Sept. 5
SOUTH AFRICA:
The death of capital punishment in SA
The Constitutional Court abolished the death sentence in 1995, with a unanimous
landmark judgment penned by then-ConCourt president Arthur Chaskalson.
Everyone has the right to life.
That’s the full text of chapter 2, section 11 of the Bill of Rights in the
Constitution – and the phrases “capital punishment” and “death penalty” do not
occur in the document.
According to a 2016 study by the South African Institute of Race Relations
(IRR), Is there a case for South Africa to reintroduce the death penalty?,
between 1910 and 1975, about 2 740 people were executed and another 1 100
between 1981 and 1989.
The charge for the return of the death penalty began with the Inkatha Freedom
Party (IFP) last year and was brought back to life last week by the African
Transformation Movement (ATM).
“The last hanging took place in 1989, following which the then state president,
FW de Klerk, put a stop to them pending a decision on capital punishment by the
Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa),” the IRR study stated.
“Although Codesa adopted a comprehensive Bill of Rights as part of the 1993
constitution, it did not outlaw capital punishment, leaving that matter to the
court. When it issued its prohibition on further executions in 1995, possibly
as many as 400 people were waiting on death row.”
Until it was abolished, capital punishment had been implemented not only for
murder but also for rape, housebreaking and robbery or attempted robbery with
aggravating circumstances, sabotage, training abroad to further the aims of
communism, kidnapping, terrorism and treason.
The Constitutional Court abolished the death sentence in 1995, with a unanimous
landmark judgment penned by then president of the Constitutional Court Arthur
Chaskalson.
The judge was deciding on the futures of 2 accused convicted on four counts of
murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of robbery with aggravating
circumstances in S v Makwanyane and Another.
“Retribution cannot be accorded the same weight under our Constitution as the
rights to life and dignity, which are the most important of all the rights in
chapter three,” Chaskalson said before banishing capital punishment.
***********************
The EFF does not support the death penalty – Malema
Despite SA’s current wave of violence, the EFF leader says ‘our brothers and
sisters will be the ones that are hanged’ if capital punishment returns.
Addressing the media at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Economic
Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema disagreed with the death penalty as
a way of dealing with the scourge of violence against women and children in
South Africa.
“We don’t support death penalty. Anyone who suggests death penalty must give
scientific evidence of where death penalty has succeeded in reducing crime,” he
said.
“The legal system in SA is very expensive, you may be wrongfully accused and
because you can’t afford proper legal representation, you will be hanged. In a
system that hates black people, our brothers and sisters will be the ones that
are hanged.
“We need a biting criminal justice system. The laws are there, our police are
the ones that are failing us,” he continued.
This followed Malema addressing the recent murders of women Uyinene Mrwetyana,
Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels, Janika Mallo, as well as Ayakha Jiyani and her
siblings.
“The reality is that these are not unique cases, but a reflection of the daily
experiences of women and children who face the threat of rape, abuse, and death
in both private and public spaces,” he said.
“The solution to these problems must lie in fixing our public institutions of
law enforcement; the police stations, prosecutors, and judges who care.
“Perpetrators of sexual crimes in our country know that women never get any
help from the system and thus they perpetrate their crimes on them with
impunity.
“Our criminal justice system is most toothless when it comes to dealing with
rape, detecting psychopaths and unearthing violent domestic spaces.
“The power of the law must precisely be so effective that it is observed by all
in public and domestic spaces because they know there are consequences.
“It is, therefore, the police and the criminal justice system that must take
full responsibility for why rape and murder of women and children has become
part of our daily lives.
“We call on a national emergency on police stations to be radically and
urgently reconfigured as safe spaces for the report of sexual crimes. We call
on investigative capacity to be immediately developed to detect sexual violence
in domestic and private spaces,” the EFF leader said.
“We need caring judges; who are welcoming and sensitive, not those who seem to
perpetuate the intimidating nature of court,” he added later in his address.
(source for both: The Citizen)
*********************
Department of Justice responds to calls for the death penalty in South Africa
The Department of Justice and Correctional Services has issued a lengthy
statement shooting down calls for a referendum on bringing back the death
penalty in South Africa.
South African citizens, civil rights groups and political representatives have
called on government to take action, following a string of reports detailing
brutal and violent crimes against women in the country.
