March 26
SAUDI ARABIA:
Abdullah al-Zaher Spends Another Birthday on Death Row in Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Hasan al-Zaher turns 22 today - his 7th birthday spent in prison, and
his 4th birthday spent on death row after he was arrested in 2012 because of
his participation in a peaceful protest. Americans for Democracy & Human Rights
in Bahrain (ADHRB) and the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR)
call on the government of Saudi Arabia to immediately release Abdullah, drop
all charges against him, and institute a moratorium on the use of the death
penalty with a view towards abolition.
Abdullah al-Zaher was only 15 years old when he was arrested by Saudi police on
3 March 2012 for his participation in a peaceful protest. Saudi authorities did
not present a warrant. During his arrest, Saudi police shot at Abdullah before
beating him in the street with their weapons. He was eventually taken to the
General Directorate of Investigation in Dammam, where Saudi authorities held
him incommunicado and solitary detention for 3 months. During his detention,
Saudi police tortured Abdullah by beating him all over his body with an iron
wire. They then forced him to sign a confession without allowing him to read
it.
Authorities held Abdullah in pre-trial detention for nearly 2 years during
which time authorities severely restricted his access to his lawyer. He was
eventually brought before a judge prior to his trial, but only so that the
court could provide him with the list of charges against him. Abdullah's lawyer
was not present at the time. Throughout Abdullah's trial, his lawyer was unable
to access the evidence against him. On 21 October 2014, Saudi Arabia's
Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced Abdullah to death. He was 18 at the
time of his sentencing, and is currently at risk of being executed at any time,
although Saudi Arabia is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC), Article 37 of which calls on State Parties to ensure that "No
child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment" and also that no child shall be sentenced to capital
punishment.
"Abdullah al-Zaher was just a child when he was arrested and tortured into
confessing to crimes he did not commit. Saudi Arabia is ignoring its
obligations under the CRC to refrain from using torture or capital punishment
against children - solely to punish a minor for reportedly participating in a
peaceful protest," says Husain Abdulla, Executive Director of ADHRB. "This
birthday marks yet another year Abdullah has been unlawfully detained and at
risk of imminent execution. The international community must step up and hold
Saudi Arabia accountable to its international treaty commitments and call for
Abdullah al-Zaher's immediate release."
Abdullah must not be allowed to spend another year in prison awaiting an unjust
death sentence. ADHRB and ESOHR call on Saudi Arabia to immediately release him
and to drop all charges against him, we further call on Saudi Arabia to respect
and uphold its international obligations, including those outlined I the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to institute a moratorium on capital
punishment with a view towards its abolition.
(source: Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain)
PAKISTAN:
Acquitting The Mob
Where the court had made strides in setting a much needed precedent for the Kot
Radha Kishan blasphemy case by sentencing 5 men to death for their involvement
and further imprisoning 8 in 2014, the recent mob acquittal evokes a
conflicting reaction. Where they have ascribed to the judicious establishment
of the burden of proof, the question of how to hold all those involved in such
a heinous crime accountable, presents an area of ambivalence as many involved
in mob crimes are acquitted by the grace of insufficient evidence and an
inability to prove intent.
Cases involving mob lynching are mostly seen through a communal lens and are
relative to specific minorities and castes, which become an issue of public
order and is in direct conflict to tenants of law. Where the argument stands
that societies evince frequent incidents of mob violence as a by-product of a
lethargic and ambivalent justice system, in Pakistan the majority of the mob
violence in embedded in faith-based intolerance and blasphemy accusations.
Since the promulgation of the blasphemy laws mandating the death penalty for
the accused, the edict has been translated as a state-sanctioned public
sentencing, ordained by Islam. However, justice dispensed in the realm of the
public, like public executions and floggings are customs that predate Islam,
and have served to desensitise society to violence and morph into concepts of
vigilante justice detached from institutionalised law. Similarly, where the Zia
era played a huge role in legitimising the atrociously misguided concept of
fanatical public justice, successive civil and military regimes since have not
attempted to repeal the laws that have informally entrenched radical and
intolerant modes of violence in society or formulate new ones to contain it.
Where those laws can be held as the cognitive legitimisation of such incidents,
the inability of the State and our judicial systems in setting parameters that
specifically try blasphemy-lynching mobs akin to organised criminal outfits is
part of the shortfall in its curtailment.
While the crime of lynching itself is purported and aided by many right-wing
political organisations the divisive ideologies and demarcations which create
loci of patronage, intimidation and power that are leveraged in the political
arena and mainstreamed in our daily lives, have become a tool in the subverted
political matrix. As of now, there are no specific provisions in any law that
deal with the cases of mob lynching under a cohesive legislation which causes
ambiguity and differences in interpretation of the problem in hand. There is a
compelling need for at least certain specific provisions if not legislation for
the crimes related to mob lynching that address the legal lacunas in
definitions, evidentiary criteria and legal procedures. Such provisions also
need to ensure speedy trials, rehabilitation of victims' families and
protection of witnesses.
