October 27
JAPAN:
A restaurant in Tokyo is serving the last meals of famous death row inmates
In Tokyo's red light district neighbourhood of Kabukichi, Shinjuku, Chim?Pom -
a Japanese guerilla art collective - has opened a pop-up restaurant serving the
last meals requested by famous death row inmates.
Dubbed the Ningen Restaurant (translated as "human restaurant"), the pop-up,
which operates until October 28, offers meals requested by convicted criminals
such as Gary Mark Gilmore before they were executed. Gilmore, a serial
criminal, was convicted on counts of armed robbery, assault, and 2 murders he
had committed in Utah. His case gained international attention after he
demanded to receive the death sentence for his crimes.
For his last meal, Gilmore opted for a hamburger, mashed potatoes, a
hard-boiled egg, and multiple shots of whiskey. According to Munchies, Gilmore
requested Jack Daniels, though Chim?Pom's version uses Maker's Mark instead.
Here's a look at Chim?Pom's take on Gilmore's last meal:
Chim?Pom reportedly features the last meals of other criminals including John
Wayne Gacy, a Chicago-based serial killer and rapist, who requested to have a
pound of strawberries, a bucket of KFC chicken, fries, and a dozen fried shrimp
for his last meal.
The restaurant also serves the last meal of Joseph Paul Jernigan, a criminal
from Texas convicted of murder who donated his corpse to the Texas Anatomy
Board at the suggestion of the prison chaplain. Without his knowledge, his body
was later integral in the establishment of a federal government project meant
to digitalize the human body, called the Visible Human Project.
Chim?Pom's recreation of Jernigan's last requested meal includes 2
cheeseburgers, a salad, and an iced tea. However, Jernigan reportedly refused
to eat his actual meal when the time came.
The 2-week pop-up is part of a larger art installation by Chim?Pom, featuring
artwork by Austrian avant-garde artist Hermann Nitsch and performances from
local artists such as Aida Makoto and shock art performers Dengenki Network.
Based out of the Kabukicho Book Center, the pop-up is the building's last event
before being demolished following an acquisition by a Tokyo-based property
developer that operates the nearby famous Robot Restaurant.
Here's a glimpse of what it's like inside the restaurant:
The "body-based" theme of the pop-up and the other exhibitions are inspired by
the Kabukicho neighbourhood's history as a place where, according to Chim?Pom's
website, "people used the sex work industry, bodies, and desire as weapons or
ways of consumption to survive."
The project isn't the 1st of its kind. In 2017, photographer Henry Hargreaves
achieved coverage for his photographic recreation of famous death row meals.
Hargreaves is a critic of the death penalty and created his photo series
following news that Texas was rescinding criminals' ability to make last meal
requests.
A representative for Chim?Pom did not immediately reply to INSIDER's request
for comment.
(source: businessinsider.com.au)
CHINA----executions
Drug producers executed in south China
2 drug makers were executed Friday in south China's Hainan Province for
manufacturing drugs, according to a local court.
The 2 offenders, identified by their surnames as Xie and Tian only, were the
prime culprits of a drug-manufacturing case. In early July of 2015, Xie and
Tian who were locals of south China's Guangdong Province conspired to secretly
fund the manufacturing of ketamine in a valley in Wenxi Village, Suichuan
County in east China's Jiangxi Province, said the First Intermediate People's
Court of Hainan.
The local public security department launched a raid on July 11, 2015, and
seized a total of 3.5 tonnes of drugs and raw materials for producing the drugs
at the plant.
The local police apprehended 13 suspects involved in the case from July 11,
2015 to Sept. 13, 2016.
The court sentenced Xie and Tian to death in the 1st trial on June 26, 2017.
All their properties were also confiscated, according to the verdict. Other
suspects were convicted and given jail terms ranging from fixed-term
imprisonment to life imprisonment and the death penalty with probation.
Xie and Tian appealed after the trial. The Hainan Provincial Higher People's
Court rejected their appeal and upheld the sentences of the previous trial on
Dec. 18, 2017.
