June 10
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY:
PCHR: Accession to abolition of death penalty "step in right direction"
On Wednesday, 06 June 2018, the Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas signed
instrument of State of Palestine's accession to 7 international convention and
treaties, including the 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the abolition of the
death penalty. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) commended the
accession to the ICCPR Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty
and emphasized it is a step in the right direction that needs to be upheld with
legislative steps to guarantee compliance with the protocol.
In a statement, PCHR said that since its establishment in 1995, the center has
opposed the use of death penalty in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)
and called upon the Palestinian leadership in many occasions and with the
issuance of a new death sentence to necessarily abolish it and sign the
relevant international protocol.
PCHR at the time based on legal and logical grounds that render the application
of death penalty in the Palestinian Authority (PA) a crime in light of absence
of investigation techniques and guarantees for a fair trial in order to apply
such a dangerous penalty. Moreover, PCHR said it believes that such penalty is
inhuman and ineffectual in achieving general deterrence or peace in society.
Since the establishment of the PA, PCHR monitored serious abuses, particularly
following the division in the PA, as many death sentences were applied without
a fair trial or following up the proper legal proceedings.
Most prominent of those abuses of the use of death penalty in the PA was
issuing death sentences by military courts against civilians, establishing the
so-called "Field Court" in the Gaza Strip that issued and applied immediately
inappellable death sentences, applying death sentences without the ratification
of the Palestinian President in flagrant violation of the Basic Law; absence of
fair trial guarantees; and systemic use of torture to obtain confessions.
Since the establishment of the PA, 41 death sentences were issued; 39 of which
were in the Gaza Strip and 2 in the West Bank. Among the sentences applied in
the Gaza Strip, 28 were applied since 2007 without the ratification of the
Palestinian President in violation of the law. Moreover, the total number of
death sentences issued in the Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled areas has
risen to 203 sentences since 1994. 30 of them have been issued in the West Bank
and 173 in the Gaza Strip. Among those issued in the Gaza Strip, 115 sentences
have been issued since 2007.
PCHR called upon the Palestinian President to promptly and immediately amend
the penal laws applicable in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; the 1936 Penal Law
in force in the Gaza Strip and the 1960 Jordanian Penal Code in force in the
West Bank, as each of them proclaims 15 crimes punishable by death penalty.
PCHR also reiterated its call for suspending the 1979 Revolutionary Penal Code
for its unconstitutionality as it stipulates 45 crimes punishable by the death
penalty.
PCHR called upon the Palestinian President to issue a decision by law to
suspend immediately the death penalty until making the necessary amendments to
the above mentioned laws.
(source: pnn.ps)
INDIA:
Convict's appeal against death penalty: SC seeks reply from UP govt
The Supreme Court has sought the Uttar Pradesh government's response on a plea
by a death-row convict challenging the Allahabad High Court's judgement
upholding the capital punishment awarded to him for burning alive his son and 2
brothers.
A vacation bench of justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan issued notice
to the state on the appeal and called for the original records of the case.
The counsel representing convict Irfan requested the apex court to stay the
execution of sentence.
"When the appeal is pending before us, nobody is going to be executed," the
bench observed.
"Intimation of this matter be sent to the concerned jail authority," the bench
noted in its order.
Irfan challenged the April 25 verdict of the high court which had upheld the
death penalty awarded to him by a trial court in Bijnor district.
Fifty-year-old Irfan was convicted by the trial court for offences under
various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including murder.
According to the police, Irfan had set the room, in which his son and 2
brothers were sleeping, on fire by pouring inflammable substance and bolted the
door from outside on the intervening night of August 5-6, 2014.
It had said that injured persons -- Irshad, Naushad and Islamuddin -- were
rushed to a hospital in Delhi where they died during the treatment.
The police had also said Islamuddin opposed his father's 2nd marriage leaving
Irfan annoyed.
Irfan had assaulted his son 2 days prior to the incident and Irshad and Naushad
had mediated between them, the police said.
Following the incident, a complaint was lodged by Irfan's father-in-law.
During the trial, Irfan alleged that he was falsely implicated in the case by
some of his relatives so as to deny a share in their ancestral property.
(source: indiatoday.in)
MALAYSIA:
July 12 re-mention for murder of mother case in KB
The case of a 39-year-old local charged with murdering his mother in Kota Belud
will re-mentioned on July 12.
High Court Judge Datuk Nurchaya Arshad set the date for Bukhari Jinol's case
for the prosecution to get further instruction from the Headquarters in
Putrajaya regarding the case.
Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gan Peng Kun informed the court that the
Headquarters instructed to proceed with the trial for murder under Section 302
of the Penal Code, even though he had recommended for Section 304(a)
(manslaughter) to be read to the accused.
DPP Gan said the instruction was on grounds that there were sufficient evidence
to proceed with Section 302.
Counsel Ridwandean Borhan, representing Bukhari, informed the court that a
report from the hospital in Bukit Padang stated that Bukhari was of unsound
mind at the time the offence was committed because he took drugs.
Bukhari is accused of committing the crime to one Teh Juari, 56, at 10.40pm on
May 1, this year in a house at Kg Linau, Kota Belud.
When the trial commenced on April 16, the prosecution's 1st witness, a
psychiatrist, testified on Bukhari's mental condition that Bukhari was of
unsound mind and was incapable of knowing the nature of the act during the
commission of the alleged offence.
The prosecution referred the matter to the Headquarters following an order from
the court to get instruction on the case.
The charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the death penalty on
conviction.
Meanwhile, the court deferred to July 9 the case of a 35-year-old unemployed
local charged with trafficking 4,619gm of syabu.
Counsel Dominic Chew, representing Muhd Zubir Sabtal, applied for another
pre-trial case management as he wanted to write a letter to challenge the whole
thing regarding the charge against Zubir.
Zubir is accused of committing the offence at 2.45am on Jan 4, 2017 in Room No.
502, Tang Dynasty Bay Hotel, at Kg Gudon, Sepanggar Bay Road.
(source: dailyexpress.com.my)
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