Death Penalty Information

China: Olympics puts spotlight on China

2008-01-14T12:25:00.001Z

Olympics prep spotlights executions in China
In 10 years on China's highest court, Xuan Dong had a hand in the
executions of 1,000 people - most carried out by a bullet to the back of
the head, often within weeks of the verdict.
On his worst days, he considered himself a Communist Party hanging judge.
Sitting on the Supreme People's Court, he represented the last hope of the
condemned. Secretly, he loathed rubber-stamping the party's death
sentences, often accepting confessions he knew were gotten by torture. He
watched silently as lawyers were beaten and dragged from court if they
dared to challenge the party's will.
In 2000, Xuan walked away from the bench to battle for human rights. Now,
as China re-evaluates its hard-line policies on capital punishment, the
59-year-old defense lawyer has called for public trials, more media
exposure and protections for lawyers and less party interference with the
judiciary.
"The party should not give instructions" to judges, he said. "There have
been changes bit by bit, but they are too slow."
Recent progress
Recently, Xuan and other rights advocates have seen progress within a
legal system that each year is estimated to execute more people than all
other countries combined. Legislation enacted last year requires the high
court to review all death sentences, a step that had been dropped 2
decades ago.
Facing pressure before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in August, China
reportedly has scaled back the pace of executions. Although the government
considers the number a state secret, China executed 1,051 people in 2006 -
about two-thirds of the 1,591 put to death worldwide that year, according
to statistics from Amnesty International that are often based on media
reports. That represented a 40 percent drop from China's recorded total of
1,770 the previous year.
The high court reviewed only a small portion of the capital cases in
recent years. Lower courts had operated virtually without oversight since
the country's de facto leader at the time, Deng Xiaoping, gave them the
power to impose capital punishment in the wake of a corruption and crime
wave in the 1980s. Acquittals are rare and appeals are made in the same
court, heard by poorly trained provincial judges little inclined to
contradict themselves, according to studies by criminal justice experts.
The studies, relying on interviews with defense lawyers and defendants,
paint a bleak picture: China's courts have no juries, police have
unchecked powers - and forensics rarely are used in reaching verdicts that
vary wildly depending on region, party influence and a defendant's
connections.
A plethora of offenses
68 offenses - including nonviolent crimes such as tax evasion, drug
smuggling and pornography distribution - carry the death penalty.
Officials are considering reducing the number of crimes punishable by
execution, but they say acts such as corruption, bribery and national
security violations still might lead to death sentences.
The legal reforms, advocated by a growing lobby of Chinese lawyers and
scholars, are part of a policy that officials call "kill fewer, kill
carefully." It calls for improved trial and review processes, and it
requires that all death penalty appeals be heard in open court.
Experts are divided over how much substance the reforms carry. "For China,
it's an exciting breakthrough," said Jerome Cohen, a New York University
law professor and an expert on Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"Death penalty reforms will lead the way for improved procedures for other
major criminal cases."
Others say the Chinese legal system still lacks transparency. "So you have
the return of an important piece of review," said Sharon Hom, executive
director of the Manhattan-based group Human Rights in China. "But you're
reviewing a system that is still politicized, that still does not welcome
independent judges and where lawyers raising questions about abuse or
torture are being harassed and beaten up."
Human Rights in China last year released a report documenting the abuse of
defense lawyers. From 1997 to 2002, more than 500 were jailed.
Li Heping, 37, a Beijing lawyer, said police tortured suspects to get
confessions in several of his death penalty cases. They also denied him
access to his clients. "I'm seen as an enemy of the police," he said.
"When you come to court, you feel surrounded by hunters. And you are their
prey."
(source: Los Angeles Times)

Japan: Execution victims named

2007-12-11T12:38:00.000Z

Dec. 8

JAPAN:
Openness on executions a welcome change

In a major switch from its hitherto secretive policy, the Justice Ministry
for the 1st time disclosed the names of 3 death row inmates executed on
Friday.
We believe the government should not hesitate to reveal such details on
executions that have been carried out in accordance with the law by this
nation.
Commenting on the ministry's decision to publicize the names of the
executed inmates, Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said, "It's necessary
for [bereaved families of] crime victims and the public to know and
understand if capital punishment is carried out properly and solemnly."
The ministry apparently made this decision out of consideration for the
victims, both dead and alive, of the crimes committed by executed inmates,
and the victims' families. Disclosing the executed inmates' names also
fits in with the trend toward greater information disclosure in recent
years.
Previously, the ministry had not immediately revealed even the fact that
some convicts had been executed. Instead, it only listed in an annual
report the number of people executed each year.
The ministry had defended the practice by saying it needed to consider the
mental anguish that executions would cause for the convicts' families and
other death row inmates.
From 1998, however, the ministry started publicizing the number of
executions soon after the sentences were carried out. Media organizations
have, on their own accord, traced and reported the names of inmates put to
death.
===
Public support death penalty

In a Yomiuri Shimbun opinion poll in December last year, 80 % of
respondents said the death penalty should be maintained or that they
"somewhat" support the continuation of capital punishment. Many people
apparently believe the death penalty serves as a deterrent to heinous
crimes to some extent.
As long as society supports capital punishment, it would only be natural
for the ministry to reveal the facts about the execution of inmates.
Some U.S. states that have the death penalty release the names of executed
inmates on Web sites or through other channels.
After the lay judge system, which will be applied for trials of serious
crimes, starts in the spring of 2009, ordinary people--together with
judges--will have to decide whether a defendant should be condemned to
death.
Doubts may arise over how the lay judge system is run if information on
executions is kept secret, even as citizens are set to participate in
determining whether a death penalty should be handed down in specific
cases. Perhaps the ministry also had this concern in mind when it changed
tack and revealed the names of the 3 men put to death Friday.
===
Death row getting longer

According to the Criminal Procedure Code, the death penalty is carried out
at the order of the justice minister.
However, Hatoyama once commented: "I wonder if there's a way to
automatically proceed with the execution [of death row inmates] without
the involvement of the justice minister."
The death penalty is the ultimate punishment. That is the very reason that
an execution order signed by the justice minister--who wields the
overriding responsibility for judicial administration--is required to
carry out an execution. We must say Hatoyama's remarks were inappropriate
at best.
The Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that the justice minister should
give an execution order within 6 months after a death penalty has been
finalized. But, in practice, it takes an average of seven years until an
execution is carried out. As a result, the number of inmates waiting on
death row has increased to 104.
We hope the ministry's decision to reveal the names of executed inmates
will give momentum to debate about how this nation should run its capital
punishment system.
(source: The Yomiuri Shimbu

Morocco: Media blamed for apathy on the death penalty

2007-12-03T12:27:00.001Z

MOROCCO:
Conformist Media Blamed for Public Apathy

Lack of media interest in reporting on death penalty issues is responsible
for widespread public indifference to whether or not Morocco eventually
abolishes capital punishment, according to analysts and activists here.
"The Moroccan media has not yet made abolition part of its agenda," Driss
Ould Kabla, editor-in-chief of the Al-Michal weekly, told IPS.
Despite its 15-year-long unofficial moratorium, when the time came to vote
on the recent U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for a worldwide
moratorium on executions and eventual end to the death penalty, Morocco
sided with the rest of the Arab world and joined the pro-capital
punishment camp.
Morocco was one of the 52 countries -- many of them Arab -- which voted
against the moratorium resolution on Nov. 15. Moroccan diplomats did not
even take to the floor during the two days of debate in the General
Assembly's human rights committee -- unlike Egyptian and Syrian diplomats
who expressed strong criticism.
The Moroccan media largely ignored the country's stand on the U.N. General
Assembly resolution.
Al-Michal is the only Moroccan newspaper that regularly reports on death
penalty-related issues.
The near-total media blackout on death penalty issues is largely due to
the failure of the press to jettison its antiquated conformist mentality
-- not because of official censorship, Kabla said.
"We have a long history of support for the death penalty from all
quarters, political, social and religious," Kabla explained.
Expressing dismay at the absence of media interest in this event, Kabla
said that the press did find its voice when there were even more
controversial issues to report. "The Moroccan independent press has been
showing enough daring on other issues," he stressed.
This sensitive reporting involved recent coverage of the alleged
extra-judicial killings during the rule of King Hassan II who died in
1999. Some human rights activists have alleged the killings could number
in the hundreds.
Kabla's own investigations into some of these killings -- particularly
those alleged to have been carried out at a secret service villa in Rabat,
the Moroccan capital -- were published in his own weekly and re-published
on many websites in Arabic.
Kabla said that NGOs shared some of the blame for public apathy towards
death penalty abolition: "Abolitionist NGOs are not communicating widely
enough".
Ahmed Kouza, an Amnesty International activist, agreed that the Moroccan
press was tame in its reporting on the death penalty. Press fail to
appreciate the relationship between abolishing capital punishment and
furthering democratic values, he suggested.
But otherwise the Moroccan media was playing a "crucial role in the
democratic changes taking place in the country", Kouza told IPS.
"Abolition is an integral part of this on-going 'democratic transition' in
the country", he argued.
The 'Democratic Transition' was launched in Morocco in 1998 when King
Hassan II named opposition leader Abderrahmane Youssoufi as prime
minister.
Hassan II ruled from 1961 to 1999. His son, King Mohamed VI, who acceded
to throne in July 1999, continued the democratic reforms. He also launched
a reconciliation process with victims of human rights violations under his
father by setting up the Equity and Reconciliation Board (IER).
The IER -- in its final report submitted to King Mohamed VI in 2005 --
recommended the abolition of the death penalty as part of this
reconciliation process.
In 2006, Bouchra Khiari of the Democratic Forces Front, seized the
initiative by introducing a bill in parliament to abolish capital
punishment. "There was a thoroughgoing debate at this time between the
abolitionists and advocates of the death penalty," Kabla said. But even
this lively debate was not widely reported in the media "because the
abolitionist movement is not yet influential enough," he explained.
Kouza believes that it is only a matter of time before the Moroccan press
will take up reporting the death penalty issue. "The political and social
engagement is still missing," Kouza said. "But journalism is certainly
becoming more professional."
Independent media outlets are flourishing. Since the 'Democratic
Transition', the media landscape has seen the addition of some 400 private
newspapers. The state broadcasting monopoly has been broken up. There are
now 11 independent radio stations -- although television is still
state-controlled.
Morocco's last execution was in 1993, but death sentences continue to be
handed down for murder. Human rights activists believe there are more than
150 currently on death row in the country.
(source: IPS News)

Syria: interview with anti death penalty campaigner

2007-12-03T12:23:00.001Z

Nov. 30

SYRIA:
Death Penalty Serves Interests of Despotic Regimes----Interview with Nedal
Naeiseh
Nedal Naeiseh: Syrian writer, journalist and anti-death penalty campaigner

Syria strongly opposed the recently passed U.N. resolution calling for an
immediate moratorium on executions and end to capital punishment. But
Nedal Naeiseh -- Syrian writer and journalist -- believes the regime is
close to the day when it will join the growing number of abolitionist
nations.
In an interview with Abderrahim El Ouali, IPS correspondent for North
Africa and the Middle East, Naeiseh says solving the Middle East conflict
would remove any pretext for retaining capital punishment in his country.
Some excerpts from the interview:
IPS: You write regularly on abolitionist issues. Is there an active
anti-death penalty movement in Syria?
Nedal Naeiseh: There is no engaged, organized intellectual movement
working to abolish the death penalty in our country. There are individuals
who are campaigning. These, and independent groups, can only take on a
small number of cases because they lack funds and the facilities to lobby.
In Syria civil society organizations, independent associations and
political parties are almost non-existent. But there is an official
current -- still not so obvious -- progressing towards the abolition of
this barbaric punishment.
There is no doubt in my mind regarding Syria, Syria really intends to be
part of the global movement for radical international change. This
especially includes respecting the United Nations call for the abolition
of the death penalty.
Standing in the way of achieving this are some pressing regional problems.
IPS: The Syrian penal code calls for the death penalty for anyone who
belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group. Does this mean that
any other opposition group would face the same sanction?
NN: You are referring to law number 49. This was introduced in 1980 after
the bloody clashes that took place between the Muslim Brotherhood and the
Syrian regime. There were specific circumstances that led to this law; it
was to stop the bloody conflict of that period . . . We do not want such a
law applied in Syria or any other part of the world.
I should say here that the law is semi-suspended. All death sentences have
been reduced to 12 years imprisonment or even less. But there were
undoubtedly past abuses in the application of this law. The sentences are
now made public and published in the media.
I really do not think that any other political organisation has faced --
or will face -- such a measure as long as constitutional rules are
followed and violence is not advocated to achieve political ends.
IPS: In Syria the application of the death penalty is often tied to
collaboration with the enemy, which means Israel. Does this mean that
abolition depends on finding a solution to the Syrian-Israeli conflict in
particular, and the Arab- Israeli conflict in general?
NN: There is certainly a solid connection between the death penalty and
the on-going state of emergency in Syria and the Syrian conflict with
Israel. In nearly all legal codes around the world you will find sanctions
for collaborating with the enemy. It is termed high treason and severely
punished.
Solving the Arab-Israeli conflict would certainly lead to some radical
constitutional and legal changes in Syria. Then, efforts could be focused
on amending the laws now in force so they meet standards you would find in
the most developed countries. Solving this conflict would remove the
pretext for applying the death penalty -- or ever extending it.
IPS: Criminals who commit revenge crimes in Syria escape the death
penalty. When the family of a murder victim takes revenge against the
murders family or friends, in court they can argue that there were
extenuating circumstances. Is this encouraging murder by letting these
criminals go without full punishment?
NN: Syrian lawmakers are influenced by our customs and tribal traditions
because of the moral value they have in society. But, in my view, this
does not mean that the laws meet recognized legal standards and are
humane. Any criminal must be punished according to modern legal norms and,
of course, the death penalty is not one of these.
You are correct. What happens is unjust. It encourages more killings under
the guise of taking revenge. Also, no one should be punished for a crime
committed by another person. Revenge killings are absolutely illegal and
should be punished by the law.
There are other crimes even more dangerous than revenge crimes. I am
talking here about honour killings. These are also another kind of death
penalty carried out by individuals outside the law. Many women are killed
when there is suspicion they have committed adultery or because of an
innocent rendezvous. Many innocent girls are victims of unjust tribal and
sectarian laws. I can say that there are 2 kinds of laws existing in our
society: tribal laws -- some of which derive from Sharia law -- and modern
laws. But the first group remains the more influential of the 2.
IPS: Under the state of emergency in Syria is there really space for
abolitionist groups to work?
NN: The state of emergency and the absence of civil society organizations
and suspicion of any social movement are preventing any lobbying.
Under the emergency laws now in force any meeting of more than 2 people is
criminalized. But actually in our public activities we find these measures
are relaxed.
IPS: If another Arab state were to abolish the death penalty, would this
influence Syria to do the same?
NN: No, I dont think so. Arab countries have many similarities but they
vary in degree.
Syria, because of its ethnic and religious diversity and openness to
global changes, might be more prepared to abolish the death penalty and
adhere to modern and enlightened ideas. But for this to happen there must
be a general campaign here to increase death penalty awareness in society.
IPS: If Muslim scholars were to agree that the death penalty violates
religious teachings, would this oblige political regimes in the region to
abolish it?
NN: Scholars have always been servile and entirely dependent on the
political regimes in our region. They have always been mouthpieces of the
politicians. Throughout the entire history of the region there has been a
strong alliance between politicians and scholars.
Regimes have respected the holy texts only in so far as they have served
their own interests. The texts have always been interpreted by scholars in
a way that has ensured the continuity of these regimes and their
interests. Many Muslim reformists who have attempted to interpret the holy
texts in a more liberal way have faced criticism and accusations of
treason.
Our scholars have always been too conservative . . . they have closed
their eyes to the changes taking part in the rest of the world. Weve never
seen them taking an individual, intellectual stand on social issues.
I am sorry to say, the death penalty serves the interests of despotic
regimes in the region and it is futile to expect scholars will speak out
for abolition.
(source: IPS News)

Yemen: Members of press face death penalty over publication charges

2007-11-28T15:55:00.000Z

YEMEN:
Members of press face death penalty over publication charges

Editor-in-Chief of Al-Share' Weekly Nayef Hassan, the paper's managing
editor Nabeel Subei and Mahmoud Taha, a reporter, appeared on Saturday
before Chief Judge of the State Security Penal Court Ridhwan Al-Namer at
the first hearing for a lawsuit filed against the newspaper by the Defense
Ministry.
At the hearing, the press members demanded that the court adjourn the
hearing so that they can appoint a lawyer to defend them. The judge then
accepted their request and adjourned the trial until December 8.
The 3 journalists were summoned last Wednesday to appear before the court
after the prosecution investigated them regarding the lawsuit by the
Defense Ministry against them for publishing a story about voluntary
fighters who support the army in the Sa'ada fighting. The indictment
demanded that the 3 pressmen be executed under new legal provisions.
Referring Al-Share' Weekly to State Security Court provoked protests at
domestic and international levels because the court specializes in
terrorism and not in publication or press issues.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) warned last August that
the lawsuit filed against the newspaper, followed by a raid on the
newspaper's head-office, is a dangerous assault on the independent press
in Yemen. The federation condemned charges filed by the Yemeni government
against the weekly, accusing it of threatening national security.
It also criticized the government for trying the newspaper in a state
security court, which is usually concerned with terrorism, adding, "If
convicted, the suspected journalists will be executed."
"We are shocked to see Yemeni authorities resorting to penal prosecution
and directing charges to members of the press, and such charges may risk
the lives of innocent journalists," Aidan White, IFJ Secretary-General,
said. "This issue has a terrible effect, as the media will fear publishing
any reports criticizing the government or the army in order to keep its
personnel safe."
The Defense Ministry filed a legal action last July against Al-Share'
weekly after the newspaper published a series of stories and reports about
clashes between the Yemeni army and Houthi followers in the northern
province of Saada.
On July 30, ten armed men riding in a car with military plates raided the
newspapers office in search of chief editor Hassan, who was unavailable in
his office at that time. The armed men threatened to kill him in the
presence of newspaper employees.
Representing 600,000 journalists in 114 states, IFJ announced its support
for the protests staged by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS), which
warned that referring the case to penal prosecution is a dangerous
precedent that may have bad consequences for journalists. According to the
syndicate, this precedent may have a negative impact on the constitutional
and legal pillars upon which the journalistic profession has been built
since the establishment of a unified state. "This may lead to abolishing
the constitutional and legal protection of freedom of press and
expression," the syndicate went on to say.
Marwan Dammaj, YJS Secretary-General, had earlier demanded that the Yemeni
government respect the rule of law, ensure legal protection for Al-Share
reporters and arrest the perpetrators who stormed the newspaper's office.
"The newspaper published an article about voluntary tribal leaders who
joined government troops in the fight against Houthi supporters. The paper
also wrote about corruption and the malicious desire of those who want
confrontations between the government and Houthis to last for a longer
period of time in order to serve their personal interests," Nabeel Subei
told the media. It also published reports about groups from the Aden-Abyan
Islamic Army, an active terrorist group in Yemen, who backed the army in
the fight against Houthis. These groups were training volunteers on how to
fight the so-called Sa'ada rebels."
In an unprecedented step, the case file was referred to penal prosecution
instead of press and publication prosecution. According to Article No. 176
of the Yemeni Penal Law, the Defense Ministry filed numerous charges
against Hassan, Subei and Taha, accusing them of harming national security
and stability, influencing the Yemeni army's morale and divulging military
secrets.
Owned by prominent journalists Nayef Hassan and Nabeel Subei, Al-Share is
an independent weekly that issued its zero issue on the 3nd day of last
June. The papers first issue included reports about the Hashid fighters in
Sa'ada, thereby drawing the attention of readers and researchers seeking
facts about events there.
As the paper devoted a large amount of space for information about
developments, conflicts and complicated relations in Sa'ada, especially
the way army and tribal leaders deal with soldiers and volunteers, this
has helped increase its popularity among readers, particularly those
interested in the Sa'ada crisis.
Observers of the situation consider the issue a distinctive effort by the
newspaper and its reporters, who they believe outperformed other private,
independent and party-affiliated papers in covering developments in the
restive governorate.
In an article titled "Bismarck", a name given to Sa'ada volunteers who
back the army in the fight against Houthi loyalists, the newspaper
reported that a large number of these volunteers were killed by the army,
while others fell victim to friendly fire. The newspaper mentioned that
the number of Bismarck fighters exceeded 9,000, most of who came from the
Hashid tribe.
The paper's 1st issue included various subjects related to the Saada
crisis, such as Bismarck in Sa'ada', 'Bismarcks victims', 'Youths with
happy lives', 'The difference between fighters and leaders', and 'Hashid
is a threatening force'. The distinctive issue disclosed human
catastrophes and war crimes against humanity in the northern governorate
that has undergone repeated wars since June of 2004.
(source: Yemen Times)

China: Suspended death sentences exceed immediate executions for the 1st time

2007-11-27T15:28:00.001Z

CHINA:
Suspended death sentences exceed immediate executions for 1st time

The number of suspended death sentences handed down this year in China
surpassed that of immediate executions for the first time, reflecting the
policy of "applying the death penalty to only a small number of extremely
serious offenders", the Chief Justice Xiao Yang said on Friday.
Xiao attributed the shift towards what he called a more prudent use of the
death penalty to the supreme court's resumption of the right to review all
death penalty decisions made by lower courts.
That right resumed on Jan. 1, 2007, ending the court's 24-year absence in
approving many of China's execution verdicts.
"Generally, this significant reform has registered smooth progress in the
transitional period," said Xiao, president of the Supreme People's Court
(SPC), at a national work conference on judicial reform. He did not
provide any statistics concerning death sentences.
He said the reform ensured that "all defendants were equal before the law"
and unified the "judicial scale" in applying death sentences.
"It also strengthens the protection of human rights in the judicial
field," Xiao said, adding "those who could be absolved will not be given
any capital punishment and those who need not be executed immediately will
not get immediate executions."
"The court should ensure that the death penalty would only be imposed on
those who have committed extremely serious crimes" with extreme social
impact, he said.
Doing so had made immediate execution cases drop steadily, he said.
In China, death sentences fall into two categories: immediate execution or
a two-year reprieve.
All capital cases where the death sentence does not require immediate
execution should include a 2-year reprieve, according to an SPC document
released earlier this year.
"Death sentences with a reprieve can ... punish the guilty but also reduce
the number of death penalties," it says.
The SPC reviewed all capital cases until 1983. The provincial courts were
subsequently given final authority for cases involving crimes that were
considered to seriously endanger public security and social order.
The practice of provincial courts handling both death sentence appeals and
conducting final reviews, however, drew sharp criticism in the wake of
some highly-publicized miscarriages of justice.
Since the SPC regained the right of review, it has overturned a large
proportion of death sentences.
In the review of death sentences, some cases need lower-level courts, or
even prosecutors and police, to provide supplemental material and
evidence. Some cases require police to investigate suspects who are
identified by the accused.
Early this month, Jiang Xingchang, vice president of the SPC said: "As
people's courts across China have been strictly controlling and cautiously
applying the death penalty over the past dozen years, the number of death
penalty cases has kept declining and reached its lowest point last year."
Figures from the Beijing No 1 and No 2 intermediate people's courts
indicate that, in the first 5 months of 2007, the number of death
sentences dropped 10 % from last year.
More judges and judicial staff have been added to the SPC team that
exercises death penalty review rights. The supreme court has recruited
experienced lawyers and law school teachers as senior judges.
Open court sessions have become mandatory since July 2006, when a second
hearing of a death sentence is defended by a people's procuratorate.
Previously, most appeals -- even involving the death penalty --were not
heard in open court because of a lack of qualified personnel, and errors
in handling death sentences were not uncommon in China.
More than 1,900 more judicial staff were planned to be hired in June for
open court trials for 2nd hearings of death sentences, which are intended
to be a 2nd line of defense to prevent injustices and ensure that
judgments stand the test of time.
(source: Xinhua News)

