July 19
FRANCE:
Who Buys a Guillotine? Someone Who Wants an 'Amusing Acquisition'
Christophe Fevrier, a businessman and father of 4 from the small town of
Chateau-Gontier in northwest France, decided in 2014 that there was something
he must have: a guillotine.
He had seen one offered at auction in Paris. It was 10 feet tall, with an oak
frame and a few dents in the blade, and had the French words for "Armies of the
Republic" etched into its metal plates. It had not actually been used to
execute people during the French Revolution, but it had historical value: It
was made in the mid-19th century, around the time France's monarchy was
abolished for a 2nd time.
Lady Gaga tried to buy the guillotine in 2011, said Mr. Fevrier, 48, in an
email. But she lost out to a Russian collector, who paid 223,000 euros, or
about $260,000 at current exchange rates.
The Russian faced a problem, however: France does not allow the export, or
import for that matter, of instruments of torture. So the guillotine stayed in
its long-term home, a Paris jazz club called Le Caveau des Oubliettes, where it
continued to surprise tourists.
This month, the device came up for auction again after the club went bankrupt.
Bidding lasted just 2 minutes. Mr. Fevrier won, paying 8,000 euros - a bargain,
some might say.
Despite the low price and the fact that the guillotine is a replica, the sale
caused controversy. A press officer for the regulator overseeing auctions in
France told the newspaper Le Parisien that it had warned the seller that the
sale would be in poor taste, although the organization had no means to stop it.
Guillotines were used to execute about 4,600 people in France before the death
penalty was abolished there in 1981. The last person to be executed was Hamida
Djandoubi, a North African immigrant convicted of torturing and murdering a
woman, in 1977.
Explaining his purchase, Mr. Fevrier said that he was not interested in the
guillotine's "symbolism of death," but that he viewed it "as a historic symbol
tied to the common heritage of humanity."
The guillotine Mr. Fevrier bought. It had not actually been used to execute
people during the French Revolution, but it had historical value.
"This object occupies a unique place in the history of my country and of the
world as a whole," he added. "It is indefinitely linked to French identity."
"We are free to buy what we like," Mr. Fevrier said. "I don't forbid myself
from imagining acquiring certain objects deemed 'off limits.'" He added that he
was interested in buying a car once owned by Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug
kingpin.
What type of person buys a guillotine? Mr. Fevrier said his purchase had
nothing to do with any kind of fetish - "I'm not into that scene at all" - and
that he was just interested in collecting unique objects, such as "rare pieces
of art and racecars with exceptional track records."
"Aside from work, I like art, traveling, races, being surprised and surprising
others," he replied when asked to describe himself.
He said he had yet to decide where to put his new purchase. "As a father of 4,
I don't want to exhibit it in a family setting," he added.
"Friends and colleagues were mostly surprised and intrigued when I bought it,"
Mr. Fevrier said, adding that they had soon conceded that the purchase suited
his personality and that many had said they were looking forward to seeing it.
"I think it's an amusing acquisition," he said.
(source: New York Times)
IRAN:
International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute Condemns Iran's Jailing
of Nasrin Sotoudeh----Iranian defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh has been
detained in Evin Prison under national security charges since June 13, 2018.
Iran received yet another international rebuke for its persecution of lawyers
trying to defend citizens' rights and the rule of law in Iran with the open
letter by the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
to Iran's supreme leader calling for the immediate release of the prominent
human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Sotoudeh, 55, has been detained in Tehran's Evin Prison since June 13, 2018,
and is facing national security charges for representing women in Iran who have
removed their headscarves in public in protest against the compulsory hijab
law.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) strongly supports IBAHRI's call and
urges the international community, from rights organizations to foreign state
officials to demand Sotoudeh's immediate release.
"The IBAHRI calls on Your Excellency to ensure the immediate release of Ms.
Sotoudeh, and to ensure that she is afforded the full protection of her due
process rights in compliance with domestic and international standards," said
the July 10 letter addressing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that was published on July
17.
"The IBAHRI further urges Your Excellency to take all possible measures to
ensure that lawyers are allowed to carry out their legitimate professional
activities without fear of intimidation, harassment or interference, in
accordance with international human rights standards," added the letter signed
by the IBAHRI Co-Chairs Ambassador (ret.) Hans Corell United Nations Legal
Counsel and Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, and the Hon Michael
Kirby AC CMG, a former Australian High Court Justice.
