Oct. 27
IRAN:
12 executions in Karaj, Shiraz, Ahvaz and Salmas prisons
Anti-human regime of mullahs hanged 12 prisoners in the central prisons of
Karaj, Shiraz, Sepidar of Ahvaz and Salmas during days 23 to 25 October. One of
the 5 prisoners that were hanged collectively on Tuesday morning, October 25
was a 25-year- old youth by the name of Saeed Pour-Hassan. On the day before, 3
prisoners in Shiraz and 2 young brothers in Abadan from Arab minority were
hanged in the Sepidar prison of Ahvaz. In fear of the people's wrath,
repressive SSF (State Security Force) were stationed in various locations in
the Salich district of Abadan strictly controlling the people.
Also on October 23, 2 Kurd prisoners were hanged in in the prison of Salmas.
Meanwhile, Bahram Ghasemi, the regime's foreign ministry spokesman, described
the recent European Parliament resolution about Iran as being "inaccurate" and
based on "false information and reports". He called repression and killing of
the Iranian people as an internal issue and said, "We have not and will not
allow any individual or country to speak or judge about our internal issues."
(state-run News Network, October 24)
The Iranian Resistance calls all the Iranian people and particularly the brave
youths to protest against the brutal death penalty. It reiterates any dealing
with the mullahs' regime should be contingent upon improvement of human rights
situation, especially halt of executions.
(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)
EGYPT:
More Action Needed! - Prisoner of Conscience At Risk Of Death Penalty (Egypt:
UA 243/14)
Urgent Action
October 26, 2016
A Cairo court adjourned to 1 November the trial of photojournalist Mahmoud Abu
Zeid, popularly known as Shawkan. He is a prisoner of conscience facing 9
trumped-up charges and is at risk of the death penalty, if convicted.
On 8 October, Cairo Criminal Court adjourned the trial of photojournalist
Mahmoud Abu Zeid and 738 other defendants to 1 November, while it released
Hosny Ali, a defendant suffering from cancer. One of Mahmoud Abu Zeid's lawyers
told Amnesty International that the trial has been adjourned to screen the
remaining pictures and videos that are supposed to contain evidence backing up
the charges against the defendants.
Mahmoud Abu Zeid was arrested on 14 August 2013 while photographing the violent
dispersal by security forces of the Rabaa al-Adaweya sit-in in Cairo. The case
is referred to by Egyptian media as the "Rabaa dispersal" case. At the 8
October session, the Public Prosecution displayed a few CDs containing pictures
and videos allegedly incriminating the defendants. However, defence lawyers
objected to what was contained in the CDs because they related to events that
pre-date the dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adaweya sit-in, such as the "25 January
Revolution" in 2011. The Prosecution responded by saying the evidence was
supplied by the National Security Agency without elaborating. Since early 2015,
the National Security Agency has emerged as the principle state agency engaged
in suppressing opposition to the government, committing torture and other
serious violations with impunity.
Shawkan has been held far in excess of the 2-year detention limit set out in
Article 143 of Egypt's Code of Criminal Procedures for those at risk of life
imprisonment or the death penalty. The law says that they must be sentenced
within a 2-year period, or otherwise released immediately. His lawyers'
requests for his release have been unsuccessful so far. He is detained in
Cairo's Tora Prison Complex, and was moved on 19 October from Istiqbal Prison
to Tahqiq. The reason for this transfer is still unclear.
Mahmoud Abu Zeid is being tried in a mass trial with 738 other defendants,
including leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. He faces 9 trumped-up
charges, which include "joining a criminal gang" and "murder". He has denied
the charges against him. Mahmoud Abu Zeid only receives medication for
Hepatitis C sporadically.
1) TAKE ACTION
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
-- Urging the Egyptian authorities to drop all charges against Mahmoud Abu
Zeid and release him immediately and unconditionally as he is a prisoner of
conscience detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of
expression;
-- Calling on them to provide Mahmoud Abu Zeid with any medical treatment he
may require.