The latest report, of the rape and murder of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana at
the hands of a South African Post Office worker, spurred public outrage,
underpinning police statistics such as the 3,000 women who are murdered each
year, and 50,000 more who are victims of sexual offences.
Talk of the death penalty entered the fray through a Change.org petition, which
drew over 500,000 responses, calling for a referendum on the capital punishment
to be reinstated for those convicted of violent crimes, including crimes
against women and children.
At a press conference on the murders and public response, justice minister
Ronald Lamola said that the question of bringing back the death penalty would
have to be taken to cabinet to discuss.
While many took this as the reinstatement of the death penalty being up for
consideration, the department says this is not the case at all.
“Cabinet does discuss current affairs confronting the country – and therefore
if this (death penalty) is one of them, it is conceivable that the cabinet
would discuss these sentiments,” the department said.
However, it pointed out that the Bill of Rights, which provides the tapestry of
human rights for all South Africans, protected under law, enshrines the right
to life for all – and it is not something that can simply be removed through a
referendum.
Specifically, the constitution is structured so as “to protect us from our own
whims”; and to ensure that all are equal before the law.
“We cannot subject our Bill of Rights to a referendum. The basis of the
constitutional order we are building is premised on the need to protect all
those who may not necessarily be protected adequately through a democratic
process – where sheer numbers will determine the extent of that protection.
“Today we will subject the prohibition of the death penalty to a referendum.
Tomorrow, it will be to re-criminalise abortion. Later it will be to take away
the protection accorded to the LGBTIQ community,” the department said.
“This is the effective dismantling of the constitutional supremacy and the
vision of building a new society.”
The death penalty is a bad idea
The department said that the call to reinstate the death penalty in South
Africa is flawed “in many ways”.
On top of the wider constitutional ramifications outlined above, there is
enough evidence available to show that it simply does not work to deter or
reduce violent crimes.
In South Africa, while violent crime is still too high, over the past 2
decades, the incidence of violent crime has halved – from a murder rate of 67
per 100,000 people in 1994 to 33 per 100,000 in 2015.
“Clearly the evidence shows that the death penalty was not a determining factor
in reducing murder rates. In fact, the murder rate declined significantly after
the death penalty was abolished,” the department said.
The department said that the death penalty also would not deal with femicide or
other forms of violence against women, as there is a prevailing set of
ideologies – that of male supremacy and entitlement – which drives these
crimes.
This needs to be tackled in all spheres of society and government – from
personal relationships to policing and policy.
The department said that South Africa needs to improve the entire value chain
of criminal justice to combat violent crime – from investigation, arrest,
prosecution, incarceration and rehabilitation and reintegration.
“As things stand, only 10% of those who commit murder are caught and convicted.
This needs to change. A quick-fix populist approach is likely to make the
situation worse over the long term,” the department said.
“There is therefore no easy fix. The ministry will not be tempted by rather
populist calls for the return of the death penalty,” it said.
(source: businesstech.co.za)
******************
No turning back on the death penalty ---- Outrage over violence against women
puts focus on court ruling that section in Criminal Procedure Act allowing for
capital punishment is incompatible with the constitution
The rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana in Cape Town rightly sparked an
outburst of anger in a country that one would have thought has grown inured to
gender violence.
But no one would have expected the justice minister turning it into a
discussion about the sanctity of the constitution and inadvertently
highlighting how populism is especially dangerous in a time of crisis. When a
nation is mourning and angry, constitutional niceties can seem a luxury, and
politicians, having seen their own impotence exposed by such events, cannot be
counted on to defend it.
The crime against the young UCT student who was attacked and killed while
picking up the post, alongside the shooting and killing of boxing champion
Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels on Friday by a man serving as a police officer, is
worthy of nationwide outrage.
These were not the first and won’t be the last crimes in this country that are
so revolting that the reaction of some sections of a besieged society is to
call for a return of the death penalty. It’s a natural reaction, though one
that’s unlikely to offer a solution.
“Whether we are open to [a] referendum or not, at this stage I cannot say. It
is something we can take further as a discussion to the cabinet"- Justice
minister Ronald Lamola
It’s hard to blame citizens who think the return of the hangman might be
justified in the face of this national crisis of violent crime. Some see it as
a potential solution and deterrent, while for others an eye-for-an-eye revenge
motive will do. So it’s not unsurprising to see more than half-a-million people
have signed a petition calling for the return of the death penalty.
