2012 UN Resolution For Global Moratorium On Capital Punishment gets even more support

 

DEATH PENALTY: NEW UN RESOLUTION FOR A GLOBAL MORATORIUM ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT VOTED  FROM A RECORD NUMBER  OF 111 COUNTRIES

December 20, 2012: The General Assembly of the United Nations in New York has adopted a new resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, the fourth since 2007.

A record number of countries voted in favor of the Resolution. The result was 111 votes in favor (+3 with respect to resolution 2010), 41 against (as in 2010), 34 abstentions (+ 2) and 7 absent at the time of the vote (as in 2010)
.
Member States of the United Nations are now 193, a state more than in 2010, South Sudan, which voted in favor of the resolution, although still maintains the death penalty.

Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Niger and Tunisia, which had abstained or were absent in 2010, for the first time voted in favor.

The first  three countries were objective in recent months of a mission of Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party aimed at getting  their vote in favor of Resolution.

Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, which in the past had opposed the resolution, for the first time abstained.

On the side of the 'no' have gone instead Bahrain, Dominica and Oman, which previously abstained. Finally, Maldives, Namibia and Sri Lanka, which in 2010 had voted in favor, this time abstained.

5 countries that are abolitionist in law or de facto - Kiribati, Mauritius, São Tomé and Principe, Antigua and Barbuda and Ghana – were absent, as well as 2 maintainers countries: Gambia and Equatorial Guinea.

"The new vote at the UN for a moratorium records the positive developments taking place in the world towards the end of the Cain-State and the overcoming of the fake and archaic principle of eye for an eye".

So said Sergio D'Elia, Secretary of Hands Off Cain, who along with Marco Pannella and Elisabetta Zamparutti, President and Treasurer of the Association linked to the Nonviolent Radical Party, has waited for the outcome of the vote on the resolutions either on the Moratorium and on banning female genital mutilation in the Radical Party headquarters in Rome, in connection with the UN in New York.

European nations have pressed hard for votes backing a moratorium. But Norway's ambassador Geir Pedersen said the growing numbers backing an end to capital punishment show "this is no longer dominated by western countries. This is a global campaign."

"The importance of the vote is that it sends a very strong message to the international community across the board," Pedersen told AFP. "The General Assembly is the one place where all nations are represented and you have a strong majority in favor of a moratorium."

"There is a global trend toward fewer countries executing people and for us, it is an important issue of principle," the ambassador added.

Pedersen said that when he raises objections to the death penalty in bilateral talks with countries that impose capital punishment, "we have the feeling that they are on the defensive." (Sources: HOC, 20/12/2012) - Hands of Cain

See earlier post:

79 Call for the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Malaysia

Stronger support at the UN for abolition of the death penalty

In a few days, the UN General Assembly will be adopting yet another resolution for a moratorium of executions pending abolition.  This resolution will receive even better support compared to the previous 3.

In 2007 - 104 votes in favour, 54 against and 29 abstentions.

In 2008 -  106 in favour, 46 against and 34 abstained. 

In 2010 -  108 in favour, 41 against and 36 abstentions.

In 2012 -   110 in favour,  39 against and 36 abstentions (the results at the Third Committee session)

And, according to the UN, there are now 150 nation states that have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice

New York, 21 November 2012 - Statement by the Secretary-General on the adoption by the General Assembly’s Third Committee of the resolution “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty”

The Secretary-General welcomes Monday’s record vote in favour of the call for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty by the Third Committee of the General Assembly, which adopted the resolution by 110 votes in favour (with 39 against and 36 abstentions). The new resolution, inter alia, calls on all States to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. It reflects a trend against capital punishment which has grown stronger across regions, legal traditions and customs since the landmark resolution of the General Assembly in 2007. The Secretary-General saluted this development at a high-level event on the death penalty in New York this July. He said then that the taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process. 

Some 150 States have either abolished or do not practice the death penalty. Monday’s vote offers the opportunity to again encourage Member States who still practice the death penalty or retain it in law to follow suit. The Secretary-General therefore calls on Member States to join the worldwide trend and support next month’s General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Ban welcomes General Assembly committee’s record vote on death penalty moratorium

UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

21 November 2012 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomes a record vote by a General Assembly committee in favour of the call for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, according to his spokesperson.

“Monday’s vote offers the opportunity to again encourage Member States who still practice the death penalty or retain it in law to follow suit,” the spokesperson added in a news statement, noting that 150 States have either abolished or do not practice the death penalty.

He continued, “The Secretary-General therefore calls on Member States to join the worldwide trend and support next month’s General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.”

The new resolution, inter alia, calls on all States to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. 

The vote took place on Monday in the Assembly’s Third Committee, which adopted the resolution by 110 votes in favour, with 39 against and 36 abstentions. 

The Third Committee deals with social and humanitarian issues, as well as human rights. It is one of six such bodies, which each deal with a block of issues and themes under discussion by the wider General Assembly, but which lend themselves to more effective discussion in smaller settings before then being forwarded to all UN Member States – in the so-called General Assembly Plenary – for a final decision.

Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said the Committee’s resolution reflects a trend against capital punishment which has grown stronger across regions, legal traditions and customs since a landmark General Assembly resolution on the topic in 2007.

“The Secretary-General saluted this development at a high-level event on the death penalty in New York this July,” the spokesperson added. “He said then that the taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process.”

