Jan. 22
INDONESIA:
Bali drugs: Death sentence for Briton Lindsay Sandiford
A 56-year-old British grandmother has been sentenced to death by firing squad
in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
Lindsay Sandiford was arrested at Bali's airport in May last year after 4.8kg
(10.6lb) of cocaine was found in the lining of her suitcase during a routine
customs check.
Sandiford, whose last UK address was in Gloucestershire, said she was coerced
into bringing the drugs to the island.
Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire has condemned the sentence.
He told MPs the government strongly objected to the death penalty imposed.
Her lawyers have said they were "surprised" at the verdict and would appeal.
Prosecutors had recommended a 15-year sentence of imprisonment.
There was an audible gasp of surprise in the courtroom when the verdict was
delivered.
Although the maximum penalty for drug trafficking in Indonesia is death, the
prosecution had recommended a 15 year sentence, saying Sandiford's age should
be taken into consideration and the fact that she has no prior convictions.
But delivering their verdict the judges said there were no mitigating reasons
that convinced them they should reduce their sentence.
They added that Mrs Sandiford did not appear to care about the consequences of
her actions.
Walking out of the court room the 56-year-old from Gloucestershire appeared
shocked, covering her head with a brown sarong, hiding her face from the glare
of the cameras.
Her lawyer has said they will definitely appeal. He added it is very rare that
judges deliver a sentence that is so much harsher than what the prosecution has
recommended.
But the judges said there were no mitigating circumstances and the defendant
did not appear to care about the consequences of her actions.
They said Sandiford had damaged the image of Bali as a tourism destination and
weakened the government's anti-drugs programme.
Sandiford's lawyer said it was very rare that judges delivered a sentence so
much harsher than the prosecution had recommended, the BBC's Jakarta
correspondent Karishma Vaswani reported from the court.
The defendant appeared shocked and covered her head with a brown sarong to hide
her face from the glare of cameras, our correspondent added.
Sandiford, originally from Redcar in Teesside, was accused of being at the
centre of a ring involving 3 other Britons.
Last year, Paul Beales was sentenced to 4 years for possession of drugs and
Rachel Dougall was jailed for 1 year for failing to report a crime.
The drug possession trial of Julian Ponder, from Brighton - who is believed to
be Dougall's partner - is still taking place. He is alleged to have collected
cocaine from Sandiford.
Sandiford was arrested after a flight from Bangkok, Thailand.
Her case had been taken up by the British human rights charity Reprieve, which
said she had been "targeted by drug traffickers who exploited her vulnerability
and made threats against her children.
Foreign Office Minister Hugh Swire: "We strongly object to the death penalty"
It says she was held for 10 days without access to a lawyer or translator after
her arrest and the Indonesian authorities failed to inform the British embassy
during this time.
In response to the sentence, Reprieve's Harriet McCulloch said: "She is clearly
not a drug king pin - she has no money to pay for a lawyer, for the travel
costs of defence witnesses or even for essentials like food and water.
"She has cooperated fully with the Indonesian authorities but has been
sentenced to death while the gang operating in the UK, Thailand and Indonesia
remain free to target other vulnerable people."
During the trial Sandiford's defence lawyer told Denpasar District Court that a
history of mental health problems made her vulnerable.
In a witness statement, Mrs Sandiford apologised to "the Republic of Indonesia
and the Indonesian people" for her involvement.
She added: "I would never have become involved in something like this but the
lives of my children were in danger and I felt I had to protect them".
In another statement read out in court, her son Eliot said he believed his
mother was forced into trafficking after a disagreement over rent money she
paid on his behalf.
Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world, but BBC
correspondents say executions rarely take place.
Most of the 40 foreigners currently on death row in Indonesia have been
convicted of drug offences, according to Australia's Lowy Institute for
International Policy.
5 foreigners have been executed since 1998, all for drug crimes, but there have
been no executions in the country since 2008, said the institute said.
The UK Foreign Office says there are currently 12 British nationals facing the
death penalty abroad. A further 55 face charges which carry a possible death
sentence.
