majority of countries, 140 out of 190, that have abolished the
death penalty," he said.
Among the convicts to be executed is Pakistani Zulfiqar Ali, whom an
investigative team from the Law and Human Rights Ministry had concluded might
be innocent.
For Pakistan, which still applies the death penalty, the concern is different,
said Pakistani Ambassador to Indonesia Aqil Naseem.
Pakistan restored the death penalty last year after a terrorist attack in a
public school that claimed the lives of 150 children.
Only terrorists will be hanged in Pakistan now and while Naseem respects
Indonesia???s legal system, his main concern is the unfair trial of Ali.
Amnesty International believes that Jokowi would put his government on the
wrong side of history if he proceeded with a fresh round of executions, said
the group's Southeast Asia head Josef Benedict.
British Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik said in a recent interview that
he did not think the death penalty had helped Indonesia's standing in the
world.
"Does Indonesia want to be seen alongside China and Iran, or does it want to be
seen alongside 130 countries, developed and developing and emerging economies,
giving up on the death penalty?" he asked.
"We have miscarriages of justice in the UK, in the US, all over the world. If
there's some risks that innocent lives may be taken, I don't think that is
acceptable."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein expressed alarm at
the planned executions.
"The increasing use of the death penalty in Indonesia is terribly worrying and
I urge the government to immediately end this practice, which is unjust and
incompatible with human rights," he said in a statement.
As the executions are imminent, information has spread that the State Palace
has sent letters to the Attorney General's Office to cancel the executions of
Ali and Indonesian Merri Utami. Calls to presidential chief of staff Teten
Masduki to confirm the information were not answered.
Meanwhile, preparations at the Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central
Java, for the executions of 14 convicts have been completed. All equipment and
property needed for the executions were sent there on Wednesday.
"All has been prepared, including security personnel. About 1,500 people have
been deployed to secure the execution area so the process can run smoothly,"
Cilacap Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Bintoro said.
(source for both: The Jakarta Post)
***************
Police Order 16 Coffins Ahead of Death Row Inmates' Executions
Cilacap Police have ordered 16 coffins ahead of a 3rd round of executions
likely to take place on the notorious prison island Nusakambangan in the next
few days.
It is generally understood that death row inmates are moved to Nusakambangan
days before they are executed by a firing squad.
"I used to prepare the coffins but this time the Cilacap police are handling
it. They've got 16 coffins ready this time," said the Javanese Christian
Church's (GKJ) funeral director Suhendro Putro on Wednesday morning (27/07).
The church will send six men to the island to take care of the bodies of the
Christian and Catholic inmates after their executions.
During the previous round of executions, Suhendro's team was called in just
four hours before the firing squad started executing the inmates. Together with
officials from the District Attorney's office, lawyers, priests and Islamic
clerics and the police, they crossed the Segara Anakan strait between the Java
mainland and Nusakambangan.
"Then they asked us to wait at the Sodong pier, only a kilometer away from
where the executions took place," Suhendro said.
The executions are usually carried out at midnight and take around one hour.
Suhendro and his team will carry the bodies to the mainland, hand them over to
their families or perform the burial themselves.
****************
AG Secures Job by Capitalizing on Executions: Watchdog
H.M. Prasetyo has continued to secure his position as attorney general despite
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's cabinet reshuffle due to his tenacity to
execute drug convicts, Hendardi, chairman of political watchdog Setara
Institute told Suara Pembaruan on Thursday (28/07).
"[Attorney General] Prasetyo, who lacks any [significant career] achievements,
continues to capitalize on the executions [and the president's apparent zero
tolerance policy on the issue] to mask his shortcomings in anti-corruption
enforcement and resolving human rights violations," Hendardi said.
Prasetyo, according to Hendardi, was in panic over the cabinet reshuffle as
plans for the executions were already underway.
"The future of human rights is hardly [promising given that we have] an
attorney general who has no interest in human rights. Moreover with [newly
appointed] Chief Security Minister Wiranto, it is almost certain that Jokowi's
campaign and promises on human rights would be hard to fulfill," Hendardi
added.
Misguided priorities
"[On an] evaluation of law enforcement process, drug eradication and
penitentiary management should be the main priorities instead of taking the
lives of death row convicts, which ultimately does not have any deterrent
effect," Hendardi said.
Hendardi strongly condemned capital punishment saying that it is against basic
human rights and its enforcement is a violation of the Indonesian constitution.
"I refuse and condemn [capital punishment] and I urge the government to scrap
death penalty sentences from the Indonesian legal system," Hendardi said.
