June 27
INDIA:
Shakti mills: Union government defends death penalty to 3 repeat offenders
The Union government has defended the death penalty handed down to 3 persons
for raping a photojournalist and another woman at the defunct Shakti Mills
compound in 2013.
"Rape is a heinous offence which causes extreme physical and mental trauma for
the survivor. A repeat offence/conviction of rape in itself is a rare case
reflecting extreme depravity and lack of remorse, on the part of the rapist.
Thus the punishment with imprisonment for life which shall mean imprisonment
for the remainder of persons natural life or with 'death' is justified," the
Centre said in an affidavit in the Bombay High Court.
The affidavit was a response to a petition by the convicts - Vijay Jadhav,
Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari - who have Constitutional validity of Section
376 (E) of the Indian Penal code, which defines punishment for repeat
offenders.
The petitioners have claimed that they had not been convicted earlier, before
being charged with the amended section in the photojournalist case. They
contended that the sessions court acted beyond its power in awarding the death
sentence.
On April 5, 2014, the 3 petitioners were convicted under the Section 376 (E)
and sentenced to death for raping a photojournalist after the court found them
to have raped another woman earlier. Siraj Khan, another convict, was sentenced
to life imprisonment as he wasn't involved in the earlier rape, while a 5th
accused, a minor, was sent to a correctional facility.
REPEAT OFFENDERS
The Union government contended that a repeat offence/conviction of rape in
itself is a "rare case reflecting extreme depravity and lack of remorse". In
this case, death penalty is justified, it said.
(source: dnaindia.com)
THAILAND:
Thailand's Pledge to End Death Penalty in Doubt
Uncertainty is looming over Thailand's commitment to abolish the death penalty
in light of massive public support for capital punishment.
Amnesty International Thailand said Tuesday that it's unsure whether the
government's 4th national human rights plan will once again commit to abolition
as an explicit goal. Last year, Amnesty was informed by the government that
Thailand would be unable to abolish capital punishment by the end of 2018 as
had been stated in the current 5-year rights plan that concludes this year.
"We are concerned, but we don't know how the new plan will look like. Prior to
this, the Department of Rights and Liberties Protection informed us that
[Thailand] wouldn't be able to abolish the death penalty [this year] and things
would have to proceed step by step," said Piyanut Kotsan, director of Amnesty
Thailand.
She added that the group, whose parent organization campaigns against capital
punishment worldwide, was kept out of the loop about last week's execution of
Teerasak Longji. The 26-year-old murder convict was the 1st person to be put to
death in 9 years, ending what had been a de facto moratorium on executions.
Piyanut said she's been unable to contact the government's civil liberties
division to discuss the matter.
Calls placed Tuesday and Wednesday to the office of Pitikarn Sithidej, head of
the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, were not returned.
Piyanut said her group would try to reach out to the public more effectively
and constructively after coming in for a barrage of hate speech and violent
threats by phone and via social media following its protest against last week's
execution.
"Some said we should be dragged out and raped," Piyanut said. "We won't
retaliate because it would only exacerbate the situation. We try to understand
why they were angry and whether we hurt their feelings. They feel they have no
other recourse."
Last week, on Monday, death row convict Teerasak was executed at Bang Kwang
Prison by lethal injection for an aggravated murder 6 years ago in Trang
province. On the following day, about 10 activists led by Amnesty protested in
front of the prison. This was followed by angry messages, including a wreath
sent to its office and threats of rape against the group, which has about 800
members in Thailand.
Some domestic polling has since found wide margins of support for capital
punishment.
"They may have fear and feel unsafe as well as feel angry on behalf of the
victims," Piyanut said, adding that Amnesty needs to more effectively
communicate that opposition to the death penalty does not mean supporting
heinous crime.
The AI Thailand director said there is no model used in other countries that
Thailand can simply emulate when it comes to abolishing capital punishment. She
cited success in Mongolia this year, which ended the death penalty after a very
active campaign by Amnesty members there.
(source: khaosodenglish.com)
INDONESIA:
Militants get death for deadly Jakarta attack arranged from jail
Indonesia now has 3 Islamic militants on death row after the South Jakarta
District Court sentenced Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) leader Aman Abdurrahman
to die before a firing squad for directing a 2016 gun and bomb attack in
downtown Jakarta from behind bars in a supposed maximum-security prison.
