January 1, 2018
JAPAN:
No. of death row inmates in Japan stands at 123
The number of death row inmates in Japan stood at 123 as of Dec 31, continuing
to surpass the threshold of 100 since 2007, Justice Ministry officials said.
In 2017, 4 convicts on death row were executed and 4 others died of illness,
while 2 people were newly added to the list of such inmates after death
sentences against them were finalized.
Of the 4 who were executed, 3 were still waiting to hear about their requests
for retrials. Of the 3, 1 was aged 19 at the time of the crime.
The hangings of inmates seeking retrials were the 1st since December 1999,
while that of an inmate who committed a crime as a minor was the 1st since
August 1997, both drawing flak from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations
and groups opposed to the death penalty.
Japan's capital punishment has drawn international criticism, while the
federation has called for its abolition by 2020, demanding the introduction of
lifetime imprisonment instead.
However, a majority of the Japanese public supports the death penalty. A 2014
government survey showed that 80.3 % of Japanese people aged 20 or older
favored capital punishment, down from a record 85.6 % in the previous survey in
2009.
(source: japantoday.com)
PAKISTAN:
Rapist of 6-yr, girl to be hanged
A trial court in Srinagar on Saturday awarded death penalty to convict Farooq
Ahmed Pinzoo for raping and murdering a 6-year-old girl in 2005.
"Convict is awarded capital punishment. He shall be hanged till death," the
court said, referring to various Supreme Court Judgments to term the crime as
rarest of rare.
Second Additional Principal District and Sessions Judge Srinagar, Tahir
Khurshid Raina, awarded the death penalty to Farooq Ahmad Pinzoo of Mehjoor
Nagar, Srinagar, after public prosecutor Mujeeb Andrabi pleaded before the
court that the accused be given the severest punishment as he had raped and
killed the little minor gruesomely. "The accused be hanged to death so that
others may take a note of these gruesome incidents," the lawyer said.
The judge said it was unpardonable "that a little doll of just 6 years of age,
who was yet to bloom and add to the beauty of the world, was crushed to death
in the most horrendous and barbaric manner in the year 2005 by the
accused/convict."
He added that after committing this highly detestable act of extreme depravity,
the accused wrapped the girl's dead body in a sack and threw it in a trench to
conceal it from the eyes of people around.
"When all members of the said locality were searching for the girl, he was a
mute spectator ... This incident sent a shockwave in the entire area and
everyone came out to search for her and pray for her safe recovery. Finally, on
5th day since she went missing, she was recovered from the trench in a sack,"
the judge said.
The judge added that thousands of people assembled on the spot and when they
saw the girl's body, there was condemnation all around and an outcry to nab the
culprit.
"Public discontentment was so huge that police had to install a special camp
there and after a month's time they succeeded in nabbing the culprit, who was
none else but the resident of the same locality whom the deceased of tender age
would have treated with respect and as a custodian of her life," the judge
said.
(source: Pakistan Observer)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
