Dec. 6
EGYPT:
Egyptian killer cop gets 2nd death penalty
A Cairo court handed down a 2nd death sentence to a fugitive Egyptian police
officer already facing execution for fatally shooting 33 protesters.
Mohamed al-Sunni was given his 1st death sentence in May after he was convicted
of fatally gunning down the protesters during the 18 days of uprising that led
to the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, bikyamasr.com reported.
Al-Sunni indiscriminately opened fire outside a police station of the al-Zaiwya
al-Hamarah housing development into a crowd of hundreds of protesters Jan. 28
and then ran from the scene.
He has been on the lam for 11 months with his current location unknown,
bikyamasr.com reported Sunday.
(source: United Press International)
NIGERIA:
Cleric advocates death penalty for same sex marriage
Malam Abdulkadir Apaokagi, an Abuja-based Islamic scholar, on Sunday in Abuja,
called for death penalty for same sex marriage in Nigeria.
Apaokagi in a sermon at the weekly prayer session of Nasrul –lahi-L-Fatih
Society of Nigeria (NASFAT), said gays in Nigeria were perverts who did not
deserve to co-exist with right thinking and decent people.
He said gays were worse than murderers, and deserve stiffer penalty than those
accused of killing fellow human beings.
“Homosexuality and lesbianism are just too dirty in the sight of Allah, those
who engage in them deserve more than capital punishment. When they are killed,
their corpse should also be mistreated.”
Apaokagi, who is the deputy chief Imam at the Abuja branch of NASFAT, said in
his lecture entitled: “The position of Islam on gay marriage” that gay people
were mentally unstable and could bring severe instability to the society in
which they lived.
“None of them can pass a psychiatric test, because they are not normal,” he
said.
The scholar’s sermon came against the background of a recent law passed by the
Senate banning same-sex marriage and public display of affection by gays in
Nigeria.
The bill, “Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) bill 2011” also prescribed 14 years
jail sentence for convicted gays in Nigeria.
Quoting from the Quran, Apaokagi hailed the Senate for passing the law, saying
that Allah decreed marriages only between members of the opposite sex.
“Any society that tolerates gay marriage would come to destruction the way God
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for sodomy.
“They are criminals, Allah Himself describes them so, and it is great that the
Senate has criminalised what they are trying to do.”
He urged the House of Representatives to take a cue from the Senate, and pass
its own version of the bill without delay so that President Goodluck Jonathan
could sign a harmonised version into law.
Apaokagi also urged Nigerians to ignore criticisms from the West, and come
together as one to fight practices that might bring destruction to the country.
(source: The Vanguard)
ASIA:
Asian countries putting thousands to death after unfair trials - new report
A hard-line group of Asian countries are defying the global trend against the
death penalty and putting to death thousands of people after unfair trials
every year, Amnesty International and colleagues in the Anti-Death Penalty Asia
Network (ADPAN) said today in a new report.
Some 14 Asian countries, taken together, execute more people than the rest of
the world combined. Worryingly Thailand and Taiwan have both resumed use of the
death penalty after a period of cessation.
The report, When justice fails: thousands executed in Asia after unfair trials,
highlights the struggle to secure a fair trial in eight of these countries. The
report calls for action for eight people facing execution in China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Pakistan. In each case, a
death sentence was delivered after an unfair trial and in six of the cases the
conviction relied on a confession extracted through torture.
Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Asia-Pacific,
said:
"The flawed justice systems in many of these countries, creates a situation
where people are executed after blatantly unfair trials where they have had
little or no access to legal advice and may even have been convicted after
being tortured into confessing."
Over 1/2 of all Asian countries have officially abolished the death penalty, or
have in practice not carried out executions in the last 10 years.
Yet Taiwan restarted executions in 2010 after a 4-year break, despite declaring
a policy of gradual abolition in 2000. Thailand resumed executions in 2009,
despite committing to abolishing the death penalty in its human rights action
plan.
Chiou Ho-shun is Taiwan’s longest-detained criminal defendant in its
longest-running criminal case. Sentenced to death for murder in 1989, he has
been detained for more than 23 years. His case was described by lawyers as “a
stain on our country’s legal history”.
Chiou’s case has been re-tried 11 times. He claims he was tortured into making
a false confession.