Aman, 46, joins Iwan Darmawan Munto and Ahmad Hasan, who received the death
penalty 13 years ago for their role in the September 2004 car bombing of the
Australian Embassy which left 10 people dead, including the suicide bomber.
The only Indonesian terrorists to be executed so far have been Jemaah Islamiyah
(JI) militants Imam Samudra, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron, all accused
of killing 202 people in the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts, the world's worst
terrorist attack since the September 11, 2001 carnage in the US.
In an alarming demonstration of weaknesses in the Indonesian penal system, Aman
and Munto allegedly arranged for the funding and procurement of the weapons
used in the 2016 attack from the prison island of Nusa Kambangan off Java's
south coast. 8 people died, including a Canadian and the 4 assailants.
Group 'loyal' to ISIS
Aman, whose group pledges loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS), was also accused of instigating a November 2016 attack on a church in
East Kalimantan that killed a 2-year-old girl and injured 4 other children, and
the May 2017 bombing of a Jakarta bus terminal, where 3 policemen died.
Educated at Jakarta's Saudi-funded Islamic and Arab College of Indonesia, the
former preacher has a long history of militancy dating back to 2004, when he
was given a 7-year jail term for his involvement in an unexplained bomb blast
in a rented house in the southern Jakarta suburb of Depok.
Released for good behavior in 2008, he joined JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir in establishing a terrorist training camp in the jungles of Aceh, in
northern Sumatra, that sought to unite militant groups in the wake of a
concerted government crackdown.
Arrested again in 2010, he was sentenced to a further nine years in Nusa
Kambangan, from where he and Munto used smuggled mobile phones and frequent,
apparently unsupervised visits, from dedicated followers to plan the series of
subsequent attacks.
It is doubtful whether Aman or the other 2 death-row prisoners will be executed
anytime soon now that President Joko Widodo appears to have had 2nd thoughts
about capital punishment.
While Indonesia remains under constant threat from terrorism, evidenced by the
May bombing of 3 Surabaya churches and other violent acts in Jakarta and
Sumatra, activists have been quick to condemn the death penalty given to Aman.
Unrepentant militant
Most argued that it would not act as a deterrent and instead could set up the
unrepentant militant leader as a martyr, even if it is clear that only hardline
elements see the 3 Bali bombers in that light given the enormity of the death
toll they caused.
"Policymakers must not be driven by the strong reactions that understandably
emerge in the aftermath of such horrendous violent attacks," said Amnesty
International Indonesia's executive director Usman Hamid. "They must take all
steps in their power to consign the death penalty to history."
Certainly, there is nothing to suggest terrorists are treated any differently
from other prisoners, even if Australia's reaction to the deaths of the Bali
bombers was muted compared to the execution of heroin traffickers Andrew Chan
and Myuran Sukumaran in April 2015.
When the 2 Australians and 6 other foreign drug convicts died by firing squad
on Nusa Kambangan on the same night, it set off a diplomatic storm with
Indonesia's southern neighbor, which carried out its last execution in early
1967.
Chan, Sukumaran and the rest of the so-called Bali 9 ring were arrested at the
resort island's airport and at a nearby hotel in April 2005 with 8.3 kilograms
of transshipped Golden Triangle heroin they intended to smuggle into Australia.
While the other 7 defendants ultimately received 20 years to life in prison,
including one who died this month of cancer, the courts never considered the
fact that the 2 ringleaders only intended distributing the heroin in Australia
as grounds for clemency.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) came under fire for its handling of the
case and its belief that none of the suspects would face the death penalty -
even though 3 drug dealers had been executed the previous year on president
Megawati Sukarnoputri's watch.
Successor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono allowed 15 executions over the next 4 years,
including those of the Bali militants. Then followed a 4-year moratorium before
a Nigerian, a Vietnamese and a Pakistani paid the ultimate price for the same
offense, along with 3 convicted killers.
No executions since 2016
In 2014, there were none again. But expectations that Widodo would continue
that policy ignored the fact that his modest upbringing in the Javanese
heartland had not exposed him to the global moral debate over the death
sentence.
All the same, the furor over the shooting of the Australians and 12 other
inmates in 2015 clearly gave him pause and while 6 other drug offenders were
put to death in July 2016, the executions of 10 others were deferred and there
have been none since.
Indonesian courts continue to administer capital punishment, however, with 25
criminals, most of them drug dealers, sentenced to die so far this year and
another 47 last year. As of today, according to Amnesty International, there
are 288 death row inmates in Indonesian jails.
