Jan. 16
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:
T&T Death Penalty Conviction Being Reviewed in UK
5 British judges will this week consider whether a prisoner who may be mentally
ill should remain on death row after a Caribbean court convicted him of
murdering another inmate. Trinidad and Tobabgo, along with Barbados, are the
only 2 Caribbean nations with mandatory death penalties for murder.
Although Jay Chandler is unlikely to meet the hangman in Port of Spain, the
case will have international repercussions for countries that still carry out
executions and those that recognise the far-reaching jurisdiction of the UK's
judicial committee of the privy council (JCPC).
The hearing in London on Tuesday comes amid concern over the spiralling murder
rate in Trinidad and Tobago, which has reinvigorated calls for the death
penalty to be enforced. Last year 494 people were murdered in the Commonwealth
state, which has not hanged anyone since 1999.
Trinidad is 1 of more than 30 overseas territories, dependencies and
Commonwealth states that rely on the JCPC as their ultimate court of appeal,
sending cases from around the world to hearings before justices of the UK's
supreme court in Westminster.
A 1993 landmark ruling at the privy council in the case of 2 Jamaican
prisoners, Pratt and Morgan, who were on death row, established the principle
that delays of more than 5 years between sentence and execution are degrading
and inhuman punishment. That decision resulted in hundreds of inmates having
death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
More recent privy council cases have established legal precedents against
imposing capital punishment on those who have intellectual disabilities such as
extremely low Iqs.
Trinidad and Tobago, with more than 30 people on death row, is 1 of only 2
Caribbean countries (the other being Barbados) that retains a mandatory death
penalty for murder - a hangover from British colonial rule.
Chandler, who is 40, was sentenced to death in 2011. He had been convicted of
stabbing another prisoner, Kern Phillip, with a homemade knife in October 2004.
The two men were said to have quarreled during visiting hours at the Remand
Yard prison in Arouca, Trinidad. Chandler was seen chasing Phillip across the
compound. The victim died from his injuries in the prison's infirmary.
Postmortem examination showed that his heart had been punctured. Chandler has
denied having the weapon or attacking Phillip.
Lawyers for Chandler will present a report from a forensic psychologist who has
diagnosed him as suffering from episodes of psychosis - fresh evidence, it is
argued, that casts doubt on the safety of his conviction and sentence. The
appeal will be heard by Lords Kerr, Sumption, Reed, Carnwath and Lloyd-Jones.
Saul Lehrfreund, co-executive director of the Death Penalty Project, based at
the London law firm Simons Muirhead and Burton, who visited Chandler, on death
row in October, said: "This is yet another example of someone being sentenced
to death who has never been assessed by mental health experts.
"Without proper assessments, people who are potentially mentally disabled
inevitably slip through the net and it is all too common to find prisoners with
severe mental health issues on death row.
The mandatory death penalty is of great concern as the judge has no discretion
over whether the death penalty should be imposed. Trinidad and Tobago is one of
the last countries in the Caribbean to retain this colonial relic, in violation
of its international obligations.
"The backdrop to this case is the clear prohibition on the execution of
individuals with mental disorder under international law. The legal safeguards
are there - the problem is with their implementation in practice."
Last month the release of a confidential prime ministerial file to the National
Archives revealed that in the 1970s the government had to send a British
gunboat when politicians defied local courts' capital punishment rulings.
The UK's abolition of the death penalty in 1969 was not extended to British
overseas dependent territories for decades and the disparity caused repeated
political tension.
In December 1980 the then foreign secretary, Lord Carrington, wrote a letter to
the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, explaining: "Local feeling in those
territories which retain the death penalty is generally strongly in favour of
its use. In 1978 a frigate was sent to the British Virgin Islands in
expectation of disturbances when the governor decided to commute [the death
sentence]."
