August 10
BOTSWANA:
The Paradox of Botswana's Death Penalty
In the global effort to end capital punishment, Amnesty International calls
Sub-Saharan Africa a "beacon of hope." But one country that typically ranks
near the top of regional governance indexes continues to defend the practice.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, a region with no shortage of development challenges,
Botswana stands out for its strong economy, stable democracy, and commitment to
the rule of law. But by one measure - its support for capital punishment -
Botswana is frighteningly narrow-minded. If the country of my birth is to
retain its reputation as one of Africa's most liberal states, it must confront
its affinity for the gallows.
According to Amnesty International, most of Africa is abandoning the death
penalty. Today, just 10 African countries allow for capital punishment, and
only a handful ever use it. Botswana - an affluent, landlocked,
diamond-exporting state - is among the leading exceptions. After a lull in
killings in 2017, Botswana has resumed executing convicted murderers; Joseph
Tselayarona, 28, was executed in February, while Uyapo Poloko, 37, was put to
death in May.
Botswana's legal system - and the basis for capital punishment - is rooted in
English and Roman-Dutch common law. According to the country's penal code, the
preferred punishment for murder is death by hanging. And, while the
constitution protects a citizen's "right to life," it makes an exception when
the termination of a life is "in execution of the sentence of a court."
But the country's relationship to the death penalty predates its current legal
statutes. In the pre-colonial era, tribal chiefs - known as kgosi - imposed the
penalty for crimes such as murder, sorcery, incest, and conspiracy. To this
day, history is often invoked to defend the status quo. In a 2012 judgment, the
Botswana Court of Appeals wrote that capital punishment has been imposed "since
time immemorial," and "its abolition would be a departure from the accepted
norm." After Tselayarona was executed, the government even tweeted a photo of
then-President Ian Khama under a caption that read, "Death penalty serves
nation well."
To be sure, the number of executions in Botswana pales in comparison to the
world's leaders. Of the 993 executions recorded by Amnesty International last
year, 84% were carried out by just 4 countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and
Pakistan. The total does not include China, believed to be the world's largest
executioner, because death-penalty data there are classified as a state secret.
By contrast, Botswana has executed roughly 50 people since independence in
1966. And yet the very existence of capital punishment will remain a stain on
the country until it is abolished.
According to Amnesty International, 142 countries have abolished the death
penalty. In its most recent death-penalty survey, the group pointed to
Sub-Saharan Africa as a "beacon of hope" in the global effort to eradicate the
practice. Last year, Kenya took a positive step by ending mandatory imposition
of the death penalty for murder. And Guinea became the 20th country in the
region to abolish capital punishment for all crimes. When will Botswana follow
suit?
Botswana has been in the vanguard on human-rights issues before. For example,
after South Africa's threat to withdraw from the International Criminal Court
in October 2016, Botswana's leaders defended the ICC and reaffirmed their
commitment to international law. Then, in February 2018, Khama broke the
silence among African leaders and called for Joseph Kabila, the autocratic
president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to "relinquish power." The same
month, the Botswana government criticized the UN Security Council for its
handling of the crisis in Syria.
Taking a progressive stance on the death penalty would seem a natural step in
the evolution of Botswana's liberal agenda. But the government has only dug in
deeper, and contradictory international laws mean that Botswana is under no
great pressure to change course. While both the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contain de facto
prohibitions on capital punishment, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) recognizes a state's authority to retain the practice.
An "optional" auxiliary amendment to the ICCPR, adopted in 1989, sought to
close this loophole, but Botswana did not sign it.
Public opinion also favors preserving the status quo. According to an online
survey conducted by the national newspaper Mmegi, support for capital
punishment remains high among voters, which explains why the issue has never
gained traction in Parliament.
And yet there is simply no evidence to support the authorities' argument that
the death penalty lowers rates of violent crime. Convincing the public of this
will require visionary leadership, not to mention more legal challenges that
force the courts to take up and debate the issue.
