[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 16



ENGLAND:

Death penalty is not the answer


In response to the UK Independence Party's John Smith's letter in NWEM on
December 5, the correspondent makes it obviously clear that he is in
favour of the reintroduction of capital punishment for murder, an act
which was abolished in 1965.

I for one oppose the reintroduction of a horrible barbaric act.

I have a variety of reasons not to bring it back.

Yes, I do realise that some horrible crimes have been committed over the
years and I also realise that anger permeates through society, and I do
realise people feel like stringing the perpetrators up from the nearest
lamppost, but bringing back the death penalty is not the answer.

Too many innocent people have been sent to the gallows over the years,
like Timothy Evans and Derek Bentley, who was known to be an innocent man.

Would it have been OK to execute the Birmingham 6 or the Guildford 4?

What about the sad case involving Stefan Kiszko?

I've lost count of the number of innocent people who have served time for
crimes they did not commit, and just because they were found guilty of a
crime by a jury doesn't mean to say they actually did it.

UKIP's John Smith says in his letter that China has been a success which
carries the death penalty for 62 crimes.

So does that make it okay?

NO! With the re-introduction of capital punishment, you would be going
down the same path as China and the Philippines, countries with horrible
records for human rights, we will be pandering to a police force,
judiciary system and a government which is riddled with corruption from
the very top.

At the end of the day we must all say no to the re-introduction of
legalised murder.

C A DOWTHWAITE----North Scale, Barrow

(source: Letter to the Editor, The Guardian)






THE NETHERLANDS:

Death penalty backed by 28%


Some 28% of the Dutch would like to bring back the death penalty while
almost 20% are in favour of corporal punishment, according to a Nipo
survey for popular science magazine Quest.

But more than half the population think it is perfectly legal to pick a
flower in a public park, according to the survey into attitudes towards
crime.

(source: Dutch News)


KUWAIT:

Kuwait court sentences Egyptian to death for rape


A Kuwait court sentenced to death an Egyptian resident convicted of child
rape on Tuesday, state news agency KUNA said.

Police have pursued the Egyptian, dubbed by the local media as "Hawalli
monster", for more than a year after several reports of child rape in the
Hawalli district, where thousands of the country's foreign residents live.

Newspapers have said he had raped 17 youngsters.

Police arrested the man, identified only as J.M.A., at the country's
international airport in July when he was trying to go home.

Sentences handed by criminal courts can be appealed against within a month
at the Court of Appeals but only the Court of Cassation can hand down a
final sentence.

All death sentences require the approval of the ruler to be implemented.

(source: Reuters)






CHINA----new death sentence

Death penalty for tycoon rapist


A former lawmaker has been sentenced to death in China for raping more
than 20 young girls, according to reports.

Millionaire businessman Wu Tianxi began his campaign of rape after being
told by a fortune-teller that having sex with virgins would prolong his
health.

The People's Daily reported that the 61-year-old, from Henan province, was
aiming to have sex with 100 virgins.

A woman who helped Wu to track down the girls - aged between 12 and 16 -
was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Wu, who served in the Chinese parliament from 1998 to 2003, had denied the
charges saying he had engaged only in prostitution.

But the court in Nanyang city convicted him and handed down the death
sentence for the rapes, which took place between early 2005 and April
2007.

Xinhua news agency reported earlier that the authorities in Henan admitted
they faced high pressure in tackling the case because of Wu's political
status.

Wu, the boss of a food company in Zhenping, was also fined 500,000 yuan
($69,000; 35,000) by the court.

(source: BBC News)

*******************

Amnesty International has posted a Chinese New Year death penalty postcard
action on its website - www.amnestyusa.org/abolish - this action is the
1st phase of the China Olympics project (Chinese New Year is on February
7, almost exactly 6 months before the Beijing Olympics begin on August 8).

(source: AIUSA)




TRINIDAD:

Manning Looks to Death Penalty


Law enforcement in this country is not adequate, Prime Minister Patrick
Manning admits.

Stating he was not casting aspersions on anyone, Manning said: "Law
enforcement is just not up to standard... That is the reality."

Declaring Government's plan to reduce crime "to levels that are more
acceptable," Manning said: "We realise that a big gap, a big problem in
the fight against crime is inadequate law enforcement."

He was the guest speaker at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce's
luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, on Wrightson Road in
Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

Manning, who said he was confident of T&T's ability to espouse the concept
of globalisation, said Government was concerned with the unacceptable
level of crime.

"As confident as we are and as proud as we are, there is a concern that is
always at the back of our minds as we proceed with the development of T&T,
and that is the unacceptable level of crime.

"It is unacceptable to government. It is unacceptable to the private
sector. It is unacceptable to all of us..."

Manning also chairs the National Security Council.

The death penalty

Manning said it was decided on Monday that, subject to Cabinet approval,
"the death penalty is a very important intervention in containing the
level of crime in T&T."

Chamber members applauded.

Among the luncheon guests were Chamber president Ian Collier, Karen de
Montbrun, president of the T&T Manufacturers Association (TTMA) and
banking executives Larry Howai and David Dulal-Whiteway.

"It will call for legislative action. It might require...it will require
negotiation with the Opposition, but we are going to the Parliament. If
they wish to support us, they support us, and it passes.

"If they dont wish to support us, then it fails. And that is the end of
that.

"We are going to the Parliament and we will take our case to the people of
T&T. We are not prepared to get involved in all the arguments into which
we were entangled when we brought the police legislation."

He said it took the Government five years to get police-related bills
passed in Parliament.

"If that had been passed 5 years earlier, we would have been well on our
way to containing the crime situation in T&T as we now experience it,"
Manning added.

(source: Trinidad Guardian)