(source: xinhuanet.com)
RUSSIA:
Party leader claims Russians would support capital punishment due to their
'aggressive nature'
The school shooting in Kerch last week has reignited a public debate on whether
Russia should keep its moratorium on the death penalty, which has been in place
for over 20 years.
On October 17, a student of a college in Kerch killed 21 people, including 16
fellow students in a gun rampage. Just like many other high-profile crimes in
Russia, this was used by proponents of the death penalty to advocate lifting
the moratorium. The restoration of capital punishment "is long overdue,"
popular TV host Vladimir Solovyev said the next day.
The journalist acknowledged that a profound justice reform would be required in
Russia before the moratorium could be lifted, but added that one of the side
benefits would be Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe.
This week, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the controversial leader of LDPR party, added
his take on the issue in a manner that was not too flattering towards his own
voters. He claimed that if a referendum was held on whether Russia needs
capital punishment, most people would "sadly vote yes."
"That is the aggressive nature of our people. We like arresting, hanging and
shooting people," the politician said. He added that the threat of a death
penalty would not have stopped the Kerch college shooter, who killed himself
after the violent rampage.
The Russian criminal code allows sentencing people to death, but no execution
has been carried out since 1997. Russia pledged to get rid of the death penalty
when it joined the Council of Europe in 1996. However, the Russian parliament
never ratified the international treaty that would ban this form of punishment
altogether.
Last year, an opinion poll by Levada Center showed that people in Russia remain
split on the issue. Some 44 % said capital punishment should be restored or
even applied to more crimes than before the moratorium was imposed; while 41 %
called for maintaining the status quo or finalizing the proposed total ban.
Over the years, the number of proponents for the death penalty in Russia has
steadily declined. In 2002, the figures were 68 % in favor versus 24 % against,
according to the same polling agency.
(source: rt.com)
INDIA:
MP HC commutes death sentence of man accused of raping minor
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man accused
of raping a minor to 20 years rigorous imprisonment.
Raj Kumar Kol, charged with kidnapping and raping a 5-year-old girl on July 4
this year in Katni district, was awarded the death penalty by a trial court
there under Section 376 (AB) of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with
punishment for raping a minor below the age of 12.
The MP high court commuted the capital punishment to rigorous imprisonment of
20 years and a fine of Rs 10,000, government advocate Vishal Bhagat said.
He added that the lower court's sentence of 2 years under Section 366
(kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code was upheld by the high court.
The two sentences will run separately for a period of 22 years.
A division bench of high corurt comprising Chief Justice Hemant Gupta and
Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla Friday observed, "nothing is available on the record
to suggest that he cannot be useful for the society".
The high court also said that "nothing has been brought on record by the
prosecution that the accused was having any criminal antecedent, and the
possibility of his rehabilitation and reformation has also not been ruled out".
Kol had moved the MP HC after being convicted by the Katni court.
Kol, an autorickshaw driver, used to ferry the minor victim to school.
(source: thequint.com)
PAKISTAN:
PHC sets aside death sentences to over 50 convicts
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday set aside death sentence to more than
50 convicts awarded by the military courts on terrorism charges including
suicide attacks and martyring security forces, police, lawmakers and civilians.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Lal Jan
Khattak allowed all the revision petitions filed against conviction by military
courts, including death sentence to 50 convicts and two convicts of life
imprisonment.
The bench allowed appeals after three days of detailed arguments from both the
counsels of the convicts and law officers defending the convictions and
examining the record of the cases. "All the appeals against the death sentence,
life imprisonment and other sentences of 14 years to 20 years against the
decisions of military courts are allowed and reasons to be recorded in detailed
judgment," the bench announced in a short order.
Muhammad Ijaz Sabi, Sahibzada Asadullah, Abdul Latif Afridi, Shabir Hussain
Gigyani, Muhammad Arif Jan, Naveed Akhtar, Ghulam Nabi, Gohar Rehman Khattak
and Ziaur Rehman Tajik argued the appeals in revision petition on behalf of the
convicts.