Morocco: interview with abolitionist

2007-11-27T15:22:00.001Z

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40156

Canada: Europe slams Canada's new stance on death penalty

2007-11-21T17:15:00.000Z

Europe slams Canada's new stance on death penalty
Harper government 'washed its hands, just like Pontius Pilate'
The Ottawa Citizen
Peter O'Neil
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

PARIS - The Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights watchdog, harshly denounced the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday for its decision to stop seeking clemency for Canadians on death row in American jails.
The council's secretary general, Terry Davies, likened the Harper government to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who "washed his hands" of the decision to crucify Jesus Christ because a mob demanded Christ's execution.
In a provocative interview, Mr. Davies also said Canada is effectively "subcontracting" the death penalty, just as the U.S. government has dispatched suspected terrorists to Third World countries, where they can be interrogated under torture.
He urged the federal government to reverse its decision and to press U.S. authorities to return Albertan Ronald Smith, the murderer at the centre of the controversy, from his Montana prison cell to serve the rest of his life behind bars in Canada.
"I'm very disappointed to learn that the Canadian government is not taking some action to get this man returned to Canada, where he should serve a life sentence. We certainly don't want a man like that walking the streets," Mr. Davies said.
"But to execute him is degrading. It's reducing authorities to the same level as people who kill people. Killing people is wrong. And the European view is we won't get down in the gutter with the people who commit murders.
"I'm just amazed that the Canadian government would wash its hands, just like Pontius Pilate."
Mr. Davies said the Harper government, which doesn't advocate the return of capital punishment, is essentially saying that the death penalty is acceptable as long as it doesn't happen on Canadian soil.
"In effect, what I think is that the people in government in Canada are subcontracting the death penalty, exactly the same way the United States of America has sent people to places like Afghanistan, where they are subject to torture and inhuman and degrading treatment in order to get them to give evidence when Americans themselves couldn't do it in America and no Europeans would do it."
Mr. Harper said the decision not to seek clemency for Mr. Smith, who is facing execution by lethal injection for killing two men in 1982, is consistent with his government's tough stand on crime.
"The reality of this particular case is that, were we to intervene, it would very quickly become a question of whether we are prepared to repatriate a double-murderer to Canada," Mr. Harper said.
"In light of this government's strong initiatives on tackling violent crime, I think that would send the wrong signal to the Canadian population."
The council, which promotes human rights and democracy on behalf of its 47 member countries, was created in 1949 at the suggestion of former British prime minister Winston Churchill.
Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Japan and the Holy See are observers at the council, which issues public declarations and initiates investigations into alleged human rights abuses among member countries.
Louise Arbour, the former Supreme Court of Canada judge who is now the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, and rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have already denounced the Harper government's refusal to intervene in the Smith case.
Mr. Davies said he doesn't have the jurisdiction to order an investigation, but didn't rule out the possibility that a member of the council's assembly, made up of deputies from national parliaments, could initiate a probe.
He said Canada is well known in Europe for being far more "civilized" than the U.S. because of its strong defence of human rights and opposition to the death penalty. "I would not say you could lose your reputation, but you could certainly damage it."
Today, Canadian and Bulgarian officials will head to council headquarters in Strasbourg for mediation over the future of Michael Kapoustin, jailed in Bulgaria on fraud charges since 1996. The Harper government wants him returned to Canada

Russia: Duma Leaves Punishment on Table

2007-11-21T15:48:00.000Z

RUSSIA:
Duma Leaves Punishment on Table

'The State Duma concluded its 4-year term last week, leaving a stack of
important legislation -- including that of banning the death penalty --
unattended to.
"That bill concerning the ratification of the sixth protocol banning death
penalty had been discussed thoroughly several times but we did not gather
sufficient votes to deal with the problem," Pavel Krasheninnikov, chairman
of the parliamentary committee on civil and criminal legislations, told
IPS.
"It will be wrong to say that the State Duma has relegated the bill to the
background despite the fact that it was not voted on. But there is logical
possibility that the next legislative chamber will consider and prepare it
for another round of votes. Certainly it should be one of its priorities,"
Krasheninnikov said.
The next legislative chamber to be formed after the December 2nd
parliamentary vote will be tasked with tackling all unaccomplished tasks
as well as correcting laws that have not functioned as intended, in
addition to new legislative responsibilities.
Commonly referred as the State Duma, the lower house consists of 450
members, is elected every four years, and is responsible solely for
enacting legislation for the country.
A prominent lawmaker admitted that the majority of deputies in the State
Duma were unprepared to commit themselves to getting death penalty
completely abolished -- although President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly
called for its abolition.
Speaking at the Valdai International Discussion forum in Sochi, Putin said
that he considers the death penalty "senseless and counterproductive".
"The senseless nature of the death penalty has been proven by the
thousand- year history of mankind and modern civilisation, toughening of
punishment by itself up to the death penalty is not a panacea, is not the
most efficient instrument in the struggle against crime," Putin stressed.
"The most efficient weapon in the struggle against the crime is the
inevitability of punishment -- everybody knows that -- and not the cruelty
of punishment. This is the first thing. Secondly, I am deeply convinced,
that by using the death penalty in relation to its citizens, even
criminals, the state educates its citizens in cruelty and brings forth new
cruelty on the part of citizens in relation to each other and in relation
to the state itself. And this is also harmful and counterproductive,"
Putin said.
"In my opinion, the power to impose the death penalty should not be given
to any government. The death penalty exists for the primary purpose of
controlling criminally notorious people. But the threat of the imposition
of the death penalty is the ultimate threat," Professor Jeffrey T. Renz of
the Law faculty at the University of Montana told IPS, from Missoula.
Countries that have adopted the death penalty -- whether Rome after the
Catalinarian conspiracy or the States of the United States -- have always
used it as a tool of oppression, he said.
"There are other ways to protect ourselves from the murderers of say,
north Ossetia and the Caucasus region and from the Saddam Husseins of the
world. We may imprison them without contact with the outside world for the
rest of their lives. I think that the former Soviet republics recognized
this when nearly all either abolished the death penalty or imposed a de
jure or de facto moratorium on its use," he added.
From a western standpoint, Russian society is no longer democratizing,
Renz warned.
The Commissioner for the Council of Europe (CE), Thomas Hammarberg,
repeatedly cautioned that his organisation was not planning to wrap up its
monitoring mission in Russia until Moscow finally bans the death penalty.
The CE monitors the fulfillment of Russia's obligations, undertaken 10
years ago when the country joined the organisation.
Russia is the only European country yet to ban the death penalty, although
it promised to do so upon accession to the organisation.
Renz stresses that Russia should immediately repeal the death penalty and,
as part of its constitution, prohibit its use by the federation or any
republic.
"Countries who wish to participate in the Council of Europe, or have
relations with the European Union and the OSCE, for example, may freely
decide to enhance human rights or forego the benefits of membership," he
said.
Amnesty International (AI) believes that the death penalty is not
acceptable under any circumstances in democratic world.
"Every execution is an affront to human dignity and a grave abuse of human
rights. The world is steadily turning against capital punishment," Piers
Bannister, a coordinator of the Death Penalty Team at AI, told IPS in an
interview.
133 countries have now abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.
"These countries have realised the risks inherent in the use of the death
penalty," Bannister said.
"It can be used against those innocent of the crime for which they were
condemned and it is often used after unfair trials or disproportionately
against ethnic minorities, the poor or other disadvantaged groups," he
explained.
AI regularly campaigns for those guilty of grave human rights violations
-- such as Saddam Hussein -- to be held accountable for their actions.
However, AI believes that any punishment inflicted upon them should only
be administered after a full and fair trial that adheres to international
standards and that, whatever the appalling nature of the crimes of which
they are accused, they should not be subjected to cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment or punishment.
"Nothing that we are aware of prevents Russia from abolishing the death
penalty," Bannister says.
Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that President Putin strictly
opposes the death penalty, but that the population may not be ready to
accept the full abolition of the death penalty.
Many countries, Bannister explained, have abolished the death penalty
despite a large portion of the population allegedly being in favour of it.
(source: IPS News)

Lebanon: Abolition of the death penalty linked to stability

2007-11-21T15:46:00.000Z

LEBANON:
Abolition of death penalty linked to stability

Sonele Daas sits on death row in Lebanon's central Roumieh prison, found
guilty of murder almost one decade ago. The 60-year-old Bangladeshi had
traveled to Lebanon to work and send wages home to his family. However,
after a dispute with a fellow compatriot, Daas was arrested, tried and
convicted by a Lebanese court for his friend's subsequent death.
Today Daas still does not understand Arabic, has lost touch with his
family and is entirely dependent on others for help, explains Jihane
Morad, a young social worker for the Association for Justice and Mercy
(AJEM), a grassroots organization with a daily presence in the prison
offering social services and legal aid. "He doesn't know who his lawyer
was" she says, "so we have agreed to review his case."
Daas is one of 40 men in crowded Roumieh prison currently sentenced to die
by shooting or hanging. Since Lebanon's independence in 1943, 54 people
have been executed by the state, many of them after the end of the Civil
War in the 1990s.
During an enormous national anti-death penalty campaign backed by over 50
civil society organizations a few years ago, a poll conducted by the
leading ban activist, Walid Slaybi, determined that 74 % of Lebanese
lawmakers were in favor of abolition.
The next step, recalls Slaybi, was to present a draft law on abolition,
already signed by a number of deputies, to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on
July 12, 2006. However, that day the Israel-Lebanon conflict broke out.
"Now with the political crises today, the Parliament does not meet. Under
these conditions we cannot present it - but it is ready," says Slaybi.
Lebanon's last series of executions have been high profile and especially
controversial, enacted in the wake of national public outrage over the
crimes.
In 1998 there was a public hanging in Tabarja town square of 2 thieves,
Hassan Abu Jabal and Wissam Issa, who had killed the owners of a house
they had broken into. Hundreds of people and television cameras watched at
dawn as the gallows briefly malfunctioned and the lifeless bodies were
then left on display for over an hour.
"This was a big trauma for the children of the village," recalls Marie
Daunay, president of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH). "It was
horrible - the kids were playing at hanging each other afterwards at
school."
The executions coincided with the first known public protest in Lebanon
against the death penalty, says Slaybi, when he, Ogarit Younan, a lawyer,
and around 30 others staged a sit-in that morning in the town square.
After a brief halt of executions under former Prime Minister Salim Hoss,
who virulently opposed the death penalty, the murder of 8, mostly
Christian co-workers by a Shiite man, Ahmad Mansour, sparked widespread
sectarian anger in 2004. Careful to appease the various political parties,
Mansour was executed by hanging.
The state also executed by firing squad Remi Zaatar, a Christian, and
Badih Hamade, a Sunni, both on death row for unrelated murders.
Since then there have been no executions. "However those who are condemned
are always living in fear that they might be executed," says Morad.
"Many are receiving psychiatric treatment because of this constant fear."
In 1998 Nehmeh al-Haj, a 44-year-old from the Beirut area, was arrested by
Syrian intelligence agents and taken to Anjar, near the Syrian border. He
says he was interrogated with torture for up to a month, denied a lawyer
and forced to sign a confession that he murdered 2 Syrian laborers in
Lebanon. He was then turned over to Lebanon and transferred to Roumieh
prison. His trial, 6 years later, was based on his signed confession in
Anjar, and despite his allegations of torture, he received the death
penalty.
Haj's case is presently adopted by CLDH and has been reported to the
United Nation's Human Rights Council. "If you study the cases of people
sentenced to death [in Lebanon]," explains Daunay, "with most of them you
will find big contradictions with international law. Their rights during
the trial were not respected. So if you don't respect the rights of the
accused, you cannot be sure that the decision is right."
Human rights advocates complain Lebanon's court trials are often
expedient, the accused lacks adequate counsel (defense lawyers for death
penalty cases are scarce and they usually work for without payment), the
appeals process is limited and torture to obtain a confession is
commonplace.
Lebanon is a signatory to international laws governing civil and political
rights, and against torture. "Lebanon as a state signs everything, but
nothing is implemented," says Daunay.
Death penalty abolitionists were hoping Lebanon would repeal the death
penalty in accordance with international laws governing the UN special
tribunal set up to try the suspects in the killing of former Premier Rafik
Hariri in 2005.
But the UN and the Lebanon reached an understanding that the tribunal,
which has power to impose penalties leading up to life imprisonment, would
have precedence over Lebanese national law where the death penalty would
still be valid.
With widespread public outrage over the Lebanese Army casualties in Nahr
al-Bared refugee camp at the hands of Fatah al-Islam last summer, in
addition to the current political crises, passage of a death penalty the
ban now seems somewhat remote.
But with the abolitionist campaigners having succeeded in getting
accidental death struck off the list of charges to merit the death
penalty, Slaybi believes the campaign will ultimately triumph. "If there
is stability in Lebanon - then the death penalty will be eliminated," he
says with conviction.
(source: Daily Star)

UN: Resolutions calling for a moratorium on executions passed

2007-11-16T12:21:00.000Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2212203,00.html

USA: Barred doctor helps in executions

2007-11-16T11:51:00.001Z

Doctor barred by Missouri helps in federal executions
A judge cites the physician's dyslexia in banning him from participation in
state lethal injections. His role has been cited in several death penalty
challenges.
By Henry Weinstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
A doctor who was barred from taking part in executions in Missouri because
of concerns his dyslexia would interfere with his ability to administer
lethal injections is helping the federal government carry out death
sentences in Indiana, according to court documents.
The physician has been the target of more than 20 malpractice suits, was
barred from practicing at two hospitals and was publicly reprimanded by a
state agency for failing to disclose those suits to a hospital where he
treated patients, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The newspaper
identified the doctor as Alan R. Doerhoff of Jefferson City, Mo.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan Jr. of Kansas City, Mo.,
banned Doerhoff from participating "in any manner, at any level" in lethal
injections in Missouri.
The judge said earlier he was "gravely concerned" that the doctor
responsible for "mixing the drugs which will be responsible for humanely
ending the life of condemned inmates, has a condition [dyslexia] which
causes him confusion with regard to numbers."
Federal officials, however, have made Doerhoff part of the execution team at
the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., according to court papers filed on
behalf of several inmates there. All condemned federal prisoners are
executed at that prison.
Among those executed there was Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh.
Doerhoff's role is to place intravenous lines in condemned inmates, monitor
their levels of consciousness and sign death certificates, according to the
papers.
Doerhoff did not respond to requests for comment, and Justice Department
spokesman Erik Ablin declined to comment.
Traci Billingsley, U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman, said the agency does
not comment on pending litigation and does not make public the names of
staff involved in lethal injections.
Washington attorney Paul F. Enzinna, one of the Indiana inmates' lawyers,
also declined to comment.
Doerhoff's role in federal executions emerged in one of several challenges
to lethal injection filed in courts around the country.
Thirty-seven states and the federal government use a three-drug cocktail to
execute prisoners: the fast-acting sedative thiopental, a paralyzing drug
and a heart-stopping drug.
Although ostensibly more humane than prior execution methods, lethal
injection is often performed by untrained, unqualified prison employees
using inadequate equipment, creating an unnecessary risk of excessive pain
in violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the
suits allege.
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a challenge to Kentucky's executions
by lethal injection on Jan. 7.
During the court challenges, officials have cloaked Doerhoff's identity in
extraordinary secrecy. In the Missouri case, he was referred to as "John Doe
One" and allowed to sit behind a screen during a deposition so that lawyers
for condemned inmate Michael Taylor could not see him being questioned.
In the latest challenge, Roane vs. Gonzales, filed in Washington, the
inmates' lawyers refer to Doerhoff as "Protected Person No. 2." About a
dozen lines in the October brief were redacted.
Doerhoff was cited as "Dr. Doe" in a friend-of-the-court brief filed Tuesday
in the lethal injection challenge before the Supreme Court.
"The most well-known example of a jurisdiction entrusting its execution
administration to an incompetent individual is the infamous 'Dr. Doe' in
Missouri," says a brief written by lawyers from the death penalty clinic at
UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.
The brief contends that even though Doerhoff had played a key role in more
than 50 executions, he had not followed written instructions but
instead "varied the amount of thiopental he gave inmates on a whim, without
informing anyone."
The Missouri doctor also said that he had cut the thiopental dosage he gave
inmates by half because a change in drug packaging forced him
to "improvise," the brief said.
"The federal government chose to rely upon the only person in the country
who has been explicitly barred by a federal court from participating in
lethal injection executions," said the brief, written under the supervision
of Tyler L. Alper, associate director of the death penalty clinic.
Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno, an expert on capital
punishment methods who is closely following the challenges to lethal
injection, said that Gaitan, an appointee of President Reagan, issued his
order after "a thorough and detailed examination of Dr. Doerhoff's shocking
lack of knowledge of the basic tenets of the drugs and procedures involved
in a lethal injection execution, Dr. Doerhoff's admitted challenges with
dyslexia that affected his ability to mix and measure the drugs, as well as
his record of more than 20 malpractice suits and revoked privileges at two
hospitals."
Denno said the revelations about Doerhoff illustrated "the need for
transparency in the identity of executioners" so that their records could be
scrutinized.

Japan: determined to execute despite world opinion

2007-11-15T11:51:00.000Z

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40045

EU/UN debate on the death penalty

2007-11-15T11:50:00.000Z

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN14242759.html

Innocent man who faced death

2007-11-14T11:06:00.001Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2210407,00.html

Desmond Tutu on the death penalty

2007-11-14T11:01:00.001Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2209941,00.html

Japan: Judge convinence an innnocent man was sentenced to death

2007-11-14T10:29:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40010

Jamaica: Hanging and the conscience vote

2007-11-08T16:42:00.001Z

JAMAICA:
Hanging and the conscience vote

The Jamaica labour Party promised that should they form the next
government, they would resume hanging. The intoxication of politicking
might have added glibness to their speeches, but, now that they're in
power, they want to fulfil that undertaking. Capital punishment is still
on our books but the previous government was unable to execute anyone
because, simply put, the Privy Council (our final appellate authority) has
placed time limits on executions and specificities regarding a mandatory
death penalty. Additionally, there is international pressure for us to
place a moratorium on executions.
In preparation for bipartisan agreement on the removal of obstacles to
issuing minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Senator
Arthur Williams, death warrants (hanging people), while on a recent tour
of the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, reportedly said that
Parliament will be asked to vote by conscience (and not by collective
responsibility) on the resumption of hanging.
All that sounds simple and straightforward in theory, but I wonder if
there can be a genuine conscience vote on such a contentious and vexed,
politically charged topic in our current atmosphere of escalating
atrocious multiple murders. Can Members of Parliament representing a
nation of frightened, angry and frustrated people vote their conscience?
Or, will they feel pressured and vote based on popular anecdotal
(unscientific) opinions, the need to assuage anxieties and political
expediencies?
Many people sanction legal and illegal state killings. Generally,
extrajudicial killings are not random occurrences; they are driven by fear
and our flawed legal system. Scared citizens surreptitiously inform on
their suspected tormentor(s) - gunmen and/or terrorists. Desperate people
are, therefore, willing to employ illegal means to get rid of suspected
criminals. So, we can fully expect that most will endorse the resumption
of hanging.
Not really effective
Those clamouring for the death penalty are sick and tired of murders,
worried for their own safety or closely associated with murder victims.
However, according to worldwide studies and experiences, executing
convicted murderers has not proven effective in reducing murder rates.
Interestingly, in the United States of America, (in 2006), the average
murder rate among 'death penalty' states was 5.3 per 100,000 population;
but for 'non-death penalty' states it was only 2.9 per 100,000 population.
Our Members of Parliament must ask themselves several soul-searching
questions before that conscience vote. Is our judicial system so perfect
as to ensure that innocents will not be hanged? Will everyone accused of
murder receive equal legal representation, or will those that can afford
high-powered defence teams have a better chance of acquittal? When we look
at the end of our rope, will we not typically see a deprived young man
from the inner city who has been given an expensive firearm by someone
that will always remain free to inculcate more victims?
Before they vote their conscience, they must ask if our country has done
enough to rescue our underprivileged, marginalised young men from the
clutches of the greedy, power-hungry individuals that have made victims of
us all. Many of our anti-social youngsters have little respect for their
lives and for the lives of others because their circumstances have
sentenced them to a life of violence, ignorance and frustration. How can
we, therefore, teach respect for life by taking it?
A supposedly Christian country such as ours should never consider killing
anyone. And, to clarify a point raised by Observer columnist Anthony Gomes
(May 9, 2007) the (1992) Roman Catholic Catechism - under item 2266 -
condoned capital punishment (as a means of state self-defence), the 1997
definitive edition delegitimised it.
(source: Jamaica Gleaner)

Afghanistan: botched executions

2007-11-08T16:39:00.000Z

Nov. 6

AFGHANISTAN:
The execution was bloodily botched. And in the confusion Afghans top
criminal escaped

Once the shooting began, it took more than f5 minutes to kill the last of
the 15 condemned men.
Stumbling blindly into one another in the darkness, hooded, shackled and
handcuffed, some had somehow survived the automatic fire from a ten-man
firing squad at almost point-blank range.
However, when the final coup de grace had been applied and the night was
silent again, it was clear that one man was missing. Timur Shah, perhaps
Afghanistan's most infamous criminal, sentenced to die for kidnap, rape
and murder, had escaped in the mle that was the country's 1st official
execution for 3 years.
"It was a grotesque mockery of justice," Sam Zia-Zarifi, Human Rights
Watch research director for Asia, said. "It was cruel and inhuman. The
legal systems in even the wealthiest nations are incapable of providing
justice when it comes to capital punishment. Afghanistan certainly can't."
The slaughter occurred at 9.30pm on October 7 on the eastern outskirts of
Kabul. Only now can the full story be told. The condemned prisoners were
killed in a chaotic, group turkey shoot. And Timur Shah had escaped with
the complicity of corrupt guards.
A 16th man remained alive, hidden among mutinous prisoners in the
notorious Policharki jail in the capital.
The bodies of the slain were so badly mutilated that in some cases
identification was impossible.
The Afghan Attorney-General is investigating claims that some paid for
their execution places to be taken by low-level prisoners.
A senior prosecutor charged with observing the execution, Sarbeland (he
goes by a single name), saw the whole event at first hand. He is the first
witness to describe it publicly in detail. Interviewed by The Timesin the
Attorney-Generals office in Kabul, he said that from the moment he arrived
at Policharki that afternoon, procedures were a shambles.
"I confirmed the condemned prisoners matched the photographs in their
files," he said. "But one was already missing. He had taken refuge among
another group of prisoners in a different wing who put up resistance when
we tried to get him back."
This prisoner, Khayoum, a convicted murderer, still remains at large
within the jail. Authorities, who clearly have lost control of some areas
of the prison, are still puzzling over how best to seize him without
triggering a bloodbath.
The thousands of Soviet-era executions within Policharki had always
occurred in a specialised wing of the jail. The Afghan authorities,
perhaps with the current level of the prison unrest in mind, instead drove
the condemned men in 2 vehicles to Pulegun. Here they ran into their next
obstacle.
The site was near an Afghan national army camp, and the soldiers wanted
nothing to do with the execution and ordered them away.
After hours of failed negotiations, the condemned men were driven to Dog
Fort, a desert site at the foot of a mountain, where dogs were taught to
sniff out mines.
The prisoners were unloaded in darkness and made to stand near a 4ft
(1.2m) earthen wall. After their sentences were confirmed, their hands
were released, one by one, to sign their wills, before being tied again.
(Many were illiterate and signed by thumb-printing the document.)
It was obvious at this point to Mr Sarbeland that Timur Shah was receiving
different treatment. He had only a narrow blindfold while the other
prisoners were hooded. His hands were tied in front of him, the others'
behind them.
A row then broke out when the condemned men asked to be uncuffed so that
they could pray one last time.
As this went on, Mr Sarbeland said, Timur Shah stepped a few feet away,
ostensibly to urinate. Instead he flung himself over the low wall. Other
prisoners started to run. The shooting began.
"It took between 5 and 10 minutes for them to kill everybody," Mr
Sarbeland said. "Then we went to look for Timur Shah. We searched over a
mile radius, but found nothing."
The bodies were collected. With multiple close-range gunshot wounds, many
had their faces blown off and were unidentifiable. Foreign diplomats
suggested later that some of the bodies had also been bayoneted, though Mr
Sarbeland denied this.
Among the dead, whose crimes ranged from murder to rape and robbery, was
Reza Khan, one of those responsible for the killing of 4 journalists on
the road between Jalalabad and Kabul in November 2001.
3 prison guards have been arrested for complicity in Timur Shah's escape.
Leading the investigation, Mr Sarbeland discovered that one set of
leg-shackle keys was missing perhaps given to Shah before he leapt over
the wall.
The Afghan public has been little disturbed by the controversy. Tired of
criminality, many people say that there should be more executions.
Bloody legacy
The only other official execution since the Taleban was ousted was in
2004 when Abdullah Shah, a military commander, was shot after being jailed
on 20 counts of murder
Before the removal of the Taleban in 2001, executions were considerably
more frequent. The group's strict interpretation of the Koran meant that
the methods of the often public killings were brutal. 3 men convicted of
sodomy in 1998 were ordered to be buried alive under a pile of stones.
They were allowed to live if they survived for 30 minutes.
(source: The Times)

