Indonesia court rejects French citizen's death sentence appeal

Source: Jurist (23 Jun 2015)

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2015/06/indonesia-court-rejects-french-citizens-death-sentence-appeal.php

The  State Administrative Court of Jakarta[official website, in Indonesian] on Monday denied the clemency appeal of a French citizen sentenced to death on a drug trafficking charge. The appeal of Serge Atlaoui was an effort to reverse the original clemency denial made by President Joko Widodo  [BBC profile] last year. The country has received significant criticism for its use of the death penalty for drug offenses, particularly against foreign nationals. In its opinion, the Jakarta court said that granting clemency was the exclusive prerogative of the president. France, which firmly opposes the death penalty, has aimed to provided aid [Le Monde report, in French] to Atlaoui and has warned of "consequences" should the execution be completed.

Indonesia's use of the death penalty has been an international point of contention, with several members of the international community speaking out against the practice. In April, Indonesia exectued eight convicted drug smugglers said to be part of the "Bali Nine" smuggling ring by firing squad. In February a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website]  urged the Indonesian government to halt all executions of people convicted of drug-related offenses. In January another spokesperson for the OHCHR voiced concern over the continued use of the death penalty in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The OHCHR reported that eight more people convicted of drug trafficking in Vietnam had been sentenced to death. Also in January Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia after an Indonesian firing squad executed six convicted drug traffickers.

Executing drug dealers in Southeast Asia

Source: Al Jazeera (22 June 2015)

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/06/executing-drug-dealers-southeast-asia-150622060018374.html

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Shortly before each plane lands in Kuala Lumpur, as the cabin crew politely ask passengers to put their seats upright and turn off all electronic devices, those on board also receive a chilling warning about "severe" penalties awaiting those found guilty of dealing drugs.

Malaysia is one of only 13 countries in the world that imposes a mandatory death sentence for drug trafficking - murder and nine other crimes can also result in capital punishment - but officials are again hinting at the possibility of review. The government first indicated the possibility of review six years ago.

"When policies are not working they should be changed," Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Paul Low told more than 300 delegates at a recent Asian Regional Congress on the Death Penalty.

Low, who has responsibility for human rights, noted the numbers sentenced to death for drug offences continue to rise, and Malaysia's commitment to capital punishment for such crimes made it difficult for the government to argue for a reprieve for its own citizens caught in similar circumstances in other countries.

Legal analysts say it's important that governments take the lead in moving away from retributive forms of justice.

"Even if there's high public support for the death penalty, countries that have abandoned it have not waited for their populations to change," associate professor Chan Wing Cheong, of the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore, told Al Jazeera. "They have done it because it's the right thing to do."

Reconsidering execution

Over the past 10 years, Asian governments, like much of the rest of the world, have reconsidered the death penalty. Cambodia, the Philippines, East Timor, and Mongolia have abolished it, while others including Vietnam and Singapore have reviewed the scope of the laws surrounding its use. Yet, despite recent progress, Asia remains the continent with the world's highest number of executions. Many on death row are drug mules.

Blaming the scourge of drug addiction, some countries have resumed executions while others have sent increasing numbers of people to their deaths.

"It's a policy that governments choose, or do not choose, to embrace," said Rick Lines, executive director of Harm Reduction International, which researches drug policy and the death penalty.

"The biggest example of that this year is Indonesia. In 2012, we categorised Indonesia as a 'low application' country, but this year they have executed 14 people for drugs. It's not a change of culture or tradition. It's a change in policy."

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who took office in October 2014, says the executions were necessary to show Indonesia's commitment to fighting the drug trade. Nearly all of those shot by a firing squad - Indonesia's chosen method - were foreign nationals.

"There is a deeply rooted hatred against drugs [in Indonesia]," said Ricky Gunawan, director of Lembaga Bantuan Masyarakat Hukum, which provides legal assistance to people facing the death penalty. "With this kind of hatred, it's easy for politicians to use this as a political tool to get sympathy from the public."

Deterrent effect?

The United Nations says drug offences do not meet the threshold for " most serious crimes ". Moreover, the mandatory sentence imposed in countries such as Malaysia violates the defendant's right to a fair trial and due process.

