June 21
IRAQ:
Saddam may face death penalty, say Iraqis
Iraq could execute former leader Saddam Hussein if he is found guilty, the
director of the country's war crimes tribunal system said yesterday.
Salem Chalabi, in charge of setting up a tribunal to try members of the
ousted regime, said that after the Iraqi government gains sovereignty on
30 June, it will have the power to end the suspension of the death penalty
decreed by the US occupation chief, Paul Bremer.
"The Iraqi government has to affirmatively take that step to lift the
suspension," Mr Chalabi said on television yesterday. "If the suspension
imposed by Ambassador Bremer is lifted there is the possibility of the
death penalty being imposed", on those convicted of murder or rape.
Mr Chalabi said tribunal officials were "negotiating quite intensively
with the coalition forces" about taking custody of Saddam and other
detained members of his regime after the handover of power.
Reports claimed that coalition sources said a deal had been done for the
new Iraqi administration, which would take legal custody of Saddam when it
assumes control of the country on 30 June. US forces will continue to
guard him.
(source: The Independent)
INDIA:
Death-row convict's parents threaten suicide
The parents of a man to be hanged Friday for the rape and murder of a
teenager have threatened to commit suicide if the death sentence was not
revoked. Dhananjoy Chatterjee is to be hanged in the early hours of Friday
for raping and killing a 14-year-old schoolgirl on March 5, 1990.
His plea for clemency has been turned down by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
and preparations are underway to carry out the death sentence in a Kolkata
jail.
A Kolkata court had sentenced Chatterjee to death in 1994, but appeals in
higher courts, clemency pleas and other legal procedures delayed his
punishment. He has been in jail since the trial began.
Chatterjee's aging parents Monday threatened to commit suicide if their
son's sentence was not remitted to life term.
"We have no will to live. If our son is hanged, we will all commit
suicide," the convict's mother Purnima Chatterjee told a local Bengali
television channel.
Members of Chatterjee's family sat in a demonstration in front of the
Press Club in downtown Kolkata.
The convict's parents, his wife and brothers squatted on the road
surrounded by posters and banners asking authorities to pardon Chatterjee.
The parents, overtaken by grief, at one time lay down on the road and one
of their sons fanned them with a newspaper.
Earlier, Chatterjee's parents had said their son's hanging should be put
off till they died.
They said that they were old and would not live long -- so why couldn't
the authorities wait for some more time before hanging him.
(source: Indo-Asian News Service)
