[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 12


CANADA:

Capital punishment argument lacks logic


To the Editor:

This letter is in response to 'Let's bring back capital punishment'
(August 7 edition).

Do your research. First of all, it's understandable that everyone feels
overwrought with sympathy at the death of innocents. It's inhuman not to
be.

However, has it ever crossed your mind that they are unable (as of yet) to
prove without a hint of doubt the accused committed the crime? Of course
DNA testing helps a lot, but you're naive to think our crime units are as
adept as CSI on TV.

It's much easier in the long run to say that "if you do the crime, you do
the time" (your quote). Read that statement closer. Time. As in,
institutionalized.

For the record, to plead insanity, by law, defendants are forced to spend
the rest of their remaining days, much as a person kept in jail would.
Their chance of being released is just as slim, if not even more so,
because of the fact they have to prove their mental stability to a panel
of people, and in today's society, that's difficult.

People are able to find fault with everyone on their block, including more
than half of your relatives. When it's your cousin or brother or father,
maybe mother on the line for a "very bad crime" as you called it, I think
you'd be grateful that we don't have the death penalty, should they be
found guilty, and definitely if you relied on their DNA to save them.

Just to be clear, I'm not against capital punishment, I'm against your
reasoning for bringing it back.

Crystal Yvonne----Roseneath

(source: Letter to the Editor, Northumberland News)






CUBA:

Sentences Commuted But Treatment Still Harsh


Prisoners in Cuba who were facing the death penalty but have had their
sentences commuted to life imprisonment or 30 years in jail are still
being treated like death row inmates, a dissident organisation complained
on Tuesday.

"The announcement was made 5 months ago, but they're still being meted out
the same punishment," Elizardo Snchez told IPS after the launch of the
Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN)'s
6-monthly report on human rights in this socialist Caribbean island
nation.

Snchez, the leader of the CCDHRN, said his statement was based on the
testimony of family members and even some inmates who telephoned the
organisation from jail.

The prison regime is austere, but the prisoners are allowed visits every 4
months, he acknowledged.

Cuban President Ral Castro announced in late April that a group of
convicts facing the death penalty, some of whom have been waiting for
years for a pronouncement by the Council of State, will now serve life
sentences or 30-year terms instead.

Snchez said this decision was "positive," although he deplored the lack of
"public information" about how many prisoners would benefit from the
measure, and how many would serve 30 years or be behind bars for life.

"Our Commission had to make inferences to estimate that between 20 and 30
people sentenced to capital punishment had their sentences commuted, and
about half of these will serve life sentences," says the CCDHRN report
signed by Snchez, where he is described as a "human rights observer and
former prisoner of conscience."

The statement, distributed to foreign correspondents in Havana, says it is
"disturbing" that prisoners who had their death penalties commuted are
still being held under extremely harsh conditions, pointing out that some
have been in isolation for more than 10 years.

The government's handling of the death penalty issue remains "very
conservative," and there are still dozens of crimes to which capital
punishment still applies. "It's a sword of Damocles hanging over Cubans,"
Snchez said.

Nevertheless, the decision to commute the death penalty reaffirmed the de
facto moratorium on capital punishment that has been in force in this
country since 2003, after three men who hijacked a passenger ferry were
executed by firing squad.

Since then no death sentences have been handed down by the courts and no
new executions have been carried out.

The Cuban government argues in favour of keeping the death penalty on the
books as a legal weapon to defend the country from foreign aggression and
from possible domestic attempts to undermine the state, as well as to
protect the population from the most heinous crimes.

In line with this argument, Havana links the possible abolition of the
death penalty to a cessation of the U.S. policy of "hostility and
terrorism" and the 4-decade U.S. economic embargo, according to official
documents like a 2004 letter from Cuba to the United Nations Human Rights
Council.

"We have been forced to choose, in legitimate defence, the route of
establishing and enforcing severe laws against our enemies, but always
strictly within the framework of the law and with respect for legal
guarantees," Castro said in April at the closing session of a plenary
session of the Communist Party Central Committee.