It said: "We are aware that Lindsay Sandiford is facing the death penalty in
Indonesia.
Martin Horwood, MP for Cheltenham: "This move is quite unexpected and obviously
very worrying"
"We strongly object to the death penalty and continue to provide consular
assistance to Lindsay and her family during this difficult time."
It said "repeated representations" about the case were made to Indonesia
following her arrest and the foreign secretary had raised the case during the
Indonesian president's state visit in November.
The Foreign Office says its policy is to use "all appropriate influence" to
prevent the execution of a British national including "high-level political
lobbying when necessary".
But BBC political correspondent Norman Smith said any pressure by the UK
government in Sandiford's case was now likely to occur after the judicial
appeals process was complete.
--
Death penalty case Britons
2009 - Samantha Orobator sentenced to life in Laos for heroin smuggling. Spared
death penalty after becoming pregnant in prison and later transferred to UK
jail
1993 - Sandra Gregory given death sentence in Thailand for heroin smuggling,
later transferred to UK jail after term commuted to 25 years imprisonment
1989 - Derrick Gregory hanged in Malaysia for heroin smuggling
--
Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood said the verdict was unexpected and "very
worrying" and he would seek to raise the sentence with Foreign Secretary
William Hague.
"I'm appalled by this development," he told the BBC.
"We had been given encouraging signals by the Indonesian ambassador that
Indonesia was moving away from the death penalty, that this was something that
was associated with the days of the dictatorship, long since past."
Meanwhile, Sebastian Saville, the former chief executive of the human rights
charity Release, said the sentence was "utterly deplorable".
But he said: "There are many people executed every year in local countries -
Thailand, Cambodia - for much smaller amounts of drugs.... So it does not fall
out of the remit for someone caught with 5kg of cocaine to be given the death
sentence."
He added: "If we took a referendum in this country... should people caught with
5kg of cocaine be executed, yes or no... I think you'd be surprised about the
number of yeses, as we live in a world which believes in punishment, not in
fixing things."
(source: BBC News)
**************************
British Woman Lindsay Sandiford Gets Death Penalty in Bali Drug Trial
British woman Lindsay Sandiford has been given the death penalty by a court in
Indonesia's Bali after she was found guilty of drug trafficking.
The 56-year-old woman from Gloucestershire was arrested on charges of carrying
nearly 4.8 kilogram of cocaine in her suitcase on 19 May last year after a
flight from the Thai capital Bangkok.
"We found Lindsay Sandiford convincingly and legally guilty for importing
narcotics... and sentence the defendant to death," said the judge.
Sandiford pleaded not guilty of the charges while a 15-year imprisonment was
recommended by the prosecutors. She had said that she was set up by a drug
ring. The verdict is likely to come as a huge shock as she was said to be a key
witness in the investigation against drug cartels.
Sandiford was 1 of 4 Britons detained for drug trafficking in the holiday
island of Bali.
Under Indonesia's law, drug traffickers face death by firing squad. More than
100 people are said to be on death row, 1/3 of them foreigners.
(source: International Business Times)
INDIA:
Private gang rape trial brings issues of death penalty to India society
In an hour long court discussion covering whether India's Saket court should be
open to the public on the gang rape case that has rocked the human rights
activists throughout the world, Judge Yogesh Khanna placed the case under
privacy and closed doors today.
Opening arguments for the case that will be placing 5 men - Pawan Gupta, Vinay
Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh - on trial for the what
advocates call the most "serious" gang rape case in India's capital city, New
Delhi, will begin on January 24. A separate legal process for an additional
unnamed and under-aged 17-year-old assailant in the gang rape case will be
handled in India's juvenile court.
Dying almost 2 weeks following her sexual attack by what is thought to be 5 men
and 1 teenager, the unnamed female college student died from internal injuries
13 days following the brutal attack on a public transportation bus in New
Delhi. Following the death of the woman and the sexual attack of her male
friend on an 'illegal' private transport bus, protesters inside India and
across the globe went to the streets to express their outrage to stop increased
rape violence in India as crowd control police used tear gas to control
violence that broke out with the crowds inside Delhi.