(source: Asia Times)
PHILIPPINES:
Anti-death penalty group launches handbook
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on
Prison Pastoral Care, together with the Free Legal Assistance Group, the
Commission on Human Rights, and other members of the Anti-Death Penalty Task
Force, have launched a handbook opposing the capital punishment and the drug
war.
Titled "Tending Life," the handbook features studies and articles backing the
failure of death penalty to address criminality and the proliferation of
illegal drugs.
Rodolfo Diamante, executive secretary of the commission said, "any deprivation
of the right to life will not gain justice for all."
"Rendering the death penalty as a means to obtain justice simply does the
opposite as recent history has proven," Diamante said in a CBCP News post.
The anti-death penalty advocates recently marked the 12th anniversary of the
abolition of the death penalty in the country with a holy mass. The group said
they are keeping an eye on the Senate's decision on the reimposition of the
capital punishment.
Congress had already approved the death penalty bill in March 2017 but a
similar measure has remained pending at the Senate.
"The death penalty has not deterred criminality and has even spurred more
injustice by killing the innocent, those wrongly accused, those without proper
defense, and those who have been deprived of the opportunity to reform and
restore the injury they caused to others. This is because ours is a system of
justice replete with human errors," Diamante stressed.
Fr. Robert Reyes of the Coalition Against Death Penalty (CADP) in his homily
said, the revival of the capital punishment will not make a difference because
extrajudicial killings are already prevalent under the Duterte administration.
"People are getting used to the absence of due process, there are killings left
and right," the priest said.
Diamante reiterated the Church's appeal to lawmakers to use restorative justice
as an alternative to deter criminality. "While our justice system seeks to
punish the wrongdoer, it should move beyond punishment and seek healing of all
stakeholders, the victim, the offender, and the society we live in," he said.
(source: Manila Bulletin)
SINGAPORE----female may face death penalty
Maid charged with murder of 70-year-old woman at Choa Chu Kang flat
A 24-year-old maid from Myanmar was on Wednesday (Jun 27) charged in court with
the murder of a 70-year-old woman.
Zin Mar Nwe was arrested on Monday after the woman, believed to be her
employer, was found lying motionless inside her flat at Block 791 Choa Chu Kang
North 6.
The woman was pronounced dead by paramedics at around 3.30pm.
If found guilty of committing murder, Zin Mar Nwe faces the death penalty.
She will be remanded for psychiatric evaluation for a week. No bail will be
offered as it is a capital case.
(source: channelnewsasia.com)
******************
Businessman who murdered wife's ex-lover sentenced to death upon prosecution's
appeal
A 58-year-old businessman, who was originally given life imprisonment for the
"bloody and brutal" murder of his wife's former lover, was sentenced to hang on
Wednesday (June 27) after the apex court overturned the earlier decision and
allowed an appeal by prosecutors for the death penalty.
A 3-judge Court of Appeal said the actions of Chia Kee Chen "exhibited such
viciousness and such a blatant disregard for the life of the deceased, and are
so grievous an affront to humanity and so abhorrent that the death penalty is
the appropriate, indeed the only adequate sentence".
The court noted that the death penalty, being the "final and terminal
sentence", should be imposed only after "the most anxious consideration".
Chia had abducted the victim, material analyst Dexmon Chua Yizhi, 37, near his
Choa Chu Kang flat, forced him into the back of a van and severely assaulted
him between Dec 28 and Dec 29 in 2013.
The Singaporean had an accomplice, Indonesian Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko, 35, who
fled the country.
A 2nd accomplice, Chua Leong Aik, 67, who drove the van, is serving a 5-year
term.
The victim's body was later dumped in a military live-firing area in Lim Chu
Kang.
Explaining its reasons for imposing the death sentence, the court said Chia was
the mastermind as he wanted to exact revenge on the victim for carrying on an
affair with his wife, who is 52 this year.
Although the defence argued that Febri was the one who inflicted the blows, the
court pointed out that he was doing so under Chia's directions.
"One who hires an assassin to kill another or who otherwise controls a killer,
cannot be less culpable than the one who does the killing," said Chief Justice
Sundaresh Menon, who delivered the judgment.
The court added that Chia did not tell Febri to stop attacking the victim but
joined in the assault.
The court also said Chia showed a high degree of planning and premeditation. He
was familiar with the victim's movements, recruited accomplices, procured a
van, and knew where to dump the body.