Critics also question the death penalty's deterrent effect. The Golden Triangle, where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet geographically, still produces one-quarter of the world's heroin , and the cultivation of opium poppies has increased every year since 2006, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Southeast Asia is also at the centre of the methamphetamine trade.

"Organised crime moves drugs by the tonne," said Julian McMahon, an Australian lawyer who has worked on death row cases in the region for more than a decade - most recently for Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who wereamong those executed in Indonesia in April.

"It's intellectually laughable to suggest that the arrest and execution of low-level drug mules will have any effect [on the drug trade]. They are immediately replaceable by any number of similarly stupid young people, too many of whom have been my clients."

Singapore's lead

In 2012, Singapore amended some of its laws related to the mandatory death penalty and returned some discretion to the courts. In drug-trafficking cases, the revisions meant those who could prove cooperation with the authorities or were ruled to have diminished responsibility could be sentenced to life imprisonment with caning, rather than the once-mandatory death sentence.

Low said the changes could provide a useful guide for Malaysia as it reviews its own legislation.

"We note that under the amended act, three Malaysians have since beenresentenced to life imprisonment," Low said.

Nearly 1,000 people are believed to be on death row in Malaysia, half for drug offences.

The Malaysian government does not release data on executions or the number of people on death row. The European Union estimates at least three people were executed in 2013 and two in 2014 in the country.

Given the repeated promises of the past few years, the Bar Council - which represents 12,000 lawyers in Malaysia and is at the forefront of the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty - is urging Malaysia to make clear its intentions.

"The first time we heard this announcement was in 2009," said Steven Thiru, president of the Bar Council. "We can't have promises repeatedly made. There are a great number of people on death row. It leaves too much uncertainty. There's a need to decide once and for all." 

Compassionate Communists

Source: The Economist (20 June 2015)

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21654643-party-allows-smidgen-penal-reform-compassionate-communists

ONE ordinary farmer, Nguyen Thanh Chan, is now a celebrity in Vietnam. In 2004 he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a woman in Nghia Trung, a village north-east of Hanoi, the capital. Yet he was released in 2013 after a neighbour, confronted with evidence, confessed to the crime. Earlier this month the country’s Supreme People’s Court announced that it would pay Mr Chan $360,000—many times what he would earn in a lifetime—as compensation for his nightmare.

The day after the announcement Mr Chan welcomed reporters to his one-storey farmhouse. He said that after his arrest police roughed him up and forced him to make a false confession. Had it not been for his wife’s long-shot campaign to clear his name, he might still be rotting in prison.

As in China, death-penalty statistics in Vietnam are state secrets. But Amnesty International, a rights group, says that at least three prisoners were executed last year and more than 700 face possible execution. Of the 72 who were sentenced to death in 2014 alone, four-fifths were found guilty of drug trafficking.Mr Chan’s case comes as the Vietnamese government attempts to reform the criminal-justice system. Proposed changes to the penal and criminal-procedure codes were discussed this week in the National Assembly, Vietnam’s tame parliament. In part, the Communist Party seems to be pursuing change as an easy way to curry favour with Western governments at a time when Vietnam faces heightened tensions with neighbouring China. Yet the reforms seem to be gathering a momentum of their own, including over capital punishment.

Now the assembly is debating whether to cut the number of crimes for which the death penalty applies to 15 from 22. Stealing and disobeying military orders would no longer be capital offences. Drug trafficking will remain one for now. Yet a Western diplomat in Hanoi who follows legal matters thinks that it, too, could go within a year. He adds that if that happened, Vietnam’s stance on capital punishment would instantly become among the most enlightened in South-East Asia. Only the Philippines has abolished it altogether.

Yet whatever the assembly decides, Vietnam’s criminal-justice system will remain deeply flawed. The criminal-procedure code permits harsh interrogation tactics, while the penal code is littered with clauses that criminalise, on grounds of national security, vaguely defined activities such as “conducting propaganda against the state”. In court, the judge is almost always a Communist Party member, while the two jurors who flank him typically have ties to the security state. Most prisoners who attempt to kick against the system are silenced. In one well-known example, Nguyen Van Ly, a Roman Catholic priest, accused the police and the court of practising the “law of the jungle”, whereupon a courtroom officer clamped a hand over his mouth. As for death row, inmates there are not told when their executions will take place, while questions swirl around how the executions are conducted. Four years ago the government gave up firing squads in favour of lethal injections. But because of a European Union ban on selling lethal-injection drugs, it switched to home-grown varieties. Doctors have been coerced into administering them.