Contact these 2 officials by 7 December, 2016:
Public Prosecutor
Nabil Sadek
Office of the Public Prosecutor
Madinat al-Rihab
New Cairo, Egypt
Salutation: Dear Counsellor
Ambassador Yasser Reda
Embassy of Egypt
3521 International Ct NW, Washington DC 20008
Fax: 202 244 4319 -OR- 202 244 5131 I Phone: 202 895 5400
Email: ambassa...@egyptembassy.net
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
(source: Amnesty International USA)
UGANDA:
Pardon Prisoners On Death Row
On October 24, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta commuted the death sentences of
all 2,747 convicts on death row to life sentences giving them a reprieve from
the hangman's noose.
The 2,655 men and 92 women will now serve life imprisonment. Invoking the Power
of Mercy provided for under Article 133 of the Kenyan Constitution, President
Kenyatta also pardoned 102 prisoners serving longterm sentences.
The development came a week after Kenyatta freed 7,000 inmates during the
Heroes Day celebrations to create jail space for corruption convicts.
The decision to commute all death sentences brings Kenya closer to the growing
community of nations, which have abolished the death penalty, calling it a
cruel and inhuman form of punishment.
Although Kenya last executed in 1987, it has mandatory death penalty on its law
books and had the highest number of people on death row in East Africa while
Uganda at 28 offences has the highest number of offences that attract the death
sentence.
This was not the 1st time such a mass commutation of death sentences happened
in Kenya. On August 3, 2009, then president Mwai Kibaki commuted more than
4,000 death sentences to life jail terms citing the undue mental anguish
suffered by those sentenced to death. His decision however may have been
influenced by the "would be" outcomes of 3 cases that were challenging
mandatory use of capital punishment.
Should the legal challenges have succeeded, the government would have been
faced with the unenviable task of holding individual sentence hearings for all
4,000-plus prisoners under sentence of death as was the case in Uganda after
the Kigula ruling. Commutation of a sentence is the substitution or reduction
of a sentence to a lesser one.
Presidents are given power to do this by their countries' Constitutions. In
Uganda this is under Article 121 (4)(c) of the Constitution. Various presidents
have exercised this power. President Obama has gone down in the history of
America as one who has used this power most.
As at June, he had commuted the sentences of 348 individuals - more than the
previous seven Presidents combined. Commutation of death sentences has happened
all over the world. In Africa, Zambia is yet another country that has had its
presidents exercise this power continuously. By August 2015, Zambia had only 4
convicts on death sentence.
The small size of the country's deathrow is the result of several presidential
commutations. On July 16, 2015, president Edgar Lungu commuted the death
sentences of 332 inmates to life imprisonment. In December 2013, there were 214
people on death row, following former president Michael Sata's commutations of
123 death sentences.
President, Rupiah Bwezani Banda pardoned and commuted sentences of 53 prisoners
on death row in 2009 while in 2007, president Mwanawasa commuted the death
sentences of 97 prisoners who were on death row to life imprisonment.
Instances of showing mercy to convicted prisoners through commutations and
pardons are not new neither are they enshrined only in Constitutions. They are
found in other great books like the Bible and have been practiced for
centuries.
In Judaism and Christianity, the concept of the Jubilee is a special year of
remission of sins and universal pardon. In the book of Leviticus, a Jubilee
year is mentioned to occur every 50th year, during which slaves and prisoners
would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be
particularly manifested. Currently, the Catholic Church is commemorating an
extra ordinary Jubilee of mercy (which will end on November 20).
Pope Francis issued a prayer for the year in which the second last paragraph
re-echoes the call to free prisoners found among others in Isaiah 42:6-7,
61:1-3, Psalm 69:33 and Luke 4:17-19; "send your Spirit and consecrate everyone
of us with its anointing, so that the Jubilee of mercy may be a year of grace
from the Lord and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to
the poor, proclaim liberty to the captives and oppressed and restore sight to
the blind".
Although Uganda as a nation missed this element of jubilee celebration at the
50 anniversary of independence, it is not late to exercise pardon to these
prisoners as has been done in Kenya.
(source: Opinion; Lucy Nantume----The Monitor)
SINGAPORE:
Ex-policeman appeals to escape death penalty for Kovan double murders
3 years after he murdered 2 men, former police officer Iskandar Rahmat is
fighting to save his own life.