(source for both: Jakarta Globe)
***************
Indonesia's decision to execute drug convicts shows risks to migrant workers,
rights activists warn----Women's rights commission believes female migrant
workers are soft targets for drug trafficking.
Indonesia's announcement to execute 14 drug convicts on Friday, 29 July, may
pose a risk to migrant workers, especially women, as it is feared they could be
duped into becoming drug mules, human rights activists have warned.
The rights campaigners have said female migrant workers, with valid passports,
are vulnerable targets for drug trafficking, sometimes due to their limited
education.
"This has become a pattern and the modus operandi is always the same," said
Azriana, chair of Indonesia's National Commission on Violence against Women
(Komnas Perempuan).
The women's rights commission said, one of the Indonesian prisoners, Merri
Utami, who was convicted in 2003 of smuggling 1.1kg of heroin and likely to be
executed this week, could have been framed in the case. According to the
government-backed body, Utami said she was not aware of carrying of bag of
drugs that was reportedly given to her by a man she was involved with.
The group compared Utami's case to that of Filipino maid, Mary Jane Veloso, who
was about to be executed last year. She was granted an official pardon in the
last-minute after the person who planted drugs in Veloso's bag confessed to the
crime in the Philippines. Azriana has urged the Indonesian government to
investigate into each convict's case.
Mic Catuira from Migrante International, Manila told Reuters: "Governments
should consider [migrant workers] as people who are victimised by the drug
trade, they are tricked into being mules - but they are the ones being punished
for the crimes." The Philippines-based migrant workers' group that led the
campaign to halt Veloso's execution said they feared more such women are being
targeted and wrongly framed.
Meanwhile, the fourteen prisoners found guilty of drug peddling and sentenced
to death penalty are expected to be executed amid the international outcry over
the previous executions that took place in 2015. The lawyers of the death row
inmates were thought to be filing for a last minute clemency.
The Indonesia government has not officially released the list of prisoners to
be executed but the leaked list reveals Pakistani, Nigerian, Zimbabwean, Indian
and Indonesian nationals are among the 14 prisoners who are due to be executed
on Friday by the firing squad.
It has emerged that the convicts were moved to the execution site. UN human
rights chief is said to have called for the government to immediately reinstate
a moratorium on the death penalty that was suspended in 2013, according to
Reuters news agency.
(source: ibtimes.co.uk)
******************
Govt makes last-minute efforts to save Indian on death row in Indonesia
New Delhi has mounted last minute efforts to save Indian national Gurdip Singh,
who is among 14 people set to be executed after midnight on Thursday in
Indonesia.
In a statement, Attorney General M Prasetyo said the executions of the 14 death
row inmates would be conducted early on Friday. He said all technical and legal
aspects of the executions had been fulfilled, according to the Indonesian
media.
The Jakarta Post quoted a source in the Central Java Prosecutor's Office as
saying that the executions of the 14 "drug convicts" will take place after
midnight on Thursday.
In a tweet late on Wednesday night, Swaraj said: "We are making last minute
efforts to save him (Singh) from execution on 28 July." She said in another
tweet Singh was "facing death sentence in a drug case".
Singh, 48, was found guilty of trying to smuggle 300 grams of heroin into
Indonesia in 2004 and was sentenced to death by a state district court at
Tanggerang in Banten province in February 2005.
He was given the death sentence even though prosecutors had recommended a
20-year jail term for Singh, who is also known as Vishal and belongs to
Jalandhar in Punjab.
Singh also retracted a statement he made against Pakistani national Zulfiqar
Ali, who is among the prisoners facing execution. Singh admitted he was coerced
into making the false admission against Ali in return for a lenient sentence
for himself.
Reports in the Indonesia media said there is little chance of the 14 condemned
people escaping the firing squad since the Attorney General's Office had on
Wednesday confirmed that all legal requirements had been fulfilled.
The executions will take place in Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap,
Central Java, where authorities have tightened security by deploying an
additional 1,500 police personnel and army and navy units. The soldiers are
guarding a nearby dock and naval personnel are patrolling the waters
surrounding the prison island.
17 ambulances, 14 of which carried coffins, arrived at the prison island on
Thursday morning, The Jakarta Post reported. This was seen as a signal that the
executions would be conducted soon. "It has been a long-standing tradition on
Nusakambangan that ambulances are readied to pick up bodies of the condemned
from the prison less than 24 hours before the executions," the report said.
According to Indonesia law, each convict will be shot to death by a squad of 10
people.