Botswana's would-be abolitionists need not look far for inspiration. When South
Africa's Constitutional Court ended capital punishment in 1995, opponents of
the decision argued that the court was not in tune with public opinion; some
even called for a referendum. But the framers of South Africa's post-apartheid
constitution, which entered into force in 1997, held their ground and the
practice was abolished.
As the South African court wrote in its opinion: "Everyone, including the most
abominable of human beings, has the right to life." The goal for leaders in
Botswana must be to convince their constituents - and perhaps also themselves -
to embrace the universality of that sentiment.
(source: Mary-Jean Nleya is an associate fellow of at the Royal Commonwealth
Society and founder of The Global Communique, a digital current-affairs
magazine. Previously, she was a contractor at the International Criminal Court,
and, in 2015, she was selected as one of Africa's 100 brightest young minds by
Brightest Young Minds, South Africa----Commentary; Project Syndicate)
INDIA:
HC upholds death penalty to rapist Says punishment may convey message to such
predators
Observing that the extreme punishment may convey a message to predators
(rapists) that they cannot get reprieve in the guise of humanity the high
court's principal bench at Jabalpur upheld on Wednesday a death penalty awarded
to a 23-year-old rapist who had killed his victim too.
The division bench of chief justice justice Hemant Gupta and justice Vijay
Kumar Shukla said, "It is an act of extreme depravity when the appellant
prompted a young child whose only fault was that she believed the appellant to
be her well-wisher. The crimes against the girl child are on rise, therefore,
extreme punishment may deter the other criminals indulging in such crime."
The bench said, "The extreme punishment may convey a message to these predators
that it is not a soft state where the criminals committing such serious crimes
may get reprieve in the guise of humanity. The humanity is more in danger in
the hands of the persons like the appellant. Therefore, we find that the
capital punishment awarded to the appellant is one of the rarest of rare cases
where the extreme capital punishment is warranted."
As per copy of the judgment the crime was committed at a village in Shahdol
district, 592 kilometers east of Bhopal, on May 13, 2017. The child's father is
a labourer who was out of his house on his routine job when the girl was
reported missing from her rented house in the morning. A frantic search for the
girl led to no result.
During investigation wife of the landlord told the police that she had seen the
accused Vinod alias Rahul Chaudaha taking the girl with him on the pretext of
giving her biscuit and chocolate.
After arrest by police the accused confessed to have committed the crime and
led the police team to a place where he had buried the girl's body. Forensic
laboratory confirmed the DNA test as positive.
The district and sessions judge, Shahdol convicted the accused and sentenced
him to death penalty on February 28, 2018 under sections 302 and 376A of Indian
Penal Code (IPC) and section 5/6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences
Act, 2012.
(source: Hindustan Times)
SRI LANKA:
Noose looms large for Sri Lankan drug dealers----Activists and religious
leaders oppose the government's decision to hang persistent offenders
Many drugs are smuggled into Sri Lanka on fishing vessels. A Sunday school
teacher claims her fisherman father is innocent after drugs were found on his
boat.
Harshi Sudarshani, a Sunday school teacher in Negombo, and her younger brother
have faced strained relationships with their friends since their father was
arrested on a drug charge.
The fisherman was arrested after packets of heroin were found on the boat in
which he spends long periods at sea in search of tuna.
Sudarshani, who joined religious leaders on an anti-drug protest with thousands
of others in Negombo in February, denies her father's involvement in drug
trafficking and blames the businessman owner of the boat.
(source: La Croix International)
PAKISTAN:
Murder convict sentenced to death in Sargodha
A court sentenced a man to death sentence on Thursday for his involvement in a
murder case in Sargodha. The judgment was announced by Additional District and
Sessions Judge Javed Iqbal Ranjha.
The prosecution told the court that Ansar Iqbal, in connivance with Ghulam
Murtaza, gunned down his uncle Muhammad Akram over a family dispute in 2016.
