April 27
BAHRAIN:
Bahrain commutes death sentences handed down by military court
Bahrain's king has commuted death sentences handed down to 4 men by a military
court to life in prison, state news agency BNA reported on Thursday.
The death sentences were the 1st to be issued by a military court in the Gulf
Arab state against civilians, according to activists.
In December, a military court sentenced 6 men to death and revoked their
citizenship after they were convicted on charges of forming a terrorist cell
and plotting to assassinate a military official.
BNA said King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa reduced the sentences confirmed by a
military appeals court the previous day.
(source: Reuters)
PAKISTAN:
Special Court CNS Awards Death Sentence To Two Accused, Imposes Rs0.5m Fine
The Special Court Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS), Lahore awarded death
penalty with fine Rs. 500,000/- fine to the 2 accused persons namely Khurshid
Alam and Umar Khan in case FIR No.
53/2014 registered at ANF Police Station, Lahore. A total quantity of drugs
including 373 kg hashish and 24 kg opium was recovered from both the arrested
accused.
(source: urdupoint.com)
INDIA:
Why The Death Penalty Just Needs To Go. For Good.
On the 15th of April, I attended the #NotInMyName protest at Parliament Street,
New Delhi, which demanded justice for Asifa Bano and the Unnao survivor. This
was an open call, asking people to rally together for a larger cause. However,
I saw something there that deeply disturbed me.
A bunch of people, not too far from the stage, got together while holding the
Indian flag and screamed themselves hoarse demanding the death penalty to
rapists. The fact that state-sanctioned murder should have nationalist hues
embedded in it was being rubbed in our faces. What was even more disturbing was
that in the midst of so much bloodshed and violence, the idea of justice then
was to inflict even more bloodshed and violence.
Fuelling more violence through 'activism'
What aspirations can we then encompass when it comes to the functioning of
democracy and law? Are we as a society to have a collective knee-jerk reaction
to an incident(s) of barbaric violence, when it comes to the deliverance of
justice?
The gangrape and murder of Asifa Bano also triggered a wave of Islamophobic
anger, when the Hindutva brigade (denial, textbook 'whataboutery' - pointing
out each and every alleged flaw in Muslim society) and liberals (demand for
death penalty for rapists, minor perpetrators included) alike were no longer
able to ignore the communal nature of the incident. Such are the moments of
'activism', which are used to further perpetuate violence.
Campaigns, strikes, hashtags on social media - varied tools to avail of social
justice and betterment have been appropriated in this knee-jerk demand for more
death. Swati Maliwal, the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women,
flagged off a campaign titled #RapeRoko and went on a hunger strike wherein she
demanded the death penalty for rapists. As an important member of a statutory
body for women's welfare, Swati Maliwal is undoing years and years of the
feminist struggle against the death penalty.
Yes, #RapeRoko, but how? Will the death penalty end misogyny and sexual
harassment? Will it end Brahmanical patriarchy? Will it end institutionalised
murders? Will it end Islamophobia and other instances of communal hate so that
Asifas all over the world will be safe? Will it end corporate greed for land?
Will the death penalty protect vulnerable tribal communities? Will the death
penalty enable gender sensitisation in perpetrators and would-be perpetrators
alike?
The zig-zagged path of law
In their hurry to seem like they are going about the path of justice, the
central government, in an "emergency meeting", passed an ordinance in which the
death penalty is applicable to those guilty of raping children under the age of
12. This ordinance, called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018, affects
the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), Indian Penal Code,
Evidence Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, as of 2015, India's conviction
rate for rape is 34.4%; assault against women is at 36%, insult to the modesty
of girl children stands at 33.1%; and the kidnapping and abduction conviction
rate is 31%. In cases of child sexual assault, 94.6% of cases are those where
the perpetrator is known to the victim. What happens to the survivor when no
one believes them, or when they feel saddled with the guilt of reporting their
family members? Did the Centre take these dismal statistics into consideration
before hurriedly evoking their ability to take lives?
An article in the Indian Express further highlights the various ways in which
this ordinance can further cause damage by stating: "The rate of conviction was
highest in cases which took over 2 years to complete, because, practically, it
takes that much time to record the evidence of all the witnesses. In light of
this, the fact that the ordinance reduces the time given to the police to file
a charge sheet, and to the court to decide appeals against sentencing, displays
a complete lack of understanding about the issues on the ground and a
disturbing disregard for whether a law is implementable."
To add to the gravity of the situation, President Ram Nath Kovind signed off on
the ordinance. The President of the country has the power to reject mercy
pleas. The President is also in a position of power to send back
recommendations (about impending executions) to the Home Ministry, delaying
said executions. Under Article 72 of the Indian Constitution, the President's
powers are not bound by legal procedure. Under Article 74, Courts are barred
from inquiring into how the President arrived at their decision.
