July 12
BANGLADESH:
BDR carnage case appeals verdict date likely to be fixed by September
With the majority of the hearings complete, the High Court is likely to fix by
September a date to deliver verdict in the BDR carnage case, the biggest ever
criminal case in Bangladesh's history in terms of the number of accused and
convicts.
Before going on a 2-week annual vacation on Friday, the 3-member special HC
bench sat for 89 working days since starting to hear the death reference and
255 appeals from January 18.
The state counsels have so far presented the first information report, charge
sheet, confessional statements of the 538 convicts, and statements on the
seizure list and of the 654 prosecution witnesses.
On reopening, the HC will start hearing on the 29 defence witnesses' statements
on July 26, Deputy Attorney General AKM Zahid Sarwar Kazal told The Daily Star
on Friday.
Then the lower court judge's findings and arguments of the defence and
prosecution will be heard, he said.
There will be 40 working days from July 26 to September 17 before the court
goes a 44-day annual vacation.
"We hope the hearings will be finished in the 40 working days and then the
court will fix a date," he said.
The bench comprises Justice Md Shawkat Hossain, Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique
and Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder.
A Dhaka court on November 5, 2013 awarded death penalty to 150 soldiers of the
erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and 2 civilians, and sentenced 161 others to
life imprisonment for their roles and involvement in the carnage.
It also handed down rigorous imprisonment, ranging from 3 to 10 years, to 256
people, mostly BDR soldiers. The court acquitted the remaining 277 accused. A
total of 846 people, 823 of them BDR personnel, were on trial.
74 people, including 57 army officials, were slain in the BDR mutiny on
February 25-26 in 2009 at the Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka. The paramilitary
force was later renamed Border Guard Bangladesh.
(source: Daily Star)
PHILIPPINES/INDONESIA:
CBCP to ask Widodo to save Veloso's life
An official of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on
Saturday said Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas will ask Indonesian
President Joko Widodo to spare Mary Jane Veloso's life.
Fr. Resty Ogsimer, executive secretary of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on
Migrants and Itinerant People (CBCP-ECMIP), told Radyo Veritas that Villegas,
who is the CBCP President, and ECMIP chairman Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos
will write to Widodo on Saturday.
"Basically the task force against death penalty of Mary Jane Veloso, the
president of CBCP and the chairman of the commission, Bishop Santos, will write
a letter to Indonesian President Widodo to bolster our appeal," Ogsimer said in
Filipino.
He added that it would be better for different sectors to send a letter to give
more weight to the appeal.
He said the organization is optimistic that Veloso, who is convicted of drug
trafficking after being caught in possession of 2.6 kilograms of heroin, will
be spared by the Indonesian government even after Ramadan ends next week.
They believe Veloso is a victim of human trafficking.
The priest revealed that the CBCP-ECMIP held a meeting with Justice Secretary
Leila de Lima to discuss the status of Veloso's case.
Ogsimer said he is banking on the promise of the Indonesian ambassador that
Veloso will remain on a temporary reprieve until the Philippine court decides
on the case of her alleged recruiter Ma. Cristina Sergio.
Sergio is being accused of duping Veloso into becoming a drug courier and
scamming other people. Recently, the Department of Justice found probable cause
to charge Sergio and her partner Julius Lacanlilao with illegal recruitment and
estafa.
(source: Philippine Inquirer)
*********************
Mary Jane a powerful argument vs death penalty revival - Romulo
The large number of Filipinos facing the death penalty overseas provides a
powerful argument against the revival of capital punishment here at home, Pasig
City Rep. Roman Romulo said in a news release Sunday.
"There's no question our abolition of the death penalty has given us greater
leverage to appeal to foreign governments on humanitarian grounds for the lives
of our own citizens who are facing execution abroad," Romulo said.
"We now have the moral high ground. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult
for us to beg for mercy if we ourselves are putting our convicts here to death
- if we ourselves have little or no regard for the sanctity of human life,"
Romulo said.
