Dec. 13
BELARUS:
Minsk hosts international conference on death penalty
An international conference, Abolition of Death Penalty and Public Opinion, is
underway in Minsk on 13 December.
Speaking at the event, Belarus' Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Evgeny
Shestakov noted that the entry list of the conference participants gives hope
for a constructive and effective discussion of this sensitive issue.
"We are interested in other countries' experience and approaches to the matter
of the death penalty as well as the expertise accumulated in international
organizations. We are always open to dialogue and opinion exchange with foreign
partners," said Evgeny Shestakov.
In turn, Director of the Council of Europe's Political Affairs Directorate
Alexander Gessel noted that the parties have recently established active
cooperation. He stressed that, thanks to the position of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and the Belarusian authorities in general, there is an
information point of the Council of Europe in the country. This is an
opportunity to work together and develop cooperation in various areas, he
added.
The conference on the abolition of the death penalty and public opinion has
been organized by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Belarus. The conference participants will discuss the
formation of the public opinion in respect to the death penalty. Reports will
be presented by representatives of the Council of Europe, the United Nations,
and also international and national experts.
(source: belta.by)
TURKEY:
Istanbul teacher makes students pose with nooses, shares post on social media
An elementary school teacher working in Istanbul's Basaksehir district posed
with his students holding nooses and shared the picture on his social media
account saying they "want justice," shortly after the Dec. 10 terror attack in
Besiktas, news website T24 has reported.
The teacher, identified as Aydin Erekmen, later deleted the picture he shared
on Facebook and also de-activated his account after drawing angry reactions.
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Izmir deputy Tuncay Ozkan drew
attention to Erekmen's post on his Twitter account, urging the authorities to
take action and vowing that he too would file a criminal complaint against
Erekmen.
"Action should be taken against whoever this person is, who made a show with
death by using children for his dirty political purposes," said Ozkan, calling
on the families of the children to also sue the teacher.
Fellow CHP Izmir deputy, Murat Bakan, has submitted a parliamentary inquiry to
Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz over the incident, asking whether any
investigation has been opened against Erekmen and, if not, what kind of
punitive action will be taken against him.
Bakan also said that allowing individuals like Erekmen to teach children was
itself akin to "homicide."
(source: Hurriyet Daily News)
GAZA----female sentenced to death
Silence, concern surround Gaza woman's death sentence
Her death sentence, the 1st for a Palestinian woman in more than 20 years, has
raised concerns among rights activists in the Gaza Strip, the small enclave run
by Islamist movement Hamas.
They are trying to prevent her death by hanging, while navigating traditional
values and Hamas's strict rule in the territory, hit by three wars with Israel
since 2008 and under an Israeli blockade for a decade.
A wall of silence has also surrounded the case.
The family of the woman, identified only as Nahla A., declined to provide her
with a lawyer, said Zeinab Al-Ghounimi of the Centre for Women's Legal Research
and Consulting.
"They were afraid of revenge from the husband's family," she said, explaining
that her organisation had stepped in and helped.
Her lawyer, Bakr Torkmani, said the woman is the mother of a young boy and had
been married against her will.
She lived in complete destitution and was repeatedly beaten by her husband, he
said.
He hopes "public opinion and media reports will have an impact on the judges
after the haste they showed in handing out this death sentence."
Stabbed in the back?
The woman was arrested on January 31, and Gaza's attorney general Ismail Jaber
has provided an outline of what is alleged to have happened.
Several days before her arrest, she had asked her husband out for some fresh
air near their small home in a poor district of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza
Strip, he said.
They travelled a short distance by donkey cart before her husband "wanted to
relieve himself," Jaber told AFP in his spacious office cluttered with files.
She is then accused of pulling out the knife she bought several days earlier
and "stabbing him in the back several times," he said.
Authorities say she confessed and that other testimony showed that the killing
was premeditated.
She was convicted then sentenced on October 5 after a trial held behind closed
doors.
"Once all procedural steps have been completed, we will sign off on the
implementation of the sentence," Jaber said.
She is the first woman to be sentenced to death in the Palestinian territories
since 1994, said Hamdi Shaqura of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
"There is still the possibility of an appeal and we are placing our hopes in
future rulings," he said.
Nahla's case has also highlighted rights groups' concerns over the continued
use of the death penalty in the Palestinian territories -- and especially
recent developments in the Gaza Strip.
In May, Jaber announced that a number of death sentences would soon be carried
out in criminal cases.
Later that month, 3 Palestinian men were executed for murder in the strip,
drawing condemnation from the UN.
Jaber said at the time that the executions were carried out as a deterrence and
to reduce crime.
Rights activists say there is a lack of transparency surrounding such cases and
point out there is no evidence the death penalty is more effective in deterring
crime than prison.
- Son's visit refused -
Under Palestinian law, death sentences can be handed out for those
collaborating with Israel, murderers and drug traffickers.
