Feb. 9
TAIWAN:
Taiwan authorities sentence death penalty to Bekgian in 1.3kg heroin smuggling
A Belgian man convicted of smuggling drugs into Taiwan was sentenced by the
Taipei District Court to life imprisonment.
Gunther van Eester was found guilty of entering Taiwan in November with 1.3
kilograms of heroin hidden in a compartment in his suitcase.
The Belgian, who was jobless and homeless in Thailand, had been flagged by
Taiwanese investigators after he visited Taiwan twice in June as a tourist, the
district court said in its ruling.
After his 2 short visits, van Eester returned to Bangkok and met with drug
dealers, who offered him US$700 and a free return ticket to carry a suitcase to
Taiwan, the court said.
On arrival in Taiwan, he was detained by the Taipei District Prosecutors
Office, who found NT$10 million (US$327,000) worth of heroin in his suitcase,
according to the court.
Van Eester claimed that he was helping to deliver a suitcase of clothing, the
court said in its ruling, which imposed a sentence of life imprisonment on the
man.
Van Eester has the right to appeal the sentence in Taiwan???s high court.
(source: customstoday.com)
CHINA----execution
China executes tycoon who bid for Australian miner
A Chinese mining billionaire said to have links with disgraced former security
tsar Zhou Yongkang and who once launched a bid for Australia's Sundance
Resources was executed for multiple murder on Monday, a court said.
Liu Han, his younger brother Liu Wei and three accomplices were condemned to
death in May for "organising and leading a mafia-style group", murder and other
crimes.
Their appeals were unsuccessful and all 5 were put to death on Monday, the
Xianning Intermediate court in the central province of Hubei said on its
verified account on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
The 5 met with their "close relatives" before the execution, the court said in
a separate posting.
"The executed criminals' legal rights were fully protected," it added.
Liu Han led private company Hanlong, which is based in the southwestern
province of Sichuan and launched a takeover bid of more than $1 billion for
Sundance, a listed Australian iron ore firm, in 2011.
But the deal collapsed in 2013 after the Chinese firm failed to follow through.
Chinese media reports said at the time that Liu Han had been detained.
Sichuan is one of the power bases of Zhou, who once enjoyed vast power as
China's security chief but whose targeting in a corruption investigation was
announced in July.
The influential business magazine Caixin has reported that Liu Han once had
dealings with a businessman believed to be Zhou's son. State media have also
hinted that the gang had connections to central government officials.
Zhou was handed over to prosecutors in December.
The official announcement of the long-rumoured probe into Zhou made him the
most senior member of the Communist Party to be investigated since the infamous
Gang of 4 -- a faction that included the widow of founding leader Mao Zedong --
were put on trial in 1980.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
*************************
China court gives out new death penalty after wrongful execution
A court in China sentenced a man to death on Monday for crimes including the
murder and rape of a woman in 1996 which another person was wrongly executed
for before being exonerated last year, state media reported.
Zhao Zhihong, 42, was detained in 2005 and confessed to a series of rapes and
murders, including 1 in a public toilet in Inner Mongolian capital Hohhot in
1996 that was blamed on Huugjilt, then aged 18.
Huugjilt, who like many Chinese Mongols used just a single name, was later
executed.
A court in December overturned his conviction and awarded his parents - who
attended Zhao's verdict hearing - compensation.
The court additionally ordered Zhao to pay 102,768 yuan ($16,445) in
compensation to his victims.
China has embarked on legal reforms, including reducing the use of the death
penalty, as public discontent mounts over wrongful punishment.
While wrongful executions have often stirred outrage, capital punishment itself
has wide support from the public.
Anti-death penalty campaigners say China uses the death penalty far more than
other countries. The government does not release the number of executions it
carries out, deeming it a state secret.
(source: Reuters)
INDONESIA:
Indonesia's new appetite for execution
From the sky, Kerobokan jail looks like a vast, sprawling complex - complete
with a tennis court, a church and a mosque. Inside this notorious Bali prison
are convicts found guilty of drug trafficking and facing imminent execution by
a 12-man firing squad.
