March 24
LEBANON:
'Barbie doll' plane bomb terrorists could face death sentences in Lebanon
2 Australian citizens in custody in Sydney are among 5 men facing the death
penalty in Lebanon for their part in a planned airplane bombing last year.
Senior Lebanon military court judge Alaa Khatib has recommended the 5 men face
death by firing squad for their part in the alleged terror plot, The Australian
reports.
The attack would have seen the plotters detonate bombs hidden in a Barbie doll
and a meat grinder on an Etihad flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi on July 15 last
year, killing 400 passengers and crew.
Amer Khayat, who is a dual dual Australian-Lebanese citizen, is the only 1 of
the 5 in jail in Lebanon and would be the 1st to face the firing squad. The
others, including the 2 men in custody in Sydney, will be trialled in absentia.
Lebanese authorities detained Sydney man Khayat last July after learning he had
visited Tripoli multiple times to get married, only to get divorced a short
time after.
During questioning Khayat allegedly revealed his attempt to smuggle explosives
aboard the flight.
The plan was thwarted after hand luggage containing the devices was found to be
overweight at check-in and left at the counter.
The bag is believed to have contained a self-timed bomb, hidden inside a doll.
That bomb upon detonation would have detonated another bomb hidden inside the
grinder, stored in a 2nd carry-on bag.
Lebanese authorities notified Australian authorities of their findings,
prompting a series of raids across Sydney late in July.
Amer's brothers Khaled and Mahmout were subsequently arrested and charged with
2 counts of planning a terrorist attack.
A 3rd brother Tareq, an ISIS commander, is in hiding in Syria. The 5th accused
- a relative of the Khayats based in Sydney - was investigated by police, but
no evidence was found to support suspicions he took part in the plot.
All 5 men stand accused by Lebanese authorities of participating in terrorist
activities, being part of a terrorist group and scheming to commit mass murder.
(source: 9news.com.au)
SAUDI ARABIA:
5 Indonesians on Saudi's death row because of 'magic'
5 Indonesian migrant workers are facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia after
they were found guilty of practicing what Saudi authorities consider magic and
sorcery.
"Most of them were convicted because they had jimat (traditional amulets) with
them," said the Foreign Ministry's Indonesian citizen protection director, Lalu
Muhammad Iqbal, recently.
Many migrant workers leave Indonesia carrying a jimat as a good luck charm.
Jimat came in many different forms: from a hair bundle put into a tiny bag to a
Quran verse kept in a wallet, Lalu said.
Many Muslims in Indonesia are unorthodox and do not consider jimat to be
problematic.
However, he said, Saudi authorities found such practices to be shirk
(worshiping anyone or anything other than the Almighty God). In Saudi Arabia,
this can result in capital punishment.
"Nonetheless, the regulation is not based on the Quran. Therefore, we usually
manage to acquire clemency from the Saudi government," Iqbal said.
Indonesian officials usually find it harder to get clemency for those found
guilty of a murder case.
"They could only be freed from the execution charge with clemency given by the
victims' family," Iqbal said.
Between 2011 and 2018, 102 Indonesians faced death row in Saudi Arabia. 3 were
executed, 79 were freed from the execution, and 20 are still in the legal
process for clemency. Of the 20, 5 were charged with practicing magic.
A total of 583 Indonesian citizens have faced the death penalty abroad.
(source: The Jakarta Post)
BELARUS:
Belarus Sticks to Death Penalty Over Europe's Displeasure----More than 400
convicts have been put to death since 1990, rights activists say.
Last October the Belarusian authorities executed a man for the murder of his
9-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son, although the public and the man's
family knew nothing of it.
Not until this month did the news come out, when the man's mother notified a
campaigner against the death penalty, Andrey Poluda, TUT.by reported.
Europe's major transnational organizations denounced the latest execution.
"Once again we stand firm against any death sentence imposed by the Belarusian
judiciary and any executions carried out in that country," Yves Cruchten, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's general rapporteur on the
abolition of the death penalty, and Andrea Rigoni, PACE rapporteur on the
situation in Belarus, said in an 8 March statement.
Cruchten and Rigoni once again called upon the government to place a moratorium
on executions.
Belarus has remained outside the Council of Europe, Europe's chief human rights
watchdog, largely over the organization's opposition to capital punishment.
The European Union also condemned any use of the death penalty and called on
Belarus "to introduce without delay a moratorium on the death penalty as a 1st
step towards its abolition."
Belarus is the only country in Europe or the Commonwealth of Independent States
where the death penalty is still used. Trials in capital cases and executions
take place behind a veil of secrecy. Relatives of condemned people are not
informed about their executions and the place of burial remains unknown.
