August 20
SRI LANKA:
SC informs Parliament petitions on death penalty rejected
The Supreme Court (SC) has informed Parliament that 3 petitions submitted
against the implementation of the death penalty have been rejected.
Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri informed Parliament today about the ruling of
the Supreme Court.
(source: menafn.com)
MALAYSIA:
Biggest drug bust in Malaysian history: Almost 4 tonnes seized worth over half
a billion ringgit
More than a half a billion ringgit worth of ketamine and cocaine have been
seized in a joint operation between Bukit Aman and the Customs Department at
Pusat Perdagangan Alam Jaya, Puncak Alam.
Said to be the biggest drug bust to date, over three tonnes of cocaine and half
a ton of ketamine were seized during the joint raid.
Facebook page Kuala Selangor Official uploaded a post at around 6pm on Monday
(Aug 19), saying that authorities found 500kg of ketamine and over 3.23 tons of
cocaine worth more than RM676mil.
It is learnt that a team of Customs Department enforcement division and Federal
Narcotic Crime Investigation Department personnel arrested four local and nine
foreign men after raiding a shoplot at Jalan PPAJ 1/1, Pusat Perdangan Alam
Jaya, at around 4.30pm on Sunday (Aug 18).
The raiding party discovered 11 gunny sacks containing over 500kg of white
powder, believed to be ketamine.
Several hours later, the team was then led by two of the suspects to another
shoplot at Jalan Musytari U5/AN, Subang Pelangi, U5 Shah Alam, where they
discovered over three tons of compressed bricks, believed to be cocaine.
It is also learnt that all the suspects and the seized items have been taken to
the Bukit Aman NCID headquarters for further action.
The case is being investigated as drug trafficking under Section 39B of the
Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death penalty upon
conviction.
As of 2019, one kilogramme of ketamine has a street value of RM60,000, while a
kilogramme of cocaine is worth at least RM200,000.
Customs director-general Datuk Seri Paddy Abd Halim confirmed the case, calling
it the biggest drug bust in history.
"It is a collaboration between Customs and the police.
"Our target is to rid the country of the drug menace," he told The Star.
He saluted his personnel, as well as NCID personnel, in successfully carrying
out this major operation.
"We expect to divulge further details during a press conference on Friday (Aug
23)," he said.
(source: thestar.com.my)
IRAQ:
Iraq has executed 100 since January, 8,000 on death row: official
More than 100 individuals have been executed in Iraq since January, with a
staggering 8,000 more on death row, according to Iraq's UN-approved human
rights body.
The execution figures came from Iraqi Ministry of Justice data that was
reviewed by the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, according to one
commission member.
"According to the data of the Iraqi Justice Ministry that have been reviewed by
the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, over 100 people have been executed
in Iraq," Hemin Bajalan told Rudaw English on Sunday. "There are 8,022
prisoners in Iraq convicted with execution."
Iraq has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, and is ranked in
the top four along with Iran, Saudi Arabia and China, according to Human Rights
Watch's 2019 report, which documented the year prior.
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government has not made public the number of
executions it carried out this year, according to the watchdog.
"Iraqi authorities handed down hundreds of death sentences to those convicted
under counterterrorism legislation and carried out executions without
publicizing any official numbers or sharing this information with international
actors," Human Rights Watch report read.
The trials were also rushed and were sometimes based on a single confession or
missing victims' testimonies, according to the report.
The 100 plus figure marks a big increase in Iraqi executions. In 2018, more
than 52 recorded executions took place in Iraq, according to a report from
Amnesty International.
The more than 8,000 people with death sentences is also a striking increase
from 2018. At the end of that year, Amnesty reported that there were more than
285 people with death sentence.
Iraqi security forces captured Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS) in late
2017, and subsequently put its alleged members and affiliates on trial. The
US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria have also
transferred hundreds of ISIS fighters into Iraqi custody.
Iraq is known to have conducted fast trials for ISIS members, often without
sufficient evidence.
One member of parliament said Iraq is asking Western countries to take back
their citizens who joined ISIS.
"There are many foreign ISIS fighters in Iraqi prisons, and Iraq is frequently
demanding the western countries to take back their citizens who are Daesh
militants," Bakhtiyar Shawis, a member of the parliament's human rights
committee, told Rudaw English, referring to ISIS by its Arabic acronym.
