February 20
EGYPT----executions
Egypt hangs 9 for 2015 murder of top prosecutor
Egypt hanged 9 men on Wednesday for the 2015 assassination of the prosecutor
general, judicial sources said, bringing to 15 the number of executions it has
carried out this month.
Hisham Barakat was killed in June 2015 when a car bomb struck his convoy in
Cairo following jihadist calls for attacks on the judiciary to avenge a
crackdown on Islamists.
The 9 men hanged on Wednesday were among 28 people sentenced to death in 2017
for involvement in his murder.
Their death sentences were upheld in November by the Court of Cassation, which
commuted the sentences of 6 others to life imprisonment.
The sentences of the other defendants were not considered because they had been
sentenced in absentia.
The hangings came despite an 11th-hour plea by human rights group Amnesty
International on Tuesday for a stay of execution.
"There is no doubt that those involved in deadly attacks must be prosecuted and
held accountable for their actions but executing prisoners or convicting people
based on confessions extracted through torture is not justice," said Amnesty's
North Africa campaigns director, Najia Bounaim.
"At least 6 men have already been executed earlier this month after unfair
trials. Instead of stepping up executions the Egyptian authorities should take
steps to abolish the death penalty once and for all."
Last week, Egypt hanged 3 people convicted of the 2013 murder of senior police
officer Nabil Farag.
The previous week, it hanged three young "political detainees" convicted of the
September 2013 murder of the son of a judge, Human Rights Watch reported.
No one claimed the 2015 attack against Barakat but the authorities pointed the
finger at members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood of ousted president
Mohamed Morsi.
Since Morsi's overthrow by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi in 2013, Egypt has struggled to quell a jihadist insurgency and cracked
down on Islamists who backed him.
Hundreds of Morsi supporters have been sentenced to death, while the former
president and top Brotherhood figures have also faced trial.
The Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed and branded a terrorist organisation in
December 2013, just months after Morsi's ouster.
Many of the death sentences have been handed down at mass trials involving
hundreds of defendants and lasting just days.
(source: france24.com)
PHILIPPINES:
Jinggoy Estrada wants plunder to be punishable by death penalty
Former Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who is accused of amassing 183 million in
connection to the multibillion "pork barrel scam," wants plunder to be among
the heinous crimes punishable by death penalty.
Estrada—who is running for senator in the May elections—said he is for the
reimposition of capital punishment, but only for heinous crimes, including
plunder.
"Kung magnanakaw ka sa kaban ng bayan, eh di isama na sa heinous crimes 'yan,"
he said on CNN Philippines' Politics As Usual.
[Translation: If you steal money from the country's funds, might as well
include it in the heinous crimes]
"When I was still a senator nagbotohan kami dyan sa (we voted on) death penalty
during the time of President Gloria (Arroyo). I abstained from the votation to
abolish the death penalty because I still had an existing plunder case which
was punishable by death," he said.
Estrada is currently out on bail for a plunder charge and 15 counts of graft.
The same charges were filed against former Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon
"Bong" Revilla Jr.
The 3, who are all running for the Senate, allegedly diverted portions of their
Priority Development Assistance Fund to fake non-governmental organizations in
exchange for kickbacks. Revilla had been acquitted by the Sandiganbayan, but
was ordered to return 124.5 million. The plunder trial of Enrile, meanwhile,
was canceled and indefinitely put on hold.
Estrada maintained his innocence over the charges, saying he "has nothing to
hide."
He said he is confident that he will be acquitted of the charges.
"I'm quite confident that I will follow suit. Actually my case is still on
trial but it is already on the later stage. We already filed a formal offer of
evidence and we have already commented to it, and the court will still have to
rule on it," he said, adding that he hopes the ruling on his plunder case will
come before the elections.
Estrada said his acquittal "will not lessen the campaign against corruption by
this administration," and will only show that the 3 of them were just
"handpicked" by the previous administration.
"There were a lot of congressmen or legislators, so to speak, who also endorsed
the same thing we did. Bakit hindi nila kinasuhan 'yung mga nag-endorse din sa
mga NGO? Bakit tatlo lang kami?" he said.
[Translation: Why didn't they file charges against those who also endorsed the
non-government organizations? Why only the three of us?]
(source: CNN)
INDIA:
Chhattisgarh man gets death penalty for raping, killing minor
A court in Balod district of Chhattisgarh has sentenced a 50-year-old man to
death for raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl in 2017.
Balod District and Session Judge Rajendra Pradhan gave Jhaggar Yadav the death
penalty after finding him guilty under relevant sections of the IPC and
provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act,
District Prosecution Officer (DPO) M R Qureshi told on Tuesday.
Yadav, a resident of Dallirajhra, had kidnapped the girl on June 5, 2017, raped
her at a nearby mine, bludgeoned her to death and dumped her body in the
bushes, Qureshi said.
He was arrested on June 7 and charged under Sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape),
363 (kidnapping) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the
IPC and provisions of the POCSO Act, the officer said.