The Court of Appeal reserved judgment on Wednesday (Oct 26) on Iskandar's
appeal against 2 death sentences handed down to him for the murder of Mr Tan
Boon Sin, 67, and his son Chee Heong, 42, on Jul 10, 2013.
Iskandar's lawyer, Wendell Wong, argued the murder convictions should be
overturned and replaced with reduced charges, sparing Iskandar the noose. He
urged the apex court to consider new evidence in the form of 2 reports - a
forensic pathology report and a psychiatric report.
The forensic pathology report states that Iskandar suffered defensive injuries,
lending weight to the defence's case that Mr Tan Boon Sin was the aggressor,
and that Iskandar had wrested the knife from his hand and killed him in
self-defence.
The latter report said Iskandar was diagnosed with 2 mental illnesses at the
time of the murders. This "abnormality of mind ... substantially impaired his
mental responsibility" for the killings, psychiatrist Dr John Bosco Lee stated.
FATHER, SON DIED FROM MULTIPLE STAB WOUNDS
Iskandar, 37, was found guilty of two counts of murder and sentenced to death
on Dec 4 last year. High Court Justice Tay Yong Kwang found "no doubt" that the
policeman, facing bankruptcy and dismissal from the force, intended to kill the
elderly man for his money.
When Mr Tan's son, Chee Heong, appeared "at the most inopportune moment" at his
father's house, "he quickly became collateral damage", Justice Tay said.
Father and son died from multiple stab wounds - 21 and 17 respectively - on
areas like the scalp, face, neck and chest. The elder Tan died in Iskandar's
arms, while the younger Tan staggered out of the house and collapsed behind a
car in the driveway.
His body got caught under Iskandar's getaway car and was dragged for nearly 1km
before it dislodged in front of Kovan MRT station. It also left a trail of
blood leading back to 14J Hillside Drive, where the other body was discovered.
During his 10-day trial, Iskandar insisted he stabbed the men in self-defence,
when the elder Tan came at him with a knife after he realised Iskandar had
tricked him into removing S$600,000 in cash from a safe deposit box.
Iskandar maintains all he intended to do was to rob the man, not kill him.
The younger Tan barged in to find Iskandar covered in his father's blood and
wielding a knife, and came at him with fists clenched, Iskandar had testified.
Prosecutors said Iskandar intended to kill Mr Tan for the money and decided to
finish his son off too, to "silence completely the 2 persons who had seen him".
DIAGNOSIS OF MENTAL ILLNESS THREE YEARS LATE, "UNRELIABLE"
On Wednesday, they attempted to block Mr Wong from presenting new evidence,
pointing out that the reports were prepared more than 3 years after the
killings and more than 8 months after the trial.
In response to Mr Wong's submission that Iskandar was suffering from Acute
Stress Reaction and Adjustment Disorder around the time of the murders, Deputy
Public Prosecutor Lee Lit Cheng pointed out Iskandar himself had denied this at
trial.
Iskandar cannot be allowed to now rely on "unreliable, self-serving" reports
based on interviews 3 years after the fact, the prosecutor argued.
Urging the apex court to uphold the death sentence, DPP Lee said Iskandar had
"no choice" but to kill Mr Tan "or face certain reprehension", because of the
great lengths to which he had gone to trick the elderly man into removing cash
and valuables from a safe deposit box.
PLAN GONE WRONG
Iskandar called Mr Tan from a payphone on Jul 10, and introduced himself as an
officer from the Police Intelligence Department. He told the elderly man the
police had "intel" that his safe deposit box would be "hit". Mr Tan agreed to
replace his valuables with a CCTV camera, under the impression that he was
participating in a secret police operation.
The men met later that afternoon at a Shell petrol station in Paya Lebar, where
Iskandar passed Mr Tan a dummy CCTV camera to put in his safe deposit box.
Mr Tan did as he was told and returned later with cash and valuables in tow.
Iskandar offered to escort him home as he was carrying a lot of money, and Mr
Tan agreed.
