A little light administrative duty for Sri Lanka's new hangmen

Source: Straits Times (14 October 2015)

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/a-little-light-administrative-duty-for-sri-lankas-new-hangmen

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka said on Wednesday (Oct 14) it has hired two new executioners to replace the previous hangman, who quit soon after seeing the gallows for the first time, even though capital punishment has not been carried out there for almost 40 years.

No one has been executed in the tropical South Asian nation since 1976 and the role of executioner is described as "light administrative work only", even though there are 1,116 convicts on death row.

"It doesn't matter whether the government wants to execute or not," said Prisons Commissioner General Rohana Pushpakumara. "In the event the government wants to carry out executions, we should be prepared," he told Reuters.

Death sentences have been routinely commuted to life in jail since 1976, even though Sri Lanka only officially acknowledged last month it was no longer carrying out capital punishment.

More than half of those who are on death row have lodged appeals against their sentences, Pushpakumara said.

The predominantly Buddhist Indian Ocean nation has witnessed a sharp rise in child abuse, rape, murder and drug trafficking since the end of a 26-year civil war with Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009, political analysts have said.

That has prompted some lawyers and politicians to call for the reinstatement of the death penalty.

The position of executioner fell vacant in March 2014 when the previous hangman quit weeks after he was hired, citing stress, soon after he saw the gallows in the capital, Colombo, for the first time.

Two other hangmen hired in 2013 failed to show up for work.

Indonesia: Report reveals endemic judicial flaws in death penalty cases

Source: Amnesty International (15 October 2015)

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/10/indonesia-report-reveals-endemic-judicial-flaws-in-death-penalty-cases/

Death row prisoners in Indonesia are routinely denied access to lawyers and are coerced into “confessions” through severe beatings, while foreign nationals facing the death penalty had to deal with a judicial system they hardly understand, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

Flawed Justice exposes how the government under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has made a mockery of international law by carrying out 14 executions since taking office, while the lives of scores more prisoners now on death row could be at risk.

“Indonesia’s callous U-turn on executions has already led to the death of 14 people, despite clear evidence of flagrant fair trial violations. The government might claim to be following international law to the letter, but our investigation shows the reality on the ground is very different with endemic flaws in the justice system,” said Josef Benedict, Amnesty International’s South East Asia Campaigns Director.

“The death penalty is always a human rights violation, but the numerous and serious issues with regards to how it is being applied in Indonesia makes its use all the more tragic. Authorities must end this senseless killing once and for all and immediately review all death penalty cases with a view to their commutation.”

Despite strong signs that Indonesia had moved away from the death penalty in recent years, the government of President Widodo - which took office in October 2014 - has scaled up executions significantly.

Of the 14 people who have been sent before the firing squad in 2015, 12 were foreigners and all were convicted on drugs charges. The government has vowed to use the death penalty to tackle a national “drugs emergency”, despite there being no evidence that the threat of execution can work as more of a deterrent to crime than a prison sentence. President Widodo has also said he will reject all clemency petitions of death row prisoners on drug charges.

Amnesty International’s investigation into 12 individual death row cases reveals emblematic flaws in the Indonesian justice system, which raises serious questions about the country’s use of the death penalty.

Forced confession

In half of the cases, death row prisoners claimed that they had been coerced into “confessing” to their crimes, including through severe beatings at the hands of police officers in detention. Many claim to have been tortured or ill-treated, yet Indonesian authorities have never followed up to investigate these allegations.

A Pakistani national, Zulfiqar Ali. claims that police kept him in a house for three days after his arrest, where he was kicked, punched and threatened with death until he eventually signed a “confession”. The beating left him in such a bad state that he had to go through kidney and stomach surgery.

Despite Zulfiqar Ali detailing the torture he had endured during his trial, the judge allowed his “confession” to be used as evidence and there was no independent investigation conducted into his allegations.

The findings in Flawed Justice echo those of other national and international human rights organizations, who have found evidence of systematic and widespread torture or other ill-treatment by the Indonesian police with impunity.

Denied access to lawyer

Indonesian death row prisoners are routinely denied access to lawyers, despite this right being guaranteed in both Indonesian and international law.

Many of the prisoners mentioned in the report and charged with capital crimes are forced to wait several weeks or even months before seeing a lawyer, seriously undermining their ability to make their case in court.

There are also serious doubts about the quality of legal representation afforded to those facing drugs charges. In one recent case, the only advice a defendant received from his lawyer was to answer “Yes” to any questions from the investigator. In another case a death sentence was handed down due to a request by defendant’s own lawyer to the judges.