5 ASEAN Nation abolished death penalty in law and/or practice

Cambodia has no Death Penalty. Philippines abolished Death Penalty in 2006. Brunei is a de facto abolitionist with no executions since 1957. Likewise Laos and Myanmar are de facto abolitionist. Malaysia hopefully will soon join this club of abolitionist in law and/or practice.

 

 

 

Capital Punishment

Experts call for end to death penalty in Thailand

PRAVIT ROJANAPHRUK
THE NATION December 13, 2012 1:00 am

Thailand is falling behind its neighbours when it comes to abolition of the death penalty, activists and experts said at a seminar yesterday.

The event, organised by the Union for Civil Liberty with support from the European Union, the French Embassy and others, brought together participants from across Southeast Asia to Thammasat University in Bangkok. There was talk of progress made in the region and a call for Thailand to speed up the abolition of the death penalty.

"We sincerely urge Thailand to take the lead" in abolishing the death penalty in the region, said Debbie Stothard, deputy secretary-general of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Two countries in the region, the Philippines and Cambodia, no longer have the death penalty, she said.

In Southeast Asia, Thailand's death-row population is second to that of Malaysia, where about 900 prisoners are awaiting execution.

In Thailand, the number of inmates on death row is around 600 - about half of them drug-trafficking convicts, according to Amnesty International Thailand.

Singapore was named by Amnesty International in 2004 as the country with the highest per-capita ratio of death-row prisoners, but their numbers have since been markedly reduced with far fewer executions in recent years, said Mabasamy Ravi, a lawyer and death-penalty opponent from Singapore.

In Vietnam, which like Thailand still retains the death penalty, the right to life is increasingly viewed as important by Vietnamese authorities, said academic Ngo Ming Huong.

Thailand last executed two inmates in 2009, said Pol Colonel Aeknarat Sawettanand, director-general of the Department of Rights and Liberty Protection. He reported that department will engage in two phases of work in order to gain more knowledge from abroad and in Thailand and enable the public to better understand and be sensitised to the fact that death penalty doesn't help reduce severe crimes.

Aeknarat said many Thais are still in the mindset of revenge and retribution, which poses a hurdle in trying to convince them that it is against human rights standards to retain the death penalty. Back in the 1960s, said Aeknarat, prime minister Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat used Penal Code Article 17 to summarily execute arson suspects. Many Thais thought it was swift justice.

"I think times have changed," said Aeknarat. Besides growing opposition to the death penalty by some Thais and acceptance that death penalty is against human rights by the Justice Ministry, the Royal Thai Police have also increasingly recognised that forced disappearances and torture under interrogation are no longer acceptable, said Aeknarat.

However, the director-general admitted that Thai society is "addicted to violence" as reflected in the popularity of gruesome photos splashed on newspapers' front pages. "The mass media breed revenge and retribution," he said, adding that what Thailand needs is rehabilitation of people who commit crimes so they can become productive citizens.

Ultimately, it's up to Parliament to end the death penalty, Aeknarat said.- The Nation, 13/12/2012, Experts call for end to death penalty in Thailand

Malaysia moving towards abolition of death sentence(ANN, 12/12/2012)

'M'sia moving towards abolition of death sentence'

By News Desk in Kuala Lumpur/The Star | Asia News Network – Wed, Dec 12, 2012

Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - Malaysia has seen positive developments in the move towards abolishing the death penalty, said European Union ambassador and head of delegation to Malaysia Luc Vandebon.

"Progress is in the making. While public opinion reportedly favours capital punishment, there is a change of mood and atmosphere.

"A simple indicator is that the number of death sentences far exceeds the number of executions. In 2010, a large number of death row convicts were pardoned or had their sentences commuted. Of the 114 sentenced to death, there was only one reported execution.

"Furthermore, influential and high-level personalities have spoken out against the death penalty," he said at the grand finals of the Pleadings Competition among university law students held at the Parliament building in Kuala Lumpur.

Among those present were National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) president Hasmy Agam, Malaysian Bar president Lim Chee Wee, Dewan Negara deputy president Doris Brodie and diplomats.

In October, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz said the government would look into abolishing the mandatory death sentence for drug offences and replacing them with alternative sentences.

He cited the 250 Malaysians arrested as drug mules and sentenced to death overseas as one of the reasons.

Removing the mandatory death sentence for drug trafficking, Vandebon said, would be an important first step towards complete abolition and would provide for new opportunities. He suggested replacing the death penalty with a life sentence.

"It will make it possible to disprove the thesis that, if you abolish the mandatory death penalty, the crime rate goes up," he said, adding that there were over 900 currently on the death row with almost two-thirds sentenced for drug offences.

"Singapore has recently introduced amendments to its mandatory death penalty regime. Thailand has abolished the death penalty for juvenile offenders. Indonesia is moving away from the capital sentence." - Yahoo News

ABC: Malaysia may spare life of accused Australian drug trafficker

MADPET Coordinator Charles Hector was interviewed on this story, To listen to the radio broadcast - Click

 

Malaysia may spare life of accused Australian drug trafficker

Zoe Daniel reported this story on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 06:04:00

TONY EASTLEY: An Australian man who's on trial for drug trafficking in Malaysia may have his life saved by the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.

Under current laws, Perth man Dominic Bird will be hanged if he's found guilty of attempting to sell a trafficable amount of methamphetamine to undercover police.