During the course of the hearing, the lawyers raised several legal points
against the decisions of the military courts. They pointed out before the bench
that the convictions had been awarded on the basis of confessional statements
by the military courts, which did not fulfill the legal requirements under the
law.
They submitted that the courts even acquitted convicts when the confessional
statements are recorded after three or four days delay and in these cases,
confessional statements were recorded after four or five years delay in the
custody of the law-enforcement agencies.
The lawyers submitted that no fair chance of trial had been given to the
convicts as guaranteed in Article 10 and 10-A of Constitution and the defence
lawyer provided to the accused was the same in all cases and is inexperienced
as he did his LLB in 2015.
Furthermore, they argued that the retrospective effect has also not been given
in the 21st Amendment in the Pakistan Army Act, passed on January 8, 2015. They
pointed out that in almost all the cases, the convicts were charged in
terrorism cases that occurred in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and their trial without
FIRs and retrospective effect in the Army Act for the trial was unlawful and
without jurisdiction.
The lawyers requested the court to declare all the convictions awarded by the
military courts void as they said the convicted persons were innocent. In the
last several months, the high court had suspended the convictions awarded by
the military courts in these cases. In majority cases, the chief of army staff
(COAS) had confirmed the death sentence of the convicts and they were waiting
for execution.
In majority cases, the families of the convicts had filed revision petitions
against the death sentences after they got information during meetings with the
convicts before executions at the internment centres.
The convict Gul Faraz, a resident of Bajaur, was also acquitted from death
sentence awarded by the military court, who was charged for involvement in the
attack on the funeral ceremony of civilian Abdullah at Zargarano Killi in
Shergar, Mardan, resulting in the death of 30 civilians including KP Assembly
lawmaker Imran Khan Mohmand.
Izzat Khan, a resident of Swat, a convict, as per the record allegedly charged
for his involvement in the killing of innocent civilians and attacking armed
forces of Pakistan as well as Malakand University, which resulted in the death
of a civilian, 4 police officials and injuries to 7 others. The convict was
also convicted in involvement for the destruction of 3 different educational
institutions.
Another death sentence convict, Muhammad Arish, as per the ISPR, was a member
of a proscribed organisation. It was stated that he was involved in attacking
the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, which resulted in the death of 4
civilians.
Jannat Karim, a resident of the Doaba area in Hangu, was sentenced to death by
a military court for his involvement in a 2017 attack on an imambargah in
Parachinar. Karim's sentence was also confirmed by the army chief earlier this
month.
(source: thenews.com.pk)
***********************
Pakistan army chief confirms death sentence for 14 militants
Pakistan's army chief has approved death sentences for 14 "hardcore terrorists"
convicted by military courts for attacks in recent years that killed 19
security forces and 3 civilians.
A military statement issued Friday says Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa also approved
prison terms for 8 militants. It says those convicted were involved in attacks
on security forces and civilians, as well as the destruction of educational
institutions and a famous ski resort in Swat valley. It didn't say when the men
would be executed.
Military trials are not open to the public in Pakistani but defendants have the
right to hire their own lawyers.
Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty after a 2014 militant attack
on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed more than 150 people, mostly
schoolchildren.
(source: Associated Press)
***********************
Court awards death sentence to a man for killing wife in Lahore
An additional district and session judge (AD&SJ) Zafar Iqbal on Friday awarded
death penalty to a man for killing his wife.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 200,000 on the convict besides awarding him
1-year sentence for injuring his sister-in-law.
The AD&SJ announced the verdict after hearing arguments of the parties and
examining available evidences.
According to prosecution, Riasat Majeed had murdered his wife Tasleem and
injured his sister-in-law over some domestic issue in 2016 in the limits of
Kahna police station.
(source: urdupoint.com)
BANGLADESH:
Death sentence not enough to stop drugs
In recent years, the drug menace has reached horrendous proportions in
Bangladesh, both in terms of trade and addiction. This has become a national
problem and is obviously out of the law enforcement agencies' control. It is a
matter of concern that the government is tackling this as a mere law and order
issue. But it is not as if imposing a death sentence will resolve the problem.