Taiwan’s High Court recognised that violence was used against Chiou, but
excluded from evidence sections of his interrogation tapes where the abuse
could be heard.
He lost his final appeal to the Supreme Court in August 2011 and could be
executed at any time.
In January 2011, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice admitted that a previous
prisoner, sentenced to death, Chiang Kuo-ching, a private in the Air Force, had
been executed in error in 1997 for a murder he did not commit. The authorities
acknowledged that a statement “confessing” to the crime had been made as a
result of torture.
Hsinyi Lin, Executive Director the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty,
said:
“Only abolition of the death penalty can guarantee that no innocent person is
executed. Government apologies for execution ‘in error’ can never be enough.”
Forced confessions are regularly relied upon as evidence during trials in
Afghanistan, China, Japan, India and Indonesia despite laws against the
practice.
In India, Devender Pal Singh, currently on death row, claimed to the Supreme
Court that his interrogators threatened to kill him and “manhandled” him to
“sign several blank papers”.
Prisoners facing the death penalty in Asia often have little or no access to
lawyers, either before or during trial.
Japan’s daiyo kangoku system allows the police to detain and interrogate
suspects without a lawyer for up to 23 days, on the assumption that a lawyer’s
presence would make it hard to ‘persuade the suspect to tell the truth’.
Maiko Tagusari, Secretary-General of the Center for Prisoners' Rights Japan,
said:
“That a person can be sentenced to death when there is virtually no evidence
against them beyond a ‘confession’ is the ultimate indictment of a society’s
justice system.”
Hakamada Iwao is believed to be the world's longest-serving death row inmate
who has spent the last 43 years awaiting execution in Japan. He was convicted
after an unfair trial. In Japan no notice is given prior to the execution day,
and so he faces the mental torment of never knowing if each day could be his
last. Hakamada Iwao is one of Amnesty's ten priority cases for this year's
letter campaign; Write for Rights. Hakamada, a former boxer, was sentenced to
death in 1968. During his trial, judges raised concerns that confessions
provided by the prosecution were not signed voluntarily. Of 45 documents, only
one was declared admissible. He was convicted and sentenced to death. He has
been kept in isolation for over 30 years.
Chinese authorities can make it difficult for lawyers to meet with clients or
access case files, and lawyers have been charged for introducing evidence that
“challenges the prosecution’s case”.
Under international law, the death penalty can only be imposed for intentional
crimes with lethal consequences, and mandatory death sentences are prohibited.
Yet some Asian countries impose the death penalty for non-lethal crimes,
including drug trafficking and theft. Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, and North
Korea are among Asian countries imposing a mandatory death penalty for
possession of a certain quantity of drugs.
There are at least 55 capital offences in China, 28 in Pakistan, and 57 in
Taiwan.
The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) launched in 2006. ADPAN is an
independent cross-regional network that campaigns for an end to the death
penalty across the Asia-Pacific Region. ADPAN is independent of governments and
any political or religious affiliation. Members include lawyers, NGOs, civil
society groups, human rights defenders and activists from 23 countries.
(source: Amnesty International UK)
BELARUS:
Belarus urged to end capital punishment
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk urged his country to abolish capital
punishment, after two 25-year-olds were sentenced to death for killing 15
people in a Metro bomb attack.
"No terrorist act can be justified, and the perpetrators should receive just
punishment," Archbishop Kondrusiewicz told the Belarussian church's online news
agency, Catholic.By. "But the church calls for bloodless methods for
restraining and punishing offenders, best suited to the common good and human
dignity. Given the opportunities available to the state for preventing serious
crimes, cases where the death penalty is absolutely necessary are very rare,
even nonexistent."
"I appeal to President Alexander Lukashenko and the parliament to impose a
moratorium on the death penalty, then abolish it completely, replacing it with
life imprisonment and pardoning those sentenced to capital punishment," he
said.
On Nov. 30, the Supreme Court sentenced Vladislav Kovalyov and Dmitry Konovalov
for their roles in the April 11 explosion, which blasted ball bearings and
nails into afternoon commuters in Minsk's Kastrychnitskaya underground station.
Belarus, Europe's only country still carrying out death sentences, is believed
to have executed up to 300 convicts with shots to the back of the head since
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, although official figures have not
been released.
