August 5
INDONESIA:
Indonesia executes drug smuggler
A police firing squad has executed an Indian national who had been found
guilty of smuggling heroin into Indonesia, authorities said.
The execution Thursday of Ayodhay Prasad Chaubey in Medan city on Sumatra
island was the 1st death sentence carried out in Indonesia since 2001.
It came despite pleas for clemency by the Indian Embassy and London-based
rights group Amnesty International, who had complained his trial fell
short of international standards of fairness.
A senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the
execution was carried out at 0200 a.m. local time on Thursday.
"Ayodhay was shot in the heart from a distance of 10 meters (32 feet),"
state news agency Antara quoted north Sumatra prosecutor chief Sudibyo
Saleh as saying.
He was given an Islamic burial in the city shortly after the execution,
the report said.
Ayodhay was arrested along with 2 Thai nationals in Medan in 1994 after
airport officials confiscated 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of heroin.
All 3 were sentenced to death in 1996. The 2 Thai nationals remain on
death row.
There are at least 65 people on death row in Indonesia. Many are nationals
of African and Asian countries sentenced over drug offenses.
(source: Associated Press)
INDIA:
Death-row convict's family threatens suicide
The family of death-row convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee, held guilty by the
courts for the rape and murder of a teenaged schoolgirl 14 years ago, has
renewed its threat to commit suicide if he is hanged.
"Everyone in our family will commit suicide if my son is hanged,"
Chatterjee's 78-year-old father, Banshidhar, told reporters at their
Kuludihi village in West Bengal's rural Bankura district.
Chatterjee was held guilty of raping and killing 14-year-old Hetal Parekh
on March 5, 1990 in the Kolkata building where she lived and he was a
security guard.
He fought his case up to the Supreme Court that upheld the lower courts'
death verdict against him. The case drew widespread attention as
Chatterjee's ageing parents threatened to commit suicide if their son's
sentence was not commuted to a life term
His 2nd appeal for mercy was turned down by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Wednesday.
Chaterjee's father has slammed the president's decision, saying the move
was unfair and unjust.
"I can't believe this. How could the president reject my son's plea even
after he has spent 14 years in jail?" the convict's father said. "The
decision is unfair and unjust. I don't know how the president can do this
to a poor man's son."
Chatterjee's family, which consists of his parents, wife, two brothers, a
sister-in-law and a sister, is being guarded by a police team in view of
the suicide threat.
However, it might not still be the end of the road for Chatterjee as his
lawyers and activists campaigning for abolition of capital punishment are
planning to move the Supreme Court.
His lawyer Sekhar Basu told reporters that they would move the Supreme
Court to enforce Chatterjee's fundamental rights under article 32 of the
Constitution.
There could be at least 2 grounds on which such an appeal could be
made,--1st, on the plea that Chatterjee is mentally unsound and 2nd, he
has been awaiting execution for 10 years now.
Chatterjee's lawyers could argue that he should be spared the noose
because his execution had already been delayed for long.
The Association for protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) says the
dillydallying over his mercy petition has caused immense mental agony to
Chatterjee and it wouldn't be unnatural if he had lost his mental balance
under this acute pressure.
Chatterjee's lawyers could cite a 1983 judgement in the Sher Singh Vs
Punjab government case in which the convict's death sentence was commuted
to a life term because his hanging had been delayed by 2 years.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal government will now decide on a new date for
39-year-old Chatterjee's execution.
(source: Kerala News)
********************
With Kalam's rejection, Dhananjoy's execution now final
Bengal hangman Nata Mullick is happy. His preparations for hanging murder
and rape accused Dhananjoy Chatterjee will begin once more.
Also happy is Meera Bhattacharya, wife of Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharya. She had actively campaigned to prevent Dhananjoy from
getting a pardon. Both received the news on Wednesday that President
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had rejected the mercy petition of Dhananjoy after
discussions with legal experts, including the Attorney General of India
Milon Banerji.
Chatterjee was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for rape and murder
of 14-year-old Hetal Parekh in 1990. This was Dhananjoy's 2nd mercy plea
to the President and moved by his wife and brother. The 1st one was
rejected on June 23, 1994.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal government said it was yet to receive any
formal communication from the Union Law Ministry about initiating the
process of execution of Chatterjee. "We have heard about it, but no formal
communication has been received from the Centre yet," official sources
said in Kolkata. Neither the state Chief Secretary nor the Home Secretary
were available for comment. The office of the State Advocate General said
it would take some time for the secretariat of the AG to receive a formal
communication in this regard.
Even though the official communiqu is yet to arrive, the in-charge of
Presidency Jail has already passed the news to the doomed man. Jail
official Joydeb Chakrabarty informed on Wednesday that Dhananjoy received
the news calmly. "Probably, he knew that he was living on borrowed time,"
Chakrabarty said. According to information available from legal experts,
the government will only be able to carry out the hanging 21 days after
receiving rejection of the mercy plea.
Chatterjee was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court on January 11,
1994. His review petition before the apex court was rejected on January
20, 1994. He then moved a mercy petition before the West Bengal Governor
on February 2, 1994, which was rejected on February 16, the same year.
Following this, he had moved a mercy petition before the President, on
February 17, 1994, which was rejected on June 23 the same year.
(source: Newind Press)
