April 20
UNITED KINGDOM:
Bishop Lang welcomes worldwide decline of death sentences and executions
The lead Bishop for international affairs has welcomed the decline of the death
penalty across the world and called on Catholics to help "make this the
generation that ends capital punishment for good."
Statistics released last week show that the number of recorded death sentences
and executions fell in 2017, while the total number of countries to abolish the
death penalty in law or practice rose to 142.
More than 900 people were executed across 23 countries.
Bishop Declan Lang responded: "Pope Francis reminded us last year that the
death penalty is an inhumane measure and contrary to the Gospel. We are closer
than ever to achieving global abolition and should redouble our efforts to make
this the generation that ends capital punishment for good."
Calling for action from the UK he stated: "I urge our government to use every
opportunity including diplomacy, trade negotiations, and forthcoming
discussions with our Commonwealth partners, to continue pushing for abolition
of the death penalty wherever it still exits. I hope our Catholic community
will also play its part through prayer and advocacy for those facing this
ultimate attack on human dignity."
(source: Independent Catholic News)
IRELAND:
64 years ago today, Ireland executed a person for the last time----Michael
Manning was the last person executed in Ireland.
On April 20, 1954, Michael Manning, a 25-year-old man from Limerick, became the
29th and last person to be legally executed in Ireland.
By 1964 the death penalty was abolished for all cases apart from the murder of
police, diplomats, and prison officers. It was abolished by statute for the
remaining offenses in 1990 and was expunged from the Constitution of Ireland by
referendum in 2001.
The Limerick man, the last man executed at the hands of the state, was found
guilty of the rape and murder of Catherine Cooper (65) who worked at
Barrington's Hospital, in the city. The crime took place in February 1953. He
was found by police because he left a distinctive hat at the scene of the
crime.
He had been married just the year before the crime and his only child was born
just weeks before his execution.
Manning blamed his actions on "too much drink." The statement in police files
describes Manning movements on the day of the crime, November 18, 1953. It
lists the pubs that served him drink and recounts how he had been refused by
the barmaid at the Munster Fair Tavern.
His trial opened on February 15, 1954, and lasted only 3 days. The trial was
widely attended and hundreds of people gathered outside the courthouse.
The defense team had claimed insanity and claimed the charges should be dropped
to manslaughter as Manning had not planned the attack ahead of time. However,
the prosecution said that Manning had changed his routine to give himself more
time to commit the crime.
While there was a history of mental health issues in his family the judge sided
with the prosecution and told the jury to discard the argument, as he claimed
the fact that Manning has shoved clods of grass into the victim's mouth to stop
her screaming showed he was aware of the crime he was committing.
After just 3 hours of deliberation, he was sentenced to death despite the fact
that the victim's family had petitioned to court to show him mercy. When he was
found guilty he is said to have "paled visibly."
Manning was the 1st person to be condemned to death since 1948.
The Limerick man wrote a letter to the Government begging for a reprieve.
He wrote:
"I ask the Minister for Justice to show his mercy upon me as it is so near to
Easter and Good Friday and it is our Holy Mother's year. I am not afraid to die
as I am fully prepared to go before my God, but it is on behalf of my wife as
she is so young and so near the birth of our baby.
"Instead of 1 life being taken there could be 3 as it would be a big shock to
my wife if the execution will be carried out on the date mentioned [April 20].
So I would be grateful to you if you showed your mercy toward my wife and me."
After Mass and Holy Communion on Sunday before his execution, Manning played
handball with other inmates. They noted that he seemed completely normal.
A fellow inmate of Manning's recalled later,
"Friends of mine who worked with me, I was serving my time at the time, went up
to visit him on the Sunday before he was hanged. And they went to mass and holy
communion together and they played a game of handball that day. He couldn't
have been more normal."
