July 17
TURKEY:
Child tragedies reignite death penalty calls in Turkey
A string of cases in which missing children were found dead has reignited calls
to reinstate the death penalty in Turkey, but some see political motives behind
the outcry.
The Turkish media in recent weeks has been awash with stories of missing
children, some of whom have met a tragic end. On July 2, the body of a
4-year-old girl was found outside a village in the eastern province of Agri,
where she had gone missing 18 days before while the family was visiting
relatives. On June 30, the security forces dug up the body of an 8-year-old
girl in Polatli near Ankara. The girl, who had been missing for a week, was
reportedly tortured, sexually abused and strangled to death. On July 8, a
2-year-old boy was found dead outside his village in the southeastern province
of Bitlis a day after he went missing. Also on July 8, the security forces
recovered the body of a speech-handicapped 6-year-old boy in a mountainous area
in the southern province of Hatay, about a week after he vanished while in the
company of a mentally challenged relative.
The problem of missing kids is not new for Turkey. Gamze Akkus Ilgezdi, a
lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), last week
submitted a proposal for a parliamentary inquiry on the issue. According to
Ilgezdi, an average of 32 children go missing every day in the country.
Why, then, is a long-overlooked problem now becoming a top item in the news? To
put it briefly, media organizations in Turkey have begun to change their
editorial policies. News about social problems are bound to gain weight in the
coming period because they carry little political risk.
Yet the increasing focus on neglected or abused children is positive,
regardless of the reason. Persistent media coverage of cases of missing
children could raise sensitivity on the issue, not only among the public but
also among politicians. 2 years ago, a proposal for a parliamentary inquiry
into the problem, submitted by a deputy from the Nationalist Action Party
(MHP), failed to materialize, as members of the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP) voted against the move.
Will Ilgezdi's proposal stand a better chance of acceptance in the new
parliament now? In remarks to Al-Monitor, the CHP lawmaker said, "If conscience
takes the lead, the proposal will be accepted and a comprehensive inquiry will
follow into the cases of missing children. According to my research, children
are being used in terrorist activities and for organ trafficking, besides
sexual abuse."
Whether parliament will set up an inquiry commission remains to be seen, but
the simmering public anger over child abuse has rekindled calls to reinstate
the death penalty.
MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, who ahead of the June 24 polls called for an amnesty
for a wide range of convicts, has now brought up the death penalty. The MHP
continues to be a critical partner for the ruling party after the AKP lost its
parliamentary majority. In a Twitter post June 30, Bahceli said, "Whether
execution or the toughest of sentences and isolation, vile barbarians deserve
it. ... They cannot escape it. They will face up to all consequences of their
cowardice and treachery."
In a s2nd tweet July 2, Bahceli openly referred to child abuse. "Punishing
child murderers in the toughest and most severe way is an inevitable
requirement of justice and a duty of humanity and honor," he said. "Everyone
should know that we will follow this up to the end."
Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004 as part of its effort to align with
EU norms. Even before that, no one had been executed in the country since 1984
under a de facto moratorium on the execution of death sentences.
Social media is abuzz with calls to bring back the death penalty, and a number
of petition campaigns are underway on change.org.
Yet opposition to the death penalty is equally vocal. Zafer Ozbilici, the head
of the Association of Families with Missing Relatives, believes the struggle
against child abuse should be waged through other means.
"Even the Code of Hammurabi [Babylonian code of law] before Christ stipulated
death for child abductions, but the problem has persisted and grown over the
millennia," Ozbilici told Al-Monitor. "I am concerned the death penalty would
not only fail to decrease the deaths of children, but would lead to their
increase because pedophiles, aware of the death sentence they face, would be
more inclined to murder the children they abuse to avoid being caught."
According to Ozbilici, Turkey should instead launch a systematic effort to
control pedophiles. "We should draw up a map of pedophilia. There are various
methods of detecting individuals inclined to abuse. By putting such a system in
place, one can ensure a close monitoring of potential offenders," he said. "And
what are we doing at present? We raise hell when a child is killed, and after 2
days, we forget about it."