Poluda is active in Belarus's best known rights group, Vesna, a rare open
opponent of capital punishment in the country.
In an interview with the publication Belorussky Partizan, Poluda said the
authorities keep a lid on information about the conditions for death-row
convicts and the executions themselves, and ignore international pressure, such
as the UN Human Rights Committee resolution expressing concern about the use of
capital punishment "without guarantee of due process."
In November President Alyaksandr Lukashenka argued that "the question of the
preservation of the death penalty was adopted at a referendum and it cannot be
abolished," the state news agency BelTA reported.
In his interview, Poluda said it was irrelevant to cite the referendum, which
took place in 1996. There was no possibility of a life sentence under
Belarusian legislation at the time; the maximum term of imprisonment was only
15 years. Besides, "capital punishment is a very emotional issue which should
not be resolved by a plebiscite," he said. The activist believes Lukashenka is
afraid that, having touched upon this issue, others which were decided by
referendum might be revisited.
The 1996 plebiscite extended Lukashenka???s powers and prolonged his term in
office from 1999 to 2001, over opposition from the Belarusian opposition,
several European Union countries, and the United States.
"Change is terrifying" for Lukashenka, Poluda said.
Women may not be put to death in Belarus, according to Cornell Law School's
capital punishment database.
The Belarusian criminal code states that all executions are by "firing squad."
In practice, this means a shot fired into the back of the head. "Typically,
prisoners are executed within hours or even minutes of learning that their
clemency application has been denied," according to the Cornell project.
More than 400 executions have been carried out since 1990, according to
Belorussky Partizan, and 5 men are currently on death row, TUT.by says. The
number has fallen sharply since the 1990s. At least 20 prisoners have been put
to death since 2007, Cornell estimates.
(source: tol.org)
BANGLADESH:
Child Rapist Sentenced to Death
A district court in Pyin Oo Lwin Township sentenced a child rapist and murderer
from Madaya Township to the death penalty.
"He [the offender] admitted that he raped and killed a girl and the court
sentenced him in line with the law," explained Daw Htay Htay Maw, a Pyin Oo
Lwin District court spokesperson.
Ko Phyo Htet Aung, 23, was arrested on Feb. 13 after raping and killing a
2-year-old girl from Mway Kadoseik village, some five miles from Madaya
Township, Pyin Oo Lwin District, Mandalay Division.
The girl's parents left her at her grandmother's house on Feb. 13 while they
went out to collect firewood but found her missing when they returned. The girl
was found later that day unconscious in a banana plantation on the outskirts of
the village after she had been raped. She died at the hospital.
Ko Phyo Htet Aung was apprehended by locals and handed over to police, who
detained him on charges of rape and murder.
"The crime that Ko Phyo Htet Aung admitted to was so brutal and inhumane that
the court decided to give him the death penalty," explained the spokesperson.
However, the court said the sentence can be appealed to a higher court within 7
days.
"The case interested the public because the victim was a minor. As a lawyer for
the victim's family, I think the court did the right thing by setting this
precedent for sentencing in rape cases," said U lawyer Wai Phyo Maung Maung.
Since the death penalty has not been practiced in the country for decades,
lawyers said that whether the culprit is killed or left to rot in prison will
be decided by the law (upon appeal if that course is taken), as well as prison
laws and regulations.
Madaya locals led by the parents and family of the victim signed a petition and
staged a protest days after the child died, urging the authorities to issue
death sentences to rapists, particularly child rapists.
"We are satisfied with the court's decision. I believe that other parents won't
have to suffer as we have in the future," said U Hlaing Zin Myo, the victim's
father.
In February, 2 rape cases against children under 5 years old were recorded in
Mandalay, while children under 13 were also raped and killed in Yenangyaung,
Minhla and Yangon.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Home Affairs released on Feb. 15,
the number of reported rape cases of children under 16 has risen by more than
200 over the past year.
Amid the rise of campaigns calling for the death penalty for child rapists, a
mob gathered at a police station in Mandalay to confront the police and urge
them to hand over an alleged child rapist.
(source: The Irrawaddy)
CHINA:
Chinese businesswoman convicted of cheating has death penalty reduced to 25
years' jail
A self-made Chinese businesswoman, originally handed the death penalty for
cheating investors out of millions, had her sentence reduced again on Friday
(March 23) to a 25-year jail term, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
In 2007, Wu Ying was convicted of cheating investors out of 380 million yuan
(S$79 million) from May 2005 to January 2007 in lending scams. 2 years later,
she was sentenced to death.
Wu amassed her fortune by promising investors high returns as she spent the
money on a lavish lifestyle.
Her case had sparked heated public debate over China's fundraising system,
which outlaws all forms of private lending, though some thought the original
sentence was too harsh.