(source: nation.com.pk)
MYANMAR:
Mandalay court sentences man to die for child rape
A Mandalay court has sentenced to death a man for raping a 2 1/2-year-old girl
in Madaya township last month, amid a growing outcry for capital punishment of
child molesters.
Pyin Oo Lwin district court handed down the sentence on Friday against the
accused Phyo Htet Aung, 25, who was found guilty of the crime.
Phyo Htet Aung, who was arrested on the same day he committed the crime in Mway
Kutoe Seik Village, was sentence to death by hanging.
Earlier in the month, women and child welfare advocates met with members of the
Children's Rights Committee of the Amyotha Hluttaw to discuss ways to prevent
the rising number of rape cases in the country, especially child rape.
Statistics released by the Ministry of Home Affairs showed that in 2017 there
were 226 more child rape cases than the year before.
The Home Affairs Ministry noted that for the whole of 2017, there were 1405
rape cases that involved 508 adult victims and 897 child victims. In 2017,
there were 1100 rape cases.
In the Mandalay case, the victim was left with her grandparents when the
parents went to the forest to gather firewood.
When they returned the child was nowhere to be found, leading to a frantic
search along with their neighbours.
The victim was found barely conscious in a banana plantation and died on the
way to the hospital.
Villagers immediately took into custody Phyo Htet Aung, who was the last person
seen with the victim.
In the course of the court hearings on the case, which started on March 12,
over 20 witnesses were questioned before the verdict was handed down on Friday.
U Wai Phyo Maung Maung, lawyer for the victim, hailed the court decision.
"Today, it shows a model court decision for child rapes," he said. "The court
ruled that the rapist who committed a crime against a 2 1/2-year-old girl must
be hanged till dead."
However, a court spokesman said the sentence can be appealed to a higher court
within 7 days.
Lawyers said that since the country has not imposed the death penalty for
decades, it will be up to the higher courts if the sentence would be carried
out.
(source: Myanmar Times)
INDIA:
Behind Arunachal's new death penalty law is a 170% rise in child rape
cases----Lack of legal awareness leads to low reporting of cases with police;
lynching of 2 rape accused last month forced state assembly to amend law.
Arunachal Pradesh is not a state that makes headlines for child sexual abuse,
but experts say that is more because of a lack of legal awareness among its
people which leads to low reporting of cases.
The northeastern state has actually witnessed a jump in the number of child
rape cases in the past few years, with the National Crime Records Bureau
reporting 92 cases of child sexual assault in 2016 compared to 34 in 2015 - a
170 % increase.
So much so that earlier this month the state passed a legislation allowing the
death penalty for such crimes, partly jolted by the lynching of two men accused
of raping a child. This makes Arunachal Pradesh the fourth state in the country
after Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to have such a provision.
The 2 men were tea garden labourers and were accused of raping a 5-year-old in
Tezu district last month.
Lack of legal awareness
Experts and activists say that there is a lack of legal awareness among people
in the Himalayan state, which results in low reporting of cases of child sex
abuse.
According to the NCRB report, Arunachal reported only 50 cases under the
Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act in 2016, far below the national
average of 777 complaints.
In comparison, Madhya Pradesh reported 2,479 cases, Rajasthan 777 and Haryana
518.
In the absence of state-wise data on conviction under POCSO, such cases were
listed as crimes against children up to 2016 in police records.
Sunil Maw, an Itanagar-based human rights lawyer, said that a lack of legal
awareness among people in the rural districts saw cases often resolved through
tribal customs.
Given the dismal rate of reporting of case as well as conviction, Maw is
planning to file a public interest litigation seeking constitution of an
independent commission to monitor cases of child welfare and rights.
Fewer judicial officers to handle cases
Arunachal Pradesh also suffers from a shortage of judicial officers, which
hurts justice delivery, especially in child sexual abuse cases.
"We still don't have judicial officers in every district - just 2 sessions
judges and 3 additional sessions judges responsible for 23 districts. Since the
judicial system is new, there hasn't been much conviction," Maw said.
Although the Gauhati High Court hears all major cases in the region, Das said
that the judiciary in most of the northeastern states is in tatters. "We have
judges who are not aware of the statutory provisions or even the POCSO Act,
which is why the pendency of cases is huge," he added.
"From 2015 to 2017, we have 14 cases of child rape that are still pending
before the women???s commission, which is not functioning well," he said.
Besides, Arunachal still does not have a State Human Rights Commission to
independently monitor cases of sexual offences against children and the
implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act.
According to Miguel Das, a Guwahati-based child rights activist, the government
is chasing the criminal, not the crime.
"They should focus on primary prevention or victim-centric support system,
which is absent in the northeast," he said.
(source: theprint.in)
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