South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel reports.

ZOE DANIEL: Dominic Bird is accused of attempting to sell 167.8 grams of methamphetamine to undercover Malaysian police. The amount exceeds the 50 gram threshold for drug trafficking which attracts a mandatory death penalty.

Under section 39B of Malaysia's Dangerous Drugs Act as it stands, he'll be hanged if found guilty.

But there's a real chance that section of the act may be abolished, which would give judges discretion to hand out jail sentences rather than being required to order execution when delivering guilty verdicts to drug traffickers.

Charles Hector is a lawyer and co-ordinator of Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture.

CHARLES HECTOR: We have the de facto law minister coming out and saying that the government is seriously considering the abolition of death penalty - especially for drug trafficking cases - realising that the people who have been arrested, charged and convicted, most of the time are mules, and sometimes some of them are actually conned and many of these are young people.

ZOE DANIEL: In Dominic Bird's case, is the timing right do you think for him to fall under an amendment that may be forthcoming before the end of his legal process?

CHARLES HECTOR: I think the chances are good, at the end of the day, I think so. It's not just Dominic but I think so the whole number of people who are languishing in death row today.

ZOE DANIEL: In practice, few of those convicted of drug trafficking have been executed in recent years but they still wait in jail expecting to be hanged.

The fact that a number of Malaysians have been executed in other countries for drug offences seems to have prompted a rethink of the law here, along with changes along similar lines in Singapore.

Dominic Bird's barrister Muhammad Shafee says an unspoken moratorium on executions should be formalised with a change to legislation.

MUHAMMAD SHAFEE: Death penalty has slowed down in terms of execution. There is some kind of moratorium, unofficially - but I cannot confirm that with you because I may be totally wrong. But as you know a moratorium is normally given when you are considering a change of the law.

That could be the situation.

ZOE DANIEL: If the Australian is convicted, any change to the law would have to apply retrospectively to commute the death sentence.

In Kuala Lumpur, this is Zoe Daniel for AM.  - ABC News Website, 4/12/2012, Malaysia may spare life of accused Australian drug trafficker

To listen to the radio broadcast - Click

To Promote the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Malaysia

To Promote the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Malaysia

The Delegation of the European Union, the Bar Council Malaysia and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia would like to invite you 

Pleadings Competition 2012: Grand Final on

Date: Monday, 10 December 2012
Time: 9.30am-12.30pm
Venue: Briefing room, Parliament House of Malaysia

Programme

9.30am            Guests / Media registration

9.55am            Guests are invited to take their seats

10.00am          Opening Speech by H.E. Luc Vandebon, Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Malaysia

10.15am          Keynote Address by Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang, President of the Senate (tbc)

10.30am          Pleadings Competition: 6 teams of 2 finalists from each University, 10 minutes per team

11.30pm          Q&A Session with Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang and H.E. Luc Vandebon (Moderator: Andrew Khoo, Co-Chairperson of the Bar Council Human Rights Committee)

12.00pm          Moderator ends discussion, takes the vote

12.05pm          Announcement of winners and prize-giving ceremony

12.15pm          Closing remarks by Representative of the Bar Council

Kindly RSVP by 7 December 2012

N.B. Pre-registration is compulsory. Kindly bring along your NRIC/ any ID with photo.

Fax at 03-2723 7337

Tel: Ms. Mariya SELLVAM at 03-2723 73 44

Email to Mariya.Sellvam@ext.eeas. europa.eu

My son executed - then they said they made a mistake

"My son was killed for a crime he did not commit…. our family has lived in shame and neighbours never spoke to us. Whatever apology or compensation the government promises, it is too late.”- Wang Tsai-lien, mother of Chiang Kuo-ching who was coerced into making a confession and subsequently executed in error in 1997 in Taiwan.1

In January 2011, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice admitted that Chiang Kuo-ching, a private in the Air Force, had been executed in error in 1997 for a murder committed 15 years previously. The authorities acknowledged that his statement “confessing” to the crime had been made as a result of torture and that his conviction had been rushed through a military court. The court had ignored his allegations of torture and his pleas of innocence. In September 2011, a military court formally acquitted Chiang Kuo-ching and a month later Taiwan's Ministry of Defence announced it will pay US$3.4m in compensation to Chiang Kuo-ching’s relatives.3

Chiang Kuo-ching is not an isolated case. Across the region, as elsewhere in the world, people are sentenced to death after proceedings which fail to meet international standards of fair trial

“The law is the law but I wish Parliament would abolish the death sentence because if a mistake is made, it would be irreversible. There are other ways of dealing with heinous crimes.” - Former High Court and Court of Appeal Judge Datuk K.C. Vohrah, Malaysia.2

More people are executed in the Asia-Pacific region than in the rest of the world combined. Add to this the probability that they were executed following an unfair trial, and the gross injustice of this punishment becomes all too clear.

Failures of justice in trials which result in an execution cannot be rectified. In the Asia-Pacific region, where 95 per cent of the population live in countries that retain and use the death penalty, there is a real danger of the state executing someone in error following an unfair trial.

