Death Penalty in India:

“One hardly finds a rich or affluent person going to the gallows”

In November 2012, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was hanged in the country’s first execution in more than eight years. Three months later, Afzal Guru was executed after his clemency petition was rejected by the President; Guru had been convicted in 2005 of being involved in the 2001 attack on Parliament.

More recently, the government has expanded the scope of the death penalty by amending laws to provide for this punishment in certain cases of rape.

The Supreme Court last week also rejected an appeal against the decision by the President to reject Devender Pal Singh’s mercy petition. In a trial that has raised serious fair trial concerns, Devender Pal Singh was found guilty of planning an explosion that killed nine people in 1993. His sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2002 and he has been on death row since.

The recent decision of the Supreme Court is likely to affect at least 17 more prisoners who are asking for commutation of their death sentences on the grounds of delay in the disposal of their mercy petitions by the President.

Justice A. P. Shah, a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, is one of the most outspoken opponents of capital punishment in the country. He shared his views on the death penalty in this interview with Amnesty International.

What is the state of the death penalty in India?

India has carried out only very few executions since the 1990s. However, the brutal gang rape of a 23-year old woman in Delhi last year intensified public calls for the imposition of the death penalty.

Why should India abolish the death penalty?

Whether an accused is sentenced to death or not is an arbitrary matter and depends on a number of factors, ranging from the competence of the legal representation to the interest of the central government in a particular case and the personal predilections of the judges.

It is beyond any shred of doubt that in India, it is the judges’ subjective discretion that eventually decides the fate of an accused.

Also, confessions and witness testimonies play a more vital role in India than in many other countries, given that forensic and other scientific evidence are not so frequently adopted here.

Most death sentences are awarded on circumstantial evidence alone. Even the use of professionally trained witnesses by the police is common.

Why do you say the death penalty is discriminatory?

In India, it is largely cases involving the poor and the down-trodden - who are the victims of class-bias - which result in an imposition of a death penalty. Here one hardly finds a rich or affluent person going to the gallows.

Therefore, it is apparent that the death penalty, as it is used now, is discriminatory. It strikes mostly against the disadvantaged sections of society, showing its arbitrary and capricious nature - thus rendering it unconstitutional.

You have expressed concerns about the execution of Afzal Guru, who was convicted of being involved in 2001 attack on Parliament in Delhi

Several disturbing trends emerge from his execution, which must be highlighted.

For example, the rejection of his clemency petition by the President on 3 February 2013 was kept a secret and was not communicated to his family. Afzal Guru was executed within a week without his family being informed and his body was buried secretly. There are also serious doubts about the quality of evidence and whether he was adequately represented legally during his trial.

What’s the future of the death penalty in India?

The global trend is increasingly and overwhelmingly in favour of abolition.

We would be deluding ourselves if we were to believe that the execution of a few persons sentenced to death will provide a solution to the unacceptably high rates of crime. In reality, capital punishment does not have any deterrent effect.

Justice A. P. Shah is one of 14 retired judges who last year called on the Indian President to commute 13 death sentences that, they maintain, were imposed in a manner inconsistent with the law.

Amnesty Report Finds “Disturbing, Damning Evidence”

Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 11:07 PM
Amnesty International Report Finds “Disturbing, Damning Evidence” of Bahrain’s Excessive Force Against Peaceful Protesters Including Live Ammunition Fired at Close Range 
American Emergency Room Doctor Examined Wounded and Talked to Hospital and Mortuary Staff in Investigation 

New York: Thursday, March 17, 2011 
Bahrain’s security forces used live ammunition at close range and targeted peaceful protestor’s heads, chests and abdomens during the deadly February crackdown on protests at Pearl Roundabout, according to a new report issued today by Amnesty International. An American doctor examined wounded individuals and interviewed hospital and mortuary staff and eyewitnesses in Bahrain and found “disturbing, even damning, evidence” of excessive force by police and soldiers against protesters and medical workers trying to treat the wounded.


In addition, Amnesty International identified American ammunition collected in the aftermath of the raid on Feb. 17, including U.S.-made tear gas canisters and 37 mm rubber multi-baton rounds, in addition to French-made tear gas grenades, and French-made rubber “dispersion” grenades. Riot police and soldiers fatally shot seven people between February 14-17.


At least 10 countries including the United States supplied or licensed exports of weaponry, munitions and other related equipment to Bahrain.  The U.K. government revoked some licences for arms exports to Bahrain after the violence, and the French authorities have suspended the export of security equipment to Bahrain. 


Amnesty International is calling for all countries including the United States to immediately suspend  the supply of weaponry and munitions to Bahrain that could be used to commit further human rights abuses, with protesters still camped out in central Manama and sporadic clashes reported between members of the Gulf state’s Sunni and Shi’a Muslim communities.


The new report, Bloodied but Unbowed: Unwarranted State Violence Against Bahraini Protesters, documents how security forces used live ammunition and extreme force against protesters without warning and impeded and assaulted medical staff trying to help the wounded.