"Sitting judges seldom speak publicly. But enough is enough," said India's
Supreme Court Justice Gyan Sudha Misra on December 21, 2012 to the Hindustan
Times, as she also expressed that her individual voice was the voice of
citizen, not a Supreme Court Judge.
In a case that could give the death penalty in India, the rape case will be
outlining charges of kidnapping against the accused.
Prosecutors in the case will also be bringing a statement made by the
23-year-old victim in the case before she died that was made from her hospital
bed in a Singapore hospital where she was flown on emergency care.
Defending attorneys in the case are saying that widespread online and
television coverage of the gang rape in India will cause bias in the case said
India's television network NDTV.
As advocates intensify efforts to stop violence against women in the region,
the government of India has promised that the case will receive "fast track"
treatment.
Since the December 16 incident issues in India surrounding the use of the death
penalty as a punishment is also under scrutiny by human rights advocates.
"The anger felt towards the suspects is completely understandable, as is the
desire to impose stricter laws around sexual violence to ensure that what
happened in Delhi in December never happens again. But imposing the death
penalty would just perpetuate the cycle of violence," said Amnesty
International India Director Ananth Guruswamy in a January 3 CNN editorial.
"Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all circumstances,
regardless of the circumstances or the nature of the crime. It is the ultimate
cruel and inhuman punishment, and a violation of a fundamental human right -
the right to life," continued Guruswamy.
(source: Women News Network)
******************
India gang-rape trial begins as father urges hangings
5 men went on trial Monday over the brutal gang-rape and murder of a student as
the victim's father urged the fast-track court to deliver swift justice and
sentence her attackers to hang.
With the trial being heard behind closed doors, one of the prosecutors
announced the case's start to reporters crowded outside the court.
"The trial has begun," Dayan Krishnan told AFP. "The chargesheet has been
submitted before the judge and the arguments will begin on January 24."
The 5 men face murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping and other charges, with
prosecutors seeking the death penalty.
The trial is being held in India's 1st "fast-track" court for rape victims set
up to circumvent the country's notoriously slow justice system, with the
bereaved family leading angry calls for speedy closure on the horrifying case.
The trial's start was delayed until late in the afternoon Monday by a failed
bid to overturn the reporting ban. Rape trials are held in camera in India to
protect the identify of the victim.
"The crime is against society at large. Society has the right to know what
happens in the court," lawyer V.K. Anand told AFP.
The Supreme Court will hear Tuesday a bid by another defence lawyer, M.L.
Sharma, to move the trial out of New Delhi where emotions over the death late
last month of the 23-year-old medical student still are running high.
Sharma argued in his petition that anger "has gone into the root of each home
in Delhi" and it would be impossible to "get justice".
The victim's father said her family would rest only once the culprits were
convicted and hanged and he urged judge Yogesh Khanna to complete his work
quickly.
"We have finished the mourning rituals for my daughter in the village but our
mourning will not end until the court passes down its verdict. My daughter's
soul will only rest in peace after the court punishes the men," the father told
AFP.
"It is the duty of the court and the judges to ensure that the final order to
punish all the accused is handed down quickly and all the men are hanged.
"No man has the right to live after committing such a heinous crime."
A.P. Singh, a lawyer for 1 of the 5 men on trial, said his client was under 18
and should be tried in juvenile court where sentences are far more lenient.
Police had said Vinay Sharma, a gym assistant, was 20.
Police are already investigating a claim by a 6th suspect that he is a minor
and should be tried in juvenile court.
The December 16 assault ignited street protests across India -- in particular
in New Delhi which has been dubbed the country's "rape capital" over the high
incidence of such attacks.
Though gang-rapes and sexual harassment are commonplace in India, the case has
touched a nerve, leading to an outpouring of criticism about treatment of
women.
Sonia Gandhi, president of India's ruling Congress party, on Sunday condemned
the "shameful" social attitudes which she said led to crimes like gang-rape.
The case had "shaken the entire country," she added.
Defence lawyers say they will enter not-guilty pleas.
