April 12
GLOBAL:
People Do Not “Deserve to Die”: Injustice of Death Penalty Persists
While figures have dropped, the “inhuman” use of the death penalty still
remains too common worldwide, a human rights group said.
In a new report, Amnesty International found that global executions fell by
almost 1/3 last year, making it the lowest rate in at least a decade.
“The dramatic global fall in executions proves that even the most unlikely
countries are starting to change their ways and realise the death penalty is
not the answer,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Kumi Naidoo.
“This is a hopeful indication that it’s only a matter of time before this cruel
punishment is consigned to history, where it belongs,” he added.
For instance, Burkina Faso abolished the death penalty in 2018, while both
Malaysia and the Gambia declared an official moratorium on executions.
In Iran, where the death penalty is an all too common form of punishment,
executions fell by a whopping 50 %.
Despite the positive news, the use of the death penalty has continued,
violating basic human rights including the right to a fair trial and the
importance of ensuring dignity and respect.
According to Amnesty International, there were 2,531 death sentences globally
in 2018, just a slight decrease from 2,591 reported in 2017.
Though there was some progress, Iran still continues to account for more than
one third of all recorded executions.
In fact, approximately 78 % of all known executions were carried out in just
four countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Iraq.
H? Duy H?i is among 600 people under the death sentence in Vietnam, and still
remains at risk of execution.
Convicted of theft and murder, H? Duy H?i said he was tortured and forced to
sign a “confession” which he later retracted.
In 2015, the Committee on Judicial Affairs of the National Assembly found
serious violations of criminal procedural law in the handling of H? Duy H?i’s
case.
“It has been 11 years since he was arrested and our family was torn apart. I
can no longer bear this pain. Just thinking about my son suffering behind bars
hurts me so much,” his mother Nguy?n Th? Loan told Amnesty International.
“I would like the international community to help reunite my family. You are my
only hope,” she added.
While exact figures are unknown, China is still the world’s top executioner
with potentially thousands of people sentenced to death each year.
The death penalty is applied in a range of offences including non-violent
offences which violates international law and standards as they do not classify
as the “most serious crimes.”
In June 2018, authorities in Lufeng city in southeastern China conducted a
“mass sentencing rally” where 10 people were charged for drug-related offences
and executed.
Elsewhere, the use of the death penalty has been reintroduced which, in some
cases, is happening in countries that have had a decades-long moratorium.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said he would reinstate executions
after more than 40 years and apply death sentences to those convicted of drug
offences, like the Philippines.
The government even posted a job advertisement seeking an executioner with
“excellent moral character” and a “very good mind and mental strength.”
Sudan resumed the implementation of death sentences after a hiatus in 2017,
including the sentencing of Noura Hussein.
Hussein, a young Sudanese woman, was married against her will to Abdulrahman
Mohamed Hammad at the age of 16 and was raped when she refused to consummate
the marriage.
When Hammad tried to rape her again, Hussein defended herself and in the
struggle, he sustained a fatal knife injury and died.
Despite evidence of self-defence, Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death,
prompting global outrage.
“I was in absolute shock when the judge told me I had been sentenced to death.
I hadn’t done anything to deserve to die. I couldn’t believe the level of
injustice – especially on women,” Hussein told Amnesty International.
“My case was especially hard as at the time of sentencing, my family had
disowned me. I was alone dealing with the shock,” she added.
Though the death sentence was overturned, it has only been replaced with a
five-year prison sentence and financial compensation of 8,400 dollars. Still,
prosecutors are pushing to reinstate the death sentence in her case.
The global struggle is still far from over, Naidoo noted.
“Slowly but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of
the death penalty…from Burkina Faso to the U.S., concrete steps are being taken
to abolish the death penalty. Now it’s up to other countries to follow suit,”
he said.
“We all want to live in a safe society, but executions are never the solution.
With the continued support of people worldwide, we can – and we will – put an
end to the death penalty once and for all.”