He was then taken from his cell at Mountjoy prison and hanged by Alert
Pierrepoint. The hang house remains today in the grounds of Mountjoy. The
execution was carried out by Albert Pierrepoint, who had traveled from Britain
where he was 1 of 3 Senior Executioners. Pierrepoint executed at least 400
people in his career as a hangman - 13 of those in Mountjoy.
Manning's body was buried in an unmarked grave in Mountjoy prison as was the
custom for executed prisoners.
After his death, his widow wrote a letter to the Governor of Mountjoy thanking
him for the kindness he showed her husband. The letter read:
"We really adored each other and will until I join him in heaven someday. I can
assure you, sir, that Micheal [sic] is also praying for you all and he will
return his thanks to you in another way."
After the execution of Manning, it was common that death sentences be commuted
by the Irish government. In 1851 the right to commute a death sentence became
restricted to the President only.
Ireland had previously considered abolishing the punishment from the
constitution and an early draft of the constitution included a provision to ban
it.
Before Manning's execution questions had been raised over the death of William
Gambom who was the 2nd-last person to be put to death. He was a casual laborer
who had killed his friend after getting into a drunken fight. When Gambom read
in the newspaper that his friend had died he handed himself into the police.
Despite the fact that it was a clear-cut case of manslaughter he was condemned
to death.
It was argued that he had been sentenced to death due to his social standing
and had he been a richer man his sentence would have been lower.
In 1964 the criminal justice act abolished the death sentence. However, it was
only entirely squashed by a referendum in 2001. Ireland was the last country in
Europe to constitutionally forbid the use of capital punishment.
While the EU has abolished execution it still takes place elsewhere in the
world. The top 5 locations where the most executions take place are the United
States, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China.
(source: Irish Central)
IRAN----execution
Prisoner Hanged in Northwestern Iran
A prisoner was executed at Tabriz Central Prison on murder charges.
According to HRANA, on the morning of Tuesday, April 17, a prisoner was
executed at Tabriz Central Prison on murder charges. The prisoner was
identified as Hossein Tal'ati, 31.
Hossein Tal'ati was executed after 6 years of imprisonment in ward 11 of Tabriz
Central Prison.
The execution of this prisoner has not been announced by the state-run media so
far.
According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the
517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges.
There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results
in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and
intent.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
*****************
UN rights experts urge Iran to annul death sentence against prisoner
A group of United Nations human rights experts have called on Iran to annul the
death sentence against a prisoner citing serious concerns that he was tortured
in detention and did not receive a fair trial.
In a news release on Wednesday, the experts said that Iranian Kurdish prisoner
Ramin Hossein Panahi, who was arrested last June for alleged membership of the
Kurdish nationalist group Komala, was repeatedly beaten in detention, denied
medical care and access to a lawyer, and held in solitary confinement until
January.
They also expressed concern regarding his trial, which took place before the
Revolutionary Court and lasted less than an hour.
"Executing Mr. Panahi, following his torture, and unfair trial and on the basis
of charges that do not meet international standards for the use of death
penalty, would be unconscionable," said the experts.
"We remind Iran that the only thing that distinguishes capital punishment from
arbitrary execution is full respect for stringent due process guarantees."
The experts also noted that despite marks of torture on Mr. Panahi body, the
court did not order an investigation, and that he was allowed only 1 meeting
with his lawyer between his arrest and the trial and no family visits. There
are also ongoing concerns about Mr. Panahi, and he reportedly began a hunger
strike early in 2018.
The experts also expressed concern that some members of Mr. Panahi's family
appeared to have been convicted in separate summary trials, and sentenced to
long prison terms, in apparent reprisals for their efforts to obtain further
information on his situation.
It is understood that the Supreme Court branch in Qom reaffirmed Mr. Panahi's
death sentence earlier in April, and his case was due to be passed to the
Office of Implementation, said the experts, his lawyer has appealed for a
judicial review.
The news release noted that the experts are in dialogue with Iranian
authorities regarding Mr. Panahi's situation.
