JAPAN HANGS TWO MORE ON DEATH ROW
Japan hanged two more death-row inmates as the country steps up executions to a pace unseen in three decades, despite an ongoing UN review of its rights record, AFP reported Oct. 28. The country, which has one of the world's lowest crime rates, is the only major industrial nation other than the United States to use the death penalty. Its use is widely supported among the Japanese public. Oct. 30 executions were the first since conservative Prime Minister Taro Aso took office last month. "The executions were carried out after we repeatedly gave full, cautious and appropriate consideration," Justice Minister Eisuke Mori told reporters.

The hangings brought to 15 the number of people executed this year, the highest total since 1975 when Japanese authorities hanged 17 people. The executed inmates were Michitoshi Kuma, 70, and Masahiro Takashio, 55, the justice ministry said. Kuma was convicted of kidnapping and killing two girls, both seven, in 1992 in western Fukuoka prefecture. Takashio stabbed an elderly woman and her daughter to death in northern Fukushima prefecture in 2004 to get money.

Mori denied that Japan was trying to speed up the pace of executions. "I did not take the timing or space (in between executions) into account at all," he said. Following the latest executions, Japan has 101 inmates on death row. Under Japanese law, the justice minister must sign off on every execution. At the time of his appointment as justice minister, Mori said he would "solemnly carry out" his duties on the death penalty. Japan had a de facto moratorium on executions for 15 months until 2006 because the then justice minister, Seiken Sugiura, said the death penalty went against his Buddhist beliefs.
Last year, Japan executed nine convicted killers.

UN CRITICISES N KOREA FOR HOLDING PUBLIC EXECUTIONS
North Korea is using public executions to intimidate its citizens, the UN investigator on human rights in the reclusive nation said, according to Deseret Morning News Oct. 24. Vitit Muntarbhorn told the UN General Assembly's human rights committee that North Korea has also imposed more severe sanctions on people seeking to leave the country and those forcibly returned, and it still detains "very large numbers" of people in camps. "The human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea remains grave in a number of key areas," Muntarbhorn said. "Particularly disconcerting is the use of public executions to intimidate the public," he said. "This is despite various law reforms in 2004 and 2005, which claim to have improved the criminal law framework and related sanctions." He urged North Korea to terminate public executions, modernize the legal and prison systems and abide by the rule of law, and build an independent judiciary.

SOUTH KOREA. CONSTITUTIONALITY OF DEATH PENALTY TO BE REVIEWED
In South Korea a provincial court has challenged the constitutionality of the current law legalizing capital punishment amid an intensifying tug-of-war between courts and human rights groups at home and overseas to abolish the capital punishment., Korea Times Oct. 3. The Gwangju High Court has filed a petition with the Constitutional Court on behalf of a convicted prisoner, who is in detention on homicide charges. Civilians or civic groups have lodged several petitions but this is the first case that a local court filed a constitutional petition on the internationally sensitive issue.

The latest ruling, which stuck to current law, was made in 1996. A 70-year-old fisherman was sentenced to death in the first trial for killing four tourists, who were on board his fishing boat. He asked his appellate court judge to file the petition, alleging ``capital punishment is unconstitutional.'' Accepting his suggestion, the appellate trial will be suspended until the Constitutional Court reviews the petition.
The presiding judge of the trial said, ``At the time of the latest constitutional ruling on the death penalty in 1996, the Constitutional Court stated it was constitutional although it indicated the need to scrap the capital punishment on a long term basis”.According to the Ministry of Justice, 58 convicted are now behind bars awaiting the death penalty.

MALAYSIA. DEATH FOR SMUGGLING DRUGS
The Malaysian High Court sentenced a 61 year old senior citizen to death after finding him guilty of trafficking in 1,558g of ketamine at 7.30am on Dec 3, 2006, according to New Straits Times on Oct. 10.
The security guard was boarding a plane to Shenzen when he was caught with drugs hidden in his underwear with a high waist female undergarment over it. Jun Lam Chin Swee Kong was caught by officers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport as he was passing through the metal detector. Judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad said the defence had failed to rebut the prosecution's case. During the trial, Jun Lam said he was helping a friend to take the drugs, which he had believed were traditional herbs, to China. He said he hid the herbs to avoid paying tax.