Romulo's remarks came shortly after a group of Filipino migrants expressed
fears that Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino on death row in Indonesia, may be
executed soon after the end of Ramadan, following a 10-week reprieve.
The Indonesian government is expected to release after July 17 a new list of
convicts set to be executed by firing squad, and it may include Veloso,
according to Migrante International.
But Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it was still verifying the report
with Indonesian authorities.
"We have millions of citizens working or travelling abroad. Many of them are in
countries that still carry out executions. These Filipinos may be vulnerable
when they get into trouble with the law in their host countries," Romulo
warned.
Romulo said 57 countries around the world still subscribe to capital
punishment, and many of them are actively putting convicts to death.
Besides Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, China, the United States, Kuwait,
and Thailand, he said the other countries still performing executions and
hosting many Filipino citizens include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain,
Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore, among others.
"The problem with the death penalty is that once the convict is killed, there's
absolutely no room for correction. We can't resurrect a dead prisoner, even if
somebody else later confesses to having committed the crime for which the
convict had been condemned," Romulo said.
Veloso, 31, was supposed to be executed on April 29, 2015, but obtained a
last-minute reprieve after the Philippines asked Indonesia that she be allowed
to provide testimonial evidence against her alleged human trafficker, Maria
Kristina Sergio and her live-in partner Julius Lacanilao.
The Philippine government has since scrambled to build a strong case showing
that Veloso was a mere victim of human trafficking, and that she had been
exploited by a West African drug syndicate to smuggle 2.6 kilos of heroin into
Jakarta.
Philippine authorities hope to persuade their Indonesian counterparts to reopen
Veloso's case and further suspend her execution by firing squad.
Besides Veloso, at least 88 other Filipinos are known to be on death row abroad
-- in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, China, the US, Kuwait, and Thailand.
Of the 88, the DFA said 41 were convicted of drug offenses while the rest were
condemned for murder.
Congress reinstated the death penalty for 13 heinous crimes in 1993, only to
get rid of it in 2006 due to mounting flaws.
That year, then Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban belatedly admitted that a
"judicial error" had caused the wrongful execution of incestuous rape convict
Leo Echegaray in 1999.
Panganiban said it was proven during trial that Echegaray was not "a father,
stepfather, or grandfather" of the victim, and that while the house painter may
have been "a common-law spouse of the mother of the victim," this circumstance
was never alleged in the complaint.
The law at that time imposed the death penalty on ???rape committed when the
victim is under 18 years of age and the offender is a parent, ascendant,
step-parent, guardian, relative by consanguinity or affinity within the 3rd
civil degree, or the common-law-spouse of the parent of the victim."
(source: interaksyon.com)
IRAN:
After 5 months Iran regime admits to execution of Kurdish political prisoners
The Iranian regime has admitted that it had executed 2 Kurdish political
prisoners nearly 5 months ago in a prison in the western city of Orumieh.
Authorities in the city's Central Prison told the dissidents' relatives that
they had been hanged on February 19, 2015 and ordered them to pay for the cost
of the execution.
The 2 Kurdish brothers Ali and Habib Afshari, were hanged along with 4 other
prisoners. At the time, the authorities threatened their families not to follow
up on their loved ones' whereabouts.
The Afshari brothers, from the city of Mahabad, were arrested in early 2011
along with 2 other brothers, Jaafar and Vali, and were tortured for months and
were sentenced to death in the clerical regime's sham courts under the
fabricated charge of "Moharebeh" (waging war against God).
Ali Afshari, who was shot and injured during his arrest by the suppressive
forces, was in critical condition due to an infection of his wound, but the
henchmen refused to provide him with minimum medical treatment.
In a statement published on February 20, 2015 the National Council of
Resistance of Iran (NCRI) condemned the execution of the Afshari brothers and
other political prisoners and offered its condolences to their families.
