Feb. 17
GLOBAL:
Death penalty: Aberration or deterrent?
As Australia appeals for clemency for 2 of its citizens awaiting execution in
Indonesia for drug trafficking, the spotlight is once again focused on the
practice of state-sanctioned killing as punishment for a range of crimes.
So what are the key facts, figures and arguments surrounding the death penalty?
Is the use of capital punishment increasing or declining? What would account
for these trends?
Despite a global trend towards abolition, in 2013, the latest data available
from Amnesty International, executions rose by almost 15% over the previous
year. The spike of recorded, verifiable executions, according to the
organization, were perpetrated by an "isolated group of entrenched
executioners, mainly Iraq and Iran."
Excluding China, for which figures are not known, Amnesty reveals that 778
confirmed executions were carried out in 2013.
However, despite an increase in numbers of executions as a whole, there is a
general trend towards abolition, with an increasing number of territories and
countries across the globe moving toward moratorium or abolition.
Worst offenders: Which countries execute the most people?
Amnesty reports that 22 countries conducted executions during 2013, one more
than in the previous year. 4 countries -- Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria and
Vietnam -- resumed executions after moratoriums were lifted there.
China, which is believed to execute more prisoners prisoners each year than the
rest of the world combined, does not release figures on its executions and thus
reliable figures are hard to come by.
While concrete data is difficult to obtain in many countries, Amnesty says that
almost 80% of all known executions (which excludes China's figures) worldwide
were recorded in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this year, Egypt condemned 183 defendants to death in a mass
sentencing, triggering international opprobrium and calling the Egyptian
justice system into sharp relief.
The United States, which executed 39 people in 2013, is the only G7 country,
and the only 1 of 56 member states of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, to still use capital punishment.
Which countries have abolished the death penalty?
More than 2/3 of countries have struck capital punishment from their statutes,
or at least for all practical purposes. In 2013 no executions were recorded in
Europe and Central Asia, and the U.S. was the only country in the Americas to
execute people in 2013. Only 3 ASEAN nations -- including Indonesia -- carried
out executions that year. Of the G8, only 2 -- the United States and Japan --
executed prisoners.
When do prisoners find out about their impeding execution?
This differs from country to country, ranging from an execution date -- pending
appeals -- set at sentencing in the United States, to inmates unaware of their
scheduled death until just a few days or hours before being killed, as is the
case the Bali 9 as they await their fates in Indonesia.
How are prisoners executed?
Methods of execution range from lethal injection -- 1st adopted in the United
States in 1977 -- to gassing, hanging, death by firing squad, electrocution and
beheading -- Saudi Arabia still publicly executes prisoners by decapitating
them with a sword.
How accurate are figures on the death penalty?
Amnesty says: "In some countries, it is not possible to obtain reliable data
because governments do not make figures for death sentences and executions
available, while others actively conceal death penalty proceedings. In
countries affected by conflict it is often not possible to obtain sufficient
information to confirm whether any executions have taken place."
How are cases of foreign nationals sentenced to death treated?
Foreigners on trial in countries with the death penalty can be at a
disadvantage due to linguistic difficulties and an unfamiliarity with the
country's legal system; however, those arrested abroad are granted consular
assistance under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR).
Diplomatic solutions occasionally see prisoners repatriated to serve out
sentences -- in lieu of execution -- in their home countries.
Indeed, the VCCR has been cited in diplomatic attempts to repatriate death row
citizens -- Mexico invoked the United States' failure to abide by the
convention as reason to repatriate 54 Mexican nationals in death row in the
U.S.
However, foreigners often fall foul of some country's laws -- drug trafficking
cases are often headline-grabbers -- and in some high profile cases, despite
diplomatic appeals, politicians choose to go ahead with executions in a bid to
appear unwavering in the face of serious crime.
What are the arguments for and against the practice?
Advocates say it is a powerful deterrent against serious crime, while others
point to the problems -- and cost -- of keeping violent offenders in general
prison populations. In many countries, justice is seen as served due to the
satisfaction of the victims or their families in seeing perpetrators put to
death.
