August 22
INDONESIA:
Rights group asks Indonesia to abolish death sentence----Jakarta-based group
says judicial system is vulnerable to mistakes after top court overturned death
penalty for young man
A human rights organization demanded on Tuesday that Indonesia abolishes
capital punishment, following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year which
overturned a death sentence.
The Jakarta-based Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence
(KontraS) told reporters that in January this year, the top court overturned
death penalty for Yusman Telaumbanua to five years in prison, after it was
proven he was a minor.
"Yusman's case has become an important lesson for the government and law
enforcers to review the death penalty in Indonesia," said Putri Kanesia, deputy
coordinator of advocacy for the organization, in a press conference in capital
Jakarta, according to a local website kompas.com.
Indonesia ended a 4-year moratorium on the death penalty in March 2013.
A district court had sentenced Telaumbanua and his brother Rasula Hia to death
in May 2013 for murdering 3 of their employers.
KontraS had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.
Later, during investigations it was revealed that Telaumbanua had been forced
to accept charges against him while he was in police custody. He had also
admitted he was 19 years old at the time of the murder, when he was actually
only 16.
In 2016, he underwent a bone and teeth check which confirmed he was 18-19 years
old.
"The Supreme Court ruling corroborates the fact that the judicial system in
Indonesia is still very vulnerable to mistakes," said Arif Nur Fikri, head of
human rights defense division for KontraS.
Telaumbanua was released from prison last week after serving 5 years in prison,
following the ruling which said he was not the prime accused in the murder
case.
At least 14 drug smugglers -- mostly foreigners -- have been executed in
Indonesia over the last three years, prompting criticism from activists and the
international community.
(source: aa.com.tr)
BANGLADESH:
B'desh HC endorses death penalty of 3 army officers, 12 others
Bangladesh court sentences 23 to death for murders in 2002 Bangladesh court
jails JMB chief to over 7 years Bangladesh Islamists protest court's Greek
goddess statue JMB chief jailed in Bangladesh Thousands of hardline Islamists
protest Bangladesh statue
Bangladesh's High Court today upheld a trial court verdict sentencing to death
15 people including 3 army officers and a gangster, who had fled to India after
the gruesome killing of 7 people 3 years ago.
The abducting and killing of 7 people, including councillor Nazrul Islam and
lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar, in suburban port town of Narayanganj shocked the
nation.
"The High Court upheld the death sentence of 15 and commuted death penalties of
11 others to life imprisonment while the trial court had handed down death
penalties to 26 accused," a spokesman of the attorney general's office said.
The judgement awarded death penalty to 2 sacked military and a navy officers, a
gangster and 11 ex-servicemen posted in elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB).
The 3 officers, a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major and a Lieutenant Commander of
navy were also serving the RAB at the time of the gruesome simultaneous murders
in 2014.
A 2-judge bench comprising Justices Bhabani Prasad Singha and Mustafa Zaman
Islam delivered the entire verdict that took hours, contrary to normal
practices when the court pronounces the operative or abridged part of the
judgment.
The 3 officers were found to be bribed to assassinate the city councillor and 6
others. The councillor, the lawyer and 5 others were abducted on April 27, 2014
from the port town and their nearly decomposed bodies were retrieved later.
According to the proceedings, a key accused of the case gangster Nur Hossain,
himself a city councillor, had bribed the RAB officials to eliminate councilor
Nazrul Islam in exchange of Taka 6 crore.
Soon after the murder Hossain fled to India as he was found to be the
mastermind of the plot but Indian police eventually tracked him down in West
Bengal and deported to Bangladesh in November 2015.
Investigations revealed 23 RAB personnel, including an army lieutenant colonel
and two navy officers, were involved in abduction and killing of the 7 people.
Sacked Lt Col Tarek Sayeed, the son-in-law of a cabinet minister, was the
senior most of the three officers who was serving as the RAB commander in
Narayanganj at the time of incident. The 2 others - Major Arif Hossain and Lt
commander MM Rana - were serving under his command.
The officers were immediately sacked on orders of their superior authorities
while police arrested them.
(source: business-standard.com)
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