In none of the 12 cases examined in Flawed Justice were prisoners brought before a judge immediately after arrest as required by international law and standards – most had to wait several months before this happened.

Foreign nationals

Twelve out of the 14 people executed in Indonesian in 2015 were foreign nationals, and at least 35 other foreigners are currently on death row in the country.

But Amnesty International’s findings show that in numerous instances Indonesia violates the rights of foreign death row prisoners by denying them interpretation during or before trial, making them sign documents in a language they don’t understand, or refusing access to consular services.

Additionally in 2015, Indonesia put to death one man suffering from a severe mental disability in violation of international law. Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Recommendations

Given the serious flaws in Indonesia’s justice system, Amnesty International urges authorities to immediately establish an independent body to review all cases where people have been sentenced to death, with a view to commuting the death sentences.

Indonesia must also reform its Criminal Code to match international standards and ensure that all prisoners’ right to a fair trial is respected.

“President Joko Widodo has promised to improve human rights in Indonesia, but putting more than a dozen people before a firing squad shows how hollow these commitments are,” said Josef Benedict.

“Indonesia should set an example on human rights regionally. It is time to take this responsibility seriously - a first step must be to impose a moratorium on executions.”

Background

Twenty-seven people were executed between 1999 and 2014, under Indonesia's first four democratic-era presidents. No executions were carried out between 2009 and 2012.

According to figures obtained from the Law and Human Rights Ministry on 30 April 2015, there were at least 121 people death row. These include 54 people convicted of drug-related crimes, two convicted on terrorism charges and 65 convicted of murder.

As of today, 140 countries are abolitionist in law or practice. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases and under any circumstances, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The organization considers the death penalty a violation of the right to life as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Death row inmates treated cruelly: AI

Source: The Jakarta Post (16 October 2015)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/10/16/death-row-inmates-treated-cruelly-ai.html

Prior to being executed, death row inmates in Indonesia often receive inhumane treatment as they are routinely denied access to lawyers and are coerced into "confessions" through severe beatings, a new report by Amnesty International has found. 

The report, launched on Thursday in Jakarta, painted a disturbing picture of what death row convicts go through before being executed as the government has scaled up executions significantly.

"It is not a report we wanted to issue but developments in Indonesia this year forced our hand. President Joko ["Jokowi"] Widodo took office on the back of promises to prioritize human rights. But what we have seen is the government taking a hugely regressive step back on the death penalty," said Amnesty International Southeast Asia campaigns director Josef Benedict.

Benedict said the Indonesian government had made a mockery of international law by carrying out 14 executions since Jokowi took office.

"The death penalty is always a human rights violation, but the numerous and serious issues with regard to how it is being applied in Indonesia makes its use all the more tragic," Benedict said. 

The report looked into 12 individual death-row cases (out of a total of 131 as of December 2014).

"In half of the cases, prisoners claimed that they had been, in some form or another, forced into signing so-called confessions by the authorities while in detention. These often involve violence and claims of torture," said Benedict. 

However, the Indonesian authorities have never followed up or investigated these allegations, according to him. "For example, a Pakistani national, who was highlighted in the report, claimed he was badly beaten by police for three days straight, until he was forced to confess. He had to go through stomach and kidney surgery after the beating," he said. 

Despite this his confession was used in court and his claims of torture were never investigated. 

"In some cases, prisoners have been denied access to lawyers, some for a few days, others for several months. Even when provided with lawyers, there is serious doubt about the quality [of the lawyers provided]. In one extreme case, one defense lawyer even argued for the death penalty to be imposed on his client, even though the prosecution was calling for life imprisonment," said Benedict. 

He was referring to the case of Yusman Telaumbanua from Riau, who was arrested together with another man in 2012 for the murder of three men. Based on their lawyers' request, the North Nias district court in North Sumatra eventually sentenced them to death.

Yusman did not appeal the sentence as he was not told by his lawyer that he had the right to do so. 

Many of the prisoners mentioned in the report and charged with capital crimes have also been forced to wait several weeks or even months before seeing a lawyer, seriously undermining their ability to make their case in court.

Amnesty International's findings show that in numerous instances Indonesia has violated the rights of foreign death-row prisoners by denying them access to interpreters during or before trial, leading to them sign documents in a language they did not understand, or being refused access to consular services.

"For instance there is Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte. When he was arrested in 2005, he could only speak limited English. He only speaks Portuguese. Therefore, his interpreter was not capable of making Rodrigo understand the questions asked of him," Gularte's lawyer, Putri Kanesia, said on Thursday. 

Furthermore, the court decided to ignore the fact that Rodrigo had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which under international law should have spared him from the death penalty. Rodrigo, along with seven other convicts, was executed by a firing squad on Nusakambangan prison island near Cilacap in Central Java in April this year. 

