[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 11



GUINEA:

Will It Be Reactivated in Guinea - Again?


Behind bars, away from intrusive stares, the prisoners most recently
sentenced to death in Guinea wait to hear their fate. The last time
executions were carried out in this West African country was in 2001.

The country's 2 most famous inmates are housed at Kindia prison in eastern
Guinea, about 135 km from Conakry, the capital. They are diamond-dealer
Malick Conde, 26, and police officer Cleophace Lamah, 30.

Conde and Lamah are accused having savagely murdered diamond merchant
Mohamed Toure in Conakry in 2000. After strangling him and binding his
hands and feet, they broke his neck and a leg and stuffed him in a box,
all to rob him of about 20 precious gems.

Lamah, a former member of an organised crime squad, had befriended Conde
and served as his protector. They were arrested in October 2000 and
sentenced to death in August 2005.

They join 9 others who were sent to death row here this year. The men have
also been sentenced to death by the Conakry Court of Assizes in 2006 for
having slit the throat of a neighbourhood leader in the capital.

Their cells are grim; the only real furniture is a couple of wooden
benches. It is impossible to know exactly what takes place in the
mountaintop silence of Kindia's cells, where most of those condemned to
death are doomed to reflect upon their fate.

Perhaps they had a bit of hope. The death penalty, reintroduced in 1984,
has only been implemented once -- against 7 criminals --, in 2001.

Sentenced 6 years earlier by the Conakry Court of Assizes, they were shot
by a firing squad at Kindia after being brusquely awakened in the middle
of the night.

The decision to "reactivate the death penalty" was taken by then minister
of justice Abou Camara, who wanted to end the climate of insecurity that
reigned when Guinea was attacked by rebels from neighbouring Liberia in
2000 and was subject to an uncontrolled influx of war weapons.

Now, human rights activists and the prisoners themselves believe public
pressure may reactivate the death penalty once more. The public, they
fear, believes that executing prisoners will bring an end to the
ever-increasing violence.

During his last tour around the country before dying from an illness in
November, Guinean Minister of Security Ibrahima Dieng, responding to
demands from the populace, publicly called for the execution of death row
inmates to take place more quickly. The government did not object to this
remark.

A recent illustration of the attractiveness of the death penalty to the
Guinean public: In July, 15 men suspected of being involved in a murder
were burned alive after being soaked in acid in Nzerekore, in the south of
the country, before the authorities were able to restore calm.

"Under the First Republic (1958-1984), sometimes for political motives,
criminals were hung in public to be made an example of. People wrongly
think that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime, but all the studies
show the contrary," says Alpha Amadou Bano Barry, a professor of sociology
at the University of Conakry.

"We're applying bad solutions to real problems. To effectively stamp out
crime you need ... to combat poverty and unemployment, in order to provide
everyone with the basic services that they are entitled to," Barry
emphasised.

The fact that the overwhelming majority of Guineans are Muslim -- more
than 80 % of its 8 million inhabitants -- may help explain the country's
prevailing attitude toward crime. Many Muslims, according to Barry, favour
the death penalty.

Moreover, human rights lawyers say, the government must first prove that
it is capable of being fair and just before it can apply the ultimate
punishment.

"The death penalty only makes sense if the judicial system respects all
the rules regarding penal proceedings. Such is not the case in Guinea,"
Conakry jurist Youssouf Sylla told IPS.

Thierno Maadjou Sow, president of the Guinean Organisation for Human
Rights (OGDH), adds that he is critical of the torture which continues to
take place at military and local and national police installations.

"The 1st regime offered people employment opportunities, even though it
was itself guilty of committing crimes. This explains the low crime rate
during that time," Sow said.

Importantly, the death penalty should only be used on prisoners who are
deemed unsafe for society. Those executed in 2001 all expressed profound
remorse during visits from OGDH members to Kindia Prison, Sow said.