Opponents cite the arbitrariness of the death penalty, the fallibility of
juries and the problems associated with wrongful conviction. In the United
States, there are also claims that there are racial disparities and that
African-Americans are overrepresented on death row.
(source: CNN)
INDIA:
Shreya Rastogi and Lubhyathi Rangarajan: The life merchants----The Death
Penalty Litigation Clinic has taken up the cudgels for prisoners on death row
Shreya Rastogi's voice bristles over the phone as she narrates incidents of
underaged prisoners being awarded the death penalty. "Such prisoners routinely
have their age inflated by the police and prosecution," the 24-year-old lawyer
says. Just getting their age verified is an uphill task. In 1 instance, they
had to go to the prisoner's school in a faraway village and get his
school-leaving certificate. Still, the work has resulted in at least 1 person
having his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. And that is just one of the
many steps in a long road for Rastogi and colleague Lubhyathi Rangarajan, 27,
who have criss-crossed the country interviewing prisoners on death row.
"Their work is absolutely path-breaking," says Yug Mohit Chaudhury, a lawyer
who specialises in death penalty litigation. According to him, a major
challenge for death penalty abolitionists has been the lack of data in India.
The Supreme Court has even cited this as a factor in its inability to provide a
reasoned judgment on the abolition of the penalty. In light of this, in 2013, P
Sathasivam, chairperson, National Legal Services Authority, gave permission to
the Death Penalty Litigation Clinic to compile empirical data on death row
prisoners in India.
That was when the National Law University (NLU) in Delhi stepped in and
provided initial funding for the clinic. Initially, the aim was to compile
information on the number of prisoners on death row. Rastogi and Rangarajan,
both lawyers, collaborated with Anup Surendranath, assistant professor at the
university. (Maitreyi Misra, 24, who was part of the original team, was till
recently associated with the clinic.) Of the 385 prisoners on death row in
India, the duo have interviewed 370. (The only prisoners they haven't been
given access to are those convicted in terror cases.)
"What we aim to do is map the socio-economic profile of someone sentenced to
death," says Rangarajan. One finding: The prisoners are overwhelmingly poor and
the duo has seen families falling into poverty once the sole breadwinner is
sentenced to death. "At the very least, this has helped us understand that the
death penalty results in entire families falling out of the economic net.
Children are forced to start working, pushing economic advancement back by
another generation," says Rastogi.
They are, for the most part, unable to afford lawyers and depend on the state.
Then, there is the "callous manner" in which investigations are conducted. In
Orissa, a tribal was accused of murdering his wife and sentenced to death.
While being interviewed by the clinic, it emerged that he was beaten to the
confession.
Upon seeing this, the clinic has gone beyond its founding role and started
arranging legal representation for people on death row. Rastogi explains that
for the moment - partly due to funding constraints - the clinic has only been
able to intervene at the appellate level, i.e. once the death sentence has been
passed. At present, it is helping 32 inmates. They have managed to stay 2
executions.
Going forward, the project plans to publish a report where it will aim to map
out the death row inmates. "It is only then that a reasoned conversation on the
abolition of the death penalty can begin," says Rangarajan.
(source: Forbes India)
*******************
HC ratifies death for man who raped, killed Class IX student
The Bombay High Court on Monday confirmed death sentence to a man who had raped
and killed a 13-year-old girl in Raigad in October 2012.
"The accused committed the offence in order to satisfy his lust. He forcibly
raped 13-year-old defenceless school-going girl and eliminated her life," the
HC said while confirming the death penalty for 22-year-old Viran Rajput, who
hails from Madhya Pradesh.
The victim studied in Class IX at a school located four km from her house. "She
used to go on foot to her school and on the unfortunate day, she was returning
home alone. The accused took this opportunity and helpless girl was subjected
to sexual and brutal assault in a remote place where there was nobody to
protect her," said Justices V K Tahilramani and I K Jain.
Calling the accused "beastly", the judges said that after satisfying his lust,
he feared that the victim might expose him. "So he buried her body in a naked
condition in a ditch and covered the place with grass and mud. The modus
operandi of the accused clearly shows he would be a menace to the society and
there is no possibility of him being reformed," the judges held in a 93-page
order.