But there are stark differences between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West
Bank, the territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated
by president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party.
No execution has been carried out in the West Bank since 2002, while only 2
were carried out there between 1994 and 2002.
In Gaza, 33 people have been executed since 1994.
Since Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, 96 death penalties have been
handed out, mostly by military courts and often for spying on behalf of Israel,
said Shaqura.
21 death sentences have been handed out in Gaza in 2016 alone.
Gaza's attorney general says the sentences are necessary due to "pressure by
victims' families" and the need to avoid revenge attacks.
"The aim is not to increase criminality," he said. "What we want is to reduce
it and eliminate it."
He added that "Palestinian law does not make a distinction between criminals
according to their sex."
Nahla meanwhile remains behind bars at a jail in Gaza City, where the
territory's only women's prison unit is located.
She would like to be able to see her son, but "her husband's family refuses,"
her lawyer said.
source: dailymaverick.co.za)
PHILIPPINES:
Lagman: House lacks numbers to restore death penalty----But Speaker Pantaleon
Alvarez tells the public to wait when congressmen finally vote on the death
penalty bill during plenary, saying, 'I'll take care of it'
Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman believes the House leadership
has not yet secured enough support for the bill that would reinstate capital
punishment for heinous crimes in the country.
Lagman made the statement on Tuesday, December 13, after Majority Leader
Rodolfo Farinas said most of the supermajority lawmakers would vote in favor of
House Bill (HB) Number 1.
Farinas said that during last week's supermajority caucus, 50 of the
congressmen who attended are pro-death penalty while only 15 are strongly
against it. 35 remain undecided.
There are 267 lawmakers belonging to the supermajority, which means there are
still 167 legislators unaccounted for.
"On percentage, I don't know where he got [those] percentages, but we have
reports from those who attended the caucus that those who were opposed and
those undecided were more than those who said they were for the reimposition,"
said Lagman in a press conference of the independent minority bloc called the
"Magnificent 7."
But Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, one of the co-authors of HB Number 1, insisted
that the measure would be passed on 3rd and final reading.
"Here in Congress, I think we can muster the majority ... Let's just wait when
we vote on it. I'll take care of it.
Alvarez initially wanted to have the bill approved by December, but agreed to
extend debates on the death penalty to January 2017.
Lagman previously accused the House leadership of "railroading" the passage of
HB Number 1 into law, a claim Alvarez denied.
HB Number 1 has been met with strong opposition from various groups, lawmakers,
and the Catholic Church, who all say the death penalty is not a true deterrent
to crime.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop
Socrates Villegas have both denounced the proposed return of the capital
punishment.
Increasing numbers for anti-death penalty vote?
During the press conference, Akbayan Representative Tom Villarin said he
believes that the number of congressmen against the death penalty would
increase in the coming weeks.
"Definitely, many congressmen are pushing for a conscience vote. The main
consensus is dapat this is (this should be) a conscience vote," said Villarin.
"We are gaining ground and hopefully, by the next few weeks, even after
Christmas, puwedeng mag-gather itong mga anti-death penalty (we can possibly
gather those who are anti-death penalty). We are fighting for this to win,
meaning to win against the reimposition of the death penalty," he added.
Lagman also welcomed the position of Pampanga 2nd District Representative
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to continue opposing the death penalty despite being a
member of the supermajority. It was under Arroyo's term as president when
capital punishment was abolished in 2006.
"We welcome the position of the former president that she is steadfast in the
crusade against the death penalty... We are banking on [the fact] that all
those under her party will also vote against the death penalty reimposition,"
said Lagman, referring to Arroyo's Lakas-CMD party.
(source: rappler.com)
************
1,500 Catholics march in Bacolod City vs death penalty billM
At least 1,500 parishioners and students joined a prayer rally on Monday
afternoon to protest the plan to reimpose the death penalty.
The group converged at the Bacolod Public Plaza about 5 p.m. and walked in a
procession to the San Sebastian Cathedral.
Fr. Felix Pasquin, rector of the San Sebastian Cathedral, the seat of the
Bacolod diocese, said the prayer rally kicked off the diocesan-wide education
campaign against the reimposition of the death penalty.
Last week, the House committee on justice approved for plenary deliberation a
bill that sought to impose death penalty for more than 20 heinous offenses,
including drug offenses, rape with homicide, kidnapping for ransom, and arson
with death.
Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon called for prayers against the passage of the
death penalty and for lawmakers to vote against the measure.
"We, in the Diocese of the Bacolod, are joining the urgent initiative of many
dioceses in the country to oppose the railroading of the passage of the death
penalty bill," he said
Buzon officiated a concelebrated Mass after the procession to commemorate the
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Monday.
The San Sebastian Cathedral has for the past years served as a symbol for the
diocese's continued effort to educate the faithful regarding the teachings of
the Catholic Church on various issues.
The Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the pro-life movements, according
to Pasquin.
