July 23
KENYA:
Death penalty is inhumane and degrading
Suba North Member of Parliament Millie Odhiambo has termed the death sentence
as degrading and inhumane.
Her comments come barely days after Miss Lang'ata Prison 2016 beauty pageant
winner Ruth Kamande was sentenced to death for the murder of her boyfriend.
Speaking on Citizen TV's morning show, Day Break, the legislator expressed her
reservations about the punishment, saying it should be abolished.
"When we were discussing it at Bomas, I was one amongst very few who were
calling for the abolition of the death penalty," Millie told the show host,
Fred Indimuli.
"I am the Chairperson of the Parliamentarians for Global Action in Kenya and we
believe in the rule of law and human rights. And one of the things we're
working on this term is the abolition of the death penalty and we're going to
bring amendments to remove the death penalty in our books."
The outspoken legislator further urged for the transition of all death
sentences into life imprisonments, saying both penalties are equally enough
punishment for a convict.
"This girl is so beautiful... she's so young... she has lost her entire life;
that is enough punishment, really," she stated.
24-year-old Ruth Kamande was found guilty of stabbing Farid Mohammed 22 times
in 2015 in Nairobi; an act Millie Odhiambo now says was a crime of passion and
"in the heat of the moment."
She urged young people to walk away from bad and abusive relationships to avoid
such incidences.
"I would want to encourage young people; if you're in a bad relationship... if
someone is cheating on you, he's not the only man on earth, walk away, other
men will come; she's still too young and beautiful, she would have found many
more men," said the MP.
Human Rights group Amnesty International has also protested the death sentence
handed to the 24-year-old, saying it should be commuted to life imprisonment.
Delivering the sentence, High Court judge Jessie Lesiit said she handed the
maximum punishment to deter young people from engaging in such offences.
The judge noted that, in stabbing her boyfriend 22 times, the accused "acted
with clear intention to cause the deceased pain, suffering and death."
"That is clear proof of malice, of spite, callousness and hatred," ruled
Justice Lessit.
(source: citizentv.co.ke)
SRI LANKA:
Sri Lanka leader vows to end moratorium on death penalty
Sri Lanka's president said the government will still end its 42-year moratorium
on capital punishment despite requests by the European Union and other
diplomatic missions not to do so.
President Maithripala Sirisena said the decision to implement the death penalty
for drug smugglers "will not be changed under any circumstance and despite the
objections raised by some factions against the move," according to the
president's website.
Rising crime in Sri Lanka, including gang-related killings, narcotics,
robberies and sex crimes have led to a public outcry for executions.
Last week, Sirisena said convicted drug traffickers will be hanged as a part of
a crackdown on narcotics. The government has said it will execute prisoners who
have allegedly taken advantage of the moratorium to continue their drug trade
from prison. Drug trafficking carries the death penalty in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka has maintained the moratorium since its last execution in 1976.
No date has been set for the 1st new execution. More than 400 convicts now in
prison were sentenced to death, although many have had their sentences commuted
to life or are appealing. Of them, 18 were sentenced for drug-related crimes.
Sirisena said he would summon judiciary, prisons and law enforcement heads this
week to appoint a committee to decide who should be executed.
The government's decision to end the moratorium drew reaction from the European
Union delegation and embassies of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Romania, Canada and Norway which asked Sirisena to maintain the
moratorium and to uphold Sri Lanka's tradition of opposition to capital
punishment.
The embassies stressed they 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.
(source: Associated Press)
UNITED KINGDOM:
UK will not oppose US death penalty for Isis pair----Home secretary says UK
seeks no assurances suspects would be spared execution
2 captured former Britons accused of being members of the Islamic State cell
known as the "Beatles" could be sent to the US for trial, after the UK dropped
its usual demand that the death penalty would not be imposed.
The home secretary, Sajid Javid, told the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions,
that the UK would not demand a "death penalty assurance" in the case, and
indicated he believed there was more chance of a successful trial in the US
than in UK courts.
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are alleged to have been members of a
4-man cell of Isis executioners in Syria and Iraq responsible for killing a
series of high-profile western captives.
The pair, who are understood to have been stripped of their British
citizenship, were captured in January and have been at the centre of a dispute
over whether they should be returned to the UK for trial or face justice in
another jurisdiction.
In a leaked letter obtained by the Daily Telegraph, Javid said the UK "does not
currently intend to request, nor actively encourage", the transfer of Kotey and
Elsheikh to Britain.
He wrote: "I am of the view that there are strong reasons for not requiring a
death penalty assurance in this specific case, so no such assurances will be
sought." He said he had instructed officials to "action the request" for UK
cooperation.
The shadow attorney general, Labour's Shami Chakrabarti, said: "Sajid Javid
appears to have secretly and unilaterally abandoned Britain???s opposition to
the death penalty. By doing so he is not just playing with the lives of these
particular terrorists but those of other Britons - including potentially
innocent ones - all over the world.
"Just as we should be persuading countries like the US and Iran to drop the
death penalty, Sajid Javid appears to be encouraging this grave human rights
abuse."
Lord Carlile, the former reviewer of terrorism legislation, described Javid's
letter as extraordinary.
"It is a dramatic change of policy by a minister, secretly, without any
discussion in parliament. It flies in the face of what has been said repeatedly
and recently by the Home Office - including when Theresa May was home secretary
- and very recently by the highly respected security minister, Ben Wallace," he
told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"Britain has always said that it will pass information and intelligence, in
appropriate cases, provided there is no death penalty. That is a decades-old
policy and it is not for the home secretary to change that policy."