On June 25, 2014, a sessions court had convicted Rajput under Section 302 of
the IPC and sentenced him to death. He was also convicted under the Protection
of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
************************************
Calling it insult to womanhood, Bombay HC confirms death penalty to man for
raping, killing teen
The Bombay High Court on Monday confirmed death penalty to a 22-year-old man
who was convicted for raping and killing a minor school girl way back in 2012.
"The accused committed the offence in order to satisfy his lust. He forcibly
raped the 13-year-old defenceless school going girl and eliminated her life
which is the ultimate insult to womanhood," said the court while confirming
death penalty to the convict who hails from Madhya Pradesh.
"It has come on record that she used to go on foot to her school and on the
unfortunate day, she was returning alone from the school. The accused took this
opportunity and helpless girl was subjected to sexual and brutal assault in a
remote place where there was nobody to protect her," said Justices V K
Tahilramani and I K Jain.
Calling the convict's act "beastly", the judges said that after satisfying his
lust he killed her as he thought she might expose him. "He buried her body in a
naked condition in a ditch and covered the place with grass and mud. The
modus-operandi of the accused clearly shows that he would be a menace to the
society and there is no possibility of the accused being reformed," the judges
held in a 93-page order.
Earlier, on June 25, 2014 a session court convicted him under section 302 of
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced him to capital punishment. He was
also convicted under section 366, sections 10 and 4 of the Protection of
Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and section 201 of IPC.
The HC took into consideration the fact that the offence was not committed in
the spur of the moment. "It was pre-planned. The accused took the victim to a
secluded place and raped her. The subsequent conduct of the accused indicates
that he had felt no remorse. After commission of crime, he was found coolly
wandering in the village," the court said.
"The modus-operandi to commit the crime by resorting to diabolical method
exhibits depravity, degradation and uncommon nature of the crime which had
shocked the collective conscience of the community as well as the villagers who
are required to send their minor girls to another village for education, in the
era in which right to education is the constitutional guarantee," held the High
Court.
(source for both: Indian Express)
***************
Can Abu Salem be given the death sentence?
After his 1st significant conviction since his extradition from Portugal a
decade ago, the crucial issue is what would be the demand now for Abu Salem's
quantum of punishment in the case of murder and an act of terror. The central
government may have to apply its mind before special public prosecutor Ujjwal
Nikam makes his arguments for sentencing Salem on Tuesday for the 1995 murder
of builder Pradeep Jain.
Salem's extradition in 2005 had come with riders to protect him from a death
sentence, which Portugal had long abolished. Salem said the Indian government
had agreed to this pre-condition. Legal experts say now it will be difficult to
seek the death penalty for Salem.
In the Jain murder case, Salem was charged with murder, which attracts capital
punishment. Additional charges under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act were added by the court that tried him in Mumbai. One of the
sections attracts the noose.
In September 2010, the Supreme Court dismissed Salem's plea that he cannot be
tried for offences punishable with death.
The SC had pointed out that notwithstanding the pre-condition imposed by
Portugal, the two countries are signatories to the international convention on
elimination of terrorism; hence, it felt that there was nothing wrong if the
various provisions under Tada and the IPC were invoked against him.
Nikam said Salem's conviction, especially under Tada for committing terrorist
acts, is major. It will have "wide ramifications", especially because his
co-accused in the case is the absconding underworld don Anees Ibrahim, brother
of don Dawood Ibrahim. "Salem was the associate of Anees and the verdict will
be a big jolt to Dawood. It will boost the government's fight against terrorist
gangs," said Nikam.
The prosecutor, who would have ordinarily sought nothing but the maximum
punishment of death for a brutal murder, may have to contact the Centre on what
the sentencing submission should be.
(source: The Times of India)
CHINA:
China Orders Compensation To Acquitted Death Row Prisoner
A court in China's southern city of Fuzhou ordered compensation of 1.14 million
yuan (118,416 pounds) to a former death row prisoner who was acquitted on
charges of poisoning 2 children, state media said on Tuesday.