It was when the pair arrived at the Tan family home at Hillside Drive that
things went horribly wrong.
"Your client is the only person alive who was there," Chief Justice Sundaresh
Menon said, pressing Iskandar's lawyer for an explanation as to why Mr Tan and
his son ended up dead, when Iskandar claims he was the one attacked with a
knife.
The CJ pointed out there appears to be no explanation for why Mr Tan allegedly
attacked Iskandar suddenly, after following the policeman's instructions and
even allowing him into his home.
"I have to tell you that that's something that causes me a great deal of
difficulty," CJ Menon said, especially because "the only evidence (Iskandar
has) put forward pivots on this point - that (Mr Tan) attacked him".
Mr Wong said there was no way the murder weapon could have come from Iskandar.
The policeman was dressed in office wear and would not have been able to
conceal a knife under his clothes, he argued.
To that, the prosecution reiterated that no knives were missing from the Tan
family home and highlighted that Iskandar was "able to describe the knife in
detail". He even drew a picture of it for investigators, despite the fact that
its details would have been obscured by blood, DPP Lee said.
Iskandar's family was allowed to spend a few minutes with him after the 3-hour
hearing. The Tan family was not present.
(source: channelnewsasia)
MALAYSIA:
Duo on death row fail in appeals:
A 27-year-old Filipino labourer will be hanged for murdering a local man in
Keningau 7 years ago after losing his final appeal in the Federal Court here on
Wednesday.
Justices Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, Tan Sri
Ahmad Hj Maarop, Tan Sri Hasan Lah and Dato' Balia Haji Wahi unanimously
dismissed Mohd Hussin Abdul Karim's appeal and upheld his conviction and
sentence.
The apex court held that they found no merit in the appeal.
Hussin was on April 8, 2011 found guilty by the High Court here of murdering
one Kedin Repad, 51, along with an accomplice still at large at 1.30am on May
10, 2009 at the Tamu area in Keningau town.
He was convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the death
sentence on conviction.
The Court of Appeal rejected his appeal on July 8, 2014.
Hussin's assigned counsel Hamid Ismail, raised 2 grounds in the appeal, namely,
that the element of common intention was not proven and that improper
evaluation of Hussin's evidence by the trial judge on common intention was not
considered.
Hamid submitted that the trial judge had failed to consider evidence in
determining the element of common intention, namely that Hussin and his friends
were at the crime scene for a drinking session, Hussin approached Kedin as he
wanted to help a waitress, who was scared to give the bill to Kedin as Kedin
was drunk and aggressive and that Kedin lied to Hussin and the restaurant by
giving an empty envelope as payment.
He added the trial judge failed to consider Hussin's evidence about common
intention and that Hussin's evidence would show that he was at the caf??? for a
drinking session and he did not ask his two friends to assist him to hit Kedin.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Awang Ahmadajaya submitted that there was common
intention as essentially Hussin and his friends wanted to cause injury to
Kedin.
He also said that Hussin's attempt to take a manhole metal cover during the
incident showed his intention to cause injury to Kedin as the metal cover was
heavy.
Meanwhile, a 60-year-old Filipino who was sentenced to death for murdering a
man in Tawau failed in his final appeal against his death sentence at the
Federal Court.
Justices Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, Tan Sri
Ahmad Hj Maarop, Tan Sri Hasan Lah and Dato' Balia Haji Wahi dismissed Wilson
Arad's appeal and affirmed his conviction and sentence.
The court held that there was no merit in the appeal and that the prosecution
had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Wilson was on Aug 2, 2012 found guilty by the Tawau High Court of killing one
Said Alian, 57, along with an accomplice still at large at 4.30pm on Aug 30,
2007 in a house at Jambatan 2, Kg Kurnia Jaya, Mile 4, Jalan Apas, Tawau.
The offence comes under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the death
sentence on conviction.
Wilson's appeal to the Court of Appeal was rejected on Sept 9, 2014.
Earlier, assigned counsel Ram Singh representing Wilson submitted among others
that there was no investigation carried out inside the house although 3 people
emerged from the house.