There’s no reason for us to replay the debates, though it’s worth noting that
the lack of the death penalty in the UK doesn’t make it a centre of violent
crime. In the US, rare among developed countries in embracing this sort of
punishment, the possibility of being executed doesn’t seem to be a deterrent
for those who would use guns to kill en masse.
For SA, the matter was settled by the Constitutional Court more than two
decades ago when it found in the State v Makwanyane case that the section in
the Criminal Procedure Act that allowed for the death penalty was incompatible
with the country’s supreme law.
This is what justice minister Ronald Lamola should have referenced when asked a
simple question about something that regularly comes up. Instead, he told a
news conference on Tuesday: “Whether we are open to [a] referendum or not, at
this stage I cannot say. It is something we can take further as a discussion to
the Cabinet.”
In keeping with how the government has bungled communication on key issues of
concern to the populace in the most recent past, the department backtracked in
a statement later on Tuesday, saying all that Lamola meant was if the issue is
brought to the Cabinet it would have to discuss it.
It did not say who would initiate such a discussion with the Cabinet and how.
Otherwise, it’s hard to argue against the points made in the statement
detailing the legal and moral cases against the reinstatement of the judicial
killings.
It quoted former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson: “The greatest deterrent to
crime is the likelihood that offenders will be apprehended, convicted and
punished. It is that which is clearly lacking in our criminal justice system;
and it is at this level and through addressing the causes of crime that the
state must seek to combat lawlessness.”
Citizens have to be vigilant when politicians even hint at meddling with
constitutionally enshrined rights because that seems like the easiest option
for them to distract us from wider social ills and the failure of governance,
and offer easy solutions.
As the justice department itself points out, after the death penalty the
demands “will be to recriminalise abortion and then later it will be to take
away the protection accorded to the LGBTIQ community”.
You can add more and more to that list until the constitutional order has been
dismantled.
(source: Editorial, Business Day)
***************************
No conclusive evidence that death penalty has deterrent effect - IRR
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has warned against the calls in favour of
a reinstated death penalty in South Africa.
The IRR's John Kane-Berman says studies have not been able to conclusively
prove its deterrent effect.
In addition, Kane-Berman says there is documentary evidence that innocent
people across the world have been put to death because of capital punishment.
The Justice Department issued a statement dismissing calls for a referendum on
bringing back the death penalty in South Africa.
Listen to the discussion:
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola admits that the
criminal justice system needs improvement.
“Our system needs improvement.”— Ronald Lamola, Justice and Correctional
Services Minister
“Although the infrastructure has challenges, it does where. Let us be alerted
where there are problems. It is not a perfect system.”— Ronald Lamola, Justice
and Correctional Services Minister
Lamola says South Africa's constitutional ethos and aim for restorative justice
cannot be dismissed amid discussions about the death penalty and chemical
castration.
The minister says his department plans to open 11 sexual offences courts in the
current financial year.
He's vowed to work with National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to publicly share
more information on the conviction of perpetrators of sexual and gender-based
violence.
This, Lamola says, is in a bid to change the perception that abusers and sexual
offenders are not harshly promised
(source: citizen.co.za)
PHILIPPINES:
Angara backs restoration of death penalty for heinous crimes----Senator Juan
Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Thursday said he would support proposals to restore
the death penalty as capital punishment but only for heinous crimes.
Angara made the statement as the Senate investigates the Good Conduct Time
Allowance (GCTA) law which is now under scrutiny following the early release of
1,914 prisoners due to good conduct.
“I think for maybe really very, very heinous crimes. Let’s limit its
application. Not like in 1993 where it was applicable to carnapping and to
things like that,” Angara said in an interview over ANC.
“Crimes against property. ‘Yung talagang robbery with homicide. ‘Yung mga
ganun. Really heinous crimes, I think,” he further said.
Angara earlier expressed belief that proposals on the death penalty bills
warrant extensive debate.
At the same time, the lawmaker said he supports President Rodrigo Duterte’s
order for the re-arrest of the 1,914 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes.
According to Angara, it was clear that these convicts’ release was made based
on “faulty orders.”
The senator said there was a general impression among the senators that
“there’s an awful lot of discretion on the part of Bureau of Correction (BuCor)
officials” when it comes to determining good conduct time allowances for the
early release of prisoners.