Ilgezdi, meanwhile, believes the crimes against children are being used
politically to promote the return of the death penalty. "I am in favor of the
toughest punishments in order to stamp out crimes against children. We see,
however, that there is an effort to draw on those incidents to introduce a
general death penalty," she said.
Calls for the return of capital punishment were first rekindled after the coup
attempt in July 2016, which resulted in a ferocious crackdown on followers of
US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, the accused mastermind of the putsch, and
other oppositional quarters. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said
he would approve a law reinstating the death penalty if parliament passed it.
Sevil Atasoy, a prominent Turkish forensic scientist, also doubts the
deterrence capability of the death penalty. Pointing to statistics from the
United States, she tweeted, "If the death penalty is really [instrumental in]
reducing murders, why are murders on the decline in US states that do not have
the death penalty?" She drew attention also to the long list of Americans who
were wrongly condemned to death.
The combined parliamentary seats of the AKP and its ally, the MHP, are short of
the majority required for a constitutional amendment to reinstate capital
punishment. Such an amendment requires at least 360 votes to be put on a
referendum and 400 votes for an outright adoption in the 600-seat legislature.
The 2 parties hold 339 seats in total. In other words, the death penalty cannot
be brought back without support from the opposition.
Pointing to the parliamentary arithmetic, Erdogan last week appeared to tone
down his rhetoric on the issue. "[Reinstating] the death penalty is, of course,
a bit difficult. A constitutional amendment is needed," he told a group of
citizens, with whom he chatted briefly outside his official residence in
Istanbul.
The government, meanwhile, is considering chemical castration for child
abusers. In early July, before Erdogan announced his new Cabinet, outgoing
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said, "Chemical castration will be
thoroughly put into effect in the new period."
In her inquiry motion, Ilgezdi said about 104,500 children were officially
reported missing and then found in the 2008-2016 period. She notes that the
Interior Ministry refuses to share data on those who remain unaccounted for.
According to Ozbilici, about 30,000 people remain missing in the country. He
said 99% of the missing children cases involved minors who ran away and only 1%
were abductions, stressing that parental negligence and lack of dialogue in the
family were the core reasons of the problem in both cases.
(source: Mehmet Cetingulec is a Turkish journalist with 34 years professional
experience, including 23 years with the Sabah media group during which he held
posts as a correspondent covering the prime minister's and presidential
offices, economy news chief and parliamentary bureau chief. For nine years, he
headed the Ankara bureau of the daily Takvim, where he also wrote a regular
column----al-monitor.com)
SRI LANKA:
Sri Lanka Minister apologizes for statement regarding death penalty and
wrongdoers in high places
Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera has apologized for a
recent statement he made expressing his views on death penalty and individuals
in high positions involved in drug dealing.
Issuing a statement Minister Samaraweera recalled that in response to a
question on the restoration of the Capital Punishment for drug dealers at a
media conference last week, while reiterating his opposition to it, he said
that certain individuals connected to the drug trade try to cover their sins by
being benefactors of society, holding high positions in various organizations
or as philanthropists in religious organizations.
The Minister said inadvertently, he also mentioned Rotarians and Lions Clubs,
which he deeply regrets.
"There may be some individuals in society that join various organizations for
such reasons. However, I fully recognize and acknowledge that this does not, in
any way, diminish the noble charitable work which has been, and continues to be
done by these Organizations throughout the country, especially for the poor,
needy, destitute and the vulnerable," he said.
"I understand that my comments would have resulted in causing pain of mind to
many.To all of them I express my sincere apologies," Minister Samaraweera said
in his statement.
(source: Colombo Page)
SOUTHEAST ASIA:
Southeast Asia Drug Use Persists Despite Death Penalty
Southeast Asian authorities are not shy about doling out the death penalty to
punish drug traffickers, and yet narcotics abuse has not abated. If anything,
it is on the rise, which begs the question of whether the region's war on drugs
is working.