(source: Inter Press Service)
KENYA:
No, Kenya is not introducing the death penalty for wildlife poachers
Articles shared tens of thousands of times online have reported that Kenya is
planning to introduce the death penalty for convicted wildlife poachers. The
articles quote Tourism Minister Najib Balala, who is supposed to have made the
announcement during a meeting held on May 10, 2018. However, Balala was not at
that meeting, and told AFP there was no such plan. Capital punishment is in
theory permitted in Kenya, but the country has an effective ban on carrying out
death sentences. No death row prisoner has been executed since 1987.
Kenya, like several other African countries, has seen its elephant and rhino
populations decimated by illegal poaching to feed a booming international trade
in tusks and horns. Elephant ivory is often carved into ornaments or jewellery
and rhino horns are used in traditional Asian medicine, with China representing
the biggest market for such goods.
The articles about the supposed death penalty plan began appearing online in
May 2018, shortly after the meeting during which Balala was reported to have
made the announcement.
Animal poaching is a highly emotive subject, and some articles reporting the
announcement have racked up more than 100,000 shares each.
One post published by South African site News360, which we’ve archived here,
has been shared online 123,000 times, according to data from social media
monitoring site CrowdTangle. Another, published on the website of Joseph
Mercola -- a controversial alternative medicine practitioner in the United
States -- has been shared more than 100,000 times. A quick Google search
reveals that the death penalty claim has been repeated on a large number of
websites.
Existing penalties against convicted poachers have “not been deterrence enough
to curb poaching,” the articles quote Balala as saying.
In many of the articles, it’s unclear when or where Balala was supposed to have
made his announcement, but the News360 article linked to a similar report from
Britain’s Independent news website, dated May 13, 2018.
(source: factcheck.afp.com)
VIETNAM:
Vietnam only applies death penalty for ‘especially serious’ crimes
The application of the death penalty is a sovereign nation’s prerogative and
Vietnam only applies it for very grave crimes.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang was responding Thursday to a
report by Amnesty International on the death penalty and countries that still
have it on their books.
She said the abolishment of capital punishment is not part of the international
treaties on human rights to which Vietnam is a signatory.
The death penalty is only applied for "especially serious" crimes in accordance
with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the
criminals are dealt with as per Vietnamese law, which guarantees transparency,
fairness and their rights, she added.
Vietnam has many times reduced the number of crimes that can be punished with
the death penalty. The latest Penal Code in 2015, which took effect in January
2018, removed the death sentence from eight crimes. It also says that people
under 18, pregnant women, women taking care of an offspring below 3 years old
and people aged 75 or above will not be sentenced to death for their crimes,
said Hang.
On Wednesday, Amnesty International released a report on death penalties in
2018, saying that global executions fell by nearly a third in 2018 to 690, the
lowest levels in a decade.
Vietnam executed at least 85 people last year, according to the report.
"Slowly but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of
the death penalty," said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International's Secretary
General, as cited by AFP.
Vietnam has death punishment on its books for 15 crimes, including rape,
murder, corruption, and offenses involving drugs and national security.
(source: vnexpress.net)
PHILIPPINES:
Tolentino seeks death penalty vs drug offenders
Administration senatorial bet Francis Tolentino has renewed his call for the
revival of death penalty following the recent discovery of P257.4-million worth
of cocaine bricks along the waters off Burgos town in Siargao Island.
Local fishermen recently found some 40 bricks of cocaine bricks floating the
the shoreline of Municipality of Burgos in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte.
According to Tolentino, international drug syndicates and their traffickers are
exploiting the country’s justice system since they knew that capital punishment
has been scrapped by Congress almost 15 years ago.
Earlier, House committee on dangerous drugs chair and Surigao del Norte 2nd
district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers expressed his worries that members of the
international drug syndicates are using Siargao as a transshipment point of
cocaine in the country.
Barbers explained that leaders of the drug rings might be using Siargao as a
repacking point or pit stop for wholesale distribution.
He added that as a rising tourist spot in the country, Siargao Island is prone
to be conquered by members of a large-scale drug ring amid influx of tourists.
For his part, Tolentino said he is worried due to several reported “high-value
entry” of illegal drug shipment within the Philippine waters especially along
the eastern sea board, adding that authorities especially the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) should increase
their vigilance.