Angara noted that the existence of Department Order 953 requires the approval
of the Justice Secretary for the release of inmates sentenced to life
imprisonment or reclusion perpetua or high risk inmates recommended for release
due to expired sentences.
“It appears that the released prisoners did not go through this process so
talagang may merit na they should not have been released,” he said.
“That’s the argument. Faulty ‘yung orders na inisyu nila and the provision of
the law cited earlier that these (GCTAs) are irrevocable, probably does not
apply because they did not follow the right procedure,” Angara said.
In a press conference on Wednesday night, Duterte advised the 1,914 released
prisoners to turn themselves in to either the Philippine National Police (PNP)
or the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as they are now considered
fugitives.
The President said the grant of their GCTAs would be investigated and
recomputed to determine if these were aboveboard.
“So they have to review the cases and see if the entitlement to the GCTA was
correct in law,” Angara said.
Angara said that if there are questions regarding the order of the President to
rearrest the prisoners, it would be best to take this up to the Supreme Court.
“But at this point, I think there’s no doubt that even the President makes what
you call a contemporaneous interpretation of the law. That is his
interpretation of the law. And we have to respect that until it’s questioned
and overruled,” Angara said.
(source: Manila Bulletin)
**************
Duterte Fires Philippines Prison Chief----The president fired the government’s
top prison official amid outcry over a mass prisoner release.
The Philippine president on Wednesday fired the government’s top prison
official amid a public outcry over the release of hundreds of prisoners,
including convicted drug traffickers and rapists, under a law rewarding good
behavior with shorter jail terms.
President Rodrigo Duterte said in a televised news conference that
Undersecretary Nicanor Faeldon of the Bureau of Corrections would immediately
resign for disobeying his order to halt the releases of convicted prisoners
under the 2014 law. Officials are now demanding a review of the “Good Conduct
Time Allowance” law.
Prison officials will be investigated by a special anti-corruption prosecutor
called the Ombudsman in connection with the massive releases of convicts,
Duterte said. A Senate Blue Ribbon committee has opened a formal inquiry into
the releases.
Duterte ordered at least 1,700 prisoners who have been freed since the law took
effect to surrender in 15 days, either for a re-computation of their jail time
or for investigations to determine if they paid their way to freedom in corrupt
deals with prison officials.
“If you do not, then beginning at this hour, you are a fugitive from justice,”
Duterte said.
Some legal experts say the government cannot re-arrest convicts who have been
freed under the law.
Duterte said he was considering a large bounty for the capture of the freed
convicts “dead or alive,” adding he preferred that they end up dead.
“If you die, that will save us some money because we don’t have to feed you,”
he said, adding he needed to act firmly because people were angered by the
releases of criminals convicted of heinous crimes.
“I am the president, there is a fire burning,” Duterte said. “I’m a
firefighter. I should go and I have to put out the fire.”
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief, praised Duterte’s action.
Lacson has said about 1,900 convicts were actually freed under the law,
including at least four convicted Chinese drug traffickers who were to be
deported by the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation. Officials have moved to
block their deportation.
National police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde ordered the deployment of police to
track down the convicts, who police said in a statement “will be treated as
fugitives if they choose not to surrender.”
The releases sparked an outcry after it was reported that one of the convicts
being considered for freedom was former Mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was
convicted in 1995 in the killings of 2 university students. One was gang raped
and then shot.
The 1987 Philippine Constitution abolished the death penalty but capital
punishment was reintroduced in 1993, then abolished again in 2006. Duterte, who
took office in 2016, has advocated harsh anti-crime measures and the return of
the death penalty in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
(source: thediplomat.com)
THAILAND:
Chief of General Staff visits 2 Myanmar citizens facing death penalty in
Thailand
Chief of the General Staff (Army, Navy and Air) General Mya Tun Oo visited the
2 Myanmar citizens, who have been sentenced to death for the Koh Tao murder in
Thailand, on September 3, the website of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief
of Defence Services reported.
The general visited Win Zaw Tun and Zaw Lin in Bang Kwang Central Prison) that
had received the death penalty over the murder of two British tourists, David
Miller and Hannah Witheridge, in September 2014 to encourage them.
During the visit, the general explained to them the Myanmar government's effort
for their appeal to the Thai King and Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing's calls for Thai officials to render assistance
for the case.
