December 4
MALAYSIA:
Family members of death row prisoners hope for 2nd chance
Families of several prisoners on death row are hoping that the government goes
ahead with the plan to abolish the death penalty even though there is a lot of
opposition against it.
They hope that society can forgive their family members for the crimes they
committed and that they are given a 2nd chance.
Yong Wong, 80, hopes that she is able to see her 57-year-old son Chong Yun Fatt
walk free one day after he was convicted of trafficking drugs 31 years ago.
She said her son admitted to what he did but said he did it because he wanted
to help his family after his father walked out on them.
Yong said she had worked as a rubber tapper and that her son only wanted to see
her have a better life.
Her son is currently in the Simpang Renggam prison.
"He was a good son and he loved me very much. He only wanted the best for me.
He has regretted his actions very much," she said with tears during a press
conference on Tuesday (Dec 4).
A total of 6 families spoke at the press conference, which was organised by the
Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and the Geha Bodhi Buddhist
group.
4 cases were drug-related, one was for kidnap while another was for an accident
case.
Chandra Segaran, 68, admitted that his son Senguttawan, 33, was guilty due to
his involvement in an accident case that resulted in the death of a 2-year-old
child.
He, however, questioned why his son was charged with murder and not under the
Road Transport Act.
He claimed that his son was fleeing the police at the time and in his panic,
crashed into a wedding party, causing the death of the child 5 years ago.
"It's a mistake but couldn't he be given 10 to 15 years in prison? That would
be fair. He didn't have any intention," said Chandra.
For the other families, the cases were not so clear, as they claimed their
family members were framed.
The family members of G. Selvam, 41, and Rizalmi Mohd, 42, refused to accept
their guilt for drug-related crimes, claiming that they were wrongly convicted.
Ng Ah Kwai said her son Chew Wai Keong was wrongly accused in a kidnap case
that resulted in the death of a man.
She claimed that her son's boss had used his identity card to rent a room where
the dead person was found.
"My son didn't know what was going on. No one seemed to believe that he could
be involved in such a thing. He always was with me and never stayed away," she
said.
She added that she wanted her son to get another trial in court.
In October, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong
said that the Cabinet had decided to abolish the death penalty, with a
moratorium for those on death row.
A proposed Bill to abolish the death penalty is expected to be tabled at the
next Dewan Rakyat sitting.
However, in a recent survey of 3,600 respondents conducted by The Star Online,
almost 1/2 of Malaysians surveyed were against the Cabinet’s plan to abolish
the death penalty.
About 45% felt the death penalty was needed to keep hardcore criminals at bay
while 32% said it was still needed for violent crimes, especially crimes
against children.
Recently, several family members of murder victims had come out to say that
there would be no justice should the death penalty be abolished.
(source: thestar.com.my)
*******************
What happened to bill to abolish death penalty, asks rights group
Rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has questioned the delay in tabling a
bill to abolish the death sentence despite the government’s recent assurance
that the capital punishment would be axed for 33 offences.
LFL adviser N Surendran said no such bill had even appeared in the
parliamentary order paper, whether in the list for first reading or in the
orders of the day.
In a statement, he said this was cause for concern as the current session of
the Dewan Rakyat would end by next week.
“We understand that the bill to abolish the death penalty has been given to the
Cabinet for approval. Who, or what, is then holding it up?”
On Oct 10, de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong said the death penalty would be
abolished, with a bill on the matter to be tabled in the current Parliament
sitting which began on Oct 15.
He later said inmates on death row would serve 30 years’ life imprisonment
under the proposed abolition.
There were 1,267 prisoners on death row as of October, about 900 of whom were
convicted of drug offences, including trafficking in dangerous drugs.
Surendran said the decision to table the bill must be made at the Cabinet
meeting this week.
He urged the government leaders not to forget the ideals they fought for during
their time in the opposition, warning that any backtracking or compromise in
their decision to abolish the death penalty would paint them as “weak,
indecisive and untrustworthy”.
“Another U-turn would be devastating for public confidence in the new
government,” he said.
“We urge the Cabinet to direct the minister in charge to table the bill in the
Dewan Rakyat at least by Dec 10, which is international human rights day.
“This would be a fitting present to the Malaysian people, who voted for
justice, the rule of law and the upholding of human rights on May 9.”
(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)
********************
No more U-turns, table death penalty bill by next week, says lawyers’ group
Lawyers for Liberty advisor N. Surendran says the Pakatan government must table
the bill to abolish the death penalty before the end of the current Parliament
session next week. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, December 4, 2018.
PUTRAJAYA must table the bill to abolish the death penalty before the end of
the current Parliament session next week to prove that it is not backtracking
on its earlier decision, said Lawyers for Liberty.
The group’s advisor, N. Surendran, said the Pakatan Harapan administration
would appear weak if it backtracked on the decision to do away with the death
penalty.
(source: themalaysianinsight.com)
ZIMBABWE:
Zimbabwe To Abolish Death Penalty
Zimbabwe’ cabinet, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary affairs minister Ziyambi
Ziyambi says he will soon receive a proposal on abolishing the death penalty in
the country. Ziyambi told delegates at the 11th international meeting of the
ministers of justice in Rome on Sunday that the death sentence was not only
cruel and degrading punishment, but also destroyed life.
This development comes at a time when Zimbabwe has 81 prisoners on the death
row, while 127 are serving life terms.
Ziyambi also said Zimbabwe’s 2013 constitution had pointed the country in this
direction on the question of death penalty. He said the constitution provides
for the death penalty if a person were convicted of murder committed in
aggravating circumstances.