He said if proper investigation were done by the investigating officer and more
blood swabs taken, it could have revealed who actually had killed Said, adding
that, the 3 other witnesses, who were seen inside the house, only saw Wilson
holding a Rambo knife.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Awang Ahmadajaya rebutted that that there were
eye-witnesses who saw Wilson holding the knife and coming out from the house
during the incident.
Meanwhile, the apex court struck out the prosecution's appeal against the
acquittal of a man from a drug trafficking charge.
The court made the decision after being informed by the prosecution that the
respondent, Mohana Dass Velayutham, failed to turn up in court on Wednesday for
hearing of the appeal and that the notice of hearing had been served.
DPP Awang also told the court that Wednesday was the 3rd mention date for the
appeal.
The prosecution was appealing against the Court of Appeal's decision on Sept
12, 2014 to set aside Mohana Dass Velayutham's conviction and death sentence
and to acquit and discharge him of the charge.
Mohana Dass of Kajang, Selangor was on Feb 8, 2012 sentenced to death by the
High Court here after he was found guilty of trafficking 4,674.3gm of ketamine
at 4.40pm on July 31, 2011 at Terminal Two of the Kota Kinabalu International
Airport.
The offence under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act provides for
death penalty on conviction.
(source: The Daily Express)
NEPAL/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
PM Dahal urges UAE to pardon a Nepali in death row
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has urged the UAE to provide amnesty to Amar
Bahadur Bam of Darchula, who was sentenced to death by a United Arab Emirates
court. Bam has been living behind hars in UAE since 2003.
Bam, a resident of Dhari VDC in far-western Nepal, was convicted of murder for
killing an Indian national Sharad Shetty in 2003, and has been languishing in
the Al Abira Central Jail in Dubai.
PM Dahal's secretariat informed that Dahal urged the Ambassador of UAE to Nepal
Saeed Hamdan Mohammad Al Naqbi to pardon Bam during a meeting between the
Ambassador and PM Dahal at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of
Ministers (OPMCM) on Thursday.
Ambassador Naqbi had reached Singha Durbar to invite Nepal to attend the World
Future Energy Summit to be held in UAE on January 16, 2017.
PM Dahal expressed his interest to attend the programme. The duo also held
discussions on issues pertaining to bilateral interests between Nepal and UAE.
(source: Katmandu Post)
CHINA:
Court exercises prudence in giving death penalty for graft
Legal experts have praised the more prudent application of the death penalty
for corrupt officials in China as achieving a balance between appropriate
punishment and human rights, despite some public skepticism over sentences
appearing too light for the worst offenders who tried to embezzle millions of
yuan.
Nearly 80 senior officials have been investigated and sentenced since 2012.
However, none have been executed, according to media reports.
In the last 2 weeks, 3 corrupt officials, who raked in record amounts of money,
were sentenced to death with a 2-year reprieve.
In the latest case, Yu Tieyi, a former deputy manager of the supply division of
the Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group, was sentenced to death with a
2-year reprieve last Friday for taking bribes worth 306.8 million yuan ($45.3
million), the highest amount so far dealt with in a corruption case in China,
according to media reports.
Death sentences with reprieves are commuted to life imprisonment with no chance
of parole and penalty abatement when the probationary period expires, usually
after 2 years. The criminal will be executed only if crimes are conducted again
during the probationary period, according to the latest Criminal Law Amendment
(CLA) that took effect in November 2015.
Many people have expressed skepticism online over the reprieved death sentences
handed out to senior officials convicted of corruption.
Many said the sentence is too light for those who caused huge losses to the
nation, especially after the Supreme People's Court (SPC) approved the death
sentence on Jia Jinglong on October 18.
Jia, a villager from North China's Hebei Province, shot and killed the village
chief last February in revenge over the demolition of his house during the
village's reconstruction campaign in 2013.
Wasting tax
"If the worst corrupt officials are not sentenced to death, people may believe
that officials are shielding each other," Mo Shaoping, a law professor at the
Central University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on
Wednesday.
Mo added that people are dissatisfied with a life sentence, as they feel that
the longer convicted criminals are behind bars, the more taxpayer money is
wasted.