Amnesty International has criticised the Indonesian government's decision to go
ahead with the execution of the 10 foreigners and 4 Indonesians, saying some of
them were "convicted in manifestly unfair trials and have not submitted
clemency request to the President".
Among the 10 foreigners a Zimbabwean, a Senegalese, a South African and 5
Nigerians, Amnesty International said.
"Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as 'Jokowi', will be putting
his government on the wrong side of history if he proceeds with a fresh round
of executions," it said in a statement.
In a report published last year, Amnesty had found 12 of the prisoners were
"denied access to legal counsel at the time of their arrest, and at different
periods thereafter". Some claimed they were subjected to torture and other
ill-treatment while in police custody, and were forced to "confess" to their
alleged crimes. These claims have not been investigated by authorities, it
said.
The last executions in Indonesia - which has some of the world's toughest
anti-drug laws - were carried out in January and April 2015, when a total of 14
people were put to death by firing squad. The previous administration under
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono carried out 21 executions between 2005 and 2013.
Indonesia has a strong record of fighting for the rights of its citizens abroad
on death row but that is a position the authorities do not consistently uphold
at home, where President Widodo has claimed the death penalty is needed to
deter drug crime, Amnesty said.
"There is no evidence to support President Widodo's position. The death penalty
does not deter crime. Carrying out executions will not rid Indonesia of drugs.
It is never the solution, and it will damage Indonesia's standing in the
world," said Josef Benedict, deputy director of Amnesty's Southeast Asia and
Pacific regional office.
(source: Hindustan Times)
**************
Jokowi should not become the most prolific executioner in recent history
The Indonesian authorities have told the relatives of 14 death row prisoners
that they will execute them by firing squad tonight, Amnesty International has
learned.
The 14 include 4 Indonesians, and 10 foreign nationals - all convicted of
drug-related offences.
Contrary to Indonesian law and international standards, the families were only
informed of the decision this morning. Indonesian law requires that relatives
be informed at 72 hours in advance.
"President Jokowi should not become the most prolific executioner in recent
Indonesian history," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International's Director for
South East Asia and the Pacific.
"He still has time to pull back from these unlawful executions, before inviting
global notoriety."
If the executions are not halted, President Jokowi will have implemented the
death penalty more times than in any South East Asian country, and more often
than any Indonesian leader this century.
"The Indonesian authorities are proceeding with indecent haste. There are 4
clemency appeals that are still to be heard, and there are serious fair trial
concerns about many prisoners??? cases."
"At a time when a majority of the world's countries have turned their back on
this cruel and irreversible punishment, President Jokowi is recklessly hurtling
in the wrong direction," said Rafendi Djamin.
Systemic flaws
Amnesty International has documented systemic flaws in Indonesia's criminal
justice system and its implementation of the death penalty.
The imposition of the death penalty for drug-related offences violates
international law, which only permits the use of the punishment for "the most
serious crimes."
These include violations of the right to a fair trial; the right not to be
subjected to torture or to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment; the right to apply for clemency or pardon of a death sentence; and
foreign nationals or others who do not understand or speak the language used by
the authorities are entitled to the assistance of an interpreter following
arrest, including during questioning, and at all other stages of the
proceedings.
Background information
Under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was President of Indonesia from 2004 to
2014, there were 21 executions. By tomorrow, President Jokowi could bring the
total number of executions under his rule to 28 if they are not halted.
An Amnesty International report on Indonesia, Flawed Justice: Unfair Trials and
the Death Penalty, published in October 2015 highlighted systemic flaws in the
administration of justice resulting in violations of the right to fair trial,
as outlined in the cases below of prisoners who are at imminent risk of
execution at Nusakambangan Island:
Indonesian nationals Agus Hadi and Pujo Lestari were arrested for attempting to
smuggle benzodiazepine pills from Malaysia in 2006. They were detained at Riau
Islands Police Headquarters on 22 November that year, interrogated there for 20
days and then transferred to the Batam prosecution detention centre. They were
held in total for 9 weeks before they appeared before a judge at their 1st
trial hearing in the Batam District Court at the end of January 2007. Court
documents indicate that Agus Hadi only received assistance from a lawyer on 12
December, 20 days after his arrest. Pujo Lestari had legal counsel appointed by
the Batam District Court on 8 February, 78 days after his arrest and a week
after the court had scheduled the first trial hearing.
