October 1
RUSSIA/PAKISTAN:
Man on death row for bid on Musharraf may be Russian
Russia on Friday said that one of the five men sentenced to death for an
assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf could be its citizen
and that it has formally sought consular access to him.
The Russian embassy here wants to confirm whether Akhlas Akhlak Ahmed
(24), convicted for masterminding a December 2003 attack against
Musharraf, is a Russian citizen or whether his passport is being used by
someone else, the BBCs Urdu service quoted the embassys press attache Oleg
Jurayev as saying.
The Russian press attache said that he had sent a letter to the Pakistani
Foreign Ministry last month, seeking consular access to Akhlas. "I have
not yet received any response," he said. "We have requested the Pakistani
authorities to help our embassy officials in arranging a meeting whenever
and anywhere," Jurayev said. "If he is a Russian citizen we will not leave
him alone."
(source: Press Trust of Inida)
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Russia wants consular access to death row citizen
The Russian embassy in Pakistan has contacted Pakistan government for
consular access to its citizen Ikhlas Ikhlaq Ahmed, who was awarded death
sentence on his involvement in the assassination attempt on Pakistan
President Pervez Musharraf Dec 25, 2003.
Talking to BBC, first secretary and press attach in Russian embassy Olag
Jorife said that the embassy had contacted Pakistan government to know
whether the man sentenced is really Ikhlas Ikhlaq Ahmed (24) or someone
else using his passport, Online news agency reported Friday.
Russian passport holder Ikhlas Ikhlaq Ahmed is among 5 people whom a
military court awarded death sentence on the charge of an attempt on
Musharraf's life.
Jorife said the embassy wrote a letter to Pakistan's foreign office last
week for meeting Ikhlas Ikhlaq Ahmed, but the Pakistan government did not
respond to it.
(source: IANS)
INDIA:
Kiwi woman's murder: Death sentence upheld
The Allahabad High Court today upheld the death sentence awarded to a
tourist guide for the murder of a New Zealander while she was on a visit
to Vananasi 8 years ago.
Justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and Amar Saran observed that the death penalty
delivered by a lower court on Dharam Deo Yadav for the murder of Diana
Clare Routley was a "rarest of rare case and the severity of the
punishment is just".
After staying 3 days at a guest house in Varanasi, Routley left for
Darjeeling on August 10, 1997, and was since reported missing. Her father
then lodged an FIR.
During investigations, police found that Routley was last seen with Yadav
who worked as a tourist guide at the guest house.
Yadav was arrested at Shivpur railway station on Aug 19 when he returned
from a trip to Mumbai, and on interrogation confessed to having murdered
the New Zealander.
Her skeleton was dug up from the floor of his house in Ghazipur district.
Forensic tests at Hyderabad confirmed that the skeleton was that of
Routley.
(source: The Hindu)
JAPAN:
Court hearing over secret executions starts
A court hearing opened Friday on a lawsuit filed by a lawyer who is
seeking disclosure of the execution chamber layout at the Osaka detention
center in a bid to break the secrecy surrounding executions in Japan.
The Osaka-based lawyer Tomoyoshi Emura argued at the Tokyo District Court
he wants the Justice Ministry to rescind its decision in January 2004 to
reject his request, based on the information disclosure law, to disclose
the layout of the execution facility. While the ministry said in the
decision that disclosure "may lead to escapes and damage public security
and order," Emura insisted the refusal should be based on concrete and
reasonable predictability, not abstract one, over the concerns.
(source: Kyodo News)
PHILIPPINES:
Palace stays execution of 12 death convicts
Malacaang has stayed the execution of at least 12 death convicts for
another 3 months to afford itself ample time to decide whether or not to
grant them executive clemency, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez disclosed
yesterday.
This, after he received a memorandum from Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita informing him of President Arroyo's grant of reprieve to the death
convicts who are scheduled to get executed this month.
In the list of reprieved convicts were Ireneo Padilla, Renato Dizon, Tomas
Marcellana, William Alpe, Fernando Villanueva, Jr., Pamfilo Quimson, Pablo
Santos, Dindo Pajotal, Jimmy Jacob, Rodelio Aquino, Geronimo Borromeo and
Juan Carinaga, all of whom are facing charges ranging from murder, robbery
with homicide, and rape.
Records Gonzalez dished out to the justice reporters showed that of the 12
granted reprieve, 3 - Padilla, Dizon and Marcellana - were originally
scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 3 but Malacanang reset their
execution for Jan. 2 next year. They were convicted for rape, robbery with
rape and 3 counts of rape respectively.
Alpe, Villanueva and Quimson were originally scheduled for execution on
October 10, but the implementation of the punishment was deferred for
January 9 next year.
Alpe and Villaneueva had been convicted for rape, and Quimson, of multiple
murder.
The execution of Santos, Patojal and Jacob, who had been convicted for 3
counts of rape, robbery with homicide and 2 counts of incestuous rape,
respectively, was moved from Oct. 17 this year to Jan. 16 next year.
Aquino and Borromeo, who had been convicted for rape and qualified rape,
respectively, were lined up for execution on Jan. 23, next year after the
Palace scrapped their Oct. 24, 2005 schedule.
Carinaga's execution, which had originally been set on Oct. 26 this year,
is expected to follow a day after that of Aquino and Borromeo. Carinaga
had been convicted for two counts of rape.
The Philippines has so far executed 7 convicts by lethal injection - 4 for
rape and 3 for robbery - since the reinstatement of capital punishment in
1994. The 1st execution was carried out in February 1999, the last took
place in January 2000.
On Sept. 30, 2002, President Arroyo imposed a moratorium on executions
amid Congressional debates on a bill to abolish the death penalty.
At the beginning of her mandate in 2001, Arroyo had commuted a number of
death sentences, but she did not issue an official policy on the death
penalty, In October 2002, however, the chief executive imposed a
moratorium on execution all of death sentences, except on kidnapers.
On Dec. 5, 2003, after a series of contrasting declarations on her stance
on the death penalty, Arroyo decided to lift the moratorium on executions.
Her decision came as incidents of kidnap-for-ransom and other violent
crimes continued to surge.
In November 2004, President Arroyo stated that she would not impose a
moratorium on all executions but assured that she would grant a reprieve
on a case-to-case basis.
(source: Manila Bulletin)
