March 30
ZIMBABWE:
Veritas calls for abolition of death penalty
Legislative watchdog, Veritas, has called for the enactment of a legislation to
abolish the death penalty, adding it was not only cruel, but futile for the
courts to continue sending people to the gallows.
The calls follow a recent Presidential clemency order that commuted the death
sentence for jailed prisoners to life imprisonment, meaning inmates sentenced
to death before March 10, 2008 no longer face execution.
They will serve life imprisonment instead.
Veritas welcomed the clemency order as a step towards abolishing the death
penalty, before calling for legislation scrapping provisions for a death
sentence.
"The Clemency Order is welcome step, albeit a small one, towards abolition of
the death penalty. No executions have been carried out in Zimbabwe since 2005,
so there is an effective moratorium on the death penalty which is likely to
continue for as long as the President, known to favour abolition, remains in
office," Veritas argued.
"In view of this, it seems not only cruel, but futile for the courts to
continue sentencing people to death. Section 48 of the Constitution allows a
law to provide for the death penalty, it does not say the law must do so.
"Hence abolition would not entail amending the Constitution, just a simple Act
of Parliament removing references to the death penalty from the Criminal Law
Code and the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. Veritas has written to His
Excellency the President, asking him to enact legislation abolishing the death
penalty."
The country last carried out execution in 2005 before the last hangman retired.
It is not clear when a hangman, following the invitation for applications and
subsequent overwhelming interest in the job, will be hired.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been against capital punishment after having
escaped the hangman's noose during Zimbabwe's liberation war, though his
predecessor Robert Mugabe favoured lifting the moratorium on executions,
arguing he was shocked by the number of murders in the country.
(source: newsday.co.zw)
THAILAND:
Krabi 6 moved to bigger prison
The 6 people sentenced to death on Wednesday for the grisly murder of eight
family members, including a 2-year-old girl, in Krabi's Ao Luk district on July
10 last year, were Thursday transferred to Nakhon Si Thammarat central prison.
The 6 facing capital punishment for premeditated murder are Surikfat
Bannopwongsakul, 41; Khomsan Wiangnon; Abdullo Dolo, 30; Arun Thongkham, 29;
Prachak Bunthoi, 36; and Thanachai Chamnong, 41, according to the ruling by the
Krabi Provincial Court.
2 other defendants were given jail sentences for their involvement in the case.
The 6 were taken from the Krabi provincial prison at 5am and arrived at tthe
central prison of neighbouring Nakhon Si Thammarat at 7am, which left a number
of Surikfat's relatives who turned up at Krabi's prison yesterday morning
disappointed to learn that he had already been taken to Nakhon Si Thammarat,
said a source in Krabi.
Surikfat appeared tense when he arrived in Nakhon Si Thammarat and was led,
along with the other 5 convicts, into maximum security Zone 6 of the prison,
said a source in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The 6 will be detained at this prison temporarily until an appeal is submitted
on their behalf against the court's ruling, adding they had to be moved from
Krabi's prison because that prison is authorised to detain only convicts
serving a sentence of no more than 15 years.
On July 10, the 6 defendants, dressed in camouflage outfits, broke into the
victims' home. The family members were detained and locked in separate rooms.
The assailants then forced Worayut Sanglang, head of the household, to sign
over ownership of 1 of his cars to the gang and pay them some cash, according
to the ruling.
When he refused the invaders began shooting the victims. Worayut was the last
person to be killed.
(source: Bangkok Post)
PAKISTAN:
Al-Qaeda terrorist sentenced to death for double murder
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) awarded on Thursday the death sentence to an
Al-Qaeda militant for murdering a garment factory manager and his driver in
Nazimabad 3 years ago.
Muhammad Hashim was handed down the capital punishment for killing garment
factory manager Karim Hashwani and his driver in February 2015. The court also
sentenced the convict to 14 years' imprisonment for possessing illegal arms and
attempting a murder. He was also slapped with fines totalling Rs310,000.