Ruan Qilin, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law,
told The Beijing News that China had been strictly controlling and more
prudently applying death penalties since the SPC took back the right to review
death penalties from lower-level courts in 2007.
Ruan said the death penalty as a deterrent to corruption should be kept on the
statute books, as the public expects this.
However, Hong Daode, a professor at the China University of Political Science
and Law, told the Global Times that prudent application of the death penalty is
aimed at safeguarding the right to life while maintaining fairness, which is in
line with international practice.
"Court sentences given to corrupt officials are based on a combination of the
amount of embezzled money and the gravity of the crimes," Hong said.
According to a clarification of applicable law for corruption and bribery
cases, jointly issued by the SPC and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on
April 18, the death penalty will be handed down in cases that involve
exceptionally large amounts of money, where the crime is particularly severe,
with an extremely bad social impact, or if it results in huge losses to the
country and people.
Corrupt officials who accept huge amounts of bribes - 3 million yuan or more -
will be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, life imprisonment or death
along with a fine and property confiscation.
In addition, the clarification by the SPC stipulates that the death penalty can
be imposed with a 2-year reprieve if suspects turn themselves in and assist in
the authorities' inquiries, faithfully confess their crimes, repent sincerely,
return illicit money, or help reduce or avoid the damage they have caused.
'Living dead'
China will try to avoid death sentences in corruption cases unless deaths and
great damage, either to society or national security, are involved, Hong said.
Hong believes that life imprisonment is a worse deterrent than death, as it
makes corrupt officials the "living dead."
Li Yong, a law professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global
Times that imposing a reprieved death sentence is a balance between punishment
and human rights.
"Strict punishment alone cannot curb corruption," Li said.
Li noted that the root of corruption is power. He said that moves to simplify
administrative procedures and delegate authority to lower levels as well as a
strict supervision mechanism should also be instituted to curb corruption from
the roots.
China is the only country in the world that gives the death penalty for
economic crimes. Caijing magazine reported in 2015 that 10 % of 50 corrupt
officials in China were sentenced to immediate execution in 2010, while 26 %
were sentenced to the death penalty with a reprieve and 14 % to life
imprisonment.
Among the 80 senior officials arrested since the 18th National People's
Congress in 2012, no one was sentenced to immediate execution and only one
person, former general Gu Junshan, had been sentenced to death with a reprieve
as of October 2015, according to The Beijing News.
(source: cri.cn)
INDIA:
SC Stays Execution Of Convicts In Jharkhand Massacre
Granting permission to amend grounds of review petition, the Supreme Court has
stayed the execution of the death sentence 'pending further orders' awarded to
Mofil Khan and Mobarak Khan for murdering Haneef Khan and family consisting of
his wife and 4 sons. His review petition is now being heard by a bench headed
by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur.
The bench granted permission to the counsel to file amended grounds for review
within 4 weeks.
"The execution of the death sentence awarded to the petitioners shall remain
stayed pending further orders from this court," the order dated 24.10.2016
said.
Mofil Khan and his nephew Mobarak Khan and 2 others were found guilty by the
trial court of murdering Haneef Khan and his family consisting of his wife and
4 sons, including 3 minors and 1 physically disabled boy.
Death penalty awarded to Mofil Khan and his nephew by the court was confirmed
by the Jharkhand High Court. The Supreme Court had heard the appeal of Mofil
Khan restricting itself to the question of sentence only.
The apex court judgment in this case discusses various case laws which dealt
with 'rarest of rare' doctrine. A bench comprising then Chief Justice of India
HL Dattu, Justice RK Agrawal and Justice Arun Mishra had observed that the
judiciary has a paramount duty to safeguard the rights of the victims as
diligently as those of the perpetrators.
"In the context of these turbulent social times, we cannot remain oblivious to
the substantial suffering of the victims. It stands as a fact that criminal
justice reform and civil rights movement in India has historically only paid
considerable attention to the rights of the accused and neglected to address to
the same extent the impact of crime on the victims. It is not only the victims
of crime only that require soothing balm, but also the incidental victims like
the family, the co-sufferers and to a relatively large extent the society too,"
the court had observed.
