Oct. 10
EGYPT:
Statement by "Stop Executions in Egypt" Campaign
The approaching 10th of October marks the 14th anniversary of the World Day
Against the Death Penalty.Egypt recorded record highs in the death
penalty;unprecedented in the history of Egyptian judiciary, rather, in the
entire world when it comes to death penalties passed to political dissent.
On this day, the United Nations consistently calls for an end to death
penalties in the whole world, and in this context, Egyptians for Democracy in
the United Kingdom campaigns to draw the attention of the world to the
political situation in Egypt and how the death penalty is used as arepressive
measure practiced against political dissent. The United Nations stands at equal
distance in regards to its stance from the death penalty, regardless of whether
the death penalty agrees with the values and cultures of the different
communities. Even though the death penalty in Egypt does not breach the
constitution nor the laws, the coup authorities have been using it since the
3rd of July 2013 military coup as a means of political revenge and elimination
and hence is a breach of Egyptian rules and regulations.
During the hundred years prior to the military coup in July 2013, the number of
death sentences passed totaled to 1429 verdicts, whereas post the military
coup, in a period of over 2 years, Egyptian courts passed in 32 cases a total
of 1763 death penalties for reference to the Mufti - a step that precedes the
official death penalty - resulting so far in 729 official death penalties,
which is an alarming figure. The trials that took place lacked basic standards
of a fair trial, and hence when current Egyptian authorities executed 7
Egyptians, there was unequivocal condemnations and requests to suspend
executions from the international community and human rights organizations.
Based on the abovementioned, Egyptians for Democracy in the United Kingdom
calls on all activists, political forces, human rights organizations, the Human
Rights Council of the United Nations and all the countries and governments of
the world, to work on the following:
- Suspend the implementation of the death penalty for the time being.
- The immediate release of all political prisoners, starting with children and
women, the elderly and the ill.
- To ensure international standards of fair trial in Egyptian courts and to
provide legal guarantees for those accused, including their lawyers.
- To spread the culture of human rights in Egyptian society so it becomes a
spirit force at all stages of litigation.
- To renounce hatred, violence and their incitement - especially in the media -
and the common pursuit of a just society, dominated by respect for human
rights.
Egyptians for Democracy
(source: ikhwanweb.com)
NIGERIA:
NASS asked to reconsider death penalty for terrorism
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 14th World Day against Death
Penalty, rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Law Service (HURILAWS), has
asked the National Assembly to reconsider its stance on the application of
death penalty for terrorism related cases.
HURILAWS in a statement on Monday, by its Senior Legal/Programmes Coordinator,
Collins Okeke said it was concerned that despite the progressive abolition of
the death penalty globally, Nigeria has opted to expand the scope of the death
penalty by including acts of terrorism among the offenses punishable by death.
The statement read: "The Human Rights Law Service (HURILAWS) is concerned that
despite the progressive abolition of the death penalty globally, Nigeria has
opted to expand the scope of the death penalty by including acts of terrorism
among the offenses punishable by death.
"Often these offenses, which do not necessarily result in lethal consequences,
are drafted in very broad and undefined language, meaning they could be applied
to a wide variety of activities.
"It has never been conclusively shown that the death penalty deters crimes more
effectively than other punishments. The correlation between crime rates and the
death penalty seems to be even less relevant in the case of terrorism, where
the act is politically motivated, with often no cost-benefit calculation.
"People committing terrorist acts are dedicated to their cause, which
counteracts and neutralizes whatever legal threat is meant to deter them. Some
terrorists assume that they will die while engaging in acts of terrorism,
therefore the threat of an execution does not serve as a deterrent for such
acts. Moreover, many terrorism-related cases are never solved and terrorists
who have not killed themselves in the act are rarely apprehended.
"In response to growing terrorist threats, many countries have passed or
amended antiterrorism laws. This appears to have a strong symbolic value: they
provide politicians an easy and expeditious response to terrorism and
demonstrate their apparent effectiveness in countering terrorism. However, it
is encouraging that few countries have actually carried out executions.
"Moreover, the political use of the death penalty for terrorism by governments
is not only ineffective against terrorism, but can also be exploited by
terrorists themselves. Their position is reinforced by the countries' violent
response as they see themselves as martyrs, and even use it to justify future
reprisals. The death penalty for terrorism can therefore risk contributing to
extremism and violence. HURILAWS calls on Nigeria's National Assembly to
reconsider the application of death penalty for terrorism related cases."
Meanwhile, World Day against Death Penalty, is a day set aside every year by
the World Coalition against the Death Penalty to globally advocate for the
abolition of the death penalty. The theme for this year is death penalty and
terrorism.
(source: vanguardngr.com)
ZIMBABWE:
President Mugabe petitioned over death penalty
As Zimbabwe joins the whole world in commemorating World Day against Death
Penalty today, Monday 10 October 2016, a petition to be handed to President
Robert Mugabe over death penalty has been set up.
The commemorations to be held at Theatre in the Park in Harare Gardens will be
hosted by VERITAS, Rooftop Productions, and the Zimbabwe Coalition Against
Death Penalty, with support from the Embassy of Switzerland.
VERITAS Zimbabwe, a leading human rights organisation, one of the organisers of
the event, who drafted the petition, says the petition will be presented at the
event and widely circulated for signatures, before it is handed to the
President.