Kovalyov and Konovalov, both factory workers, were also convicted of two bomb
attacks at Vitebsk in 2005 and a 2008 Independence Day explosion in Minsk that
injured more than 100 people.
However, defense lawyers said prosecutors had provided no forensic evidence
against the men, one of whom retracted his confession, claiming duress.
(source: Catholic News Service)
IRAQ:
Former Iraqi Leader Aziz To Be Executed----Foreign Minister Was Familiar Face
In Western Media
Tariq Aziz, who served as Iraq's top diplomat under Saddam Hussein, will be
executed next year, after U.S. forces have pulled out of the country, an
adviser to Iraq's prime minister told CNN on Monday.
"It will definitely take place, and it will take place after the Americans
leave Iraq," said the adviser, Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi, about Aziz, who served
as foreign minister.
A lawyer for Aziz said he was surprised. "I did not expect the government would
be that stupid, by doing this they will drag this country to the edge of the
abyss," said Badi Arif in a telephone interview.
"What about the national reconciliation that this government has been calling
for? The government's position will be even weaker if they carry out the
execution after the American troops leave the country and this will lead to
more conflict among Iraqi factions."
A new law is under consideration that would require death sentences be ratified
by the president within 15 days of their being handed down, al-Muttalibi said.
Al-Mutalibbi added that all of Iraqi society, including members of the three
main sectarian groups -- Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds -- favor the law.
Aziz was captured by U.S. forces in April 2003, shortly after the U.S.-led
invasion that toppled Hussein. He appeared frail when he testified in Hussein's
2006 trial on war crimes charges, for which the ousted dictator was hanged
later that year.
Aziz was sentenced to death in October 2010 by the Iraqi High Tribunal for his
role in eliminating religious parties during Saddam Hussein's regime.
His family was shocked by the verdict, his daughter told CNN at the time.
"My father served his country for more than 22 years. He delivered himself to
the U.S. Army (after the fall of Hussein) because he wasn't afraid. He didn't
do anything wrong. He served his country," Aziz's daughter, Zainab Aziz, said.
"He has been wronged."
Arif said last year that there was a political motive behind the death
sentence.
"Mr. Aziz used to always tell me, 'They'll find a way to kill me, and there is
no way for me to escape this,'" Arif told CNN. "But from a legal perspective,
this sentence is wrong; this is illegal and this is unexpected."
Aziz served as deputy prime minister from 1981 to 2003, also holding the post
of foreign minister for part of that time.
After the verdict was announced, Amnesty International urged Iraq not to carry
out the sentences, even as it acknowledged the brutality of Hussein's regime.
"Saddam Hussein's rule was synonymous with executions, torture and other gross
human rights violations, and it is right that those who committed crimes are
brought to justice," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for
the Middle East and North Africa in 2010.
"However, it is vital that the death penalty, which is the ultimate denial of
human rights, should never be used, whatever the gravity of the crime," he said
in a written statement.
The Vatican also opposed the death sentence, spokesman Federico Lombardi told
CNN.
"This is not the most adequate way to promote reconciliation and reconstruction
of justice and peace in a country that has suffered so much," he said.
(source: WGAL News)
SINGAPORE:
3rd man charged with Central Square murder
A 3rd man was charged in Court on Tuesday with the murder of a 20-year-old
full-time national serviceman at Central Square at Havelock Road on December 3.
Poh Chong Heng, 27, who is unemployed, was allegedly part of an unlawful
assembly that led to the death of Chen Zi Quan at the carpark of the building
between 5.30am and 6.15am.
Poh's 2 alleged accomplices were 24-year-old Desmond Neo Han Wen, who is a
supervisor, and 22-year-old Lee Boon Leong, who is a salesman.
The trio were remanded at Central Police Division for further investigations.
Poh will be back in court on December 13.
Channel NewsAsia understands the whereabouts of 2 more alleged accomplices are
also being traced.
If convicted of murder, they could face the death penalty.
(source: Singapore News)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Murder: Life sentence unjust, says lawyers' group
Mandatory life sentences for murder in England and Wales and the system for
setting minimum terms are unjust and outdated, a legal experts' group says.
The Homicide Review Advisory Group, made up of judges, academics and former
QCs, says the system does not allow for sentences to match individual crimes.
The mandatory life sentence replaced the death penalty in 1965.