40 FILIPINOS OVERSEAS FACE DEATH PENALTY: GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL
A total of 40 Filipinos overseas are facing the death penalty in various countries, a government official of the Philippines said, Xinhua reported Oct. 15. The cases, involving offences such as rape, drug smuggling and homicide, are pending in Kuwait, Malaysia, Brunei, the United States and Saudi Arabia among others, said Esteban Conejos, Undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs Conejos said the cases are in different stages, but in the event of conviction, the maximum penalty is death. Since 2006, there were a total of 64 death penalty cases, but the government was able to ask commutation of 24 sentences from death to life imprisonment.

CHINA: FORMER BEIJING COURT PRESIDENT GIVEN SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR BRIBERY
A former Beijing court president was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in China for bribery and embezzlement, Chinaview.cn reported Oct. 30. The First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing also confiscated all the belongings of Guo Shenggui, ex-president of the Xicheng District People's Court. Guo garnered 7.97 million yuan (US$1.17 million) of illicit money between October 1998 and May 2007.
He was bribed by more than 10 people to influence lawsuits and construction project bids, among other things. He also embezzled public funds. Guo, 60, retired in 2006. Disciplinary authorities began investigating him in June 2007.

INDIA: ANTONY COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF JAWAN
An Army jawan in India facing the death penalty for killing an officer had his death sentenced commuted to life imprisonment by Defence Minister A K Antony, Sify.com reported Oct. 31. "But it is not my personal decision (to commute the death sentence). Before I took a decision, it was recommended by the Army Chief and the Defence Ministry. Only then, I took a decision," Antony said. Army headquarters sources said the fragging case was related to jawan Ravi Kumar Pola, who was found guilty of firing at his senior officer with a service weapon. The fragging incident took place on September 13, 2006. A court martial found Pola guilty and ordered the death penalty for killing Major Harsh, sources said. Following the court decision, Army headquarters put it up before its chief General Deepak Kapoor, the confirming authority in the case. General Kapoor recommended to the Defence Ministry that considering the circumstances of the case, the death penalty could be commuted to life imprisonment.

DEATH PENALTY STILL STANDS IN BOTSWANA, SAYS KHAMA
The Botswanan Government does not intend to change its current stance on the death penalty, the President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama said Oct. 31, Daily News Online reported. Responding to a comment from a resident during a kgotla meeting he addressed in Palapye, President Khama said people who took their time to plan and deliberately killed others should know that they would be executed.
This, he said, did not mean that the government enjoyed ‘doing it’ but it was the only way to discourage people from taking other individuals’ lives. "The fear of facing death penalty can make a would-be killer to think twice about murdering somebody," he said. "Nobody wants to die."

SUDAN: SUPREME COURT REJECTS DEATH SENTENCE APPEAL
The Sudanese Supreme Court in Khartoum rejected an appeal by lawyer Kamal Umar Abd-al-Salam on behalf of the defence committee for the defendants convicted of killing the journalist Muhammad Taha Muhammad Ahmad, BBC reported Oct. 24. The accused were sentenced to death by hanging. The resolution to reject the appeal stated that the sentences neither contravened the Islamic Shari'ah law nor the civil law, and therefore, there was no justification for the verdict to be reviewed.

ALGERIA: REZAG BARA CALLS FOR DEFINITELY ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY
Algerian President Bouteflika’s advisor in charge of Human Rights, Rezag Bara, wanted an ultimate decision to be made concerning the death penalty in Algeria, El Khabar reported Oct. 12. He proposed jail sentences of 30 years as an alternative. At the margin of a conference on human rights held at the headquarters of the Human Rights Advisory Commission, Razak Bara indicated that judicial authorities have suspended death penalty rulings, following an instruction issued in 1993, however courts have persisted in issuing death sentences. He called for a final decision to be made. Bara also called on judicial authorities to remove "the special cells" reserved for prisoners serving death sentences.

Editor's Note: The copyright for items included in the world press review lies with the respective media mentioned as sources. This review is purported to provide a glimpse of the coverage of death penalty related issues in the global media. This review is in no case intended for commercial purposes. -