Feb. 11
NIGERIA:
UK Urges Nigeria To Stop Death Penalty
The British high commissioner, Paul Arkwright has urged that Nigeria should
prohibit death penalty. This is in support of the recent call by the EU Heads
of Mission in Nigeria to uphold the moratorium on the capital punishment.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP Weekend by the British High
Commission, the Ambassador noted that, "on 1st February, 2017, Lagos state
signed a law authorising death penalty for anyone convicted of kidnapping where
the victim dies. It's also regrettable that as recently as 23 December, 2016,
Nigeria witnessed the execution of 3 prisoners authorised by the Edo state
government.
"These actions have undermined the progress Nigeria made in upholding the
moratorium on the death penalty. I fully associate myself with the recent call
by EU Heads of Mission in Nigeria to uphold the moratorium on the death penalty
that has been in place since 2006.
"We remain open to working with the Nigerian government and civil society to
push forward the debate towards abolition of the death penalty," the statement
concluded.
According to a report by the EU Heads of Mission on death penalty in Edo state,
the Mission had shown deep regret at the execution of 3 Nigerian prisoners on
23 December 2016, an execution authorised by the Edo state government. The EU
further stressed upon the universality of human rights including the right to
life, while opposing the death penalty in all circumstances.
(source: nigeriatoday.ng)
VIETNAM:
Vietnam to build 5 more lethal injection venues
5 more venues to facilitate lethal injections will be built in Vietnam in the
coming time according to the Ministry of Public Security.
A report from the ministry showed that since the 1st execution carried out
using lethal injection in August 2013, 429 prisoners on death row had been
executed by this method by July 2016 at 5 facilities in Hanoi, HCM City, Nghe
An, Son La, and Dak Lak.
The National Assembly amended the Penal Code in 1999 and 2009 in which the
number of death-eligible crimes were reduced from 44 to 22. However, the number
of death sentences, especially in crimes relating to drugs, murder, and rape,
has not declined for many reasons, the report said.
There were 1,134 criminals given death sentences in 5 years between July 1st,
2011 and June 30th, 2016.
According to the ministry, there have been many difficulties in carrying out
executions using lethal injection instead of firing squads during the trial
period, especially in obtaining lethal drugs and relieving the pressure of
holding hundreds of death row inmates in prison.
"But this is certainly a more humane method of execution which causes less pain
to the convicted and their family, and relieves pressure on executors, the
ministry claimed.
The injection will contain 3 substances -- sodium thiopental, an anesthetic;
pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxant; and potassium chloride to stop the
heart.
(source: vietnamnet.vn)
PHILIPPINES:
The clock is ticking on anti-death penalty lawmakers----House rules state every
lawmaker has the right to speak for an hour in a plenary debate, but after a
recent majority ruling, anti-death penalty congressmen now have fewer minutes
on the floor
Time is literally running out for congressmen attempting to block the return of
the death penalty in the country.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is already targeting the middle of March for the
passage of House Bill (HB) Number 4727, and he is bent on seeing this through
with a threat against House leaders who will vote against the measure.
But even on the plenary floor, every lawmaker who will interpellate the bill's
sponsors will find limited minutes to argue against the death penalty.
This comes after a questionable interpretation of the House rule allotting a
1-hour speaking time per congressman that was agreed upon by a majority of
lawmakers during the February 8 death penalty debate.
A back and forth exchange was occurring between anti-death penalty lawmaker and
Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman and HB 4727 sponsor and House
justice panel chairperson Reynaldo Umali at the time.
Deputy Speaker Mylene Garcia-Albano then interrupted the 2 and requested that
Lagman end his interpellation as he had already gone beyond his time limit.
She cited Section 91, Rule XII of the Rules of the House of Representatives,
which states: "A Member shall not be allowed to speak for more than one (1)
hour in debate on any question. No Member shall speak more than once on the
same question without leave of the House, unless the Member is the proponent of
the motion or has introduced the question or the matter pending, in which case
the Member shall be permitted to speak in reply, but not until every Member who
chooses to speak on the pending question or matter shall have spoken."
But Lagman objected to Albano's request, arguing that the leadership should not
be including in his time count the minutes Umali spent replying to his
questions.
"Madam Speaker, I have not spoken for more than one hour in my interpellation.
I would appeal to the records of the House on the minutes I have consumed.
Because in counting the one hour, we should not include the time utilized by
the sponsor," said Lagman.
"My questions are short, but the answers of the sponsors are inordinately long.
So my 1 hour has not been consumed," appealed Lagman.
Deputy Majority Leader Juan Pablo Bondoc, however, raised a point of order and
referred to the clock in the plenary hall to explain that Lagman was supposedly
talking for 1 hour and 32 minutes already.
But Lagman continued to fight the majority lawmakers.
Tactics
"The clock is not the reckoning of the time I have consumed. It should be the
transcription which should tell us how many minutes I have consumed. But if the
leadership of the House would like to gag me, then they can do that," said the
opposition legislator.
He was then given another 5 minutes to further explain before Majority Leader
Rodolfo Farinas stood up and asked his colleagues to finally vote on Lagman's
appeal.
"The gentleman appealed the ruling of the chair. He has explained his appeal.
Now we will now vote on the appeal. For the guidance of the members, a vote of
yes on the appeal or 'aye' will uphold the appeal. So a vote of 'nay' will deny
the appeal," said Farinas.
