March 3
BANGLADESH----execution
Bangladesh hangs man for 2012 murder of Saudi embassy official Khalaf
A condemned killer of Saudi embassy official Khalaf Al Ali was hanged at
Kashimpur High Security Central Jail here on Sunday night.
Saiful Islam Mamun was hanged at 10:01pm, said jail super M Shajahan Ahmed.
Later, an ambulance carrying his body started for his village home in Bagerhat,
he said.
Earlier, Mamun's relatives met him at the jail, the jail super said.
On October 7, 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed a review petition filed against
its judgment that upheld Mamun's death penalty in the murder case.
The SC upheld the High Court verdict that gave death sentence to Mamun, and
life term to 3 others -- Md Al Amin, Akbar Ali Lalu and Rafiqul Islam -- for
killing the Saudi embassy official.
Khalaf Al Ali, 45, a non-diplomatic official with the consular section of the
embassy, was shot to death near his Gulshan residence on the night of March 5,
2012.
A murder case was filed with Gulshan Police Station against 5 people, 2 days
after the killing.
On December 30, 2012, a Dhaka court sentenced all the 5 accused of the case to
death.
However, the decision was overturned when the convicts' appeal and death
sentence were sent to the HC.
In 2013, the High Court acquitted fugitive Selim Chowdhury, commuted the
sentences of Md Al Amin, Akbar Ali Lalu and Rafiqul Islam to life in prison and
upheld the death sentence of Saiful Islam Mamun.
The state then filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in 2014.
(source: Dhaka Tribune)
PHILIPPINES:
3 Senate bets want death penalty for plunderers
3 senatorial candidates want to punish politicians found guilty of plunder with
the death penalty.
During the “Fast Talk” round of ABS-CBN’s senatorial forum on Sunday, March 3,
5 Senate bets were asked whether or not they would support reviving the death
penalty for plunderers.
Here’s how the candidates answered:
YES
Gerald Arcega (Labor Party Philippines)
Jonathan Baldevarona (Filipino Family Party)
Emily Mallillin (Independent)
NO
Jesus Caceres (Independent)
Melchor Chavez (Labor Party Philippines)
Both Caceres and Chavez want to maintain the current punishment for plunder,
which is reclusion perpetua or imprisonment of at least 20 years and one day up
to at most 40 years. (READ: Plunder cases in the Philippines: Was anyone
punished?)
Through Republic Act (RA) Number 7659 signed into law by former president Fidel
Ramos, RA 7080 or the plunder law was amended to punish convicted public
officers with "reclusion perpetua to death" in December 1993.
But through RA 9346, the Philippines abolished death penalty in 2006 under
then-president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who remains opposed to
the restoration of capital punishment.
Under RA 9346, the effects of RA 7659 and other laws, executive orders, and
decrees imposing the death penalty were "hereby repealed or amended
accordingly.”
In 2017, the House of Representatives’ initial draft of the death penalty bill
included plunder among the list of punishable crimes. But it was later removed
due to strong opposition from lawmakers. Only drug-related crimes were included
in the final House bill seeking to reimpose the capital punishment.
The measure remains pending at the Senate.
(source: rappler.com)
IRAN:
Iran Vehemently Rejects U.N. Human Rights Report
The Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights has lambasted the United
Nations’ special rapporteur for human rights in Iran for his latest report on
the country.
In his latest report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on February 27,
UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman
voiced concern over human rights violations in Iran, in particular the way the
death penalty is implemented.
A British-Pakistani legal scholar and professor of Islamic law and
international law at Brunel University, Rehman expressed deep regret that
children as young as 9 years old can still be executed, noting that at least 33
minors have been executed since 2013.
Retaliating, the Iranian judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights rejected the
report as baseless, saying Rehman is "misusing his position to spread
propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
Once again, Tehran has responded by targeting the UN rapporteur rather than the
facts reflected in his report, according to human rights activists.
In a statement issued on March 2, the High Council for Human Rights said
Rehman’s numerous "interviews" with various media outlets including the BBC,
which is “well known for its hostile reports against Iran,” are “a blatant
violation” of the UN framework, within which he has been chosen as special
rapporteur, local news outlets reported.
The High Council for Human Rights is led by the brother of the judiciary and
parliament speaker Mohammad Javad Larijani, who cautioned that if the UN high
commissioner is incapable of controlling Rehman's violations and stop his
misbehavior, Tehran will review its overall cooperation with the international
body.
However, Larijani did not elaborate on the accusations leveled against Rehman.