But Peter Neyroud, a former chief constable, said the public did not want
killers treated with more leniency.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said it had no plans to abolish the mandatory
life sentence for murder. "The most serious crimes deserve the most serious
sentences," he said.
The Homicide Review Advisory Group said a so-called mercy killing attracted the
same mandatory life penalty as serial killings and it said it wanted sentencing
for murder to be discretionary.
Its report builds on research last year which claims the public may support
reforming the penalty for murder to make life imprisonment the maximum sentence
rather than mandatory.
'Compromise'
It claims that "with appropriate education" the public could develop "in the
general direction long favoured by legal experts and the judiciary".
But Mr Neyroud, a former member of the sentencing guidelines council, said:
"The public were very confused about murder sentencing and in fact regularly
thought that the sentences for murder were too lenient, so I'm not sure that
you can then leap to the conclusion that they're then ready for what would be
quite a dramatic... and I suspect viewed as a reduction in seriousness."
The Homicide Review Advisory Group claim the mandatory life sentence was a
compromise arrived at to ensure the abolition of the death penalty made its way
through both Houses of Parliament.
It argues that the indefinite nature of a life sentence - which may or may not
involve a life behind bars - is unfair and incomprehensible.
The starting point for a minimum term to be served for less serious murders is
15 years.
Offenders are released on life licence, which means they can be recalled to
prison at any time during the rest of their life, if they breach the terms of
their licence.
The report urges that the time has come for a move to fixed sentences for
murder as with any other individual crime.
That would allow the exact circumstances of offences to be properly reflected
by the courts, it says.
The Justice Secretary Ken Clarke recently announced plans to extend mandatory
life sentences for many other crimes as part of a plan to do away with
indeterminate sentences.
(source: BBC News)
TAIWAN:
Groups call for end to unfair trials, death penalty
A report highlighting the issue of unfair trials that could lead to the death
penalty was released by several rights groups Tuesday in Taipei, as part of
efforts to reiterate their calls for the abolition of capital punishment. The
report, jointly released by Amnesty International (AI), the Anti-Death Penalty
Asia Network (ADPAN) and the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP),
detailed 8 cases of people on death row in Asia and their struggles to secure a
fair trial. Despite a trend toward abolishing capital punishment in Asia, 14
countries throughout the region still retain the death penalty, which carries
with it the risk of miscarriage of justice and wrongful execution, said Louise
Vischer, an ADPAN coordinator who spent a year compiling the report. The cases
depicted in the report come from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Singapore and Taiwan. 6 of the cases involve convictions that relied
on confessions extracted through torture, including the case of Taiwanese death
row inmate Chiu Ho-shun, who has been on trial for nearly 23 years on charges
of abducting and murdering a school child in December 1987. In late July, the
Supreme Court ended Chiu's lengthy trial by upholding his death sentence.
Documented videos and recordings prove that Chiu was tortured by police during
a 4-month period of detention to extract confessions from him that were later
presented in court as key evidence, according to lawyers familiar with the
case. At a news conference to announce the release of the report, Vischer also
touched on another high-profile case in Taiwan -- that of Chiang Kuo-ching, an
Air Force serviceman who was wrongfully executed in 1997 for a murder he did
not commit. "The death penalty is final and irreversible," she pointed out.
Echoing Vischer's remarks, Catherine Baber, deputy director of AI's
Asia-Pacific Program, said no judicial system is perfect enough to exclude all
possibility of error. "If we are to take (action) against the execution of the
innocent, the only solution is the abolition of the death penalty," Baber
added. Asked about how Taiwan can avoid cases similar to those of Chiu and
Chiang in the future, Vischer told CNA that judicial reform is the key. Judges
have to be independent, free from the influence of public opinion and the
hierarchy system, she said, adding that concrete material evidence is also
required in any trial. "The material evidence was lacking in Chiu's case and it
seems to be lacking in many other cases," Vischer said. Another issue that
needs to be dealt with is coerced confessions, she went on.
Although Taiwan has introduced a law to address that issue, more work is needed
to deal with cases, such as Chiu's, that happened before the legislation,
Vischer said. The Supreme Court has confirmed 15 death row convictions this
year, bringing to 54 the number of people in Taiwan awaiting execution, the
TAEDP said. Taiwan ended a more than four-year moratorium on executions with 4
carried out in April 2010 and another 5 in March this year, drawing criticism
from the European Union and human rights advocates.
