April 5
AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA:
Death penalty bad news for Corby: AI
Indonesia has recently resumed its use of the death penalty in a move that
does not bode well for accused Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby,
Amnesty International(AI) has warned.
The human rights organisation's anti-death penalty network coordinator Tim
Goodwin said while countries were gradually moving away from capital
punishment, the world's largest Muslim nation had abruptly resumed
executions last year.
Since then 4 people have been put to death in relatively quick succession,
he said.
"They had not executed somebody in a couple of years and before that there
was a gap back to 1996 or something like that," Brisbane-based Mr Goodwin
told AAP.
"The resumption is definitely a worrying sign."
Corby is on trial for her life after customs officers found 4.1kg of
marijuana in her boogie board bag at Bali's Denpasar airport last October.
The 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty therapy student has repeatedly expressed
her innocence but, if found guilty, she could face death by firing squad.
Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison has vowed to fight to spare
Corby's life and to possibly repatriate her to Australia under existing
transfer-of-prisoner agreements.
Prime Minister John Howard has also become personally involved by
indirectly raising the matter with visiting Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono.
"I feel for her, I feel for her family, I feel for anybody - guilty or
innocent - in a situation like that, obviously far more if they're
innocent," he said.
In the meantime, Corby faces an anxious wait for the court's verdict,
expected within the next 4 to 5 weeks.
Her whole case hinges on Victorian prisoner John Patrick Ford, who
testified the drugs had been planted by an airline baggage handlers' drug
syndicate.
The presiding judge in the Corby case, Linton Sirait, told this week's
Bulletin magazine he awaits evidence that conclusively proves her
innocence.
Even Corby's Indonesian lawyer Lely Sri Rahayu Lubis has said she doubts
they have presented enough evidence to have her released.
Meanwhile, Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, who is funding Corby's
defence, said the waiting game had pushed the young woman almost to the
point of collapse.
"She was vomiting all day yesterday," he told AAP.
"She's just stressed out big time - it's getting to her day by day."
Mr Goodwin said being a Caucasian women might actually be a disadvantage
for Corby, because the regimes that used the death penalty were often
inconsistent with its application.
"In some countries it's applied with outright discrimination ... in a good
many countries the law applies disproportionately against foreigners," he
said.
Mr Goodwin said it was also interesting to note of the 4 people recently
executed in Indonesia, 2 were women.
He said this was a surprising figure when one remembered women committed
only a small percentage of major crimes.
(source: AAP)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
PNG clergyman calls for death penalty for gun-related offences Papua New
Guinea
A prominent clergyman in Papua New Guinea has called for capital
punishment for people convicted of gun-related offences.
The head of the Gutnius Lutheran Church, Bishop David Piso, says the
government has been given the power to enforce the law with capital
punishment and should use that power as a deterrent.
Bishop Piso says introducing the death penalty would also eradicate the
tribal payback system.
The bishop says the church and its members are extremely concerned about
the excessive use of guns and their availability in the Enga Province, as
well as other parts of Papua New Guinea.
(source: ABC Radio Australia News)
GLOBAL:
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International
AI Index: ACT 50/011/2005----5 April 2005
Death Penalty: 3,797 executed in 2004
During 2004, more than 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries and at
least 7,395 were sentenced to death in 64 countries, said Amnesty
International today.
Releasing its annual worldwide statistics on the use of capital
punishment, Amnesty International called on the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights, currently meeting in Geneva, to condemn the death penalty
as a violation of fundamental human rights.
"The figures released today are sadly only the tip of the iceberg. The
true picture is hard to uncover as many countries continue to execute
people secretly -- contravening United Nations standards calling for
disclosure of information on capital punishment," said Amnesty
International.
A few countries accounted for the majority of executions carried out
during 2004. China executed at least 3,400 people, but sources inside the
country have estimated the number to be near 10,000.
Iran executed at least 159, and Viet Nam at least 64. There were 59
executions in the USA, down from 65 in 2003.
"Despite the worldwide trend towards abolition, these figures highlight
the ongoing need for concerted action by the international community to
consign the death penalty to history."
"It is worrying that the vast majority of those executed in the world did
not have fair trials. Many were convicted on the basis of evidence
extracted under torture."
