Sunday, May 29, 2005

DON'T BLAME INDONESIA

The trial and conviction of Schapelle Corby was one of 7,410 drug-trafficking cases in Indonesia last year alone. Like many countries worldwide, Indonesia is battling a flourishing international drugs trade.

The media placed Corby in the spotlight, capturing the imagination of an Australian caught up in the lucrative international drug trade. This in part, is because she is white, young and pretty.

Corby was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She could easily have been sentenced to death, but in this rare case the prosecution decided not to seek the death penalty.

That hasn't stopped the many commentators and her supporters from simply attacking the Indonesian legal system and judiciary as being barbaric, inadequate and inherently corrupt.

Currently, there are three Australian citizens facing execution in Singapore and Vietnam, after being convicted and sentenced to death for alleged drug-trafficking.

Sadly, there have been no commentators supporting these three doomed Australians, nor have there been any comments attacking these nations for their barbaric use of the death penalty for convicted drug-traffickers. There is a bizarre double standard here with both the media and dearly beloved political leaders.

The justice system that convicted and sentenced Corby is the same system that convicted and sentenced three of the Bali bombers to death. At the time, Australians hailed that same justice system for delivering the ultimate punishment - the death penalty. The media and political leaders voiced their delight and said they would not oppose the death sentence. Prime Minister John Howard went further, adding his "respect" for the court's decision. This was clearly noticed internationally - and what goes around eventually comes around.

If there is any evidence that the death penalty brutalises society, this is one example. It seems that while most Australians, including the media and political leaders, were thrilled with the imposition of the death penalty against Indonesian citizens, the same justice system is now considered incapable/corrupt/barbaric of trying an Australian citizen where no death sentence was sought. Suddenly, we no longer have the same respect for the court's decision.

While most Australians sympathise with Schapelle Corby and her family, let's remind ourselves that she is just one of some 200 Australian citizens serving long sentences or awaiting trial in foreign prisons for alleged drug-trafficking. Many are facing the death penalty if convicted. Where is the compassion and the sympathy for them? Corby, who has captured the hearts and minds of all Australians, is far better off than the current three Australians facing execution in Singapore and Vietnam.

Surely, human decency demands that our greatest efforts should be reserved for all human beings who are at risk of execution --- whether they be young or old, black or white, pretty or ugly, Australian or non-Australian, guilty or innocent. When society takes pleasure in the legalised killing of a human being, we all demean ourselves and our world is further brutalised.

By ACADP posted 29 May 05

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PLANNING TO TRAVEL OVERSEAS? BEFORE YOU GO, READ THIS!


Currently, 214 Australian citizens are languishing in prisons around the world. The majority of these having been convicted of drug-related crimes.

People: 'Prisoners' of Drugs'

People who are addicted to heroin usually take the drug because it relieves them of problems such as low self-esteem, distrust and fear of abandonment. They may have poor communication skills & poor relationship skills.

Ed: I'll agree with the article in relation to the death penalty.

I feel sorry for Schapelle Corby to some extent but all those innocent who can prove it, even here in Australia, that are denied that right, even when there is proof, deserve as much attention.

The innocent deserve lots of attention especially if they can prove their case.

Many innocent people never get the media to give them that much attention. The only upshot is perhaps for one person saved - there are many others that can be saved - because we've witnessed it.

Should it be one persons luck, looks, links who knows but in life you have your own luck. That's what I do know. Me being a fatalist and all. One person lucky enough to be saved is better than none. Proving the fact that innocent people can be saved.

"The media placed Corby in the spotlight, capturing the imagination of an Australian caught up in the lucrative international drug trade. This in part, is because she is white, young and pretty."

Then again I agree with Flakk

"I cringe every time I hear Cannabis referred to as a 'Narcotic' because it is no such thing, but they sentence people caught in possession of this drug same way they sentences those found in possession of a boat load of heroine. "

Good on you Flakk you're on the ball....It's a Herb!

That's one reason why she never got the death penalty!


Related:

Corby lawyer pleads for Australian help
Schapelle Corby, 27, is accused of carrying over four kilograms of marijuana into Bali and could be sentenced to death if she is found guilty.

THE DRUG-RIDDEN STREETS OF BALI:
Chris Allen, took to the streets of Bali and found it possible to buy a smorgasbord of illegal narcotics from dealers.

Death Penalty Links:

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LIFE ON A THREAD:
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THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK:
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USA - FEELING THE HEAT FROM INTERNATIONAL FIRE:
The United States of America has withdrawn from an international agreement that gives detained foreign nationals the right to seek assistance and talk to their consular officers.

Corby lawyer pleads for Australian help
Schapelle Corby, 27, is accused of carrying over four kilograms of marijuana into Bali and could be sentenced to death if she is found guilty.

OHIO: Appeals court tosses death sentence for U.S.-British citizen
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THE INNOCENT SCOT ON DEATH ROW IS ALMOST FREE
If you haven't heard about it yet, you will. There's a celebration in the air: Kenny is an innocent man living on death row in an Ohio prison and the authorities may finally acknowledge what we've known all along.