Police said that during the interrogation, Hashim had admitted to killing 9
people, including police officials in Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan, Baghdadi and
Ferozabad. The police further claimed Hashim was a member of the Abdullah Omar
Khorasani group of Al-Qaeda and had come to Karachi from the Charsadda city on
the directives of a man, named Ikram, who had told him to kill Hashwani.
Rangers and police officials also revealed that the network of the Al Qaeda
target killer had been involved in the killing of police officials in different
parts of Karachi. It was said that convict had received his training from
Charsadda and had participated in the Afghan war.
(source: thenews.com.pk)
VATICAN CITY:
Pope, in Holy Thursday prison visit, says death penalty not Christian
Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 prison inmates, including 2
Muslims and a Buddhist, in a Holy Thursday ritual and said the death penalty
should be abolished because it is neither Christian nor humane.
For the 6th year running, the pope held the ritual in an institution rather
than in the splendours of the Vatican or a Rome basilica, as his predecessors
did. Conservatives have criticised him for including women and non-Christians
in the rite in the past.
He visited Rome's Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) jail in the centre of city, to
perform the rite recalling Jesus??? gesture of humility towards his 12 apostles
on the night before he died.
The 12 male inmates were from Italy, the Philippines, Morocco, Moldavia,
Colombia and Sierra Leone. 8 were Catholic, 2 were Muslim, 1 was an Orthodox
Christian and one a Buddhist.
Francis wove the sermon of a Mass around the theme of service, saying many wars
could have been avoided in history if more leaders had considered themselves
servants of the people rather than commanders.
He spoke of the death penalty just before leaving the prison, a former 17th
century Catholic convent that was transformed into a jail 1881.
"A punishment that is not open to hope is not Christian and not humane," he
said in response to closing comments by the prison director, a woman.
"Each punishment has to be open to the horizon of hope and so the death penalty
is neither Christian nor humane," he said.
Since his election in 2013, Francis has several times called for an worldwide
ban on capital punishment, prompting criticism from Church conservatives,
particularly in the United States.
The 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church allowed the death penalty in extreme
cases for centuries, but the position began to change under the late Pope John
Paul, who died in 2005.
Francis has asked that the Church's new position on the death penalty be better
reflected in its universal catechism.
On Good Friday, Francis is due to lead a Via Crucis (Way of the Cross)
procession at Rome's Colosseum. On Saturday night he leads a Easter vigil
service and on Easter Sunday he delivers his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to
the city and the world) message.
(source: Reuters)
BAHRAIN:
Torture investigator orders new Bahrain death penalty hearing
Acting on recommendations from UK-trained torture investigators, Bahrain's
Attorney General has requested that the country's highest court reconsider the
death sentences handed to 2 men convicted on the basis of forced confessions
obtained through torture.
Mohamed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa were sentenced in December 2014 for supposed
involvement in a bombing that killed a police officer in Bahrain. Bahrain's
Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a UK-trained body set up to investigate
allegations of misconduct and torture, recommended the case was referred to the
Court of Cassation after new medical evidence emerged.
The Attorney General of Bahrain, Dr Ali bin Fadhl Al-Buainain, said in a
statement posted on social media on Wednesday that the cases were being
referred "in accordance with the requirements of justice."
This comes at a time when there are other facing imminent execution, Including
Maher Abbas who has had his death sentence confirmed despite Bahrain's highest
court accepting that he was convicted on the basis of a confession obtained
through torture.
Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, said: "This belated recognition that Mohamed
and Husain's trial was unfair is welcome but it comes after they have already
suffered torture, including being stripped naked, beaten with iron rods and
having their families threatened with rape.
"Bahrain must now go further and allow the Special Investigation Unit to review
all death penalty cases where there were allegations of torture. This must
include the case of Maher Abbas, who is facing imminent execution despite
concerns expressed by Bahrain???s highest court that he was coerced into
confessing."
(source: Irish Legal News)
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