After a retrial in 2012, her sentence was reduced to death with a 2-year
reprieve. The sentence was then commuted to life imprisonment in 2014.
The Zhejiang native opened a hair salon in 1997 and later became the president
of her own investment firm Bense.
(source: Reuters)
JAPAN:
Cult leader's daughters call for him not to be executed----Tokyo attacker Shoko
Asahara and followers set to hang amid mental competence doubts
Some people joke they have parents from hell. In Rika Matsumoto's case it seems
to be true.
Matsumoto's family broke up 2 decades ago after her father was arrested for
masterminding the worst terrorist attack in Japan's modern history. Her mother
was convicted of murder. Rika (34) says she has lived much of her life since
"hovering between life and death".
She, her sister Umi (36) and 4 siblings were partly raised in a countryside
compound run by Aum Shinrikyo, the apocalyptic cult founded by their father,
Shoko Asahara. This week marks 23 years since his followers gassed the Tokyo
underground with sarin, a chemical weapon developed in Nazi Germany.
The 1995 attack killed 13 people, sickened more than 6,000 and inflicted wounds
on Japan's psyche from which it has yet to recover.
Not surprisingly, Asahara (born Chizuo Matsumoto) is one of Japan's most
reviled men. The blind, charismatic guru attracted zealots who committed a
series of increasingly brazen crimes, including the murder of a lawyer and his
family and the 1994 gassing of an entire neighbourhood that killed 7 and
injured 600. Defectors and recalcitrant devotees were tortured and murdered.
I have never, not now or in the past, thought of my father as a father,' she
said, after successfully petitioning to cut ties with both parents
The authorities feared the cult might use helicopters to drop poison gas over
Tokyo, one of the world???s most crowded cities.
Monster vs human
Despite their father's fearsome reputation, however, the sisters express love
for him. When she was 7 and nursing a fever, says Umi, Asahara lingered by her
bedside for days, mopping her brow. Rika recalls him clowning around to make
them laugh. "People think of him as a monster but he was human," she says.
Their younger sister, Satoka, has different views. In November, Asahara's 4th
daughter said he had violently abused her. "I have never, not now or in the
past, thought of my father as a father," she said, after successfully
petitioning to cut ties with both parents. She said she supports the death
penalty for her father. Her sisters call those claims "lies". Satoka may soon
get her wish. The last of the marathon Aum trials wound up in January and
Asahara and 12 other cultists are on death row. Many believe the government
wants the executions carried out quickly, consigning a painful national
watershed to history.
The sisters say they have been ostracised because of their infamous name. Rika,
who left the cult compound in 1996, was blocked from entering school and had to
fight in the courts to be allowed to study at university. She says she has
repeatedly attempted suicide. "We were just children at the time but we have
been treated like criminals."
If the government follows the law, they cannot kill my father,' says Rika.
'It's as simple as that'
They long ago cut ties with their mother, Tomoko, who was released from prison
in 2002 after serving time for helping to lynch a cultist. They last saw their
father in prison a decade ago but he has since refused to emerge from his cell.
It is, in any case, difficult to recognise the babbling, shambolic figure they
saw; he wears a nappy and makes no sense, says Umi.
Corners cut
Asahara mumbled incoherently through 256 court sessions without ever offering
an apology, let alone an explanation. Prosecutors struggled to tie him directly
to the cult's crimes but convicted him on the basis of testimony from other
cultists. The sisters believe their father is no longer mentally competent and
that legal corners were cut to send him to the gallows.
"If the government follows the law, they cannot kill my father," says Rika.
"It's as simple as that." She and Umi are demanding proper medical treatment
for Asahara and a stay of execution: Japanese law states that hangings must be
suspended in cases of mental disability. The government has rejected claims
that Asahara is seriously ill.
The cult has split into splinter groups. Aleph, as Aum now calls itself,
offered condolences to the victims of the subway attack this week, but said
executing Asahara would be "a grave, irreversible mistake". Doubts remain about
whether it has officially severed its connections to a leader who once declared
himself Christ and led nearly 40,000 people around the world.
The call announcing his death could come to Rika's mobile phone at any time,
she says. Japan's justice ministry gives no prior notice before hangings, which
are shrouded in secrecy. "I just want to hear him speak in his own voice, to
explain what happened," she says.
(source: irishtimes.com)
SOUTH AFRICA:
Exhumed remains of PAC activists return home
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha officially handed
over the remains of 17 Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) Paarl political activists
to their families in Queenstown.
Minister Masutha handed over the remains on behalf of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on Friday as part of commemorating Human Rights
Month.
