Friday, March 01, 2019

Proud to be Malaysian as the world applauds our government's decision to abolish death penalty

At the7th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, it was very proud being Malaysians - so many people were very happy and congratulated the Malaysian new government who decided to abolish the Death Penalty ..
Malaysia's decision to do away with capital punishment has been mentioned several times during the opening of the Congress at the European Parliament, which was attended by more than 1,000 people from all over the world.




MALAYSIA must abolish the death penalty - the possibility that an innocent may get executed is very real... Human judges, prosecutors, police and even lawyers can make MISTAKES resulting in persons who are innocent being wrongly sentenced to death...and executed.(See article below that talks about 5 such persons that were wrongly executed in Britain) 

For Muslims calling for the abolition of the death penalty(in secular law) is an obvious position. These laws do not follow the Islamic evidential requirement or criminal procedural requirement. It is really ODD when some Muslims wrongly want to retain such death penalty in Malaysia.

Islam is also compassionate - as even a convicted murderer could be saved from execution - the principle of 'diyat' . For Christians too, it is clear when Jesus stopped the stoning to death an adulterous women ...
 
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst
4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"
6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." - John Chapter 8, Bible
Why are some of us so eager to put someone(even he he killed someone) to death? Crime must be punished - but hanging to death is simply not right. When Malaysia hangs, it is you and I who is 'killing' a person...

Death Penalty is NO DETERRENT - murder and drug trafficking increased even with the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia.. 
"From the perspective of an entrepreneur and investor, I think capital punishment is a strong indicator of a country's approach to governance, fairness and the rule of law. "It also tells a lot about misguided priorities and a lack of responsibility. "The moral argument against the death penalty should be enough," he[ Business tycoon Sir Richard Branson] said.

 
Richard Branson commends M'sia on decision to abolish death penalty

28/2/2019


BRUSSELS: Business tycoon Sir Richard Branson has commended Malaysia for its plan to abolish the death penalty.

The Virgin Group founder said the government's decision was one of the positive developments seen around the world when it came to the death penalty.
"I think I speak for us all in welcoming the Malaysian government's plan to abolish the death penalty and Iran's removal of the death sentence for a number of drug-related crimes," he said in a video
message played at the 7th World Death Penalty Congress in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday (Feb 27).

He said the death penalty was often used as a political bargaining chip by politicians, especially during election season when leaders seek to boost their crime-fighting cridentials.

Branson said he considered the death penalty a barbaric and inhumane practice that had no place in modern society.

He said while his opposition to the death penalty was at its heart a moral opposition, he could see other compelling reasons why people should get involved in the abolition of the death penalty.

"From the perspective of an entrepreneur and investor, I think capital punishment is a strong indicator of a country's approach to governance, fairness and the rule of law.

"It also tells a lot about misguided priorities and a lack of responsibility.

"The moral argument against the death penalty should be enough," he said.

"In my heart, I know the death penalty is on its way out, I would like to think, (during) the generation of my grandchildren.

In October last year, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said the Cabinet would abolish the death penalty, with a moratorium for those on death row.

Recently, Liew said a final decision would be made during one of the Cabinet's weekly meetings in March on whether to table a proposal in Parliament.

Malaysia's decision to do away with capital punishment has been mentioned several times during the opening of the Congress at the European Parliament, which was attended by more than 1,000 people from all over the world.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini said that legislation could help change culture, pointing out that European countries once practised the death penalty too.

"(This is) Because cultures and attitudes can change, even when they seem too deep and too rooted, even when change seems impossible to achieve," she said during a speech.

Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM) Director Raphael Chenuil-Hazan said a moratorium alone was not enough, citing the examples of Pakistan, Chad and Gambia as counties that reversed moratoriums on executions.

"For countries who are on a moratorium but maintained the death penalty, they have made a positive step but they should not stop in the middle of the river because otherwise who knows what can happen in a few years," he said. - Star, 28/2/2019


NEVER RESTORE THE NOOSE: FIVE WRONGFUL EXECUTIONS IN THE UK
With the execution of Troy Davis in the early hours of the morning, we should remember that supporters of the death penalty in Britain are currently running their most high-profile campaign in years. The e-petition from the so-called “restore justice” campaign currently stands at 21,000 signatures.
We know from history the inevitable consequence of reintroduction of capital punishment: that, sooner or later, innocent people will be killed by the British legal system. Below are five cases in which the convictions of hanged suspects were subsequently thrown into doubt, with many officially exonerated.
Derek Bentley was hanged in 1953. In a robbery during which Craig was carrying a gun, Bentley, who had a mental age of 10, shouted “Let him have it!” to his friend who then shot PC Miles. Bentley’s defence claimed he meant for Craig to give miles the gun, but the prosecution alleged he meant to shoot him. He was posthumously pardoned in 1993, and his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1998, after a long campaign by his sister Iris. Unfortunately, she did not live to see it.
Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be executed in England for the murder of her lover, David Blakely, at Holloway Prison in 1955. The jury took just 14 minutes to find her guilty.  Ellis did not appeal against her conviction. Ellis’ family campaigned for her murder conviction to be reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of provocation. They argued Ellis was suffering “battered woman syndrome”. She had suffered a miscarriage just 10 days before the killing after David Blakely had punched her in the stomach. The defence of diminished responsibility did not then exist.
Timothy Evans was hanged in 1950, convicted of the murder of his wife and daughter, later found to have been actually committed by his neighbour, the serial killer John Christie. In an investigation marked with poor practice, the police failed to find other human remains in Christie’s garden, and were alleged to have coerced a false confession from Evans. He was granted a royal pardon (posthumously) in 1966, but despite an attempt to have the conviction quashed in 2004, judges refused on grounds of cost- although they accepted he hadn’t been guilty.
George Kelly was hanged in 1950, convicted of the murders of Leonard Thomas and John Catterall in a burglary of the Cameo Cinema in Liverpool. The investigation led to Kelly as a small-time criminal active in the area. Kelly’s conviction was overturned in 2003, after it came to light that Merseyside Police had ignored reports of an apparently genuine confession from another man.
Mahmood Hussein Mattan was a Somali national hanged in 1952 for the murder of Lily Volpert. He was arrested and charged by police after testimony from another suspect in the case, which more closely matched another suspect, not Mattan. Evidence was also omitted from court of an eyewitness identification which seemed to exonerate Mattan. His case was the first to be reviewed by the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, and in 1998 the Court of Appeal found the case was “demonstrably flawed”.

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