Sept. 28
PAKISTAN:
Pakistani court overturns blasphemy conviction of Muslim man
Pakistan's Supreme Court acquitted a man Wednesday who was sentenced to death
for blasphemy in 2002, saying there was a lack of evidence against him.
Wajih-ul-Hassan was exonerated Sept. 25, with the court deciding that
prosecutors hadn't proven that letters which were the basis of the accusation
had in fact been written by him.
Pakistan's state religion is Islam, and around 97 percent of the population is
Muslim. The country's blasphemy laws impose strict punishment on those who
desecrate the Quran or who defame or insult Muhammad. Although the government
has never executed a person under the blasphemy laws, accusations alone have
inspired mob and vigilante violence.
The allegations against Hassan arose from letters he allegedly wrote to a
lawyer, according to Dawn, a Karachi-based daily.
The lawyer, Ismail Qureshi, had sought amendments to the Pakistan Penal Code,
saying that blasphemy should be punished only by capital punishment; the PPC
also allows life imprisonment as a sentence for the crime.
Hassan allegedly wrote letters to Qureshi in 1998 which the lawyer deemed
blasphemous; Qureshi went to the police and filed a petition against Hassan the
following year.
Mohammad Amjad Rafiq, additional prosecutor general of Punjab, told Dawn that
in 2001 Hassan confessed before a manager at his place of work; the manager
then took Hassan to a police station, where he was arrested.
The next week, a handwriting expert said that Hassan's writing matched the
blasphemous letters.
Hassan was convicted and sentenced, a decision which was subsequently upheld by
the Lahore High Court.
But the Supreme Court overturned Hassan's conviction this week, saying Hassan's
“extra-judicial confession” and the testimony of the handwriting expert were
not strong enough evidence of his guilt, and there were no witnesses to the
supposed crime.
“Presumption of innocence remains throughout the case until such time the
prosecution on the evidence satisfies the court beyond reasonable doubt that
the accused is guilty of the offence alleged against him,” the Supreme Court's
decision reads.
“There cannot be a fair trial, which is itself the primary purpose of criminal
jurisprudence, if the judges have not been able to clearly elucidate the
rudimentary concept of the standard of proof that prosecution must meet in
order to obtain a conviction,” it continued.
Pakistan's blasphemy laws are reportedly used to settle scores or to persecute
religious minorities; while non-Muslims constitute only 3 % of the Pakistani
population, 14 % of blasphemy cases have been levied against them.
Many of those accused of blasphemy are murdered, and advocates of changing the
law are also targeted by violence.
The blasphemy laws were introduced between 1980 and 1986. The National
Commission for Justice and Peace said more than 1,300 people were accused under
this law from 1987 until 2014. The Centre for Research and Security Studies
reported that at least 65 people have been killed by vigilantes since 1990.
More than 40 people are serving a life sentence or face execution for blasphemy
in the country.
Last year, the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned the blasphemy conviction of
Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman who was accused in 2009. Her initial conviction had
also been upheld by the Lahore High Court. (source: Catholic News Agency)
****************************
Innocence after 18 years on death row
The Supreme Court’s decision to acquit a man falsely charged with blasphemy is
more than a verdict about the innocence of an individual: it speaks volumes
about our justice delivery system. Wajihul Hasan was sentenced to death in a
blasphemy case in 2002 and he spent 18 years on death row until September 25,
when a 3-judge bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah exonerated him of the
charges under Section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the
Holy Prophet [Peace Be Upon Him]) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) over the
lack of concrete evidence against him. He was arrested when the complainant, a
lawyer, accused him of writing letters full of objectionable content. The case
was based on 5 letters written to the complainant in 1998. Later, another
letter received by the complainant revealed the identity of the earlier writer
– Wajihul Hasan. The police showed reluctance to go ahead but a Lahore High
Court decree ordered the Lahore police to register the case involving the
blasphemy charge. Wajih’s ‘confession’ of the charge has a twist too: He
confessed before Mohammad Waseem, the manager of a steel/iron factory where he
worked, of having committed the crime. The manager got Wajih’s ‘extrajudicial
confession’ on a paper and handed him over to the police in 2001. The Supreme
Court overturned the death penalty handed down by the sessions court and later
upheld by the high court on the grounds that extrajudicial confessions and
handwriting expert opinions were always considered weak evidence under the law.
The fact is that courts hardly go deep into blasphemy cases, passing on the
burden of detailed examination to higher and superior courts. Many judges
recuse themselves from hearing such cases because of the pressure of public
sentiment. Pressure sets in once the blasphemy charge is made and the public
turns into a mob, declaring its verdict even before cases are properly pursued.
We have seen such an example in Ghotki recently where mobsters vandalised
public property. Our justice system can improve the situation by concluding
such cases at the earliest. In November 2016, the Supreme Court acquitted
Mazhar Farooq of murder after 20 years. Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer
facing blasphemy charge, is awaiting a hearing for 6 years. 9 judges have
recused themselves from taking it up. Aasia Bibi spent 8 years on death row
upon her conviction for blasphemy. This should end now.
(source: Editorial, Daily Times)
INDIA:
Court awards death penalty to three for killing minor
Bokaro district court on Thursday awarded death sentence to 3 persons for
killing a minor in November 2013. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1.50 lakh
on each of them.
The court of District and Session Judge-II Janardhan Singh convicted Vivek
Singh, Sanjay Kumar Rajak and Sanjeev Kumar for kidnapping and murder of a
minor boy Sudhanshu on 26 November 2013 and pronounced that they should be
hanged till death, informed Rakesh Kumar Rai Public prosecutor of district
court Bokaro.