All 17 PAC members were hanged at the Pretoria Central Prison gallows, now
known as Kgosi Mampuru, for incidents that took place during the period of
intense political turmoil in the Eastern Cape between 1963 and 1967.
Speaking at the event, Minister Masutha hoped the handover will be a step for
the families to heal.
"We hope that the recovery of these remains will go some way towards relieving
the decades of pain experienced by the families of those hanged, and at last
allow them to be buried with the dignity they deserve."
The Minister said the handover is part of the gallows project which entails the
exhumation, handover and reburial of the remains of 83 political prisoners who
were hanged at the Kgosi Mampuru gallows and buried in unmarked graves.
"The bodies of the hanged political prisoners remained the property of the
state and were given pauper burials in municipal cemeteries around Pretoria.
Families were denied the opportunity to bury them."
A total of 130 political prisoners from various political organisations
including the PAC, the ANC, the UDF were hanged at the gallows between 1960 and
1990.
The Gallows Exhumation Project aimed to recover the remains of 83 of the hanged
whose remains had not yet been found or recovered.
During apartheid rule, it was common for black people convicted of murdering
whites to be sentenced to death but very rare for whites who murdered blacks to
be given the death sentence.
A study of death sentences in one year found that 47% of blacks convicted of
murdering whites were given the death sentence as opposed to no death sentences
at all for whites convicted of murdering blacks.
Between 1960 and 1990, at least 140 individuals were hanged for politically
motivated offences.
Minister Masutha said it was for this reason that the new government has since
changed this reality and established a society that values human rights and
took a progressive stance to end the death penalty.
"Our democratic constitution which has guided us for the past 20 years declares
the right to life as a fundamental human right. The Constitution also implores
us to uphold the dignity of all living human beings," Minister Masutha added.
(source: rnews.co.za)
KENYA:
AG Githu Muigai appoints task force to review death penalty
Attorney-General Githu Muigai has appointed a 13-member task force to review
the legislative framework on death penalty and other matters.
In a Gazette Notice published on Friday, Prof Githu Muigai gave the task force
12 months to complete the work.
DEATH PENALTY
Other than the legislative framework, the task force to be chaired by Ms
Maryann Njau-Kimani will set up a framework to deal with rehearing of
sentencing of persons on death row as directed by the Supreme Court in December
last year.
In a landmark judgment, 6 judges of the Supreme Court found that the mandatory
nature of the death sentence as provided for under Section 204 of the Penal
Code is unconstitutional.
The court led by Chief Justice David Maraga, Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu,
Justices Jackton Ojwang', Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung'u and Isaac Lenaola, said
a person facing the death sentence is most deserving to be heard in mitigation
because of the finality of the sentence.
CASES
According to the judges, during mitigation, the offender's version of events
may be heavy with pathos necessitating the court to consider an aspect that may
have been unclear during the trial process.
They said that mitigation might "call for pity more than censure or on the
converse, impose the death sentence, if mitigation reveals an untold degree of
brutality and callousness".
The judges, however, said that convicts on death row should not approach the
Supreme Court for the hearing of their cases but await appropriate guidelines
for disposal of the same.
The judges directed the Attorney-General to urgently set up a framework to deal
with rehearing of cases relating to the mandatory nature of the death sentence.
DEATH ROW
A total of 6,058 prisoners have been sentenced to death since 2011.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that the death sentences were
highest in 2014, when 2,757 offenders were condemned to face the hangman.
"We are of the view that mitigation is an important congruent element of fair
trial.
"The fact that mitigation is not expressly mentioned as a right in the
Constitution does not deprive it of its necessity and essence in the fair trial
process," the judges said.
They noted that Article 28 of the Constitution provides that every person has
inherent dignity and the right to have that dignity protected.
"It is for this Court to ensure that all persons enjoy the rights to dignity.
"Failing to allow a judge discretion to take into consideration the convicts'
mitigating circumstances, the diverse character of the convicts, and the
circumstances of the crime, but instead subjecting them to the same (mandatory)
sentence thereby treating them as an undifferentiated mass, violates their
right to dignity," they observed.
TASK FORCE
The task force will also recommend parameters of what ought to constitute life
imprisonment, formulate amendments and enact a law to give effect to the
judgment, and create awareness by sensitising the public on the judgment and
its implications.
Others members of the task force are Supreme Court Registrar Esther Nyaiyaki,
Mr Fredrick Ashimosi from the DPP's office, Ms Emily Chweya, Mr Joseph Were and
Mr Dickson Njeru, among others.
The team is required to prepare proposals upon undertaking comparison studies
with other jurisdictions; and consult all stakeholders with divergent views on
death penalty, including religious leaders, parliamentary committees and civil
society organisations.
(source: nation.co.ke)
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