After all, those running the drug cartels, trading around 60 billion taka worth
of yaba pills a year, are hardly bothered about such sentences.
The annual narcotics control report says that the use of drugs has increased by
80 % from 2008 to 2016. And it went up by 46 % from 2015 to 2016. This increase
in drug use is because yaba is now within the reach of even the poorer classes.
Low prices mean higher consumers. In 2012, the number of yaba addicts was less
than 6 % of the total number of drug addicts. Within a year it crossed over 31
%. How? According to government reports, yaba is being smuggled in through 15
points along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. What are those responsible for
preventing this smuggling doing then?
Despite the tensions between the 2 countries over the Rohingya repatriation
issue, joint patrols are being carried out. Surveillance has been increased
along the border due to the Rohingya crisis. So how has yaba smuggling
increased? There are allegations that a powerful section of the Myanmar army is
involved in this trade. But then, our own border security forces should
challenge this. We must protect our borders.
In 2002, the number of drug-related cases hardly reached 10,000. In 2017 the
number of such cases almost reached 100,000. If the law enforcement is so
active, how come this has increased 10 times over? This seems to be linked to
the fictitious cases being filed by the police where, according to media
reports, the police surreptitiously slips in a packet of yaba pills or heroin
into the pockets of unsuspecting victims and nab them. So the number of
drug-related cases does not indicate the responsibility or efficiency of the
law enforcement in controlling drugs.
While the number of cases may have spiralled up, the number of accused actually
being sentences is few. Backed by the administration, the so-called war against
drugs saw around 300 extrajudicial killings. Similar operations in Philippines
and other countries indicate that such exercises are totally ineffective. There
is no use in imposing laws for life term imprisonment or death sentences unless
the border is tightly secured and steps are taken to heathen the responsibility
and accountability of the law enforcement agencies.
A narcotics control bill 2018 has been placed in parliament with provisions for
death penalty for carrying, using, importing, exporting or trading drugs. After
the separation of the judiciary, it is contrary to constitution to put forward
the proposal for increasing the jurisdiction of mobile courts under officers of
the administration cadre for the trial of drug-related crimes. Even the present
drug related law while provides for a mobile court, creates an unconstitutional
parallel judiciary in the country. All this should be end. In order to resolve
the problem, it is most important to ensure the accountability of the concerned
quarters.
(source: Opinion, Prothom Alo)
MALAYSIA:
Nazri will get opposition on board with abolishing death penalty - Kula
Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz has pledged to help Putrajaya obtain
opposition support to abolish the death penalty, according to Human Resources
Minister M Kulasegaran.
"Nazri reiterated his stand for the abolition of the death penalty in Malaysia
and urged us all to fiercely support it.
"He further said he will get the opposition to support the abolition of the
death penalty. He further reiterated that the abolition bill must be debated
and approved, if possible, in this sitting of Parliament," the minister said in
a statement today.
The statement was issued in Kulasegaran's capacity as the new chair of the
Malaysian chapter of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA).
He had taken over the post from Nazri - who held the position for a decade - 2
days ago.
Kulasegaran also stated that PGA Malaysia will hold a 2-day seminar on the
death penalty in Asia on Oct 30 and 31, which will feature lawmakers from other
countries in the region.
He added that de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong and Dewan Rakyat speaker
Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof will both speak at the seminar.
Putrajaya has already placed a moratorium on capital punishment.
Liew previously said that if the penalty is abolished, those on death row will
have to start a fresh life sentence.
(source: malaysiakini.com)
SINGAPORE----executions
Singapore executes 6 men over drug trafficking despite international pleas
Singapore has executed 6 men convicted of drug offences in October, despite
pleas from Amnesty International and Malaysia, which recently pledged to
abolish the death penalty.
Prabu N Pathmanathan, a 31-year-old from Malaysia who had been on death row
since 2014, was hanged at Changi prison on Friday morning.
A second man, reported to be Singaporean Irwan bin Ali, was executed alongside
Mr Pathmanathan, following the "secret" hanging of Selamat bin Paki, according
to the International Federation for Human Rights.
They were among 6 men executed in October, all on drug offences.