USA, Texas: executions take toll on those officials involved

2007-11-08T16:37:00.000Z

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUwAxmY5q-tVPZK1kNWNY_G2nJxw

Afganistan: More executions on the way

2007-11-05T16:25:00.000Z

http://www.payvand.com/news/07/oct/1180.html

China: Organs no longer for sale from executed prisoners

2007-11-01T11:03:00.000Z

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-10/09/content_6158754.htm

UN: 3 exonerated death row prisoners testify about their experiences

2007-10-31T16:40:00.001Z

GLOBAL:
3 death row survivors call for global moratorium on executions

3 men sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit, today urged
member states of the United Nations General Assembly to support a
resolution for a global moratorium on executions.
"I have faced death at the hands of my government and I'm here to tell the
international community of the human suffering caused by the death
penalty, and to urge them to end this terrible punishment," said Edward
Edmary Mpagi, from Uganda who spent 18 years on death row. Mpagi,
sentenced to death in 1981, was accused of killing a man who was later
found to be alive.
Speaking at an Amnesty International event at the United Nations in New
York, in advance of a resolution for a global moratorium on executions,
the three men highlighted how unfair trials, erroneous decisions or flaws
in the judicial system can result in innocent people being executed, and
urged governments from around the world to stop the use of the death
penalty.
"It's difficult to describe what it is like to serve time on death row
knowing you are innocent," said Ray Krone, the 100th prisoner on death row
in the US to be freed after DNA tests proved his innocence in 2002.
"All you know is that what seems like an awful nightmare is now reality, a
reality beyond comprehension. The US death-penalty system is broken. What
happened to me can happen to anyone. And it doesn't have to be that way."
In 1949, the Japanese authorities arrested Sakae Menda for the murder of
two people. Police extracted a false "confession" from Mr Menda through
torture, and after an unfair trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to
death. Determined to prove his innocence, Sakae Menda applied for retrials
six times before being granted one. In 1983, 34 years after being
sentenced to death, the courts acquitted Mr Menda of the charges, making
him the first Japanese prisoner on death row to be released.
"Living each day knowing that you may be sent to your death at any given
month, day or moment is torture," said Sakae Menda. "Being on death row
dehumanises and has a massive psychological effect on a person. It's an
awful penalty to inflict on anyone, and is even more devastating for
someone who is innocent."
Executions in Japan are typically held in secret and prisoners are either
not warned of their impending execution, or are notified only in the
morning of the day of the execution.
Speaking at the UN, Amnesty International's expert on death penalty, Piers
Bannister said, "These three men provide graphic evidence that the death
penalty is administered by flawed systems, whatever the culture and
resources of the country concerned. No one knows how many innocent men and
women have been executed through history. But the ever present risk of
executing the innocent provides yet another compelling reason why the time
has come for the global moratorium of executions."
Since the death penalty was re-established in USA in 1973, 124 people on
death row have been released after being found innocent, or their
conviction rested on insufficient evidence was gathered against them
To date, 133 countries have abolished the use of the death penalty in law
or practice.
In 2006, 91 % of all known executions took place in only six countries:
China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the USA.
In November 2007, the United Nations General Assembly (Third Committee)
will vote on a resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions
Amnesty International calls on the 62 UN General Assembly to adopt the
resolution:
Affirming a right to life and stating that abolition of the death penalty
is essential for the protection of human rights
Calling on retentionist states to establish a moratorium on executions asa
first step toward abolition of the death penalty
Calling on retentionist states to respect international standards that
guarantee the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty,
and
Requesting the UN Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the
moratorium to the next session of the UNGA.
(source: Amnesty International)

Afghanistan: 3-year moratorium on executions ends

2007-10-31T16:37:00.000Z

AFGHANISTAN:
Executions Break Afghan Moratorium

Ending a 3-year moratorium on the death penalty, Afghanistan executed 15
prisoners by gunfire, including a man convicted of killing 3 foreign
journalists during the U.S.-led invasion, the prisons chief announced
Monday.
The United Nations protested the executions, which could complicate the
missions of some NATO nations here.
The mass execution took place Sunday evening according to Afghan law,
which calls for condemned prisoners to be shot to death, said Abdul Salam
Ismat, who oversees Afghanistan's prisons.
On Tuesday, Humayun Hamidzada, a presidential spokesman, said Afghanistan
will continue with executions of inmates on death row, saying they will be
a lesson ''for those who are committing such crimes, as murder,
kidnapping, adultery and rapes.''
The crimes committed by those executed Sunday included murder, kidnapping
and armed robbery, but officials said no Taliban or al-Qaida fighters were
among the prisoners.
Until it was ousted in late 2001, Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban regime
carried out executions in public, many of them at the Kabul stadium. The
new government pledged to the international community it would halt
executions, and had carried out only one previously, in 2004.
The 15 deaths could complicate relationships between the government and
some NATO countries with military forces here. Foreign troops often hand
over captured militants to the Afghan government, raising the question of
whether countries that do not use the death penalty might stop
surrendering prisoners.
The Netherlands was one of the first to criticize the Afghan announcement,
calling the executions ''extremely unwelcome.'' But it also said Dutch
troops would continue to transfer militants to the Afghan government,
saying it had an agreement protecting those prisoners from execution.
Anger over the executions also could prove a snag for NATO's efforts to
get its member nations to send more troops to Afghanistan. NATO has some
40,000 soldiers here but commanders complain they need more helicopters,
mobile troops and instructors to train the Afghan army.
''The fact that we have not fully been able to live up to the promises
that nations have made is a point of concern for me,'' NATO
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday in Denmark before the
executions were announced.
Among those executed was Reza Khan, who was convicted of adultery and the
murder of one Afghan and 3 foreign journalists in 2001. The 4 were pulled
from their cars, robbed and shot near the eastern city of Jalalabad while
driving toward Kabul six days after the Taliban abandoned the capital
under heavy U.S. bombing.
The four were Australian TV cameraman Harry Burton, Afghan photographer
Azizullah Haidari of the Reuters news agency, Maria Grazia Cutuli of
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and Julio Fuentes of the Spanish
daily El Mundo.
Also executed was Farhad, who is also known as Pahlavan and like many
Afghan used only a single name. He was involved in the 2005 kidnapping of
Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni; she was freed after 3 weeks.
Tom Koenigs, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said the
U.N. had expressed its concern over the use of the death penalty many
times in the past.
''The United Nations in Afghanistan has been a staunch supporter of the
moratorium on executions observed in Afghanistan in recent years,''
Koenigs said. ''I expect Afghanistan to continue working towards attaining
the highest human rights standards and ensuring the due process of law and
the rights of all citizens are respected.''
The government's official announcement of the executions came on state
television Monday evening, saying said Karzai ordered the executions
following a decision by a special commission he set up to review rulings
by the Supreme Court.
''After all the discussions and after looking back over the cases ... in
order to prevent future crimes, such as murders, armed robberies,
kidnappings, and to maintain the stability of the country, (Karzai)
approved the prisoners' death sentences,'' a statement read over the news
said.
Hamidzada, Karzai's spokesman, had told The Associated Press last week
that Karzai was taking ''extreme care in execution cases.''
''He has been holding on to these cases because he wants to make sure that
the justice is served and the due process is complete. He personally does
not like executions, but Afghan law asks for it, and he will obey the
laws,'' Hamidzada said.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry expressed distress at the executions.
''For the Netherlands, the abolition of the death penalty is one of our
priorities in terms of international human rights policy,'' spokesman Bart
Rijs said. ''We had understood there was a moratorium on the death penalty
in force.''
Rijs said Dutch troops would continue to hand over prisoners because the
Netherlands had signed a memorandum of understanding with Karzai's
government guaranteeing those inmates would not be executed. Rijs said
there were 10 such prisoners and all were believed in good health.
Amnesty International said 6 countries were responsible for 91 % of all
known executions worldwide last year: China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan
and the United States. 18 other countries also carried out executions, the
group said.

USA: Review of 30 years of the use of the death penalty

2007-10-31T15:27:00.000Z

http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/spring07/home.html

Zimbabwe: Activists Undeterred

2007-10-31T14:34:00.001Z

ZIMBABWE::
Activists Outmanoeuvred - But Undeterred

Anti-death penalty activists in Zimbabwe are keeping up their campaign,
despite a police clampdown on their meetings and ever-lengthening food
queues, power cuts and the relentless rise in prices of many essential
items.
"It is now very difficult to obtain police clearance to hold gatherings.
Everything we try to do to bring people together is viewed by the police
as a political event," John Chinamurungu, Amnesty International's
chairperson in Zimbabwe, told IPS. "It's very difficult to get campaigns
going."
Amnesty and the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and the
Rehabilitation of Offenders (Zacro) have been co-operating closely to
rally public support for the abolition of the death penalty and to get the
issue on the national political agenda.
Zacro's new engagement follows an opinion article by an official of the
organisation in the state-owned daily, 'The Herald', last January. This
announced the opening of a carefully-scripted Zacro campaign, details of
which were later outlined to IPS by Edson Chiota, the organisation's
national co-ordinator.
The plan included carrying the message of abolition to Zimbabwe's 13
million citizens with the printing and distribution of millions of posters
and pamphlets.
But campaigning has been hit by the speed and scale of the unfolding
economic crisis. In January the year-on-year official inflation rate was
1,600 percent. In September it reached 7,982.1 percent, according to the
government's Central Statistical Office. Unofficially, the rate is said to
be approaching 25,000 percent.
Paper and fuel, essential for a nationwide campaign, are almost impossible
to obtain.
The struggle to exist from day to day is now uppermost on people's minds.
In the capital, Harare, hour-long queues for bread are normal. Earlier
this month, the agriculture ministry announced that the wheat harvest was
2/3 of what was required. Shortly afterwards, the official price of bread
was increased by 300 %.
"There are millions in Zimbabwe who need food assistance," Richard Lee of
the United Nations World Food Programme, said in August. It was estimated
then that some 3.3 million would require the agency's help to survive over
the coming months.
Authorities have responded to any street protest or show of dissent by
rushing in riot police, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
But despite the unfolding catastrophe, Amnesty and Zacro have refused to
be cowed into calling off their sensitisation workshops on the death
penalty.
Amnesty's local vice-chairperson, Francis Mweene, has been a notable
participant, having survived death row. He was sentenced to death in
white-ruled Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was known before it gained independence
in 1980.
"It was a big surprise to me that I found myself able to live again It was
because Amnesty Zimbabwe stood for my right to life," he told IPS,
recalling how the organisation's international contacts helped pull him
back from the jaws of death.
"It is through testimonies that I think people can be sensitised and
understand why we are advocating against (the) death (sentence)."
Mweene's leading of the testimonies clearly makes it difficult for the
authorities to step in and ban such meetings. Zimbabwe's president, Robert
Mugabe, led a liberation war against the Ian Smith regime and would
certainly have ended up on death row like Mweene had he been captured.
Alongside these meetings, Amnesty has been issuing T-Shirts emblazoned
with anti-death penalty slogans.
In July, Zacro tried to persuade traditional leaders in the Council of
Chiefs to support its anti-death penalty campaign. The chiefs were holding
their annual meeting in Harare and the northern resort of Victoria Falls.
But politicians were clearly not willing to see this happen. They stepped
in to prevent the death penalty issue being tabled at the meeting,
according to sources.
"We hoped to start with the chiefs and use them as leverage to get this
issue into the House of Assembly and eventually seek out an audience with
the head of state," Chakanyuka told IPS.
The chiefs could have raised the issue in parliament, where they sit by
appointment.
Zacro's focus on the chiefs fitted into the initial thrust of the
campaign, which argued that the death penalty was "alien and contrary to
traditional African concepts of justice and beliefs".
The meeting also showed that opinion among the officially-supported chiefs
was divided on the death penalty issue.
"You should be given a sentence in accordance with your crime. If you
deliberately kill, you should also be killed," Chief Makoni told the
meeting, according to a press report at the time in the privately-owned
'Financial Gazette'.
It has been suggested that the chiefs might have been less than
enthusiastic about being associated with such a controversial issue and
bringing it before Mugabe, for fear of losing their privileges. They are
essentially on the government payroll.
"With the elections coming there is no chance we will be able to talk to
the chiefs again until afterwards," a disappointed Chakanyuka said.
The polls -- presidential, parliamentary and local government -- are
expected to be held in 6 months.
Zacro is now planning to circulate a nation-wide petition calling for
abolition of the death penalty.
"We want to present a petition to President Mugabe since he is the man who
has been vested with all the powers to decide if one should be sent to the
gallows or not," Chakanyuka said.
Mugabe has resisted all calls for the repeal of the death penalty, which
dates back to the colonial era, in his 27 years of rule -- and is unlikely
to change his mind now, in the twilight of his beleaguered regime.
But by campaigning on this issue now and associating the retention of
capital punishment more closely with his name, it may be hoped that one of
the first measures to be adopted by his successors will be the abolition
of the death penalty.
Zacro is also hoping that its campaign will stimulate public interest in
further penal reforms.
The last execution in Zimbabwe was carried out in 2004. Since 1999 seven
people have been executed by hanging, according to Zacro.
(source: Inter Press Service)

Japan: Interview with former death row inmate

2007-10-31T14:33:00.001Z

Q & A: "Confessions Are Not Always True"----Interview with Sakae Menda,
exonerated death row inmate

Japan is the only member of the Group of Seven industrialised nations
other than the United States to retain capital punishment. And unlike
capital punishment in the U.S., Japan's use of the death penalty is on the
rise.
According to Amnesty International, 102 people are waiting to be hanged in
one of Japan's 7 execution chambers, the largest number in over half a
century.
Thus far, 4 prisoners have been released from death row in Japan after
being proven innocent.
Sakae Menda was the 1st.
In 1948, at the age of 23, Menda was convicted of a double axe murder. The
conviction was based on Menda's confession, extracted after he was held
for 3 weeks in a police station with little sleep, water or food, and no
access to a lawyer.
In 1983, the court finally acknowledged that the police had concealed
Menda's alibi and he was released.
IPS Correspondent Mithre J. Sandrasagra spoke with Menda, now 81, at the
U.N., ahead of a General Assembly vote on a death penalty moratorium
expected in November.
IPS: Confessions carry enormous weight in prosecutions in Japan, and a
reported 99 % of people charged with crimes in Japan are convicted. What
do you think of this system?
SM: We must change the system. We value confessions too much in Japan. We
must value evidence more because confessions in Japan are sometimes things
that judicial authorities make up. Confessions are not always true.
IPS: The police coerced your confession out of you. Could you speak about
this?
SM: They ask leading questions over and over. I couldn't eat at all, they
refused water. This led to the confession.
IPS: Did they have any evidence against you?
SM: There was no evidence at all against me.
IPS: Can you describe the process you had to navigate to get a retrial?
SM: There is no guarantee of a lawyer in Japan. I appealed for retrial on
my own many times. I was rejected several times. The 3rd time, I hired a
lawyer. I had to pay so much. Even this failed.
IPS: Japanese Justice Ministry officials claim that the system of secret
executions is the most humane form of capital punishment. Japanese
officials keep state executions out of public view and shrouded in
secrecy. Not even the condemned prisoners know the day they will die. Can
you describe the mentality of the prisoners on Japan's death row?
SM: My fellow inmates knew that their lives would end there, so they gave
up. Many of them became religious. If they must execute, it would be much
better for them to let prisoners know in advance so that they can prepare
mentally.
IPS: Were you allowed access to psychiatric professionals?
SM: Psychologists were not present. That is not something big in Japan.
IPS: The bodies of many executed prisoners go unclaimed in Japan because
families disassociate themselves from the accused. What became of your
relationship with your family?
SM: I was disowned by my father. I didn't have much contact with any of my
family while I was in prison. There is a big difference among death row
prisoners, between those whose families come and take care of them and
those that do not come at all. It makes a difference to how they get
treated by the officers in the prison. The officers treat those that are
abandoned by their families like they are abandoned by society.
IPS: The Japanese government awarded you compensation for your wrongful
sentencing and incarceration. Has this helped you? Thus far, how have you
found the process of reintegrating into society?
SM: It is not a nationally recognised compensation. I just get money for
the time I spent in prison. As for reintegration, it is the society that
is very cold. Society refuses to accept me. They look at me as an axe
murderer and ex-death row inmate. It is very difficult to reenter society.
IPS: Polls indicate that many people in Japan support the death penalty.
Is there a strong grassroots campaign against the death penalty?
SM: There are movements against the death penalty. They are not very
public and not very big. Amnesty International's work in Japan is the
probably the biggest movement. I have been part of this movement for over
20 years.
IPS: Are there any inklings of change from within the government to change
the system?
SM: Yes. But very, very little.
(source: IPS News)

Japan minister seeks 'peaceful' executions

2007-10-31T14:31:00.000Z

JAPAN:
Japan minister seeks 'peaceful' executions

Japans justice minister, who has outraged humans rights groups by
proposing systematic executions, today called for a "more peaceful" method
of killing death row inmates than hanging.
Japan, the only major industrial nation other than the United States to
practise the death penalty, executes inmates at prison gallows under its
1907 penal code.
"I fully understand what is prescribed in the penal code, but frankly I
feel that there must be some more peaceful method," said Justice Minister
Kunio Hatoyama, who did not propose any alternatives.
"There should be room for consideration," he added as he answered a
question in parliamentary debate.
Hatoyama, the 59-year-old grandson of a former prime minister, came under
fire a month ago when he suggested death row inmates should be hanged
"automatically" without the usually required approval of the sitting
justice minister, saying it placed an emotional burden on that official.
Instead, Hatoyama said he wanted Japan to implement a little-enforced law
that requires the execution of inmates within 6 months of their final
sentences.
Speaking shortly before he was re-appointed to his job when Yasuo Fukuda
became prime minister in September, Hatoyama said capital punishment was
necessary because "we have been seeing extremely violent, vicious crimes
in recent years."
"It plays a significant role in deterring serious crimes," he said then.
Hatoyama, whose remarks about the systematic executions sparked protests
from some 50 rights and legal groups, has not signed off on any executions
since he took office in August in a cabinet reshuffle by then premier,
Shinzo Abe.
Japan has executed 10 people since it resumed executions last year after
conservative Abe took office.
Up to then, Japan did not have executions for 15 months as the previous
justice minister, Seiken Sugiura, said the death penalty was contrary to
his Buddhist beliefs.
(source: Agence France Presse)

China: ethical issues around organ donations from executed prisoners

2007-04-24T11:12:00.000+01:00

CHINA:
ORGAN DONATION Ethical issue in China shrouded by secrecy; Dark side of
transplants---- Citizens join critics who question organ harvesting
practices in Chinese prisons.