Source: ADPAN Report - When Justice Fails = Thousands Executed In Asia After Unfair Trial

GO SIGN ON-LINE PETITION calling on Malaysia to abolish Death Penalty

GO SIGN ON-LINE PETITION calling on Malaysia to abolish Death Penalty

 

Media Statement – 3/11/2012

Call for the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Malaysia

 

We, the undersigned 79 groups and organisations welcome Malaysia’s move towards the abolition of the mandatory death penalty for drug offences, and replacing it with jail terms. 

 

Recently, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz stated that Malaysia is considering withdrawing the mandatory death sentence for drug offences and replacing it with jail terms.(Star,21/10/2012, Death penalty may be scrapped for drug offences). He also said he will be moving the Malaysian Cabinet to defer the death sentences passed on 675 convicted drug traffickers in the country, while the government reviews the death penalty for drug offences. (The Straits Times, 25/10/2012, Death knell for death penalty in Malaysia?) This follows the statement in July 2012, when Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said that his Chambers was working towards proposing an amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 to give judges the discretion of not imposing death sentences on couriers(Malay Mail, 12/7/2012, M’sia mulls scrapping death penalty for drug couriers). In its 2009 Universal Periodic Review report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Malaysia also did  declare that it was proposing to amend "existing anti-drug trafficking legislation to reduce the maximum sentence to life imprisonment" from the currently practised mandatory death.

 

Most of the 675 persons on death row for drug trafficking today are "drug mules", some of whom may have even been conned. Drug kingpins are rarely caught. In Malaysia, persons caught with a certain weight of drugs are presumed to be drug traffickers, and the onerous burden of rebutting this presumption shifts to the accused person. This goes against the norm in the criminal justice system, where the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a person is guilty is on the prosecution. There are also close to 250 Malaysians arrested as drug mules and sentenced to death abroad, including in China and Singapore, and Malaysia’s plea for clemency is inconsistent if  it retains the death penalty.

 

In March 2012, it was also revealed in Parliament by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein that the mandatory death penalty has been shown to have failed to act as a deterrent. Police statistics for the arrests of drug dealers under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death penalty, for the past three years (2009 to 2011) have shown an increase. In 2009, there were 2,955 arrested under this section.  In 2010, 3,700 people were arrested, whilst in 2011, there were 3,845 arrested.(Free Malaysia Today News, 19/3/2012, Death penalty not deterring drug trade)

69%(or 479) of the 696  waiting for execution of their death sentences in Malaysian prisons as on Feb 22, 2011, were for drug offences. Today, there are about 900 on death row.

 

No legal system in the world is foolproof or error-free. There have been many examples of cases of miscarriage of justice, where innocent persons have been incarcerated for many years, or even sentenced to death. The opportunity to right a wrong is, however, not available since death is irreversible.

 

SUHAKAM (Malaysian Human Rights Commission) has also called on Malaysia to join  the  other   140   UN member   states   to completely   abolish  the  death   penalty. The United  Nations   General    Assembly   have also adopted  Resolutions  in  2007, 2008  and 2010  calling  for a moratorium on executions, with a view to eventually abolishing the death penalty.

 

Malaysia has begun commuting death sentence, whereby 5 Filipinos on death row had their sentenced commuted to prison terms earlier this year.

 

We call for the abolition of the death penalty in Malaysia, for an immediate moratorium on all executions pending abolition and for the commutation of the sentences of all persons currently on death row;

 

We also call on Malaysia to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

 

Charles Hector

For and on behalf of the 79 groups/organisations listed below

 

ALIRAN (Aliran Kesedaran Negara), Malaysia

Aksi  - For Gender, Social And Ecological Justice, Indonesia.

Amnesty International Malaysia

Amnesty International Philippines

Amnesty International Thailand

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN)

Advocacy and Policy Institute (API), Cambodia

Arus Pelangi, Indonesia

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, Thailand

Cambodian Defenders Project (CDP)

Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC)

Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)

Cambodian Volunteers for Society (CVS)

Catholic Lawyers Society, Malaysia

Center for Human Rights Law Studies (HRLS), Faculty of Law, Airlangga University, Surabaya

Center for Human Rights of Islamic University of Indonesia

Center for Indonesian Migrant Workers(CIMW)

Civil Rights Committee KLSCAH (KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall), Malaysia

Civil Society Committee of LLG Cultural Development Centre, Malaysia

Community Action Network (CAN), Malaysia

FORLITAN (Forum Perlindungan Pertanahan), Indonesia

Foundation for Women

Garment and Allied Workers Union, India

Housing Rights Task Force, Cambodia

Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com

Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) Indonesia

IMPARSIAL - The Indonesian Human Rights Monitor

IMA Research Foundation, Bangladesh

Indonesian Coalition for Drug Policy Reform (ICDPR) 

Indonesia for Humans

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta)

Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (JERIT), Malaysia

Kesatuan Pekerja Pekerja Polyplastics Asia Pacific (KPPAP), Malaysia

KIARA (The People's Coalition for Fisheries Justice) / Indonesia

Knights for Peace International

Lawyers for Liberty, Malaysia

LSPP (Institute For Press And Devolepment) Indonesia

MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture)

Malaysians for Beng Hock

Migrant CARE -Indonesia

Migrant CARE – Malaysia

Migrante International

NAMM (Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia)

National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Malaysia

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM)

People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL),  India

PERGERAKAN INDONESIA

Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER)

Persatuan Masyarakat Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan (PERMAS), Malaysia

Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor (PSWS), Malaysia

PINAY (The Filipino Women's Organization in Quebec), Canada

Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (Komas), Malaysia

Save Vui Kong Campaign, Malaysia

Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia [SABM]