Amnesty International also criticised Javid's letter. Allan Hogarth, head of
advocacy and programmes at the human rights group, said: "This is a deeply
worrying development. The home secretary must unequivocally insist that
Britain's long-standing position on the death penalty has not changed and seek
cast-iron assurances from the US that it will not be used.
"A failure to seek assurances on this case seriously jeopardises the UK's
position as a strong advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and its
work encouraging others to abolish the cruel, inhuman and degrading practice."
The mother of one of the cell's victims told Today she was "very against" any
use of the death penalty if Kotey and Elsheikh were convicted.
"I think that you just make them martyrs in their twisted ideology," said Diane
Foley, whose son, James Foley, a US journalist, was killed in 2014. "I would
like them held accountable by being sent to prison for the rest of their lives.
That would be my preference."
Execution would be too easy for them, she added. "In a way that allows them to
take a much easier way out."
Along with Mohammed Emwazi - the killer nicknamed Jihadi John - and Aine Davis,
Kotey and Elsheikh are alleged to have been members of the notorious "Beatles"
group who held foreign hostages, killed them by decapitation and distributed
footage of the murders across the internet.
Emwazi, who was killed in a US airstrike in 2015, appeared in a number of
videos in which captives including the British aid workers David Haines and
Alan Henning and the US journalists Foley and Steven Sotloff were killed.
Davis was convicted of being a member of a terrorist organisation and jailed
for 7 1/2 years by a court in Silivri, Turkey, in May 2017.
The Telegraph reported that other documents say British officials have assessed
that Kotey and Elsheikh may be sent to Guantanamo without trial and that such
an outcome would not be formally opposed.
The Home Office refused to comment on the leaked documents. A spokesperson
said: "We continue to engage with the US government on this issue, as we do on
a range of national security issues and in the context of our joint
determination to tackle international terrorism and combat violent extremism.
"The UK government's position on Guantanamo Bay is that the detention facility
should close."
(source: The Guardian)
************************
UK: Javid signals a 'huge backward step' on death penalty with reported letter
Amnesty International UK has reacted with dismay to reports in the Daily
Telegraph this morning (23 July) that Britain has abandoned its blanket
opposition to the death penalty.
The daily newspaper has reportedly seen a letter sent by the British Home
Secretary Sajid Javid to Jeff Sessions, the US Attorney General, saying that
Britain will demand no "assurances" that the captured British citizens, and
alleged jihadists, Alexanda Kotey and Shafee El-Sheikh, will not be executed in
the US.
Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK's Head of Advocacy and Programmes,
said:
"This is a deeply worrying development. The Home Secretary must unequivocally
insist that Britain's long-standing position on the death penalty has not
changed and seek cast iron assurances from the US that it will not be used.
"While the alleged crimes of Alexanda Kotey and Shafee El-Sheikh are appalling,
the UK's principled opposition to the cruelty of the death penalty isn't
something it should compromise.
"A failure to seek assurances on this case seriously jeopardises the UK's
position as a strong advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and its
work encouraging others to abolish the cruel, inhuman and degrading practice.
"At a time when the rest of the world is moving increasingly to abolition, this
reported letter from the Home Secretary to the US Attorney General marks a huge
backward step.
"The death penalty is a serious human rights violation and Amnesty opposes it
in all circumstances.
"Capital punishment is the ultimate denial of life - it is always cruel and
unnecessary, it doesn't deter crime, and it means that rehabilitation is not an
option.
"By refusing to seek assurances on this case, the Home Secretary is leaving the
door wide open to charges of hypocrisy and double standards."
(source: Amnesty International)
INDIA:
Bill providing stringent punishment to rape convicts introduced in Lok Sabha
The central government on Monday introduced The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill,
2018, in Lok Sabha. The proposed law provides for stringent punishment
including death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12
years.
The proposed legislation, once passed 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 in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and the rape of
another woman in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.
Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Kiren Rijiju, while introducing the Bill
said the recent incidents of rape and gangrape of women under the age of 16
years and 12 years have shaken the conscience of the entire nation. So such
cases required effective deterrence through legal provisions of more stringent
punishment, he added.
"Some of the incidents in recent years have been marked by increased brutality
and violence perpetrated on minor girls. This has fuelled demands from various
sections of the society to make penal provisions more stringent and effective,
immediate arrest of the accused and ensure speedy trial in such cases," Rijiju
said.
The Bill stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly
of girls below 12 years. Death sentence has been provided for convicted rapists
of girls below 12 years of age. As per the provisions of the Bill the minimum
punishment in case of rape of women has also been increased from rigorous
imprisonment of 7 years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment.
According to the Bill, in case of rape of a girl under 16 years, the minimum
punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to
imprisonment for rest of life, which means jail term till the convicts'
"natural life". The punishment for gangrape of a girl below 16 years will
invariably be imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict.
The proposed law also provides for speedy investigations and trial. The time
limit for investigation of all cases of rape has been prescribed, which has to
be completed within 2 months. The deadline for the completion of trial in all
rape cases will be 2 months. A 6-month time limit for the disposal of appeals
in rape cases has also been prescribed. There will also be no provision for
anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gangrape of a girl below 16
years.
(source: tribuneindia.com)
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