Director of the Thai prison Sophoon Yimpreecha explained good care being
provided for the 2 Myanmar prisoners.
Koh Samui Court gave the death sentence to the 2 Myanmar migrant workers on
December 24, 2015.
An appeal was filed on January 2017 but the district court dismissed it and
approved the sentence.
Again, an appeal was filed to the Thai High Court and it was again turned down
on August 29 this year.
(source: elevenmyanmar.com)
INDIA:
Death row prisoner on the run after killing 11 in Karnataka nabbed at
Salem----When Muruga was grilled, he reportedly confessed to having murdered 11
people.
The arrest of a 55-year-old death row prisoner — convicted of 5 murders — from
the hinterland of Salem district on Tuesday marked the end of a 4-month-long
concerted hunt by the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka police. The condemned man had
broken out of the Hindalga Central Prison in Karnataka on April 22 last.
Sources said that A Muruga alias Murugaesan (55), a resident of Kannamoochi
near Mettur in Salem District, was arrested in connection with the murders of
five persons in 2015. Interrogations revealed that Muruga had murdered 11
people in Karnataka.
The murders
Working at a sugarcane farm at Kollegal in 2015, he misbehaved with co-workers
Sivamma (35) and Rajamma (35), who told on him to their husbands Kasi (40) and
Rajendran (37) . When the husbands landed at the farm to accost Muruga, he
reportedly hacked all 4 to death. Muruga did not spare the 8-year-old daughter
of Rajamma as well. He then proceeded to bury the five bodies on the farm. When
the murders came to light, he was arrested.
The trial
When Muruga was grilled, he reportedly confessed to having murdered 11 people.
This was besides a range of cases, including kidnapping, registered against
him. The case was tried by Chamrajanagar Court, which slapped the death penalty
in 2017. He was condemned at Hindalga Central Prison.
The escape
Muruga planned his escape by making good use of the slim security on account of
Lok Sabha polls. He climbed jail walls and jumped out during the night. After
climbing the wall with the help of a rope, he spread a thick blanket on the top
of the wall to avoid getting hurt by the sharp-edge iron rods. He then used the
same ropes and iron rods to climb down the other side. He is believed to have
planned his escape with the help of some other inmates.
On the trail
The Karnataka police formed a team and landed at Kannamoochi to inquire with
Muruga’s wife and son. However, despite their keeping a tight vigil, Muruga was
not found. After their efforts yielded nothing, the Karnataka police roped in
their Tamil Nadu counterparts. Abreast of the risks of having a convicted
murderer amidst the gentry, Salem SP S Deepa Ganiger formed a special team.
Another murder
The special team learnt that Muruga was planning to kill Palanisamy, who was
allegedly having an illicit affair with his wife. Investigations led the team
to a brick kiln at Sathyamangalam in Erode district, where Muruga had found a
job. After tracing him, the special team began monitoring his movement and
swooped down on him when he reached Kannamoochi to meet his son on Monday
night.
Once the word on Muruga’s detention reached Karanataka, the police and the
prison department officials reached Salem and arrested him. The Rs 1 lakh
reward announced for information leading to Muruga’s arrest would be given to
the Tamil Nadu police special team.
(source: The New Indian Express)
IRAN:
UN Secretary-General urges Iran to introduce moratorium on death penalty
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the Iranian government to
introduce a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, according to its report
on the situation in the field of human rights in Iran.
The report includes information received from the Iranian government, state
media, NGOs, from open sources and individual conversations with those
sentenced to death, as well as their relatives and lawyers. It says that from
November 2018 to May 2019, the Iranian government continued to interact with
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Management officials visited Tehran in March 2019 and held meetings to discuss
the human rights situation in the country, including the ongoing death penalty
of minors.
The Secretary-General urges the government to abolish the mandatory death
penalty and introduce a moratorium on its use, prohibit the execution of
juvenile offenders in any circumstances, the Iranian government has been told
in the recommendations.
According to the report, the death penalty in Iran continues to be used as a
punishment for crimes that do not contain an element of intentional homicide,
as well as for crimes whose definition is vague.
OHCHR has received information that at least 253 people were executed in 2018.
This, according to the authors of the report, is significantly less than in
2017, when at least 437 cases of the death penalty were registered.
(source: news.am)
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