The seven men executed in 2001 "were so afraid to die and had so reflected
upon their crimes, that I'm convinced that if given a 2nd chance, they
would have been salvageable, from a societal point of view," he said.

It is a tale that has the current death row inmates worried. "Malick
(Conde) says that when he thinks of the case of the seven prisoners
executed in 2001, he has trouble sleeping at night. He's very afraid at
night," Paul Youmba Kourouma, his lawyer, told IPS.

Kourouma believes that Conde has been wrongly condemned.

"I'm for the death penalty because I think that there are infractions that
are so serious that death is the only sanction. But I don't agree with
Malick's sentence in this case because the truth of the matter was never
brought out," he said.

"Even the medical examiner acknowledged in court that Toure was killed by
an experienced specialist in combat techniques, which completely matches
Cleophace's (Lamah's) profile," said Kourouma. "If the Supreme Court
rejects our appeal, our only remaining recourse will be a presidential
pardon."

Lamah was defended by court-appointed attorneys, but during the trial and
given the military manner in which Toure was killed, opinions were
unanimous that he was in fact the murderer. Still, he sought to pin
co-authorship of the crime on Malick. It was also proven during the trial
that Lamah tried to poison him in prison.

Moreover, Kourouma charges that the government has roughly mistreated the
prisoners.

Conde and Lamah had their arms tightly bound to their backs with ropes for
the 135-kilometre trip to Kindia after they were sentenced to death, he
said.

"Such treatment caused them to lose the use of their upper limbs during a
period of about two months. That's very serious," the lawyer said.

(source: IPS)






SOUTH KOREA:

Film on death-row inmate draws Bishops' top award ---- The grand-prize
winner, Maundy Thursday, is based on the best-selling Korean novel Our
Happy Hours, about the relationship between Yu-jeong, a suicidal female
professor, and Yun-soo, a convict facing death


A film about the love between a man on death row and a suicidal university
professor won a grand prize from the Korean bishops' social communications
committee for depicting the dignity of human life.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea's (CBCK) Committee for Social
Communications presented its grand prix and five other awards on Dec. 5 at
the 16th Korean Catholic Mass Communication Awards ceremony, held in
Seoul.

The grand-prize winner, Maundy Thursday, is based on the best-selling
Korean novel Our Happy Hours, about the relationship between Yu-jeong, a
suicidal female professor, and Yun-soo, a convict facing death. The film
was released last September and drew some 3.5 million moviegoers.

"Most entries submitted dealt with human life. This reflects a concern
about the direction our society is going: neglecting life and spreading
the culture of death," said Bishop Paul Choi Deog-ki of Suwon, president
of the bishops' committee, in his opening address at Myeongdong
Cathedral's Coste Hall.

"Through the media we hope to restore mankind's criteria for judgment,
determination of values, ... sources of inspiration and models for living,
which currently stand in contrast to the Word of God and his plan of
salvation," the prelate continued.

When Song Hae-sung first heard his movie was selected for the grand prize,
he "thought it was because a Catholic priest and a nun appeared in it,"
the director said at the award ceremony. "But then I realized the
importance of the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation in the film."

According to the Ministry of Justice, the last state executions took place
on Dec. 23, 1997, when 23 people were put to death. Currently 64 convicts
are on death row. Some 170 lawmakers proposed a bill in 2004 to abolish
capital punishment, but it is still pending in the National Assembly.

The bishops' committee also presented other awards for broadcasting (radio
and television), film, print journalism and publishing (books and
magazines), as well as a special award. The grand prix winner received 3
million won (US$3,240) and the other winners 1 million won (US$1,080)
each. Special awards are given to individuals or groups.

Seokyo Publishing Company won an award for its publication of the Don
Camillo stories, a series of humorous novels Italian writer Giovannino
Guareschi wrote about a fictional Catholic priest in late-1940s Italy and
his battles with the communist head of his town.