Focusing on the execution of child offenders, Rehman had said that Iran must
"urgently amend legislation to prohibit the execution of persons who committed
[a crime] while below the age of 18 years and as such are children, and
urgently amend the legislation to commute all existing sentences for child
offenders on death row.”
Directly addressing the high authorities in Iran, Rehman had asked them to
provide the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and
the special rapporteur with a list of all child offenders on death row.
Responding to the report, Larijani has sufficed to dismiss Rehman's report as
"baseless" and "unrealistic.”
Echoing Larijani's statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi
also said Iran believes that the extension of the mandate of the special
rapporteur for another year is “unjustifiable and unnecessary.”
Once again, Qassemi stopped short of presenting any evidence proving Rehman's
latest report as irrelevant and unfair.
Tehran has not responded yet to Rahman's allegations, which include coerced
confessions, suppressing workers, teachers, and Sufi dervishes of the Gonabadi
denomination, and widespread discrimination against the Kurdish, Baha'i, and
Sunni minorities.
(source: radiofarda.com)
EGYPT:
Egypt court sentences man to death for killing wife and 3 sons
Kafr al-Sheikh Criminal Court on Saturday sentenced a man who murdered his wife
and 3 sons to the death penalty.
During the last hearing session for the court in the case today, the defendant
pleaded guilty in the murder of his wife and three sons. The judge said the
court has convicted the suspect after finding him guilty of all charges
assigned to him.
The court began hearings in the case last month, during which it heard the
prosecutor’s pleadings and the decision to refer the suspect for criminal
trial. The court also heard the defendant’s defense.
The prosecution charged the suspect for murdering his wife with premeditation,
committing 3 other murders in which he slaughtered his children with
premeditation, and possession of the murder weapon.
The defendant confessed to all charges.
The suspect’s defense attorney, Ahmed Ashour, said that his client became
psychologically unstable and lost control after discovering his wife had a
relationship with another person.
The defense explained that his client had discovered the relationship through
messages on his wife’s phone. Even after she told him that it was an old
relationship, the client was still driven to murder her, Ashour said.
The incident dates back to December 31, when police received a report that a
man found his wife and 3 children slaughtered inside their own apartment.
The investigation found that the husband of the 1st victim and the father of
the children was behind the crime.
During the investigations, the husband admitted to the murder, claiming that
earlier marital disputes made him kill his wife and children.
(source: Egypt Independent)
ZAMBIA:
Any amendments to the constitution will represent the will of the people in
Zambia -Lubinda
Government says it is committed to ensuring that any amendments to the
constitution represent the will of the people.
Speaking in Brussels at the just ended 7th edition of the World congress
against death penalty, Minister of Justice, Hon. Given Lubinda says although
government is in support of the UN declaration of human rights and the
abolishing of the death penalty, the will of the people has to be respected.
He said unlike other laws that could easily be amended, the death penalty is a
constitutional matter that could only be amended through a referendum.
Mr Lubinda revealed that during a referendum to abolish capital punishment,
only 9 out of the 72 districts supported the abolishment.
He explains that although death penalty is still being upheld in the country’s
constitution, no Zambian leader has signed it since 1997.
The minister also explained that since assuming office, Republican President
His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu has so far pardoned 3 prisoners and
commuted 332 prisoners on death row to life imprisonment.
“We have heard that Presidents are not signing warrants of execution this is
because even in Africa politicians are saying NO to death penalty. Globally we
have agreed that we are going to end the death penalty but what is happening in
our sovereign states is different. As the case is in my country, we have had a
moratorium for the last 22 years, in which 600 prisoners on death row were
commuted to life imprisonment and 30 were pardoned. From 2011 to 2016 my
country was going through a constitution review process and the question of the
death penalty was put to the people because it is enshrined in our country’s
constitution. We as law makers cannot just go to parliament and amend the
constitution.
The Zambian government is committed to ensure that the constitution represent
the will of the people through a referendum. We are a government that is always
listening to the collective wisdom of our citizens, and if they decide to vote
for the retention of the death penalty, we do just that”, he explains.
He has since called on the Human Rights activists and Civil Society
Organisations to partner with political leaders and government in the move to
abolish capital punishment.
The world is on the move towards the universal abolition of the death penalty.
As of July 2018, 142 countries had abolished capital punishment either by law
or practice representing 2/3 of the countries while 56 countries have retained
the practise.
The World Congress against the Death Penalty, an essential meeting of
abolitionist activists, encourages countries to make concrete commitments,
mobilizes public opinion and helps to develop common strategies.