N Surendran, the lawyer for Mr Pathmanathan's family, told the ABC that
Singapore authorities had unlawfully refused to consider a petition for
clemency.
According to local media, the office of Singapore President Halimah Yacob had
delivered a letter to Prabu's family in response to their petition, saying it
was "unable to accede to [their] request".
Mr Surendran said his client "felt he had become a new man after the experience
of being in prison" and had become "very spiritual".
"He wanted to live. He wanted to have another chance," he said.
Mr Surendran added that Singapore appeared to be shortening the notice given to
prisoners "so they can execute with the minimum of fuss".
"It's extremely unfair and prejudicial to the prisoner and his family to give
him practically less than a week notice of execution," he said.
Calls to abolish the death penalty
The case has fuelled a fresh push against the wealthy state's use of the death
penalty.
Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International's Singapore Researcher, said the
death penalty contravened international law.
"It is time for Singapore to re-establish its moratorium on the death penalty
and follow the Government of Malaysia's example, who have suspended all
executions and announced plans to abolish the use of this cruel punishment for
all crimes," she said.
"This cruel and irreversible punishment has no place in any society, as more
than 2/3 of the world's countries have come to recognise."
Malaysia surprised many by abolishing the death penalty, making the
announcement on October 10 - the World Day Against the Death Penalty.
It is expected to come into effect by the end of the year.
Drug offences accounted for the largest number of executions in Malaysia, which
previously mandated capital punishment for crimes ranging from murder and
kidnapping to drug offences and treason.
Amnesty International reported in March that 799 people on death row were
convicted of drug trafficking, including 416 foreign nationals.
Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs, which runs both the Singapore Central
Narcotics Bureau and the Singapore Prison Service, could not be immediately
reached for comment.
(source: abc.net.au)
************************
Surge of hangings in Singapore while Malaysia shuns death penalty----Despite
appeals, a Malaysian citizen ensnared in neighboring Singapore's capital
punishment regime was not spared; he was 1 of 4 executed this week
Given the circumstances, conjuring a smile couldn't have been easy. Still,
Prabu N. Pathmanathan, a 31-year-old Malaysian convicted of drug trafficking,
put on his best face when it came time for his final photographs to be taken.
Despite a Malaysian government appeal for leniency, he would be hanged just
hours later at Changi Prison in Singapore.
The young Malaysian, sentenced to death for couriering 7.97 ounces of heroin
into the city-state in 2014, was among at least 6 individuals executed in
Singapore this month for drug offenses. His fate was sealed after the
President's Office of Singapore rejected 2 petitions lodged by family members
and civil society groups requesting clemency.
Though the Singapore Prison Service does not routinely release information
about imminent executions apart from figures released in its annual report,
anti-death penalty activists claim that s7 executions have taken place since
the beginning of October, including 4 this week.
Asia Times could not independently verify the figure. The wealthy Southeast
Asian city-state is known to have conducted a total of 8 executions in 2017 and
four in 2016. An uptick in the use of capital punishment in Singapore comes as
neighboring Malaysia announced earlier this month that it would abolish the
death penalty for all crimes.
World's strictest drug laws
Both countries inherited colonial-era capital punishment laws from British
rule, which impose the death penalty - carried out by hanging - for crimes such
as murder, kidnapping, some firearms offenses, and drug trafficking. Singapore
is regarded as having the world's strictest drug laws and the majority of the
country's execution cases are for drugs offenses.
Those found possessing specific drugs above a prescribed amount are
automatically presumed to be traffickers and are subject to the death penalty,
a practice that despite attracting foreign criticism and condemnation by
international rights groups is seen elsewhere in the region in Vietnam,
Indonesia and - until recently - Malaysia.
Malaysia's decision to pull back from capital punishment is part of broader
institutional reform push now being undertaken by the ruling Pakatan Harapan
coalition, which clinched a historic election victory in May. The new
government also intends to repeal the colonial-era Sedition Act, which critics
said was long been used to stifle dissent.
The legislation to repeal both laws has yet to be introduced in parliament,
though media reports suggest they could be rescinded by the end of the year.