He made distinctions that the constitution stipulates the death sentence must
not be imposed on women, male persons under 21 years of age, and more than 70
years old if convicted of murder committee in aggravating circumstances.
The minister also said researches in criminology have shown that the death
penalty does not serve as a deterrent, but compounds the commission of crimes.
(source: annafrica.net)
UGANDA:
Woman escapes hanging, jailed 30 years for husband's murder
A 65-year-old woman has survived hanging after the Supreme Court reversed her
death penalty to 30 years in jail for murder of her husband. A panel of 5
Justices of the Supreme Court substituted a death sentence handed to Ms
Yusitina Aharikundira upon the reasoning that mitigating factors outweighed the
aggravating factors.
The judgement was delivered by Jotham Tumwesigye, assisted by justices Esther
Kisaakye, Stella Arach Amoko, Opio Aweri and Lilian Tibatemwa. “…the appellant
brutally murdered her husband and cut off his body parts in cold blood. The
maximum sentence for this offence is death. That notwithstanding, the appellant
was first offender with no previous criminal record and is of an advanced age.
Further, she did not bother court on 2nd appeal regarding her conviction and
displayed remorsefulness. The appellant was the surviving spouse and mother of
6 children,” the court ruled.
In 2006, the High Court sentenced Ms Aharikundira to death for murder of her
husband, Vicensio Kajura and the same punishment had been confirmed by the
Court of Appeal.
The murder of Kajura, a retired tea estate worker, stemmed from a disagreement
with his wife over sale of cows and land in Rutundwe Cell, Kyasano Parish in
Kamuganguzi Sub-county in Kabale District.
The Supreme Court justices held that it is the duty of court while dealing with
appeals regarding sentencing to ensure consistency with cases that have similar
facts because the rule of law requires laws to be applied with equality and
without unjustifiable differentiation.
According to the judgment, there is a high threshold to be met for an appellate
court to intervene in the sentence handed down by a trial judge on grounds of
it being manifestly excessive.
Aharikundira, through her lawyer, Mr Andrew Ssebugwawo, appealed to the Supreme
Court challenging the death sentence arguing it was excessive.
(source: monitor.co.ug)
IRAN:
Juvenile Offender Milad Azimi May be at Risk of Execution----According to
Article 91 of Iran's revised Islamic Penal Code, it is up to the presiding
judge's discretion to deem the juvenile mature enough to understand the nature
of the offense
Milad Azimi is a juvenile offender who allegedly committed a murder at the age
of 17. His death sentence was upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court a few months
ago. The plaintiff has set a diyeh (blood-money) of 500 millions Toman
(approximately 50.000 USD) with the deadline of December 4. Milad's family are
not able to pay that amount of money. Therefore, if he fails to win the
plaintiff’s consent, his execution will be carried out quite soon. Local civil
society activists have been trying to collect money to save Milad's life.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) urges the Iranian authorities to stop juvenile
executions and calls on the international community to act in order to save
Milad's life.
According to the IHR sources, a student was killed during a gang fight on
December 8, 2013, at a high school in the Iranian city of Kermanshah. Milad was
one of the students participating in the fight and was arrested by police on
murder charges. He was born on December 21, 1995, and was 17 at the time of the
offense.
Milad's case was sent to the forensic medicine which confirmed Milad's
maturity. A close relative of Milad told IHR, “We were there (forensic
medicine) at the time of the scheduled examination. Everything went so quickly.
They just visited him for a short time and concluded that he is mature enough
to take responsibility for his action.”
According to Article 91 of Iran's revised Islamic Penal Code, it is up to the
presiding judge's discretion to deem the juvenile mature enough to understand
the nature of the offense: "In the cases of offenses punishable by hadd or
qisas, if mature people under 18 years do not realize the nature of the crime
committed or its prohibition, or if there is uncertainty about their full
mental development, according to their age, they shall be sentenced to the
punishments prescribed in this chapter." Otherwise, the Islamic Penal Code puts
the age of criminal responsibility 15 years for males and 9 years for females.
Milad’s case proves once more that Article 91 has not resulted in stop nor even
decrease of juvenile executions in Iran. From the application of article 91 in
2013 to the end of November 2018, at least 41 juvenile offenders have been
hanged in Iranian prisons. So far in 2018, at least 6 juvenile offenders have
been executed in Iran.
Despite ratifying the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Iran is
the world's top executioner of juvenile offenders.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
TUNISIA:
Arrest of Tunisia nurse who raped dozens of patients
The Tunisian security forces finally arrested a nurse accused of raping dozens
of patients in a hospital in the capital.
Media sources said that a male nurse at the mental hospital Mongi Ben Hamida in
the capital was arrested after it turned out that he had raped dozens of
patients.
The investigation indicated that the defendant was using sleeping pills to
carry out his crimes against patients in the hospital. He was investigated in
2016 on charges of harassment but was released because there was “insufficient
evidence” which prove his involvement.
However, one of his victims finally identified him, gave his descriptions to
the security forces, and filed a legal complaint against him.
Tunisian law classifies rape as a terrorist offence. The Anti-Terrorism Law
permits the death penalty for anyone who, in the context of a terrorist crime,
deliberately rapes a female victim. Assaults on a male or female can be 20
years imprisonment with a fine up to 100,000dinars (around $55,000). The
penalty is life imprisonment if the victim is under the age of 18, or if the
perpetrator resorts to threats and use of arms.
Researchers and activists have proposed tougher penalties for rape, starting
with “castration” and reaching “public torture” to become a lesson to others.
(source: middleeasemonitor.com)
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