Confirming his death penalty, the apex court had observed thus: "Keeping in
view the said principle of proportionality of sentence or what it termed as
"just desert" for the vile act of slaughtering 8 lives, including four innocent
minors and a physically infirm child whereby an entire family is exterminated,
we cannot resist from concluding that the depravity of the appellant's offence
would attract no lesser sentence than the death penalty."
Later on March 6, President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected their mercy
petitions.
(source: livelaw.in)
********************
HC seeks response from death row convict
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the reply of 2 death row convicts in the
2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case, whose case file has been sent by the trial
court here for confirmation of capital punishment.
A bench of justices Gita Mittal and P. S. Teji also sought personal presence of
convicts Ravi Kapoor and Amit Shukla, who were handed down death penalty by the
trial court.
The bench, which has fixed the matter for further hearing on November 24, also
issued production warrants to the 2.
The sessions judge had sent the case record relating to the conviction and
death sentence of Kapoor and Shukla to the HC.
It is mandatory for a trial court to refer a death penalty case to a HC for
confirmation of the sentence within 30 days of the pronouncement of the
verdict.
The trial court had on July 14 held the duo guilty for murder of 28-year-old IT
executive Jigisha Ghosh and other counts.
While sentencing the 2 to death on August 22, the trial court had said the girl
was killed in a "cold-blooded, inhuman and cruel manner" and "brutally mauled
to death".
(source: The Hindu)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan Sets Execution Date for 'Insane' Prisoner
Authorities in Pakistan have handed down an execution warrant to a death-row
prisoner who is severely mentally ill.
Pakistan's interior ministry today handed down a so-called 'black warrant'
confirming that it plans to hang Imdad Ali, who suffers from paranoid
schizophrenia, next Wednesday (2nd). Mr Ali was sentenced to death in 2008 over
a shooting, following several years in which his family struggled to pay for
medical treatment. Since then, a series of medical assessments have confirmed
his illness, with one doctor describing him as "insane", and saying that his
condition is "chronic and disabling."
Despite this, last week saw Pakistan's Supreme Court dismiss an appeal by Mr
Ali's lawyers, commenting that schizophrenia is "not a mental disorder." This
afternoon, authorities at the jail where Mr Ali is held confirmed that a
warrant has been issued for his execution on November 2nd.
The execution of mentally ill people is prohibited under Pakistani and
international law, and today's development comes amid mounting criticism of
plans to hang Mr Ali. UN human rights experts have called on the government to
halt Mr Ali's execution, while the UK's Foreign Office has said it is "very
concerned" about the case. A group of Pakistani psychiatrists has also urged
the authorities to commute Mr Ali's sentence. Over 20,000 people have signed a
petition calling on Pakistan's President, Mamnoon Hussain, to grant mercy to Mr
Ali.
Under international law, the President has a duty to review death penalty
cases. Article 45 of Pakistan's Constitution grants the President powers to
"grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute" death
sentences.
Commenting, Maya Foa, a director at Reprieve, said: "It's appalling that the
Pakistani authorities are pushing ahead with their plans to execute Imdad.
Experts agree that Imdad is severely mentally ill - meaning his hanging would
be a grave breach of Pakistani and international law, and an indelible stain on
Pakistan's reputation. It is the President of Pakistan's constitutional duty to
review death penalty cases and to use his power to grant mercy in cases such as
Imdad's - where not to do so would result in a gross, irreparable miscarriage
of justice. The President must use his power to pardon Imdad, and prevent this
outrage from going ahead."
(source: commondreams.org)
***********************
Pakistan's courts must not ignore mental illness
Imdad Ali lives, or exists, in Pakistan. He is on death row. He may not live
much longer. Indeed, he very well may die, thrashing in the hangman's noose, as
early as next Wednesday.