Rights groups and civil society organizations praised Malaysia's decision as
setting an example for the region, sparking debate about sentencing
alternatives the country could adopt instead.
KL halts pending executions
Malaysia has halted all pending executions for the 1,279 prisoners still on
death row and reports claim that those condemned to the gallows will be
commuted to a prison term of at least 30 years. Liew Vui Keong, Malaysia's law
minister, says the government is not convinced that capital punishment serves
as an effective crime prevention deterrent.
Singapore's government unflinchingly claims the opposite is true, that capital
punishment deters severe criminal acts and rampant drug use and has helped the
city-state garner a reputation as one of the world's safest places.
Researchers, however, believe there is a lack of reliable data on drug use in
Singapore to support the government’s claims.
Moreover, Singapore government data shows that drug abuse actually increased
from 2003 to 2017, despite the harsh laws criminalizing possession and
trafficking. Though drug abuse has grown, low overall rates of incarceration
for abusers have buoyed claims that Singapore remains relatively drug-free
because of its zero-tolerance approach.
The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) claims the number of drug abusers arrested
last year comprised less than 0.1% of Singapore's total population. As such,
Singapore's stance has hardened in recent years as certain countries move away
from criminalizing drug use in favor of strategies that emphasize public
health, harm reduction or legalization.
"Our penalties are severe because we want to deter [drug] offenses, not because
we take any joy in enforcing them," Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam
told Parliament earlier this year, claiming that anti-death penalty activists
in Singapore "light candles" and "write emotive stories" for traffickers while
ignoring the "real victims."
142 countries no longer carry out executions
The wealthy city-state, a major port and international financial hub where
thousands of multinationals are headquartered, is 1 of only 4 countries with
recorded drug offense executions in 2017, along with China, Saudi Arabia and
Iran. Some 106 countries have abolished the death penalty and 142 in total are
abolitionist in law or practice.
But more than 2/3 of Singaporeans support the death penalty, according to a
survey commissioned by the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2016,
while a similar survey in 2013 conducted in Malaysia saw more than
three-quarters of respondents affirm their approval of the death penalty for
drug trafficking or firearms offenses.
Singapore's use of capital punishment has at times led to unwanted tensions in
diplomatic relations with countries opposed to the death penalty, such as when
Johannes van Damme, a Dutch national, was executed in 1994 for trafficking
heroin despite appeals from the Dutch Foreign Ministry and Queen Beatrix of the
Netherlands.
Despite Malaysia’s calls to spare the life of its citizen falling on deaf ears,
the government released a statement hours after Prabu's execution saying it
respected the rule of law and due process of Singapore and that it was in
communication with the family to make arrangements for his cremated remains to
be returned.
In the wake of the recent hangings, We Believe in Second Chances, a local
anti-death penalty advocacy and research group, released a statement urging
that the penalty be reassessed, saying death row inmates had "a pattern of
poverty and marginalization". It calls the penalty a "cruel and inhumane form
of punishment."
'Less time for families to prepare'
2 of the 4 executions believed to have taken place in Singapore this week were
scheduled on a Wednesday morning - a departure from the usual practice of
executions taking place at dawn on Fridays. When inmates could obtain a stay of
execution past a Friday, it was thought an execution would then be deferred by
at least a week.
By carrying out hangings on a Wednesday, anti-death penalty activists claim to
have less ability to monitor hangings because it is now less clear when they
may occur. They also claim that the time between the rejection of a clemency
appeal and the scheduling of an execution also appears to have been reduced.
That gives families of those sentenced to death less time to prepare for an
execution and take legal recourse. According to Prabu's lawyer, N. Surendran,
his family was only notified of his execution 6 days before it occurred. His
legal counsel also claims that confessions obtained against the young Malaysian
by the prosecution were made under duress.
It is a regular practice in Singapore for prisoners on death row to be granted
a final photoshoot wearing civilian clothes provided by family members. Prabu
reportedly gave anti-death penalty activists consent to share his last images
online, so as to "urge people not to be involved with drugs."
(source: Asia Times)
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