Among them are 57-year-old British national Lindsay Sandiford and 2 Australians
- part of the infamous "Bali 9" drug smuggling ring - Andrew Chan and Myuran
Sukumaran.
Chan and Sukumaran have had their clemency appeals rejected by Indonesian
President Joko Widodo. The attorney general's office says they will be in the
next group of prisoners to be put to death, but it is not clear when.
Last month, after a 4-year hiatus, Indonesia executed convicts from Malawi,
Nigeria, Vietnam, Brazil and the Netherlands, as well as one from Indonesia.
The execution spree appears to be driven by Mr Widodo. He's only been in the
job for just over 100 days - but he has decided that a war on drugs is a major
priority for his administration. He has surprised many of his supporters and
human rights observers with his tough stance.
"Indonesia is on the wrong side of history with this policy," says Andreas
Harsono, Indonesia researcher with Human Rights Watch in Jakarta.
"A country's attitude to human rights is determined by its attitude to the
death penalty, and this stance is sending the wrong message to the world about
Indonesia's priorities - especially since Indonesia has so many of its own
citizens on death row in countries like Saudi Arabia.
"How can it possibly campaign for their release while it executes people at
home?"
But Indonesia says there will be no compromises - and that this policy is here
to stay.
The country's new appetite for executions has raised concerns that convicts
like Sandiford, who was found guilty in 2013 for trafficking 4.8kg of cocaine
to Bali, are unlikely to have their appeals granted.
Matius Arif, a priest in Bali, has met regularly with Sandiford and says she's
struggling to come to terms with her fate.
"It's very hard for her," he said. "I can see it and I can feel it. The
situation is especially hard when you're in a foreign country, it's not easy
for her. She needs a lot of support, and a lot of help on the legal, spiritual
and emotional terms."
But Indonesia says its laws are not ambiguous - anyone caught bringing drugs
into the country will face the death penalty.
Indonesia is not the only country in South East Asia to use capital punishment
for drug trafficking. Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam do too - and often with
alarming regularity.
It is thought there are 673 people on death row in Vietnam, most of them for
drug trafficking. However, it's very difficult to verify the exact number of
people executed each year for bringing drugs into the country, as the use of
the death penalty in Vietnam is classified as a state secret.
In January, 8 Vietnamese citizens were given the death sentence for smuggling
about 200kg of heroin into the country.
Mass trials for drug traffickers have been held in the yard of a detention
centre rather than a courtroom, and have often been used as a deterrence and
even an educational measure by the state, despite protests from foreign-based
human rights groups.
China takes drug trafficking very seriously and metes out severe punishment for
such offenses. According to the criminal code, anybody involved with making,
selling, transporting and smuggling more than 2kg of opium or 50mg of heroin or
methamphetamine can be given a sentence ranging from 15 years in prison to
death.
These laws apply to foreign nationals as well as Chinese citizens. In recent
years, China has executed foreign nationals on drug offences from countries
including Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and the UK,
despite calls for clemency from officials or NGOs representing these countries.
Countries like Indonesia often provoke international outrage with their
decision to execute foreign nationals for drugs. Last month, the Brazilian and
Dutch ambassadors to Indonesia were recalled to their home countries because of
the executions of their nationals.
But Indonesia insists that this is the only way to deal with rising addiction
rates.
The government says every day at least 40 Indonesians die because of drug
overdoses. While these figures are hard to verify, it is true that the country
has battled with a rising substance abuse problem, especially amongst its
youth.
'Life was a mess'
At a rehab centre outside Jakarta, young men in their twenties and thirties
describe how they have been taking street-level heroin and crack for most of
their lives.
Pramudya Pramudya says more awareness is needed on the effects of drugs on
young Indonesians
"My life turned into a mess," 30-year-old Pramudya said. "I had no friends.
They all stopped talking to me. I just thought about how to steal from them so
I could buy drugs. I lost everything."
Pramudya does not blame the traffickers for what happened to him but believes
they should be executed, to send a strong message.