(source: Central News Agency)
**********************
Death sentence after forced confessions in Taiwan, says Amnesty
Amnesty International charged Taiwan of violating UN protocols by sentencing
prisoners to death on slim evidence and forced confessions.
The human rights group highlighted the current case of Chiou Ho-shun, a
Taiwanese man who remains on death row after 23 years in detention and 11
re-trials.
At a press conference, video was played of police bragging about squeezing a
confession from Chiou and beating a friend until he identified Chiou as the
perpetrator.
He lost his final appeal to the Supreme Court in August.
The death penalty became a major issue in Taiwan in January, when the
government admitted that they wrongfully executed an air force private in 1997
for murdering a young girl. The government watchdog agency found that the
soldier's confession was squeezed out through torture.
Catherine Baber, Amnesty's deputy director for Asia-Pacific, said Taiwan
initially appeared poised to abolish the death penalty, after they publicly
announced that intention and signed the United Nation's International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights.
'But that progress has been rolling back in the interim,' she said, after
Taiwan executed nine people in the past 2 years and put a decade-high of 15
prisoners on death row in 2011.
The details on Taiwan's death penalty practices were released in a report that
also unfavourably highlighted China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore,
Malaysia and Pakistan.
Besides using forced confessions, the countries in Amnesty's list also mandate
death sentences for non-lethal crimes such as drug possession, deny prisoners
access to lawyers, and use special courts and rushed proceedings to sentence
prisoners to death, according to Amnesty.
(source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
PHILIPPINES/CHINA:
Doomed Pinoy's kin China-bound
4 relatives of a convicted Filipino drug trafficker in China – who is scheduled
for execution this Thursday – will be flown to the country Tuesday, the
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.
“The plan is for them to fly to China tomorrow (Tuesday). (There are) four
family members,” DFA Spokesperson Raul Hernandez told the Manila Bulletin.
This developed even as the family of the convicted 35-year-old male overseas
Filipino worker (OFW) – whose name has been kept a closely-guarded secret –
struggled with the apparent refusal of Beijing to allow the “mercy” trip of
Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Binay was supposed to hand-carry a letter of appeal written by President
Benigno S. Aquino III to Chinese President Hu Jintao, requesting the
commutation of the convict’s death penalty to life imprisonment.
A news report published on this daily over the weekend revealed that the doomed
Filipino is a native of Orion, Bataan.
“I cannot disclose the identity and the origin of the Filipino and his family
here in the Philippines as they have requested the DFA not to do this,”
answered Hernandez when asked to confirm key details of the report.
“We would like to respect the wishes of the family for privacy at this
difficult time of their lives,” the DFA official added.
The OFW’s family, in a statement released through the DFA last week, said they
were “devastated” to learn that the death sentence meted out on their kin had
been upheld by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said on Monday it remains hopeful that the Chinese
government will change its mind on the planned execution of the Filipino drug
convict this Thursday.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said President Aquino has yet to
receive a reply from Chinese President Hu Jintao, regarding the former’s letter
of appeal, urging the Chinese government to commute the death sentence of the
convicted OFW.
Nevertheless, Lacierda said the Philippine government will continue to remain
hopeful that the Filipino would be spared from death.
“We’re going through the diplomatic channels. That is the standard procedure.
In fact, the scheduling is being coordinated by the DFA so that is as far as we
know,” Lacierda said.
Aquino said last week that he had sent a letter of appeal to President Hu to
ask for the commutation of the death penalty imposed on the Filipino convict.
The 35-year-old Filipino national was convicted for smuggling 1.495 kilos of
heroin in Guangxi after he was apprehended on Sept. 13, 2008 at the Guilin
International Airport from Malaysia.
It was recalled that only last March, three Filipino “drug mules” were executed
in China.
China strictly imposes tough penalties against persons caught in possession of
prohibited or dangerous drugs
(source: Manila Bulletin)
INDIA:
Gujarat introduces death penalty for toxic alcohol ---- Illicit liquor has
killed many people in Gujarat over the years
The illegal manufacture and sale of toxic alcohol in the western Indian state
of Gujarat will now be punishable by death.