The file shows Douglas Hurd, who later became foreign secretary, believed
reform was needed. He wrote to John Major, by then prime minister, saying
something had to be done because there were 12 capital punishments cases
pending and in the Caymans a "new gallows had just been completed and graves
have been dug."
In 1991 the British government extended an order in council to its Caribbean
territories abolishing capital punishment for murder. Independent Caribbean
Commonwealth countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, were not affected by that
legal change and retain the death penalty.
(source: stkittsnevisobserver.com)
BOTSWANA:
Death penalty tops agenda as UN grills Botswan
The Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Edwin Batshu and a
delegation of high-ranking government officials will tomorrow face off against
a United Nations panel probing the country's human rights record.
The Geneva, Switzerland meeting is the 3rd cycle of reviews under the United
Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Peer Review. Batshu and other
officials left last Friday and will present a country report before answering
questions from countries and various NGOs.
According to written questions already submitted ahead of tomorrow's
presentation, Batshu will again be forced to defend the country's retention of
the death penalty. Several European countries have already tabled queries
demanding to know what progress Botswana has made in instituting a national
debate on the death penalty.
"As a strong opponent of the death penalty, Belgium regrets that Botswana 'as
only country in the SADC region' retains the death penalty in law and in
practice."
"Is Botswana considering to hold public consultations, in a participatory
manner together with civil society, about the desirability and long-term
effectiveness of the use of the death penalty as a deterrent," the Belgian
government has asked.
The Swedish government has asked: "In its mid-term report from 2016 the
Government of Botswana announced its intention to undertake dialogue on the
issue of the death penalty and was commissioning a study on the issue. How
(are) these plans proceeding and does the Government of Botswana intend to
initiate a public debate?"
As stated by the report Batshu is due to present tomorrow, government appears
unmoved by the pressure coming from Europe on the death penalty.
"The government has not been able to hold public debates in regard to the
question on the death penalty since the last review cycle," the report reads in
its only mention of the matter. The last review cycle was in 2013.
(source: mmegi.bw)
IRAN----impending juvenile execution
A Juvenile Offender to Be Executed on Wednesday
Abolfazl Chezahi Sharahi, an underage offender who is sentenced to death on
murder charges, has been transferred to solitary confinement and is scheduled
to be executed at Qom Central prison on Wednesday. IHR calls on the
international community to react before it is too late.
According to a close source, the authorities informed Abolfazl Chezahi
Sharahi's family that his execution would be carried out on the morning of
Wednesday, January 17. He is sentenced to death on the charge of murder during
a street fight.
Abolfazl Chezahi Sharahi, son of Asghar, was born on January 16, 1999, and he
was only 15 at the time of committing the crime on December 26, 2013.
Abolfazl's public defender asked for a checkup by the forensics on July 20,
2014, and the forensics report states, "The 15-year-old defendant committed
murder last winter and is mentally mature and aware of his action (murder)."
As a result, the court issued a death sentence and sent the case to the Supreme
Court after Abolfazl objected to the verdict. The Supreme Court rejected the
verdict based on the defendant's age and the forensic reports and sent the case
to a parallel court.
The 2nd court also issues death sentence and this time the Supreme Court
approves the verdict.
According to the latest reports, Abolfazl Chezahi Sharahi has been transferred
to solitary confinement at Qom Central Prison, and he is scheduled to be
executed.
Another juvenile offender was executed on January 8.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) calls for an immediate halt of execution of Abolfazl
Chezahi Sharahi and a retrial based on Iran???s international commitments.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights (IHR), says:
"The European governments should not be indifferent to the execution of
juveniles, especially those who have a closer economic and political
relationship with Iran."
Amiry-Moghaddam insists: "We demand the European governments to force Iranian
authorities to immediately halt the execution of Abolfazl Chezahi Sharahi and
put a stop to the execution of juveniles."
According to the Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 5
juveniles have been executed in 2017. The international laws ban the execution
of juveniles.
IHR calls on the international community to react before it is too late.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
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