On Monday, Judge Pradhan observed that the case fell in the "rarest of rare"
category and handed down the capital punishment to Yadav, the DPO said.
(source: outlookindia.com)
*******************
Death penalty to man who raped 3-year-old girl in India----The girl had been
playing outside her home.
A court on Wednesday awarded death sentence to a person who was found guilty of
raping and killing a 3-year-old girl in Jharkhand's Gumla district.
According to a lawyer, Additional District Judge (ADJ-1) L. Dubey of Gumla
district awarded the death sentence to Bandhan Oraon and slapped a fine of Rs
10,000.
The incident took place on September 23, 2018, when the girl was playing
outside her home. Oraon, the girl's uncle, took her to his home and raped her
after which she bled to death.
After the girl's parents enquired the accused, he admitted to his crime and was
arrested by the police the next day.
(source: Khaleej Times)
PAKISTAN:
Perjury in death penalty case punishable with life term, says Justice Khosa
A man found to give false testimony before a trial court in a murder case, was
produced before the Supreme Court under perjury charges, ARY News reported on
Wednesday.
Muhammad Arshad, a Sahiwal resident, who was found to give allegedly false
statement in murder case of ASI Police Mazhar Hussain, was produced before a
bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.
Chief Justice Khosa remarked that under the law, perjury in death penalty cases
is punishable with life imprisonment.
The top judge addressing accused Arshad said, “You are a national volunteer so
also become a witness voluntarily!!!.” “Why your medical test conducted after 3
days of the incident?”
“I had to suffer a knife blow, and it was removed after 3 days,” the accused
replied.
“Don’t use your tongue in excess,” the chief justice said. “He says he received
a knife wound, the medical report calls it a wound of sharp-edged instrument”.
“Other witnesses said it was dark, you are saying you saw the accused in a
torchlight,” Chief Justice Khosa remarked.
“If someone had condemned to death on your false testimony,” the court asked.
You are a national volunteer and also became a witness voluntarily!!!,” Justice
Khosa remarked.
He would have accompanied with the policeman in some matter. The policeman
killed and he gave false testimony to save the honour of police, the chief
justice further said.
“What could the court do on the matter,” the chief justice asked from the
prosecutor general of Punjab present in the case.
“The trial court will conduct an inquiry over the request of the state,” the
government prosecutor said. His witness account and medical report will be
scrutinized, the prosecutor added.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan had summoned Muhammad Arshad over alleged false
testimony in a murder case, and acquitted the accused after seven years of
imprisonment.
The court remarked that Arshad gave false account of the event before the trial
court and questioned why the court should not initiate perjury proceedings
against the false witness?
The Chief Justice said, "We are initiating the action against false witnesses
with this volunteer.”
The court had acquitted the accused of murder giving him benefit of doubt.
(source: arynews.tv)
AUSTRALIA/MALAYSIA:
Australia could allow Sirul’s extradition on condition death penalty is not
imposed
Sirul Azhar Umar, who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering
Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, can be extradited back to Malaysia on the
condition that an undertaking is provided that the death penalty will not be
carried out.
A spokesperson from the Australian Attorney General’s Department said today
that the Attorney General must be satisfied that on return to the requesting
country, there is no real risk that the death penalty will be carried out upon
the person in relation to the offence.
“Australia’s Extradition Act does not allow for extradition from Australia
where the offence is subject to the death penalty, unless an undertaking is
provided that the death penalty will not be imposed or, if imposed, not carried
out,” the spokesperson told Bernama International News Service through an email
reply.
Bernama made the query on Sirul Azhar’s fate after it was reported by
Australia’s news portal today that his political asylum bid was rejected by an
Australian court on Monday.
The spokesperson also added that as a matter of longstanding practice, the
Australian Government does not comment publicly on extradition matters,
including whether it has received an extradition request, until the person is
arrested or brought before a court pursuant to the request.
Bernama reported in August last year that the then Australian Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, said that Australia has yet to receive any
application from Malaysia seeking the extradition of the convicted policeman
who sought refuge in that country.
Sirul Azhar and Azilah Hadri were convicted by the High Court in 2009 of
killing Altantuya in 2006.
They succeeded in overturning their conviction at the Court of Appeal in 2013
but the Federal Court in 2015 restored their conviction and sentenced them to
death.
Sirul Azhar fled to Australia before the final verdict. The Federal Court later
issued a warrant of arrest for him.
Sirul Azhar, who was sentenced to death for the murder, is being held in an
immigration detention centre in Australia.
Meanwhile, in October last year, the Malaysian Cabinet has decided to abolish
the mandatory death penalty for all offences.
Following the decision, all death sentences have been stayed until the
abolition of the death penalty comes into effect.
The Cabinet had also considered the proposed imposition of a 30-year minimum
jail sentence if the mandatory death penalty is abolished, and will make a
decision on the tabling in Parliament of the proposal to abolish the death
penalty before the Dewan Rakyat convenes next month.
(source: malaymail.com)
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