(source: newsinfo.inquirer.net)
******************
Halt Plans To Reinstate The Death Penalty (Philippines: UA 282/16)
Urgent Action
December 12, 2016
The House of Representatives and Senate of the Philippines will consider and
vote on draft legislation to reintroduce the death penalty from as early as 13
December. If adopted, the draft law would allow for the imposition of the death
penalty for a wide range of crimes, against international law obligations on
this issue.
On 7 December the Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives of the
Philippines adopted draft legislation to reintroduce the death penalty, paving
the way for its consideration by the House of Representatives and Senate. The
government had pledged to make the House of Representatives adopt the draft law
before the end of 2016. If adopted, the law would allow for the use of the
death penalty for a several crimes ranging from murder to drug-related offences
and aggravated circumstances of kidnapping, among others.
The Philippines, which fully abolished the death penalty for the 2nd time in
2006, has ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, an international treaty which categorically
prohibits executions and commits the country to the abolition of this
punishment. The adoption of legislation to reintroduce this punishment in
national law would violate the Philippines' obligations under this treaty and
put into question how the authorities value the country's international
commitments.
At a time when more and more countries have been abolishing this punishment, a
move to reintroduce the death penalty would set the Philippines starkly against
the global trend towards its abolition. It would additionally undermine the
country's strong track record of assisting and advocating for the commutation
of the death sentences imposed on Filipino nationals abroad, such as overseas
workers.
TAKE ACTION
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
-- Asking the authorities of the Philippines to fully oppose the adoption of
draft legislation to reintroduce the death penalty in the country;
-- Reminding them that the Philippines has undertaken international law
commitments to the abolition of the death penalty and that the move would
undermine positive efforts to support Filipinos overseas workers facing the
death penalty abroad;
-- Highlighting that there is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique
deterrent effect and more and more countries have been abolishing the death
penalty.
Contact these 2 officials by 23 January, 2017:
Speaker of the House
Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez
House of Representatives
Rm. S-217-218
Constitution Hills 1126
Quezon City, Philippines
Fax: (632) 9316277
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @speakeralvarez
Salutation: Dear Mr. Speaker
--
Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr.
Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines
1600 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036
Fax: 1 202 467 9417 I Phone: 1 202 467 9366
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
(source: Amnesty International USA)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Brother of Serial Killer Victim Requests to Have Sister, Niece Exhumed From
Pauper's Grave in London to Be Buried With Him in Jewish Cemetery
An elderly Briton is asking to have the bodies of his sister and baby niece -
both murdered by a notorious serial killer 67 years ago - exhumed from a
Catholic graveyard in Chelsea, so that he can be buried next to them in a
Jewish cemetery, the Daily Mail reported on Sunday.
According to the report, Peter Mylton-Thorley, 82, wants permission from the
Archbishop of Westminster to exhume Beryl Evans and her daughter, Geraldine,
who were killed by John Christie, the subject of Richard Fleischer's 1971 film,
"10 Rillington Place," starring Richard Attenborough and John Hurt.
Mylton-Thorley explained his quest - which began in 2003, when he and his wife
discovered the location of his sister's and niece's shared pauper's grave at
the Gunnersbury Cemetery - by telling the Sunday Mirror, "I haven't got long
left. All I want is to be buried with my sister. It would be wonderful to have
that closure." He also said his sister was Jewish and therefore the current
grave is unsuitable.
John Christie, a special constable during WWII, whose case has been brought
back into the public eye as a result of a new 3-part BBC series about the
killer, who murdered at least 8 women between 1943 and 1953 at his home at 10
Rillington Place in west London.
Mylton-Thorley's sister - who was pregnant at the time of her murder - had
lived at that address with her husband and daughter. Mylton-Thorley, a teenager
at the time, said he came to know Christie in this context.
"If Beryl wasn't in I would wait for her. Christie would invite me in and sit
playing cards. [His wife] Ethel [whom he later strangled and buried beneath the
floorboards] would give me a cup of tea and a sticky bun," he recounted.
The case was widely reported not only because of the brutal slayings, committed
by the seemingly respectable man, but because Timothy Evans - Beryl's husband
and Geraldine's father - was convicted of the crime and hanged in 1950. When
the truth later emerged, his conviction was ruled a miscarriage of justice.
Evans' wrongful death sentence contributed to the abolition of the death
penalty in the UK 15 years later. Christie, who eventually confessed to his
crimes, was executed in July 1953.
According to Mylton-Thorley, if the Archbishop of Westminster grants his
request, it will not be the 1st time that his sister's body will have been
removed from the grave it shares with her daughter. "Beryl is on the top
because the police exhumed her twice before," he said.
According to the Daily Mail, Mylton-Thorley was invited by the BBC to watch the
drama before it aired, and after viewing it, he said he was grateful it did not
show the moment Beryl died.
(source: algemeiner.com)
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