The former mayor of Tagaytay City earlier stressed that the re-imposition of
death penalty in the country will have a “chilling effect” for those engaging
in the illegal drug trade just like what the Marcos regime did when it executed
convicted Chinese drug lord Lim Seng.
The military tribunal in 1973 has sentenced Lim Seng to suffer the death
penalty by firing squad inside Fort Bonifacio.
According to Tolentino, the operations of various drug syndicates during the
1970’s were paralyzed following the execution of Lim.
(source: politics.com.ph)
MALAYSIA:
Cabinet decides to keep death penalty
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong confirmed that
the cabinet had decided to retain death penalty, abolishing only mandatory
death penalty.
He also said the motion to abolish death penalty would not be tabled in the
current parliamentary sitting.
(source: mysinchew.com)
*****************
Watch out for those in jail for life if death penalty abolished
If abolishing the death penalty is approved, this would mean that the country
would have to accept responsibility for prisoners, including foreigners, who
are serving life sentences.
We must have a separate prison for those on life imprisonment.
They should not be housed with prisoners who are on shorter sentences.
As a security measure, prisons must also have a hospital wing to avoid having
prisoners transferred to public hospitals.
Prisoners who are serving life sentences may be more aggressive and harder to
discipline, thus, we can expect fights to break out.
If this is done right, we would not have to worry about whether it’s right or
wrong.
We must ensure prisoners serving life sentences do not escape, because in some
countries that have abolished the death penalty, long-term prisoners have
escaped from prison with outside help.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL (RTD) DATUK ABDULLAH SAMSUDIN
Ampang, Selangor
(source: Letter to the Editor, New Straits Times)
UNITED KINGDOM:
UK pledges it won't send Assange to country with death penalty: Ecuador
Britain has guaranteed to Ecuador that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will
not be extradited to a country that has the death penalty, Ecuadorean President
Lenin Moreno said on Thursday after Assange was arrested in London.
“In line with our strong commitment to human rights and international law, I
requested Great Britain to guarantee that Mr Assange would not be extradited to
a country where he could face torture or the death penalty,” Moreno said in a
video posted on Twitter.
“The British government has confirmed it in writing, in accordance with its own
rules.”
(source: Reuters)
SAUDI ARABIA----executions
Saudi Arabia executes Pakistani couple on drug-related charges
Saudi Arabia's interior ministry has announced that 2 Pakistani nationals, a
husband-and-wife duo, were executed on Thursday after being found guilty by its
courts of smuggling heroin into the Kingdom.
The country's ministry, in a press release, stated that Muhammad Mustafa and
Fatima Ijaz were "arrested when they smuggled a quantity of heroin".
The case was referred to the court where an investigation led to the indictment
of the accused, said the Saudi ministry, adding that the punishment was also
supported by the court of appeals as well as the supreme court.
Therefore, the ministry said, a royal order to implement the death sentences
were issued, and the duo were executed in Jeddah.
JPP condemns 'unprecedented' execution of Pakistani woman
Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) condemned the development, especially the
"unprecedented execution of 1st Pakistani woman in 5 years".
The human rights organisation said it was "outraged" at the executions, which
it noted came "despite the fact that the 2 nations are currently negotiating a
prisoner transfer agreement".
The JPP press release said that the capital punishments carried out on Thursday
also included a third Pakistan named Abdul Maalik, who was not mentioned in the
Saudi ministry's announcement.
"These executions are particularly worrying in the face of the announcement by
the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in February this year to release
2,107 Pakistanis imprisoned in the Kingdom," JPP noted, adding that "the
promise has yet to be fulfilled as only 250 Pakistani prisoners have returned
so far."
"There has been a sharp rise in executions of Pakistani nationals following the
announcement," it added.
JPP further said that it is common for "low-paid labourers to be trapped by
rogue Overseas Employment Promoters and forced to transport drugs on
Saudi-bound flights".
"They are completely abandoned by their government once they are arrested," the
press release adds.