Director of Veritas Val Inghan Thorpe says capital punishment is an ancient law
that has never been proven to be an effective form of punishment.
"It is now an outdated thing, cruel, and flawed punishment for the state to
execute human beings. We hope this event will encourage all Zimbabweans to work
for the total abolition of the death penalty, and to find more effective
remedies to serious crime," says Thorpe.
Veritas urges Mugabe as Head of State and Government and the authority in whom
the Constitution of Zimbabwe vests the Power of Mercy, to direct the government
to take all necessary measures to strike the death penalty off the country's
statutes.
Throughout the world, and particularly in the continent of Africa, the death
penalty is being abolished. The majority of African Union member states have
legally abolished the death penalty or applied a de facto moratorium on capital
punishment; only a minority of 17 states have retained the death penalty.
Only 3 SADC States continue to carry out the death penalty: Botswana, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Lesotho. The other SADC States have
either abolished it in law or do not carry it out in practice.
Though Zimbabwe has not carried out any execution for over 10 years, but, it is
yet to legally abolish the death penalty and persons are still sentenced to
death. This has seen condemned prisoners languish incarceration and suffer the
psychological horrors of awaiting execution, some for nearly 20 years under
harsh conditions.
"The death penalty is not a traditional penalty but a colonial relic.
Traditional customary law relied on restorative justice rather than
retribution. For this reason the Council of Chiefs, in January 2016, urged that
the death penalty be abolished. By abolishing the death penalty Zimbabwe would
be making a clear break with its colonial past," says VERITAS in the petition.
It says the death penalty is not an effective deterrent against serious crime;
this has been shown by research in many parts of the world. Without deterrence
it becomes merely cruel and inhumane.
In April 2015, at its 56th Ordinary Session, the African Commission on Human
and Peoples' Rights adopted a draft regional treaty (the Protocol to the
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Abolition of the Death
Penalty in Africa) to help African Union member states move away from capital
punishment and towards systems emphasising restorative justice rather than
retributive justice.
"Your Excellency was Chair of the African Union when the draft was adopted, and
Zimbabwe can seize the opportunity to lead other African states by example,
progressively transforming our continent's penal procedures.
"In the ZANU election manifesto in 1980 your Party pledged to abolish hanging.
By abolishing the death penalty you will leave an immortal legacy of your
Presidency and leadership, not only in Zimbabwe but in Africa and the
developing countries of the world. We therefore respectfully urge you in your
clemency to grant this our petition," VERITAS urges President Mugabe.
Various organisations in Zimbabwe have recently challenged the death penalty,
saying it is not reversible and has no appeal in the event that one has been
wrongly convicted. Last week 2 prisoners on death row, through prominent
Zimbabwean lawyer Tendai Biti applied to the Constitutional Court challenging
the capital punishment. The case was heard on 4 September 2016, where it was
ruled that the matter would be dealt with late this year or early next year.
(source: zimnews.net)
KENYA:
2 murder convicts ask court to abolish death sentence
2 murder convicts have called for abolition of the death sentence.
Francis Karoki Muruatetu and Wilson Thirimbu Mwangi told the Supreme Court that
hanging offenders is cruel and inhuman.
The 2, sentenced by the High Court for murder, hope the Supreme Court will
finally abolish the mandatory sentence.
In their argument, they said no court would have independently handed them the
penalty, which they said Kenya borrowed from her colonial master, Britain,
before it was adopted by Parliament.
Britain introduced capital punishment in Kenyan during the colonial era and
Kenya went on to retain it even after independence.
"We were convicted by the High Court on a charge of murder and, by the
operation of Section 204 of the Penal Code, the sole applicable sentence was
the death sentence. The sentence was not a judicial evaluation, but rather a
predetermined penalty in a municipal statute," reads papers the 2 have filed.
5 OTHERS
Muruatetu and Thirimbu were convicted, alongside 5 others, over the death of
Lawrence Githinji Magondu 16 years ago.
They appealed the High Court decision but lost in the Court of Appeal.
Courts have had different opinions on the death sentence. At the same time, MPs
have not been clear on what they think of the sentence.
Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko, in the Muruatetu-Thirimbu
appeal, said Kenya should do away with the mandatory death sentence.
However, Muruatetu and Thirimbu are not the first to challenge the death
sentence. In 2012, Jackson Maina and Joseph Kirero Sepi asked High Court judges
Mbogholi Msagha, Florence Muchemi, Mumbi Ngugi and Isaac Lenaola for their
interpretation on whether hanging a person is against the law.
The judges, in their verdict two years later, ruled the death penalty was not
unconstitutional. However, they said keeping such convicts in confinements
awaiting death was irrational.
They said only Kenyans can do away with the sentence, not courts.
Courts have also not decided how many years a life sentence should be, a
decision the 4-judge bench said should be made by Parliament.
"As to what amounts to life imprisonment, that is a matter for the legislative
branch of government. It is not for the courts to determine for the people what
should be a sufficient term of years for a person who has committed an offence
that society finds reprehensible to serve," the court found.
Courts hand death to those found guilty of administering an oath to commit a
capital offence including murder, treason, robbery with violence and attempted
robbery with violence. Kenya has not executed any convict since 1987.
(source: standardmedia.co.ke)
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