The rare acquittal of Nian Bin, a former food stall owner who was freed in
August after a court in Fujian province found there was insufficient evidence,
prompted renewed calls for the abolition of the death penalty in China.
Nian, 39, was accused of poisoning his neighbours with rat poison, leading to
the death of 2 children and injuries to 4 others in July 2006.
But he said he was tortured into confessing during police interrogations and
had pursued his appeals for years, an effort closely watched by human rights
lawyers in China and global rights groups.
He was convicted several times and spent 8 years in prison before being
acquitted.
The intermediate court made the ruling on Sunday, and on Tuesday announced that
Nian "should be paid 589,000 yuan for loss of personal freedom and another
550,000 yuan for mental suffering," the official Xinhua news agency reported.
China's ruling Communist Party has said it aims to prevent "extorting
confessions by torture" and halt miscarriages of justice with a "timely
correction mechanism", after a series of corruption investigations involving
torture outraged the public.
But legal scholars are sceptical about significant change under 2-party rule.
The government has been silent on establishing an independent judiciary or
reining in the police, a powerful agency in China.
Rights groups say China uses capital punishment more than any other country,
fanning public concern of irreversible miscarriages of justice.
(source: Malaysian Digest)
*************************
China's chance to end injustice of the death penalty----Zhou Zunyou says moves
to cut the list of punishable offences are a step in the right direction, but
public attitudes will need to be changed
2 high-profile incidents hit the headlines on February 9: in Hubei province,
former mining tycoon Liu Han , along with his brother and 3 others, was
executed for murder, running a mafia group and numerous other crimes. In Inner
Mongolia, meanwhile, villager Zhao Zhihong was sentenced to death for a string
of rapes and murders, including one in 1996 that had been blamed on a teenager
by the name of Huugjilt.
In the former case, Liu had connections to Zhou Yongkang, the former security
tsar and Politburo Standing Committee member, who has been arrested and
expelled from the Communist Party. In the latter case, Huugjilt was
posthumously exonerated last December; shortly afterwards, a police officer
liable for the wrongful execution was charged with torture to coerce a
confession, among other things.
While the execution of Liu was a by-product of China's iron-fisted onslaught on
corruption, the death sentence meted out to Zhao was closely linked to China's
difficult struggle for judicial fairness. In both campaigns, the death penalty
has become a convenient tool for implementing the Communist Party's recent and
unprecedented resolution on the rule of law.
In China, statistics on death sentences and executions are considered so
sensitive that they remain a state secret. According to the Dui Hua Foundation,
a human rights group, China executed around 2,400 prisoners in 2013, a 20 %
drop from 2012. This estimate puts the annual number of Chinese executions at 3
times as many as the rest of the world combined.
China retains the death penalty but has vowed to strictly control and prudently
apply it. In the past decade, China has embarked on significant legal reforms
to curtail its use. In 2007, the Supreme People's Court regained the right to
review all death sentences without reprieve. In 2011, China introduced an
amendment to its Criminal Code to remove 13 economic-related non-violent
offences from the list of the 68 crimes punishable by death. At present, China
is mulling adopting another amendment to the Criminal Code to cut 9 crimes from
the current list.
Because of these reforms, annual executions are in steady decline. If this pace
of change continues, the eventual abolition of the death penalty is a distinct
possibility.
The current reform is largely the result of international pressure but Chinese
academics have also played a prominent role. The contribution of Zhao Bingzhi,
chairman of China's Association of Criminal Law, is worth special mention. He
has even developed a detailed road map for the total abolition of the death
penalty by 2050.
As in many other countries, a major argument that China makes in favour of the
death penalty is the "national realities", in reference to its own legal
culture and public opinion. It is a fact that the Chinese people strongly
support the death penalty, based on the legal culture of "a life for a life".
Hence, it is hard to expect authorities to stop using it immediately in
defiance of the will of the people.
However, public opinion may change over time. There is ample proof in the
history of the death penalty worldwide that people can be moved towards an
abolitionist attitude. Similarly, the Chinese people will, at some point in the
future, also be prepared to give up the idea of killing someone, regardless of
how heinous he or she is, even if it is in the name of justice. Yet, the
Chinese public first needs to be informed about the key reasons for the
abolition of the death penalty.