Shawis said Iraq is currently negotiating with some countries on the
repatriation of ISIS fighters. Parliament, however, has yet to deliberate on
the issue, according to him.
"We have not discussed the execution issue in the parliament until now," said
Shawis.
There are 26 prisons throughout Iraq that contain at least 37,113 prisoners. Of
those, 18,306 are imprisoned on terrorism charges, according to an August
report by the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights.
2 officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Justice Rudaw spoke to declined to
discuss the execution figures.
In the Kurdistan Region, Sulaimani authorities confirmed in May that they
executed an ISIS militant from Baghdad after he was detained in Kirkuk in May.
'Bad conditions'
At present, there is not enough room in the Iraqi penal system to accommodate
all those locked up, according to Bajalan.
"Due to the bad conditions prisons in Iraq are facing, the prisoners are
finding it difficult to fit into one prison," he said. "For that reason, Iraq
should deliver more facilities to the prisons."
Other observers have noted poor conditions in Iraqi prisons as well. According
to a July report also by Human Rights Watch, prisons in the Nineveh province
feature overcrowding and "degrading conditions." Some of the prisons in Nineveh
are supposed to house a maximum capacity of 2,500 people, but are holding
around 4,500 prisoners and detainees. Women and children are among those in the
prisons, according to the organization.
Nineveh police have denied inhumane conditions in the prisons and rejected the
Human Rights Watch report, calling it "not true."
Iraqi lawmakers visited the prisons in July, and described the overcrowding and
conditions there as "tragic" and "catastrophic."
(source: rudaw.net)
EGYPT:
6 sentenced to death over forming 'Kerdasa committee' terror cell
Giza Criminal Court handed down on Monday a death penalty to 6 people over
founding a terrorist group that aimed to disrupt the constitution and killing 3
persons including a policeman.
The court acquitted 14 others of all charges.
The documents of the defendants in the case known as “Kerdasa Public Resistance
Committee,” were referred to the Grand Mufti in May to seek his non-binding
opinion over sentencing the defendants to death.
The defendants also face charges of possessing weapons and ammunition without a
license.
The public prosecutor charged the defendants with forming a terrorist group in
2013 near Kerdasa police station to disrupt the provisions of the Constitution
and the law and prevent state institutions from performing their duties.
Also, 41 defendants in the case were sentenced to life (25 years in prison)
including 28 in absentia, and 7 defendants were handed a 15 year-imprisonment
sentence.
A juvenile in the case was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Since 2013, Egypt has witnessed numerous terrorist attacks, mainly by the
Islamic State-affiliated Sinai Province militant group, causing the death of
hundreds of policemen, army troops and civilians during attacks on security
checkpoints, churches and recently a mosque.
The year 2013 marks the ousting of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President
Mohamed Morsi and the death of dozens of policemen and hundreds of Morsi
supporters during the dispersal of pro-Morsi protests in Al-Nahda and Rabaa
Al-Adaweya squares. The 2 parties hold each other responsible for the violence.
In February 2018, under the title "Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018", Egypt's
Armed Forces launched a comprehensive military operation targeting the hotbeds
of terrorists especially in Northern and Central Sinai. Despite announcing the
death of dozens of terrorists from time to time since then, the army has not
yet announced the end of the battle.
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi who has announced war against terrorism even
before he assumed post as president in 2014, said in May that the "war against
terrorism did not and will not end before we retaliate for every martyr who
died for the sake of their homeland."
(source: egypttoday.com)
CAMEROON:
Michèle Ndoki, a symbol of political hope, faces death penalty
Sentenced to 6 months in prison for taking part in a banned demonstration,
lawyer and activist Michèle Ndoki of the opposition Mouvement pour la
Renaissance du Cameroun (MRC) faces the death penalty in other cases.
Aboard the black Toyota Prado, which is driving her to the Nigerian border on
February 26, Michèle Ndoki is taking every precaution to leave the country in
complete discretion. Her companion, who remains her only intermediary with the
rest of the world, does the same by turning off his phone, after briefly
answering a few phone calls.
The lawyer has felt in danger since she was shot 3 times in the thigh on the
sidelines of an MRC demonstration. For nearly a month, she lived as a recluse
in her residence in Limbe. Tired of this situation, she is counting on this
journey to make herself safe.
But the journey will be short. Although wearing a long loincloth dress and a
large scarf almost covering her face, the officials at the Ekok border crossing
have no difficulty in recognizing the person who has just distinguished
herself, through her advocacy, as the star of the post-election hearings.