Despite more than 100 people still on death row, the Attorney General's Office (AGO), in charge of putting people to death, has shown no signs of preparing for a new round of executions. 

"We hope that there is some rethinking going on in the government," Benedict said. 

UN experts slam execution of minors in Iran

Source: France24.com (16 October 2015)

http://www.france24.com/en/20151016-un-execution-iran-death-penalty-minors-united-nations

United Nations human rights experts expressed "outrage and profound sadness" Friday at Iran's execution of two juvenile offenders, urging the country to "stop killing children."

Fatemeh Salbehi was hanged on Tuesday after being found guilty for killing a man she had been forced to marry when she was just 16, becoming the 11th woman to be executed in Iran this year, along with around 700 men.

The UN experts pointed to reported flaws in her trial and appeals process, and warned her execution was a clear breach of international law banning condemning juvenile offenders to death.

They also decried the execution a week earlier of Samad Zahabi, who was sentenced to death in March 2013 for killing a fellow shepherd when he was just 17.

"No notice was provided to Mr. Zahabi's family, nor was the required 48-hour notice provided to his lawyer," the experts said in a statement.

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN's top expert on the rights situation in Iran, said the two executions were "disturbing examples of surging execution rates and questionable fair trial standards in the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The UN expert on summary executions, Christof Heyns, meanwhile slammed the executions as "unlawful killings committed by the State, the equivalent of murders performed by individuals."

"These are profound tragedies that demean the value of human life and sully the reputation of the country," he said, pointing out that "executing a juvenile offender, especially after a questionable trial, directly contravenes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child." "Iran must immediately stop killing children," he insisted.

Dubravka Simonovic, the expert UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, highlighted the court's lack of consideration for the circumstances surrounding Salbehi's crime, which she said were "emblematic of the struggles victims of domestic abuse face in the judicial system."

"We cannot ignore the serious consequences of psychological, sexual and physical violence in the home on a woman's physical and psychological health," she said.

Highlighting Salbehi's young age at the time of her marriage and her lack of consent, Simonovic voiced concern over the high numbers of early and forced marriages in Iran.

The three experts called on Tehran to immediately establish a moratorium on executions and work towards abolishing the death penalty all together.

The Final Firing Squad in Southeast Asia

Source: Ozy.com (2 October 2015)

http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/the-final-firing-squad-in-southeast-asia/64881

In her seven years as an anti-death penalty activist, Rachel Zeng had never seen a judge sentence a prisoner to death, and when it finally happened, last April in Singapore, she felt like her heart might break. "You shall be hanged by the neck until you are dead," the judge told the 26-year-old murder convict. Zeng couldn't sleep for days, seeing the "noose already halfway on his neck."

It might sound like business as usual in Southeast Asia, a region with a sorry track record in human rights, and Zeng might come off as a quixotic figure, trying to dismantle the gallows in a country that still bans chewing gum. But it turns out, perhaps surprisingly, that the tiny Asian tigers are now strong contenders in quashing the eye-for-an-eye doctrine for good. Over the past decade, Cambodia, East Timor and the Philippines have all scrapped their firing squads from their statutes. Brunei, Myanmar and Laos have discarded their electric chairs and are de facto abolitionists — no known executions have occurred in those countries for more than two decades. Thailand has an unofficial moratorium in place and hasn't carried out an execution since 2009. All told, just 119 people have been executed across Southeast Asia over the past eight years, according to an OZY analysis of data from Cornell Law School, compared to hundreds more in previous decades.

Now, only Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia remain the last battlegrounds in nixing the death penalty altogether in the region — and already, abolitionists have made inroads. In particular, the tide is turning in Vietnam, where, last month, lawmakers cut back on handing out death penalty sentences for several offenses, including robbery and war crimes, and the longtime practice of death by firing squad was switched to the "more humane" lethal injection method. Singapore and Malaysia have also adopted reductionist policies to shrink their number of executions, especially for drug trafficking. All of this is "unexpectedly promising" for the region as a whole, says Andrew Novak, an adjunct professor of criminology, law, and society at George Mason University. The justice ministries in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia did not respond to OZY's requests for interviews or comment.

The trend is not without its detractors, of course. There remains strong support for capital punishment in the region, including for crimes other than murder. Last year, a director of the Vietnam Development Bank was sentenced to death for approving counterfeit loans. The maximum punishment for drug possession in Malaysia is death, as inbound passengers are helpfully reminded on their descent into Kuala Lumpur. And the ravages that drug trafficking, a $16.3 billion business, has inflicted on families throughout the Golden Triangle have buttressed support for the death penalty. "My cousin died for nothing, for a bag of yaba [methamphetamines], for addicts who'll never know the consequences of their addiction," says Terrapon H., a Bangkok university student who says his cousin died in a drive-by shooting. He requested his last name be withheld.