[UPDATE: Since this was written, Imdad's execution date has been set for
Wednesday, 2 November, 2016 - please join our urgent call on Pakistan's
President to stop the hanging going ahead]
On October 20th, the Supreme Court of Pakistan affirmed his death sentence. The
Court used some odd language. He was, they wrote in the strange words of
Pakistan capital cases, "awarded a death sentence by the trial court" (much as
if he had received an OBE from Her Majesty). After this, a "black warrant" was
issued authorising his execution. The question posed to the court was whether
his long history of paranoid schizophrenia should spare him from the gallows.
In the appeal, his lawyer asked - or "respectfully prayed" - that mercy should
"very graciously be granted ... in the interest of justice." In considering
this, the court asked whether Imdad could rightly be construed as being of
"unsound mind."
It is not as if Imdad's family just made this up. Before Imdad was even born,
over a half-century ago, his father Muhammad Ismail was afflicted with
schizophrenia. One night, when Imdad was just 2 years old, Muhammad jumped in
front of a train, thinking he was invincible. He wasn't.
Some 20 years ago, as it become clear that Imdad was also becoming ill, the
fruit falling close to the parental tree. His family were desperate for help,
but they were also poor, so they could not afford it. Imdad became increasingly
withdrawn, talking to himself, chatting with inanimate objects, and instructing
the sun loudly to shine with less heat. His wife, Safia, tried unsuccessfully
to get him into a mental hospital.
In 2002, his rational mind in tatters, Imdad was arrested over a shooting and
subsequently sentenced to death. As any sane person must surely understand, it
was not Imdad who committed murder, but his schizophrenia. It seems that the
entire neighbourhood is still willing to come forward to testify that Imdad was
crippled by his illness.
Most recently, it was a prison doctor who labelled Imdad 'insane.' A few days
ago, he came agonisingly close to execution before the Supreme Court of
Pakistan issued a brief stay. Unsurprisingly, the vacillation between life and
death has itself taken a toll. Imdad's mental health has only declined. Indeed,
the prison had to put him in solitary confinement (itself often deemed cruel)
because his manic ramblings upset the other prisoners.
Most Islamic scholars say, emphatically, that Islam would never countenance the
execution of a mentally ill man such as Imdad. We should celebrate mercy in the
law wherever we may find it, and the Pakistan courts do ill service to Islam
when they ignore it. They go further. They ignore decades of medical evolution
and understanding.
"At this stage," the court lectures us, "it is appropriate to ascertain what
'schizophrenia' is?" The court then begins along what seems a sensible course,
noting that it is a "severe emotional disorder, usually of psychotic
proportions, characterised by misinterpretation and retreat from reality,
delusions, hallucinations, ambivalence, inappropriate affect, and withdrawn,
bizarre or regressive behaviour..."
Then, 'bizarrely' and 'inappropriately', the members of the court themselves
retreat from reality, indulging in what might be deemed a delusion promoted by
people making a regressive misinterpretation of medical science. Quoting a
case, ironically - given the number of recent conflicts between the countries -
from India, the Pakistan court argues that we really should not "use the word
'schizophrenia' because [we] do not think any such disease exists..." To show
mercy based on such an illusory illness leads to "reducing a human being into a
functional non-entity..."
That way madness lies (King Lear Act 3, scene 4, 17-22). The Indian case cited
involves a divorce: whether a schizophrenic wife should be deemed an unfit
spouse because of her illness. It is, indeed, offensive to say that such a
person cannot be a fit partner in life. It is quite another thing, however, to
twist that humane interpretation of the condition into the inhumane insistence
that decency requires we hang a man like Imdad.
Neither I, nor any of those from Reprieve or others interested in making a plea
for reasonable, informed and decent clemency in this case, have any wish to
show disrespect to Pakistan's judiciary or argue for something inconsistent
with that sovereign nation's cultural, religious, moral and legal traditions.
Quite the contrary, we are asking the Supreme Court and the people of Pakistan
to recognise in this case that both the wisdom of ancient precepts and the
incontestable findings of established medical science demonstrate one clear
path to justice.
No one and nothing, not the memory of the victim, nor the reputation and
standing of Pakistan, can gain or benefit from so cruel, unjust and unwise a
killing as the hanging of this tormented and desperately ill man. We urge the
Court to think again.
(source: Stephen Fry, reprieve.org.uk)
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