The latest report on global trends from the United Nations shows that while
Colombia remains the world's top source of cocaine, Asia is now emerging as a
hub for both transportation and consumption of the drug. In 2016 cocaine
seizures tripled across the continent in the span of just a year, the U.N.
Office on Drugs and Crime said in its June report.
But methamphetamine is making even bigger leaps in Southeast Asia because it is
not as geographically restricted as cocaine, which depends on cultivation of
the coca plant. Officials in countries around the Mekong region seized 65 tons
of methamphetamine in tablet and crystalline form in 2017, the UNODC said in a
separate report -- that is nearly 600 percent more than the amount seized a
decade earlier.
The latest findings "show that drug markets are expanding, with cocaine and
opium production hitting record highs, presenting multiple challenges on
multiple fronts," said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov.
Irony of drug policy
The apparent popularity of some drugs around the region stands in stark
contrast to the "tough on crime" approach of many Southeast Asian governments,
most of which have seen single ruling parties, military juntas, or
authoritarian leaders consolidate power at the central level in recent decades.
In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has earned notoriety for alleged
extrajudicial killings of drug crime suspects. In Vietnam, capital punishment
is meted out, often to drug traffickers, more often than anywhere else on the
planet except in China and Iran, Amnesty International says. The human rights
group also referred to Malaysia as one of the "staunch supporters of the use of
the death penalty for drug-related offenses."
?"Mandatory death sentences and the use of the death penalty for drug-related
offenses remained an issue of high concern in Southeast Asia," Amnesty
International said in its roundup of state executions worldwide in 2017.
These trends might puzzle some who expect stiffer law enforcement to blunt the
use and sale of drugs. But it is a tragic irony that legal crackdowns can
actually fuel the narcotics trade, according to author Johann Hari. He writes
in his book Chasing the Scream that when the police crack down on drugs, they
drive up prices as buyers pay sellers a premium for the legal risk.
Criminalization eliminates weaker rivals and allows the big players that are
left standing -- usually gangs and cartels -- to corner the market and
concentrate power, Hari said.
He is part of a growing chorus of people who question or outright reject the
belief that the death penalty deters or reduces crimes like drug trafficking.
"The drug problem is a complex social issue that demands a multifaceted
approach towards a lasting solution," Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan, executive
director of the Philippine Human Rights Information Center, told VOA.
"PhilRights has always maintained that capital punishment, being punitive and
retributive in nature, is a cure worse than the poison."
Dark web
The UNODC offers other possible explanations for the spread of drugs in
Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Buyers have new online options as it becomes
easier to access the dark web, where hidden sites deal in contraband from
weapons to counterfeit products to drugs. The anonymity of cryptocurrencies has
facilitated these purchases on illicit sites. At one point in 2017 Vietnam was
among the top three countries for bitcoin trading, though much of that had to
do with investment and other legal business activity.
While the U.S. is grappling with an opioid epidemic, there could be spillover
effects in other regions, and for similar reasons. One cause of the U.S. crisis
was the labeling change that allowed certain opioids to be marketed as
non-addictive because they didn't take full effect immediately, but had a slow
release. That allowed doctors to prescribe the painkillers more widely. In Asia
the opioid of choice is tramadol. The UNODC said that not only are more people
abusing tramadol here, but Asia is also the main source of illegal tramadol
seized around the world.
As for methamphetamine, the agency said the ease of cooking rather than growing
it could explain why the stimulant is taking off.
"This unique characteristic of synthetic drugs provides a comparative advantage
for drug trafficking groups in the Mekong and neighboring countries," the UNODC
said, "as Asia is the center of global chemical and rapidly growing
pharmaceutical industries."
There were 86 drug labs discovered in East and Southeast Asia in 2006; a decade
later, the number surpassed 500, UNODC figures show. As with so much other
data, it is unclear whether the abuse and sale of controlled substances are
increasing -- or if authorities are just getting better at finding them.