The UN rights experts include Agnes Callamard, the Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Dainius Puras, the Special
Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health; and Nils Melzer, the Special Rapporteur
on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
UN Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the
Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific
human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the
experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
(source: UN News)
BAHRAIN:
Urgent Action
REVIEW FOR UPHELD DEATH SENTENCE REQUESTED
On 28 March 2018, the Public Prosecutor announced that it had requested the
review of the cases of Mohamed Ramadhan Issa Ali Hussain and Hussain Ali Moosa
Hussain Mohamed, both of whom had their death sentences confirmed by the
Cassation Court in November 2015, as new evidence emerged following
investigation by the Special Investigations Unit.
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
* Urging the Bahraini authorities to commute all death sentences and establish
an official moratorium on executions;
* Urging them to order the full retrial of both men, in proceedings that fully
comply with international fair trial standards and exclude the use of evidence
obtained under torture, and without resort to the death penalty;
* Urging them to promptly, adequately and effectively investigate their
allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.
Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of
forwarding this one!
Contact these 2 officials by 31 May, 2018:
King
Shaikh Hamad bin 'Issa Al Khalifa
Office of His Majesty the King
P.O. Box 555
Rifa'a Palace, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 1766 4587
Salutation: Your Majesty
H.E. Ambassador Shaikh Abdullah bin
Rashed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa,
Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain
3502 International Drive NW, Washington DC 20008
Phone: 1 202 342 1111 I Fax: 1 202 362 2192
Email: ambsecret...@bahrainembassy.org
Twitter: @BahrainEmbDC
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
(source: Amnesty International)
MALAWI:
Malawi chiefs against death penalty
The majority of chiefs in the country no longer prefer death sentence as
punishment for murder suspects, according to the Malawi Traditional Leaders'
Perspective on Capital Punishment Survey report.
Since the dawn of multi-party democracy in 1993, no Head of State has signed a
death warrant despite the law providing for the same.
The report, published by the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide and
the Paralegal Advisory Service Institute (Pasi) with support volunteers and
funding from Reprieve UK, shows that 94 percent of traditional leaders
interviewed on whether Malawi should continue implementing death penalty said
they were against capital punishment. Instead, they preferred other alternative
sentencing.
One ex-prisoner, Bison Kaula, 65, who was sentenced to death in 1992, supported
the report, saying many inmates in the country's congested prisons are those
charged with minor offences.
Kaula stayed in prison for 23 years awaiting execution after traditional
leaders convicted him before the High Court acquitted him.
Public Affairs Committee (PAC) chairperson the Reverend Felix Chingota, whose
quasi-religious body is taking part in facilitating consultations on death
penalty issue, said in an interview that there is need to extend awareness
campaigns to all communities in the country that death penalty is not the only
best alternative sentencing measure against murder suspects.
Pasi executive director Clifford Msiska said the country should begin living in
the global village alongside other nations which abolished death penalty.
The United Nations (UN) said more than 80 % of the African Union member States
have either abolished or introduced moratoria by law or in practice on the
death penalty.
The survey was done in villages where ex-prisoners who were sentenced to death
reside.
(soruce: The Maravi Post)
INDIA:
Centre to amend law for death penalty in child rape cases below 12-year of age
Amid nationwide grief and anger over the rising child rape cases, the
government has said it has started the process to amend law to introduce death
penalty for rape of minors below 12 year of age.
Central Government, in a letter, submitted to the Supreme Court on Friday, said
that it has started the process to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences (POCSO)Act to introduce death penalty for rape of minors till 12 year
of age.
Centre submitted its report while responding to a PIL filed by Advocate Alakh
Alok Srivastava, seeking maximum sentence of death penalty to those offenders
involved in the rape and brutal murder of children between the age group of 0
to 12.
The apex court 3-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak
Misra and comprising of Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, fixed the
matter for further hearing to April 27.
Disturbed over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, Union
minister of Women and Children Development Maneka Gandhi had few days ago asked
her department to work on a proposal to amend the POCSO law to bring in the
provision of death penalty for the rape of a minor below the age of 12 years.