This hurried manner of legal redressal is open to innumerable gaping flaws. The
Delhi High Court questioned the Centre as to whether any research was carried
out in this process. Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari
Shankar asked, "Did you carry out any study, any scientific assessment that
death penalty is a deterrent to rape?" The High Court also observed that the
government had not reached out to survivors of sexual violence, or done
anything to enable gender sensitisation among people at large.
Ethics and the death penalty
In the last decade, the mercy pleas rejected and executions carried out had a
troubling pattern. Out of the 4 executions, 3 of those executed were Muslim:
Ajmal Kasab (2012), Afzal Guru (2013), Yakub Memon (2015); and Dhananjoy
Chatterjee (2004). As of December 2017, 371 prisoners have been placed on death
row, a significant drop from the number 399 in 2016. However, the Islamophobic
nature of executions is glaring, which brings to question whether judgements
will be free of communal bias.
No government should be allowed to dispose of lives.
A report released by National Law University Delhi revealed that 76% of Indian
prisoners on death row belong to non-dominant castes and religions, with all 12
women prisoners also from non-dominant castes and religions. 74.1% of the
prisoners came from economically vulnerable families. Wherein, 63.2% of them
were primary and/or sole earners in their families.
More importantly, the State does not have the right to violate someone else's
Right to Life - the most fundamental human right. No government should be
allowed to dispose of lives. The death penalty is a form of revenge, not
justice. There is no evidence to suggest that the death penalty will deter
crime. We cannot trust a system that prioritises retribution over proactive
prevention and grievance redressal. Appealing to the "collective conscience"
and angry sentiments of the public at large is only further fuelling the now
normalised lynch mob culture.
To sum up, the death penalty is just lazy politics. It is a quick fix for the
State in order to not have them deal with social deterrents that are misogynist
and communal in nature. In an already botched legal system, where justice is a
rather biased entity favouring the already privileged, the death penalty then
is a ruse to silence questions about the larger bigoted structures at play.
(source: Mahika Banerji, feminisminindia.com)
SOUTH KOREA:
'South Korea should lead abolition of death penalty in Asia-Pacific'
South Korea has an unprecedented record when it comes to the death penalty,
allowing a political prisoner on death row to become its president.
Late President Kim Dae-jung, who was in office from 1998 to 2003, was sentenced
to death in 1980, on treason charges.
With a campaign by the international community and human rights organizations,
including Amnesty International, Kim was able to leave the country for the
United States 2 years later.
The last execution in Korea took place in 1997 and while the country still has
the death penalty, it has been categorized as abolitionist in practice.
Now, South Korea should take the next step to abolish its death penalty and
lead the human rights movement said Chiara Sangiorgio, the advisor on the
abolition of the death penalty at the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International, in an interview with The Korea Herald on Tuesday.
"South Korea has not carried out executions for more than 20 years. I think the
moment is ripe for steps to be taken to abolish the death penalty here," she
said. Sangiorgio was also the lead author of the annual Amnesty report on the
death penalty. The organization released the 2016-2017 report on April 12.
According to the latest report compiling data until the end of last year, South
Korea has not delivered a death sentence for the past 2 years.
"Unfortunately, we did see one case in February, but we can see it is becoming
a rare occurrence here," she said.
"Many countries around South Korea practice executions in horrific ways, from
North Korea to China and Japan. So the country stands out in the region from
this point of view. It is a human rights issue which the government and the
administrators here should take ownership of."
China was once again the world's leading executioner, with the figures expected
to reach into the thousands. Japan carried out 4 executions in secrecy, and
North Korea is also infamous for their public executions.
Regarding the communist regime, the watchdog found a report which claims that a
ban on public executions has been placed.
"We see it as a significant step, which shows how the world's stance is
changing towards the death penalty."
But she explained they face challenges with limited access to information in
North Korea.
"We know there are executions. And we are concerned about the unfair trial
proceedings as it seems to be the way through which the punishment is imposed,
without the right to appeal," she said. "But it would be difficult make a
judgment for North Korea until we have full access to the statistics there."
As of the end of 2017, South Korea had 61 men under the sentence of death. And
while there has been legislative efforts to abolish the death sentence, the
public sentiment appears to oppose doing away with the death penalty.
According to 2015 data from Korea Legislation Research Institute, 65.2 % of the
respondents opposed the abolition of the death penalty, while 34.2 % agreed. In
another poll in 2017, 79.4 % of 1,000 respondents supported maintaining the
death penalty.
Since 1999, 7 revision proposal bills have been tabled at the National Assembly
where they have been left pending for several years.