Meng Zhaoping is trying to argue her way past a security guard at the
provincial high court for the second day in a row.
All she wants is an audience with a court officer, she says. All she has
are 2 questions: Why was her son put to death? What happened to his body?
The answer to the 1st question is in the charge sheet: He knifed a man to
death in a brawl. The 2nd answer, she is convinced, lies in a
much-criticized Chinese practice: taking organs from executed prisoners
for transplants.
Since her son was executed in January 2005, Meng has been searching for an
explanation. She never saw his body, which was taken to a crematorium.
By then, Meng thinks, his body had been stripped of its organs.
She has no direct evidence, but the secrecy in which China has shrouded
the issue has long bred suspicions. Medical and human rights groups say it
is opaque, profit-driven and indifferent to medical ethics.
What's new is that these critics are being joined by ordinary Chinese such
as Meng, a 53-year-old apple farmer from the fringe of the Gobi Desert.
Much of the furor surrounds the use of organs mostly kidneys, livers and
corneas from executed prisoners who may not have given their permission.
Although few involved in China's transplant trade talk openly about it,
Beijing has begun to respond to criticisms.
This month, the State Council, China's cabinet, formalized Health Ministry
rules issued last year that ban the sale of organs and require donors to
supply written permission.
But the regulations do not mention prisoners.
Health officials say the country faces a severe organ shortage: 1.5
million people need transplants in China each year, and only about 10,000
operations are carried out.
Wealthy Chinese and foreigners are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Brokers can arrange transplants in weeks.
"Theres a very clear demand, and where there's a demand, there's a
market," says Henk Bekedam, head of the World Health Organizations China
office. "This is a market that needs to be very strongly regulated in
order to guide it properly."
Restrictions on U.S. inmates
In the United States, federal prisons ban inmates from donating organs
except to a close relative.
States ban the transplanting of organs from death row prisoners, and
occasional moves by some states to ease the ban have failed.
(source: Associated Press)

Kenya: Prisons hit by an upsurge in number of death row inmates

2007-04-19T17:31:00.000+01:00

April 2

KENYA:
Prisons Hit By an Upsurge in Number of Death Row Convicts

Local prisons are facing an accommodation crisis, with the population of
death row inmates shooting up by the day.
Prison authorities are warning that the situation could get worse as
courts countrywide continue to sentence violent crime suspects to hang.
The new cases add to a backlog of some that have remained unexecuted for
decades and others awaiting hearing of their appeals.
There are over 900 such inmates at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison
alone. About the same number are being held at the Naivasha Maximum
Security Prison.
Holding cell
At Kamiti, authorities have been forced to convert an ordinary cell block
into a holding cell for death row inmates.
Until recently, death row inmates were only held in 'Condemn A'
'Isolation' and 'Condemn G'.
Apart from the 272 awaiting the hangman's noose at Kamiti, 700 others
sentenced to death by different courts around the country are still
awaiting the hearing of their appeals.
"There are approximately 900 death row inmates at Kamiti Maximum Security
Prison and the courts are sentencing more yet we have never had executions
since 1987," said Mr Peter Njuguna, the officer-in-charge.
The situation, sources among inmates and human rights groups say, is
replicating itself in other penal institutions countrywide, with more
people being sentenced to death for violent crime.
Mr Henry Maina of the Legal Resource Foundation, which has been working
with convicts, said they had noted a daily surge in death row convict
numbers.
"We have noticed an increase in the number of convicts including those on
death row in the three major prison namely, Kamiti Naivasha and Shimo La
Tewa," Mr Maina said.
The last such inmates, convicted for participation in the 1982 attempted
coup, were executed at Kamiti on May 17, 1987.
The batch of 12 included soldiers Hezekiah Ochuka, Pancras Okumu, Onyango
Otieno alias 'Jaduong' and Raphael Okumu.
Others, including the disabled Raphael Ngumbao, Martin Shikuku, Alphonse
Jalango, and Raphael Ogola, Rashid Juma, were convicted of murder.
Presidential clemency
Since then, however, Kamiti has accumulated more convicts on the death
row. Several others like the long-serving Kisilu Munyao were released on
presidential clemency by President Kibaki in 2003. Francis Mbithi, who had
been on death row after conviction in 1980 for robbery with violence, was
another beneficiary.
His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He had been on death row
for 23 years.
But every day for the last 20 years Samson Ochanda Owuor has waited for
the hangman to snuff life out of his now frail aging body.
Owuor, 70, was charged with robbery with violence in Kisumu in 1988 and
subsequently sentenced to hang.
But as fate would have it, his appeal was delayed when his case file
number CR.C 900/87 mysteriously disappeared, making him ineligible for the
2003 clemency.
Benjamin Ndambu Suku and Joshua Otieno Bala convicted in 1990 and 1991
respectively for robbery with violence are among those waiting for a date
with the hangman. They were joined in the death row section in early March
this year by Richard Mwanzia, an individual with both sexual organs who
was accused of rape.
Unlike other convicts, death row convicts are not subject to manual labour
and consequently spend their days either watching TV (thanks to VP Moody
Awori's prison reforms), attending adult education classes taught by
fellow death row convicts or church within the prison.
Headcount
Those awaiting execution wake up at 6.00am for a headcount before the
doors to the cells are opened for them between 6.30am and 7.00 am to take
bath and have breakfast.
The inmates then attend attend class, go for various games, or church.
They are then served lunch, comprising a bowl of soup and discoloured
ugali between 10.00am and 11.00am.
After lunch, the death row inmates are allowed to watch television,
although they mostly sit around unlike their counterparts in the Lang'ata
Women's Prison who engage in embroidery or cookery.
A long-serving warder at Kamiti says that death row inmates are the most
disciplined, and they quickly embrace religion.
(source: The Nation)

South Africa: Human response to inhuman acts

2007-04-19T17:29:00.001+01:00

SOUTH AFRICA:
Human Response to Inhuman Acts

ON THE Wednesday before the first court appearance of Andrew Jordaan,
alleged murderer of seven-year-old Sheldean Human, I receive a forwarded
SMS from a number in Tshwane: "Please wear pink and blue on Friday in a
show of solidarity with the family..." On the Friday evening, the
Afrikaans news leads with the story of the court appearance. Cameras zoom
in on an angry mob assembled in front of the Pretoria Magistrate's Court,
waving posters demanding: Hang hom! (Hang him!).
It is evident that much time went into preparations for the protest. A
mannequin with a noose around its neck forms the centrepiece in the
enraged display. A petition to reintroduce the death penalty does the
rounds. Celebrities interviewed say they are gatvol. A little girl is
carrying a poster with a question messily painted in bright red letters:
"Am I next, Pres Mbeki?"
A woman from Sheldean's community says in an Afrikaans accent: "Don't hang
him. Give him to us..." This sentiment is later echoed in Mitchells Plain
at the arrest of Richard Engelbrecht, the man allegedly responsible for
the death of 11-year-old Annestacia Wiese.
What is happening to SA? It appears the public has become so consumed with
moral rage against violent crime that it is no longer to be reasoned with.
Will it soon start taking matters into its own hands? Is the pressure of
the prevalence of violent crime ultimately stifling all moral and ethical
aspirations beyond economies of violence? Why did we again abolish the
death penalty despite strong public opinion to the contrary and despite
the increasing rate of violent crime in SA? Do the reasons the
Constitutional Court gave in coming to its decision remain cogent more
than 10 years later?
These questions force one back to the earliest hours of our democracy.
In 1995, our newly founded Constitutional Court abolished the death
penalty. The court carefully distinguished between the question of whether
the public believes that the death penalty should be a proper punishment
for murder and whether the constitution allows it. In elaborating on this
difference, the court said there would be no need for constitutional
adjudication if public opinion were to be decisive.
The protection of rights would then be left to Parliament, which is
answerable to the public and that, according to the court, would be a
retreat from the new legal order: a return to parliamentary sovereignty.
The court also held that capital punishment was not the only way in which
a society could express moral outrage against murder.
In answering the question whether the death penalty is nevertheless a
justifiable limitation on the above rights, the court dealt with the
argument that the death penalty serves as a strong deterrent to violent
crime in SA. The court refuted this argument, pointing out there was no
evidence that the death penalty was a greater deterrent than, for
instance, life imprisonment.
The court also showed that violent crimes in SA increased at a time when
the death penalty was still on the statute books. There was thus not
sufficient evidence that the imposition of the death penalty serves as a
greater deterrent to violent crime than other forms of punishment.
The then president of the court, Arthur Chaskalson, said: "The greatest
deterrent to crime is the likelihood that offenders will be apprehended,
convicted and punished. It is that which is presently 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."
Finally, the court held that SA had committed itself to the recognition of
human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence. At the heart of this
commitment lies the affirmation of the rights to life and dignity.
Having committed ourselves "to a society founded on the recognition of
human rights", the court held that we are required to value the rights to
life and dignity above all others. "And this must be demonstrated by the
state in everything that it does, including the way it punishes
criminals."
Aspirational words, you might say. And while it will always remain
impossible to fully mourn the tragic deaths of victims of violent crime,
it is the aspirational character of these words that should remain to
guard the possibility of a future in which these heinous acts no longer
occur.
If we would like to believe we have morally, ethically and politically
become more sophisticated in the 21st century, then these words have to
hold true (even if primarily on an aspirational and inspirational level)
even more than 10 years later.
If we are simply to respond to the cruelty of the murderer with a
matching, deliberate cruelty, which would basically repeat the crime, if
the death penalty becomes that which we fight for (aspire to) as an
ethical response to heinous crime, then we will lose the very aspiration
for a nonviolent, transformed society founded on the rule of law.
Behind the abolition of the death penalty lies the unconditional
affirmation of the right to life. And is this not precisely what the
religions of SA advocate? How does one reconcile the religious demand to
"forgive the unforgivable" with hungry calls for vengeance in front of
court buildings?
While these aspects might be irreconcilable, the injunction to forgive the
unforgivable is an almost unbearable, unrealistic, impossible moral
demand, which, nevertheless, must remain with us as we attempt to
formulate new, more human responses to the inhuman acts that so vividly
permeated our experience as a nation over the past few months.
That the state has an urgent and inexcusable duty to facilitate the proper
functioning of such responses through intensified programmes of law
enforcement and crime prevention is self-evident and it should go without
saying that this injunction forms part and parcel of the aspirational
nature of the court's judgment.
While it is true no politics or law can be founded on the notion of
forgiveness, the state is not forgiving the criminal when it abolishes the
death penalty. It is still imposing a punishment -- often a life sentence,
which can easily become a death sentence.
But by refusing to impose the death penalty, the state reaffirms that the
economy exacted by the death penalty cannot and will not contribute to
ethical living and a constitutional culture of rights.
If this reaffirmation is not taken seriously by the state and its
citizens, we shall soon be immersed yet again in the dark days of moral
decay from which we have emerged.
(source: Opinion, Business Day--Dr Jaco Barnard is from the department of
private law at the University of Cape Town)

Nigeria: hope for death row inmates

2007-04-19T17:26:00.000+01:00

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=37361

Kenya: calls to abolish the death penalty

2007-04-19T17:24:00.001+01:00

KENYA:
EU States Back Kiai's Call to Abolish Hanging

A proposal by the Government's human rights watchdog to abolish the death
sentence has received backing from 27 European Union (EU) countries.
A section of lawyers have also supported the recommendations contained in
a new report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
German ambassador, Mr Walter Lindner, described hanging as crude and
inhuman. "Eleven countries in Africa have abolished the death penalty and
it is time Kenya joined in to do the same," he said.
Germany, which holds the EU presidency, and other member States have
abolished death sentences.
EU has been at the forefront in supporting civil society organisations to
lobby for the abolition of capital punishment
At last year's World Day Against Death Penalty, EU urged all governments
to get rid of the punishment.
Britain also added its voice. "Uganda and Tanzania has started questioning
the death penalty and Kenya should start to do the same," said Mr Adam
Wood, the British High Commissioner.
Wood said death row convicts are cruelly treated.
More than half the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty
and apply life imprisonment for the most serious crimes.
Under the local laws, murder, treason and robbery with violence, including
attempted robbery with violence, carry a death sentence.
KNHRC says Parliament should amend the law to do away with the penalty.
Its report, Abolition of the Death Penalty in Kenya, also recommends that
current hanging convicts face life imprisonment instead.
"The fact that there has never been executions in the last 20 years
suggests that death penalty is not right," said KNCHR chairman, Maina
Kiai, while launching the paper on Wednesday.
"Even though it is in our legal books and laws, it is not the right thing
for us to be doing." The most damning aspect about the penalty is that
once executed, it is irreversible even if there has been miscarriage of
justice, KNCHR said.
The commission is mandated to advise the Government on ways to enhance
protection of human rights.
Enforcement of the death penalty violates Article 7 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to which
Kenya is party.
Addressing rights activists and envoys, Kiai said it was time for Kenya to
join in the steps of the emerging global trend that seeks to abolish
capital punishment. Eleven African countries have abolished the
punishment. These are Angola, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau,
Liberia, Senegal, Seychelles, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, and South
Africa. "Tanzania and Uganda's highest courts have ruled that death
penalty is a crude and cruel punishment that ensures human rights
violations," Kiai added.
(source: East African Standard)

USA: Campaigners see end is sight for the death penalty

2007-03-27T17:43:00.001+01:00

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=36968

Pakistan: prison governor happy not to hang

2007-03-27T17:39:00.001+01:00

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=36977

Nigeria: death rows grim

2007-03-27T17:37:00.001+01:00

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=36986

China: letters from death row

2007-03-27T17:36:00.000+01:00

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=37080

Iraq: we'd like to abolish the death penalty

2007-03-27T17:34:00.000+01:00

by Laura MacInnis
March 14, 2007
GENEVA, March 14 (Reuters) - The government of Iraq, which was heavily criticised internationally for the way it executed Saddam Hussein, wants to abolish the death penalty, its human rights minister said on Wednesday.

The first step would be to limit capital punishment, which was re-introduced over two years ago to combat spiraling criminal violence, to the most extreme cases such as genocide and crimes against humanity, Wijdan Michael told the United Nations Human Rights Council.

"We are working at the present moment in order to pave the way to eliminate capital punishment in Iraq, after restricting it to the largest possible extent," Michael said, speaking through an interpreter.

Images of the country's former dictator being taunted as he awaited execution in December, and the accidental decapitation of his half-brother and aide Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti during a January hanging, caused an outcry.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour appealed unsuccessfully to Iraq to stop the executions of Saddam and his aides on the grounds that their trials for crimes against humanity did not meet minimum international standards.

Under international law the death penalty can only be used as an exceptional measure, and there must always be a right of appeal against the sentence, something that was denied to Saddam, she said.

Although the United Nations opposes capital punishment, the death penalty still exists in nearly 70 countries, including the United States, which led a 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam and unleashed a sectarian conflict.

More than 1,200 people convicted of insurgent activity by the U.S.-sponsored Central Criminal Court of Iraq have so far been sentenced to death, but there are no precise figures on convictions and executions.

Capital punishment was frequently used under Saddam, but it was suspended by the U.S.-led military alliance.

The minister said Iraq, where human rights activists say torture and abuse is widespread in prisons, also wants to join the optional protocol of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits cruel and inhuman punishment and arbitrary executions.

Indonesia: AG criticised over death penalty

2007-03-27T17:32:00.000+01:00

INDONESIA:
AGO criticized over death penalty

Legal experts have criticized Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh over his
rigid stance regarding the implementation of capital punishment in
Indonesia.
"Despite progress in the country's legal system, such as the on going
judicial review on the death penalty for drug dealers in the 1997
Narcotics Law, the Attorney General has not yet been able to escape from
his legalistic and normative views on capital punishment," the Operational
Director of the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor Imparsial, Rusdi Marpaung,
told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
"Regarding drug trafficking, for example, the government cannot solely
rely on deterrence principles to handle such a crime.
"There are other problems that need attention, such as monitoring the
abuse of addictive substances and the involvement of government officials
in drug trafficking," he said.
Rusdi was commenting on a statement by the Attorney General on Friday that
the government would continue implementing the death penalty in criminal
cases, including for drug abuse and trafficking.
"Capital punishment in our legal system has been adopted from the old
Dutch legal system during the colonial period. Holland itself abolished
the implementation of the death penalty over 50 years ago," he said.
According to Rusdi, the United Nations has reported that there is no
evidence to suggest that the death penalty is an effective deterrence
towards crime.
The Executive Director for the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy
Studies, Bivitri Susanti, also said capital punishment was ineffective in
preventing crime.
"Its deterrence effect has been proven ineffective, especially when court
verdicts have turned out to be wrongly implemented ... And the death
penalty itself violates basic principles of human rights, no matter what
the case is," Bivitri told the Post
"It would be better for the government to make sure the jail terms imposed
on prisoners are fully implemented," she said, citing that many inmates in
Indonesia had managed to walk out of prison before completing their jail
sentences.
Rusdi agreed, saying the United States hands down maximum jail terms of up
to 200 years.
"That way, American prisoners still naturally die in prison, but not
because of the death penalty."
Bivitri said it was not necessary for Indonesia to remove capital
punishment from its legal system as some countries have done.
"As in other countries, Indonesia could still retain capital punishment in
its legal system, but only on the condition that the judges selectively
impose the sentence on convicts," she said.
Besides the narcotics law, other laws including the death penalty are the
Criminal Code, the Anticorruption Law, the Antiterrorism Law, the Law on
the possession of firearms and explosives, the Law on subversive
activities and the 2000 Law on the Human Rights Court.
According to Rusdi, about 60 laws in Indonesia's legal system apply
capital punishment, including new laws such as the State Secrecy Bill.
(source: The Jakarta Post)

Uganda: execution of soldiers (Nov. 2006)

2007-03-21T16:49:00.000Z

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=290079&area=/insight/insight__africa/

DRC: Member of opposition threatened with the death penalty

2007-03-13T14:19:00.000Z

A LONDON-BASED lawyer, a mother of four, is facing execution by firing squad in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Marie-Thérãse Nlandu, 54, has been in prison in Kinshasa since November after returning to her home country to become the first woman to contest presidential elections there.
After being eliminated in the first round last July, she switched her support to the then vice-pres-ident, Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was standing against President Joseph Kabila. She then represented him in a Supreme Court challenge to Kabila’s victory.
But as the appeal began Nlandu was arrested and charged with illegal possession of firearms and inciting an insurrection. She was put before a military tribunal and has been refused medical assistance despite her deteriorating health.
“These charges carry the death penalty and the intention is to find her guilty,” said her husband, Professor Noel Mbala. “Kabila wants to kill her, because of her human rights work, assisting people who had been illegally arrested, because she was the first woman to run for president, and because of the appeal. He wants to kill her to show everyone he’s powerful and in charge.”
The family have lived in London since 1998 when they fled Congo after opposing the government of Laurent Kabila, the late father of the current president. Mbala and their two teenage sons now have British nationality but his wife refused to give up her Congolese citizenship.
He has now turned their small council flat in Lambeth, south London, into a campaign headquarters, sending out e-mails to ministers (Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, did not reply), human rights agencies and church groups. The mantelpiece is lined with photographs of Nlandu, their children and football trophies won by their two sons, aged 13 and 16.
“The boys are very disturbed,” Mbala said. “One of them goes days at a time not eating or speaking.” Two elder daughters are in Belgium, lobbying opinion makers there.
Mbala admits he feared for his wife when she returned to contest the elections. The first democratic elections since independence from Belgium in 1960, they followed a five-year war that drew in armies from five other African countries and left as many as 4m dead.
“I was worried because I know my country and know there’s no rule of law and anything can happen at any time,” he said. “But I thought the presence of the international community, election observers and the world’s biggest UN peacekeeping operation would act as a guarantor.”
Although the two rounds of voting in July and October took place amid acute tension and outbreaks of violence as well as allegations of vote-buying, the international community was highly relieved they went ahead at all.
But when Kabila was reelected, Bemba alleged fraud and appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the result.
It was as Nlandu left the court on November 20 that she was given a message, supposedly from Bemba, to wait outside St Luc Ma Campagne church, where someone would collect her. She travelled there in one car while her driver and aides followed in another vehicle. But at the church she became suspicious and left.
The next day she discovered that occupants of the other car had been arrested. As the Supreme Court began to hear the appeal on November 21, violence erupted outside between Bemba supporters and police. The session was abandoned and Nlandu went to the Kin-Maziãres police station to find out what had happened to her associates.
As she was waiting to go in she telephoned her husband, the last time he spoke to her.
According to a statement she wrote later, the police colonel said: “Madame Nlandu, at last you are here.” He told her that three grenades had been found in her driver’s car and accused her of being behind a fire at the Supreme Court which had started after she left. He then allegedly tortured one of her aides in front of her.
Since then she has been held in Makala high-security prison. “She is in very degrading, inhuman conditions,” said Mbala. “It’s noisy, there are 10 women packed into each cell and she sleeps no more than two hours a night. Congolese prisons provide no food so my sister takes it to her.”
He is worried about her health. She has been suffering from a pulmonary infection, malaria and high blood pressure. When she appeared before the tribunal in January she was so weak that she could hardly walk.
Anneka Van Woudenberg, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, which has taken up Nlandu’s case, visited her last week. “She was not at all well,” she said. “She’s desperate, depressed and has been around Congo long enough to know they can convict her on no evidence.”
The tribunal that is supposed to be deciding her case has not sat since the end of January when the supposed witnesses admitted they had been paid by the government to incriminate Nlandu. “This is a case that doesn’t stack up at all,” said Van Woudenberg. “It’s clearly political.”
She pointed out that Kabila’s victory had been followed by a crackdown on opposition members. “Nlandu’s case is more high profile but it’s just one of a number of cases we are following. The one common thread is the lack of evidence and that they are all members of the opposition.”

Iraq: women sentenced to hang

2007-03-13T14:13:00.000Z

Iraqi Women's Death Sentences Spur European Outcry
Run Date: 03/09/07
By Cynthia L. Cooper
WeNews correspondent
Death sentences imposed on three Iraqi women--some of them mothers with young children--have spurred international concerns about the conduct of their trials and the abrogation of international prohibitions against the death penalty for new mothers.
Karen Parker
(WOMENSENEWS)--In Frankfurt, Germany, protestors planned to erect a scaffold and post a woman under it with a rope around her neck. In Stockholm, Sweden, and Ankara, Turkey, protestors gathered in front of the Iraq embassies.
These events, hastily-announced in the past two weeks, were to demand a halt to pending executions by hanging of three young women in Iraq.
The women--Wassan Talib, 31; Zaynab Fahil, 25 and Liqa' Qamar Muhammad, 26-- were charged with vague crimes of acting against the public welfare, according to reports emerging from the war-torn country. Amnesty International issued an "urgent action," asking members around the world to send letters of protest, fearing that the executions were imminent.
The cases underscore worries by human rights organizations about the sufficiency of the justice system in Iraq. Questions have arisen about the fairness of proceedings, the lack of legal representation, transparency in the justice system and use of the death penalty as well as the legitimacy of the legal tribunals themselves.
"If the tribunal under which they were tried does not meet minimal standards, it's bogus. It becomes a lynch mob," said Karen Parker, a lawyer and co-founder of the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers in San Francisco. Parker and her organization endorsed efforts of the Brussels Tribunal, a multinational affiliation of human rights activists who monitor Iraq, to block the executions. The tribunal is coordinated over the Internet by leaders in varied locations.
Incarcerated in Baghdad
Although many details of their cases are unclear, the three women are all charged with activities related to the ongoing conflict in Iraq and are incarcerated in al-Kadhimiya Prison in northern Baghdad.
According to information collected by Amnesty International, Wassan Talib and Zayneb Fadhil were sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq on August 31, 2006, after being convicted of killing members of the Iraqi security forces in the Baghdad district of Hay al-Furat in 2005, charges that both deny. Zayneb Fadhil, the mother of a 3-year-old girl, has reportedly said that she was not in the country at the time of the incidents.
Liqa' Qamar Muhammad was convicted of participating in a kidnapping in 2005 and sentenced to death on Feb. 6, 2006. Her husband was detained and charged with the same crime, according to Amnesty International. Muhammad has an infant daughter, who was born in prison and remains there with her.
The International Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, a network of lawyers in the United States, points out that the U.N. has passed a resolution against imposing the death penalty on new mothers.
The group called for the Iraqi government to repudiate the executions. "We have received information that these three were denied legal counsel," the group said in a public statement. Denial of counsel violates international guarantees to a fair trial, the group said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva expressed similar concerns.
High Commissioner Seeks Specifics
"If people are sentenced to death under an unfair trial, that would be illegal in international law," said Jose Diaz, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in an interview with Women's eNews. Diaz confirmed that the High Commissioner has been prompted to seek specifics about the women's situations.
In Baghdad, a U.N. official was on the ground doing just that. The official, who asked that her name and title be withheld out of consideration for her safety, told Women's eNews in a phone interview that she has learned that five women are on death row in Iraq. The executions are not imminent, as many feared, she said because of ongoing appeals and because the president has yet to sign execution warrants. But she is still trying to ascertain the legality of the trials that lead to the death sentences. "Absolutely, the question is: 'How fair were the trials? How fair were the investigations?' We don't know how the trials looked, so we don't have the core information."
A fourth woman of concern to Amnesty International is Samar Sa'ad Abdullah, also sentenced to death for the murder of her uncle and four members of his family on Aug. 15, 2005; charges that she denied.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, said Sheila Dauer, director of the Women's Human Rights Program of Amnesty International USA in New York. "If the women have been denied fair trials, once you use the death penalty, you can't go back. There can be mistakes, there can be bias."
Embassies Withhold Comment
Officials at the Iraqi embassies in New York and Washington D.C. did not respond to requests for clarification of the women's cases. One employee in the political division of the Republic of Iraq Embassy in Washington, who declined to be identified, said, "A lot of media issued a lot of news for the Iraqi women. We have no idea. The media in our country are free. We cannot give out any statement."
Although there has been minimal publicity about the women in the United States, people in other parts of the world have sent letters of protest, posted on the Web site of the Brussels Tribunal. Among them are the European Women's Lobby, a coalition of 4,000 non-governmental organizations, the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, the Italian Association of Democratic Lawyers, and the Iraq Solidarity Association in Stockholm. Over 100 individuals and organizations endorsed a strongly-worded Brussels Tribunal statement "Hanging the womb of Iraq--Stop the executions of 3 Iraqi women."
Parker, who specializes in armed conflict law, asserts that the legal system in Iraq is shattered and needs to be reestablished by Iraqis themselves, instead of utilizing the tribunals set up under U.S. occupation. "If we are going to go there and bring justice to Iraq, we should make sure that every proceeding is squeaky clean. And these tribunals are not," she said.
Cynthia L. Cooper is an independent journalist in New York with a background as a lawyer. She writes frequently about justice issues.
Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.
For more information:
Association of Humanitarian Lawyers:
http://www.humanlaw.org/
Amnesty International Urgent Action:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140052007
The Brussels Tribunal:
http://www.brusselstribunal.org/

China: new rules to reduce executoins?