Yet a global shift away from capital punishment has made a regional impression, says Matilda Bogner from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Bangkok. According to Amnesty International, 2014 saw 22 percent fewer executions than 2013, and more than half of all countries have abolished the death penalty. And back in April, Indonesia's eight high-profile executions put Southeast Asia back on the radar for anti-death penalty advocates and human rights lawyers worldwide. So despite hard-liner Jakarta, the abolitionist movement didn't fail. Rather, it "reenergized" and "inflamed" the campaign, says Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.

However, some activists say they still have a long trail ahead. Indonesia and Singapore are especially hard nuts to crack, says Priscilla Chia, the 23-year-old director of youth-led Second Chances in Southeast Asia. There's a "lacuna of information available" from these countries about the legal process, the application of the death sentence and the exact means in which the execution is carried out. In Singapore, she explains, the only people allowed at each execution are the warden, the executioner and the doctor. Who knows what goes on behind those closed curtains?

Justice denied: Japanese prisoner dies after 46 years on death row

Source: Amnesty International (4 October 2015)

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/10/japan-prisoner-dies-after-46-years-on-death-row/

The death in prison of a Japanese man who spent more than 46 years facing execution, after a conviction based on a forced "confession", underlines the urgent need for a review of all similar cases, Amnesty International said today.

Okunishi Masaru passed away at Hachioji Medical Prison on Sunday, aged 89. He maintained his innocence and was determined to seek a retrial. Eight previous requests for a retrial were rejected. He was moved to the medical prison from Nagoya Detention Centre in 2012 after his health deteriorated.

"Okunishi Masaru may not have gone to the gallows, but Japan's justice system totally failed him. It is outrageous he was denied the retrial his case unquestionably merited and instead was left to languish on death row for more than 46 years," said Hiroka Shoji, East Asia Researcher at Amnesty International.

"It is too late for Okunishi Masaru but others remain on death row convicted primarily on the basis of forced "confessions". The Japanese authorities must urgently review their cases to ensure that time does not run out for them to see justice."

Okunishi Masaru had been on death row since 1969, after being convicted of the murders of five women. He "confessed" to the crime after being interrogated by police for many hours over five days and with no lawyer present.

During his first trial he retracted his "confession" and was acquitted due to lack of evidence. However, a higher court reversed the verdict and sentenced him to death.

For more than four decades, he lived in constant fear that each day could be his last. Death row inmates in Japan are only informed hours ahead of their execution, which takes place in secret. Like most prisoners facing execution, he spent nearly all his time locked up in solitary confinement.

One of the most pressing cases that demands a retrial is that of Hakamada Iwao, 79, who also spent more than four decades on death row. In March 2014, a court ordered his immediate release and a retrial. However, prosecutors immediately appealed the court decision to grant a retrial and a decision is pending.

"Prosecutors should allow Hakamada's retrial to proceed before it is too late. By further delaying his quest for justice, prosecutors are only adding to the decades of psychological torture Hakamada and his family have endured," said Hiroka Shoji.

Following an unfair trial, Hakamada was convicted of the murder of his boss, his boss's wife and their two children. Hakamada "confessed" after 20 days of interrogation by police. He retracted the "confession" during the trial and told the court that the police had beaten and threatened him.

According to Hakamada' s lawyers, recent forensic tests results show no match between Hakamada's DNA and samples taken from clothing the prosecution alleges were worn by the murderer. One of the three judges who convicted Hakamada in 1966 has publicly stated he believes him to be innocent.

Hakamada developed a mental disability as a result of the decades he has spent in isolation.

The Japanese justice system continues to rely heavily on "confessions" obtained through torture or other ill-treatment. There are no clear limits on the length of interrogations, which are not fully recorded and which lawyers are not permitted to attend.

Twelve people have been executed since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012. The number of death row inmates, at 128, is at one of the highest levels in Japan in over half a century. Amnesty International has called on the Japanese government to introduce a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty, and for reforms of Japan's justice system in line with international standards.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime, guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The death penalty violates the right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

China prisoners on death row to get free legal aid

Source: Asia One (16 September 2015)

http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/china-prisoners-death-row-get-free-legal-aid

Convicted criminals on death row will be entitled to free legal representation under a new rule drafted by the Ministry of Justice, a ministry source told China Daily.