(source: NCR-Iran)
INDIA:
Varun supports life time of imprisonment
Does the death sentence, executed in 20 seconds and which frees a convict from
any burden of crime he has committed, act as a greater deterrent than a life
time in jail without any hope of ever coming out on parole or bail.
This question was posed by BJP Lok Sabha member Varun Gandhi while opposing the
death penalty at a day-long consultation on capital punishment with experts
organised by the Law Commission of India.
"It is the certainty of punishment and not its severity that acts as an
effective deterrent," Gandhi said.
Addressing the question of punishment and deterrence, he asked: "The question
is whether somewhat quick, swift, somewhat painless death is a greater
punishment than a life time of imprisonment without the possibility of parole
or bail."
"To my mind, a life time of incarceration without any hope of release is living
death much more severe than a 20-second release which actually morally frees an
individual from any burden they may carry," he said.
Former Punjab Police chief Julio Ribeiro and former Jammu and Kashmir chief
secretary and the first chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah --
who have first hand experience of dealing with terrorism -- also opposed the
death penalty, even to terrorists accused of targeting innocent people.
"If the death penalty had sent shivers down the spines of possible offenders, I
would have been tempted to support its retention. But that is not so," Ribeiro
said.
He said there was "widespread public support for the death sentence for
convicted terrorists" but it was "often forgotten that those who actually
execute terrorist killings are mainly drawn from the dispossessed and poorer
sections of that particular community" whereas "masterminds roam freely in
climes hospitable to them".
Habibullah asked: "Are we going to be a part of the world moving ahead (with
the abolition of death penalty) or are we going to be retrograde?"
While counsel T.R. Andhyarujina favoured the abolition of the death penalty,
saying it did not act as a deterrent and was cruel, Supreme Court Bar
Association president Dushyant Dave, on the other hand, favoured its retention
citing the peculiar conditions and terror threat to the country.
Another apex court lawyer, Sanjay Hegde, said that in the event of awarding the
death sentence, the court should look for alternatives.
"Death penalty has to be looked in its totality. There may be a case when
keeping alive a convict is too dangerous for the society. It is in such cases
the alternate options (to death sentence) closes," Hegde said.
Law Commission chairman Justice A.P. Shah said that in the past the panel
opined retaining the death penalty but now the situation has changed with a
very large number of countries having abolished the death sentence.
He said that in the prevailing scenario, the question of retaining or
abolishing the death sentence needs to be relooked.
Former CBI director D.K. Karthikeyan, who had headed the team that probed the
Rajiv Gandhi assassination, cautioned against abolishing the death penalty as
the majority of people were not prepared for it, and they needed to be made
aware before embarking on such a course.
(source: thestatesman.com)
*********************
Mixed response on abolition of death penalty in India
A discussion on a law commission consultation paper on whether capital
punishment should be retained or abolished on Saturday evoked a mixed response.
While former President APJ Abdul Kalam, DMK leader Kanimozhi and former West
Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, supported the abolition of death penalty,
several others, including SC bar association's Dushyant Dave favoured retaining
the capital punishment.
The law commission on Saturday organized a day-long consultation on the issue
of abolition of death penalty in India, which was part of its over year-long
process to garner views and suggestion before submitting its report to the
Supreme Court.
Several of those who responded to the consultation paper, brought out by law
commission last year, and experts who participated in today's consultation
sought a more unambiguous definition of 'rarest of rare' case where death
penalty can be handed down by the courts.
In his inaugural address, Gopalkrishna Gandhi while opposing death penalty said
ending life of a person was a "perk" available to a State.
He said the State should investigate crime and not use "shortcuts" like
execution for "gratification".
"A man hanged cannot look back and say, oh I have been hanged," he said,
supporting abolition of death penalty.
Justice (retd) Bilal Nazki said the principle of 'rarest of the rare' case was
being applied arbitrarily in certain cases because people, including judges,
carry "baggage".
He lamented that those being elevated to higher courts do not get education to
deal with sensitive subjects.
Justice Nazki also blamed "media interference" which weighs on the minds of the
judges.