The attack on the victim was "undeniably vicious and brutal", said the court.
Almost every facial bone, from the victim's eye socket to the lower jaw, was
fractured. Blood was found on the ceiling, rear door and side of the van.
The court also noted that after dumping the body and washing the van, Chia
calmly left for Malaysia with his wife and daughters for a holiday, taking the
opportunity to take Febri out of Singapore.
Referring to Chua's police statements, the court said the picture that emerges
was that Chia wanted the victim to suffer as much as possible. "The only regret
that Chia ever expressed was that the deceased had died before he could cause
the deceased even more suffering."
(source: straitstimes.com)
UGANDA:
Justice Kasule calls for law on death penalty
Court of Appeal judge Remmy Kasule has called for the operationalization of a
law to affect the constitutional and Supreme Court's ruling that the death
penalty is not mandatory.
In 2009, the Supreme Court ruled against the death penalty in a case filed by
over 400 people on death row led by murder convict Susan Kigula who was
awaiting execution.
Court ruled that all death sentences be converted after a person serves 3 years
on death row.
According to Kasule, the failure to have this ruling put into a law has created
a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to sentencing.
He says the presence of the life imprisonment sentence has since raised a lot
of questions that remain unanswered.
Justice Kasule thus challenges Members of Parliament to enact a law to clearly
define what life imprisonment means.
(source: National News)
IRAN:
Iran's Judiciary Chief Threatens Protesting Merchants With Execution as
Protests Continue----Tehran Demonstrations Against Inflation Turn Political as
They Spread to Other Cities
The Chief Justice of Iran Sadegh Larijani has threatened the merchants who have
been protesting in Tehran against rising inflation since June 25, 2018, with
execution if they don't back down. Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi
has also blamed the protests on the US, adding that "a number of the main
instigators" have been arrested.
"I'm warning you. Listen well. Take the cotton out of your ears and open your
eyes. These actions against the country's economic order are punishable by
execution - if found to be on the level of 'corruption on earth' - or up to 20
years in prison and the confiscation of all possessions," said Larijani in a
speech to judicial officials in Tehran on June 26.
"We will not hesitate to implement the law," he added.
A business owner in Tehran's Grand Bazaar told Center for Human Rights in Iran
(CHRI) on June 26 that shutting down his business was not only a sign of
"protest against the government's economic policy but also a good business
decision."
"We are better off shutting down our stores for a month and coming back with
much less loss, rather than selling goods and doing business," said the
merchant, referring to the substantial financial losses he would incur if he
purchased goods at the current currency rate.
The protests by the merchants, known as bazaaris in Iran, began in Tehran's
Grand Bazaar on June 25, 2018, and turned into a mass socioeconomic and
political rally outside the Parliament building where police fired tear gas at
crowds chanting anti-state slogans.
The demonstrations started after another sharp fall in the value of the Iranian
currency, the rial, which in a matter of weeks has lost nearly 1/2 its value in
the black market. Iranian banks issue a limited amount of dollars, forcing
people to obtain currencies on the black market, which trades at a much higher
rate.
The official rate set by the Central Bank of Iran is currently about 42,500
rials to the dollar, but the rate on the street was closer to 100,000 rials as
of June 25.
The bazaar was closed on June 25 but smaller protests continued the next day in
Tehran and around the country including the cities of Isfahan, Arak and
Kermanshah on June 26.
Building on Larijani's threats, the Tehran prosecutor refused to address the
protesters' complaints, which have been simmering for years in Iran against the
country's domestic and foreign policies, particularly since December
2017/January 2018, and instead accused the demonstrators of "rioting" as part
of an alleged American plot against Iran.
"My message to those who are disrupting security and the economy is that the
judicial system will firmly deal with any kind of rioting and disturbance and
the perpetrators will be put on trial like those who caused riots last December
and February," he told reporters on June 26. "The judiciary chief has said that
disrupting the economy and security will carry heavy punishments."
"I inform these individuals and their families that they will not be released
until they are prosecuted," added Dowlatabadi. "Those who are trying to disrupt
the Islamic state are not bazaari types. You will see that the bazaaris will
distance themselves. The people will not allow a few individuals to give
themselves the right to cause turbulence in the bazaar and create economic
insecurity."
He continued: "This is a serious plot devised by the Americans to spread
insecurity in Iran. Yesterday they tried to intimidate bazaaris to close their
shops and start riots in some parts of the city and damage some places of
business."