Sedane Labour Resouce Centre/Lembaga Informasi Perburuhan Sedane (LIPS), Indonesia

Seksualiti Merdeka, Malaysia

Singapore Anti Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC)

Solidaritas Perempuan - Indonesia

SUARAM, Malaysia

Serikat Buruh Migran Indonesia (SBMI)

Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment Inc. (Sibuyan ISLE)

Tenaganita, Malaysia

Thai Committee for Refugees Foundation (TCR)

Think Centre, Singapore

Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam

Vietnam Committee on Human Rights

WAC (Workers Assistance Center), Philippines

We believe in Second Chances, Singapore

WH4C (Workers Hub For Change)

Women's Aid Organisation (WAO)

Woman Health Philippines

Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI), Malaysia

Yayasan Lintas Nusa - Batam, Indonesia

New Endorsers:

Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), Cambodia

Free Legal Assistance Group, National Capital Region, Philippines(FLAG)

Hong Kong Joint Committee for the Abolition of the Death Penalty

Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), Malaysia

Women's Centre for Change, Malaysia

 Malaysian Physicians for Social Responsibility(MPSR)

Singapore amendments opens crack to avoid the mandatory death penalty

Death penalty changes spark impassioned debate

Sixteen MPs rise to speak in three-hour debate on changes to Misuse of Drugs Act

by Ng Jing Yng

Updated 12:36 PM Nov 14, 2012

SINGAPORE - As Parliament yesterday began debate over the proposed changes to the mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers, some Members of Parliament questioned the regime's effectiveness, calling for evidence on how it has deterred drug crimes.

Others made impassioned speeches on the value of a human life to argue against the imposition of hanging for any offences, even as some related first-hand encounters with families and lives ruined by drugs and questioned whether Singapore could be wrongly seen as going soft on drugs - at a time when the drug menace is getting worse.

During the three-hour debate, 16 MPs rose to speak on the contentious topic, with more set to do so when Parliament reconvenes tomorrow.

In the Bill tabled to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act, the death penalty will not be automatic for convicted drug traffickers when two "specific, tightly-defined conditions" are both met.

First, the trafficker must have only played the role of courier and must not have been involved in any other activity related to the supply or distribution of drugs. Second, he must either suffer from a mental disability which substantially impairs his appreciation of the gravity of the act, or he has cooperated with the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) in a "substantive" way.

Judges can order life imprisonment with at least 15 strokes of the cane, instead of death, for traffickers who meet both requirements.

Speaking at the second reading of the Bill, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean warned about the worsening drug situation in the region. In 2009 and 2010, 61 laboratories were seized in Indonesia, and 27 in Malaysia. As recently as June this year, Malaysian authorities discovered a factory half an hour away from the Second Link producing methamphetamine. About RM$10 million (S$4 million) worth of methamphetamine and "Ecstasy" tablets were seized, Mr Teo said.

Under the new laws, offenders who provide drugs to anyone below age 21 will face stiffer penalties, as will those who recruit the young or vulnerable into drug trafficking. Anyone organising drug parties - as compared to just the host, under current laws - will also be jailed at least three years and might be caned. Mr Teo said that the new regime will "send a strong deterrent message and enhance operational effectiveness of our enforcement agencies".

Noting that the mandatory death penalty will continue to apply in most drug trafficking cases, Mr Teo said: "We have long taken a 'zero-tolerance' approach against the drug menace. The amendments... will strengthen our ability to do so in our new operating environment and allow us to continue doing all we can to keep our streets safe and to protect our children from the scourge of drugs."

Still, MPs such as Mr Edwin Tong (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) and Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland- Bukit Timah GRC) felt that the changes could send the wrong signal that the Government is softening its stance. Said Mr Tong: "My concern... is that our present amendments do not inadvertently send a message or it is misconstrued that Singapore has had a fundamental re-think on our strict anti-drug philosophy."

Holland-Bukit TImah GRC MP Christopher de Souza also stressed the need for tough anti-drug laws. "Let us not forget who the victim here is - it is not the trafficker; it is society, it is the many families broken by drug addiction," said Mr de Souza. "We should have compassion for this brokenness too. The way to do so is to maintain immensely strong and muscular measures to deter drug traffickers from targeting Singapore."

At the other end of the spectrum was Nominated MP Laurence Lien, who reminded the House that "every human life is precious".

He said: "It is not just about our criminal justice system, which we also want to be proportionate and restorative; it also about the type of society that we want to build - a society that values every person and every human life, and one that doesn't give up on its people."

Taking a stand against the death penalty, fellow NMPs Eugene Tan and Faizal Jamal also pointed out the lack of casaul evidence between a mandatory death penalty regime and low drug crime rates.

In the same vein, Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim asked if the Government has relied on any studies or data to conclude if the death penalty has indeed deterred crimes and drug trafficking.

Nevertheless, both Ms Lim and fellow WP MP Pritam Singh supported the Bill. Said Mr Singh: "The amendments proposed by the Government are a step in the right direction insofar as it loosens the application of the mandatory death penalty under two specific conditions. However, this move also represents a missed opportunity to remove the mandatory death penalty from our statute books completely."- Today Online, 14/11/2012, Death penalty changes spark impassioned debate

79 Call for the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Malaysia

Media Statement – 3/11/2012

Call for the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Malaysia

We, the undersigned 79 groups and organisations welcome Malaysia’s move towards the abolition of the mandatory death penalty for drug offences, and replacing it with jail terms. 