The Commission's report indicates that between January and July this year,
the CCDHRN documented 219 cases of political prisoners, 15 fewer than the
234 it identified in 2007. But the real figure could be higher, due to the
hermetic nature of the regime which does not permit "any kind of
scrutiny," the dissident group says.

The authorities do not generally reply to the organisation's reports, nor
do they provide any statistics on the prison population.

But Snchez declared that "short-term" detentions have increased, and the
CCDHRN has also documented mistreatment at the hands of the police,
something he said had been avoided in the past.

The document names 219 people who are serving prison sentences or are
awaiting trial, and also mentions 67 "Cuban prisoners of conscience
adopted by Amnesty International who are still serving their sentences."
10 of these are under house arrest, rather than in prison, for health
reasons.

The list includes 3 persons sentenced to death whose appeals to the
Supreme Court will be analysed soon, Castro said in his April speech. Two
are Salvadorans, Ral Ernesto Cruz and Otto Ren Rodrguez, who were
convicted of terrorism in 1998 after taking part in a series of bombings
of tourist facilities in Cuba, one of which resulted in the death of an
Italian businessman.

The 3rd is Humberto Eladio Real, a Cuban arrested on Oct. 15, 1994 after
disembarking on the island, committing a murder and stealing his victim's
car. He was tried and convicted of murder and acts against the security of
the state.

(source: IPS)






INDIA:

Death penalty 'too easy' for Aust tourist's killers


Indians get death penalty for Aust tourist's murder The son of an
Australian woman murdered in India 4 years ago says the death penalty is
'too easy' on the men who killed his mother.

2 New Delhi taxi drivers were sentenced to death yesterday for raping and
murdering 59-year-old Byron Bay woman Dawn Griggs in 2004.

Her son Adam Spinner says the death penalty is inappropriate in this case.

"In this case I think having your liberation taken away and facing your
entire lifetime incarcerated in an Indian jail and contemplating what
you've done to me is a far more appropriate penalty for this crime than
the death penalty," he said.

Ms Griggs was killed soon after landing in India to attend a meditation
course.

A frequent traveller to the country, she had asked the taxi drivers to
take her to her destination, but instead was driven to a deserted field
near the airport where she was murdered.

The court said Ms Griggs had struggled against her assailants before being
raped and stabbed to death.

She was also attacked with a screwdriver.

The defence had argued that there was no direct evidence and no
eyewitnesses, and indicated they would appeal.

India's Supreme Court stipulates that the death penalty be used only in
the "rarest of rare cases."

(source: ABC News)



ANTIGUA:

Death penalty after couple murder


Antigua's government will introduce the death penalty for crimes involving
weapons in the wake of the murders of a British honeymoon couple.

The new sentencing legislation will be introduced for anyone who uses a
gun or knife in a crime which results in death or serious injury.

The inquest into the fatal shootings of honeymoon couple Ben and Catherine
Mullany has been opened and adjourned.

Three forensics staff from the UK have been sent to the Caribbean to help.

The couple from Pontardawe in the Swansea valley, were shot in their hotel
cottage in Antigua on 28 July, the last day of their honeymoon, in what
police think was a robbery which went wrong.

Catherine Mullany, who was training to become a GP, was killed instantly
after being shot in the head.

Her husband, a University of the West of England physiotherapy student,
died a week later after being airlifted to hospital in Swansea in a
critical condition.

They were both 31.

Several people have been questioned in connection with their deaths but no
arrests have been made.

The coroner for Swansea, Philip Rogers, released the bodies for burial at
the opening of the inquest into their deaths.

Post mortem examinations on the couple found both had died from gunshot
wounds to the head.

The couple's families did not attend the five-minute hearing at Swansea's
County Hall, which was adjourned pending the outcome of inquiries by the
police in Antigua.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said it had sent three civilian
forensics staff to Antigua last week to work on the case.

The island's police force is reported to have just one forensics officer.