Other Iranian officials recognized that the protesters' concerns were rooted in
rising inflation and the high rate of inflation.
"The price of goods is constantly on the rise and merchants can't restock items
they have already sold," Ahmad Karimi Isfahani, chairman of the Islamic Society
of Merchants, told the state-funded Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on June
25. "The instability has left customers and merchants unsatisfied."
"For 40 years we have not seen this kind of action that would shut down the
bazaar, but today it happened and we believe that the only and only reason is
mismanagement inside the country," he added.
After closing their shops in Tehran's main bazaar on June 25, the merchants
marched from surrounding streets toward Baharestan Sq. in front of the
Parliament building chanting "death to the dictator," "death to expensiveness,"
"death to freeloading thugs," "Iranians! Enough is enough, show your mettle"
and "our misery is because of Syria, Palestine... Let go of Syria; think about
our situation."
"I don't think economic problems are the only factor for the people's
dissatisfaction," said Abdolreza Hashemizaie, a reformist Member of Iran's
Parliament (MP), in an interview with ILNA on June 25.
"In fact, people are grappling with political and social concerns and if the
authorities don't do anything about them, these economically rooted civil
protests will turn into disturbances," he added.
Another reformist MP, Jahanbakhsh Mohebbinia told ILNA on June 25, "Up to now,
the people have given the officials opportunities to solve economic problems. I
suggest officials do not blame the people's movement on foreign instigations."
(source: Iran Human Rights)
JAPAN:
Why Japan is reluctant to retry the world's longest-serving death row inmate
In June 1966, the manager of a miso-producing factory, his wife and 2 children
were murdered in their home. Their house was robbed and set alight. Iwao
Hakamada, who was an employee at the miso factory, was tried for the quadruple
murder and ultimately found guilty. But you don't need to be a legal expert to
feel uneasy about the safety of his conviction.
After he was arrested, Hakamada was interrogated without a lawyer and tortured
for 20 days, for up to 16 hours a day. The prosecution submitted 45 signed
documents by Hakamada confessing his crime, but the court admitted only 1.
The police claimed that Hakamada was in his pyjamas when he committed the
murder, and that the pyjamas were stained with blood that was not his, and with
oil used in the arson. But then, 14 months after the crime and nine months
after the trial had started, 5 other items of heavily bloodstained clothing
were mysteriously "discovered' in a miso barrel at the factory. (It has since
been suggested in court appeals that the clothes might have been planted by the
police).
The prosecution duly altered its argument, and claimed that Hakamada wore the
newly found clothes when murdering the family and then - for whatever reason -
changed into pyjamas to commit the arson. However, the colour of the clothes
was too light and the blood stains too dark for them to have been stewing in a
miso barrel for 14 months. The clothes were also too small for Hakamada. The
prosecution claimed that the clothes shrunk in the miso barrel, and that the
tag "B" on the clothes indicated a medium size (which would have fit Hakamada),
even though the tag in fact indicated the colour (black) not the size.
Nonetheless, Hakamada was sentenced to death. More than 5 decades later, he is
listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-serving man on
death row. But the possibility he'll end his life as a convict is not a sure
thing.
Shaky ground
In 2007, one of the original trial judges admitted that even at the time, he
considered Hakamada's conviction probably unsafe: "Looking at the evidence,
there was almost nothing but the confession, and that has been taken under
intense interrogation." He said that 2 senior judges pressured him into writing
a guilty verdict.
In 2014, Hakamada was released and a retrial was ordered by a lower court - but
in June 2018, the Tokyo High Court overturned the decision to grant a retrial.
It did not demand Hakamada be brought back into detention, given his age and
health concerns; but until his name is cleared, he technically remains on death
row. Hakamada's lawyers are now appealing to the Supreme Court. For the
82-year-old Hakamada to clear his name, the Supreme Court must grant him a new
trial and find him not guilty. It took 4 years for the Tokyo High Court to
issue its ruling, and the Supreme Court's decision could take another couple of
years.
The lead attorney in the Hakamada case, Katsuhiko Nishijima, is convinced that
the police and the prosecution "hid evidence" and "forged reports" to get a
conviction. After the Tokyo High Court's ruling, Hakamada's sister, who has
campaigned for his innocence, expressed her disappointment: "It's not just the
prosecution, but the courts are also turning a blind eye to the truth."