Indonesian national Merri Utami was arrested by the Soekarno Hatta Airport
Police force after the police found 1.1kg of heroin in her bag on 31 October
2001. Merri Utami told her current lawyer that shortly after her arrest the
police repeatedly beat her, sexually harassed her and threatened her with rape
to make her "confess" to possessing the drug; and that her sight has been
damaged as a consequence of the beatings. She was convicted and sentenced to
death in 2002. Her conviction and death sentence were upheld by the Supreme
Court in 2003. She submitted an application for clemency to the President on 26
July 2016.
Zulfiqar Ali, a Pakistani national, was arrested at his home in Bogor, West
Java province on 21 November 2004, and charged with possession of 300g of
heroin based on his friend???s confession to the police. However during his
trial, Zulfiqar's friend retracted his statement that the heroin belonged to
him. During his pre-trial detention, he was refused the right to contact his
embassy and was not permitted any access to a lawyer until approximately 1
month after his arrest. Tangerang District Court documents show prosecution
granted an extension of Zulfiqar's detention from 4 March to 2 May 2005,
meaning he was detained for at least 3 months before being brought to the 1st
trial hearing, although there is no information as to when the 1st trial
hearing started. Whilst being interrogated by the Soekarno-Hatta Airport
district police, Zulfiqar Ali was kept in a house for 3 days and punched,
kicked and threatened with death unless he signed a self-incriminating
statement, which he later did. After three days his health deteriorated to the
extent that on 24 November 2004 he was sent to a police hospital, where he
required stomach and kidney surgery due to damage caused by the beatings. He
was in the hospital for 17 days. During his trial he described this torture,
but the judges allowed the "confession" to be admitted as evidence. There has
been no independent investigation into his allegations. Zulfiqar Ali did not
speak Bahasa Indonesia. He received limited translation assistance throughout
his detention and during the proceedings against him. At the trial, he was
provided with translation only from Bahasa Indonesia to English, but he
understood only a little English. He was convicted and sentenced to death in
2005. His death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2006.
Humphrey Jefferson "Jeff" Ejike, a Nigerian man, who was arrested on 2 August
2003 in Jakarta for possessing drugs after police found 1.7kg of heroin in a
room used by one of his employees at the restaurant he owned and ran. Jeff was
convicted of and sentenced to death for offences relating to the import,
export, sale and trafficking of drugs in 2004. His conviction and sentence were
upheld by the Jakarta High Court in June 2004 and the Supreme Court in November
2004. He did not have access to a lawyer at the time of his arrest,
interrogation or detention. He was detained for a total of 5 months without
legal representation, in breach of Article 14 of the ICCPR as well as
Indonesia's Criminal Procedure Code which guarantees the right to be assisted
by and to contact counsel. He has claimed that he was repeatedly beaten during
interrogation and threatened with being shot if he refused to sign papers in
which he "confessed" to possessing the heroin or if he refused to implicate
others. Trial records of April 2004, however, show that Jeff told the court
that he was not subjected to any form of coercion, although he such statements
are themselves sometimes made as a result of threats. The trial judgement
includes the statement that "black-skinned people from Nigeria" are under
surveillance by police because they are suspected of drug trafficking in
Indonesia.
In November 2004, the former owner of Humphrey Jefferson Ejike's restaurant,
reportedly told police that he had organized for drugs to be planted in the
restaurant so that Jeff would be arrested and convicted. The former owner later
died in prison but several people testified that they had witnessed him making
this confession while in prison on drug charges. Such witness statements formed
part of an appeal for a review of Humphrey Jefferson Ejike's case to the
Supreme Court, which was rejected in September 2007. That same year the court
upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty for drug offences. He applied
for clemency from the President of Indonesia just a few days ago. No execution
must be carried out while legal or clemency procedures are pending.
(source: Amnesty International)
SINGAPORE:
2 women charged for murder of Myanmar maid
2 women have been charged for the murder of their 24-year-old domestic helper
from Myanmar.
Gaiyathiri Murugayan, 36, and Prema S Naraynasamy, 58 caused the death of Ms
Piang Ngaih Don some time between Monday (July 25) and Tuesday, according to
the charge sheet. The police said they received a call for help at Blk 145
Bishan Street 11 at about 11.03am on Tuesday.
When the police arrived, they found the 24-year-old Myanmar national lying
motionless on the floor. She was pronounced dead at scene.
After media reports about the murder surfaced, the chairman of the Centre for
Domestic Employees (CDE), Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, posted his reactions on Facebook,
saying that the CDE "will work closely with the authorities to see how we can
offer help and support to her family".