In 2004, Ryan Matthews became the 115th prisoner in the USA since 1973 to
be released from death row on the grounds of innocence. He had been
sentenced to death in Louisiana in 1999 for a murder committed when he was
17 years old. His death sentence was overturned in April 2004 after an
appeal judge found that the prosecution had suppressed evidence at the
trial, and on the basis of DNA evidence that pointed to another person as
being the murderer.
While executions continued, the abolition of capital punishment advanced.
5 countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2004 - Bhutan,
Greece, Samoa, Senegal and Turkey. At year end, 120 countries had
abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
Several countries, while retaining the death penalty in law, observed
moratoria on executions. A law on "the suspension of the application of
the death penalty" was signed into force in July in Tajikistan, and in
January this year President Aksar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan announced that a
moratorium on executions, which had been in place since 1998, would be
extended for another year. Other countries with moratoria on executions
included Malawi and South Korea.
Amnesty International welcomed the United States Supreme Court ruling in
March this year declaring unconstitutional the use of the death penalty
against child offenders -- people under 18 at the time of the crime. With
this decision all countries have now formally rejected the application of
the death penalty to child offenders. However, Amnesty International
remains concerned that child offenders continued to be executed in a few
other countries. Iran executed at least three child offenders in 2004,
violating its obligations as party to international treaties which
preclude the practice. China executed a young man despite concerns that he
may have been a juvenile when he committed a capital crime. His execution
was carried out while his lawyer and family were still petitioning the
Supreme People's Court to review his case. Another child offender was
executed in Iran in January this year.
"It is high time the Commission affirms clearly that the imposition of the
death penalty on those aged under 18 at the time of the commission of the
offence is contrary to customary international law."
Amnesty International also welcomed the decisions of several countries to
adopt constitutional provisions precluding the death penalty. In a survey
of constitutional measures released today, Amnesty International reported
that Turkey prohibited the death penalty in its constitution in 2004, as
did Belgium in February this year. Other countries with recently enacted
constitutional prohibitions of the death penalty include Ireland and
Turkmenistan.
"These are important advances that the Commission should welcome and
encourage. "
"The case of Ryan Mathews and scores of others sentenced to death in the
USA for crimes they did not commit demonstrate that no judicial system is
infallible. However sophisticated the system, the death penalty will
always carry with it the risk of lethal error" Amnesty International said.
For a full copy of "The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2004",
please see: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadmLrabfKjLbb0havbafpLUV/
For more information on Amnesty International's work against the death
penalty, please see:
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadmLrabfKhMbb0havbafpLUV/
View all documents on the death penalty
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadmLrabfKhNbb0havbafpLUV/
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(source: Amnesty International)
************************
Death penalty figures: Your reaction
Nearly 4,000 people were executed worldwide in 2004 - the highest number
in nearly 10 years, say Amnesty International.
The human rights group found that China carried out more executions than
all other countries combined - at least 3,400.
Iran came 2nd, with at least 159, followed by Vietnam. The US were 4th in
the table with 59 executions in 2004.
The 3,797 executions in 2004 are said to be the 2nd-largest annual total
in the last 25 years. Amnesty's UK director Kate Allen desribed the
figures as "alarming".
What is your reaction to the figures released by Amnesty International?
------
The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so
far:
I cannot understand why Americans can accept their nation continually
appearing alongside, and often higher up the list, than the so-called
"axis-of-evil" countries on human rights issues. So much for the land of
the free.
Iain Farquharson, UK
---
The death penalty should be outlawed. Our government has proven time and
time again that it is far too incompetent on relatively minor issues to be
given such authority.
Don Wildauer, Phoenixville, PA, USA
---
I'm an American that thinks the death penalty should be reserved for very
specific, patently obvious cases. Reasonable doubt isn't nearly enough.
However, I'm amazed that the few responses so far have been targeted at
the US. I'm not a math major but it looks like the newest member of the
"civilized" world (economy) is about 58 times more out of control. Where's
the outrage there?
Scott C., CA - now Newbury
---
These are horrendous figures, and are more appalling when one considers
that not all executions are reported. Killing someone because they have
killed is a futile waste of life. Gandhi said that if everyone took an eye
for an eye then we would all end up blind. Countries which use the death
penalty are morally bankrupt.