The 7th edition of the conference that was organised by Ensemble Contre la
Peine de Mort -ECPM in partnership with the World Coalition Against the Death
Penalty and under the sponsorship of Belgium, the European Parliament,
Switzerland and the European Union attracted 1500 delegates from 115 countries
across the globe representing senior government officials, Community activists,
lawyers defending death row inmates, political leaders, parliamentarians.
(source: Lusaka Times)
INDIA:
Streamline process to ensure hanging of convicts: DCW to Prez
Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal has requested President
Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the judicial process to ensure hanging of the 4
convicts in the 2012 gang-rape-and-murder case.
3 of the 4 convicts in the case, who were sentenced to death, are likely to
file a curative petition challenging the death penalty soon.
A 23-year-old paramedic student, who later came to be known as Nirbhaya
(fearless), was raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a
running bus in South Delhi by 6 persons and severely assaulted before being
thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth
Hospital in Singapore.
One of the accused, Ram Singh, had hanged himself in the jail and another, a
juvenile, was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of 3
years' imprisonment in a reform facility.
In a letter addressed to President Kovind, Maliwal said there should be a fixed
timeline within which the entire judicial process needs to be completed to
avoid such cases from dragging on.
"If deemed fit, your hon'ble self may kindly direct the Union Government to
immediately introduce an ordinance in the country that ensures that in the
cases of rape, the trial is completed within 3 months of the crime and further,
all appeals, review petitions and curative petitions are disposed within the
next 3 months.
There should be guarantee of justice within 6 months," she said, in the letter
to the president. She urged President Kovind to set a definite mechanism to
give justice to victims of rape.
"Further, I sincerely hope that your hon'ble self will issue strict directions
to expedite the judicial process in the case of Nirbhaya and ensure that the
convicts are hanged at the earliest," she said.
(source: thehansindia.com)
*********************
Nithari killings: Surinder Koli given death penalty in 10th case----The CBI
court in Ghaziabad had, on Friday, found him guilty of murder, attempted rape,
abduction and destruction of evidence. It also said that the murder was one of
the “rarest of rare” cases, qualifying it for the death penalty.
A CBI court on Saturday awarded the death penalty to Surinder Koli for
murdering and then dismembering the body of a 14-year-old girl, one of the
victims in the infamous Nithari killing case.
The CBI court in Ghaziabad had, on Friday, found him guilty of murder,
attempted rape, abduction and destruction of evidence. It also said that the
murder was one of the “rarest of rare” cases, qualifying it for the death
penalty.
The gruesome killings had come to light in 2005-06 in Noida’s Nithari, where
children and women disappeared and later their body parts were found in drain
near Koli’s employer businessman Moninder Singh Pandher’s house in Sector-31.
According to the investigation into the present case, Koli had lured the
14-year-old girl to his employer’s house on March 15, 2005 and later murdered
her.
The girl was among 16 Nithari victims who were allegedly murdered by Koli.
“He (Koli) called in the poor girl and tried to rape her. But he killed her
when he failed. He later cut her body part and ate it after cooking... He later
cut the body into pieces and disposed them off,” the court said in its
judgment.
“Such gruesome, cruel and inhuman act has no such previous example. Such act
has shaken the society and it will lose faith in law if any mercy is shown...
The act by the accused fall under the category of rarest of rare,” the order
further said.
Saturday’s was the tenth of the sixteen cases related to Nithari killings.
The CBI filed charge sheets in 16 Nithari cases and Koli was named in all for
murder, destruction of evidence and rape attempt. The rest of 16 cases against
Koli are under advanced stages of trial.
Apart from Koli who was charge-sheeted in all 16 cases, the CBI charge-sheeted
his employer Pandhar in a single case under the provisions of the Immoral
Trafficking Act. During the course of trial Pandher was summoned by the court
as co-accused in 5 cases.
Out of 9 cases decided against Koli, 1 is pending at the Supreme Court while
eight are pending appeal at the Allahabad high court. The 10th case will also
go in an appeal at the high court.
Koli is confined to Dasna jail in Ghaziabad ever since he was arrested in
December 2006.
“I am innocent as all the cases against me were built up on the basis of my
confessional statement,” Koli told media outside the court. “The statements
were given under CBI’s pressure. Even the parents of the victim never stated
anything against me. I am defending myself in court since 2011 and also taking
up arguments in my case. There are a lot of contradictions in statements of
prosecution witnesses.”
(source: Hindustan Times)
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