Sangiorgio noted it is not enough for the authorities to just say they cannot
abolish the death penalty due to public opinion, as it is a question of leading
the country for improving human rights.
"How polls are devised, what the respondents know, and when the polls are
conducted can all affect the result," she said. "Studies have shown that when
the public is informed of what the death penalty is and what alternatives there
are, their supporting opinions will change," she explained.
"It is important to understand that abolishing the death penalty is not asking
for impunity for crime, but that it is discussing about cruel punishment that
needs to be repealed."
Taking the example of Mongolia, which abolished the death penalty over a period
of 6 years, Sangiorgio said South Korea can also initiate the process step by
step.
"The government can start by formalizing the status quo of where the country is
at in terms of the death penalty, and have a strong pronouncement by
leadership. It should also take international commitment," she said.
Amnesty International called for the South Korean government to immediately
establish an official moratorium on executions, and urged it to vote in favor
of the draft resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which
will be considered at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly at the end of
this year.
"South Korea is put in a unique place and timing. And the country's leadership
should take the opportunity to improve its human rights record and become the
next country to abolish the death penalty," Sangiorgio said.
(source: Korea Herald)
AFRICA:
Death penalty less and less practiced in Africa.
These are very good news for sure. Published few weeks ago, the April 2018
Amnesty International report on death penalty shows encouraging results for the
death penalty abolition activists worldwide. In Africa, Governments's justice
systems seem to progressively giving up this penalty. In 2017, the number of
countries (5) which executed prisoners in 2016 has decreased to just (2). The
rate of death penalty pronounced by judges also came down. At by the end of
2017, In Sub-Saharan Africa, 20 countries abolished the death penalty, 23
continued.
In Somalia, in 2017, 24 executions (12 by Portland government and 12 by Federal
government) have been done by the state, 4 in South Sudan. The method used in
South Sudan was the hanging and the firing squad in Somalia. In North Africa in
Egypt, 35 prisoners were executed. The Botswana, Nigeria And Sudan which
executed prisoners in 2016 did not repeat it in 2017. Concerning Libya, Amnesty
International could not know exactly if people have been or not subject to
executions.
Amnesty International noted that Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Niger who decided
many death penalty sentences did not pronounce any at all in 2017. But on the
other side, Botswana, Gambia, Guinea Equatorial who did not damn to death
anybody in 2016 sent to death sentence in 2017.The African countries to have
pronounced death sentences in 2017 are Algeria (27), Botswana (4), Egypt (402),
Gambia (3), Ghana (7), Guinea equatorial (2), Kenya (21), Libya (3), Mali (10),
Morocco/Sahara occidental (15), Nigeria (621), Democratic Republic of Congo
(22), Sierra Leone (21), Somalia (24 : Puntland 16 ; Federal Government 8),
Soudan (17+), South Sudan (16), Tanzania (5), Tunisia (25), Zambia (94),
Zimbabwe (11). At the contrary, the number of death sentences pronounced has
decreased considerably in Ghana, Mali, Democratic Republic of Cong, Somalia,
Tanzania, and Tunisia.
Amnesty International revealed that according to the data they could have
access to, some death sentenced could see their sentence overturned to
commutations or grace. It was in Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco/Sahara occidental,
Mauritania, Nigeria, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. Amnesty International registered in
Zambia 19 death sentences cases, in Nigeria 28 who were finally recognized
innocent.
The total number of death sentence decreased from 1086 at least in 2016 to 878
in 2017 at least. Nigeria has the record of death sentences pronounced at the
end of 2017. In 2016, Guinea abolished the death penalty for all the common
right crimes in 2016. Burkina-Faso, Gambia, Kenya, Chad are making great
efforts in preparation of law texts to abolish this penalty. The supreme court
of Kenya has abolished the systematic death sentence in case of murder
conviction.
Madagascar and Sao Tome-et-Principe who abolished long time ago the capital
punishment has signed the protocol of political and civil right international
pact for the abolition of death penalty. Gambia also signed that protocol. In
Mai 2017, the African Union Commission of People and Human rights, adopted in
Niamey (Niger) during its 60th ordinary session a resolution to protect the
right to life in Africa. The resolution was about to invite all the countries
members of the African Union, those who temporarily stopped the executed, and
those who are still executing to vote a decision to definitely put an end to
the capital punishment.
Sierra Leone is going with more attachment to the death penalty. The
Constitutional Court of Benin in 2016 abolished the death penalty for all the
crimes but by the end of 2017, the parliament did not already voted the law to
delete the death penalty in the constitution. Amnesty International is a renown
worldwide human right organization of 7 million members which is working in
difficult conditions for a campaign of respect of human right by everybody.
(sources: web-engage.augure.com; achpr.org)
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