(source: The Times of India)
************************
Death penalty is privilege of poor, says Law Commission head
Noting that poor and downtrodden usually go to the gallows, Chairman of the Law
Commission of India Justice A P Shah has said there was a "serious" need to
re-examine the death penalty in the country.
"It is usually the poor and downtrodden who are subject to death penalty.
Death penalty is the privilege of the poor. "There are inconsistencies in the
system and there is a need for an alternative model to sentencing crimes and a
serious need to re-examine the death penalty in India," Justice Shah, a former
Delhi High Court Judge, said.
Justice Shah was speaking at a lecture on 'Universal Abolition of Death
Penalty: A Human Rights Imperative', by Professor Roger Hood of University of
Oxford. The event was organised by Law Commission of India in association with
O P Jindal Global University (OPJGU) and National Law University.
Speaking on the occasion, Professor C Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor of OPJGU,
said, "The most significant aspect of death penalty is its irreversibility.
India's penal and criminal jurisprudence calls for inquiry and reflection in
the morality and effectiveness of death penalty and needs to move towards
ultimate abolishment."
Expressing his views, Professor Hood pointed out that only 2 executions have
been carried out by India since 2004, both for terrorist attack --- that of
Ajmal Kasab in 2012 and Afzal Guru in 2013.
"In both the cases, the executive was criticised for carrying out the
executions on secrecy and failing to ensure that due regard was accorded to
human dignity," he said and questioned if it was justifiable to retain death
penalty for such crimes.
(source: oneindia.com)
*********************
MPs, leaders seek repeal of capital punishment
Cutting across the party lines, the members of Parliament (MPs) and political
leaders on Saturday favoured the abolition of death penalty from the country's
statute and sought the Law Commission to submit a report suggesting for repeal
of the capital punishment.
As per last 15 years' data, prepared by the National Law University, a total
number of 1,617 death penalties have been awarded by the trial courts, but only
three executions. Among the states, Uttar Pradesh tops the list, awarding death
penalty in 79 cases, followed by Delhi with 30 cases.
Participating in a day-long consultation, organised by the apex law panel on
the issue, Congress leaders Manish Tiwari and Shashi Tharoor, BJP's Varun
Gandhi, CPM's Vrinda Karat and DMK's Kanimozhi supported the move to revisit
the commission's previous report suggesting for retention of the penal
provision.
In his inaugural address, former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi,
grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, voiced in support of repeal and said, "death
penalty is judicial murder and no responsible state would adopt judicial murder
in retaliation. The judicial architects must not allow the political folly to
disfigure its architectural landscape."
"Death penalty should go. State is to protect the life of people, not to take
it away in retaliation," he said terming the capital punishment as 'most
obnoxious fruit'.
Concurring with him, Varun Gandhi said the deterrent punishment is
counter-productive politically as well as socially as the guilty becomes a
martyr and gets sympathy from various quarters. "They were portrayed as heros
or poster boys," the BJP MP said and suggested life imprisonment as an
alternative measure.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also supported his view and opposed the capital
punishment in the light of changing laws across the globe.
Former union minister Manish Tiwari, however, opined that most of the cases are
socially and economically biased and the entire criminal justice system needed
to be reviewed.
Blaming the political leaders for not debating the issue, CPM leader Vrinda
Karat said "large number of parliamentarians do not want to abolish death
penalty. We need to open a political discussion."
Further, she raised the issue that in crime against women cases, the conviction
is low. "Due to political pressure, the investigating agencies protect the
culprits and the need of the time is political intervention," she said.
AAP leader Ashish Khaitan said the probe agency sometime comes under the public
pressure and book persons who had rare link to the crime. He cited the cases of
Narodapatia in Godhra train incident.
Some eminent lawyers including noted criminal lawyer Majid Memon also spoke
against the death penalty except Supreme Court Bar Association president
Dushyant Dave, who demanded retention of the punishment in the light of terror
threats to the country.
(source: DNA India)
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