(source: voanews.com)
JAPAN:
Aum executions renew questions on death penalty
The secrecy surrounding executions in Japan, including the opaque procedure
leading up the decision on whom on death row to hang and when, is a problem
that was once again highlighted in the July 6 execution of Aum Shinrikyo
founder Shoko Asahara and 6 other former members of the cult convicted of a
series of deadly crimes, including the 1995 sarin gassing on Tokyo subway
trains. Whether or not people support the death penalty, they should be given
enough information about the system and its implementation to make an informed
judgment on the issue. More efforts are needed to promote transparency in
Japan's death penalty system and executions.
The criticism voiced by the European Union and other parties over the hangings
of the Aum cultists focused on the capital punishment system. According to
Amnesty International, more than 140 countries around the world have either
abolished the death penalty or effectively shelved it. Japan, the United States
and South Korea are the sole OECD members that retain capital punishment,
though South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997.
In a joint statement, the European Union Delegation to Japan, ambassadors of EU
member states and Iceland, Norway and Switzerland said they "are strongly and
unequivocally opposed to the use of capital punishment under all
circumstances," noting that the death penalty "fails to act as a deterrent to
crime." While condemning the crimes committed by the doomsday cult, Amnesty
International said that "justice demands accountability but also respect for
everyone's human rights" and that "the death penalty can never deliver this as
it is the ultimate denial of human rights."
However, the government remains firm in maintaining capital punishment, citing
overwhelming popular support for it. In fact, the latest Cabinet Office survey
taken in 2014 showed 80 % of the respondents condoning capital punishment, as
opposed to a mere 9.7 % who called for its abolition. The death sentences on
the 7 executed Aum Shinrikyo members were handed down and finalized following
open trials that took years to complete on the doomsday cult's horrific crimes.
People who endorse the death penalty view it as a due punishment for the
heinous crimes committed, and inevitable in view of the sentiments of victims
of the crimes and their families. Those calling for its abolition see capital
punishment as a cruel and inhumane penalty - and point out that executions of
people wrongly convicted of offenses they never committed result in an
irreversible injustice. Government surveys have shown that a strong majority of
the people polled endorse capital punishment as unavoidable, although the
margin of support for the death penalty declined sharply when the respondents
were asked the same question if there were a life term without parole - an idea
on which discussion has not made much progress.
Executions in Japan used to be veiled in secrecy. In the past, the Justice
Ministry officially kept executions under wraps - until in 1998 when it started
to disclose the number of death row inmates hanged when executions took place,
and in 2007 began releasing the names of the executed and the places where they
were hanged. But even today, many of the decisions surrounding executions are
made behind closed doors.
The Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that the justice minister should order an
execution within 6 months after a death sentence is finalized - but the rule is
rarely followed. Some inmates have been executed within about a year after
their sentence became final, while others have remained on death row for
decades. Executions do not take place while trials involving accomplices of
condemned prisoners are ongoing, as in the case of the Aum cultists. Death row
inmates seeking retrial of their cases may be executed - as happened with some
of the seven Aum cultists hanged July 6, including Asahara.
The Justice Ministry does not explain how it chooses which inmates among all
those on death row to be hanged, or the date of the executions. Asked how the
seven Aum members were chosen to be executed on July 6, Justice Minister Yoko
Kamikawa declined to comment, only saying the decision was made with extreme
care.
She also would not go into specifics of how the ministry determined that
Asahara was sufficiently mentally competent to be executed - despite some
earlier allegations that he was not - in light of the Criminal Procedure Law
provision that execution of a death row inmate in a state of insanity will be
suspended at the justice minister???s order. She only commented that "careful
consideration" was given to the matter by getting him to undergo a doctor's
diagnosis. That is the kind of question that deserves a proper answer to ensure
that due process is followed in enforcing the justice system's ultimate
punishment.
(source: Editorial, Japan Times)
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