"I have been deeply, deeply disturbed by the rape case in Kathua and all the
recent rape cases that have happened on children. I and the (women and child
development) ministry intend to bring an amendment to the POCSO Act asking for
death penalty for rape of children below 12 years," Maneka Gandhi was heard
saying in a video, which was uploaded on Twitter.
The minor girl in the Kathua case, who belonged to the minority nomadic
community, had disappeared from near her home in the forests next to a village
in Kathua, 90 km from here, on January 10.
Similar brutal rape case has surfaced in Surat.
(source: indiatimes.com)
************************
Kashmiris unanimous on death penalty for Kathua rapists
For once, the people of Kashmir and pro-India politicians in Kashmir are
speaking in the same voice: demanding that the rapists and murderers of the
8-year-old Gujjar girl in Kathua be hanged.
For the past several days, people from all sections of society - students,
businessmen, lawyers, doctors, journalists and social activists - have been
holding demonstrations, while students are clashing with government forces on
streets, to demand death penalty to the men accused of the crime by the police.
Mehrajuddin, a researcher at the University of Kashmir, while talking to
Kashmir Reader on Thursday said, "Every law since antiquity to the
Enlightenment (era) has rigorously asserted that death penalty is the due
punishment to a rapist, taking the sanctity of the human body into
consideration."
He added, "The death penalty is the least possible redemption to such heinous
crimes."
A female student, Irfana Wani, said that she favours capital punishment for
rapists, in particular for the rapists of the Kathua minor girl. "Yes, the
rapists should be hanged. Giving death penalty to the guilty shows that the
justice system values the dignity of rape victims," she said.
Muhammad Tahir, a PhD scholar, said that the Kathua rape and murder case falls
in the category of rarest of rare cases, thus capital punishment is perfect.
"Some may argue that death sentence is not going to stop the crime, but then
how is life sentence any better or worse?" he said.
Chairperson of the State Commission for Women and PDP leader Nayeema Mehjoor
also called for capital punishment to the rapists of the Kathua girl. "We have
already put in our demand that the rapists involved in the Kathua case should
be hanged," Mehjoor told Kashmir Reader.
Several students who have participated in protests said that those who think
they have the authority to take the life of another human being and commit such
horrible acts should not be allowed to live. "This evil act cannot be justified
or taken lightly and should be punished with the highest penalty," they said.
Legislator in the state assembly, Er Rasheed, said that the Kathua rapists
should not be let free with any punishment less than death. "The severest
punishment is hanging till death. These are social crimes and an evil for all,
irrespective of religions and regions," Rasheed said.
Chairperson of Kashmir Centre for Social and Developmental Studies (KSCDS),
Prof Hameeda Nayeem, said that a deterrent has to be set for such criminals.
"The justice system shows more sympathy for criminals than it does for victims.
It's time we put the emphasis of our criminal justice system back on protecting
the victim rather than the accused," she said.
She said that while capital punishment for other crimes is debatable, it should
be unanimously accepted in the cases of rape of minors. "There shouldn't be any
liberal, humanistic approach towards such criminals who perpetrated the heinous
crime of raping and murdering a minor in Kathua," she said.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti last week said that her government would
introduce a law to ensure death penalty for those raping minors. The main
opposition party, the National Conference, said they will support such a law.
National Conference provincial president and MLA Devender Singh Rana last week
said that he will move a Private Member's Bill in the Legislative Assembly for
death sentence to those committing rape of minors.
"Rape on a girl child is the most inhuman act," Rana said.
National Conference general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar told Kashmir Reader
that the party has an absolutely transparent stand on the Kathua case. "We want
the rapists in the Kathua case to be hanged," he said.
He said that his party will ensure justice for the 8-year-old girl. "We stand
committed not just to ensure justice for the minor girl but also to seek
exemplary punishment for those responsible for a crime whose brutal savagery
has shamed humanity," he said.
(source: kashmirreader.com)
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