March 29
SOUTH KOREA:
South Korean justice minister opposes abolishing death penalty?
South Korea's justice minister said Tuesday he opposed moves by lawmakers
to abolish the death penalty.
"If one deprives others of their lives, one should pay for it with his
life," Kim Seung-kyu told reporters, according to South Korea's Yonhap
News Agency. "Punishments are not just about rehabilitation, but also
about paying the price."
A parliamentary committee is considering a bill to abolish capital
punishment, replacing the death penalty with a more strictly applied life
sentence. The National Assembly was expected to vote on it soon.
Currently a defendant given a life sentence can expect a request for
parole to be considered after 10 years.
"The life of a criminal is precious, but so is that of the victim," Kim
was quoted as saying.
Kim said life imprisonment is a more inhumane penalty than the death
penalty because the convicted has no hope of ever being free again.
At least 59 people are on death row in South Korea, but no prisoners have
been executed since former President Kim Dae-jung took office in 1998,
Yonhap said.
(source: The China Post)
INDONESIA:
AG death penalty for corruption convicts
Attorney General Abdurrahman Saleh said he supported the idea of the death
penalty for corruption, but added that certain legal obstacles would have
to be removed before such a step could be taken.
"I agree that those involved in corruption should be executed. We need to
take drastic steps to eradicate this crime. If things that are forbidden
under Islamic law are eradicated, sin too will be eradicated," he said
during a Muhammadiyah congress in Pekalongan on Sunday.
Abdurrahman said those guilty of corruption already could face the death
penalty, but only in certain situations. "The death penalty can only be
applied if the country is in an emergency situation."
He said firm steps were needed to eradicate corruption, and the death
penalty could play a role in this.
According to the attorney general, the government was already firm in
fighting corruption, even without the death penalty option.
"However, I will propose (the death penalty) after this Muhammadiyah
congress," he said.
"It has been easy, so far, to get the President's permission to
investigate corruption cases. The President has authorized the
investigation of hundreds of officials, including governors and regents,"
he said.
About 170 corruption cases were working their way through the courts
within the 1st 100 days of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
administration, Abdurrahman said.
In February, the rights group Impartial said the death penalty, applied
mostly to drug cases, was a betrayal of citizens' constitutional rights.
"The death penalty is a political tool because the government wants to
look firm and strict by imposing it. But it is a total violation of human
rights," Imparsial director Rachland Nashiddik said.
The attorney general suggested that the country's method of execution be
changed from firing squad to lethal injection or hanging, for humanitarian
reasons.
"I heard the pain lasts longer when someone is shot. The law states that
the death penalty must be carried out by firing squad, but that can be
changed," he said.
Abdurrahman said that after a conversation with Astini, who was executed
last week for murder, he asked himself if a more humane way to carry out
executions could not be found. He said he would contact the Indonesian
Medical Association about more humane methods of execution.
A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Soehandoyo, said the
attorney general was only discussing ideas, and the House of
Representatives would have to be involved in changing the law to introduce
the death penalty for corruption.
(source: The Jakarta Post)
**********************************
Prisoner in bid to prevent Australian woman's execution
An Australian beauty student caught at an Indonesian airport with 4kg of
marijuana in her boogie-board bag is relying on the testimony of an
alleged rapist today to save her from a firing squad.
The case of accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has captivated Australia
since she was arrested in October at Denpasar airport.
Now, an Australian prison inmate who has been called her best chance of
escaping the death penalty, has been flown into Bali to give evidence on
her behalf.
Victorian remand inmate John Patrick Ford will testify that Corby was an
unwitting courier used by a ring of Australian drug traffickers - a move
that puts his own life at risk.
In an 11th-hour move, Ford arrived in Bali in handcuffs and under tight
security and will be held at Denpasar police headquarters until he takes
the stand today.
In order to avoid a gangland hit on their star witness, Corby's lawyers
said they would seek a court order for Ford's evidence to be heard in
secret.
In what could potentially be a lifeline for Corby, Ford signed a statement
for her lawyers and told police he overheard a conversation among other
prisoners that Corby was the victim of a domestic drug smuggling operation
gone wrong.
Ford told Corby's lawyers he could not live with himself if he failed to
testify in the case.
Corby has maintained her innocence, saying the pillow case-sized stash
must have been planted there during the domestic transit leg of her trip,
between Brisbane and Sydney.
Granting an adjournment last week to give Corby's legal team more time,
judges at the Denpasar District Court warned that Ford's evidence could
backfire on Corby.
However, her main financial backer, Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, said
Ford could be Corby's last chance to beat a possible firing squad.
"We've got to take every opportunity and use it and explore every possible
door and he's a key witness right now and you know he could be the
possible lifeline of Schapelle Corby," he said.
The trial comes ahead of a visit to Australia tomorrow by Indonesia's new
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and amid the heavy press coverage in
Australia that may cloud a trip billed as a fence-building exercise.
Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty has described Ford's evidence
as hearsay on hearsay and said the Indonesian judicial process should be
left to run its own course.
Ford is on remand on charges of rape, aggravated burglary, threatening to
kill, unlawful imprisonment and assault.
His lawyer Paul Vale said Ford was pleading not guilty and would contest
all the charges in his May trial.
(source: AAP)