Firstly, it is traditionally thought to be an effective and necessary deterrent
against crime. But, so far, there has been no reliable scientific evidence that
proves it is more of a deterrent than other punishments such as life in prison
without parole.
Secondly, the death penalty leads to irreversible miscarriages of justice. For
the parents of Huugjilt, nothing can repair their broken hearts, including
hefty financial compensation for the wrongful execution of their son. Sadly,
such miscarriages are not rare in China.
Thirdly, any method of execution involves a great deal of suffering, whether
physical or psychological, that amounts to torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment - which is prohibited under international
law. The look of despair on Liu Han's face revealed his pain as he heard the
court's verdict.
In 2012, 111 countries voted for a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a
moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty. In 2013,
173 of the 193 UN member states did not execute anybody, signalling a growing
trend towards the abolition of capital punishment. Against this background,
China has no reason to lag behind in its efforts to build a rights-oriented
country.
(source: Dr Zhou Zunyou, head of the China section at Germany's Max Planck
Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, is the author of
Balancing Security and Liberty: Counter-Terrorism Legislation in Germany and
China----SOuth China Morning Post)
*********************
Sydney man waits on China trial decision
Sydney man Peter Gardner, who has been detained in China on suspicion of drug
smuggling for more than 3 months, is still awaiting a decision on whether his
case will go to trial.
New Zealand-born Gardner was arrested on November 8 in Guangzhou, where
authorities allege he tried to smuggle 40kg of methamphetamine out of China.
His travelling partner, Sydney woman Kalynda Davis, 22, was released in
December after a month in custody without charge.
But Gardner, a 25-year-old from Richmond in northwest Sydney, could face the
death penalty.
New Zealand human rights lawyer Craig Tuck has joined Gardner's defence team
and will travel to China soon to work with his client's Chinese legal counsel.
'Mr Gardner has had his file transferred from the police to the prosecutor's
office,' he said in a statement on Tuesday.
'He is detained in a cell while he awaits the decision about whether or not his
case will proceed to trial.
'He is grateful for the love and support of his family and friends in New
Zealand and Australia.'
The Gardner family has requested privacy and won't comment to the media while
the case proceeds.
When Ms Davis returned to Sydney, her father revealed she was cleared because
she had carry-on luggage only.
She had been shackled in a small cell during the 30-day interrogation, was
allowed no contact with the outside world and had her long, blonde hair
cropped.
(source: Sky News)
AUSTRALIA:
Vic legal profession opposes death penalty
Victoria's top judges will gather to oppose the death penalty as the execution
of 2 Bali 9 smugglers draws close.
The Law Institute of Victoria will hold a minute's silence on Wednesday morning
to support Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, 2 Australians facing the death
penalty in Indonesia.
Jim Peters QC, Victorian Bar Chairman, said the death penalty only brutalises
the community further.
'The death penalty is not an effective deterrent to crime,' Mr Peters said.
Law Institute president Katie Miller said the institute had a long history of
advocating against the death penalty around the world.
'The LIV's position is that the death penalty should be abolished in every
country and, even in this dark hour, we look forward to the day that this is
achieved,' Ms Miller said.
The minute's silence will be held outside the County Court in Melbourne at
8.30am.
(source: Sky News)
************************
Why I won't be boycotting Bali - or other countries with the death penalty
Julie Bishop has suggested Australians might boycott Bali to protest against
the death penalty. But are individual boycotts moral, or even effective?
Deciding where to go on holiday involves a deep subset of choices. Do we want
to rest or do we want adventure? Do we want wildlife and wilderness, or history
and culture? Is it a holiday we're after, or are we "travelling" in search of
some kind of self-discovery? Do we want to take a plane or a train? Hostels or
resorts?
Now Australians are being urged to consider 1 more factor: the death penalty.