Recently, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz stated that Malaysia is considering withdrawing the mandatory death sentence for drug offences and replacing it with jail terms.(Star,21/10/2012, Death penalty may be scrapped for drug offences). He also said he will be moving the Malaysian Cabinet to defer the death sentences passed on 675 convicted drug traffickers in the country, while the government reviews the death penalty for drug offences. (The Straits Times, 25/10/2012, Death knell for death penalty in Malaysia?) This follows the statement in July 2012, when Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said that his Chambers was working towards proposing an amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 to give judges the discretion of not imposing death sentences on couriers(Malay Mail, 12/7/2012, M’sia mulls scrapping death penalty for drug couriers). In its 2009 Universal Periodic Review report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Malaysia also did  declare that it was proposing to amend "existing anti-drug trafficking legislation to reduce the maximum sentence to life imprisonment" from the currently practised mandatory death.

Most of the 675 persons on death row for drug trafficking today are "drug mules", some of whom may have even been conned. Drug kingpins are rarely caught. In Malaysia, persons caught with a certain weight of drugs are presumed to be drug traffickers, and the onerous burden of rebutting this presumption shifts to the accused person. This goes against the norm in the criminal justice system, where the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a person is guilty is on the prosecution. There are also close to 250 Malaysians arrested as drug mules and sentenced to death abroad, including in China and Singapore, and Malaysia’s plea for clemency is inconsistent if  it retains the death penalty.

In March 2012, it was also revealed in Parliament by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein that the mandatory death penalty has been shown to have failed to act as a deterrent. Police statistics for the arrests of drug dealers under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death penalty, for the past three years (2009 to 2011) have shown an increase. In 2009, there were 2,955 arrested under this section.  In 2010, 3,700 people were arrested, whilst in 2011, there were 3,845 arrested.(Free Malaysia Today News, 19/3/2012, Death penalty not deterring drug trade)

69%(or 479) of the 696  waiting for execution of their death sentences in Malaysian prisons as on Feb 22, 2011, were for drug offences. Today, there are about 900 on death row.

No legal system in the world is foolproof or error-free. There have been many examples of cases of miscarriage of justice, where innocent persons have been incarcerated for many years, or even sentenced to death. The opportunity to right a wrong is, however, not available since death is irreversible.

SUHAKAM (Malaysian Human Rights Commission) has also called on Malaysia to join  the  other   140   UN member   states   to completely   abolish  the  death   penalty. The United  Nations   General    Assembly   have also adopted  Resolutions  in  2007, 2008  and 2010  calling  for a moratorium on executions, with a view to eventually abolishing the death penalty.

Malaysia has begun commuting death sentence, whereby 5 Filipinos on death row had their sentenced commuted to prison terms earlier this year.

We call for the abolition of the death penalty in Malaysia, for an immediate moratorium on all executions pending abolition and for the commutation of the sentences of all persons currently on death row;

We also call on Malaysia to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Charles Hector

For and on behalf of the 79 groups/organisations listed below

ALIRAN (Aliran Kesedaran Negara), Malaysia

Aksi  - For Gender, Social And Ecological Justice, Indonesia.

Amnesty International Malaysia

Amnesty International Philippines

Amnesty International Thailand

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN)

Advocacy and Policy Institute (API), Cambodia

Arus Pelangi, Indonesia

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, Thailand

Cambodian Defenders Project (CDP)

Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC)

Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)

Cambodian Volunteers for Society (CVS)

Catholic Lawyers Society, Malaysia

Center for Human Rights Law Studies (HRLS), Faculty of Law, Airlangga University, Surabaya

Center for Human Rights of Islamic University of Indonesia

Center for Indonesian Migrant Workers(CIMW)

Civil Rights Committee KLSCAH (KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall), Malaysia

Civil Society Committee of LLG Cultural Development Centre, Malaysia

Community Action Network (CAN), Malaysia

FORLITAN (Forum Perlindungan Pertanahan), Indonesia

Foundation for Women

Garment and Allied Workers Union, India

Housing Rights Task Force, Cambodia

Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com

Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) Indonesia

IMPARSIAL - The Indonesian Human Rights Monitor

IMA Research Foundation, Bangladesh

Indonesian Coalition for Drug Policy Reform (ICDPR) 

Indonesia for Humans

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta)

Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (JERIT), Malaysia

Kesatuan Pekerja Pekerja Polyplastics Asia Pacific (KPPAP), Malaysia

KIARA (The People's Coalition for Fisheries Justice) / Indonesia

Knights for Peace International

Lawyers for Liberty, Malaysia

LSPP (Institute For Press And Devolepment) Indonesia

MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture)

Malaysians for Beng Hock

Migrant CARE -Indonesia

Migrant CARE – Malaysia

Migrante International

NAMM (Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia)

National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Malaysia

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM)

People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL),  India

PERGERAKAN INDONESIA

Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER)

Persatuan Masyarakat Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan (PERMAS), Malaysia

Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor (PSWS), Malaysia

PINAY (The Filipino Women's Organization in Quebec), Canada

Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (Komas), Malaysia

Save Vui Kong Campaign, Malaysia

Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia [SABM]