Catherine was killed and Ben Mullany died later in hospital in Swansea

The deployment brings the number of British officers on the island to 8.

Antigua's justice minister Collin Derrick said the new legislation, to be
introduced at the next session of parliament, would set a minimum sentence
of 25 years in prison. Judges could also impose a sentence of life in
prison.

Gun traffickers, who are blamed for a recent spike in violence in the
tourism-dependent Caribbean nation, could also be sentenced to death under
the proposal, Mr Derrick said.

"We are getting intelligence reports that there are considerable dealers
in firearms," he said.

"At present, we're seeking ways to address that issue... which is causing
tremendous injury and grief to families and this country."

Antigua currently has the death penalty but only for murder.

The current law establishes a maximum of 25 years in prison for an assault
with a weapon that does not result in death.

The island nation has had 12 homicides so far this year.

(source: BBC News)






BOTSWANA:

SA men 'escape death sentence'


2 South Africans and a Botswana national, who are on trial for murder in a
Botswana court, have pleaded guilty to killing a woman more than 6 years
ago, the SABC reported on Tuesday.

The 3 accused, Benson Keganne, Kagiso Sebi and Amos Moloi, allegedly shot
dead Gloria Mahowe after robbing her in her shop in a village at Lobatse.

They are to plead in mitigation of sentence in the Lobatse High Court on
Tuesday.

The 3 accused have already spent 6 years in jail awaiting-trial.

Botswana has given an undertaking to South Africa that the 3 will only be
given a prison sentence and not the death penalty.

(source: South Africa Press Agency)






KUWAIT:

Kuwait royal family member sentenced to death----Many are watching to see
whether Talal Nasser al Sabah will get the immunity considered a right by
royal families in the gulf region, where Kuwait's democratic steps have
raised eyebrows.


It was an open-and-shut case. Kuwaiti cops showed up at the dealer's house
and seized more than 22 pounds of cocaine and 165 pounds of hashish. The
suspect was accused of drug trafficking and, a few months later, sentenced
to death.

But the convicted drug dealer, Talal Nasser al Sabah, was no ordinary
Kuwaiti -- he was a member of the Persian Gulf kingdom's ruling family.

Now everyone is watching to see whether the authorities will follow
through on the ruling by the independent-minded judiciary or grant Talal
the immunity considered a right by royal families throughout the gulf
region.

"The people of Kuwait are impressed with the independence of the judiciary
and trust, in general, its rulings," said Naser Sane, a Kuwaiti lawmaker.
"In other Arab gulf nations, you don't see a court sentencing in this way
a member of a ruling family."

Royal clans dominate political and economic lives of the oil-rich
kingdoms. It is uncommon to see a royal behind bars, let alone on death
row.

But Kuwait has experimented with democracy in ways that distinguish it
from its neighbors, which mostly have autocratic political systems.

Nowadays, members of the Sabah ruling family get traffic tickets and have
even been jailed for alleged corruption, said Abdullah Ayoub, a lawyer in
Kuwait.

"There is no immunity for members of the ruling family just for the reason
that they are part of this family," he said.

In June, Kuwait's supreme court upheld the death sentence against Talal,
who is in his 50s. His conviction late last year by a lower criminal court
was the first such case against a member of the royal family in Kuwait.

Talal "deserves the death sentence . . . for dealing with drugs and
narcotics that threaten the security of society and lead its youth into
the mire of addiction," the ruling said.

Despite the ruling, Talal still could benefit from the amnesty of Kuwait's
ruler, Sabah al Ahmed al Jabbar al Sabah. The emir has the authority to
call off the execution.

Although the emir, or prince, enjoys vast political powers, they are not
unchecked: A National Assembly elected by the people every four years has
the authority to hold the government accountable. Women have been allowed
to vote and to run for office since 2005.

Several ministers, some members of the royal family, were forced to resign
under popular pressure.