2007-03-12T14:35:00.000Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2032087,00.html

Jamaica/Trinidad: calls for ther resumption of hanging

2007-03-08T17:17:00.001Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=36588

Zimbabwe: campaign to end the death penalty

2007-03-07T14:32:00.000Z

Inter Press Service News Agency Wednesday, March 07, 2007 13:02 GMT
ZIMBABWE:
Death Penalty Stifling Free Speech
Stanley Kwenda
HARARE, Feb 27 (IPS) - Zimbabwean rights activists are campaigning with unprecedented vigour for an end to the death penalty as the country’s political and economic crisis deepens, arguing that this is essential for an open debate on the nation’s future and its joining the "civilised democracies of the world".
"The death penalty is a threat to freedom of speech," Edson Chiota, the national coordinator of the Zimbabwe Association for Crime prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders (ZACRO) told IPS. He was interviewed while attending the Third World Congress against the Death Penalty in Paris at the beginning of February.
"The government is trying to silence the opposition. If you publicly criticise the state leader, there’s a good likelihood that you will be charged with treason. That’s a threat to be feared. Treason carries the death penalty," Chiota said.
Zimbabwe activists recall how two leading politicians were charged with treason in a campaign of intimidation before past elections.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the main opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has been charged with treason three times, the last just ahead of the 2002 presidential elections. This trial lasted almost two years. It ended with a surprise acquittal.
Ndabaningi Sithole, the leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) was also charged with plotting to overthrow the government. This was just ahead of the 1996 presidential elections.
But he was found guilty. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but released because of failing health. His sentencing disqualified him from attending parliament until his death three years later.
Both politicians claimed they had been framed by the state security service.
Launching ZACRO’s national anti-death penalty campaign with a newspaper article on Jan. 4, Wonder Chakanyuka, ZACRO’s information and publicity officer, side-stepped the issue of how the death penalty was being used to silence dissent. He stressed rather that it was alien to the country’s African traditions and left-over relic from colonial times.
"It was used to intimidate and eliminate black people and as Zimbabweans we cannot continue having this law on our books," he wrote in an opinion article.
"An increasing number of African states have abolished the death penalty and Zimbabwe cannot afford to be left behind," he added.
The article in the state-backed newspaper 'The Herald', ended with an editorial note that ZACRO’s crusade against the death penalty was not party-based and should not be used to "demonise" the country.
This appears to confirm ZACRO’s view that Robert Mugabe’s regime will not block its campaign.
"We have never clashed with the government on this issue," Chiota said. "They are letting us go free. This means that they want to leave the public to take up its position."
ZACRO’s campaign is likely to gather strong public support from many non-governmental organisations, churches, traditional leaders, lawyers and even members of the justice department.
"Killing someone for an offence will not change or solve anything," David Chimhini, executive director of the Zimbabwe Civic Educational Trust (ZIMCET) told IPS.
"No one has the right to kill another."
ZIMCET advocates life sentences in place of the death penalty for the most serious crime of murder.
The Human Rights Trust of South Africa (SAHRIT) has also staunchly come out against the death penalty. The death penalty should be replaced by life imprisonment for "reflection and reform".
"The courts can sentence someone to death, but they cannot be 100 percent sure that the person has committed the crime," Noel Kututwa, its executive director, told IPS.
He expressed scepticism that the Mugabe regime would listen to the voices of the abolitionists. "I don’t see the government moving an inch on the death penalty law," he said.
Zimbabwe lawyers have also expressed concern over the possibility of judicial error and are likely to strongly back the ZACRO campaign on this issue.
One of the most tragic cases was that of Sukoluhle Kachipare, a mother who was condemned to death for allegedly inciting her 17-year-old maid to murder her own new-born child.
Only a concerned nation and international campaign saved her from the gallows in 1997. She would have been the first woman to be executed in Zimbabwe since 1898, when the British colonial regime executed the spirit medium Mbuya Nehanda.
Though Kachipare’s sentence was first confirmed by the Zimbabwe Supreme Court, lawyers continued her legal battle. She was eventually acquitted, Stanford Moyo, president of the Zimbabwe Law Society told IPS.
Church groups are expected to take part actively in the ZACRO campaign -- especially Christian churches. There are roughly seven million Christians in Zimbabwe, just over half the population.
Anglican bishop Sebastian Bakare has publicly preached that state killing is against "the word of God and all biblical commandments".
"It does not prevent people from committing violent crimes. Rather, it creates an illusion that violent crime is under control and being eliminated," he told IPS in an interview.
All groups are likely to rally behind the campaign’s call for an end to the secrecy surrounding the death penalty issue in Zimbabwe.
"The lack of public information is the biggest concern," Irene Petras, the acting director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told IPS.
ZACRO’s Chiota complains that his organisation is barred from visiting any death row prisoner. "We can’t say anything about them. Only the authorities know their situation exactly."
High Court records show the number on death row totals 47. But efforts by IPS to obtain a list of the names was met with the response "classified information".
ZACRO now intends to take its anti-death penalty campaign to all ten provinces in the country. It has plans to print and distribute millions of pamphlets and posters. Everyone in the country will be offered a campaign T-shirt.
But only with outside funds will it be possible to finance such ambitious plans. Though nearly 100 years old, the prisoners’ rights organisation still operates from humble offices in the old township of Mbare in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.
Inflation is currently the highest in the world -- some 1,600 percent. Unemployment is over 85 percent and the economy is in a free fall. A third of all men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 are HIV positive.
But rather than despairing, ZACRO activists seem undeterred.
"We are trying to get a movement going. There’s never been a fully-fledged campaign before to make this issue really visible," said Chiota.
"When the death penalty is gone, we believe that people will come out of their shells and express their hopes and wishes." (FIN/2007)

Japan: the limbo of death row

2007-02-28T10:51:00.000Z

JAPAN:
Death row: limbo of not knowing when

Japan is among 69 nations, including the United States, that have the
death penalty.

There are 128 countries, including European Union members, that have
either abolished capital punishment, allow it only under special
circumstances or have not carried it out in at least a decade. (In the
U.S., 12 states do not have the death penalty.)
Despite international and domestic pressure to end executions, they are on
the rise here.
Below are some facts about Japan's death penalty:
Who can be put to death?
Murderers, as well as arsonists and robbers whose actions result in death,
are subject to capital punishment. Kidnappers and hijackers who kill
hostages also face the death penalty.
How many death-row inmates are there in Japan?
For the 1st time since 1946, the number is at 100, including 5 women.
There were just 51 in 1997.
In recent years, prosecutors and courts have adopted a "get tough" policy
on crime, resulting in a surge in death sentences, according to Maiko
Tagusari, a lawyer and human rights activist.
Tagusari said this trend reflects the overall sense of a decline in public
safety, fed by sensationalistic media reports on heinous crimes, as well
as calls from relatives of crime victims for harsher penalties.
Statistics, however, show that murders have declined slightly over the
past few years. In 2005, there were 1,392 murder cases, down 1.9 % from
the year before, according to the 2006 white paper on crime.
How is the death penalty carried out, and where do executions take place?
Executions are carried out by hanging. Seven detention centers are
equipped with gallows; in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima
and Fukuoka.
What are the living conditions of death-row convicts?
Inmates are kept in solitary confinement in tatami mat cells about 8 sq.
meters in size. The cells have a toilet and sink. Inmates are also kept in
isolation during exercise periods and eat their meals alone.
Virtually the only people who may visit or correspond with an inmate are
attorneys and relatives. Even an inmate's reading material is strictly
controlled.
However, a legal revision to take effect by June 7 is expected to ease
these tight restrictions on communications and reading material.
How long is an inmate usually on death row?
Once finalized, by law a death sentence must be carried out within six
months. However, executions are not carried out while an inmate is seeking
retrial, an accused accomplice is still on trial, or if the inmate is
mentally incompetent or pregnant.
On average, it takes 7 years and 5 months for a death sentence to be
carried out, according to the Justice Ministry. Thus the September 2004
execution of Mamoru Takuma, who fatally stabbed eight children and wounded
15 others at an Osaka elementary school, was unusual in that he was hanged
only a year after his case was finalized. He had refused to appeal.
There are also inmates who have been on death row for decades, pleading
their innocence and demanding retrials. The process is notoriously slow,
and retrials are a rarity. Over the past 30 years, only four have been
granted a retrial and subsequently acquitted.
Observers believed Masaru Okunishi, 80, who has been on death row since
1972, was set to be the fifth to go free when the Nagoya High Court
granted him a retrial in April 2005. However, the court revoked its
decision last December. Okunishi's supporters filed a special appeal
against the decision with the Supreme Court.
While awaiting the long retrial process, a few inmates have died of
illness; others have reportedly developed mental problems.
Are inmates hanged immediately after the justice minister issues an
execution order?
The Criminal Procedure Law states that an execution must be carried out
within 5 days after the justice minister signs the order. But the process
is confidential; a convict only finds out on the day of the hanging.
By law, executions may not be carried out on holidays, New Year's Eve, New
Year's Day and Jan. 2. This restriction will be extended to weekends,
national holidays and the period between Dec. 29 and Jan. 3 when the law
is revised.
Observers note that hangings often take place when the Diet is in recess,
presumably to avoid stirring up debate among lawmakers. The last
executions, of four inmates, were carried out Dec. 25, shortly after an
extraordinary Diet session ended Dec. 19.
The condemned are only notified on the morning of their execution. In
general, relatives are only informed afterward, according to the Justice
Ministry.
Once executed, the ministry issues a press release, although the names and
execution site are not disclosed. The media, however, find out from the
next of kin, lawyers, human rights groups or from inside sources.
The extreme secrecy is rare among nations where executions are legal,
according to Amnesty International.
Why is information on capital punishment so secret?
The Justice Ministry explains that there are no regulations that oblige it
to provide such information in advance to inmates. The ministry claims
death-row inmates and their kin will suffer less emotional distress if
they are kept in the dark.
However, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Amnesty International
and other international groups criticize the lack of advance notice as a
clear human rights violation, in which the inmate is in a constant state
of mental torture, fearing every knock at the cell door.
Where does the public stand on the death penalty?
In a 2004 survey conducted by the Cabinet Office, only 6 % of the
respondents opposed capital punishment, while 81.4 % agreed the death
penalty is appropriate in certain cases.
Many supporters believe heinous crimes "should be compensated by life" and
abolishing the death penalty would increase those crimes, while the pain
of the families, meanwhile, would not be healed.
Opponents argue that strong support for the death penalty is a reflection
of the government's efforts to conceal information from the public and to
deprive citizens of the opportunity for serious debate on the system.
Some lawyers are suing the government for turning down their request to
disclose information on the death chambers.
How are politicians reacting to the death penalty?
In the past decade, all but one politician who served as justice minister
signed execution papers at least once during their term.
The one who didn't, Seiken Sugiura, a member of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party, served as justice minister between October 2005 and last
September.
When he took the post, Sugiura said he would refuse to sign the order
because it was against his faith. He later withdrew his remarks, saying
his personal views and official position were different.
(source: Japan Times)

Uganda: HIV and the death penalty

2007-02-28T10:42:00.000Z

UGANDA:
Museveni Supports Death Penalty

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni said on Friday that HIV carriers who
deliberately infect others should be charged with murder.
"People who infect others deliberately are killers - they are murders,"
Gen. Museveni said during the Forum on Justice and Human Rights at Speke
Resort Munyonyo, a Kampala suburb.
"I would treat harshly someone who gets involved with another knowing that
he or she has HIV. We clearly need to be tough on this (AIDS)."
The President was answering a question from Prof. Joseph Kakooza, the head
of the Uganda Law Reform Commission, who wondered how he wanted such
people treated.
Gen. Museveni had earlier on concurred with visiting former Attorney
General of the United States of America John Ashcroft on his call for the
retention of the death penalty as punishment for capital offences.
"I am a strong believer in the death penalty. I've heard that in some
places in Europe, they forgive a deliberate killer. But how do you for
instance control the Army? Soldiers are no longer killing people because
we execute whoever kills another. It will take a long time for someone to
convince me," he said.
Mr Ashcroft, who addressed the meeting attended by judges, lawyers,
policemen, prison officers and others who contribute to the Justice, Law
and Order Sector, said the death penalty is good because it saves lives.
"If you believe in self-defence when you have been attacked, I think it
makes sense to execute people who get convicted for killing others. Once
you cross that bridge, then you support capital punishment," Mr Ashcroft
said.
The forum organised by an American-based NGO, Restore International and
Uganda's Judicial Training Institute, focused on the rising cases of human
trafficking and child prostitution.
Restore International's founder and president Bob Goff said the phenomena
has hit most countries and is now considered the world's third organised
crime.
Former Solicitor General Peter Kabatsi said human trafficking is some form
of slavery and a crime in which people are moved from poor environments to
affluent ones under the guise of finding them better opportunities.
He said the victims, 80 % of whom are normally women, end up being abused
sexually, physically and psychologically.
For child trafficking, Mr Kabatsi said immature children are made to
engage in dangerous activities that they do not fully comprehend.
Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki said the crime has gained momentum due to
various issues like poverty and insurgencies and that quick solutions
needed to be mapped out.
Joel Aliro Omara, a commissioner with the Uganda Human Rights Commission,
said there are international laws against these vices. He, however, said
their enforcement has been complicated because law enforcers often pounce
on victims and the perpetrators are left at large, something he said needs
to be changed.
Principal Judge James Ogoola said research indicated that Uganda is one of
the countries caught up in the international scam, not only as a country
of origin, but as a transit country and destination for human trafficking.
"People are taken on pretences that they are going to work then they are
turned into sex objects and slaves," he said.
President Museveni, who called for the enactment of a local law to curb
the crime, attributed Africa's taking part in such international crimes to
colonialists, saying there was nothing like abuse of human rights in the
African setting.
(source: The Monitor)

Saudi Arabia: Saved from the sword

2007-02-13T17:12:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36299

Libya: "They came to heal"

2007-02-13T16:38:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36361

Executions: creating more victims

2007-02-13T12:33:00.000Z

RIGHTS:
Executions Create Generations of Victims

Mithre J. Sandrasagra
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12 (IPS) - "They're going to kill him because he killed somebody, so when they kill him, who do we get to kill?" asked the 10-year-old daughter of Christina Lawson at the time of her father's execution by the U.S. state of Texas in 2005.
State executions leave such children confused and traumatised -- and entire families, too. Some are so affected that they are driven to the brink of insanity, a groundbreaking report entitled "Creating More Victims: How Executions Hurt the Families left Behind" graphically illustrates.

It has been published by Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights (MVFHR), a Massachusetts-based organisation representing the family members of the victims of murder and state executions.

"Families of the executed are victims too," the report stresses.

The pain of one group of survivors should not be redressed by causing pain to another group of survivors. Society needs to address the ! emotional and physical harm that is being done.

"We must stop creating more victims," Robert Cushing, executive director of MVFHR, told IPS.

"There are obviously similarities between the experiences of those left behind after an execution and those who have suffered other types of violent loss -- like dealing with grief and trauma," he said.

But there were also major differences, he said, pointing to findings from the 36 families MVFHR surveyed for its report.

The families of the executed suffered from "shame, increased isolation and feelings of personal failure". They might also feel responsible for the crimes of their relatives or blame themselves for their inability to save them from execution.

Janis Gay, whose grandfather Alex Kels was hanged at California's Folsom Prison in 1924, confirmed just this in an interview with IPS.

"People assume violence ends with the execution," she said. "It doesn't. Just like with any murder! , the family is shattered, with the added impact of being crushed by s hame."

Her mother's promising writing career was halted by depression. Her brother died of alcoholism. All contact with the families of her grandfather's seven brothers and sisters was cut off forever.

The trauma can be passed on from one generation to another.

Gay, a teacher, entered therapy in 1991. She says she is one of the fortunate few who could afford to pay for a psychotherapist to help her cope.

"It's impossible to find support," she said. "There's no one to talk to, no one who understands. Food is provided and therapists are on hand before and after an execution for the families of the victims of the executed. But there is nothing for the families of the executed."

The MVFHR report gives other examples of mental health problems within the families of the executed.

Misty McWee was 14 when she learned that her father had been charged with murder. She was 28 when her father was executed.

McWee suf! fered severe depression in the year following the execution, culminating in a hospitalisation after a suicide attempt near the one-year anniversary.

"It felt like the two things were connected, my father's execution and my cutting my wrists," she recalled to MVFHR's researchers. "I didn't care what happened to me. I felt like I should go be with him.

"Why couldn't we have had someone to help us through it?" she asked. "When we walked in the courtroom, people gave us dirty looks, just because we belonged to our father. You wonder, what did we as kids do to deserve this? There's so much you're trying to understand and it doesn't help to have people judging you. People look at it like the whole family must be bad."

Irene Cartwright, whose son Richard was executed in Texas in 2005, also required treatment for depression afterwards and is today taking anti-depressants.

"I wish people could understand that everyone who is executed had a mother and ! father, maybe brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, friends, whateve r, and that each one of those people have been hurt and impacted by the execution," he told researchers.

MVFHR's report concludes that the needs of the families of the executed have not just been ignored, they have never been truly comprehended.

"The problem is that survivors are not recognised as victims," Cushing told IPS. "There are no execution victim families' support groups, there are no counselling services available to children left behind. Nobody knows where they are, they lead anonymous lives."

MVFHR is now calling for more studies of their problems.

"We challenge the metal health community to recognise that these victims exist, to recognise the uniqueness of their experiences and to devise appropriate treatment alternatives for them," Cushing added.

MVFHR specifically recommends that the short and long-term psychological effects of an execution in the family be included in literature and training directed at social workers, ! clinical psychologists, trauma specialists, and others who might come in contact with such families.

It also calls on lawmakers to give equal legal recognition to families of the executed as the relatives of murder victims.

They should all have access to assistance and support. This should include financial help to pay for medical care, mental health counselling and funerals, Cushing said.

MVFHR breaks new ground by calling for the suffering of the families left behind after an execution to be squarely placed within a human rights framework rather than a criminal justice one. The victims' families deserve protection accorded by the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1985.

The Declaration defines victims as those who have "suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental r! ights".

These victims "should be treated with compassion and r espect for their dignity" and "receive the necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance".

"Leadership must come from the U.N.," Cushing concludes. "This is an international human rights problem." (FIN/2007)

USA: politicians seek to increase use of the death penalty

2007-02-07T10:39:00.000Z

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070207/1a_lede07_dom.art.htm

UK lawyer fights death penalty

2007-01-26T11:33:00.000Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1997993,00.html

Singapore executes 2

2007-01-26T11:29:00.000Z

Jan. 26

SINGAPORE----execution
Singapore executes 2 Africans on drug charges despite international
clemency appeals

Singapore executed two Africans on drug trafficking charges Friday despite
pleas for clemency by Nigeria's president, the United Nations and human
rights groups.
Nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, 21, was hanged at dawn in the city-state
after being convicted of trafficking 727 grams (26 ounces) of heroin
nearly 50 times the 15 grams (0.53 ounces) of the drug that draws a
mandatory death penalty in Singapore, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in
a statement.
A stateless African named Okeke Nelson Malachy, 35, who was convicted as
the person to whom Iwuchukwu was supposed to deliver the drugs, was also
executed Friday, the statement said.
About a dozen activists held an overnight vigil outside maximum-security
Changi Prison, where the execution was carried out. Just before the
hanging, they stood or sat with their heads bowed, holding roses in the
flickering glow of candles on the ground around photos of Iwuchukwu and a
red-and-white soccer jersey said to belong to him.
Rain began to fall on the silent group.
Prominent Singapore-based art critic Lee Weng Choy, 43, said he disagreed
with Singapore's mandatory death sentence regulation, which he said takes
away the discretionary power of the judiciary.
"I also disagree with its justification as a deterrent. The reality is
that drug trafficking has not been reduced to zero, neither has drug use,"
he said at the vigil.
The execution was carried out despite an appeal by Nigerian President
Olesegun Obasanjo, who asked Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
earlier this week to commute the death sentence.
Lee replied Thursday that Iwuchukwu had committed a serious offense under
Singapore law and had exhausted all legal options.
"We did not take the decision lightly," Lee wrote in a letter. "I realize
that Mr. Tochi's family will find Singapore's position difficult to
accept, but we have a duty to safeguard the interests of Singaporeans, and
protect the many lives that would otherwise be ruined by the drug
syndicates."
Singapore's strict drug laws made international headlines and triggered
an outcry in Australia in December 2005 when the city-state executed a
25-year-old Australian heroin trafficker despite numerous appeals from the
Canberra government.
Singapore has said its tough penalties for drug trafficking are an
effective deterrent against a crime that ruins lives, and that foreigners
and Singaporeans must be treated alike.
Human rights group Amnesty International says Singapore has the world's
highest per capita execution rate. Last week it urged its members to push
Singapore's government to grant Iwuchukwu clemency and for a moratorium on
all executions in the country.
The United Nations also urged Singapore on Thursday not to execute
Iwuchukwu because it would violate international legal standards on the
use of the death penalty.
"The standard accepted by the international community is that capital
punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is
based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an
alternative explanation of the facts," said a statement by Philip Alston,
the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions.
Iwuchukwu, a footballer, was arrested in November 2004 at Singapore's
Changi Airport after arriving from Dubai with 100 capsules containing
heroin that authorities estimated to be worth 1.5 million Singapore
dollars (US$970,000; 795,930).
At the time of his arrest, Iwuchukwu told narcotics officers the pills
were African herbs that he was supposed to give to a sick friend. He also
told officers that he came to try out for soccer teams playing in the
Singapore League.
Iwuchukwu's family, who live in Nigeria, could not afford to travel to
Singapore to see him while he was on death row, said Princewill Akpakpan,
a lawyer with the Civil Liberties Organization, Nigeria's largest human
rights group.
"The execution will place Singapore in a negative spotlight among
civilized nations of the world," Akpakpan said by telephone on Thursday.
(source: International Herald Tribune)

Iraq faces criticism over legal process and hangings

2007-01-17T18:15:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=36173

The innocent victims of the death penalty: children die copying Saddam's execution

2007-01-17T17:47:00.000Z

http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2007/01/saddam-copycats-2-3.html

USA: lethal injection - a closer look

2007-01-17T16:16:00.000Z

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/LegalCenter/story?id=2788708&page=1

Taiwan: Gov to request views on the death penalty

2007-01-12T10:29:00.000Z

TAIWAN:
Justice ministry to solicit views on scrapping death penalty

The Ministry of Justice said yesterday that it will solicit views from all
sectors of society this year on the issue of whether to abrogate capital
punishment.
Chang Chi-yun, director of the ministry's Department of Prevention,
Rehabilitation and Protection, said the ministry will conduct public
hearings, seminars as well as campus debates to invite the public to think
about and debate the issue.
In addition, the ministry is not ruling out the possibility of holding
another survey to learn the views of the public on the issue, Chang added,
noting that surveys on the issue have not been conducted for a long time.
He noted that President Chen Shui-bian said in 2000 that he wanted to
scrap the death penalty and that the ministry's policy to eventually
abrogate it remains unchanged.
Chang said he has met with members of groups in support of the abrogation
as well as family members of victims who are against the scrapping to
learn more about their views.
The ministry also held a seminar on phasing out capital punishment for the
first time last year, with the participants fully expressing their views,
Chang said. He noted that currently, the concept of getting even is still
prevalent in Taiwan and that the abrogation of the death penalty will have
to await "a maturing of society."
The ministry hopes that the public can think seriously about the right to
life through inter-school debates like the one held last year, he said.
The ministry will also hold public hearings in northern, central and
southern Taiwan this year, inviting people from all walks of life to
participate.
In addition, the ministry will commission the Crime Research Center under
National Chung Cheng University to study the issue.
(source: China Post)