The woman, a promising student whose father worked extra shifts as an airport
baggage handler to educate her, suffered fatal internal injuries during the
assault on the bus in which she was raped and attacked with an iron bar.
She died 13 days later after the government airlifted her to a Singapore
hospital in a last-ditch bid to save her life.
Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan has said he has "sufficient evidence" against the
accused to secure a conviction.
Police have gathered DNA evidence allegedly linking the defendants to the
attack while the victim's hospital-bed declaration before her death and
testimony from her 28-year-old companion are also set to be crucial.
India says it only imposes the death penalty in the "rarest of rare cases". 2
months ago, it hanged the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai terror
attacks -- the country's 1st execution in 8 years.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
********************
Karnataka HC stays hanging of Saibanna
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stayed hanging of death row convict
Saibanna Nigappa Natikar till January 29.
A Division Bench comrpising acting Chief Justice and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer
passed the order on a petition by Saibanna.
The convict had moved the High Court after the President recently rejected his
mercy petition.
The petition asked for a stay on the execution of the death penatly as he
(Saibanna) has had to suffer for 8 years on death row because of the delay in
deciding on his mercy petition after the Supreme Court dismissed his plea.
The Supreme Court on April 21, 2005 had upheld the verdict of the Karnataka
High Court, which had confirmed death penalty imposed by the trial court.
President Pranab Mukherjee on January 4, 2013 rejected Saibanna's mercy
petition, which was pending since April 29, 2005.
Saibanna, from Mandwal village of Gulbarga, was initially convited for life for
murdering his first wife. While on parole in September 1994, suspecting the
fidelity of his 2nd wife, he killed her and her daughter.
(source: The Hindu)
IRAN:
8 prisoners sentenced to death in Kerman
The Iranian regimes' judiciary sentenced to death 8 more prisoners in central
city of Kerman in south central Iran. The prisoners had been accused of drug
related charges.
In recent weeks Iranian regime has intisifed excution of prisoners including
many hange in public in towns and the capital Tehran.
In many cases the Iranian regime has executed prisoners under bogus drug
related charges.
(source: National Council of Resistance of Iran - Foreign Affairs Committee)
************************
Pastor Saeed Abedini Still in Prison as Trial Begins; Iranian Media Accused of
Lying
American Pastor Saeed Abedini has not been freed on bail and remains facing
trial and possibly the death penalty in Iran, according to a statement by his
wife released on the 1st day of his trial.
"This is all a lie by the Iranian media," Naghmeh Abedini shared in a statement
to the American Center for Law and Justice, who are representing the pastor's
wife and 2 children in the United States. The group confirmed that contrary to
an Associate Press report that says Iranian authorities have claimed that the
pastor has been released, Abedini remains in Evin Prison in Tehran.
"This has been a repeated promise by the Iranian regime since Saeed was first
thrown in prison on September 26, 2012. We have presented bail. After the Judge
told Saeed's lawyer that bail was back on the table, the family in Tehran ran
around in circles today to make sure Saeed was let out on bail. But again the
bail officer rejected bail. This is a game to silence the international media,"
Naghmeh Abedini explained.
"The lawyer in Iran was asked to make a statement, but that was before the
family's attempts today and before the regime again rejected bail. Dr. Sarbazi
told me today that the regime is not dropping the charges against Saeed - this
is the only act that would allow Saeed to leave Iran and return to the U.S," he
added.
Pastor Abedini appeared on Monday before Judge Pir-Abassi, a notorious "hanging
judge," in Branch 26 of the Iranian Revolutionary Courts, where he was charged
with attempting to undermine the Iranian government by creating a network of
Christian house churches. The alleged evidence of the pastor's activities dates
back to 2000, when he converted from Islam to Christianity. Prosecutors are
saying that Abedini has been trying to influence Islamic youths to convert to
Christianity, which is a crime punishable by death in Iran.