The democratic steps have raised eyebrows in the rest of the Persian Gulf.
During one regional meeting, heads of state were shocked when the Kuwaiti
delegation had to return home to answer to parliament on a sensitive
issue, said a Kuwaiti political analyst who asked that his name not be
published.

"Rulers of these states fear the space of democracy in Kuwait might at the
end affect their power," said Mohammed Rumaihi, editor of the Kuwaiti
newspaper Awan and a former advisor to the government. "For them, the
Kuwaiti phenomenon is like a plague that needs to be contained."

Talal's case was viewed as a test of sorts, to see whether the country's
rampant nepotism can trump the independence of the judiciary.

Along with his collaborators, Talal was arrested in April 2007 when he and
others were caught in possession of large quantities of drugs. His arrest
order was given by a leading figure in the ruling family, Defense Minister
Jabbar Mubarak al Sabah.

Talal also was accused of possessing 2 unauthorized weapons and of
laundering more than $3.3 million in drug money.

This wasn't the 1st time he had run afoul of the law. Talal previously was
jailed in Egypt for drug possession.

He has said he hopes his connections will save him from the gallows. He
told a newspaper that leading members of the ruling family had intervened
with the emir.

Talal has pleaded with the country's emir to commute his death sentence.

"I am drug-addicted and I am getting cured," he said in an interview from
prison published in the newspaper Al Jareeda.

"I don't deal," he said. "I don't know whether Kuwaiti society is
satisfied with the ruling of the judiciary or not. But it's in the hands
of the emir."

(source: Los Angeles Times)




AUSTRALIA/INDONESIA:

Australia to ask Indonesia for clemency for drug smugglers----Bali bombers
claim firing squad is torture


Australia may oppose the death penalty but Foreign Minister Stephen Smith
says the government will not be intervening in the case of the three Bali
bombers awaiting execution. However Australia will be appealing to the
Indonesian President for clemency for 3 Australians on death row for drug
smuggling.

Presenter: Michael Cavanagh

Speaker: Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.

CAVANAGH: The relationship between Indonesia and Australia has waxed and
waned over the years presently it is quite strong, Australia coming to
that country's assistance following the Tsunami and close cooperation on
security matters has strengthened ties.

This has been reinforced by what is known as the Lombok Treaty signed by
the previous Australian Conservative government and now backed by the
Labor adminstration which came to power last year.

Going into that election Labor faced controversy after one of its
parliamentarians criticised the then John Howard-led government's backing
of the death penalty faced by the 3 Bali bombers for their role in the
2002 attack which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.

The Australian Labor Party quickly reversed the condemnation of Mr
Howard's stand.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says the government is also willing to look
at individual cases which may not involve Australians but this view stops
when it comes to the case of the Bali bombers...

SMITH: If it's anyone else, we'll make a judgement on a case by case basis
as to whether we should make an individual representation. But the Prime
Minister and I have both made clear that we don't propose to make
representations on behalf of terrorists who have been subject to the death
penalty. So I won't be making any individual representations so far as the
Bali bombers are concerned.

And I think that's appropriate. People would be expect me to be making
representations so far as Australians are concerned, but I'm not proposing
to make any individual representations so far as the terrorists engaged in
the Bali bombing are concerned.

CAVANAGH: This stand has left the government open to charges of hypocracy.

Apart from the 3 young Australians facing execution for their role in
attempting to smuggle drugs through Indonesia there are 2 Australians on
death row in Vietnam.

Mr Smith says the government is working to have these sentences reversed.

SMITH: We have 3 of the Bali 9 still subject to a death penalty. I'll make
inquiries about the progress of their cases through the Indonesia legal
and judicial systemn and again make the point that when those process are
completed and any of those 3 still remain the subject of the death penalty
we'll making a plea for clemency in accordance with our normal processes."

CAVANAGH: The Australian government while lobbying overseas
administrations privately and publicly over cases concerning the death
penalty and its citizens and in some cases people from other countries it
also believes the most effective way of pushing for the abolition of the
death penalty throughout the world is working through bodies such as the
United Nations.

(source: Radio Australia)