"Through our various outreach efforts, we understand and empathise with the
fact that the position of our foreign domestic employees is a uniquely
vulnerable one. Thus, they are deserving of greater care and concern from their
employers," Mr Yeo wrote.
The 2 women were remanded for investigations and will next appear in court on
Aug 4. If convicted, they could face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
(source: todayonline.com)
CUBA:
What do Cubans think about the death penalty?
At the beginning of July, Havana Times put forward a new initiative: to find
out what Cubans think about different national and/or global issues. As far as
we know, only the government and government institutions carry out surveys; the
results of these are not normally very accessible to ordinary Cubans.
The aim of our project is to contribute towards public opinion surveys not
being administered by a centralized body and that the results of these are made
easily accessible to everyone. We kicked off this project with a simple survey
where the person taking it didn't have to give any personal information; all
they had to do was mark the option they believed to be correct with a cross.
We chose to begin with the death penalty, because it's a very sensitive and
important issue when building a civilized country. In Cuba, capital punishment
was abolished by the 1940 Constitution and was later reinstated in 1959; the
last executions of this kind took place in 2003 and since then there has been a
de facto moratorium, even though Raul Castro publicly reminded us that it still
exists, 3 years ago.
The 1st question of the survey looked into whether the death penaly should
remain or be abolished from our Penal Code.
A slight majority of 52% of those surveyed would like it to be abolished, 35%
want this kind of punishment to apply to a more limited number of crimes and
13% stand up for it to stay in our Penal Code just as it is.
Among those who would like to get rid of the dealth penalty entirely, 17%
believed this wasn't a corrective measure; 48% believed that it's a violation
against out most basic individual human rights and 35% think that life
sentences should be the maximum punishment given for any kind of crime.
Those who defend the death penalty believe that it's a necessary evil (16%);
believe that it prevents serious crimes from being committed and ensures civil
peace (24%); and the majority, (60%), think that Life Imprisonment is not
enough to punish someone in extreme cases.
Who should decide whether the death penalty is abolished or remains in the
Penal Code? 85% of those surveyed think that a public referendum is the best
way to settle these kinds of issues; 4% believe that it's an issue that lawyers
should agree on, and 11% trust that the government should be who decides.
Conclusions
From our survey's results, we can see that the majority want the death penalty
to be abolished. However, this isn't a great majority, the difference is very
small (52% against 48%) and this could change if we had surveyed a greater
number of people.
The main argument used by those against the death penalty is that it denies the
person being punished their most basic individual human rights.
Amongst those who defend the death penalty, the main justification given is
that life imprisonment isn???t enough for certain crimes.
The immense majority of those interviewed believe that this issue should be
resolved by a popular referendum, before leaving it to be decided by judges or
the government.
The sample taken for this investigation is not representative of the Cuban
people because of its small scale and because of the bias that including only
people who have access to an email address implies; a minority sector with
certain socio-cultural characteristics. Nevertheless, we are happy with this
survey because it's our 1st attempt to make this kind of very sensitive
information accessible to Cubans. We hope that we are able to contribute a
little to their emancipation in this way.
(source: Havana Times)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan's Death Penalty Hypocrisy----Government Seeks Death Row Mercy From
Indonesia
Pakistan's government is working hard to dissuade Indonesia from executing
Zulfikar Ali, a Pakistani citizen on death row since 2005 for drug smuggling.
Pakistan says Ali's "trial was not fair." The Indonesian government has yet to
respond to the request to spare Ali from its latest looming death penalty
spree. Those executions are part of President Joko Widodo???s signature policy
of executing convicted drug traffickers as a form of judicial "shock therapy"
against a perceived domestic drug emergency.
Pakistan's pursuit of mercy for a death row prisoner in Indonesia stands in
stark contrast to its own embrace of the death penalty, not just for drug
smugglers, but in response to the horrific December 2014 attack by the
Pakistani extremist group Tehreek-e-Taliban on a school in Peshawar. The
attack, which left at least 148 dead - almost all of them children - prompted
the government to lift an informal moratorium on the use of the death penalty
and push through a constitutional amendment permitting military courts to
prosecute civilian terrorism suspects. The human toll of those decisions has
been appalling: 416 executions since late 2014, through June 2016.
Pakistan is right to be concerned about the fairness of Ali's trial in
Indonesia, but the government has been dismissive of allegations of unfair
trials of its own death row prisoners. Among those executed was Shafqat
Hussain, hanged on August 4, 2014, despite evidence he was 14 or 15-years-old
when sentenced in 2004 for kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old boy, and that
his confession may have resulted from police torture.