The broadcasting award went to Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation for the TV
program Producer's Note, which disclosed researcher Hwang Woo-suk's
fabrication of stem-cell research involving human embryos.

The film award went to director Bong Joon-ho for The Host, about a monster
created by environmental destruction and a family's struggle to save the
daughter the monster abducted.

Hankyoreh, a national daily newspaper, won the print journalism award for
reports on sexual abuse of women prisoners, and articles on children's
rights and the issue of abolition of the death penalty. A special award
was given to Investigating the Mind, a Korean Broadcasting System TV
documentary, for helping people understand how the mind works with a
sincere description of human emotion and easily understandable images.

The awards originated as the Catholic Awards for Press Freedom in 1987,
but no award ceremonies were held in 1991, 1994, 1998 and 1999.

The Committee for Social Communications relaunched the awards under the
current name in 2000, annually awarding communications workers since then
for raising universal values such as justice, peace and love through mass
media.

(source: Spero News)






UGANDA:

566 on death row


A total of 566 inmates condemned to death are being imprisoned at Luzira
Prison and Kirinya Prison in Jinja.

Previously, condemned inmates were kept at the tightly-guarded Upper
Prison in Luzira.

However, because of congestion, some had to be transferred to Kirinya.
Women inmates are held at the Womens Prison at Luzira.

The Assistant commissioner of Prisons in-charge of prisoners, Wycliff Jack
Kururagyire, yesterday said 367 of the inmates were at Luzira and 199 in
Kirinya.

He named the longest serving inmate on death row as Hajji Birikade, who
has been in Luzira for the last 24 years. Birikade was sentenced to death
on August 17, 1982 after he was convicted for kidnap with intent to
murder.

Criminal offences that attract the death sentence include treason, murder,
rape, terrorism and aggravated robbery.

Once an inmate is convicted by the High Court, he/she has a right to
appeal before the Supreme Court.

But once the Supreme Court, which is the highest court in the country,
upholds the death sentence, the inmate is kept in prison pending his/her
execution.

The President, in exercise of his powers using the Prerogative of Mercy,
is the only person who can set inmates free after they are condemned to
death.

Before the President pardons an inmate, a Committee of Prerogative of
Mercy, composed of 12 members, meets and submits the names of those
seeking presidential pardon.

The Attorney General/Minister of Justice chairs the committee that is
under the Ministry of Justice.

The committee is charged with the responsibility of processing a report on
all the inmates seeking a presidential pardon.

The report is composed of facts of the case, the evidence adduced, the
findings and a brief outline of the background of the accused. The report
also indicates why the inmate should be considered for clemency.

Upon receiving the report and the names of inmates seeking pardon, the
President may then exercise his right of pardoning any inmate.

The last inmate who benefited from such a presidential pardon was Abdullah
Nasur, the former Central Province Governor in the late Idi Amin's regime.

Nasur was released on September 11, 2001 after 22 years on death row. He
had been convicted for the murder of a Masaka mayor in 1972.

The President also signs the death warrants for the inmates who are
executed.

Prisons authorities carry out executions within 72 hours on receiving
orders to do so.

The last executions at Luzira were carried out on April 27, 1999 when
Hajji Musa Sebirumbi was executed along with 27 others.

Sebirumbi was a former Uganda People's Congress chairman for Luweero South
and the area National Security Agency (NASA) operative.

He was convicted for the murder of Edidian Lutamaguzi and four others who
refused to disclose the whereabouts of then rebel leader Yoweri Museveni
and members of his National Resistance Army (NRA) during the 1980s war
against the late Milton Obotes regime.

Condemned inmates in 2003 petitioned the Constitutional Court, saying the
death penalty should be abolished.

The court, however, upheld the penalty as enshrined in the constitution
but ruled against prolonged stay in prison after one is condemned to
death, saying it amounted to psychological torture.

The inmates appealed against the ruling before the Supreme Court, which is
yet to give its ruling.

(source: New Vision)