But at least lawmakers are beginning to acknowledge irregularities in state prosecutors’ work. One controversial case they are reviewing concerns Ho Duy Hai, a man in the southern province of Long An who was convicted of murder in 2008. The evidence against him looks questionable. In December Vietnam’s president, Truong Tan Sang, suspended Mr Hai’s execution after behind-the-scenes pressure from Western diplomats.

Meanwhile, though the farmer, Nguyen Thanh Chan, still believes that the system broadly works, he wonders aloud if all crimes are being properly investigated. In his own case, the only reason the courts finally paid attention to his pleas of innocence was that his wife became an amateur gumshoe. After months of sleuthing, she showed up at the justice ministry, grabbed a bureaucrat by the collar and demanded the right to present reams of overlooked evidence. The ministry should give her a job.

Death penalty does not deter crime, says Malaysian Bar president

Source: The Rakyat Post (11 June 2015)

http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2015/06/11/death-penalty-does-not-deter-crime-says-malaysian-bar-president/

Malaysian Bar president Steven Thiru said there was no empirical evidence or data to confirm that death penalty served as an effective deterrent to preventing crimes.

"There has been no significant reduction in the crimes for which the death penalty is currently mandatory, particularly true of drug-related offences," he said.

Malaysia remains one of the 13 countries which imposes mandatory death penalty sentence for drug-related offences.

Pointing out that there is lack of official data of prisoners on death row to conclusively support that death penalty is working as a deterrent, Thiru warned it could well have the opposite effect where courts could choose to stop convicting persons because the penalty was too severe.

"Nevertheless, the Malaysian Bar's primary opposition to the death penalty is because life is sacred and every person has an inherent right to life.

"This is guaranteed under Article 5(1) of the Federal Constitution that eschews arbitrary deprivation of life.

"We take the view that the right to life is a fundamental right which must be absolute, inalienable and universal, irrespective of the crime committed by the accused person," he said during the opening of the first Asian Regional Congress On The Death Penalty at the Renaissance Hotel here this morning.

The two-day event is organised by French organisation Together Against Death Penalty (ECPM) and Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network under the sponsorship of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Also present were Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Paul Low and Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam.

Thiru pointed out that a public opinion survey in 2013 conducted by Malaysian Bar and the Death Penalty Project, a leading human rights organisation based in United Kingdom, revealed that mandatory death penalty for trafficking and firearms offences could be abolished without any public outcry in the country.

"As regard of the mandatory penalty death for murder, the majority favoured the exercise of discretion whether or not to sentence persons convicted of murder to death.

"As a whole the findings showed that the majority of public surveyed did not support mandatory death penalty, whether for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offences," he said.

Thiru further said that the reluctance to discard the death penalty might well be fuelled by the perception that a large portion of Malaysian society still felt that the sentence should remain as the convicted persons had indeed committed heinous crimes and found guilty by the legal process.

The campaign to abolish the death penalty, he said, was not to confer   licence to commit serious crimes with impunity.

"Persons convicted of serious crimes must receive the proportionate punishment but this does not mean that they, therefore, ought to die in the notion that 'an eye for an eye' provides the best form of justice."

Thiru urged the government to abolish the death penalty and, in the meantime, put in place an immediate moratorium on its use pending abolition, instead of merely making promises.

According to rights group Amnesty International, as of October 2012, death row in Malaysia held a population of 900 prisoners, with at least two reported executions last year.