The court's exceptional 2014 decision to release Hakamada when a retrial was
ordered and that he remains on release despite the latest judgment amount to a
tacit admission that his conviction is less than sound.
So why is the Japanese criminal justice system so reluctant to officially
consider the possibility that Hakamada was wrongfully convicted? In short,
because of the effect a not guilty verdict could have on the system itself. The
Tokyo High Court's decision to scrap the retrial has to be taken in the context
of other events that have nothing to do with this particular case.
Clashing priorities
Earlier this year, I wrote about the possible execution of 13 members of the
now-defunct doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, sentenced to death for their part in
the cult's infamous 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway. The Japanese
Ministry of Justice transferred these convicted cult members to various
detention centres where executions can be carried out. It is rumoured that they
could be simultaneously executed this summer.
Had the Tokyo High Court upheld the decision to grant Hakamada a retrial,
scrutiny of the death penalty's merits would have ramped up just as the Aum
executions are due. The executions are already sensitive thanks to both the
next Olympics and the UN's 14th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice. In the run up to these events, the Japanese government is working hard
to keep attention away from any matters that would tarnish Japan's
international reputation.
This means the Hakamada's high court decision relieves pressure on the courts
as they try to "finish" the Aum cases by the end of 2018. Until a retrial
declares Hakamada's innocence, the Japanese government can work under the
assumption that the current death penalty system is safe. But then again, that
doesn't mean public opinion is set in stone.
Changing times
My own research shows that as things stand, the Japanese public trust the
courts. They view the handful of postwar death penalty verdicts that have been
overturned as old to the point of irrelevance, with no bearing on the system's
current workings. But if Hakamada were exonerated, that would damage the
system's image of infallibility and provide an unprecedented opening for
abolitionists both inside and outside of Japan.
The same effect can be observed elsewhere. In the US, a number of high-profile
exonerations have played a part in dramatically shifting attitudes towards
capital punishment. According to polling firm Gallup, Americans' support for
the death penalty reached 80% in 1994 but sank to 55% by 2017. Fewer death
sentences are being handed down, and more and more states are moving away from
capital punishment altogether. In the UK, the fallout from the wrongful
execution of Timothy Evans eventually led to the Murder (Abolition of Death
Penalty) Act 1965 which abolished the death penalty for capital murder.
For now, Japan is still trying to preserve the legitimacy of the death penalty
and the criminal justice system by delaying an unedifying retrial while denying
any possibility of error. But in the end, no system is immune to error. And so
long as the death penalty remains a lawful punishment, innocent people will be
sentenced to death. How we respond to mistakes is another matter.
(source: theconversation.com)
GAMBIA:
Deputies Ratify Convention On Death Penalty
Deputies at the National Assembly, Friday June 22nd 2018, ratified the second
Optional Protocol of the International Convention on Civil and Political
Rights, aimed at abolishing the death penalty in the Gambia.
Foreign Affairs Minister Ousainou Darboe, in moving the motion, said the
convention was signed by the president of the Gambia Adama Barrow, during the
72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York; that the Gambia continues to
promote democracy and show commitment to abolish the death penalty and the
continuation of the moratorium on execution of persons condemned to death.
"The signing of the treaty by the president on its ratification by this august
assembly, is a commitment by all of us to bring to an end, the inhuman practice
of the death penalty. By the signing of this agreement, the Gambia commits
itself to the absolute belief that, the abolition of the death penalty
contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and the progressive development
of human rights," he said.
Darboe said the 1997 Constitution of the country provides, that no person be
deprived of life intentionally, except in the execution of a sentence
authorized by Law and imposed by a Court, after a Lawful conviction; that it
further provides that no sentence of death can be imposed for any offense
unless it involves violence or the administration of a toxic substance and
results in death, and calls for a review of the death penalty and consideration
of its total abolition.
Darboe stressed that Section 216 of the 1997 Constitution, suggests that the
Gambia "shall be bound by the fundamental rights and freedoms in the
Constitutions and shall be guided by International Human Rights instruments, to
which the Gambia is a signatory to and recognize and apply particular
categories of basic human rights, to all development processes."
He underscored that Section 219 provides that the Gambia "shall endeavor to
ensure that in International Relations, for International Law, treaty
obligations and the settlement of International disputes by peaceful means, is
fostered and respected and as well guided by the principles and goals of
International and Regional Organizations, of which the Gambia is a signatory
to."
