Source: Radio Free Asia (27 January 2022)
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/deaths-01272022181610.html
Myanmar’s junta has condemned more than 100 people to death in the Yangon region alone since it seized power a year ago.
None of the people sentenced were given the right to defend themselves. Of the 101 people documented by RFA’s Myanmar Service, 50 were convicted in secretive military tribunals where they were denied access to legal representation, while the rest were sentenced in absentia.
Those convicted hailed mostly from the Yangon townships of North Okkalapa, South Dagon, North Dagon, Hlaingtharyar, Dagon Port and Shwepyithar, where martial law has been in place amid resistance to military rule.
Two of the more well-known prisoners facing the death penalty are Phyo Zeyar Thaw, a lawmaker with the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) party, and activist Ko Jimmy, a leader of the 88 Generation Student group. Both were sentenced for violating the country’s Anti-Terrorism Law, according to a Jan. 21 announcement by the junta.
Bo Bo Oo, a former NLD lawmaker from Yangon’s Dallah township, told RFA that not only were the two men sentenced without legal representation, but photos suggested they were tortured during interrogation.
“We could say they are two of the worst cases of arbitrary arrests and torture of civilians in the country since the coup,” he said.
“Both were given maximum sentences. By closely looking at the pictures [released by the junta] of the two, we could surmise they had been severely tortured during interrogation. Arresting and torturing people anytime, anywhere, is a threat to civilization.
Bo Bo Oo said the junta is cracking down on those who oppose it and sending a message to imposing maximum penalties including death.
Ko Jimmy’s wife, Nila Thein, who is also a well-known 88 Generation Student, told RFA that she would not negotiate with the junta over her husband’s sentence and would continue to fight for democracy.
A high court lawyer in Yangon, who spoke on condition of anonymity, criticized the military council for terrifying the public with the threat of executions.
“Their judiciary has no justice and no independence. So, I’m not going to say their verdicts are right,” he said. “There have been no executions since the [last] military takeover in 1988. The junta is trying to intimidate the population.”
‘Serious rights violations’
Aung Myo Min, human rights minister for the country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), called the death sentences “serious human rights violations.”
“[The death penalty] is a legal procedure that must be approved by the president and the present sentences are not even in accordance with the laws of the country,” he said.
“They are arresting anyone they like and then handing out death sentences, and these are very serious [violations of Myanmar’s laws].”
NUG Minister for Defense Naing Htoo Aung called the junta’s death sentences “unacceptable.”
“The people of Myanmar and the entire world understand the true situation,” he said. “The entire [legal] process is unfair.”
Attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun went unanswered Thursday.
Since orchestrating a coup on Feb. 1 last year, security forces have arrested nearly 8,800 civilians and killed close to 1,500 — mostly during nonviolent protests of junta rule, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association of Political Prisoners.
Earlier this week, the Swedish Embassy in Yangon issued a statement calling for the abolishment of the death penalty in Myanmar and the unconditional release of all political prisoners.
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Sunday 30 January 2022
Sunday 16 January 2022
'Thou shall not kill': Death penalty to be abolished in Papua New Guinea
Source: SBS News (12 January 2022)
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/thou-shall-not-kill-death-penalty-to-be-abolished-in-papua-new-guinea/0efdc0db-6d4f-4a73-8cde-fe242591bbab?s=03
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says his government is doing away with the death penalty and those now on death row will instead serve life sentences without parole.
Mr Marape told members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church holding their 33rd synod in Port Moresby that PNG was a Christian nation and the death penalty was out of place.
"The Bible says thou shall not kill and the government has removed, by policy, the clause on the death penalty," PNG newspaper The National on Wednesday quoted him as saying.
"We are working on giving the maximum penalty to those who commit an offence and are sentenced to death.
"They will now receive life sentences without the possibility of parole," Mr Marape said.
Justice Minister Bryan Kramer last year said the death penalty would be reviewed.
Correctional Services Commissioner Stephen Pokanis told The National that 14 inmates in Bomana Prison in Port Moresby were on death row, while other prisons around the country also have death row inmates.
No executions have been carried out in PNG since 1954.
The death penalty was abolished in 1970 when PNG was under Australian administration ahead of independence in 1975 but it was reintroduced by the PNG government in 1991 for the crime of wilful murder.
Since then there has been a de facto moratorium on capital punishment.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/thou-shall-not-kill-death-penalty-to-be-abolished-in-papua-new-guinea/0efdc0db-6d4f-4a73-8cde-fe242591bbab?s=03
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says his government is doing away with the death penalty and those now on death row will instead serve life sentences without parole.