Dr. Naser Sarbazi, Abedini's lawyer in Iran, was only allowed to see the court
filing one week before the trial, and was given less than 24 hours to meet with
the 32-year old pastor and prepare a defense, the ACLJ noted. The lawgroup say
that Dr. Sarbazi still managed to present a strong case for why Pastor
Abedini's work was not a threat to the national security of Iran, and
positioned that the American was motivated solely by his faith and was without
a political agenda.
A number of lay church leaders have apparently been summoned to court to
testify tomorrow about the pastor's work in Iran, but it is unclear how long
the trial will go on for. It is also not certain what kind of sentence Judge
Pir-Abassi is planning on giving Pastor Abedini, but a lengthy prison sentence
or even capital punishment are possibilities. Abedini has spoken out about his
fears of being put to death for his faith, and the judge in question was
declared in 2011 by the European Union as an individual subject to sanctions
for human rights violations for sentencing a number of human right activists to
death.
"Judge Pir-Abassi could render his verdict as early as next week, which means
there is still time for the leaders of the free world to speak out loudly on
Pastor Saeed's behalf," Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the ACLJ, urged
in the press release.
"We know from past cases that strong international support is crucial, but the
responsibility to support a U.S. citizen starts with our own government. While
we patiently await Pastor Saeed's verdict there is still time for President
Obama and Secretary Clinton to stand publicly with this U.S. citizen," Sekulow
added, pointing to a public petition to the U.S. government calling for more
action to be taken on the pastor's behalf.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor has said that the State
Department needs to take all necessary action to help Pastor Abedini.
"We remain troubled by the case of U.S. citizen Saeed Abedini, who was arrested
by Iranian officials more than three months ago on charges relating to his
religious beliefs," Vietor shared in a statement reported by The Jerusalem
Post. "We call upon Iranian authorities to release him immediately."
Rep. Frank Wolf (R Virginia) added: "The president and secretary of state need
to speak out over and over to draw attention to the dire situation of
persecuted Christians in Iran and in the Middle East."
(source: Christian Post)
*****************
UN Condemns Reported Execution Of Juvenile Offender In Iran
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has expressed
dismay over the reported execution of a juvenile offender in Iran.
Reports say Ali Naderi, 21, was executed earlier this month after being found
guilty of a murder he committed when he was 17.
An OHCHR statement said the death penalty cannot be legally imposed for crimes
committed by people under 18.
It cited the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, saying Iran is a party to both
agreements.
Naderi's was the 1st reported juvenile execution since September 2011.
The OHCHR called on Iran to restrict the use of the death penalty and reduce
the number of offenses for which it may be imposed.
(source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh court gives death penalty to war criminal
A fugitive Islamic cleric linked to the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party
was today handed down death penalty by Bangladesh's war crimes court for
atrocities committed by him during the country's 1971 liberation struggle.
In its maiden verdict, the 3-member International Crimes Tribunal-2 sentenced
Abul Kalam Azad, an anchor of Islamic programs at a private TV channel, to
death.
"Abul Kalam Azad (alias Bacchu Razakar) will be hanged by neck till his death,"
the tribunal's Chairman, Justice Obaidul Hassan, pronounced at a crowed
courtroom in downtown Dhaka after the trial in absentia.
63-year-old Azad, a former member of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, fled the
country in April last year as he was charged over "crimes against humanity"
during the Liberation War for siding with Pakistani troops in 1971.
On November 4 last year, Azad was indicted with 8 charges of crimes against
humanity, based on 8 incidents that left at least 12 unarmed people dead and 2
women raped in Faridpur during the country's Liberation War in 1971. He was
accused of collaborating with a Pakistani Major.
The tribunal, which decided to hold Azad's trial in his absence as he failed to
appear before it despite publication of newspaper ads asking him to show up,
had appointed Supreme Court lawyer Abdus Sukur Khan as the defense lawyer for
Azad.
It took only 1 month to complete recording testimonies of witnesses and
arguments of both sides, as there were no defense witnesses in the case.
22 prosecution witnesses, including some victims and family members of the
dead, had testified.
The state-appointed defense counsel failed to produce any witnesses due to
non-cooperation of Azad's family members.
(source: IndoLink)
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