Taiwan executes 6 death-row inmates

Source: AsiaOne Asia (6 June 2015)

http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/taiwan-executes-6-death-row-inmates

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) carried out six executions Friday evening in response to public outcry after the murder of an 8-year-old schoolgirl in Taipei one week ago. The inmates included Tsao Tien-shou, Wang Hsiu-fang, Cheng Chin-wen, Huang Chu-wang, Wang Chun-chin, and Wang Yu-long. A last-minute stay of execution motion filed by Huang was denied.
Yesterday's executions were carried out in locations in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The situation was similar to the ministry's reaction when a man slit the throat of a young boy in 2012. The MOJ responded to the public uproar within three weeks, carrying out six executions.
The number of executions in Taiwan has risen sharply after Justice Minister Luo Ying-shay assumed her post in 2013. In 2014, she approved five executions. Following yesterday's executions, 42 inmates remain on death row in prisons throughout Taiwan.
From 2006 to 2010, a 52-month moratorium on capital punishment existed as successive heads of the MOJ publicly supported the end of the death penalty in Taiwan.
Wang Ching-feng, the first justice minister appointed by President Ma Ying-jeou in 2008 and an advocate of ending the death penalty was forced to resign after social protests orchestrated by entertainer Pai Ping-ping, whose daughter was murdered in 1997, stirred public resentment.
Wang was forced to resign in 2010, with her successor continuing capital punishment one month into his term.
Ma Trying to Divert Public Attention: Anti-death Penalty Group
After the executions, Kuomintang Legislator Tsai Chin-lung remarked that "justice has been served." Civil organisations against the death penalty rebuked the government for its actions, with one organisation calling it "evil."
The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty published a statement Wednesday accusing the Ma administration of using the death penalty to divert attention from other issues.
The organisation accused Ma of "using the fresh blood of the executed as a sacrificial offering for popular support." For instance, it cited April 19, 2013 as an example, as six executions were carried out on the same day.
It was also the same day that former President Chen Shui-bian was transferred to Taichung Prison's Pei-de Hospital and the Legislative Yuan was deliberating whether a referendum should be held regarding the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
Capital punishment is widely supported by Taiwan's public, with opinion polls usually showing around 80-per cent support for the retention of the death penalty. In Asia, Taiwan joins China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam among others in retaining the death penalty.
- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/taiwan-executes-6-death-row-inmates#sthash.bYmG5LVk.dpuf

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) carried out six executions Friday evening in response to public outcry after the murder of an 8-year-old schoolgirl in Taipei one week ago. The inmates included Tsao Tien-shou, Wang Hsiu-fang, Cheng Chin-wen, Huang Chu-wang, Wang Chun-chin, and Wang Yu-long. A last-minute stay of execution motion filed by Huang was denied.

Yesterday's executions were carried out in locations in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The situation was similar to the ministry's reaction when a man slit the throat of a young boy in 2012. The MOJ responded to the public uproar within three weeks, carrying out six executions.

The number of executions in Taiwan has risen sharply after Justice Minister Luo Ying-shay assumed her post in 2013. In 2014, she approved five executions. Following yesterday's executions, 42 inmates remain on death row in prisons throughout Taiwan.

From 2006 to 2010, a 52-month moratorium on capital punishment existed as successive heads of the MOJ publicly supported the end of the death penalty in Taiwan. 

Wang Ching-feng, the first justice minister appointed by President Ma Ying-jeou in 2008 and an advocate of ending the death penalty was forced to resign after social protests orchestrated by entertainer Pai Ping-ping, whose daughter was murdered in 1997, stirred public resentment. 

Wang was forced to resign in 2010, with her successor continuing capital punishment one month into his term.

Ma Trying to Divert Public Attention: Anti-death Penalty Group 

After the executions, Kuomintang Legislator Tsai Chin-lung remarked that "justice has been served." Civil organisations against the death penalty rebuked the government for its actions, with one organisation calling it "evil."

The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty published a statement Wednesday accusing the Ma administration of using the death penalty to divert attention from other issues. 

The organisation accused Ma of "using the fresh blood of the executed as a sacrificial offering for popular support." For instance, it cited April 19, 2013 as an example, as six executions were carried out on the same day. 

It was also the same day that former President Chen Shui-bian was transferred to Taichung Prison's Pei-de Hospital and the Legislative Yuan was deliberating whether a referendum should be held regarding the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. 