Mr Marape told members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church holding their 33rd synod in Port Moresby that PNG was a Christian nation and the death penalty was out of place.
"The Bible says thou shall not kill and the government has removed, by policy, the clause on the death penalty," PNG newspaper The National on Wednesday quoted him as saying.
"We are working on giving the maximum penalty to those who commit an offence and are sentenced to death.
"They will now receive life sentences without the possibility of parole," Mr Marape said.
Justice Minister Bryan Kramer last year said the death penalty would be reviewed.
Correctional Services Commissioner Stephen Pokanis told The National that 14 inmates in Bomana Prison in Port Moresby were on death row, while other prisons around the country also have death row inmates.
No executions have been carried out in PNG since 1954.
The death penalty was abolished in 1970 when PNG was under Australian administration ahead of independence in 1975 but it was reintroduced by the PNG government in 1991 for the crime of wilful murder.
Since then there has been a de facto moratorium on capital punishment.
Saturday 8 January 2022
Asia regional rights bastion Taiwan clings to capital punishment
Source: France 24 (4 January 2022)
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220104-asia-regional-rights-bastion-taiwan-clings-to-capital-punishment
Taipei (AFP) – Taiwan's claim to be a regional bastion of human rights is undermined by its retention of capital punishment, activists say as they campaign to exonerate the island's oldest death row prisoner.
Wang Xin-fu is among 38 inmates in Taiwan awaiting execution, which is carried out by gunshot and without advance notice once all appeals are exhausted.
At 69, Wang is Taiwan's most elderly prisoner on death row and has consistently maintained his innocence.
Rights groups led by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) have launched a campaign to exonerate Wang, arguing he was wrongfully convicted as a joint offender for the murder of a policeman in 1990.
Wang had been detained in his youth and classified by Taiwan's then authoritarian government as a "thug".
He was sentenced to death for supplying a gun to a "lackey" and ordering him to shoot the victim, based on testimonies from the shooter and witnesses.
But activists claim there are "obvious flaws" in the conviction, from inconsistent testimony, allegations of police torture against a witness, a lack of motive and no fingerprints.
"He is a so-called 'bad guy' but bad guys also have rights. He should not be sentenced for a crime that's not his doing," said Lin Hsin-yi, executive director of TAEDP.
Wang fled to mainland China after learning he was wanted and was only arrested in 2006 upon returning to Taiwan for treatment of an eye ailment.
He was convicted and the supreme court upheld his death sentence in a final ruling in 2011.
Last chance
In November activists appealed to the Control Yuan, Taiwan's top government watchdog, after the office of the top prosecutor rejected their request to file a "special appeal" for Wang -- one of the only ways to challenge a final conviction.
That tactic has previously worked.
In 2018, the Control Yuan recommended the prosecutor-general file a special appeal for death row prisoner Hsieh Chih-hung, who had been jailed for 19 years for murder. That eventually led to his acquittal.
Campaigners point to lengthy death penalty cases in which people were eventually exonerated as evidence of flaws with capital punishment Sam Yeh AFP
Now a free man, Hsieh campaigns for abolishing the death penalty, saying his and other exonerations show the capital punishment system is fallible.
Campaigners point to one of Taiwan's most disputed and lengthy cases, when a court in 2012 quashed the convictions of three men sentenced to death over the murder of a couple two decades ago, after they had undergone a string of trials and retrials.
Another high-profile case came the year before when a military court declared that an air force private executed 14 years previously for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl was innocent.
"The government thinks carrying out executions is the will of the people but does that really solve the problems?" Hsieh told AFP.
Another death row prisoner that activists campaign for is Chiou Ho-shun, who has been incarcerated for more than three decades.
Popular support
Capital punishment remains popular in Taiwan.
Despite its frequent use against dissidents during decades of martial law, most polls show Taiwanese still support the death penalty even as the island has become one of the most progressive democracies in Asia.
Some 35 prisoners have been put to death since 2010 when Taiwan resumed executions after a four-year hiatus, including two since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016.
Activists have criticised Tsai's government -- which has embraced progressive issues such as gay marriage -- for continuing with the executions.
Tsai has called abolishing capital punishment "a difficult issue to deal with" due to the lack of support from the public that would require "a long process, a long time" to change.
The justice ministry said it restarted a taskforce in 2017 aimed at facilitating gradual abolition and has been studying alternatives while trying to build a public consensus.
"Abolishing the death penalty is an international trend in recent years and it's the long-term direction our country has been working on," the ministry said in a statement to AFP.