Albano then proceeded to oversee the ayes and nays vote despite Lagman
repeatedly calling out "Madam chair! Madam chair!" on the microphone.
There was a resounding "Nay!" among the 156 lawmakers present, so Lagman lost
his appeal.
This ruling means that should HB 4727's sponsors spend a good number of minutes
answering the questions addressed to them, it would be to the detriment of the
anti-death penalty lawmakers' respective time limits.
It remains to be seen if they can make a good case against capital punishment
in the coming days.
Time is gold, they say. At the House, where the battle for the death penalty's
return is raging, the value of time seems higher than ever before.
(source: rappler.com)
**********************
Origins of death penalty
For those who think that the debate on whether or not we should have death
penalty is about Duterte's war on drugs and crime here are some reminders.
Death penalty goes a long way back. It is said to be a punishment for crimes
contained in the ancient Laws of China. Or even earlier, in a more distant time
and place. "In the 18th Century BC, the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon
codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes, although murder was not one
of them."
A lady senator argues that the death penalty will not solve the country's drug
problem. I think the senator misunderstands. Punishing evil is not about
eliminating evil because that is impossible. It is about protecting the
innocent who become victims of unpunished crime.
She cites the Amnesty International report which said that "thousands of people
have been executed for drug offenses since 1959 in Iran. In 2015, Iran had 829
executions, 571 for drug-related offenses. However, the Iranian government
itself admitted that the death penalty has failed to reduce drug trafficking in
the country," she said.
It is shocking how a lawmaker can say the punishment of crime will not deter
crime. Why make laws at all if it is useless? She then cites "Hong Kong and
Singapore which have identical murder rates, despite the former abolishing the
death pen in 1993 and the latter mandatorily imposing the death pen for murder
& other crimes."
I hope senators vote wisely on Senate Bill No. 1313 which is about "the
Barangay Health and Rehabilitation Strategy of 2017."
The CBCP must be careful about issuing a statement against its own teaching. I
would be partial to what greater theologians have long held that capital
punishment is a form of "lawful slaying."
The teaching of the Catholic Church categorizes capital punishment as a form of
"lawful slaying," a view defended by theological authorities such as Augustine
and Thomas Aquinas. Augustine held that the death penalty was "a means of
deterring the wicked and protecting the innocent."
Here is a word from Dan Van Ness president of Justice Fellowship when he called
for "A Call to Dialogue on Capital Punishment."
"Scripture mandates capital punishment.
"The principal argument is that because life is sacred, those who wrongfully
take another human life must lose their own lives. This is a form of
restitution; a matter of justice - the state purging itself of those who shed
innocent blood.
Genesis 9:6 says, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be
shed; for in the image of God has God made man." This is part of the larger
covenant that God made with Noah after the flood. It not only reflects the
great value of human life, but also gives the reason for that value: Man is
made in God's image. The absolute language of Genesis 9:6 suggests that all
those who kill another human being must be killed. And since this mandate was
given long before the Mosaic Law to all who survived the flood, it apparently
has universal application.
The Law, as given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, ordained execution for several
offenses: murder (but not accidental killings), striking or cursing a parent,
kidnapping, adultery, incest, bestiality, sodomy, rape of a betrothed virgin,
witchcraft, incorrigible delinquency, breaking the Sabbath, blasphemy,
sacrificing to false gods, oppressing the weak, and other transgressions. (See
Exod. 21, 22, 35; Lev. 20 & 24; Deut. 21-24.)
While no New Testament passage expressly mandates capital punishment, several
imply its appropriateness. For example, in Romans 13:1-7 Paul calls his readers
to submit to the authority of civil government, reminding them that "if you do
wrong, be afraid, for he [the authority] does not bear the sword for nothing."
In its ultimate use, the word sword implies execution.
Christ's death on the cross ended the requirement for blood recompense and
blood sacrifice. The sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, replaced the
sacrifice of animals. His death also made it unnecessary to execute murderers
to maintain human dignity and value because the crucifixion forever established
human value. Hebrews 9:14 says, "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our
consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"
Christ's teaching emphasizes forgiveness and willingness to suffer evil rather
than resist it by force. This may not be definitive on the issue of the state's
authority to execute, but it does demonstrate a different approach to
responding to evil than that established on Mt. Sinai. Christ???s example in
not demanding death for the adulteress supports this argument (John 8).
The Bible permits capital punishment see strengths in both the pro and the con
arguments, but disagree with the conclusions of both.
As noted previously, Scripture includes many provisions for capital punishment.
The Mosaic Law significantly limited the scope of Genesis 9:6. For example,
individuals guilty of manslaughter or accidentally causing another's death were
exempted from the death penalty.
New Testament passages assume the existence of the death penalty but don't take
a position one way or the other. Romans 13 comes closest to speaking of the
state's authority to execute, but significantly it refers to the state's
authority, not obligation, to execute.
Those who believe that Scripture mandates or permits capital punishment must
move on to another question: What conditions does Scripture give before the
state may exercise capital punishment? The Old Testament Law did not simply
address the "whether" of capital punishment; it also spoke of the "how." These
provisions need not be literally carried out today for our death-penalty
statutes to meet biblical standards. For example, Deuteronomy 17 required the
condemning witnesses to throw the first stones. This is impossible today,
because stoning is not a current method of execution. However, the principle is
that witnesses were held responsible for the consequences of their testimony,
encouraging truthfulness.
(source: Opinion; Carmen Pedrosa, The Philippine Star)
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