"Imprisoning lawyers for doing their job is an obscene travesty of justice,"
said CHRI's Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi.
"The Iranian Judiciary should end its unlawful persecution of human rights
lawyers and immediately release Sotoudeh," he said.
Sotoudeh's husband Reza Khandan told CHRI that Sotoudeh has refused to hire a
defense attorney in protest against the Iranian Judiciary's recent
implementation of a list of 20 state-vetted lawyers exclusively allowed to
defend detainees held on politically motivated charges in Iran.
"The IBAHRI expresses serious concern over the unwarranted interference with
the professional duties of lawyers, as it is an unacceptable intrusion on the
independence of the legal profession which undermines the rule of law and
threatens democratic principles," said the IBAHRI's letter to Khamenei.
Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
to which Iran is a party, protects the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest
and detention. Article 14 guarantees fair trial rights, including that the
person charged with a crime has the ability to communicate with legal
assistance of their own choosing.
Iran has a documented history of harassing and jailing lawyers who have taken
on politically sensitive cases.
In 2010, Sotoudeh was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the charges of
"acting against national security," "collusion and propaganda against the
regime," and "membership in the Defenders of Human Rights Center." An appeals
court later reduced her sentence to 6 years in prison and she was granted early
release in September 2013 after serving 3 years.
Well-known human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani is currently serving a
13-year sentence in Evin Prison for peacefully practicing his profession in
Iran.
Operating independently from the International Bar Association, the IBAHRI is a
global legal community promoting and protecting human rights and the
independence of the legal profession worldwide.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
MALAYSIA:
Killing wife: Indo escapes gallows
A 39-year-old Indonesian who was sentenced to death for murdering his wife in
Keningau escaped the gallows and was instead ordered to serve 20 years jail on
a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Court of Appeal Justices Dato' Abdul Rahman Sebli, Datuk Kamardin Hashim and
Datuk Wira Kamaludin Md Said allowed Agus Suddin's appeal against his
conviction and sentence.
The court quashed the conviction under Section 302 of the Penal Code and the
death sentence and substituted the conviction to Section 304(a) of the Penal
Code.
Agus was ordered to serve the imprisonment from the date of his arrest in 2015.
Agus was on June 5, 2017 sentenced to death by the High Court here after he was
found guilty of killing Lina Tagih, 42, also an Indonesian, at 8.45am on May 5,
2015 at the roadside near the workers' quarters of Syarikat Bornion Timber Sdn
Bhd in Sook.
The murder charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the death penalty
upon conviction.
Earlier, counsel Farazwin Haxdy submitted among others, that the trial judge
erred in law as Agus was convicted without appreciating the defence of grave
and sudden provocation by Agus' wife, which was established.
Farazwin submitted a prosecution witness testified that the incident occurred
following a fight and another prosecution witness confirmed that the incident
occurred as Agus found out that his wife was cheating on him with another man.
Agus personally surrendered at the police station which showed that whatever he
had done was never intentional or realised by him due to his loss of
self-control due to continuous and cumulative provocation by the wife, said
Farazwin.
It was also evidently clear in Agus's defence that he was attacked by his wife
with a knife first which was corroborated by another prosecution witness, said
Farazwin.
As a result, Agus sustained injuries on his palms.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi submitted that the trial
judge was right when ruling that Agus failed to prove the defence of sudden and
grave provocation during the incident.
Ahmad submitted that there was no evidence of provocation that led Agus to lose
his self-control because when Agus saw his wife and another man in a room, it
was not sufficient to provoke Agus as there was no evidence to show that the
wife did anything with the man other than talking.
He applied for the appeal be dismissed and the conviction and sentence by the
High Court to be upheld.
(source: Daily Express)
JAPAN:
Urgent Action
7 MEN EXECUTED, 6 OTHERS AT IMMINENT RISK
7 members of Aum Shinrikyo cult were executed without prior notice on 6 July
2018. The 6 other men sentenced to death in the same case remain at imminent
risk of execution. The pattern against the international law to execute
individuals with appeals or other proceedings still pending may continue.