Capital punishment is widely supported by Taiwan's public, with opinion polls usually showing around 80-per cent support for the retention of the death penalty. In Asia, Taiwan joins China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam among others in retaining the death penalty.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) carried out six executions Friday evening in response to public outcry after the murder of an 8-year-old schoolgirl in Taipei one week ago. The inmates included Tsao Tien-shou, Wang Hsiu-fang, Cheng Chin-wen, Huang Chu-wang, Wang Chun-chin, and Wang Yu-long. A last-minute stay of execution motion filed by Huang was denied.
Yesterday's executions were carried out in locations in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The situation was similar to the ministry's reaction when a man slit the throat of a young boy in 2012. The MOJ responded to the public uproar within three weeks, carrying out six executions.
- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/taiwan-executes-6-death-row-inmates#sthash.bYmG5LVk.dpuf

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) carried out six executions Friday evening in response to public outcry after the murder of an 8-year-old schoolgirl in Taipei one week ago. The inmates included Tsao Tien-shou, Wang Hsiu-fang, Cheng Chin-wen, Huang Chu-wang, Wang Chun-chin, and Wang Yu-long. A last-minute stay of execution motion filed by Huang was denied.
Yesterday's executions were carried out in locations in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The situation was similar to the ministry's reaction when a man slit the throat of a young boy in 2012. The MOJ responded to the public uproar within three weeks, carrying out six executions.
- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/taiwan-executes-6-death-row-inmates#sthash.bYmG5LVk.dpuf

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) carried out six executions Friday evening in response to public outcry after the murder of an 8-year-old schoolgirl in Taipei one week ago. The inmates included Tsao Tien-shou, Wang Hsiu-fang, Cheng Chin-wen, Huang Chu-wang, Wang Chun-chin, and Wang Yu-long. A last-minute stay of execution motion filed by Huang was denied.
Yesterday's executions were carried out in locations in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The situation was similar to the ministry's reaction when a man slit the throat of a young boy in 2012. The MOJ responded to the public uproar within three weeks, carrying out six executions.
The number of executions in Taiwan has risen sharply after Justice Minister Luo Ying-shay assumed her post in 2013. In 2014, she approved five executions. Following yesterday's executions, 42 inmates remain on death row in prisons throughout Taiwan.
From 2006 to 2010, a 52-month moratorium on capital punishment existed as successive heads of the MOJ publicly supported the end of the death penalty in Taiwan.
Wang Ching-feng, the first justice minister appointed by President Ma Ying-jeou in 2008 and an advocate of ending the death penalty was forced to resign after social protests orchestrated by entertainer Pai Ping-ping, whose daughter was murdered in 1997, stirred public resentment.
Wang was forced to resign in 2010, with her successor continuing capital punishment one month into his term.
Ma Trying to Divert Public Attention: Anti-death Penalty Group
After the executions, Kuomintang Legislator Tsai Chin-lung remarked that "justice has been served." Civil organisations against the death penalty rebuked the government for its actions, with one organisation calling it "evil."
The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty published a statement Wednesday accusing the Ma administration of using the death penalty to divert attention from other issues.
The organisation accused Ma of "using the fresh blood of the executed as a sacrificial offering for popular support." For instance, it cited April 19, 2013 as an example, as six executions were carried out on the same day.
It was also the same day that former President Chen Shui-bian was transferred to Taichung Prison's Pei-de Hospital and the Legislative Yuan was deliberating whether a referendum should be held regarding the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
Capital punishment is widely supported by Taiwan's public, with opinion polls usually showing around 80-per cent support for the retention of the death penalty. In Asia, Taiwan joins China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam among others in retaining the death penalty.
- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/taiwan-executes-6-death-row-inmates#sthash.bYmG5LVk.dpuf

The Death Penalty in Contemporary China (Book)

Author: Susan Trevaskes 

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Date published: June 2012

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/the-death-penalty-in-contemporary-china-susan-trevaskes/?K=9780230613546

Abstract:

China's infamous death penalty record is the product of firm party-state control and policy setting. Though during the 1980s and 1990s, the Chinese Communist Party's emphasis was on "kill many," whereas in the 2000s the direction of policy began to move toward "kill fewer". The Supreme Court has served as an increasingly powerful counterweight in recent years, contributing to the mollification of Party policy. This book details the policies, institutions, and story behind the reform of the death penalty over the last three decades.