The ministry will assign lawyers to condemned prisoners who cannot afford one during the review of their sentences to ensure equal access to justice, according to the source.

The source said officials from the ministry and the high court are "finalizing some detailed implementation measures and the rule will be released in the next few months".

The source asked not to be identified because she was not authorised to discuss the draft plan with the media.

Under Chinese law, all death sentences must be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court before defendants can be executed. Currently, defendants who cannot afford to hire lawyers are not guaranteed representation during a death penalty review.

Che Xingyi, a lawyer at Beijing's Yingke Law Firm, which specializes in representing clients in death penalty cases, said the top court conducts reviews based on files from local courts and lawyers' previous defence statements.

This method has limitations and is not sufficient to ensure justice, Che said.

It is "more than necessary" to offer legal aid during a review of a death sentence, he said. "If the lawyers discover flaws in sentencing criteria or new evidence, they will fully defend the suspects and communicate with the judges quickly to stop imminent execution."

China does not reveal the number of prisoners on death row.

However, last year, Chinese lawyers provided free legal aid to nearly 40,000 suspects facing life imprisonment or the death penalty, a year-on-year increase of 7 per cent, according to the ministry.

The new rule follows a recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, which stressed the importance of legal aid and was attended by the country's top leaders.

Paul Dalton, team leader for the China-EU Access to Justice Program, which was created to strengthen equality of justice in China especially among disadvantaged groups, recommended that Chinese judicial authorities be cautious when imposing the death penalty.

The top court would better protect prisoners' rights by holding public hearings during a death penalty review, Dalton said.

This would enable judges to listen to defence arguments by defendants and their lawyers instead of just reading the files.

Death Penalty or Right To Life?

Source: The Sunday Leader (27 September 2015)

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2015/09/27/death-penalty-or-right-to-life/

With the increasing number of murders, sexual offences and drug smuggling in the nation, President Maithripala Sirisena recently spoke of re-introducing the capital punishment with the approval of parliament in a bid to eradicate these crimes.

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said the government was willing to implement the death penalty if it was necessary to avert the increasing trend in serious crimes in the nation and stressed the need to expedite investigations and punish offenders.

"We will try our best to prevent the increasing trend in crime and we will take steps to combat it also by implementing capital punishment," he said.

At present, there are over 1,115 inmates sentenced to death for murders and drugs smuggling detained at the Bogambara, Mahara and Welikada Prisons in Sri Lanka. The Department of Prisons confirmed that the prisoner who was sentenced to death recently was imprisoned about a month back.

He also said that most of the prisoners who were sentenced to death were murderers, adding that there are 40,000 high court cases, and therefore it is hard to keep a count on how many of them are given death sentences as sometimes it seems that almost every day the judges around the country give the verdict of death for serious crimes if the suspect is proven guilty with strong evidence. There was one even last week, he added.

However, the oldest inmate who was sentenced to death due to the commitment of murder is 84-year-old while the first prisoner on the death row has been there for the last 18 years since 1997, with the government spending Rs. 300 every day including food and clothing for the inmates.

However, the expenses of water and electricity used by them were not included in the said Rs. 300, claimed the Commissioner of Prisons (Operations) H. M. N. C.  Dhanasinghe.

There are around 600 inmates on whom the re-appealing of the cases has been cancelled due to the nature of their crimes and 400 prisoners have re-appealed against their verdicts. In the meantime, the hearings of the re-appealed cases in courts are pending and the final verdict will decide on whether to reduce the period of life in prison or to cancel the appeal depending on the judge's decision.

Commissioner of Prisons (Operations) confirmed that approximately five female and over 1,000 male inmates were sentenced to death in Sri Lanka, adding that the department awaits the President's decision to carry out the executions.

If an individual is arrested with more than four grams of drugs in his or her possession and if proven guilty, that person will be sentenced to death depending on the strong evidences.

Meanwhile, the department had already received around 15 applications for the post of hangman and the interviews of the applications will be held within three weeks.

However, responding to the questions by The Sunday Leader, the Commissioner of Prisons said that the death penalty does not apply to the criminals who commit sexual offences unless they commit murder following the abuse, but will be sentenced for 10-20 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the Director for Human Rights Watch's South Asia Meenakshi Ganguly said, "Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty because it is inherently inhumane," adding that the death sentence as a punishment should be totally abolished.

She went on to say that Sri Lanka should not engage in what might appear to be a populist idea in the country. "Surely, the government knows that there is no clear evidence that the capital punishment serves as an effective deterrence for serious crimes. Therefore the criminal justice system should be strengthened which will be more effective to prevent serious crimes in the country," she said.

She further noted that the death penalty is incompatible with human rights and human dignity.