"From my point of view Indonesian law is very weak," he said. "So I think this
is the time to make it serious for drug traffickers and drug dealers. It will
never stop drugs, but maybe it will give awareness to the young generation -
don't play with it. But it will never make Indonesia totally clean from drugs.
"
Anti-death-penalty campaigners agree.
They say the people that end up being executed for trafficking are invariably
mules or insignificant players - not the actual kingpins themselves.
Human rights activists say cracking down on the drug trade in South East Asia
has to involve a consistent and concerted effort to topple those at the top
rather than those carrying out orders.
But it is an uphill battle. The majority of Indonesians surveyed approve of the
death penalty - especially for drug traffickers. A change of heart is hard to
imagine.
(source: BBC News)
***************
Bali 9: Lawyers for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran launch rare challenge
against president Joko Widodo
Lawyers for the 2 Australians due to be executed in Indonesia this month are
launching a rare challenge against the Indonesian president's refusal to grant
them pardons.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called heroin
trafficking group Bali 9, were due to face a firing squad before the end of
February after they were denied presidential pardons.
Their lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said their "last chance" was to challenge
president Joko Widodo's decision in an administrative court - a move that had
rarely been attempted.
"We have done almost everything and now we are planning to file another claim
to the administrative court in Jakarta," Mr Mulya said.
"We will challenge the rejection of the clemency issued by the president, or
made by the president."
Chan and Sukumaran had argued, as they had to the Indonesian Supreme Court,
that they were remorseful and rehabilitated.
They had both used their active involvement in rehab programs to help other
prisoners as reasons why they should be pardoned from the death penalty.
But Mr Widodo had declared Indonesia in a state of "drug emergency" and vowed
not to grant clemency to any drug offenders.
It was on that basis that Mr Mulya and his team of lawyers were hoping to
challenge the president's decision, saying that he had to actually consider
each case.
"It's not the way to do it," Mr Mulya said of the president's outright
rejection of clemency bids.
"We don't think the president can reject all the clemency petition[s] based
only on drug emergency situations.
"The president must go into [them] one by one. Now [an] assessment has to be
done.
We have done almost everything to save their life and this is the last chance.
I hope there's a miracle, I hope there's a hand of God.
"You cannot just read that on papers and make a rejection, a refusal.
"It's not the way to do it, because we are talking about human life, human
beings.
"So we should not treat the petitioners as numbers ... treat them as human
beings."
An administrative appeal of this kind was thought to have been attempted only
once before, and failed.
In a 2008 court case, Mr Mulya challenged the constitutionality of the death
sentence but the court upheld the death sentence as valid.
But he said he would not give up on trying.
"Indonesia is a state based on law, and we also ratified a lot of international
human rights instruments. It means that we respect human rights.
"One of the basic fundamental human rights is the right to life, so when we are
dealing with clemency... the president should take into account the life of the
petitioners."
Chan and Sukumaran 'running out of time'
Mr Mulya conceded that there was not a lot of time left to save Chan and
Sukumaran from the firing squad.
"I can say we are running out of time," he said.
"There's not much time left. Well I know that every legal means has been
exhausted.
"We have done almost everything to save their life and this is the last chance.
"I hope there's a miracle, I hope there's a hand of God, at this time.
"But what I can do is to keep praying."
Indonesia's attorney-general's office was in charge of scheduling and
coordinating executions and announcing where and when they would take place.
Attorney-general Muhammad Presetyo has already stated that the legal process is
over and the government was preparing to execute the Australians in the next
round of shootings, which were due to happen sometime this month.
"I keep my fingers crossed, I hope they will change their mind," Mr Mulya said.
He said the attorney-general should not go ahead with the executions while
there was an administrative challenge in progress.
"Because they have to respect the law, they have to respect the due process of
law," Mr Mulya said.
The families of the 2 men were travelling to Jakarta today to meet with
Indonesia's National Committee on Human Rights, or KOMNAS HAM, in another push
to get a stay on the executions.
(source: ABC News)
AUSTRALIA:
Australia Can Adopt Any Diplomatic Measures to Oppose Death Penalty
The Australian government can do anything diplomatically to express opposition
to the death penalty granted to drug traffickers, but Indonesia will proceed
with its law enforcement process, stated Indonesian Ambassador to Australia
Nadjib Rifat Kesuma.