The arresting officer does not have an arrest warrant, he presents her with a
“list of political activists banned from leaving the territory” on which her
name appears. The lawyer protests, even though she knows she won’t be able to
make him see reason.
On the same day, she was transferred to Yaoundé and then incarcerated some time
later in the main prison of Kondengui.
The news of Michèle Ndoki’s arrest caused a shock wave across the public
sphere.
Condemnation and support arrive from all sides. Civil society organizations
denounce an “arbitrary arrest”, the national bar association calls for her
“immediate release”, the economist Célestin Monga salutes her “courage”… An
improbable fate for the woman who was unknown in Cameroon’s political sphere 2
years ago – despite years of activism.
Beginnings in the business community
Far from the political arena, it was to the business community that the young
lawyer turned when she returned to Cameroon in 1997.
Michèle Ndoki had just graduated in law with a specialization in business law
from the University of Reims. In the same year, she joined the law firm Ngwe &
Associés of the famous lawyer Marie-Andrée Ngwe, as a lawyer in consulting and
corporate law.
Her former colleagues describe a “hard worker”, “passionate about law”. She
left Ngwe & Associés five years after joining it, to embark on a career as an
independent consultant.
This choice led her to work in several multinationals as a legal manager. From
2006 to 2012, her journey takes her through telecoms giant Orange, the Diageo
Group (owner of the Guinness brand), Sanofi Laboratories and Gicam
respectively.
Her career is dazzling, but the call of the bar is even more so. “She always
wanted to be a lawyer. But when she returned to Cameroon, she felt that the
judicial system was very inefficient and that it was difficult to defend
clients in such a context,” confided one of her relatives.
In 2014, Michèle Ndoki is working to return to the law by successfully passing
the internship access exam. The following year, she won the French-speaking
advocacy contest against the death penalty, organized by the collective
Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM).
From homosexual rights to human rights
During this competition, the trainee lawyer recounts the murder committed by
Jacques Dubuisson of his wife Marie-Thérèse Ngo Badjeck, ‘adopting’ the guise
of their 11-year-old son, a witness to the facts.
The case, which dates back to 2011, had made a lot of noise in Cameroon.
Michèle Ndoki’s work does not go unnoticed. Alice Kom, the first woman admitted
to the Cameroonian Bar and a pioneer in the defence of homosexual rights, is
impressed.
She contacted her and offered to put her talent at the service of civil
society. Michèle Ndoki is “thirsty for the challenge”, she doesn’t ask for
anything.
She is seen alongside Alice Kom in the activities of the Association for the
Defence of Homosexual Rights (Adefho), or even in the interior of the country
on behalf of Freedom Generation, an association for the defence of freedoms and
human rights of which she is the co-founder.
Her ideals bring her closer to lawyers Emmanuel Simh, Christopher Ndong and
Désiré Sikati, who wish to bring her into the ranks of the MRC. They are not
the first to do so. In July 2013, the opponent Maurice Kamto, leader of the
party, offered her a job.
Political commitment
At that time, the MRC was accused of being a party composed solely of the
Bamilékés (the ethnic group of Maurice Kamto) and it wanted to diversify the
sociological composition of its cadres.
With a brief stint at Garga Haman Adji’s Alliance for Democracy and Development
(ADD), and two years of activism in Edith Kah Walla’s Cameroon’s people party
(CPP), Michèle Ndoki’s profile is compelling.
The daughter of the former deputy mayor CPDM of Douala 1st district, Michèle
Ndoki, wants to get involved at the local level, and seeks to have her project
supported by a credible political party.
The political calculation is done, the marriage with the MRC takes place in
December 2016. “The passion with which he[Maurice Kamto] spoke about his vision
for our beautiful country touched my heart,” she explained on that occasion.
But beyond the speech, Michèle Ndoki mainly obtains the assurance of being
invested by the MRC as a candidate to be a member of parliament.
Maurice Kamto trusted her. Michèle Ndoki is now everywhere: She became the
departmental head of the MRC in the Douala 1st constituency, then first
national vice-president of women of the party.
For the presidential election of October 2018, the MRC candidate appoints her
to the pool in charge of his communication. Ndoki initiated the merger between
Maurice Kamto and Akere Muna, who were to form a coalition on the eve of the
election.
She is also the one who defends the request for partial annulment of the
election during the historical post-electoral litigation hearing.
