Sept. 5
BANGLADESH:
Dandupalya gang's death penalty commuted to life
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday commuted death penalty to life
imprisonment to 4 Dandupalya gang members.
A division bench comprising Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice John Michael
Cunha passed an order commuting the death sentence issued to gang members
Venkatesh, Munikrishna, Nalla Thimma and Lakshmi.
The gang members were accused of murdering Sudhamani, a resident of
Moodalapalya in Vijayanagar and stealing valuables from her house in October
1999. While the case of theft was proved, the prosecution could not provide
evidence that it was the same gang which had murdered Sudhamani. Due to lack of
evidence in the murder case, the bench commuted the sentencing in the matter.
The notorious Dandupalya gang is involved in a series of thefts and murders.
(source: Deccan Herald)
SINGAPORE:
Activist investigated for illegal assembly after vigil for hanged Malaysian
An activist is being investigated by Singapore police over her participation in
a candlelight vigil outside Changi Prison for Malaysian S. Prabagaran, who was
hanged almost 2 months ago.
Anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han, who attended the vigil on July 13,
said that 2 police officers showed up at her house on Sunday and handed her a
letter saying that they are investigating an offence of "taking part in a
public assembly without a permit".
She said that the letter also summoned her and "some of the participants" to
present themselves for questioning.
Han said that the July 13 vigil for Prabagaran was to show support for the
family, who were present at the vigil, after they realised that Prabagaran's
execution would go ahead.
"There weren't that many people and there was no disturbance," Han told The
Star Online.
"We lit candles and put up his photo, but when the police came and told us to
take it down we complied," she said.
According to Han, the police showed up at the vigil 15 minutes after the
candles were lit.
Police confiscated the candles and photos, and filmed the people present at the
vigil.
"We were then told that we would be allowed to stay as long as we didn't light
any more candles, which we didn't," said Han.
Han said that she is aware of the "very restrictive laws" on public assembly in
Singapore.
"I'm not completely surprised that a peaceful candlelight vigil is now being
seen as an illegal assembly," she said.
However, Han said that the timing of the investigation is "a little odd"
considering that the vigil was held almost 2 months ago.
Han said that she would meet Singapore police on Thursday at 2pm for
questioning.
Singapore NGO Function 8 condemned the "police harassment" of anti-death
penalty activists who held the vigil.
"Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore guarantees the
right of citizens to freedom of speech, expression and assembly," said Function
8 in a statement on Monday.
"The act of issuing and having the police personally delivering letters which
require the said activists to appear at police stations to assist in
investigations, almost two months after the event, goes against the spirit of
our Constitution and is a waste of police resources," it said.
Function 8 urged the Singapore home affairs minister to rescind the action of
the police and cease the investigation.
Prabagaran was sentenced to hang for trying to smuggle a form of pure heroin
into Singapore in April 2012.
The Malaysian, who was working in a petrol station, was arrested at the
Woodlands checkpoint in April 2012 for possession of 22.24g of heroin, which
was found in a black bundle in the centre arm-rest console of the car he was
driving.
Prabagaran maintained his innocence, claiming that he borrowed the car from a
friend to enter Singapore that day and was not aware of the drugs in the car.
(source: thestar.com.my)
PAKISTAN:
Ignoring Mental Illness is Among Pakistan's Misplaced Priorities
On 21 October 2016, a 3-member bench of the highest court in Pakistan, headed
by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, ruled that schizophrenia was not a mental
illness and won't disqualify one from being sent to the gallows. This was
ostensibly done to ensure that Imdad Ali, a schizophrenic man, would be hanged
for the 2001 murder of a cleric.
Imdad will be victim number 426 in Pakistan's merciless hanging spree, that
began after the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty, following the
Peshawar attacks in December 2014. In the wake of these attacks, 3 branches of
governments, spearheaded by a 4th military branch, devised a 'National Action
Plan', the salient points being the establishment of military courts and the
reinstatement of capital punishment.
Denying Rights to the Disabled and Mentally Ill
The political efficacy of such measures and their role in deterring terrorism
is a topic for another time, but one thing is certain - by implementing such a
draconian order, the Pakistani government, courts and military establishment
have grossly violated the rights of the disabled and the mentally ill.
As human rights lawyer Saroop Ijaz describes it: in its "populist pandering",
the state has violated the United Nations disability rights treaty that
Pakistan ratified in 2011. Imdad is the latest in a series of such victims.
Another such example is that of Kaneezan Bibi, who was convicted for a murder
in Toba Tek Singh in 1991. Despite the existence of compelling evidence to
suggest that she suffers from psychosocial disabilities, President Mamnoon
Hussain rejected her mercy plea - making her the 9th woman to be hanged in
Pakistan's history.
Khizar Hayat, a paranoid schizophrenic who spent 3 years in the prison
hospital, wasn't spared either.
Mental Illness Ignored in Pakistan
In Pakistan, conservative estimates say that 13 percent of the population is
afflicted with mental health problems. Given these figures, the WHO reports
that:
0nly 400 psychiatrists and 5 psychiatric hospitals exist across the entire
country for a population exceeding 180 million. Roughly translating to an
alarming psychiatrist-to-person ratio of 1 to half a million people.
PTSD, depression, anxiety and schizophrenia are generally written off as
trivial matters by most members of society in Pakistan. Patients are treated as
having been "erroneously diagnosed" as Arif Mahmood at Dawn contends.
To make matters worse, some are diagnosed as being under the influence of
supernatural powers or worse, black magic. They are then sent to spiritual
healers and hakeems. or asked to renew their faith in god.
This discrimination, coupled with petty and blinkered social attitudes and the
lack of resources and government attention, creates an environment where mental
health patients are relegated to Sufi shrines or ill-equipped institutions.
Disarray in National Priorities
The psychological exploitation of young boys at the hands of innumerable
Lashkars, Sippahs and Jaish-like groups is evident. But this cannot be solved
by secularising the education system, as the liberals demand. Counselling
services should be increased manifold before anyone can cry foul about Western
media biases and play the victim card.
In November 2016, Imran Khan's Movement for Justice Party "shut down"
Islamabad, bringing hospitals, schools, offices and courts to a standstill.
Mere miles away in the wee hours of the same day, Imdad Ali is unaware of his
own reality. There is no better allegory for a disarray of national priorities.
(source: Zarnaab Adil Janjua; The writer is a student of PublicPolicy at the
Wagner School at New York University----thequint.com)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