Sedane Labour Resouce Centre/Lembaga Informasi Perburuhan Sedane (LIPS), Indonesia

Seksualiti Merdeka, Malaysia

Singapore Anti Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC)

Solidaritas Perempuan - Indonesia

SUARAM, Malaysia

Serikat Buruh Migran Indonesia (SBMI)

Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment Inc. (Sibuyan ISLE)

Tenaganita, Malaysia

Thai Committee for Refugees Foundation (TCR)

Think Centre, Singapore

Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam

Vietnam Committee on Human Rights

WAC (Workers Assistance Center), Philippines

We believe in Second Chances, Singapore

WH4C (Workers Hub For Change)

Women's Aid Organisation (WAO)

Woman Health Philippines

Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI), Malaysia

Yayasan Lintas Nusa - Batam, Indonesia

New Endorsers:

Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), Cambodia

Free Legal Assistance Group, National Capital Region, Philippines(FLAG)

Hong Kong Joint Committee for the Abolition of the Death Penalty

Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), Malaysia

Women's Centre for Change, Malaysia

 Malaysian Physicians for Social Responsibility(MPSR)

* This joint statement was also sent to the Prime Minister, de facto Law Minister and the Human Rights Commission, seeking also a response from them to the said statement. Any responses received shall be forwarded to all.

A deeper impact beyond the gallows (NST-Column)

 A deeper impact beyond the gallows

By DATUK SRI DR MUHAMMAD SHAFEE ABDULLAH

DRUG CASES: Removing death penalty could lead to reduction in corruption

There is global pressure on countries that practise the capital and corporal punishment system

THE law minister, however, had advanced an ingenious reason for the abolition of a mandatory death sentence . He said it would be difficult for Malaysia to ask for assistance from foreign countries to treat Malaysians sentenced to death leniently for drug offences if we continue to have capital punishment.  But that argument surely bites more if the minister is arguing for a total abolition of  the death penalty rather than merely the abolition of the mandatory death sentence.

What would the minister do if a Malaysian court handed down a death sentence on a foreigner in a non-mandatory death sentence in a drug-related case? We cannot be resorting to the Pardons Board merely to please a foreign government as this would be offensive to the equality concept provided under the Constitution if Malaysian convicts are treated more harshly over foreigners in matters that are not substantively distinguishable on the factual matrix.

It is, therefore, better to use the minister's argument to justify total abolition of capital punishment in drug-trafficking cases.

But consider seriously the following non-traditional reasons supporting the abolition of capital punishment:

FIRSTLY, in matters of extradition (governed under the Extradition Act 1992 ) and/or mutual assistance [governed under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2002 (MACMA)] if the Malaysian government (as a requesting country) were to make requisition either of persons (in an extradition situation) or evidence as under the MACMA), the requested countries in most situations would require Malaysia to give an undertaking that our laws do not have either capital or corporal punishment (the latter refers to  caning or rotan) in respect of the relevant offence/subject matter of the extradition or mutual assistance, otherwise, the requested country will not entertain the Malaysian request. This is the global pressure most countries (especially European countries) are exerting on countries with the capital and corporal punishments system;

SECONDLY, and perhaps this is the most important reason, namely, every country practising the capital punishment inevitably faces the problem of double jeopardy unfairly and adversely affecting the condemned prisoner. Due to our criminal justice system, a trial with  at least two levels of appeal rights would inevitably incur a minimum period of about six years. Added to this is the further delay of the pardons system. It is usual even in the speediest system that a delay will occur of between seven to eight years. Normally, the delay is about nine years or more.

Translating this remand period prior to execution is equivalent to the condemned man having undergone 13.5 years of imprisonment (taking into consideration the automatic one-third remission on all imprisonment sentences). What this means is that the condemned man is to be executed by hanging after he had served an imprisonment of at least 13.5 years while waiting to be executed. This is what I mean by double jeopardy, suffering two punishments for a single crime.

But this is the rosiest picture I have painted on double jeopardy on the condemned persons. It is not unheard of for condemned men to be waiting in actual terms, without considering the one-third remission for periods in excess of 16 years and above. Some waited for 20, 25 and some even for 38 years! Think about this. It is no longer double jeopardy. It is triple jeopardy when we consider a normal life imprisonment is only 20 years (and the prisoner serves only 14 years after remission in such life imprisonment cases).

Are we seriously disputing this gross injustice and lack of basic human rights and dignity on these condemned persons, and what kind of society are we living in?

Many political leaders (government and opposition alike) do not want to take the lead in this call for reform for fear of being unpopular and would often blame the general public as wanting to retain this unjust capital punishment system. - New Straits Times, 2/11/2012, Columnist , A deeper impact beyond the gallows

It's time to end the death penalty (NST - Columnist)

It's time to end the death penalty

By Datuk Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah

ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: Malaysia should rethink holistically and practically and take the lead and be the proponent in Asean countries to implement this

Anti-death penalty campaigners staging a demonstration in Los Angeles. Even in other countries, people are protesting against the death penalty. AFP pic

THE death penalty is prescribed for several offences, ie murder and waging war against the King (offences under the Penal Code), kidnapping for ransom (an offence under The Kidnapping Act 1960 as opposed to simple kidnapping under the Penal Code), drug trafficking (offences under the Dangerous Drugs Act  1952 and other related drug statutes),  certain scheduled offences for activities in relation to possession of firearms and ammunition or explosives [offences under the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971(FIPA)] and under the Internal Security Act  1960 (ISA) the latter of which was repealed recently.