Opponents want a moratorium on executions and a timeline for complete abolition.
"If people know there are alternatives they won't necessarily support the death penalty, especially if they are aware of wrongful convictions," activist Lin said.
One alternative is lifetime incarceration on condition that the convict work in prison with part of their wages going to the victims' families as compensation, she added.
All Wang's family can do is wait.
His sister Wen Mei-hui, 60, said she is hopeful her brother will be reunited with her as a free man.
"I am convinced he's innocent," she told AFP. "I hope the authorities will let my brother go home."
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220104-asia-regional-rights-bastion-taiwan-clings-to-capital-punishment
Taipei (AFP) – Taiwan's claim to be a regional bastion of human rights is undermined by its retention of capital punishment, activists say as they campaign to exonerate the island's oldest death row prisoner.
Wang Xin-fu is among 38 inmates in Taiwan awaiting execution, which is carried out by gunshot and without advance notice once all appeals are exhausted.
At 69, Wang is Taiwan's most elderly prisoner on death row and has consistently maintained his innocence.
Rights groups led by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) have launched a campaign to exonerate Wang, arguing he was wrongfully convicted as a joint offender for the murder of a policeman in 1990.
Wang had been detained in his youth and classified by Taiwan's then authoritarian government as a "thug".
He was sentenced to death for supplying a gun to a "lackey" and ordering him to shoot the victim, based on testimonies from the shooter and witnesses.
But activists claim there are "obvious flaws" in the conviction, from inconsistent testimony, allegations of police torture against a witness, a lack of motive and no fingerprints.
"He is a so-called 'bad guy' but bad guys also have rights. He should not be sentenced for a crime that's not his doing," said Lin Hsin-yi, executive director of TAEDP.
Wang fled to mainland China after learning he was wanted and was only arrested in 2006 upon returning to Taiwan for treatment of an eye ailment.
He was convicted and the supreme court upheld his death sentence in a final ruling in 2011.
Last chance
In November activists appealed to the Control Yuan, Taiwan's top government watchdog, after the office of the top prosecutor rejected their request to file a "special appeal" for Wang -- one of the only ways to challenge a final conviction.
That tactic has previously worked.
In 2018, the Control Yuan recommended the prosecutor-general file a special appeal for death row prisoner Hsieh Chih-hung, who had been jailed for 19 years for murder. That eventually led to his acquittal.
Campaigners point to lengthy death penalty cases in which people were eventually exonerated as evidence of flaws with capital punishment Sam Yeh AFPNow a free man, Hsieh campaigns for abolishing the death penalty, saying his and other exonerations show the capital punishment system is fallible.
Campaigners point to one of Taiwan's most disputed and lengthy cases, when a court in 2012 quashed the convictions of three men sentenced to death over the murder of a couple two decades ago, after they had undergone a string of trials and retrials.
Another high-profile case came the year before when a military court declared that an air force private executed 14 years previously for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl was innocent.
"The government thinks carrying out executions is the will of the people but does that really solve the problems?" Hsieh told AFP.
Another death row prisoner that activists campaign for is Chiou Ho-shun, who has been incarcerated for more than three decades.
Popular support
Capital punishment remains popular in Taiwan.
Despite its frequent use against dissidents during decades of martial law, most polls show Taiwanese still support the death penalty even as the island has become one of the most progressive democracies in Asia.
Some 35 prisoners have been put to death since 2010 when Taiwan resumed executions after a four-year hiatus, including two since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016.
Activists have criticised Tsai's government -- which has embraced progressive issues such as gay marriage -- for continuing with the executions.
Tsai has called abolishing capital punishment "a difficult issue to deal with" due to the lack of support from the public that would require "a long process, a long time" to change.
The justice ministry said it restarted a taskforce in 2017 aimed at facilitating gradual abolition and has been studying alternatives while trying to build a public consensus.
"Abolishing the death penalty is an international trend in recent years and it's the long-term direction our country has been working on," the ministry said in a statement to AFP.
Opponents want a moratorium on executions and a timeline for complete abolition.
"If people know there are alternatives they won't necessarily support the death penalty, especially if they are aware of wrongful convictions," activist Lin said.
One alternative is lifetime incarceration on condition that the convict work in prison with part of their wages going to the victims' families as compensation, she added.
All Wang's family can do is wait.
His sister Wen Mei-hui, 60, said she is hopeful her brother will be reunited with her as a free man.
"I am convinced he's innocent," she told AFP. "I hope the authorities will let my brother go home."
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