The death penalty violates the right to life which happens to be the most basic of all human rights. It also violates the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, the death penalty emasculates human dignity which is natural to every human being.

In the meantime, many human rights activists claim that there is a risk of executing innocent people in the justice system. There have been several, and always will be, cases of executions of innocent people. "Even we have experienced one in the recent past. No matter how developed a justice system is, it will always remain vulnerable to human failure. Unlike prison sentences, the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable," they said.

They also claimed that the death penalty can be used in a disproportional manner against the poor, minorities and members of racial, ethnic, political and religious groups.

As the General Assembly of the United Nations recently stated that there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty (UNGA Resolution 65/206), it is significant to note that the implementation of the capital punishment in order to eradicate serious crimes in many countries is at stake as the increasing number of crimes are still on the rise.

Just because the public request the government to take away the life of a human being does not mean that it is always the right way of eradicating the crimes in future whereas it is the duty of the justice system and the judiciary officers to emphasize the unsuitability of capital punishment with human rights and human dignity, claims the human rights activists adding that it should be abolished.

Nimalka Fernando, a lawyer and a human rights activist in Sri Lanka, says that she is alarmed that our leaders are taking decisions of this nature with scant disregard to the international standards and human rights law.

"At least I expected the Yahapalanaya (Good Governance) leaders to have a better sense and wisdom when taking decisions" she added.

She went on to say that she is concerned that the President is not receiving proper guidance from the advisors and hopes the international experts around him will tell him that introducing death penalty is a violation of basic fundamental human rights. "You cannot remove the life of a person to bring justice to another. The present norm is life imprisonment and not death penalty," she said.

"It looks as if the Sri Lankan experts have to be exposed to the international standards. They have remained under Mahinda Rajapaksa so much that they cannot think straight now", she further said.

It is noteworthy, that the request from the public for the capital punishment in the country indicates the desire to be free from crime. Nevertheless, there exist more effective ways to prevent crimes, claim the Human Rights activists.

UN: Riyadh stop the death sentence of Arab Spring protestor

Source: Asia News (23 September 2015)

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/UN:-Riyadh-stop-the-death-sentence-of-Arab-Spring-protester-35387.html

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was under age and in high school in 2012 when he joined the protests in the eastern city of Qatif. United Nations officials say he was subjected to violence, torture and abuse by the police; the confession was extorted by force. He faces beheading and crucifixion. In 2015 the Executioner has already killed 134 people in the Saudi kingdom.

UN officials, human rights experts are appealing to the authorities in Riyadh to put a stop to the execution of a young man accused of joining a criminal gang after having participated in the Arab Spring protests when he was a minor. Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was still attending high school when, in 2012, he joined those who were demonstrating to demand reforms and greater democracy in Qatif, a town in the eastern part of the kingdom.In an official statement the UN officials say the young man was repeatedly subjected to torture, abuse, forced to confess and did not receive adequate legal assistance before and during his trial. His appeal was conducted "with a total disregard of international standards".

"Every judgment - the UN report says - that imposes the death penalty on persons who were minors at the time, and their effect, is incompatible with the international obligations assumed by Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the young man is locked up on death row, and "could be executed at any time." After decapitation, the boy will be crucified by the authorities as a "warning against the criminals."
In addition to the conviction for joining a criminal gang, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was also indicted for attacking the police. Two other people, also minors at the time, could soon end up in the hands of the Executioner always in connection with protests in Qatif.

Activists and human rights groups say that between January 1985 and June 2015, Saudi Arabia executed at least 2,208 people, about half of them foreigners; among those killed by the Executioner are people with mental disabilities and minors. This year the number of executions has already reached 134, 44 more than in last year's total.

"We appeal to the Saudi authorities - the UN experts conclude - because a moratorium to the use of the death penalty, interrupt the execution of convicted persons and minors at the time. Finally, thorough investigations should be launched into alleged cases of torture".

13th World Day Against the Death Penalty: Drug Crimes

The 2015 World Day leaflet provides information on the issues surrounding drug crimes and the death penalty. It also provides arguments in favour of abolishing the death penalty.

http://www.worldcoalition.org/media/resourcecenter/2015WD-LeafletEN.pdf

France urges Saudi Arabia to cancel death penalty for young Shi'ite

Source: Reuters (24 September 2015)

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/france-urges-saudi-arabia/2147032.html

PARIS: France called on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday not to execute a Shi'ite Muslim sentenced to death over his role in anti-government protests, saying he was a minor when he was arrested.

Ali al-Nimr was given the death penalty in May after taking part in demonstrations three years ago for democracy and equal rights in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province.