The 11-year-old boy Sudhanshu was kidnapped and later killed by 4 youths.
Police recovered the decomposed body of Sudhanshu from the bushes close to GT
road in Hazaribagh district under Gorhar police station area on 8
December.Vivek Singh (20) is a son of a police constable Meena Singh, Satish
Mishra (21) resident of Sector 3/C – 112, Sanjiv Kumar (20) Sector 3/D – 765
and Sanjay Kumar (21) a resident of Dhobi Mohalla sector-1, Bokaro, hired a car
(JH 09 0511) and abducted Sudhanshu. According to police report, the minor was
kidnapped on November 26 and later killed by the four youths on 27 November.
His body was identified by his clothes while Sudhanshu’s school bag (with
books) was recovered from the bushes close to Chiraiyatand Bridge at Dumri
(Giridih) during their search operation.
With the sole intention of making up huge money, four youths kidnapped the
schoolboy for ransom and murdered him to escape being identified on November
27; later the accused were nabbed by the police on 4 December and ransom amount
of Rs 5 lakhs was recovered from their possession. Police also seized 3 cell
phones and a car which they had used to kidnap the boy. Sudhanshu was the
nephew of a police official residing with him. However, one of the kidnappers,
Vivek Singh, is the son of a police constable Meena Singh and the car which was
hired and used in the kidnapping, belongs to a Sub-Inspector. Sudhanshu, a
class 6 student of St Xavier’s School Bokaro, was kidnapped when he was on his
way to home after his tuition classes. He lived in Sector 4C/3036 with his
uncle Maniji Singh, working as an assistant to the DIG of Koylanchal, Bokaro.
The kidnappers first drove to Chhapra (Bihar) in the native place of Vivek,
stayed one night and planned to hide the boy at Chhapra but failed. later they
decided to come back to Bokaro. “On the way of their returning, they strangled
the boy and threw the body into bushed on the GT Road under Gorhar police
station. After killing Sudhanshu made a ransom call for Rs 20 lakhs to his
father Amlesh Kumar Singh and told to free the boy on 1 December.
The kidnappers threatened to kill the boy if they informed police. Singh paid
them Rs 5 lakhs rupees,” kidnappers told to police during interrogations.
Keeping mobile phones of kidnappers on surveillance police arrested them from
their homes at Bokaro on December 4.
(source: Daily Pioneer )
*************************************
India Votes Against Resolution For Abolition Of Death Penalty In 42nd UNHRC
Session)
(see:
https://www.livelaw.in/foreign-international/india-votes-against-resolution-for-abolition-of-death-penalty-in-42nd-unhrc-session-148543
(source: livelaw.in)
IRAN----executions
Unidentified woman hanged with 7 men in Gohardasht Prison of Karaj
An unidentified woman was hanged along with 7 male prisoners on Wednesday,
September 25, 2019, in Karaj in Gohardasht Prison (Rajaii Shahr).
The clerical regime has executed at least 12 prisoners including 2 women on
September 24 and 25, 2019. The news of these executions has not been announced
by any of the state media in Iran.
The unidentified woman hanged with 7 men on September 25, 2019, in Gohardasht
Prison was accused of deliberately murdering her husband. An eye-witness said
she had been taken for implementation of her death verdict to Gohardasht from
either Shahr-e Ray (Qarchak) or Kachouii Prison. The woman has not been
identified yet as this news is being posted.
As a consequence of the clerical regime’s failure to categorize murders
according to their degrees, anyone committing murder is sentenced to death,
regardless of their motives. Many of the women convicted of murder in Iran are
themselves victims of domestic violence against women and have committed murder
in self-defense.
Taking into account the execution that took place on September 25, the number
of women executed during Rouhani’s tenure reaches 96. Eight of these women have
been hanged in a period of slightly over three months. One of these women was
Leila Zarafshan who was executed on Thursday, September 26, 2019, in the
Central Prison of Sanandaj.
This should be compared to the 9 women executed during the entire year 2016, 10
women in 2017, and 6 women in 2018.
The Iranian regime is the world’s top record holder of per capita executions.
At least 3800 persons have been executed during Rouhani’s terms in office. The
clerical regime deploys the death penalty as a tool for maintaining its grab on
power and for silencing a disgruntled populace the majority of whom live under
the poverty line. The number and pace of executions has increased over the past
month
(source: ncr-iran.org)
EGYPT:
Court revokes death sentence of 8 defendants in terrorism case
The Court of Cassation on Thursday has cancelled the death sentence issued
against 8 defendants in the case known in media as "terrorist Imbaba cell," but
upheld life imprisonment sentence against 4 others in the case.
Giza Criminal Court in March, last year, upheld death sentences for 10
defendants in the case, after the court’s January verdict was approved by the
Grand Mufti.
The court also handed down life sentences to another 4 defendants, another 1 in
absentia for a fleeing defendant, and the suspension of the court sentence for
another defendant because of his death.
The defendants were charged with forming an outlawed group; attacking state
institutions; targeting Christians, police and armed forces officers; and
endangering public stability and order, along with the illegal possession of
firearms.
According to the prosecution’s investigations, 2 of the defendants were public
servants, another 2 were working as drivers, and 1 was an employee at the state
broadcaster Maspero, along with a sports coach, an electrician and a
technician.
During the investigations, the leader of the cell, Mohamed Hamdy Zaky, admitted
to organizing demonstrations to topple the current regime in the wake of the
June 30 Revolution, and he said that they carried out several attacks against
the police and armed forces, using firearms and explosives collected for that
very reason.
Other defendants reportedly admitted to partaking in the Muslim Brotherhood-led
Rabaa and Nahda camps.
(source: egypttoday.com)
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