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
* Halt any planned executions and commute the death sentences of the remaining
6 members of Aum Shinrikyo and all other prisoners, without delay;
* Establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death
penalty and to encouraging an informed national debate on the use of this
punishment;
* Pending that, end the secrecy that surrounds the use of the death penalty in
Japan and provide the prisoners, their family and lawyers and the public with
notification of any scheduled executions.
Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of
forwarding this one!
Contact these 2 officials by 29 August, 2018:
Minister of Justice
Yoko Kamikawa
1-1-1 Kasumigaseki Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo, Japan 100-8977
Ministry of Justice
Fax: +81 3 3592 7008 / +81 3 3592 7393
Twitter: @MOJ_HOUMU
Salutation: Dear Minister
Ambassador Shinsuke Sugiyama
Embassy of Japan
2520 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: 202 238 6700 ---- Fax: 202 328 2187
Twitter: @JapanEmbDC
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
(source: Amnesty Internatnional USA)
INDIA:
11-year-old girl raped by 17 men in India, officials say
There is shock in the city of Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil
Nadu after 17 men were arrested for allegedly raping an 11-year-old-girl, CNN
reports.
Anger at the accused was clear when a group of lawyers charged at them as they
were exiting court.
The men, who range in age from their 20s to their 60s, could potentially face
the death penalty. This is after the government rushed through an emergency law
in April introducing capital punishment in rape cases involving minor girls
under 12.
That measure was in response to growing public outrage at a string of sexual
assaults involving minors.
Now the police say the girl in this latest case suffers from a hearing
disability and she was attacked by men who worked in the building where she
lives with her family.
The men were employed in security and facilities around the building, and they
allegedly began attacking her in January. The attacks only came to light this
month when the girl informed her family.
The fact that this continued for so long raises some serious questions for the
authorities, and CNN asked the top elected official in Tamil Nadu state who's
responsible for law and order for a comment on this. They haven't received a
response yet.
It all underlines what is a recurring problem in India-- the safety of women
and girls.
This issue has prompted nationwide protests, and once again, the government
promised action to tackle this problem.
(source: ABC News)
**************************
Bill on death penalty for child rape to be tabled
The Bill to award the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below
the age of 12 will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament, the
Cabinet decided on Wednesday.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, once approved by Parliament, will
replace the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21
following an outcry over the rape and murder of a minor girl at Kathua in Jammu
and Kashmir and the rape of a woman at Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.
The Cabinet gave its approval to the draft Bill prepared by the Home Ministry,
Mr. Prasad said.
The Bill stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly
of girls below 12.
A provision for the death penalty has been provided for rapists of girls aged
under 12, an official said.
Longer term
The minimum punishment in the case of rape of women has been increased from
rigorous imprisonment of 7 years to 10.
Under the Bill, in case of the rape of a girl aged under 16 and above 12, the
minimum punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20.
The punishment for gang rape of a girl aged below 16 and above 12 will be
imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict, the official said.
Correcting an anomaly
While punishments for crimes against girls was enhanced through amendment to
the IPC, there was no mention of crimes against boys. The government will seek
to correct that anomaly as well.
"POCSO amendment for enhanced punishment for sexual assaults on young boys has
been approved by the Law Ministry. It will be sent to the Cabinet in 2 or 3
days," said a spokesperson of the Women and Child Development Ministry.
(source: thehindu.com)
SRI LANKA:
Bishops speak out on resumption of death penalty for drugs offenders in Sri
Lanka
The bishops of the Church of Ceylon have spoken out after reports that Sri
Lanka's President and Cabinet have moved to reinstate the death penalty for
prisoners convicted of drugs offences. There has been a moratorium on the use
of the death penalty in the country since 1976, with sentences of death
commuted to life imprisonment. But now President Maithripala Sirisena has said
that he will sign execution orders for people convicted of drug trafficking who
are said to be continued to be involved in offences despite being in prison.
The move has been opposed groups as diverse as the Human Rights Commission, the
European Union, Amnesty International and the country's Anglican Church.
"As Christians, we believe that all people are made in the image of God and are
therefore imbued with the spark of the divine within them, however obscured and
hidden it may be", the Bishop of Colombo, Dhiloraj Ranjit Canagasabey, and the
Bishop of Kurunegala, Keerthisiri Fernando, said. "This is why the taking of
human life is expressly condemned by the Church, whether by man or by the
state." They say that the Church of Ceylon "cannot therefore in any way agree
with this move, which we believe has been rushed into without proper
reflection, in the backdrop of criticism and public disquiet about the spate of
gang related murders and shootings in the recent days.