"France is concerned about the situation of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was sentenced to death even though he was a minor at the time of the events," Foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said. "Opposed to the death penalty in all cases and circumstances, we call for the execution to be called off."

France does not usually comment on death penalty cases in Saudi Arabia due to their frequency. It has nurtured strong relations with Riyadh due to its tough stance on their Shi'ite rival Iran and shared positions on Middle East conflicts.

The French statement came a day after United Nations rights experts called on Riyadh to halt Nimr's "imminent execution".

Nimr was convicted of sedition, rioting, protesting and robbery in the Eastern Province district of Qatif, home to many of the Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom's minority Shi'ites, who say they face entrenched discrimination.

Nimr, who activists said was 17 at the time of his arrest in 2012, was also convicted of chanting anti-state slogans in illegal protests and inciting others to demonstrate, according to state media.

"Saudi Arabia's plans to behead and crucify someone arrested as a child are indefensible," said Donald Campbell, spokesman for international human rights charity Reprieve.

"The international community – particularly Saudi Arabia's close allies, the UK and the U.S. – must stand with the French government and U.N. experts against this outrage, and call on the Saudi authorities to put a halt to this unjustified killing."

The conviction of Nimr, a nephew of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shi'ite cleric who is also on trial, followed that of Rida al-Rubh, 26, the son of another cleric who has been critical of the authorities.

The clerics are part of a group of around a dozen defendants on trial for their part in protests and violent unrest in Qatif, particularly in the village of Awamiya, where police officers and facilities have been attacked.

Abdul Basit: Pakistan set to hang disabled man

Source: BBC News (21 September 2015)

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34318470

A paraplegic man on death row in Pakistan is set to hang on Tuesday without the authorities explaining how they will carry out the execution.

The capital punishment is due to take place despite fears over the absence of legal procedures for such a punishment.

Pakistan's prison guidelines require that a prisoner stand on the gallows in order to be hanged.

Abdul Basit, 43, is paralysed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair after becoming ill in prison.

He will become the 240th Pakistani to be executed since Pakistan reintroduced the death penalty in December 2014.

At the time, the government said it was a measure to combat terrorism after the Taliban massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, in a Peshawar school.

The condemned man was convicted six years ago of murder and was to have been hanged in Lahore last month - but this was postponed.

A court has now ordered the jail authorities to go ahead with the hanging, even though his mercy petition filed on 22 July before the president is still pending.

His lawyers argue that hanging him would constitute cruel and degrading treatment.

The prison guidelines do not cover the hanging of a paralysed person, campaigners say.

"[The] jail manual only provides for hanging as a method of execution, and lays down methods to calculate the right length of rope to ensure that hanging does not lead to protracted strangulation," Wassam Waheed, a spokesman for Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) told the BBC.

"The rules presume that the convict [can] walk up to the gallows, which is not possible in Abdul Basit's case."

A trial court issued a death warrant against Abdul Basit on Friday and ordered jail authorities to hang him on 22 September.

Both the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court have given their consent to the execution.

The JPP has called on President Mamnoon Hussain to stop the execution and "show the world that we protect the lives of those most vulnerable in our society".

Rights groups say that there is a danger that the hanging could go wrong and end up being a breach of the prisoner's dignity - which is protected by Pakistani laws.

In a statement on Sunday the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) described the court order to hang Abdul Basit as an offence "against all norms of civilised justice" which would raise awkward questions about the Pakistani justice system and "indict the Pakistani state and society as brutal entities".

The HRCP also urged the president to stay the execution and grant him a reprieve.

Pakistan has the world's largest number of death row inmates, with more than 8,000 people reported to be awaiting execution.

It is on course to have one of the highest rates of executions in the world.

UN experts call for abolition of death penalty in India

Source: Gulf News India (13 September 2015)

http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/india/un-experts-call-for-abolition-of-death-penalty-in-india-1.1582758

United Nations: UN human rights experts have welcomed recommendations made by India's Law Commission to abolish death penalty with the exception of terror offences and called on Indian authorities to move towards the complete abolition of capital punishment.

"The conclusions and recommendations of the Indian Law Commission represent an important voice in favour of the abolition of the death penalty in India," Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns said.

"I encourage the Indian authorities to implement these recommendations and to move towards the complete abolition of the death penalty for all offences," he added.

The Indian Law Commission issued its report on August 31, concluding that the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent and recommended its abolition for all crimes, except terrorism-related offences and waging war.

The Commission had been tasked by the Supreme Court to study the issue of the death penalty in India.

