[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 20 MALAYSIA: Human rights advocate applauds govt effort to end mandatory death sentences The cabinet has drawn praise from a human rights advocate for its move to handle the proposed abolition of the death penalty early by affirming in March that it plans to do away with mandatory capital punishment. National Human Rights Society (Hakam) treasurer Ngeow Chow Ying singled out the move to do away with mandatory death sentence as one of the earliest promises of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) election manifesto to be addressed. She said that Hakam was caught a bit by surprise by the swiftness of the promise made by the cabinet. “But we know that such a decision would need time to materialize as there are many areas which need attention and public awareness.” She said that first stage would be to impose a moratorium where no death sentences would be carried out. And the reduction in capital punishments should be done in stages. Ngeow said that Hakam and the Bar Council would do their part to provide alternatives to mandatory capital punishment. She said that the premise to totally abolish the death sentence remains the aim for certain quarters, and hoped that the government can engage the various stakeholders on this matter. This includes the police, who have a huge interest due to their need to enforce the laws and regulations, as well as crime prevention. “We stand ready to hold dialogues with the police and any party who may continue to harbor reservations about abolishing the death penalty.” The death sentence is widely practiced within the Asean region, except in Cambodia and the Philippines, the latter of which is now mulling bringing it back. She said this after attending a talk with the title “Dealth Penalty Deserves A Quick Death.” The privately organised event had four legal specialists including Ngeow address concerns from an audience of mostly young lawyers. Also present was Batu Kawan MP Kasthuriraani Patto. Besides Ngeow, the other speakers were Louis Liew Vern Xien, Farhana Abdul Halim and Vince Tan Hoo Seh. It was announced that the mandatory death penalty for 11 criminal offences will be repealed, but ultimately the court will have the discretionary powers to decide if a death sentence is merited based on the severity of the crime. Among the offences where mandatory death sentences are dropped are committing acts of terrorism, murder and hostage-taking. (source: thesundaily.my) SINGAPORE: Singapore High Court dismisses procedural application by Pannir Selvam who got last-minute stay of execution The High Court yesterday dismissed a procedural application by convicted Malaysian drug mule Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, who was granted an 11th-hour stay of execution 2 months ago. His lawyers had applied for discovery and leave to serve interrogatories, in a hearing behind closed doors on Friday morning before Justice See Kee Oon. Discovery refers to a legal procedure where parties reveal to each other documentary evidence that has a bearing upon issues in the case. They can do so through interrogatories, which are a formal set of written questions served on the other party to clarify matters of fact. The questions can also help to determine in advance what facts will be presented, should a trial be held over the matter. But Pannir failed in this application. The Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) said in a press release that Pannir’s other application, for leave to commence a judicial review against the Government on various matters, was adjourned to a later date. He has 1 week to file an application if he wishes to seek leave to appeal Friday’s decision, the AGC added. Deputy Chief Prosecutor Francis Ng appeared on behalf of the AGC on Friday. Pannir is represented by Mr Too Xing Ji and Mr Lee Ji En from BMS Law LLC. The case The 31-year-old Malaysian was convicted in 2017 of trafficking 51.84g of diamorphine, also known as heroin, into Singapore through Woodlands Checkpoint in September 2014. He was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty after the public prosecutor did not issue him a certificate of substantial assistance. On May 23 this year, a day before he was due to hang, the Court of Appeal granted Pannir’s appear for a stay of his execution. Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who heard the case with Judges of Appeal Judith Prakash and Steven Chong, noted that Pannir was told of his date of execution and President Halimah Yacob’s rejection of his clemency petition only a week in advance. This left him with little time to get legal advice on his options, and he should be given the chance to do so, the judges said. His lawyers said then that they intend to challenge the rejection of the clemency petition, by way of judicial review. (source: malaymail.com) JAPAN: Death penalty finalized for man over 1998 murder of Aichi couple Japan's top court rejected Friday an
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., FLA., ALA., NEB., S.DAK., CALIF.
July 20 PENNSYLVANIA: 4 irrefutable facts proving death penalty is always wrong Look at that black and white photograph of George Stinney. I mean stop and really look at the face of that 14-year-old boy who was executed in the electric chair by the state of South Carolina in 1944. He’s your son, your grandson, your nephew. He’s also the youngest person in American history to have been sentenced to death and to have been executed. His murder trial involving the death of 2 white girls was not transcribed. The entire trial lasted only 2 hours. George’s white court-appointed “lawyer” presented no defense despite the fact that there was no physical evidence tying his client to the crime. All the spectators were white because Blacks were not allowed in the courtroom. The jury members were all-white. Those jurors “deliberated” for just 10 minutes before finding George guilty after which the white judge immediately sentenced the boy to death. Because he was so short, the jailers had the child sit on the Bible he was carrying so his body could reach up to the electric chair’s hanging mask. Stop and think about that for a minute. Because George’s racist and classist so-called trial was such a nightmarish travesty in that he received nothing remotely akin to due process, a South Carolina Circuit Court judge vacated his conviction and exonerated him- but the legal system waited 70 years to do so in 2014. As a result, that judge’s “too little, too late” ruling did absolutely nothing to save him after having been the victim of state-sanctioned premeditated murder. Fast forward to 2019. At a news conference on July 16, progressive Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner announced that his office the day before petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to declare the death penalty unconstitutional. And he said it was because such punishment is racist, classist, and arbitrary. He’s right, you know. He’s also right when he stated, “The most jaw-dropping statistic is that out of 155 Philadelphia death sentences [from 1978-2017], 72 %... have been overturned. What that means is that... [previous prosecutors], before we got here... argued for the execution of... people and were wrong... 72 % of the time. And actually, it’s worse than that. Because those other 28 % are not settled, you should expect that there will be even more of these that are overturned.” And if you think he’s anti-death penalty because he’s some kind of “bleeding heart liberal,” you obviously haven’t read last year’s legislative report entitled “Capital Punishment in Pennsylvania,” written by the bipartisan Joint State Government Commission led by 4 Task Force Members consisting of 2 Republicans. That report cited, among other impeccable and objective sources, the 2003 Final Report of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System, which concluded the following: “[T]here are strong indications that Pennsylvania ‘s capital justice system does not operate in an evenhanded manner[R]esearchers... found that African- American defendants were sentenced to death at a significantly higher rate than similarly situated non-African-Americans; researchers further concluded that 1/3 of African-Americans on death row in Philadelphia... would have received life sentences if they were not African-American. Race was also shown to be a major factor in capital jury selection, with the prosecution striking African-Americans from the jury twice as often as non-African-Americans” By the way, why do proponents of capital punishment even bother to deny its obvious racism and obvious classism? I guess they don’t know that about 98 % of the chief District Attorneys in death penalty states are white and only about one percent Black. And I also guess they don’t know that while the “impoverished” poor constitute approximately 15 % of the country’s population, they are about 90 % of the death row population? Let’s start calling the death penalty/capital punishment exactly what it is: state-sanctioned premeditated murder. I call it that not because I’m into subjective hyperbole but because I’m into objective definitions. Since a governor approves these executions, they’re state-sanctioned. And since such killings are planned (i.e., scheduled well in advance) as well as unjustified (i.e., done in the absence of an imminent threat to life or limb)- especially when a deadly weapon (i.e., lethal injection or electric chair or gas chamber or hangman’s noose or firing squad) is used- they’re premeditated. Accordingly, just as you and I are not legally permitted to commit murder, premeditated or otherwise, neither should state governments be. Here are the 4 irrefutable facts proving that the death penalty/capital punishment is always wrong: 1. It’s not a deterrent. If it was, why is it that the South, which has the highest murder rate in the