Pakistan should urge Indonesia to stop the execution of Zulfikar Ali, but it
should also call a halt to its own hangings. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif and Indonesian President Joko Widodo could each end these killings by
recognizing the well-documented failure of the death penalty as a crime
deterrent and reinstating the unofficial moratorium on capital punishment. This
is an opportunity both leaders should take advantage of.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
******************
Murder convicts hanged in 2 cities of Punjab
2 criminals charged with murder case were hanged early morning on Wednesday in
2 cities of Punjab.
According to details, the murder convict, Sibtain Shah was handed the death
penalty in 1998 after killing his brother-in-law over personal enmity and was
hanged in Sargodha District Jail.
Ghulam Mustafa was hanged in Sahiwal Central Jail. Ghulam was hanged for
killing 3, including a woman and 2 children, while resisting robbery in 1992.
Both the criminals where hanged at dawn, on Wednesday, right after their
meeting with their family members.
After the Army Public School massacre, the moratorium on executions was lifted
by Prime Minster in Pakistan. According to figures gathered by the organization
Reprieve, there had been 78 executions in 2016 as of July 26. The Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan reported 76 executions in 2016 as of June 2016.
(source: The News)
IRAN/SAUDI ARABIA:
Iran and Saudi Arabia execute more than 350 people in 6 months----Iran and
Saudi Arabia execute more people than anywhere else in the region - with Iran
killing at least 250 in 2016
Iran and Saudi Arabia have between them executed more than 350 people in the
1st half of 2016, according to statistics released by rights groups this week.
Iran is 2nd globally only to China in executing their own citizens, and is far
ahead of Saudi Arabia which occupies 3rd place.
Iran executed at least 250 people in the 1st 6 months of the year, according to
a report released on Tuesday by the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights.
In the same period Saudi Arabia executed 108 people, according to a report
released on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch.
With a population of nearly 80 million, as opposed to Saudi's less than 30
million, Iran may have a much higher total number of executions but their per
capita rate of state-sanctioned killings is slightly lower than their regional
rival.
The number of people killed in Iran has also fallen dramatically, year on year.
In the first 7 months of 2015 Iran executed more than 700 people, and by the
end of the year at least 969 were killed - the highest toll in more than 25
years.
Iran Human Rights spokespman, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, however said there was
no indication that the reduction was due to a change of policy.
"The numbers are lower than last year most probably because of the
parliamentary elections in February and March and Ramadan in June," he said.
Amiry-Moghaddam said the international community should "put the death penalty
... on top of their agenda in bilateral talks with the Iranian authorities".
Nearly 1/2 of those executed in Iran this year faced drug-related charges,
while 39 percent were put to death after being convicted of murder.
Amnesty International raised concerns earlier this year about juveniles being
executed in the Islamic Republic - girls as young as 9 and boys aged 15 can be
executed in the country.
The UN reported in January that at least 160 juveniles were on death row at the
start of the year - it is not known if any of the juveniles are among the 250
reported executions so far in 2016.
Iran Human Rights reported that 19 people have been hanged in public spaces so
far this year.
Due to the fact Iranian authorities do not report all executions that take
place, Iran Human Rights said the number of people put to death may be much
higher than reported.
While Iranian executions have fallen in 2016, regional rival Saudi Arabia's use
of the death penalty has been maintained this year, although Iran remains far
ahead in their total number of executions.
Human Rights Watch reported that of the 108 people executed by Saudi
authorities this year, 47 were convicted of murder, 13 were drug smugglers, and
1 was convicted of rape.
Close to 1/2 of Saudi's total executions this year took place in 1 day on 2
January, when 47 people were killed for terrorism convictions.
Among those executed in January was Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose
killing sparked angry protests in Iran, leading to the ransacking of the Saudi
embassy there.
Others killed in the group of 47, as revealed by Middle East Eye, included
prisoners suffering from mental illness and individuals detained as juveniles.
Human Rights Watch said the kingdom was "on track" to match the 158 executions
it carried out in 2015, while it has already surpassed the total of 88 people
killed in 2014.
The New York-based watchdog criticised continued use of the death penalty by
Saudi authorities, warning that it does not reduce crime in the kingdom.
"Executions are never the answer to stopping crime, especially when they result
from a flawed justice system that ignores torture allegations," Sarah Leah
Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
"There is simply no excuse for Saudi Arabia's frequent use of the death penalty
for non-violent drug crimes."
(source: Middle East Eye)
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