The statement was made by Ambassador Kesuma here on Monday with regard to the
clemency pleas of 2 Australian drug trafficking convicts, Myuran Sukumaran and
Andrew Chan, which were rejected by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and the
Australian government's response to the situation.
"I do not know whether they (the Australian government) will recall their
ambassador in Indonesia or not. But, diplomatically, they can do anything to
express if they are unhappy," noted Kesuma.
Ambassador Kesuma, who is visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attend
the Indonesian Representatives' Work Meeting on Feb 2-5, 2015, stated that the
response of the Australian government is technically acceptable as all
governments must try their best to defend their nationals.
"The reaction of the government (of Australia), of course, wherever they are,
they try to make the situation better. They tried to talk to me if there is
still anything they can do to change the last verdict, so I tell them
everything has been executed, and this is the situation now," he explained.
Moreover, President Jokowi has stated that no mercy will be shown to drug
dealers and drug traffickers, considering the impact on the Indonesian people,
particularly the youth.
Regarding the diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Australia, Kesuma
noted that the 2 countries have gone through so many challenges that have
affected the relations between the 2 neighboring nations, and hence, the death
penalty would not cause any friction.
Kesuma also spoke about a poll conducted by Roy Morgan that shows 52 % of
Australians agree that drug traffickers convicted in another country and
sentenced to death should be executed.
"We can say that 52 % of Australians are supporting Indonesia's position," he
said.
However, Kesuma added that the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra also received
more than a hundred letters from the civil society's lawyers to protest and
express their rejection or disappointment on the death penalty awarded to the 2
Australian nationals.
According to the Roy Morgan's poll, 52 % people support the death penalty given
for drug trafficking and 48 % do not agree.
About 62 % of Australians said the Australian Government should not take any
further steps to stop the execution of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, while
38 % say that the Australian Government should do more to stop the execution.
The poll was conducted on a cross-section of 2,123 Australians over the last
few days, on January 23-27, 2015.
(source: The Bali Times)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
Indonesia, Thailand ready to help PNG on death penalty
The governments of Indonesia and Thailand are ready to help the PNG
inter-agency committee set up by Cabinet to implement the death penalty this
year, Correctional Services Minister Jim Simatab says.
Indonesia will provide advice and technical assistance on the "death by firing
squad" method and Thailand on "hanging".
The National Executive Council had approved three modes of execution - death by
firing squad, hanging and administration of anaesthetics followed by lethal
injection.
The committee comprises Government agencies and co-chaired by the Commissioner
for Correctional Service and Secretary for the Department of Justice and
Attorney-General.
The committee will meet this week and report to Cabinet on what they have come
up with. "After the committee meets, we should be able to carry out this
Government decision to implement the death penalty," Simatab said.
He said the death penalty would deter the small number of people "who have no
value for human life".
Serious crimes which attract the mandatory death sentence include treason,
piracy and attempted piracy with actual violence, wilful murder that are of the
worst categories as determined by case law precedent, aggravated rape and
robbery with violence. Department of Justice and Attorney-General Secretary Dr
Lawrence Kalinoe said serious crimes which had been included were
sorcery-related killings and rape of children under the age of 10.
(source: PNG Today)
***************************
PNG seeks outside help on death penalty
Papua New Guinea has sought direction from the governments of Indonesia and
Thailand on how to implement the death penalty this year.
The newspaper, The National, reports the PNG inter-agency committee set up by
Cabinet to implement the recently re-activated death penalty has been
considering methods approved of by the National Executive Council.
The correctional services minister Jim Simatab says Indonesia will provide
advice and technical assistance on the "death by firing squad" method and
Thailand on "hanging".
The committee will meet this week and report to Cabinet on what method they
have settled on.
Serious crimes which attract the mandatory death sentence include treason,
piracy and wilful murder, aggravated rape and robbery with violence, as well as
sorcery-related killings and rape of children under the age of 10.
(source: Radio New Zealand)
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