Most of the death penalties are mandatory upon finding of guilt. This means the trial judge has no discretion in sentencing to consider a range of possible sentences such as life imprisonment or a prescribed jail sentence which could run up to the maximum sentence, being the death penalty, which of those is most suited to be handed down on a convicted person after considering the myriad circumstances in relation to the commission of the offence and/or the offender.

The Malaysian legislature used to entrust judges with this important discretionary function. For instance, we used to give this sort of discretion to the High Court judges in drug trafficking matters. But a previous attorney-general was frustrated with the fact that judges were opting to sentence certain drug trafficking convicted offenders to life imprisonment rather than mete out the death penalty.

Those judges had good reasons in most cases for opting out of the death penalty. In any case, if the judges were wrong there was always the appellate process which the prosecution could resort to press their point for the capital sentence.

But immaturity and myopic considerations seemed to have prevailed then. We have been stuck with this knee-jerk culture of our legislature, a legislature that is not well advised by the parliamentary draftsman and other relevant authorities. As a result amendments made were jaundiced and lack cohesion with the general scheme of the system.

Back in 2008 or so, the secretary-general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in an important speech at the United Nations said that the Malaysian government was considering steps to abolish the death penalty. It would be done incrementally. I would have thought that the first step was to return the discretionary power to the judges on all offences, especially drug trafficking cases.

Singapore has just amended its law to reflect this on drug trafficking cases and a category of murder cases only and they apparently wanted to coordinate that important move for change with Malaysia. As always, we allowed Singapore to steal the thunder from us when we did nothing to implement that idea for the change although the Attorney-General's Chambers claimed they had been toying with some connected ideas and research about a year earlier.

Singapore now seems to have a slightly more liberal and just sentencing principle in drug trafficking cases than us! What an irony! My colleague, senior lawyer Roger Tan made this point in his recent article.

Malaysia should rethink holistically and practically the whole debate on the abolition of the capital punishment and not merely on abolishment of the mandatory death penalty  and take the lead and be the proponent in Asean countries to implement this actively.

As a Malaysian representative in the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, (AICHR), I have mooted this idea on several occasions among my colleagues in AICHR for all the 10-member Asean countries to consider.

Not so long ago, the de facto law minister had said Malaysia might not be ready to abolish capital punishment.

Apparently, according to him, the majority of Malaysians are against such abolishment. Of late the minister is proposing the idea of abolition of the mandatory death sentence in drug trafficking cases.

This is the exact idea of the current law in Singapore. Yet in our country, we take  a longer time to consider this obvious reform when we could have taken the lead.

Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye recently gave a dampening view  and advocated against abolition of the death penalty. I have several issues with Lee's observations.

Firstly, and with all due respect,  I think that  he may have misunderstood  the    minister. He was not talking about abolition of the capital punishment altogether. He was only referring to removing the law on mandatory capital punishment and even then it was restricted to drug offences only.  While I support the idea of immediately removing the mandatory capital punishment in drug cases, I am proposing that this should be merely a beginning of the migration of our laws towards the incremental and eventual total abolition of the death penalty. I propose we consider the following steps.

As a preliminary step, an immediate moratorium is  granted in respect of all cases pending executions until a wholesome decision has been arrived at by the relevant authorities to be followed with the following measures:

FIRST,  remove the mandatory death sentence on drug trafficking cases;

SECOND, within a year of the above,  remove mandatory death sentence on all crimes without exception;

THIRD, Within three years from the first step above,  abolish capital punishment altogether in all cases except for waging war against the King and kidnapping for ransom; and,

FOURTH, at an appropriate time after the three years from the first step (but no longer than five years) capital punishment should be removed even in the two offences of waging war against the King and kidnapping for ransom. In other words , at the end of the third  year  from the first step, only  two types of cases continue to attract the death penalty but on a non-mandatory status until further liberalisation as suggested above.

The reason I attribute seriousness to the two categories of cases is solely on grounds of public revulsion and public policy and the heinous nature and the presence of the element of extreme cruelty potentially surrounding the circumstances of such crimes. These two crimes are normally executed in the coldest, calculated and planned methods and have intimate nexus to violence.

 It is almost always carried out by gangs and syndicates normally associated with organised crimes or subversive elements. Crimes associated with drug trafficking range from syndicated organised crimes to mere individual carriers or mules and are solely driven for profit.

The lack of distinction between "hard" and "soft" drugs and between true traffickers and mere mules' in the Malaysian law, doubles the complications in sentencing.

Reasons for abolition of capital sentence. Among the common reasons advanced for the abolition of capital punishment are:

IT is a cruel and inhumane punishment;

IT is irreversible if a wrong conviction occurs;

IT is contrary to human rights by world standards;

THE retribution theory or "an eye for an eye" is  no longer an acceptable theory in sentencing principles; and,

THE death penalty does not reduce  specific crimes such as drug offences, murder etc.

All the above reasons are sound and reasonable.

The writer is a  former commissioner of  Suhakam and currently the sole Malaysian representative to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. The views he expressed herein are personal and not that of the institutions he is associated with

The second part of the article will appear in tomorrow's NST  - New Straits Times, Columnist, 1/11/2012, It's time to end the death penalty