Peru rejects the death penalty

2007-01-12T10:28:00.000Z

PERU:
Peruvian Congress shoots down death penalty proposal

The majority of the Peruvian Congress decided not to proceed with the
initiative designed to modify the Peruvian Penal Code and give authorities
the power to sentence convicted terrorists to death.
In a rapid and surprise vote, 49 congressmen and women voted against the
initiative while 26 where in favor of permitting executions to convicted
terrorists.
The bill was expected to be submitted to the Justice and Constitutional
Commissions for further evaluation and in depth debate before the
unexpected vote took place.
As a result of the lighting-fast decision, congressman Javier Velsquez
asked the Peruvian parliament to reconsider its vote. However Velsquez's
petition was also shot down by the majority of the Peruvian congress.
The president of the Constitutional Commission Aurelio Pastor, who comes
from the same political party as the Peruvian President and sponsor of the
bill APRA, lamented the hasty decision made by his colleagues.
Additionally, Peruvian Prime Minister Jorge Del Castillo declared that
congress's decision to stop the initiative is not a political loss for his
APRA party.
He indicated that President Garcia was elected for his views on the death
penalty and that Garcia did what he could to get the initiative passed.
"The President and his administration did not fail the people. The
majority of the parliament thought differently. We respect their
democratic decision. Those are the rules of a democracy, sometimes you win
and sometimes you lose," stated Del Castillo.
Though the initiative is not dead yet, it cannot be brought to the
Peruvian parliament until early next year, when, according to Aurelio
Pastor, it will be difficult to resurrect support for the bill.
(source: Living in Peru)

Libya: medical workers death sentences confirmed

2007-01-08T12:34:00.000Z

LIBYA/BULGARIA:
Libyan court confirms death sentence against medical workers

For the 2nd time in 2 years, 6 medical workersfive Bulgarian nurses and
one Palestinian physicianhave been sentenced to die by firing squad by the
Libyan authorities.
The "Benghazi Six"Kristiana Vulcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo,
Valya Chervenyashka, Snezhana Dimitrova and Ashraf Al Hagoughave been
effectively held as hostages since 1999 on fabricated charges of
introducing the HIV virus into a childrens hospital. They were condemned
by the Libyan Criminal Court on December 19 at the conclusion of a retrial
lasting 5 months. Reports indicate that the workers mental and physical
health is very bad, and at least one has considered suicide.
In 1998, the magazine of the Libyan Writers Association, Laa reported that
HIV infection had appeared in Al Fateh Children's Hospital in Benghazi.
The report triggered multiple complaints from the childrens parents of a
lack of information from the clinic's administrators. Parents suspected
that the infection had been transferred via blood transfusion.
The response from the Libyan government was severe. Benghazi, Libya's 2nd
city with a population of 1 million has long been a centre of opposition
to Colonel Muammar Gadhaffis government. In the late 1990s, Islamic groups
launched attacks on government posts on the citys fringes. Alarmed at the
possibility of the HIV outbreak becoming a focus for public anger over the
real state of health and social conditions, Gadhaffi closed down Laa, had
Filipino, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Libyan and Palestinian health workers
arrested, and started an anti-foreigner witch-hunt. He dismissed the
health minister, Dr Solaiman al-Ghemari, and claimed that the CIA was
responsible for the infection.
Most of those arrested were eventually released. But the 6 remaining in
custody were accused of working for an external power, charged with
indiscriminate killing for the purposes of subversion and conspiring to
infect hundreds of children at the hospital with HIV. They were tortured
and held incommunicado for months, and a "confession" was extracted from
one of the nurses that she had injected children with contaminated
products. The confession was retracted in 2001.
International scientific outcry
International medical opinion rejected the Libyan government's
accusations, pointing instead to the decrepit state of the Libyan
healthcare system, undermined by years of UN and US sanctions, as the
source of HIV infection.
A 2002 report by the Italian National Institute for Infectious diseases
stated that by the spring of 1999 it was possible to point to infection in
402 children, every one of whom had received intravenous fluids,
antibiotics, steroids or bronchodilators between February and September
1998. The report concluded that one particular strain of the virus was
involved, and it was likely of West African origin.
In 2003, Professor Luc Montaigner, one of those credited with identifying
the HIV virus, and his colleague Professor Vittorio Collizzi produced a
report tracing the development of the Benghazi epidemic from a "patient
zero" who was present in the hospital in 1997before the victimised medics
started work. The 2 eminent scientists presented this evidence in the 2004
trial, which in May of that year sentenced the medical workers to death.
Immediately after the verdict, Libya let it be known that the death
sentences were negotiable. Ramadan al-Fitouri, head of a group
representing the families and undoubtedly speaking with government
approval, demanded that the infected children be treated in Europe, an HIV
clinic be opened in Benghazi and compensation paid for each child. The
compensation figure eventually settled at around US$10 million per child,
in total more than US$4 billion. This remains the Libyan position, and the
medical workers are hostages until such time as the government is paid.
To this end, after the 2004 verdict, the Libyan Supreme Court threw out
the verdict in 2005 and ordered a retrial. The long-delayed Criminal Court
retrial eventually opened July 2006, and after going over the same ground,
the court reached the same verdict and sentenced them to death once again.
Recent articles insisting on the hospital workers' innocence have appeared
in the Lancet and Nature, and protests were registered by 114 Nobel
Laureates, the UK Royal College of Nursing, Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and
the American Chemical Society.
The case can be appealed again to the Supreme Court.
The medical workers and Libya's rehabilitation
The medical workers' lives have become pawns in international machinations
surrounding efforts to reintegrate the former pariah regime, and the
immense oil reserves within its territory, into the affairs of world
imperialism.
By the early 1980s, the left-posturing nationalist Gadhaffi regime was
increasingly isolated following the intensification of the US government's
"roll-back" strategy designed to increase pressure on the Soviet Union. In
1981, 2 Libyan fighters were shot down by US aircraft, and in 1985, all
Libyan products were banned from the US, while in 1986, US aircraft bombed
Tripoli and Benghazi.
Blame for the December 1988 attack on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland, became a political issue. The US and British governments
initially pinned the bombing on Iran, but, following Iranian acquiescence
over the 1991 Desert Storm invasion of Iraq, pointed the finger at Libya
and used the Lockerbie disaster as a pretext to introduce United Nations
sanctions on that country in 1992.
In 1999, diplomatic relations with the UK were restored as part of a deal
organised with the assistance of the UN. Under its terms, Libyans
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah were handed over to be
tried for the Lockerbie attack. The medical workers disappeared from their
lodgings a matter of weeks before al-Megrahi and Fhimah were flown to the
Netherlands for trial.
The healthcare workers' arrest allowed the government to make use of them
in two ways: as scapegoats for the HIV crisis in Benghazi and to divert
attention in Libya from the decision to hand over two citizens for a trial
held in the Netherlands, under Scottish law, on a former US airbase.
Fhimah was eventually released, but al-Megrahi was sentenced to 20 years
in jail and remains in Greenock prison.
In 2003, Libya agreed with the US and Britain to pay US$2.7 billion
compensation to the family members of the 270 killed in the Lockerbie
crash. The US$4 billion compensation requested after the foreign medical
workers' 2st death sentence in 2004 was interpreted as a counterclaim to
the Lockerbie pay-off. In fact, the children's families' request of US$10
million per infected child matches the amount paid each of the families in
the Lockerbie deaths.
Investment flood
In the aftermath of Libya's compensation agreement, its renunciation of
its nuclear programme and the assistance offered against Al Qaeda in 2003,
the US government accelerated steps to end economic sanctions, open
travel, trade and diplomatic relations. In 2006, it finally removed Libya
from the list of states alleged to be sponsoring terrorism.
Prodigious volumes of investment, along with restored diplomatic and
military ties, have followed. In addition to reviving longstanding
relations between Libya and Marathon Oil, Amerada Hess and Conoco, most of
the worlds major oil companies have bought exploration and exploitation
rights in Libya.
Players include BP, Exxon, Gazprom, Nippon Oil and Petrobas. Libya also
has large-scale and lucrative infrastructure, engineering and aircraft
contracts. Investment flows into Libya were estimated at US$6-US$7 billion
in 2004. Seven billion dollars' worth of contracts were reported to be on
offer in 2006, while the country has built up financial reserves of more
than US$30 billion. One US$3 billion oil refinery has been approved and
another is under consideration. A number of free-trade zones have been
established. According to Harvard Business School economist Michael
Porter, the country has "one of the highest rates of business formation in
the world" and is "contributing to the wealth and stability of surrounding
nations."
As well as a string of high-profile political visitors, including top US
diplomats in 2006, Libya has been incorporated into US military plans for
the region. Libya featured on the list of CIA rendition flight stopover
points. France and Italy have held joint military exercises with Libyan
forces, and the country is viewed by the European Union as a key ally in
policing immigration on its southern shores.
The frenzied competition for Libyan oil rights, arms and infrastructure
contracts and influence explains the muted complaints from world leaders
over the verdict delivered against the medical workers. US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice stated that she was "disappointed" by the verdict,
while a spokesman for the EU, Johannes Laitenberger, said he was shocked.
Speaking for the UN, Secretary General Kofi Annan hoped that a "humane
solution" could be found.
None of the major powers wants to upset the Gadhaffi government too much.
And none of them are prepared to offer the compensation payments it
demands for the families of the HIV-infected children, although some
children have received treatment in Europe and small sums have been
offered for a local clinic.
In addition to the question of acceding to Libyan blackmail, none of the
major powers would want to set the precedent of a significant transfer of
wealth from the rich to poor countries to alleviate the HIV crisis
overwhelming large areas of Africa. While the Benghazi case involves
around 400 children, according to the World Health Organisation there are
23,000 people living with HIV in Libya alone, while in sub-Saharan Africa
totals are in excess of 24.5 million.
(source: Asian Tribune

UN SG supports ban on executions

2007-01-08T11:47:00.001Z

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/01/04/10094413.html

UN SG supports ban on executions

2007-01-08T11:47:00.000Z

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/01/04/10094413.html

Japan executes four on Christmas day

2007-01-02T15:49:00.000Z

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Japan_Execution.html

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Japan_Death_Sentences.html

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=294550&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

USA: The year in death

2007-01-02T14:27:00.000Z

The Year in Death
Capital punishment becomes ever more localized.
Sunday, December 31, 2006; Page B06
THE YEAR 2006 saw the fewest executions in the United States in a decade, 53. The use of capital punishment has been dropping since 1999, when 98 people were executed. The number of new death sentences is also falling precipitously, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, and the number of people on death row is dropping off as well. At least for now, capital punishment remains in retreat.

Perhaps the most striking indicator of this retreat is the degree to which executions are becoming a local phenomenon. While the preponderance of states have a death penalty, very few use it as a routine feature of their criminal justice systems. This year, 14 states carried out executions, but only six of them -- Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma and Virginia -- carried out more than one. Together, these states accounted for 85 percent of executions this year. All by itself, Texas, which executed 24 people, accumulated 45 percent. Over the previous three years, the leading six states for executions accounted for between 70 and 83 percent of executions annually. The less the death penalty gets used, the more it becomes a creature of its heartland: the South, and Texas especially.

Although 38 states and the federal government have the death penalty on their books, only 18 states have executed more than 10 people since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Many states with laws that permit capital punishment use it only rarely -- such as Maryland -- and some don't use it at all.

Now is a good time to push for repeal of death penalty laws in states outside the region truly committed to its use. Crime and murder rates, though increasing, remain low. Many Americans are rightly concerned by the rash of wrongful convictions, including those of death row inmates who have been exonerated. The death penalty's decline should be translated into policies that will prevent its easy re-emergence if circumstances change.

China: 3 executions in China leave others wary

2006-12-18T17:21:00.000Z

CHINA:
3 executions in China leave others wary

The Chinese government executed 3 house church leaders in November on
murder convictions in what the leaders of 2 Christian organizations
ministering in China describe as part of a vicious government campaign to
eliminate one of the countrys house church groups.
Despite evidence that the defendants from the Three Grades of Servants
movement had been severely tortured into confessing, the Chinese
government secretly executed the groups founder Xu Shuangfu along with Li
Maoxing and Wang Jun in late November for the murders of leaders of
Eastern Lightning, widely regarded as a violent Chinese cult.
"Chinese government officials know the West will not tolerate such blatant
religious persecution," said Paul Hattaway of Asia Harvest. "But if they
manage to pass it all off as a domestic criminal matter, the West is
largely silenced.
"In the past the Chinese have even cleverly defended such crackdowns by
asking, If America is able to prosecute the Branch Davidians, and Japan
the cult that let off sarin gas in the Tokyo subway, then why can't we
also deal with dangerous cults in our country?'"
The government's persecution against Three Grades, which has been ongoing
for several years, has included the imprisonment of hundreds of members,
according to other house church pastors, and the deaths of at least 15
people. Along with the 3 men executed, 3 other leaders were given two-year
suspended death sentences and 11 were sent to prison for sentences of 3 to
15 years. The 3 men had been convicted of murder earlier this year in
Shuangyashan City in China's Heilongjiang Province. Their appeal was heard
in October and the verdicts were upheld.
Defense attorneys contended that no direct evidence linked the men to the
crimes other than the confessions the men and other church members made
after being tortured. Chinese law prohibits the use of confessions
obtained through torture.
"The defense lawyers have clear evidence that those 3 were tortured," said
Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association. "During the trial, they saw
the scars and wounds on [the defendants] bodies."
According to news reports, as many as 20 Eastern Lightning leaders were
killed in 2002 as a result of clashes with Three Grades of Servants.
Eastern Lightning has been accused of using kidnappings, violence and
seduction of pastors in an effort to take members from other groups. Fu
called Eastern Lightning "a mafia group with Christian uniforms."
In April 2004, Xu was kidnapped and relatives received a demand that a
ransom of more than $350,000 be paid. Later, it was learned that Xu was
under arrest by the government. About 90 other leaders of his group also
were arrested during this time.
During his imprisonment, Xu, who was believed to be in his 60s, and most
of the others arrested were subjected to severe torture. Xu's ordeal
included being shocked with electrical devices, hung by his wrist for
hours at a time and sleep and food deprivation, according to his lawyer.
He finally confessed, according to his defense lawyer, because the torture
was so severe "that he would rather die than live in such a dreadful
condition."
According to the religious rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide,
Xus daughter said her father revoked the confession immediately after
interrogation records were read in court and stated that it was signed
under severe torture.
Lawyers and relatives were not informed of the executions until after the
bodies of the three men had been cremated. Fu believes the bodies of the 3
men were cremated by the government to eliminate physical evidence of the
torture.
The appeal process and executions were completed about a month before the
Jan. 1 enactment of a new law that gives the Supreme Peoples Court sole
authority to sentence people to death.
Fu said he believes Three Grades of Servants had been targeted by the
government because it has been so successful. With as many as 500,000
members, the group is aggressive in church planting and evangelism, well
financed by members and well organized, Fu said.
The group has been labeled a cult by the government, but Fu and Hattaway
believe that label is unwarranted partly because it is difficult to know
the groups beliefs and practices because of the secrecy many Chinese house
churches require to protect themselves from the government.
Fu said he has never read anything by the group that contradicts essential
Christian doctrine, but he does have concerns about their practices, which
reportedly include corporal punishment for church discipline.
"Given the evidence that I have so far, I still think their main doctrines
are orthodox, but I dont have sufficient knowledge to know more about
accusations, especially regarding their practices," Fu said.
Regardless of whether the group is a cult, other house church leaders are
concerned that the Chinese government disregarded its own laws to convict
the men and will do the same to other house churches.
The governments strategy, Hattaway said, is to label a group an "evil
cult," usually by the China Christian Three Self Patriotic Movement, one
of two government-sanctioned Protestant groups in China. An article
usually comes out in the Three Self magazine Tianfeng listing a group's
crimes and heretical beliefs and practices. The government then arrests,
interrogates, prosecutes and even executes members of the group
"The worst part of the process is that so many Christians believe what
they read and do not question the validity of the information," Hattaway
said. "This is a very dangerous thing to do.
"[The Chinese government] is conducting a similar attack on the South
China Church at the moment, with as many as 700 of their members being
arrested and prosecuted for belonging to an 'evil cult,'" Hattaway said.
He added that the Born Again house church movement suffered a similar fate
and several other main house church movements in China are on the
government's cult list.
"Any house church now will likely be called 'evil cults' if they refuse to
register with the Chinese government," Fu said, "and they will face severe
persecution like this. No church should feel they will be exempted."
Said Hattaway, "Some of the house church leaders I know have told me they
are deeply concerned that a similar fate awaits them.
"If their group is one of those placed on the list of 'evil cults' they
know it is a matter of time before they are also targeted for systematic
destruction," Hattaway added.
Fu called on Christians worldwide to find out what's really going on in
China and not rely only on news reports. When they know of specific cases,
he asks that they pray.
"We ask our American brothers and sisters to take more action," Fu said.
"Write to President Bush and other elected officials to take specific
action against the persecution and to urge the Chinese government to obey
its own constitution and its own laws."
Members in the house church movement in China also need to learn from what
happened to the Three Grades of Servants and realize that the government
will use any means to destroy a group, Fu said.
"Church members should be careful before the Lord, before the people and
before the government," Fu said. "If there are any unbiblical practices,
even among church members, it will be used by the government to damage the
whole church."
If a church member is even suspected of a crime, "the governments real
motivation is not to seek justice," Fu said, "but to destroy the house
church group."
(source: BP News)

Japan: Waiting for the hangman: New executions feared in Japan

2006-12-18T17:19:00.000Z

JAPAN:
Waiting for the hangman: New executions feared in Japan

No one knows when the executioner will come. In Japan, when a new day
dawns, 96 people ask themselves, 'Will this day be my last?'
All of them have been sentenced to die by hanging, but none of them know
their execution date. They only learn when they are going to die on the
morning of the execution.
For a few of the death-row inmates, that day might be near - and more
likely to occur after the Japanese Diet, or parliament, ends its current
session next week.
'It raises the possibility that executions will be carried out,' said
Makoto Teranaka, secretary general of Amnesty International in Japan.
Executions - the most recent of which was on September 16, 2005 - always
come when the Diet is not in session, which hinders debate on the death
penalty. Against this background, Japan's national bar association has
urged Justice Minister Jinen Nagase not to approve any executions.
The group warned the minister of the potential that innocent people could
be hanged and also pointed out the worldwide trend toward the abolition of
the death penalty. It urged the government to impose a moratorium on
executions so the necessity of such a sentence could be examined.
But just last month, Nagase said the government had no intention of
abolishing the death penalty and was not considering calls to implement
sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole because
'it might be linked with the abolition of capital punishment.'
Polls have shown that a large majority of the Japanese public approve of
the death penalty. Japan is one of the few industrialized countries that
retains it, and its use of the ultimate punishment, the secrecy
surrounding it and its prison conditions have been denounced by Amnesty
International and other human-rights groups for years.
Because of a drawn-out appeals process, prisoners sometimes wait decades
for their executions, leaving elderly prisoners among those living on
death row. The oldest is 86-year-old Ishida Tomizo, who had his request
for a retrial denied in 2004, 13 years after he submitted it.
According to human-rights activists, death-row inmates in Japan are housed
in solitary confinement and may not talk to other prisoners. Their contact
to the outside world is limited to occasional, supervised visits with
their closest relatives and their attorneys, the activists said.
Watching television or pursuing hobbies is also denied death-row
prisoners, and many endure their isolation only with the help of sleeping
pills, they added.
When the justice minister's execution order finally arrives, the prisoner
usually has only a few hours to live. The inmate's relatives hear of the
death only after the hanging.
To the public, the Justice Ministry only releases the number of the
execution. The name of the prisoner only is learned if his or her family
releases it.
The government defends the secrecy as protecting the family from shame.
Critics, however, accuse the government of a lack of transparency that
begets a lack of information for a public discussion over whether Japan
should retain the death penalty.
'As a first step towards abolition, we urge the Japanese government to end
the secrecy currently surrounding its use of the death penalty,' said Suki
Nagra, and East Asia campaigner for Amnesty International. 'The government
cannot justify this inhuman punishment on the basis of public opinion when
it conceals the reality of the death penalty from people and so stymies
public debate.'
(source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur)

USA: fewer sentenced to death in 2005

2006-12-15T15:10:00.000Z

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/09/AR2006120900401.html

USA: Witnessing an execution

2006-12-15T15:09:00.000Z

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/09/AR2006120900923.html

USA: "inmate seemed like he would never die"

2006-12-15T14:58:00.000Z

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121401323.html

Japan: Bar Ass. calls for halt to executions

2006-12-14T12:07:00.000Z

JAPAN:
Lawyers request justice minister to suspend execution of convicts

Japan's national association of lawyers on Wednesday requested that
Justice Minister Jinen Nagase not approve the execution of the 96 convicts
currently on death row in the country.
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations presented a letter requesting
that the minister not carry out capital punishment, citing the possibility
of innocent people being wrongly convicted and a trend abroad for the
abolition of the death penalty. The group also recommended the government
impose a temporary moratorium on the death penalty and review the
necessity of the punishment.
The request comes as the year-end approaches, with the Diet ending its
current session on Friday, a period when executions often take place
"while people's attention is drawn to other places," the group said in the
statement.
The federation, which includes all lawyers who have passed the Japanese
bar exam, said it has submitted similar requests twice a year to the
justice minister, who holds the discretionary power to give the final
go-ahead for an execution.
The last execution was held Sept. 16, 2005.
Nagase's predecessor Seiken Sugiura, who stepped down in September, did
not issue a go-ahead for the execution of a death-row inmate during his 11
months in office.
(source: Kyodo News)

Uganda: over 500 on death row

2006-12-12T16:15:00.000Z

UGANDA:
566 on death row

A total of 566 inmates condemned to death are being imprisoned at Luzira
Prison and Kirinya Prison in Jinja.
Previously, condemned inmates were kept at the tightly-guarded Upper
Prison in Luzira.
However, because of congestion, some had to be transferred to Kirinya.
Women inmates are held at the Womens Prison at Luzira.
The Assistant commissioner of Prisons in-charge of prisoners, Wycliff Jack
Kururagyire, yesterday said 367 of the inmates were at Luzira and 199 in
Kirinya.
He named the longest serving inmate on death row as Hajji Birikade, who
has been in Luzira for the last 24 years. Birikade was sentenced to death
on August 17, 1982 after he was convicted for kidnap with intent to
murder.
Criminal offences that attract the death sentence include treason, murder,
rape, terrorism and aggravated robbery.
Once an inmate is convicted by the High Court, he/she has a right to
appeal before the Supreme Court.
But once the Supreme Court, which is the highest court in the country,
upholds the death sentence, the inmate is kept in prison pending his/her
execution.
The President, in exercise of his powers using the Prerogative of Mercy,
is the only person who can set inmates free after they are condemned to
death.
Before the President pardons an inmate, a Committee of Prerogative of
Mercy, composed of 12 members, meets and submits the names of those
seeking presidential pardon.
The Attorney General/Minister of Justice chairs the committee that is
under the Ministry of Justice.
The committee is charged with the responsibility of processing a report on
all the inmates seeking a presidential pardon.
The report is composed of facts of the case, the evidence adduced, the
findings and a brief outline of the background of the accused. The report
also indicates why the inmate should be considered for clemency.
Upon receiving the report and the names of inmates seeking pardon, the
President may then exercise his right of pardoning any inmate.
The last inmate who benefited from such a presidential pardon was Abdullah
Nasur, the former Central Province Governor in the late Idi Amin's regime.
Nasur was released on September 11, 2001 after 22 years on death row. He
had been convicted for the murder of a Masaka mayor in 1972.
The President also signs the death warrants for the inmates who are
executed.
Prisons authorities carry out executions within 72 hours on receiving
orders to do so.
The last executions at Luzira were carried out on April 27, 1999 when
Hajji Musa Sebirumbi was executed along with 27 others.
Sebirumbi was a former Uganda People's Congress chairman for Luweero South
and the area National Security Agency (NASA) operative.
He was convicted for the murder of Edidian Lutamaguzi and four others who
refused to disclose the whereabouts of then rebel leader Yoweri Museveni
and members of his National Resistance Army (NRA) during the 1980s war
against the late Milton Obotes regime.
Condemned inmates in 2003 petitioned the Constitutional Court, saying the
death penalty should be abolished.
The court, however, upheld the penalty as enshrined in the constitution
but ruled against prolonged stay in prison after one is condemned to
death, saying it amounted to psychological torture.
The inmates appealed against the ruling before the Supreme Court, which is
yet to give its ruling.
(source: New Vision)

USA: New Jersey: Crime victimes speak against the death penalty

2006-12-12T16:13:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35743

Guinea: will executions resume?