"Engagement in criminal activities outside prison by convicted persons cannot
take place without the connivance of prison authorities. The government cannot
absolve itself from its duty to devise ways of minimising such occurrences. It
must take quick but well designed steps to put into place strong security
measures in prisons, obtaining the services of experts here and even abroad, if
required. It cannot resort to hanging people to escape its own obligations."
The bishops says that "wise counsel has always prevailed" when previous
governments considered reinstating the death penalty during the past 40-years.
"This does not mean that we are unconcerned about the drug menace. We are
indeed very deeply concerned by this widespread and very dangerous threat
especially to the young people of our country and its consequences on wider
society. In our pastoral visits all over the island we are very often briefed
of this menace and we encourage our clergy and organisations to carry out
awareness programmes and join with others in doing whatever we can to protect
children. The church is willing to join and offer our assistance to the
government in this regard in the educational sector.
"We therefore re-iterate our opposition to this decision and we call instead on
the government to vigorously combat drug smuggling and distribution at all
levels in our society. It is widely spoken including in government circles,
that it is the 'sprats' who are being caught and punished while the 'sharks'
are allowed to remain free to carry on their business, profitable to many, even
politicians it is said. The law ought and must be applied in full force equally
to all involved in this destructive trade.
(source: anglicannews.com)
************************
Amnesty International has issued the following statement regarding the proposed
reimposition of the death penalty in Sri Lanka -
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/07/sri-lanka-executions-are-never-the-solution/
[www.amnesty.org]
For more information on Amnesty's concerns in Sri Lanka, please visit
amnestyusa.org/sri.lanka.
(source: Jim McDonald, Sri Lanka Country Specialist----Amnesty International
USA
***********************
Executions are never the solution
Gener Rondina was at home with his family in Barangay Carreta, a low-income
neighbourhood of the Philippines' Cebu City, when the police came for him in
the middle of the night. Trembling with fear, he pleaded for his life. "I will
surrender, sir," he cried out, but the police were unmoved. He raised his hands
over his head and fell to his knees. The family was ushered out of the room.
Then, gunshots rang out.
Rondina is 1 of several thousand Filipinos slain in President Rodrigo Duterte's
murderous "war on drugs", with even the Philippines National Police admitting
that it has killed 4,000 of them. When it is not arresting people, let alone
presenting them in court, but killing them on the spot, the police assumes the
roles of judge, jury and executioner. Breaking the very laws they are supposed
to uphold, they have acted on the flimsiest evidence to target people suspected
of buying or selling drugs, overwhelmingly in the country's poorest
neighbourhoods.
As an Amnesty International report last year documented, "hit lists" were
arbitrarily drawn up by local political bosses. In at least some cases, police
recruited paid killers to do their dirty work for them, offering bounties per
head. In their own operations, the police planted evidence in people's homes,
faked official incident reports to claim there had been a shootout, and stole
possessions from their homes. Even in death, the victims were denied their
dignity. Their bodies were dragged along the ground and dumped in the street.
When Rajitha Senaratne, the presidential spokesman, said that Sri Lanka hopes
to "replicate the success" of the Philippines, is this what he had in mind?
Would he like to see Sri Lanka's most impoverished neighbourhoods become places
where people awake each morning to find fresh corpses lying on the streets in
pools of blood? Or where, in the name of protecting a younger generation,
dozens of children, some as young as 4 and 5, have been killed in the violence?
Does he want security forces reduced to a criminal enterprise that sponsors
private killers, the rule of law to lose all meaning, and a mere allegation to
mean the difference between life and death?
The Philippines, in case some government officials do not realize, is currently
the subject of a preliminary examination by the Office of the Prosecutor at the
International Criminal Court. The wave of extrajudicial executions, which human
rights groups believe to be both widespread and systematic, may lead to an
invitation to the Hague for crimes against humanity. It is a policy so extreme
that the UN human rights chief has recommended President Duterte seek
"psychiatric evaluation". In a letter that should interest at least one eminent
Sri Lankan, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines last year
denounced the killings as "a reign of terror in many places of the poor."