"Saudi Arabia has executed more than 100 Pakistanis in the past 5 years," it
said. "Despite being a close regional ally, the Kingdom executes more
Pakistanis than any other foreign nationality, with 20 executions in 2014, 22
in 2015, seven in 2016, 17 in 2017, 30 in 2018 and 14 this year so far. More
Pakistanis are imprisoned in Saudi Arabia than any other country in the world,
with the total exceeding 3,300 Pakistanis."
The human rights NGO also identified the legal problems facing Pakistani
nationals in the kingdom. "Pakistanis imprisoned in Saudi Arabia are at the
mercy of local courts without access to lawyers, impartial translators, or
consular assistance from the Pakistani diplomatic missions," it said.
"These destitute Pakistanis face the harshest punishments due to their lack of
understanding of and assistance with the legal process, incapability to
communicate directly with the court, and inability to produce evidence from
Pakistan in their defense.
"In most instances, the families of death row prisoners are not notified prior
to their execution, depriving family members and loved ones the chance of a
final goodbye. The bodies of those executed are also not returned — which is a
gross violation of all legal and moral protocols, and Islamic injunctions."
JPP Executive Director Sarah Belal urged the government to "utilise all
diplomatic channels to compel the Saudi government to halt the executions of
Pakistanis facing the harshest punishment".
(source: dawn.com)
IRAN----execution
Man Hanged at Gorgan Prison
A prisoner was executed at Iranian northern city of Gorgan for murder charges
last Sunday.
According to HRANA website, prisoner Davoud Mohebzadeh, 36, was hanged on
Sunday, April 7, at Gorgan prison. He was sentenced to death for murdering a
person during a fight 3 years ago.
The aforementioned execution has not been reported by Iranian media so far.
According to the Iran Human Rights statistic department, the majority of
executions in 2017 and 2018 in Iran was for murder charges. At least 188
prisoners were executed for murder charges in 2018. Only 33% of executions were
announced by Iranian authorities in 2018.
There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results
in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and
intent.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
BRUNEI:
Brunei defends gay sex death penalty as more for 'prevention than to punish'
Brunei said new laws imposing the death penalty for gay sex and adultery were
designed more for "prevention than to punish" in response to the United
Nations' condemnation of the measures.
The United Nations said the Muslim-majority former British protectorate
violated human rights on Apr 3 by implementing Islamic laws which punish
sodomy, adultery and rape with the death penalty, including by stoning, and
theft with amputation.
But Erywan Yusof, Brunei's second minister of foreign affairs, defended the new
laws in a letter to the United Nations, saying the move was focused more on
"prevention than punishment".
"Its aim is to educate, deter, rehabilitate and nurture rather than to punish,"
Yusof wrote to the United Nations.
In the letter Yusof said the offences would not apply to non-Muslims in Brunei,
which has has been at the centre of a media storm since it announced the
rollout of more Sharia laws in March.
Brunei, a small Southeast Asian country of about 400,000 people, has
consistently defended its right to implement the laws, elements of which were
first adopted in 2014 and which have been rolled out in phases since then.
Its UN letter said the "criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard
the sanctity of family lineage and marriage of individual Muslims particularly
women".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Apr 3, through a spokesman, said
"human rights are to be upheld in relation to every person everywhere without
any kind of discrimination".
"The legislation approved is in clear violation with the principles expressed,"
his spokesman said.
The UN has noted that the right to be free from discrimination was enshrined in
article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said he had met with Yusof who assured him
that prosecutions for gay sex were "unlikely" but this was not satisfactory.
"(Yusof's) suggestion that Sharia prosecutions are in practice unlikely is not
acceptable: everyone should be free to be who they are and love who they want,"
Hunt said on Twitter.
Celebrities, from actor George Clooney and singer Elton John, have galvanised
support against the new laws, with protestors boycotting the Dorchester
Collection range of hotels, owned by the Brunei Investment Agency, across the
world.
Over the past week, travel agents, London's transport network and finance
houses were among a rising number of companies to cut ties with businesses
owned by Brunei.
(source: channelnewsasia.com)
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