Nov. 22
NIGERIA:
600 Nigerians On Death Row in Asia
Barely 1 year ago, Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), a human rights
organisation, alerted the nation that about 300 Nigerians were on death row in
prisons across Asian countries. During the World Day Against the Use of the
Death Penalty last week, LEPAD once again drew the country's attention to the
rising number of Nigerians awaiting execution in different parts of the world.
Within this period, the number of offenders has doubled as more than 600
Nigerians in South- East Asia countries are awaiting the hangman, most of them
on drug-related offences.
The revelations highlight the increasing desperation of some Nigerians in the
narcotic trade. More Nigerians are pouring across the borders with hard drugs
in spite of the sophistication in technology as well as the stiff punishment
mapped out to curb the illegal business. The boom in the illegal trade perhaps
speaks to the fact that the country's law enforcement agencies still have much
work on their hands. Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are evidently among the
active drug routes, judging by the number of traffickers caught regularly.
Incidentally, these are countries where it is public knowledge that trafficking
in hard drug carries the mandatory death sentence.
Indeed, many convicted drug traffickers had been executed in Asia, from
Singapore to Vietnam. Some 120 Nigerians were reportedly on death row in
Chinese prisons, due mainly to peddling in narcotics.
According to reports, about 16,500 Nigerians are pinning away in various
prisons across the world, most of them on drug-related cases. But Indonesia
seems an exceptional destination as many Nigerians have been caught, tried and
executed there in the recent past. The gravity of the problem was underscored
recently when the federal government led by Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, pleaded with the government of Indonesia to commute the death
penalty passed on Nigerians to life imprisonment. But Indonesia was
non-committal.
In 2016, 3 convicted drug peddlers were killed in Indonesia while some 153
others were placed on death row. In one particular sensational outing which
captured the attention of the world in April 2015, four Nigerians convicted of
drug trafficking were executed along with other nationals by Indonesian
authorities via firing squad. Pleas for leniency by Nigeria, the United Nations
and Amnesty International were reportedly downplayed by the Indonesian
government partly because "at that point, 7 fresh cases of drug trafficking
involving Nigerians had just emerged in Indonesia".
Unfortunately, that execution came shortly after the upper house of parliament,
the Senate, debated a motion entitled: "Nigerians involvement in illicit global
drugs trade and increase in domestic drug abuse by Nigerian youth." The Senate
noted rightly that our nationals were viewed with suspicion and subjected to
demeaning treatment at airports across the world as a result of this negative
perception. Indeed, they inflict grave damage on the country's image across the
world.
Yet LEPAD also raised other concerns: that Nigeria has often greeted these
reports with no more than a shrug. In effect, the country is not doing much to
get some of those who had conflict with the law out of trouble. According to
Mr. Chino Obiagwu, National Coordinator of LEPAD, the government "has not shown
reasonable interest in the plight of these Nigerians in foreign land." He said
many of the convicts were subjected to summary trials and convicted without the
benefit of legal counsel.
While we agree that the authority could do more to get Nigerians out of trouble
in foreign land, we have also emphasised that Nigerians should live within the
laws of the country they chose to reside or do business. But the scale of the
problem and the consequences for our image, national security and public health
are so severe that something must be done urgently.
(source: allafrica.com)
BANGLADLESH:
Ex-Jamaat MP, 5 other Gaibandha war criminals get death
A special tribunal in Dhaka today handed death penalty to 6 people from
Gaibandha, including a former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker, for committing crimes
against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
The accused are Jamaat's ex-MP Abu Saleh Md Abdul Aziz Mia, Ruhul Amin alias
Manju, Abu Muslim Md Ali, Abdul Latif, Najmul Huda and Abdur Rahim Mia. Latif
is now in jail while the others are absconding.
While delivering the verdict, the 3-member panel of International Crimes
Tribunal-1 led by Justice Md Shahinur Islam asked the Inspector General of
Police (IGP) and the home ministry to secure the arrest of the fugitives.
The accused were facing 3 charges -- looting and killing of a Hindu man at
Moujamali village in Gaibandha Sadar upazila, killing of a Chhatra League
leader, and killing of 13 chairmen and members of 5 unions in Sundarganj of the
district.
On October 23, wrapping up their arguments, Prosecutor Syed Hider Ali prayed
for capital punishment, saying that they have been able to prove all the 3
charges against the accused.
On the other hand, defence counsel Gazi MH Tamim sought acquittal of the
accused, saying that the prosecution could not prove any charge.
On June 28 last year, the tribunal indicted the accused.
(source: thedailystar.net)
BAHRAIN:
High Appeals Court upholds sentences
The High Appeals Court today issued its verdict accepting the appeal in form
and rejecting it in substance by upholding the sentences issued by the High
Criminal Court against 8 defendants.
The defendants were charged and convicted of establishing intelligence
connections with a foreign country, illegal possession, handling and detonation
of explosives and firearms and creating a blast and deliberately murdering a
woman, subjecting public and private transport to danger as well as trained on
the unlicensed use of firearms and explosives for the purpose of committing
terrorist crimes with accomplices, concealing a fugitive and inflicting
property damage during their implementing their terrorist purposes.
On 19 June 2016, the High Criminal Court sentenced the 1st defendant to death
penalty and the 2nd defendant to life in jail term, and 3 years' incarceration
against 7 defendants, the 1st and 2nd defendant were stripped from the
citizenship and obliged both of them to pay the value of damages, fined the 3rd
defendant and confiscating the seized materials.
The case dates back to 30 June 2016 when the defendants planted and detonated
an explosive device on Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Street and deliberately
killed a Bahraini woman and injured her accompanying children.
Investigations led to the culprits, including a fugitive who is currently in
Iran working in the interest of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),
who tasked two defendants who carried out the crime to detonate the explosive
device that targeted police patrols in a bid to kill them. He furnished both
defendants with the explosive device. After monitoring police movement in the
area, the 2 defendants planted the explosive device in place to implement their
plot. They subsequently detonated the explosive device and the blast killed the
victim who happened to be driving her car at the time and place of the
incident. The women was killed and the children who were accompanying her
inside the car were injured.
The 1st suspect escaped after implementing the crime. He was sheltered and
concealed by several suspects. The suspects were arrested in compliance with
the legally prescribed procedures and referred to the Prosecution.
10 suspects were referred by the Prosecution, including eight defendants who
were in custody, to the High Criminal Court. Legal order was issued to arrest
the fugitive suspect. The case was deliberated by the court. The court listened
to their defence pleas. The Public Prosecution insisted the court issues
maximum penalty against the defendants. The court issued its above sentence
which is upheld by the High Court of Appeal during its session today.
(source: Bahrain News Agency)
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