On that day, Michèle Ndoki carried out an exegesis of the electoral code and
concluded that the results held by the Constitutional Council were not
reliable.
The audience is broadcast live on all local television channels. And even if
neither her arguments, nor those of her colleagues in Maurice Kamto’s defence,
succeed in convincing the eleven members of the council, Cameroonians on all
sides are won over and welcome this commitment, which is rarely seen among the
country’s women politicians.
Almost 5 months after her incarceration, Michèle Ndoki still bears the traces
of her political struggles. The scars of the bullets received on 26 January,
and the baton blows received during the march of 27 October 2018 in Douala.
From the cell she shares with 8 other detainees, the one who had previously
refused French nationality is considering contributing to the resolution of the
conflict in the English-speaking area.
“It is time to fight to make our nation shine again,” she announced on social
networks through her collaborators.
Also accused of “group rebellion”, “hostility against the homeland”, “illegal
immigration” and “incitement to insurrection”, she now faces the death penalty.
(source: theafricareport.com)
PAKISTAN:
Zahra Shahid murder: SHC commutes death sentence into life term
Sindh High Court (SHC) has commuted the death sentence awarded to 2 convicts in
PTI leader Zahra Shahid’s murder case into life term, ARY News reported on
Tuesday.
An Anti Terrorism Court had awarded death sentence along with fine to 2
culprits of the murder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zahra Shahid,
in its verdict on August 31 last year.
Ms Shahid was shot dead outside her residence in Karachi’s Defence Housing
Authority Phase-IV in May 2013.
Convicts Rashid Tailor and Zahid Abbas Zaidi had challenged their conviction by
the ATC in Sindh High Court.
The defence counsel in his arguments said that the case against his clients was
registered nine days after the murder incident. He also said that the
statements by the witnesses were contradictory.
The bench after arguments of the prosecution and defence commuted death
sentence of the 2 convicts into life imprisonment.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) had convicted Rashid Tailor and Zahid Abbas Zaidi
and awarded them capital punishment. The same court had also acquitted two
accused, Irfan and Kaleem, for want of evidence.
(source: arynews.tv)
******************
SC acquits 2 life imprisonment accused
The Supreme Court on Monday acquitted 2 death sentence accused giving them
benefit of doubt.
The trial court had given capital punishment to Qaisar Butt and Abdul Ghaffar
over murder of taxi driver Manzoor Ahmed in 2008. The Lahore High Court
converted the death penalty into life imprisonment in 2013. The accused
challenged the LHC order in the apex court.
A 3-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan
Khosa heard the case.
During the course of proceedings, the state prosecutor said both the accused
had booked Manzoor Ahmed’s taxi cab and 2 pistols were also recovered from
their possession.
The chief justice observed that the accused could not be convicted on the basis
that they were were seen accompanying the victim. The suspects were found
accompanying the deceased Mamzoor Ahmed 24 hours before the incident, he added.
(source: brecorder.com)
NIGERIA:
UN expert on extrajudicial executions to visit Nigeria
The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
Agnes Callamard, will visit Nigeria from 19 August to 2 September 2019 to
investigate issues concerning her mandate.
“I look forward to understanding the scope of the challenges confronted with
regard to arbitrary deprivations of life and measures taken by the Government
on such issues as the implementation of counter terrorism policies and the
conflicts between communities in Nigeria”, Callamard said.
“I will also investigate violations of the right to life of women, minorities,
indigenous people, members of the LGBTI community, internally displaced persons
and human rights defenders.”
Callamard will also consider abuses committed by State security agencies and
non-State actors, particularly in the North East and South of the country, as
well as actions taken by the State to hold perpetrators accountable for their
crimes.
She will also assess measures adopted by the State to address and prevent
killings in clashes between herders and farmers in the central part of the
country, with a special focus on the impact of climate change on rural
communities.
The Special Rapporteur will also examine issues relating to safeguards over the
use of the death penalty, mainly in relation to the situation of inmates on
death row and the laws applied by Sharia courts.
Callamard will meet officials at federal and state level, as well as the
national human rights institution and representatives of UN agencies,
non-governmental organisations and civil society. She will also visit areas
outside the capital, Abuja.
At the end of her visit, the Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference on
2 September 2019 to share her preliminary findings with the media. Her final
report on the visit will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
in June 2020.
* Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/Home.aspx
(source: ekklesia.co.uk)
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