2006-12-12T16:08:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35802

Russia: moratorium on death penalty extended

2006-12-11T14:20:00.000Z

RUSSIA:
Russian lawmakers move to extend moratorium on death penalty

Parliament on Friday extended a 10-year moratorium on the death penalty to
2010, an extension of e years, by delaying the introduction of juries in
court cases in the rebellious republic of Chechnya.
Some Western governments and domestic opponents of capital punishment have
pressed President Vladimir Putin to scrap it for good. But he is also
under pressure from conservatives at home who will probably use the issue
in campaigning for parliamentary elections next year.
The State Duma passed a bill under which juries will replace 3-judge
panels in Chechnya in 2010, rather than in 2007 as had been planned.
Russia, which still has capital punishment in its criminal code, has
observed a moratorium on carrying out death sentences since 1996.
Three years later the Constitutional Court ruled that no court could
sentence criminals to death until all courts had switched to jury trials.
Chechnya is the last region with no juries because of "technical
problems," officials said.
"The introduction of the new law means that, for another three years,
courts will not have the right to impose death sentences," a senior
Communist Party deputy, Viktor Ilyukhin, said after the Duma vote.
The bill has yet to be considered by the Federation Council and signed
into law by Putin, but analysts said it would probably pass those stages
easily.
Russia committed itself to scrapping the death penalty in 1997, when it
signed a protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. But it has
never ratified the document, citing strong opposition at home.
(source: International Herald Tribune)

Rwanda: Substitute Death Penalty with Restorative Justice

2006-12-11T14:17:00.000Z

RWANDA:
Substitute Death Penalty With Restorative Justice

The on going debate on the proposed lifting of the death penalty has
fetched mixed responses.
The survivors of genocide see it as the victory for those who orchestrated
the 1994 Genocide while the convicts and their families see it as being
long overdue. This is not surprising to majority of Rwandans. It was
anticipated. However, facts on the ground should help people digest and
take a firm and reasonable stand on this paradoxical issue of justice in
Rwanda.
Opposing the death penalty
The execution of the death penalty has been a topic of debate for many
years. There are two parties who argue whether or not it is a fitting and
adequate punishment, whether or not it acts as a deterrent to crime and
whether or not it is morally wrong.
The main reasons in support of the death penalty include deterring others
and to duly punish crime committed. They are most concerned with the
protection of society from dangerous criminals. Those who support it,
subscribers to the "an eye for an eye" principle, feel that execution is
the only way to satisfy the public as well as themselves. They feel much
the same way about murderers who are sentenced to die. As far as they are
concerned, the criminal brought his punishment upon himself.
This section of people do not see the death penalty as being morally
wrong. For them, the most likely source of constitutional difficulty with
capital punishment is the prohibition against "cruel and unusual
punishment". In fact, some consider execution to be more humane than life
imprisonment because it is quick and instantaneous.
And this is where the contradiction comes in. Imprisonment is seen as an
insufficient safeguard against the future actions of criminals because it
offers the possibility of escape and release on parole. "We think that
some criminals must be made to pay for their crimes with their lives, and
we think that we, the survivors they violated, may legitimately extract
that payment because we, too, are their victims," a remark from a survivor
of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Contrary to popular belief, the death penalty does not act as a deterrent
to crime. "Expert after expert and study after study have emphasised the
lack of correlation between the threat of the death penalty and the
occurrence of violent crime," an Isaac Ehrlich's study on the deterrent
effect of capital punishment in America revealed. The absence of
deterrence is clearly shown in Rwanda where after execution of some key
genocide convicts, the very orchestrators of the genocide, actually
continued the killings.
Abolitionists believe that the offender should be required to compensate
the victim's family with the his/her own income from employment or
community service. There is no doubt that someone can do more alive than
dead. By working, the criminal inadvertently "pays back" society and also
their victim and/or the victim's family. There is no reason for the
criminal to receive any compensation for his work. That is why Rwanda's
release of prisoners to serve in public interest was upheld by the
international community.
Supporting the death penalty
Abolitionists consider the death penalty an insufficient form of
punishment because it is cruel and inhumane, there is no proof that it
deters violent crime, it can be inflicted upon innocentpeople of any
crime, the costly process of appealing gives the death penalty a hefty
price tag and with it, the chance to make restitution to the victim and/or
the victim's family does not exist.
The essence of the abolitionist perspective is this: "The death penalty
has been a gross failure. Beyond its horror and incivility, it has neither
protected the innocent nor deterred the wicked. The recurrent spectacle of
publicly sanctioned killing has cheapened human life and dignity without
the redeeming grace which comes from justice meted out swiftly, evenly,
humanely."
There is debate within Rwanda's criminal justice system about the moral
status of the death penalty. The survivors hold that the death penalty is
justified; convicts and their families as well as the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) argue that it is not.
Death penalty is justified from either a retributive or a utilitarian
framework, sometimes using both theories for a combined justification.
Abolitionists reject these contentions arguing that the principle of the
sanctity of human life gives each person an inalienable right to life and
thus prohibits imposition of the death penalty. Scientific research and
technological developments provide modest contributions to both arguments.
Rwanda's position on justice after the genocide has been mainly that of
ushering restorative justice. Whatever other description there may be for
restorative justice, at its heart it is a movement of hope and
non-violence. It contains the possibility of offering people traumatised
by crime or caught up as the offended, a positive hope filled and
respectful way forward.
The media and the community consistently rage against the violence so
prevalent in our society. In as much as restorative justice helps people
take responsibility for their actions, initiates a healing process and
offers a way forward, it undermines the very core of that violence by
providing a non-violent respectful way of procuring justice. It should be
welcomed as a genuine breakthrough in the resolution of conflict and in
the creation of justice. It is justice that matters, justice that everyone
wants. Restorative processes will deliver better justice.
Looking to restorative justice
In as much as it works towards the restoration of dignity of those
affected, it is an essential part of the modern peace movement. Creating
international peace built on justice among nations is a priority for all
people of good will. But building domestic peace has not had the same high
profile. Yet it is of equal importance. Many would argue that without one
you cannot have the other. Conflict resolution at a domestic level
(Gacaca) surely is the proper platform from which to build peace
nationally.
As the theologian Walter Wink points out, the myth of redemptive violence
has been the choice of every major social grouping of the 20th century be
it socialist, Marxist, capitalist or communist. This concept enshrines the
belief that violence saves, that war brings peace and that might makes
right. Nations have made redemptive violence the acceptable way of
resolving injustice. Internationally, if nations have had a grievance it
has been resolved either by the threat or use of violence. Most of the
destruction, mayhem and death were justified as being right and just. Only
violence would correct (redeem) the injustice.
The results of this redemptive violence have been horrendous. We have just
emerged from the most bloodthirsty century in history, with hundreds of
millions of innocent people killed in its name.
We have applied the same philosophy and approach to domestic conflict,
especially crime. 'Beat them and beat them hard', has been the catchphrase
through the ages as well as 'Lock 'em up (an act of violence) and throw
away the key', with the hope that this violence would somehow redeem the
situation and produce justice; It rarely, if ever, does. And so more and
more prisons have been built and, while flogging and execution have been
reduced or abandoned, the culture of state violence has remained.
Restorative justice is a movement of non-violence. It provides a mature
human response to complex situations of conflict and crimes like genocide.
It does not necessarily provide a solution either. But it is a process
that respects those involved and enhances the families and communities to
which they belong. It recognises that violence is unacceptable and
provides a non-violent but challenging and positive way of proceeding.
Restorative justice appeals to the better side of human nature and not the
destructive, vengeful dark side. It is a movement of hope. The government
is showing imagination and courage in promoting some restorative justice
processes through Gacaca courts. It is vital the best people get to run
these pilots. But this is not just another government project.
The success of the courts is dependent on community ownership and
acceptance and a passion for better forms of justice. Without these three
things, they will not succeed.
The abolition of the death penalty in this country will not happen because
of a few people calling for change from the safety of academia or
government departments. It will happen because people in the country with
vision dreamt of a better way forward, committed themselves to it,
regardless of the time, cost or energy involved. The success will depend
on how much they educate the community and force the vested interests to
shift their focus.
What is now required is a genuine working and respectful partnership
between the Government, the Courts and the community. Such a partnership
involves mutual trust and recognition of the gifts that differing parties
bring to the process. The move forward cannot be left in the hands of one
sector only. Each has something important to offer.
The Government must bring political will to bear and provide leadership
and that is all. It is in the community that restorative justice will
succeed or fail. It is people from the community who, when trained, will
make the best facilitators and provide the best resource networks.
(source: Opinion, The New Times)

How do we deal with those guilty of atrocities

2006-12-05T17:22:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35616

Iran: campaign against stoning launched

2006-12-05T17:14:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35701

Wisconsin: no return of the death penalty

2006-12-05T16:18:00.000Z

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=78401

Kuwait: man alive 5 hours after being hung

2006-12-05T16:14:00.000Z

Sri Lankan still alive five hours after hanging in Kuwait: reports
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 29, 2006 (AFP) - A Sri Lankan national who was executed in Kuwait for murdering an Asian woman during a robbery remained alive five hours after he was hanged and pronounced dead, newspapers reported Wednesday.
Sanjaya Rowan Kumara was pronounced dead by doctors eight minutes after he was hanged but medics who transported his body to a morgue said they noticed he was still moving, Al-Qabas daily reported.
Forensic experts were immediately called to examine the body and they confirmed that "there was some weak pulse in his heart," the daily said.
The examination was repeated several times and each time "the dead body showed some signs of life," Al-Qabas quoted unnamed medical sources as saying.
"They eventually pronounced him completely dead at 1400 hours local time," five hours after his hanging, the sources said.
The justice ministry refused to comment on the report but head of the criminal execution department, Najeeb al-Mulla, who supervised the hanging, told Al-Watan newspaper the report was "baseless."
Kumara was sentenced to death by Kuwait's three courts for killing the woman while he was attempting to burgle her house. Four accomplices were sentenced to various terms in jail.
The Sri Lankan was supposed to be hanged with four others on November 21 but the public prosecutor ordered a stay of execution, an interior ministry official said at the time without elaborating.
The hanging took place at the central jail and the public were not allowed to view the body.
Kuwait has executed a total of 71 people, three of them women, since its first use of the death penalty some four decades ago. Most have been convicted murderers or drug traffickers.
oh/lg/bpz

Botswana: "They must hang"

2006-11-29T15:56:00.000Z

BOTSWANA:
They must hang - Nasha

She was debating the State of the Nation Address by President Festus
Mogae. Although she did not mention any names, Nasha said it is unfair for
some people to be paid for speaking for the rights of murderers, under the
guise of Ditshwanelo, while they forget about the rights of the dead.
"The rights of the dead are the same as those of the living," she said.
Nasha said that many people have lost lives to merciless criminals. She,
however, appreciated that the judicial system did not sentence to death
any person who kills by mistake.
She stated that any person who commits a premeditated murder should not be
forgiven, citing the Molepolole murder in which the man confessed to the
High Court in Lobatse on how they executed the woman and removed her
private parts for ritual purposes. The court has since sentenced the man
to death.
Nasha emphasised that Botswana made theright decision to maintain the
death penalty and that some countries in the region regret abolishing it.
The death penalty should be implemented irrespective of gender, Nasha
said. She said that Botswana should not be pressurised by any organisation
to abolish the death penalty.
"We can't make laws in order to please the international community or
whoever," she said.
Nasha defended President Mogae's silent diplomacy on Zimbabwe saying that
shouting at President Robert Mugabe would not achieve any positive
results.
She cited the Lesotho conflict in 1998 in which Botswana Defence Force
(BDF) soldiers and their South African counterparts calmed the situation.
She said that she travelled with Minister of Foreign Affairs and
International Cooperation to Lesotho knowing that they could be shot and
killed.
"We held closed door meetings with conflicting parties and the situation
was brought under control," Nasha said. The minister said that media in
Botswana is doing their job professionally except for a few individuals
who do not abide by the ethics. She said that it would not be fair to
paint all media houses with the same brush.
(source: Mmegi, Botswana)

Europe: death penalty debate is East v West

2006-11-29T15:48:00.000Z

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1126europeExecution1126.html

Texas: mentally ill man faces execution

2006-11-29T13:01:00.000Z

A Growing Plea for Mercy for the Mentally Ill on Death Row
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

LIVINGSTON, Tex. — Scott Louis Panetti says he was drowned and electrocuted as
a child and that he was recently stabbed in the eye in his death row cell by
the devil. Mr. Panetti says he has wounds that were inflicted by demons and
healed by President John F. Kennedy.
"The devil has been trying to rub me out to keep me from preaching," Mr.
Panetti, explaining why he faces execution, said in an interview from behind
thick glass in the Polunsky Unit here in East Texas, where condemned prisoners
are held before transfer to the death house 45 miles west in Huntsville.
Despite Mr. Panetti’s obvious mental illness — he was a mental patient long
before he gunned down his in-laws in 1992 — he served as his own lawyer at his
murder trial, throwing the courtroom into chaos with frequent gibberish. Now
the hyperactive and gangling Mr. Panetti, 48, has become an illustration of
the growing quandary over the application of a 1986 Supreme Court decision
barring execution of the insane.
The ruling appears to be limited to those without the capacity to understand
that they are about to be put to death and why. Whether Mr. Panetti fits that
definition is a matter of dispute.
In an appeal to the Supreme Court that could affect the cases of other
mentally ill prisoners awaiting execution, Mr. Panetti’s lawyers argue that
while he has a "factual awareness" of his execution, he has a "delusional
belief" that it is unconnected to his crime, and that he should therefore be
spared lethal injection.
The case of another mentally ill death row inmate, Guy T. LeGrande, who
represented himself and is scheduled to die Dec. 1 in Raleigh, N.C., is going
through its final state appeals, with his lawyers arguing that he, too, is
delusional, and that he hastened his execution by abandoning his defense.
Charged in the contract killing of a woman whose husband pleaded guilty to
plotting the murder and is serving life, Mr. LeGrande, 47, says he is innocent
and was framed. He appeared in court in 1996 in a Superman T-shirt, cursed the
jurors as "Antichrists" and taunted them, "Pull the switch and let the good
times roll." They took less than an hour to sentence him to death.
Experts and advocates in the field say the issue of executing the mentally ill
is the next frontier in death penalty law.
"This is an emerging issue," said Richard C. Dieter, executive director of the
Death Penalty Information Center, a research institute in Washington that
opposes capital punishment.
Mr. Dieter cited the Panetti and LeGrande cases as gray areas in which "the
death penalty may be extreme punishment given their reduced culpability."
Franklin E. Zimring, a professor of law at the University of California,
Berkeley, and author of "The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment"
(Oxford University Press, 2003), said there was something "indigestible" about
these cases.
"We assume people don’t want to die," Mr. Zimring said. "But these are
defendants that call the legal system’s bluff."
Concern over execution of the mentally disabled prompted the American Bar
Association last August to join a widening chorus of professionals calling for
a halt to death sentences and executions for defendants with severe mental
disorders that "significantly impaired" their rational judgment or capacity to
appreciate the wrongfulness of their conduct. The moratorium was endorsed
earlier by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological
Association and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
The groups also opposed death sentences for prisoners with mental disorders
that impaired their ability to assist their lawyers and make rational
decisions on their appeals. The Supreme Court has already barred execution for
the mentally retarded and for juveniles.
"An increasing percentage of people executed are people giving up their
appeals," said Ronald J. Tabak, a lawyer at the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom in Manhattan and a specialist in capital cases who led the bar
association’s death penalty task force. "And of these, a significant
percentage have serious mental illness."
The Supreme Court’s 1986 ruling, on a Florida case, Ford v. Wainwright, left
much unclear. Although no state permitted execution of the insane, the
justices affirmed that the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual
punishment prohibited it. But they did not provide a standard for determining
when someone was competent enough to be executed.
In a concurring opinion later adopted as law by lower courts, Justice Lewis F.
Powell Jr. said it was enough "if the defendant perceives the connection
between his crime and the punishment." Justice Powell also said that the
Constitution "forbids the execution only of those who are unaware of the
punishment they are about to suffer and why they are to suffer it."
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that Mr.
Panetti had the requisite legal awareness. And the Texas attorney general,
Greg Abbott, has argued that the execution, as yet unscheduled after having
been postponed in 2004, should proceed.
There is no dispute that Mr. Panetti is "profoundly mentally ill," his lawyers
Gregory W. Wiercioch, Keith S. Hampton and Michael C. Gross said in a petition
seeking to overturn the Fifth Circuit ruling. In the decade before the
murders, they said, he was hospitalized 14 times in six institutions for
schizophrenia, manic depression, auditory hallucinations and delusions of
persecution. Believing the devil was in his furniture, he buried it in the
backyard, and thinking the devil was in the walls, he hallucinated that they
were running with blood.
On Sept. 8, 1992, Mr. Panetti, dressed in military fatigues and carrying a
sawed-off shotgun, a rifle and knives, invaded the Fredericksburg home where
his estranged wife, Sonja Alvarado, had taken refuge with her parents, Joe and
Amanda Alvarado. In front of his wife and their 3-year-old daughter, known as
Birdie, he shot the Alvarados to death and took his wife and daughter captive
before releasing them unharmed and surrendering.
In 1994, a first jury deadlocked on his mental competency, but a second found
him able to stand trial.
Waiving legal counsel, Mr. Panetti represented himself, appearing in court in
cowboy garb and seeking to subpoena Jesus before deciding "he doesn’t need a
subpoena — he’s right here with me." He attributed the killings to an alter
ego named Sarge Ironhorse and, testifying in Sarge’s voice after calling
himself as a witness, recounted the killings:
"Sarge is gone. No more Sarge. Sonja and Birdie. Birdie and Sonja. Joe, Amanda
lying kitchen, here, there blood. No, leave. Scott, remember exactly what
Sarge did. Shot the lock. Walked in the kitchen. Sonja, where’s Birdie? Sonja
here. Joe, bayonet, door, Amanda. Boom, boom, blood, blood. Demons. Ha, ha,
ha, ha, oh, lord, oh, you."
When Judge Stephen B. Ables tried to cut him off, Mr. Panetti said, "You puppet."
Mr. Panetti does appear to have moments of lucidity, and these disconcerted
the juries at his competency hearing and trial, planting suspicions that he
might have been faking.
"Not to make excuses," he said in the death row interview, "but when someone’s
insane, they’re insane."
Psychiatrists testified that schizophrenic patients often spoke intelligently.
Asked in the interview if he understood he was on death row for crimes he
committed, Mr. Panetti said: "Certainly not. They are in a strong
delusionment. They’ll be undeceived by delusionment."
- - - - -
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

EU call for Saddam H. not to be executed

2006-11-22T12:08:00.000Z

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/20/europe/EU_GEN_EU_Iraq.php

Uganda: executing soldiers to "protect human rights"

2006-11-21T16:29:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35479

Pakistan: Man commuted and freed from death row

2006-11-21T16:27:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35547

Finland: only 33 percent of Fins support the death penalty

2006-11-21T16:00:00.000Z

FINLAND:
Poll: Nearly 1 in 3 Finns would support capital punishment ----
Middle-aged, men, and right-wingers most likely to support death penalty

A fresh survey indicates that 29 % of Finns would approve of the death
penalty as a punishment for certain crimes committed during peacetime.
The poll was published by the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat on
Saturday. It was conducted by Suomen Gallup.
Men and middle-aged Finns were the most likely to favour capital
punishment.
Whereas 36 % of men would support the death penalty, only 22 % of women
found it acceptable. As many as 41 % of those aged 35 to 49 are in favour
of capital punishment.
Nearly 1/3 of supporters of the Centre Party, the National Coalition
Party, and the Greens said that they approve of the death penalty.
The most resistant to capital punishment were supporters of the Left
Alliance.
1 in 5 students were in favour of executions, while 43 % of manual
labourers and 14 % of pensioners felt the same way.
There was no significant correlation with support for the death penalty
and the respondent's place of residence, although residents of Northern
Finland were the most critical toward capital punishment.
(source: Helsingin Sanomat

Iraq: Secret death chambers

2006-11-21T15:20:00.000Z

Sunday, Nov. 12, 2006
Iraq's Secret Death Chambers
Saddam could face the gallows by year's end. But Iraqi executioners are already busy
By BRIAN BENNETT/BAGHDAD
Before he is put to death, Saddam Hussein will be allowed one last phone call. He will be given a glass of water, a moment to pray and an opportunity to make a statement about his life and crimes. The entire event will be recorded on video to be stored in the Iraqi government archives. Then his neck will be slipped into the noose of a 2-in.-thick hemp rope. A few moments later, his life will end.
That's how recent executions have proceeded in Iraq--at least when the equipment works. Since the Iraqi government reintroduced capital punishment in 2004, several executions have been beset by glitches and logistical snafus. At first, executioners used an old rope left over from Saddam's regime that stretched too much to break the condemned's neck; it sometimes took as long as eight minutes for the hanged to die. New ropes brought in for later executions jerked harder on the convicted person's spine, but executioners soon noticed the cords fraying on the bend of the reinforced steel installed in the cement ceiling of the gallows. During a recent round of executions, on Sept. 6, the rope snapped after 12 hangings, sending a condemned man plummeting 15 ft. through the trap door onto the hard concrete floor below. Miraculously, he survived. "Allah saved me!" he shouted. "Allah saved me!" For 40 minutes, prison guards, officials and witnesses engaged in heated arguments over whether or not to interpret the broken rope as divine intervention.
It may not be an efficient process, but the death penalty is back in vogue in Iraq. After the U.S. invasion, capital punishment was suspended by L. Paul Bremer, head of the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, but interim Prime Minster Iyad Allawi reinstated it a year later. Since September 2005, when three men were hanged in the southwestern city of Kut after being convicted of running a murder-and-kidnapping ring, the Iraqi government has executed 50 prisoners convicted of murder or kidnapping, says spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. An adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says the government plans to execute "two or three more batches of 14 or 15 each" in the coming months. Al-Maliki told the BBC last week that Saddam too could be hanged "before the end of the year." For the beleaguered Iraqi government, the practice of executions plays a political role as well as a legal one: amid the inescapable violence on Iraq's streets, the death penalty plays well with Iraqis tired of seeing gangs commit murder with impunity. "From the Iraqi point of view," says al-Maliki's adviser, "they don't like to see a lot of people get killed every day and have a low number of executions."
And yet an examination of the way the death penalty is administered in Iraq casts doubt on the government's candor about the frequency of executions, and that raises questions about whether justice is being flouted in Iraq's rush to execute. According to an Iraqi official involved in coordinating executions, the hanging rope has been used more extensively than has been publicly acknowledged by the Iraqi government. Three days of secret executions took place between December 2005 and March 2006, says the official, who attended all three sets of hangings. When the additional executions are taken into account, according to an official in the Prime Minister's office who declined to give an exact number, approximately 90 have been executed, almost double the officially declared tally.
The government's underreporting of executions reflects a general lack of transparency in the process. Hangings are conducted in secret, at a heavily fortified location in Baghdad built by an American contractor. Only a few officials are notified beforehand, and the vast majority of the names of those executed are never made public. Human Rights Watch, which monitors the fairness of judicial systems around the world, is concerned about the ability of defendants in Iraq to get a fair trial and access to a thorough appeals process. Iraq has repeatedly rebuffed requests from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights for statistics on the country's death-penalty cases, leading the high commissioner to request that Iraq commute all death sentences. The government has refused. In a written response to the U.N., the government said that suspending capital punishment would "undermine our policy on crime," citing capital punishment as a "public deterrence."
That was the objective when the Iraqi government announced in March that they had executed an infamous psychopath and insurgent hit man named Shukair Farid, "the butcher of Mosul," whose gang slaughtered more than 200 during a yearlong rampage in the northern city. Farid, a police lieutenant, had gained fame after appearing on the hit reality-TV interrogation show Terrorism in the Hands of Justice, on which he told in gruesome detail of the scores of Iraqi lives he took, often using his uniform to trap victims. Farid didn't go easily. On the morning the convoy of Iraqi officials drove out to oversee the execution, 30 cars ambushed them with gunmen firing PKC automatic weapons. After fighting their way through to the gallows, the executioners were surprised at how defiant Farid was as he faced his own death. When asked to verify his identity before they put the rope around his neck, Farid said, "That's me, so what." "That guy was ready to go to hell, I guess," says a government official.
But there are many others on death row who continue to profess their innocence. Women doing time for murder in Baghdad live in a single 10-bunk cell in Khadamiyah Women's Prison in the northern part of town near the Tigris River. There waits Zayneb, a brown-haired woman in her late 20s wearing a black head scarf, convicted in September of conspiring with her husband to murder three relatives. The judge gave her three death sentences, one for each relative who was murdered. She says she didn't have anything to do with their deaths. She has only one chance to appeal the ruling before she faces the noose. The reality of her predicament sinks in as Zayneb looks at the empty bunk across the room, until recently occupied by a friend of hers who has been transferred to another jail to wait for her own execution. "We spent a long time together here," Zayneb says, tears welling up in her copper-colored eyes. "They took her two days ago." She sees little hope for herself. "I am convicted of three crimes. If one is waived, what about the other two? For sure I will be hanged."
The saving grace for defendants like Zayneb is that Iraq's judicial system operates at a crawl. It's a "lethargic process," says Basam Ridha, an adviser who has been tasked by al-Maliki to hasten the punishment. Some cases, says Ridha, have taken a year or more just to be heard by the investigative judge, who decides if the case needs to go to trial or not. Other prisoners short-circuit the process and find ways to get out of prison, either by paying their jailers or, in some instances, bribing the judge to dismiss their case.
Saddam, though, is almost out of time. If his sentence is upheld by the appeals court, Iraqi and U.S. officials say the plan is for him to be hanged from the same gallows used for common criminals. That could change for security reasons, says a U.S. lawyer working closely with the court, but even a technical snafu probably won't be enough to save him now. Remember the man who slipped the noose, believing Allah had saved him? His reprieve didn't last long. "We hanged him," says an Iraqi official who watched as prison guards took down his body and wheeled it into the adjacent refrigerated morgue. "We followed the law."
With reporting by M. Ezzat, Mark Kukis/Baghdad