As 2 Australian men, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, wait to see whether they
will be executed by firing squad over drug smuggling charges, Australia's
foreign minister Julie Bishop had this to say:
I think the Australian people will demonstrate their deep disapproval of this
action, including by making decisions about where they wish to holiday.
But Balinese people have already protested against any boycott, with hawkers
claiming it will hurt their business. That is always the choice with boycotts:
do we turn our travel decision into a political protest against the unjust
decisions of a government? Or could our boycott hurt the people by leaving them
isolated and exposed to the human rights violations we're protesting?
If we're being asked to boycott countries that support the death penalty, will
we be asked to boycott China? Or the US? If we want to get down to a
state-by-state basis, how about just boycotting Texas, which has executed 74
people since 2010? The hugely popular SXSW Interactive festival is being held
there next month. Should every prospective participant who disagrees with the
death penalty be morally obliged to boycott it?
Or if it's only countries that execute Australians we're interested in, how
about Singapore? Or as a reporter, should I boycott Turkey, which has more
journalists imprisoned than any other nation?
As a woman, should I boycott Iran for its treatment of women? When I was
planning a trip to Iran in 2011, many reasonable people made this claim to me.
Their arguments were sound. Some people believe that the tourist dollar is
implicit support for the government and its regime. Back in the 1990s when Aung
San Suu Kyi was under house arrest in Burma, she urged tourists to stay away
from the country to protest the military regime. After reading the letter,
travel journalist Jeff Greenwald wrote a column in the Washington Post
encouraging tourists to "vote with their wings" by staying away from Burma. He
later founded an NGO called Ethical Traveler.
I found myself wondering if Brits and Americans boycotting Australia as a
protest to successive government treatment of our Indigenous people would have
an effect on policy. And then I think of what the country would lose if that
actually happened.
National stereotypes are made and moulded abroad. They're a shortcut to
understanding and by their nature are hackneyed and generalised.
By visiting Australia, tourists from all over the world realise that not all
Australians are racist and not all our politicians are cut from the same cloth
as Sir Les Patterson (although in the current political climate the attempt to
rid ourselves of that particular stereotype is proving difficult).
Still the best way to discover the nuance in national cultures is to visit
those countries and interact with local people.
People travel for all kinds of reasons. Some just want a beach holiday in a
resort that serves food they already know where the beers are cheap and the
hospitality friendly. They really wouldn't leave home but these developing
countries are so much cheaper - with guaranteed sunshine.
But mostly when we travel we can't help but absorb some of the local culture
and return home with a deeper understanding of another way of life.
Greenwald himself now acknowledges the limits of travel boycotts, telling Radio
National that it is "very, very difficult to be effective" because boycotts
have to be widespread, and even then they're not always guaranteed to have an
economic or political impact.
And then I'm back to my trip to Iran where I learned so much about that
country's rich culture and history. Where I ate a raw onion like an apple after
a meal of kebab and rice to "balance" the meal. Where I listened to Haafez's
poetry recited in Persian and felt I understood what it meant. Where I was
apologised to every day for the burden of having to wear the hijab (mostly by
men). Where I was invited to stay in a stranger's home because I happened to be
sitting next to her on the bus. Where I cried in response to a stranger's
kindness and then had my visa renewal disapproved because a member of the
tourist police decided it wasn't safe for a young woman (I was 34) to travel
alone. Every culture contains deep contradictions.
How can we ever truly begin to understand each other if we don't go where we
fear, or we only travel to places that have policies we like? What a sad and
lonely world that would be.
(source: Gabrielle Jackson, The Guardian)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
Catholic Church seeks international support to oppose death penalty in PNG
The Catholic Church of Papua New Guinea has spoken out against the resumption
of the death penalty, with government plans to execute 13 death row inmates by
the end of the year.
The death penalty has not been used in PNG for more than 50 years, but the
National Executive Council has approved 3 modes of execution - lethal
injection, firing squad and hanging, although at the moment there is no
suitable infrastructure in place.
Now, both Indonesia and Thailand have stepped in with offers of financial
assistance and expertise.
Archbishop John Ribat says he knows the church's voice may not necessarily be
heard by the government but they have to try.
(source: Radio Australia)
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