In its report, the Indian Law Commission recognised that, while on death row, the prisoner "suffers from extreme agony, anxiety and debilitating fear arising out of an imminent yet uncertain execution," and that "the death row phenomenon is compounded by the degrading and oppressive effects of conditions of imprisonment imposed on the convict, including solitary confinement".

The recommendation by the 9-member panel was, however, not unanimous, with one full-time member and two government representatives dissenting and supporting retention of capital punishment.

Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez said the Indian authorities should review the findings very carefully and ratify the law.

The experts also welcomed the decision to reduce the number of crimes subject to death penalty by China.

China amended several provisions of its Criminal Law, replacing death penalty with life imprisonment for several offences, including smuggling of weapons, ammunition, nuclear materials and counterfeit currency; obstruction of duty of police; and creating rumours during wartime.

"By adopting these amendments to its criminal code, China has made progress in the right direction; this needs to be encouraged," the UN experts noted.

"These new developments in India and China are in line with the general trend towards the abolition of the death penalty at a global level, even if there are isolated moves in the opposite direction," Heyns said.

Special rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme.

Abdul Basit: Death row delay for Pakistan paraplegic

Source: BBC News (2 September 2015)

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34128116

Pakistani prison officials have missed Tuesday's court deadline to explain how they would hang a paraplegic man.

Abdul Basit is paralysed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair after an illness he contracted while in prison.

He was convicted six years ago of murder but maintains his innocence. He was to be hanged in Lahore last month but this was postponed. A petition for his pardon was dismissed.

Hanging him would constitute cruel and degrading treatment, his lawyers say.

They add that this is prohibited under Pakistani and international law.

Pakistan has executed more than 200 people since reintroducing the death penalty in December 2014.

At the time the government said it was a measure to combat terrorism after the Taliban massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, in a Peshawar school.

Pakistan's jail manual gives no instructions on how to execute disabled prisoners.

A high court judge had told prison officials they had until 1 September to come up with specific steps if they were to be allowed to proceed with the execution of Mr Basit.

The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil says Mr Basit remains on death row but his sentence has effectively been stayed until the jail authorities come up with a clear plan for how they will execute him.

Executions around the world

Pakistan has executed more than 200 people since December 2014, almost all of them this year

Figures for executions in other countries in 2015 are as yet largely unavailable

In August, Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia had executed 102 people in the first six months of 2015, compared with 90 in the whole of 2014

By the end of last year, the other countries with the highest number of reported executions were Iran: 289, Iraq: 61, USA: 35, and Sudan: 23

In 2013 the numbers were: Iran: 369, Iraq: 169, Saudi Arabia: 79, Somalia: 68, USA: 39

China and North Korea refuse to divulge information on the number of executions that take place within their borders

Court acquits man after controversial death penalty case

Source: Asia One (2 September 2015)

http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/court-acquits-man-after-controversial-death-penalty-case

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A defendant in a controversial death penalty case was declared innocent after his ninth appeal yesterday, exactly 20 years after his alleged crime.

Hsu Tzu-chiang is one of three men sentenced to death in 2000 for the murder of a real estate businessman on Sept. 1, 1995.

Activists and Hsu's lawyers criticised the ruling on grounds that the sentence had been based on the confessions of his co-defendants.

The Taiwan High Court yesterday overturned Hsu's seven death sentences and two life sentences, declaring him not guilty.

The case had already gone through eight appeals on repeated retrials.

Hsu, in disbelief, turned to a nearby friend after the announcement and asked, "Is it not guilty?" Upon confirming the verdict, the defendant embraced his tearful mother.

"I have waited for 20 years," he said to a crowd of supporters waiting outside the high court. The sentence can still be appealed.

Hsu and two other men were sentenced to death for the alleged murder of real-estate businessman Huang Chun-shu in 1995.

The victim was kidnapped outside his home; after his murder, his disfigured body was abandoned in New Taipei City, and then Taipei County.

During the trial, defendants Huang Chun-chi and Chen Yi-lung were sentenced based on forensic evidence, while Hsu was convicted based on their testimony.

A fourth defendant had escaped to Thailand, where he died.

Activists have criticised Hsu's sentence and said that there was security footage proving he was elsewhere during the events.

The Judicial Reform Foundation has called the case deeply flawed, saying it demonstrates the need to implement a jury system in Taiwan to reduce judicial bias.

After the initial sentencing, one of the two defendants said he had accused Hsu as a way of getting revenge and that Hsu was innocent.

In 2001, Taiwan's Control Yuan released a report on Hsu's conviction that condemned the sentencing.

Hsu's case is one of the longest-running murder cases in Taiwan's history, and his acquittal falls exactly 20 years after the alleged murder. Huang Chun-chi and Chen Yi-lung remain on death row.