The report is based on first-hand testimonies given to an Amnesty International fact-finding team in Bahrain that included Dr. Hani Mowafi, who specializes in emergency care and public health, and is affiliated with Boston Medical Center, the Boston University Department of Emergency Medicine and the Harvard University Humanitarian Initiative.


He found a pattern of fatal and serious injuries showing that the security forces used live ammunition at close range, and apparently targeted protester’s heads, chests and abdomens. 


The worst violence took place early on the morning of February 17, when five people were killed. Witnesses told Amnesty International that tanks blocked access to the Pearl Roundabout as police used shotguns as well as tear gas, batons and rubber bullets to disperse protesters, many of whom were camping there.


 They also fired medium-to-large calibre bullets from high-powered weapons on February 18.


Amnesty International is demanding a full and independent investigation of the actions of the security forces.


“Those responsible for ordering and unleashing lethal force against peaceful protesters must be identified and held to account,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa. "The authorities must exercise proper control over the security forces and uphold and protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, including the right to peaceful protest," said Malcolm Smart.


International standards prohibit excessive use of force that is disproportionate to the threat posed or the objective to be achieved.


One witness told Amnesty International that riot police were shooting from different angles, including from a bridge over the roundabout, while protesters desperately ran for cover.


Among the injured were people clearly identifiable as medical workers, who were targeted by police while trying to help wounded protesters at or near the roundabout.


Dr. Sadeq al-‘Ekri, a surgeon, who set up a mobile clinic at the roundabout, told Amnesty International that police stopped him, tied his hands behind his back, pulled his trousers down and punched and beat him with sticks, including his genitals.


He suffered a broken nose, an injured left eye, suspected fractured ribs and other bruises.  “These physical injuries will disappear but the psychological damage will not,” he said. “I didn’t believe that this would happen in Bahrain.”


On March 3, Bahrain’s Minister of Social Development, visiting London, told Amnesty International that the Bahraini government was holding an investigation into the killings that will report directly to the King, and that two members of the security forces had been taken into custody.


Amnesty International is also calling for victims of violence by the security forces to receive reparation.


Background 


Amnesty International conducted a fact-finding mission to Bahrain between February 20-26. The delegation included two Amnesty International researchers and the U.S. medical doctor specializing in emergency care and public health. The delegation interviewed witnesses to the violent events of mid-February, victims and their relatives, and hospital and mortuary staff. They also met government officials and human rights activists. 


Amnesty International -- today the largest grassroots human rights organization in the world with nearly 3 million members worldwide -- has helped win the freedom of tens of thousands of individuals jailed for expressing beliefs or defending basic rights, shut down torture chambers, halted executions, and established laws and treaties to protect the freedom and dignity of people around the world -- and in the United States. Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. 

Malaysian Govt.Reveals Nearly 30,000 Foreigners Caned

Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 12:50 AM

Washington: Malaysia should immediately halt the judicial caning of refugees and migrants, Amnesty International said after the government disclosed that almost 30,000 foreigners had been caned in five years.

In a response to a parliamentary question on March 9, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein disclosed that Malaysia had caned 29,759 foreigners between 2005 and 2010 for immigration offenses alone.

“The government’s figures confirm that Malaysia is subjecting thousands of people to torture and other ill-treatment each year,” said Sam Zarifi, Asia Pacific director at Amnesty International. “This is a practice which is absolutely prohibited under international law, no matter what the circumstances. As a first step, the Malaysian government has to immediately declare a moratorium on this brutal practice.”

Amnesty International also called for a complete abolition of all forms or corporal punishment, which constitutes torture or other ill-treatment.

In December 2010, Amnesty International published an in-depth investigation into judicial caning in Malaysia. In each of the 57 cases it examined, Amnesty International found that the caning amounted to torture, as the authorities had intentionally inflicted severe pain and suffering through the punishment of caning.

While most countries have abolished judicial caning, Malaysia has expanded the practice. Parliament has increased the number of offenses subject to caning to more than 60.  Since 2002, when Parliament amended the Immigration Act 1959/63 to make immigration violations such as illegal entry subject to caning, tens of thousands of refugees and migrant workers have been caned.

At least 60 percent of the 29,759 foreigners caned were Indonesians, according to Liew Chin Tong, the parliamentarian who submitted the question. In March 2010, Amnesty International documented how unchecked abuses by unscrupulous labor agents led to many migrant workers losing their legal immigration status and thus being subject to caning.

Refugees are also caned for immigration violations in Malaysia. Since Malaysia has not yet ratified the U.N. Refugee Convention, asylum seekers are often arrested and prosecuted as illegal migrants. Burmese refugees in Malaysia have told Amnesty International how they live in fear after being caned.

“Malaysia is subjecting thousands of people from other Asian countries to torture and other ill-treatment,” said Zarifi. “Indonesia, which chairs the Association of South East Asian Nations and its human rights Commission this year, must press Malaysia to stop caning their citizens.”

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