Mark, London
---
Already the US bashing commences, while people herald the coming of China
as a superpower. Of course, don't let the fact that China executes fifty
times as many people as the US stop you. At least in the US they had due
process. If you don't want to be executed, simply refrain from murdering
people while in my country.
Victor, USA
---
These numbers are hard to accept, however I am against the death penalty.
Such violent criminals should be sent to hard labor camps instead and live
out the rest of their lives in pain.
George, US
---
The death penalty solves nothing. It is not a deterrent to crime since no
one ever thinks of the penalty when committing a crime.
Larry Vance, Connecticut, USA
---
Why do I know that although the US only carry out 1.4% of the world's
executions they'll receive 99% of the criticism? This merely shows that
China can do what it wants, when it wants & no-one will even speak up
against them, much less try and change things.
Peter, Nottingham
---
Answer to Peter, Nottingham: China receives less criticism as compared to
the US, because China doesn't claim its model is "the best" and does not
try to force it onto the rest of the world.
Pavel, Bulgaria
---
This is a ridiculously high number. Especially in "civilized" North
America. If the death penalty is to remain, then its application should be
when the verdict is that the individual is guilty beyond ALL doubt, not
just beyond reasonable doubt. Too many innocent people have been executed
by the state.
A. Geue, Ottawa, Canada
---
To say these figures are truly shocking is an understatement. I cannot
understand how America, the land of the free, those who want to 'cultivate
a culture of life' can possibly defend their position on the death
penalty.
Heledd, Cardiff, Wales
---
The more people we have to kill, the weaker we are.
George Waldman, Detroit, USA
---
Not enough! More hardened serial law breakers should accept the same fate,
instead of the tax payer funding them in hotel style prisons with top of
the range amenities. Britain should follow suit!
Jason, London
(source: BBC website)
JAPAN:
Man on death row since 1972 to get retrial in 1961 murder case
The Nagoya High Court decided Tuesday to allow a retrial for Masaru
Okunishi, who has been on the death row since 1972 when he was convicted
of murdering five women in a wine poisoning case in Nabari, Mie
Prefecture, in 1961, citing new evidence that could prove his innocence.
The court made the decision in response to the seventh retrial application
filed by the defense counsel for the 79-year-old convict.
"The court has serious doubts about the credibility of the confessions of
the defendant, so that he cannot be assumed as the culprit," Presiding
Judge Junichi Koide said in handing down the decision.
Koide said the new evidence submitted by the defense counsel has
"sufficient evidential power" that may lead to an acquittal in a retrial.
Kazushige Sugimoto, the deputy chief prosecutor at Nagoya High Public
Prosecutors office, expressed regret over the court ruling but did not say
whether prosecutors will appeal.
"We will carefully examine the court ruling and will make an appropriate
decision upon consultation with the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office," he
said in a statement.
5 women, including Okunishi's wife and his lover, died after drinking
poisoned wine at a party held at a community center in Nabari on March 28,
1961.
The new evidence presented by the defense counsel focuses on experts'
opinions on the type of pesticide put in the wine and the way the wine
bottle was opened, which apparently contradicted the final court ruling.
Okunishi initially confessed to putting pesticide in the wine in an
attempt to terminate the love triangle. He later retracted his confession.
Okunishi, who is in prison in Nagoya, was initially acquitted by the Tsu
District Court in 1964. The Nagoya High Court reversed the decision in
1969 and sentenced him to death, which was subsequently upheld by the
Supreme Court in 1972.
After hearing the latest court decision, Okunishi released a statement
through one of his lawyers, saying "I am grateful for the decision as it
was my ardent wish."
"This is the best day for me since I got here and I would like to thank
all of my counsel, experts and supporters who have supported me to this
day," he said.
His defense counsel said in a statement that Okunishi has finally found
the day to prove his innocence after being threatened with execution for
more than 30 years.
The counsel also urged the prosecutors not to file an appeal and release
Okunishi as soon as possible.
It is the 5th time a court has decided to allow a retrial for a death row
inmate. The last time was in 1986 at the Shizuoka District Court. All the
convicts in those 4 other cases were eventually acquitted.
(source: Kyodo News)