(source: foroyaa.gm)
SUDAN:
Sudan court scraps teen's death sentence in marital rape case----Noura Hussein,
19, has had death penalty reduced to 5 years on appeal, lawyer and activists
say.
A court in Sudan has overturned a death sentence on a teenager who killed her
husband who she said had raped her, her lawyer and activists have said.
Noura Hussein, 19, who was given the death penalty in May, will now serve a
5-year jail term instead following an appeal, according to Al-Fateh Hussein.
"The appeals court has cancelled her execution and sentenced her to 5 years in
jail," the lawyer told AFP news agency. "The jail term is effective from the
time she was arrested."
Hussein has been held in a women's prison since May 2017.
Her death sentence triggered a campaign calling for the throwing out of
Hussein's sentence, while her lawyer filed an appeal against the lower court's
ruling.
At 16, Hussein was forced by her parents to marry her cousin, according to
activists.
Members of the #JusticeForNoura campaign said Hussein was forced to sign the
marriage contract in 2014. She then fled to a relative's house in eastern Sudan
before the wedding ceremony was completed.
Her father allegedly tricked her into returning to her husband. After 6 days of
Hussein refusing his advances, he raped her with the help of family members who
held her down, according to campaigners.
When Hussein's husband attempted to rape her again, she stabbed him to death
before returning to her family, who then handed her over to police.
Amnesty International, which had been part of a "Justice For Noura" campaign,
confirmed Hussein's death sentence had been scrapped.
"Thank you to over 400,000 of you who demanded JusticeForNoura & helped make
this happen!" the UK-based group tweeted on Tuesday.
Amal Habani, a Sudanese journalist and women's rights activist, forced and
child marriages in Sudan are an ongoing issue women's rights activists have
been trying to address.
"Like Noura, who was only a child when she got married, there are many child
marriages and forced marriages in Sudan. The law doesn't see that as illegal
and neither does it consider marital rape so," Habani told Al Jazeera last
month.
"Noura faced a lot of violence from her family to marry a man she rejected from
the start. Then, she was beaten into submission by his family to consummate the
marriage. Noura was a victim before she became a criminal. She shouldn't have
been handed down a death penalty."
(source: aljazeera.com)
*********************
Quashing of Noura Hussein death sentence must now lead to legal reform
Today's decision by a Sudanese court to quash Noura Hussein's death sentence
and replace it with a 5-year prison term for killing her husband in
self-defence during an attempted rape must be a catalyst for a legal review in
Sudan, said Amnesty International.
Noura Hussein was sentenced to death on 10 May 2018. Her husband, Abdulrahman
Mohamed Hammad, suffered fatal knife wounds during a scuffle at their home
after he had attempted to force himself on her with the help of 3 other men.
The revised sentence means she will spend 5 years in jail from the date of her
arrest and will have to make a dia (blood money) payment of 337,500 Sudanese
pounds (around US$8,400).
"While the quashing of this death sentence is hugely welcome news, it must now
lead to a legal review to ensure that Noura Hussein is the last person to go
through this ordeal," said Seif Magango, Amnesty International's Deputy
Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
"Noura Hussein was the victim of a brutal attack by her husband and 5 years'
imprisonment for acting in self-defence is a disproportionate punishment.
"The Sudanese authorities must take this opportunity to start reforming the
laws around child marriage, forced marriage and marital rape, so that victims
are not the ones who are penalized."
Background
Noura Hussein has been held in the Omdurman Women's Prison in Sudan since May
2017.
After fatally stabbing her husband on 3 May 2017, Noura Hussein fled to her
family home, but her father handed her over to the police, who opened a case
against her. A medical examination report from the fight with Abdulrahman
indicated she had sustained injuries including a bite and scratches.
At her trial in July 2017, the judge applied an outdated law which did not
recognize marital rape. Noura Hussein was charged under the Criminal Act (1991)
and found guilty of intentional murder on 29 April 2018 at the Central Criminal
Court of Omdurman.
Noura Hussein was married against her will to Abdulrahman Mohamed Hammad at the
age of 16. The 1st marriage ceremony involved the signing a marriage contract
between her father and Abdulrahman. The 2nd part of the marriage ceremony took
place in April 2017, when she was forced to move into Abdulrahman's home upon
having completed high school. When she refused to consummate the marriage,
Abdulrahman invited 2 of his brothers and a male cousin to help him rape her.
Sudanese law allows children over the age of 10 to marry.
(source: Amnesty International)
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