The governor of the state, Kamala Beniwal, has given her assent to the new law
after keeping it on hold for more than 2 years.
Gujarat has witnessed many incidents of people dying after consuming poison
alcohol.
The government says the law will deter those involved in the illegal trade.
Gujarat is the only state in India where alcohol is totally prohibited by law.
The state legislative assembly passed the new stringent bill after scores of
people died in one incident in 2009. But the governor refused to sign it into
law.
Correspondents say she wanted the provision of the death penalty to be dropped
from the bill, but the state government did not agree.
It was then referred to the central government for "legal opinion", and the
governor gave her approval only after getting the nod from Delhi.
The law will also allow the authorities to impound and auction vehicles used
for transporting contraband.
Poor victims
Illegal alcohol - commonly called desi daroo or country-made liquor in Gujarat
- is usually sold in 200ml plastic pouches for 10 rupees (20 cents) each. The
majority of the consumers are poor, daily wage workers.
The pouches are transported into the state's main city, Ahmedabad, by couriers
on motorcycles and scooters. Sometimes they slip into the state capital
carrying jerry cans containing the alcohol.
The alcohol is then sold from shantytown shacks which dot the city.
Local residents and journalists allege that the police are on the take and
collect "protection money" from the dealers.
Gujarat's toxic liquor is usually spiked with methyl alcohol and industrial
spirits which can lead to fits, vomiting and death.
(source: BBC News)
*************************************
Beant Singh assassination: CBI seeks death for 'kingpin'
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking
death penalty for Babbar Khalsa terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara, the mastermind
in the sensational killing of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995, saying
the offence falls under the category of 'rarest of rare' cases.
The agency has approached the apex court challenging the Punjab and Haryana
high court judgment which had commuted the death penalty of Hawara on October
12, 2010 and had sentenced him to life imprisonment "till death", holding that
it was a borderline case for capital punishment.
"We are pressing for death penalty on the grounds that the case falls under the
category of 'rarest of rare' cases. It was a most serious offence where 17
people were killed including a chief minister of a state and 15 were injured,"
Additional Solicitor General Harin P Raval said.
"The role of Balwant Singh (a co-accused) was lesser than that of Hawara. This
man was the kingpin who planned the entire conspiracy," Raval said.
The high court had upheld the death sentence given by the trial court to
Balwant Singh while confirming the life sentence of three others--Shamsher
Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh.
Suicide bomber Dilawar Singh and his accomplices killed 73-year-old Beant Singh
in a blast on August 31, 1995 at the entrance of the 10-storeyed civil
secretariat at Chandigarh in which 17 others were also killed. Dilawar Singh
too was killed in the explosion.
Barring Balwant Singh, all the accused had filed an appeal against the trial
court order in the high court.
Hawara and Balwant Singh were awarded death sentence by a special court in
Chandigarh on July 31, 2007, nearly 12 years after the assassination.
Hawara, Balwant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh were
convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B
(criminal conspiracy) of the IPC while Naseeb Singh was held guilty under the
Explosives Substances Act on July 27, 2007. The 7th accused Navjot Singh was
acquitted by the special court. 2 other accused Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit
Singh Bheora had escaped from the Burail Jail alongwith Hawara, who was later
re-arrested.
3 others are absconding while 3 NRIs were declared proclaimed offenders. In
all, 15 persons had been named as accused in the chargesheet.
(source: Rediff)
*****************************
CBI moves Supreme Court seeking death for Beant Singh killer
The CBI today moved the Supreme Court seeking death penalty for Babbar Khalsa
terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara, the mastermind in the sensational killing of
Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995, saying the offence falls under the
category of 'rarest of rare' cases.
The agency has approached the apex court challenging the Punjab and Haryana
High Court judgment which had commuted the death penalty of Hawara on October
12, 2010 and had sentenced him to life imprisonment “till death”, holding that
it was a borderline case for capital punishment.
“We are pressing for death penalty on the grounds that the case falls under the
category of 'rarest of rare' cases. It was a most serious offence where 17
people were killed including the chief minister of a state and 15 were
injured,” Additional Solicitor General Harin P Raval said.
“The role of Balwant Singh (a co-accused) was lesser than that of Hawara. This
man was the kingpin who planned the entire conspiracy,” Raval said.
(source: Indian Express)
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