Russia: opposes execution of Saddam Hussien, extends own ban on the death penalty

2006-11-16T11:40:00.000Z

MOSCOW, Nov 15, 2006 (AFP) - Russian lawmakers Wednesday passed a resolution opposing the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein saying it would destabilise the Middle East, while also voting to extend Russia's own moratorium on the death penalty.
Executing Saddam -- who was sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity for ordering the execution of 148 Shiites in the 1980s -- would destabilise the wider region, according to the text.
"Carrying out the verdict will not resolve the problems of the Iraqi people, but rather risks provoking new ones, reviving stronger opposition, vengeance and hostilities," said the resolution, approved unanimously by the lower house.
"Any measure which can provoke a rise in violence, an aggravation of the existing disagreements in Iraq, not only goes against the vital interests and needs of Iraqi society, but will seriously destabilise the situation in the whole region."
The text also alleged "interference in Iraq's internal affairs" by "certain foreign politicians" who it said backed the death sentence for the deposed dictator.
Russia's foreign ministry had initially reacted to the sentence by saying that the judges' decisions "should be carried out without interference from abroad", in the words of spokesman Mikhail Kamynin -- an apparent reference to the United States.
The US has distanced itself from the decision to execute Saddam, however, claiming the death sentence is a long-established part of Iraqi law and was handed out on the initiative of the Iraqi court.
Also on Wednesday, Russia's lower house, the Duma, passed by a large majority a measure that allows its moratorium on death sentences to be extended to 2010.
Russia has not formally abolished the death penalty, despite signing on to the European Convention of Human Rights which forbids executions in peace time.
However, it passed a regulation in 1999 which effectively prevented courts from sentencing people to death. The rule states that death sentences could not be given until local assizes courts had been set up in all parts of the country.
The only Russian region not to have such an institution is the breakaway Caucasus republic of Chechnya. Wednesday's measure postponed until 2010 the upcoming deadline for one of these courts to be set up in the territory, effectively extending the moratorium.
mr-ml/kat/rlp/boc

USA: no reintroduction of the death penalty in Wisconsin despite vote

2006-11-13T13:12:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35417

USA: Texas - condemned prisones go on hunger strike

2006-11-13T13:04:00.000Z

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/08/news/prison.php

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35385

Morocco - abolition of the death penalty held up

2006-11-13T12:59:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35429

Vietnam: death penalty no deterrent to drug offences

2006-11-06T11:52:00.000Z

http://www.thanhniennews.com/politics/?catid=1&newsid=21785

Trinidad: no hangings..........

2006-11-06T11:00:00.000Z

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:
Hangman's hands are tied...

AS at October 25, there were 84 persons on death row in Trinidad and
Tobago, 78 of them male and 6 female. However, only 15 of them can be
considered as being eligible now for facing the death penalty, because
they were all convicted after July 7, 2004. This is the date on which the
Privy Council had ruled in a judgment that the death penalty was mandatory
and not discretionary, contrary to a decision it had reached in an earlier
matter, on November 20, 2003. This case is known as Roodal vs the State,
Privy Council 18 of 2003.
The Privy Council judgment of July 2004, came as it considered the
Trinidad and Tobago case of Charles Mathews vs the State.
Shocked and flabbergasted by the decision eight months earlier, the
governments of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica got together and
mounted a response, which had the effect of having the Privy Council
overrule itself, a development which AG John Jeremie declared last week as
"unprecedented, in that the Privy Council by practice and tradition had
rarely overruled itself and never before in an appeal so soon after a
substantive decision". Mr Jeremie pointed out in a statement on the matter
that the Privy Council had again met "for the 1st time in an appeal from
the Caribbean", with nine members in the review of the Roodal decision, as
it deliberated on the Mathews case "the largest panel to sit in well over
half a century".
But while the mandatory nature of the death penalty was restored, the
earlier ruling had the effect of creating an expectation among those
persons on death row at the time that they were not necessarily going to
be executed, and they had the right to apply for such reliefs.
Because, as the Attorney General reiterates in his statement, Trinidad and
Tobago is committed to the rule of law, all those persons who were on
Death Row up to July 7, 2004, have the right to seek judicial review of
their matters, on the basis of the Privy Council's ruling in November,
2003.
Outside of this, however, another ruling of the Privy Council has eaten
into the ability of the State to carry out the death penalty, this being
the decision in the Jamaican case of Pratt and Morgan. By virtue of this
judgment, delivered on November 2, 1993, no person who is convicted of
murder but who is not executed after five years can be put to death.
Dozens of convicted persons have had their sentences commuted as a result.
They have formed what Mr Jeremie called "a special class of inmate on
death row."
While the Government repudiated and denounced the Inter-American
Convention on Human Rights on May 26, 1999, thereby blocking appeals to
this body after this date, the Attorney General's statement disclosed that
this body continued to accept petitions after this date, where it
concluded that allegations of human rights violations against convicted
prisoners before this date were valid.
All of this has had the effect of making a mess of the State's attempt to
carry out the death penalty.
In opposition at the time, the PNM had howled bloody murder at the
Government for opting out of the protocols from the Inter-American court,
and vowed to reverse this decision. Last week's statement made no mention
as to whether in fact this has been done.
What it did say, as a tacit complaint, was that "the time-consuming nature
of applications before ... international bodies, coupled with the
inordinate and somewhat obvious delays of these bodies literally
guaranteed that Trinidad and Tobago could not carry out a sentence of
death on any person so sentenced."
So that 7 years after the country opted out of the optional protocols at
the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, despite the spectacular hangings
of ten persons in 1999, and approaching 5 years after the PNM returned to
power, the State's hands remain virtually tied.
Of the 15 persons on Death Row who have no presumption about not being
spared the noose, all have appeals in progress. And Mr Jeremie provides a
further litany about what is keeping them.
Notes of evidence from the high court are not yet ready and as such the
Record of Appeal cannot be settled for the hearing of the appeal; the
judge's notes from the trial are not yet ready; the appeal has not yet
been placed on the Court of Appeal list and given a date of hearing; the
defence lawyer for the appellant has not settled the Record of Appeal; the
defence lawyer is not yet ready; the appellant has not yet retained an
attorney to argue his/her appeal.
- Next week: A rare and arbitrary fate - Conviction for Murder, the
Mandatory Death Penalty and the Reality of Homicide in Trinidad and
Tobago. A Study by Roger Hood and Florence Seemungal
(source: Trinidad News & Express)

Peru: the death penalty for terrorist

2006-11-06T10:59:00.000Z

PERU:
Peru's President in favor of death penalty for terrorists

On a day when thousands of Peruvians visit cemeteries to honour their
dead, Peru's President Alan Garcia announced that he will send a law to
Congress to apply the death penalty for terrorists. With this law, Garcia
is mainly targeting the resumption of subversive activities by the
"Shining Path" (Sendero Luminoso), a maoist guerilla group. Since the
capture of its leader Abimael Guzmn in 1992, it has only been sporadically
active.
Two months ago, Peru's Chief of State pronounced himself in favor of
capital punishment for rapists of children who kill their victims.
Although the debate on this subject continues thoughout Peruvian society
without obtaining a consensus, Garcia advanced his latest proposal.
He affirmed that his initiative includes the execution for remaining
Shining Path insurgents that are being reorganized with the purpose of
reviving the armed warfare by means of terrorist attacks.
"Those who commit serious crimes of terrorism, those who are trying to
return our country to the fight of the 80's and early 90's, will face a
firing squad," he remarked.
He also warned that in case the "Shining Path" tries again to infiltrate
Peru's schools, universities, unions or other organizations, the
government "will intervene."
"If the circumstances demand it, the Constitution authorizes a declaration
of emergency I hope that I will have sufficient evidence and suspicions to
respond in a proportional way", he said.
In order to avoid that the population is alarmed by his statements, Garcia
said the security during the regional and municipal elections on November
19 is guaranteed and that a specific threat or indication of subversive
activities during that day does not exist.
(source: Living in Peru News)

China acts to reduce high rate of executions

2006-11-02T11:02:00.000Z

China Acts to Reduce High Rate of Executions
By DAVID LAGUE
Published: November 1, 2006
BEIJING, Oct. 31 — Responding to domestic and international criticism of its extensive use of capital punishment, China adopted new rules on Tuesday requiring review of all death sentences by the Supreme People’s Court, state news media reported.
The move, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, restores a power that was stripped from the Supreme Court in 1983 and given to provincial courts as part of a major crackdown on crime. The authorities are facing mounting criticism from human rights groups and Chinese legal scholars for what they say is the widespread and arbitrary use of the death penalty.
China executes more people every year than all other nations combined, by some Chinese estimates, up to 10,000 a year. Chinese courts have been embarrassed in recent years by a number of executions of people who were later proved innocent.
China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, approved the amendment to the law, which "is believed to be the most important reform of capital punishment in China in more than two decades," the official New China News Agency said in a brief report.
The state news media have estimated that the number of executions could drop by as much as 30 percent under the new system, though they have not said how they arrived at that figure.
Human rights groups welcomed the change, saying it was likely to lead to fewer executions, but they urged the authorities to take further action. "I think this is a positive step, but it falls well short of what is needed," said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who is based in Hong Kong.
Chinese political leaders strongly defend capital punishment as an essential tool to fight crime and preserve social order in a country of 1.3 billion that is undergoing wrenching economic and social changes. The authorities also argue that the death penalty is an important deterrent to official corruption, which has emerged as a major threat to the reputation of the governing Communist Party.
However, legal experts say that as living standards rise and China becomes an important international power, the country’s senior leadership is uncomfortable that the death penalty is so readily applied.
They say the reform can also be seen as part of President Hu Jintao’s commitment to "build a harmonious society," which covers a range of social concerns, including pollution, growing inequality and access to education and health care. The public has long chafed under a legal system that is widely perceived as favoring the wealthy and politically connected.
China does not disclose the number of executions it carries out under the criminal code, where almost 70 offenses carry the death penalty.
Citing publicly available reports, Amnesty International estimates that at least 1,770 people were executed in 2005 — more than 80 percent of the world’s total — and 3,900 were sentenced to death. In 2004, Amnesty said, 3,400 were executed in China out of 3,797 it documented in the world that year.
Local courts had been given the power to impose the death penalty by Deng Xiaoping, who was angry about a wave of crime and corruption that threatened his economic reform program, which was still in its infancy. From the early 1980s until now, they have operated with virtually no oversight, a situation that has led to the widespread and, legal experts say, indiscriminate use of capital punishment.
In a report on Sept. 21, Amnesty said shortcomings in the legal system for people sentenced to death included a lack of prompt access to lawyers, the absence of the presumption of innocence, political interference in the courts and the use of evidence obtained by torture.
"No one who is sentenced to death in China receives a fair trial in line with international human rights standards," Amnesty said in the report.
The Chinese authorities have already recruited 200 judges for the top court and opened new courtrooms to handle the extra work arising from the change, according to the Chinese news reports.
Some Chinese legal scholars say lower courts will now have to be more careful in imposing the death penalty, handing down more long prison terms instead to avoid the scrutiny of the high court.
Human rights groups and supporters of legal change in China are now urging the government to introduce more sweeping changes, including the establishment of an independent judiciary.
"So far, the leadership is not willing to take on real reform," Mr. Bequelin said.

Vietnam: Woman escapes execution by becoming pregnant

2006-11-01T10:53:00.000Z

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35298

Saudi Arabia - more executions

2006-11-01T10:48:00.000Z

SAUDI ARABIA----executions
Saudi Arabia executes Nigerian woman, Saudi man

Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian woman on Tuesday for drugs smuggling and
a Saudi man for murder, taking to 16 the number of reported executions in
2006.
The official Saudi news agency said Amina Amouri Mohammad from Nigeria was
executed in the coastal city of Jeddah for smuggling cocaine into the
country.
Barakat bin Sadun bin Raja' al-Outaibi, a Saudi man, was put to death in
the capital Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia implements strict Islamic law and usually carries out
executions by public beheading with a sword. The country executed 86
people in 2005 and 36 in 2004.
Officials have not explained the fall in the executions in the first half
of this year, which follows criticism from human rights groups over the
high rates in previous years.
Saudi Arabia executes convicted murderers, rapists and drug traffickers.
(source: Reuters)

Pakistan: the ordeal of Mirza Tahir goes on

2006-10-30T12:12:00.000Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/6092550.stm

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=35268

India: Debate continues

2006-10-30T12:04:00.000Z

also see: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35227

INDIA:
Capital punishment: A question left hanging?

Is death penalty akin to murder at the hands of the state? Is hanging the
most inhuman way to end a criminal's life?
The hangman's noose... is meant only for crimes most heinous. In fact, a
crime that must be abominable enough to make the state a murderer, or is
just fair justice being meted out? Does capital punishment have a place in
a modern, democratic society? As India battles these questions again with
respect to Afzal Guru, an accused in the Parliament attack case, there are
many who want a dispassionate and a humanitarian look at this vehicle of
justice. TR Andhyarujina, former solicitor general, says, "While the
tenets say a death sentence should only be given in the rarest of rare
cases, it doesn't work that way. What are the standards set in this
regard? None. Statistically also, it has been proved that hanging doesn't
act as a deterrent. Also, it is one of the most inhuman ways to kill
prisoners."
Former law minister and senior advocate Shanti Bhushan seconds this,
"Capital punishment needs to be abolished immediately. For this, we need
the collective will of Parliament to bring in this change, for the courts
have time and again upheld the death penalty. And till that happens, at
least we can give prisoners dignity in death using means that are
comparatively painless, for instance, lethal injections. There is no place
for the spectacle of hanging in a civilised society."
But there are vociferous demands from the other side too. Former joint CP,
Delhi Police, Maxwell Periera feels that demands asking for the abolition
of capital punishment are negating law enforcement. "Despite the fact that
nobody wants death penalty, it is very much there in statuette books. The
condition of the country's justice deliverance system is such that its
removal will have repercussions on the country's law and order process.
That is the reason why the courts not only uphold it but are also
enhancing it. However, the mode of execution should be painless and
dignified."
But objectivity is hard to achieve, given the circumstances of the present
case. With vocal protests from both sides of the divide, will justice be
able to prevail? Activist Madhu Kishwar puts it in perspective when she
says, "While personally I am not in favour of a death sentence, at the
same time, if you can kill others for your rights, others can exercise the
same right on you too. But yes, in such cases, the trials should be
extremely fair."
And fairness of the trial is what senior advocate Ram Jethmalani is
raising a finger at. 'The question is whether this man has been found
guilty and if it conforms to the standard of fairness regarded by a
civilised judicial system. And the answer is no," he has said. Only there
are no retakes in death penalty. Yet another reason why it needs a
re-look?
(source: Times of India)

Trinidad and Tobago: confronting the death penalty

2006-10-30T11:59:00.000Z

Oct. 26

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:
Confronting the death penalty

ON July 28, 1999, Anthony Briggs, formerly of Pinto Road, Arima, was
hanged. He had been sentenced to death for the murder of a taxi driver in
Arima sometime in August, 1992. Briggs went to his death a peaceful man,
one of his sisters reporting that he had told her 2 days before that he
had accept Jesus Christ as his personal lord and saviour, and all was well
with his soul. That sister was confident at the time, however, that her
brother was the wrong man sent to the gallows, but she had no hard
feelings against the state. So she said.
Her brother also told her that he hoped he was the last person to suffer
this fate. At the time of his death, there were 63 other persons on Death
Row. But only 13 of them were at the point where one of them could have
been called next. They were the ones who had had all their appeals
exhausted and had no constitutional or human rights motions pending.
6 years and 3 months later, murders have increased dramatically from what
they were in 1999, and more people have been sentenced to death, but the
hangman has not had a day's work since. In the face, that is, of the
strident calls from the general population for implementation of the death
penalty.
"Shame and scandal in the T&T family," wailed a front page Sunday Express
headline on October 15, when the murder rate for the year hit 301. It got
there with triple murders on Friday night before, in separate incidents.
The very next weekend three more men were shot to death, this time in a
single incident at a nightclub in Arima, by a group of angry young men who
wouldn't accept the management's right to refuse their admission. In fact,
they had been inside and were thrown out because of their behaviour. They
returned only to nihilistically mash up the place.
The murder rate stood at 315 yesterday, but with the weekend approaching,
who knows what will be the Monday morning headlines! There are raging
arguments about the projections being made by the Minister of National
Security, and about the figures he is using in a series of media
advertisements, the value of which remains unclear.
Application of the death penalty has been held by many as the best
antidote against homicides, and we made headlines with it in 1999, Briggs
being the tenth person sent to the gallows that year. Remember the nine
hangings, three a day between a Thursday and a Saturday, of Dole Chadee
and company? Every public opinion poll conducted comes back firmly for
retention of the death penalty, and every government professes its undying
commitment to upholding it as the law.
The UNC was the party in power in 1999 and while it clearly remains a
question for scrutiny whether or not its application of capital punishment
was highly selective and suspect, that many pay-days for the hangman was
an achievement, for those inclined to be impressed by such numbers.
In almost five years, and with the insistence that it has not again
abandoned the death penalty, the current Government has not managed to
create a single day's work in this category. An attempt was made in June
2005, against the life of Lester Pitman, who had been sentenced to death
for the triple murders of John Cropper, his mother-in-law and
sister-in-law in July 2001. This was stopped as lawyers on Pitman's behalf
successfully argued that he had been in the process of filing an appeal
with the Privy Council.
At the end of 1999, after the 10 hangings that year, the murder rate
closed out at 93. The next year it went to 118. In 2003, the 2nd full year
of a new PNM administration, the rate rose to 229. It climbed to 260 in
2004 and shot to 386 last year.
A version of the Minister's "report on homicide statistics" appearing in
yesterday's Express has the figure for the year still at 306, however.
On the face of these figures, the arguments that hangings make a
difference can be flattened.
Whether or not hangings are useful as a deterrent to those who will commit
murder, this Government seems determined to press ahead.
It has been stymied all the way to the gallows, however, by a combination
of commitments to the Privy Council and a host of other international
human rights bodies, treaties and conventions to which we are signatory.
They are enough to cause the policy decision makers to consider again the
force of an assertion by the current Attorney General that it is extremely
difficult, if not virtually to apply the death penalty any more in
Trinidad and Tobago.
Mr Jeremie's statement, as an elaborate response to a query this week for
a status report on the death penalty, is encouraging reading for those in
favour of its abolition. For those of the contrary opinion, it is an easy
invitation to anarchy.
(Continuing next week).
(source: Trinidad Express)

Organ transplants in China are "crime against humanity"

2006-10-30T11:49:00.000Z

CHINA:
Doctors: Transplants in China are crime against humanity

Senior transplant surgeons in Israel call on citizens to stop traveling to
China for transplant surgeries, say 90 percent of organs taken from death
row prisoners without consent
Senior Israeli transplant surgeons call on Israeli patients to stop
traveling to China for the purpose of undergoing transplant surgery, and
demand that authorities find an appropriate solution for expanding the
organ reserve stock in Israel.
Israel has had a significant shortage of organs available for transplant
for many years, and waiting lists continue to get longer and longer.
The number of organ donors in Israel is very low and stands at less than
10 donors a year for every million people in the population, as opposed to
15-30 donors per million in Europe and the United States. This results in
more than half of Israeli patients awaiting transplants to go abroad for
their transplant surgeries, mostly to China.
In a special survey which was to be published this week in the medical
journal "Harefua", director of the heart transplant unit at Sheba Medical
Center Dr. Jacob Lavee spoke against the transplants performed in China
and defined them as "crimes against humanity".
The reason for his condemnation of the surgeries was that about 90 % of
the transplanted organs in China were taken from prisoners on death row
without their consent.
'Organs removed while prisoner was alive'
The article quoted Dr. Wang Guayoki, a Chinese doctor who escaped China
and sought political refuge in the United States. He described before a
committee of the House of Representatives how he removed skin and corneas
from the bodies of over 100 prisoners who were executed in Chinese
prisons.
He explained that the "donors" receive a special injection which prevents
their blood from clotting and aids in preserving their organs. The
execution team shoots the prisoners in the head while a medical staff
stands by in order to remove the organs meant for transplants.
Dr. Guayoki recounted a particularly shocking case where kidneys were
removed from a prisoner while he was still alive due to a faulty
execution. Other testimonies brought before congress confirmed other such
cases.
In recent months, Israel's Health Ministry ordered HMO's to ensure that
transplants performed abroad were only done at accredited institutions.
Concurrently, China's Health Minister announced that buying and selling of
organs was not permitted, and that all organ donations be consented by the
donor.
Still, doctors say that Israeli patients continue to travel to China in
search of new organs.
"It goes without saying that the distress of patients in Israel waiting
for transplants is great, but one's distress doesn't justify committing a
crime on another," Dr. Lavee said.
(source: Ynetnews)