(source: Omar Waraich, Deputy South Asia Director Colombo, Sri Lanka, Amnesty
International)
*******************
Death penalty: Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith clarifies
The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith today clarifying his
statement on the Government moves to implement the death penalty, said that
what he meant was that the State should not bring back the death sentence, but
that criminal minds that sought to destroy social peace and harm hundreds
should not go unpunished.
"The criminal minds that sought to destroy social peace and harm hundreds of
others, putting into ridicule law and order, and challenging humanity, to stop
them if possible and that they should not go unpunished for their criminal
behaviour, even after being condemned. Our youth are too precious to be
sacrificed on the altar of philosophical sophistry and arguments. It would be
like Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned," Cardinal Ranjith said in a
statement.
The clarification as follows:
"...Neither have I advocated a re-introduction of the death penalty carte
blanche as people seem to have understood nor have I desired to close my eyes
and do nothing before this terrible phenomenon our country is faced with at
present which causes death and violence in the streets and the destruction of
the cream of our youth who become drug addicts at an age as early as their
adolescence being exposed to drugs even in their schools. This is being done by
drug cartels operated at times from the prisons. That was the concern and
context of my statement.
"Hundreds of parents have approached our clergy and expressed their horror at
what happened to some of their children. Several cases of suicide by youth
consuming drugs have been reported to us. The Archdiocese in fact organized 2
protest marches against drug peddlers in Ragama and in Negombo with thousands
of our faithful participating and I have listened to the tearful tales of so
many mothers whose families have been rendered destitute by the drug menace.
Should we wash hands like Pilate and wait till our children are destroyed.
"The Holy Father Pope Francis has in fact not accepted the death penalty which
is also my own position invariably. I am not for a generalized return of
capital punishment. It should be the last option, if at all.
In fact the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that: "Assuming that the
guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the
traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death
penalty, if this is the only way of effectively defending human life against
the unjust aggressor" [Catechism of the Catholic Church, revised edition, 1997
No. 2267].
"Thus, I have acted on this matter with a sense of total awareness of the
gravity of this situation, in faithfulness to what my faith teaches me on the
matter and in consideration of the tragedy that continues to strike our youth
and the nation and my responsibility before God and our people in addressing
this serious national issue. May I also refer to what Jesus, the Lord,
mentioned with regard to those who cause scandal and mislead our children and
youth in order to gain filthy lucre for themselves: "It would be better for
you, if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea
than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble" [Lk.17:2].
My point is that the State should not bring back the death sentence, but that
criminal minds that seek to destroy social peace and harm hundreds of others
putting into ridicule law and order and challenging humanity to stop them if
possible, should not go unpunished for their criminal behaviour even after
being condemned. Our youth are too precious to be sacrificed on the altar of
philosophical sophistry and arguments. It would be like Nero playing the fiddle
while Rome burned."
(source: dailymirror.lk)
****************************
Capital punishment in Sri Lanka could lead to loss of GSP-Plus trade concession
The decision by the Sri Lankan government to resume implementation of the death
penalty on the island could lead to the loss of GSP-Plus preferential trade
concession, reports AFP this week.
The report comes after heads of delegations of several Western states,
including the European Union, wrote to Sri Lanka's president expressing their
opposition to the reported resumption of capital punishment.
"If Sri Lanka resumes capital punishment, Colombo will immediately lose the
GSP-Plus status," an EU diplomatic source told AFP.
The joint letter said that "they strongly and unequivocally oppose capital
punishment in all circumstances and in all cases" and that "the death penalty
is incompatible with human dignity, does not have any proven deterrent effect,
and allows judicial errors to become fatal and irreversible".
Earlier this year a delegation of the European Parliament Committee on
International Trade (INTA) highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to make progress
in implementing international human rights conventions relevant to the GSP+
trade concession.
(source: Tamil Guardian)
KYRGYZSTAN:
Lawmaker speaks for death penalty for pedophiles
MP Ainuru Altybaeva (SDPK) has spoken for death penalty for pedophiles at the
round table discussion today.
She said pedophiles should be punished.
"But we will be able to use it only upon court and law enforcement reforms,"
the lawmaker said.
(source: AKI Press News Agency)
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