The local police registered a case against the accused and presented the
challan before the court. After hearing the arguments, the judge handed down a
death sentence to Ansar and imposed a fine of Rs0.3 million on him.
However, the court acquitted the other co-accused, giving him the benefit of
doubt.
Earlier, a court awarded death penalty to a convict for his involvement in a
murder case in Faisalabad. Additional Sessions Judge Asadullah Siraj announced
the verdict.
(source: The Express Tribune)
IRAN:
Execution of at Least 2 Prisoners Including an Afghan Citizen
At least 2 prisoners were executed at Rajai Shahr Prison on murder charges.
According to a close source, on the morning of Wednesday, August 8, at least 2
prisoners were executed at Rajai Shahr Prison. The prisoners, sentenced to
death on murder charges, were transferred to the solitary confinement in a
group of 6 on Sunday, August 5. The other 4 prisoners returned to their cells
by either winning the consent of the plaintiffs or asking for time.
1 of the prisoners who was executed was identified as Mohammad Abdi from ward
10. He was arrested on the charge of murder 12 years ago.
A close source told IHR, "The plaintiffs didn't want to be present at the time
of the execution, only their lawyer was there."
The other prisoner who was executed was an Afghan citizen who was sentenced to
death on murder charges. He has not been identified so far.
The execution of these prisoners has not been announced by the state-run media
so far.
According to confirmed reports by Iran Human Rights (IHR), at least 36 people
were executed in different Iranian cities in the month of July, 24 of whom were
sentenced to death on murder charges.
************************
4 Afghan Citizens Scheduled to Be Executed
4 Afghan citizens who were sentenced to death on the charge of "armed drug
trafficking and the murder of a police officer" are scheduled to be executed at
Birjand Central Prison in the next few days.
According to a close source, 4 Afghan citizens are going to be executed at
Birjand Central Prison in the next few days. The prisoners are named Shah
Mohammad Miran Zehi, Eid Mohammad Miran Zehi, Mohammad Miran Zehi, and Ahmad
Shah Saghzehi. The prisoners were sentenced to death on the charge of "armed
drug trafficking and the murder of a police officer".
A co-defendant of the prisoners named Seraj Gavkhor, has been sentenced to 25
years and 1 day. All 5 prisoners are currently held at ward 105 of Birjand
Central Prison. Their verdict was delivered to them on Saturday, August 4, and
they were told that their sentence would be implemented before August 15.
Mohammad Miran Zehi told IHR, "They tortured and forced a confession out of us.
They didn't find any weapons or drugs on us. We were unaware of the incident.
We were tortured and made to accept the accusations. We denied the murder
charge in the court but the judge didn't care. We didn't kill the guard. We
were accused of killing him after we trespassed the border."
He continued, "They told us to admit to murdering a border guard in an assault,
which we didn't. Then they told us that if we admitted to trafficking drugs
from Afghanistan, they would save us from execution, but we didn't accept it.
We only accepted the charges under torture but, in the court, we said that we
were unaware of what happened and we were not involved in the murder at all."
The prisoners were sentenced to death on the charge of "armed drug trafficking"
at branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Birjand.
A close source told IHR, "The defendants were in a village named Bandan when
the border guards attacked them while they possessed no drugs or weapons. But
they were charged with armed possession of 142 kilograms of opium and 2
Kalashnikov rifles." He added, "6 years ago, they were trying to cross the
Iranian-Afghan border illegally when they were attacked by some border guards.
A few days before that, a guard was murdered in an assault, that is why they
tortured and made the defendants confess to murdering the guard."
It's worth mentioning that Birjand Central Prison is located in Birjand, South
Khorasan province.
Iran Human Rights expresses its concern about the lack of a fair trial for
these Afghan citizens and demands that Iranian judicial authorities should stop
the execution of these prisoners immediately and hold a fair trial.
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
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