EXPENSES FOR STATE-ASSISTED SUICIDE EXCEEDS $33,000.00
To prepare for Connecticut's first state-sanctioned killing in 45 years, the state Department of Corrections has spent more than US$33,000 on such items as training personnel, drugs (poison), intravenous catheters and tubing, portable restrooms, mobile offices, lighting and curtains for the witness observation room.

Child Offenders on Death Row
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US death row numbers don't change policy?
The number of prisoners on death row in the United States appears to be falling, mostly credited to a single Governor who commuted the sentences of all the death row prisoners in his state.

Despite Drop in Crime, an Increase in Inmates
US: The number of inmates in state and federal prisons rose 2.1 percent last year, even as violent crime and property crime fell, according to a study by the Justice Department released yesterday.

How Denying the Vote to Ex-Offenders Undermines Democracy
For starters, hundreds of thousands of people who are still eligible to vote will not do so this year because they will be locked up in local jails, awaiting processing or trials for minor offenses.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

Our Two Priority Bills sent to White House
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THE LAW IS AN ASS:
US: A Californian man who beheaded a german shepherd dog he had named after his girlfriend, has been sentenced to 25 years to life under California's three-strikes law.

SAVE THE LIFE OF NGUYEN TUONG VAN:A PLEA TO SINGAPORE PRESIDENT On behalf of the Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty (ACADP) and in the spirit of respect for human life, I make a heartfelt plea for clemency, compassion and mercy, to spare and save the young life of Nguyen Tuong Van, currently under sentence of death at Changi Prison in Singapore. Nguyen Tuong Van, is a 23-year-old Australian man of Vietnamese origin. Nguyen was arrested at Changi Airport in December 2002, whilst in transit from Cambodia to Australia. He was later charged and convicted of drug-trafficking. In March 2004 he was sentenced to death for his crime.

EXTRADITION ACT FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET
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BIRTHDAY PROTEST BACKS INNOCENT MAN ON DEATH ROW:
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Appealing a Death Sentence Based on Future Danger USA-HOUSTON, June 9 - Texas juries in capital cases must make a prediction. They may impose a death sentence only if they find that the defendant will probably commit more violent acts.

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Silencing the Cells: Mass Incarceration and Legal Repression in U.S. Prisons People without a voice are not people in any meaningful sense of the word. Silenced people cannot express their ideas; they can neither consent nor protest. They are reduced to being pawns in the schemes of the powerful, mendicants who must accept whatever is imposed upon them. In order to keep people in a state of subjugation, silencing their voices is essential. Nowhere is this clearer than in U.S. prisons.

U.N. Group Seeks End To Executions The United States, Japan, China, India and Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia opposed the resolution. Burkina Faso, Cuba, Guatemala, South Korea and Sri Lanka abstained.

US: Execution Dear Friends, this is so sad especially for our dear friend, San Nguyen. San who lives in Oklahoma worked very hard with the rest of the Vietnamese community to stop Mr. Le's execution. You may remember San from being at CURE's First International Conference in New York City in 2001. San also plans to be at the 8th National Convention this June in Washington. Charlie

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Cherie Blair attacks US over death penalty in Catholic paper Cherie Blair has renewed her attack on America's use of the death penalty. In a book review in the Catholic journal The Tablet, under her maiden name Cherie Booth, she says: "Capital cases are uniquely prone to error and thus call into question whether we can ever be really sure of obtaining the just result.

Death penalty: a lawyer sees the light The observation "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" is illustrated by the two nations' differing reactions to the use of the death penalty as a legitimate punishment for murder.

OHIO: Judges join dissent on execution delay In Columbus, 5 federal appeals court judges say a convicted killer's request to delay his execution was illegally denied because 2 senior judges participated in the vote.

Stephen Romei: Death knell sounds for US capital law GEORGE Ryan gets my vote as Australian of the Year, even though he's the outgoing governor of the US state of Illinois. There's just no one I admire more right now, not even Greg's Kables Community News Newtwork..

Mexico Awaits Hague Ruling on Citizens on U.S. Death Row Sbaldo Torres, a convicted murderer on death row in Oklahoma, should have been dead by now, his appeals exhausted, his time up.

Jury Passes On Business Of Killing US: This drives the death penalty crowd in the legislature nuts. Yet another jury - another 12 men and women, tried and true, who had all attested to their belief in the death penalty - has refused to join in the killing business.

Ultimate Punishment Scott Turow has long juggled two careers‹that of a novelist and that of a lawyer. He wrote much of his first and best known legal thriller, Presumed Innocent, on the commuter train to and from work during the eight years he spent as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, and he has churned out another blockbuster every third year since joining the firm of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal in 1986.

A Question of Innocence Rubin Carter: Day after day, week after week, I would sit in that filthy cell, seething. I was furious at everyone. At the two state witnesses who lied, at the police who put them up to it, at the prosecutor who sanctioned it, at the judge who allowed it, at the jury who accepted it, and at my own lawyer, for not being able to defeat it.

Amnesty steps up campaign to abolish death penalty Human rights watchdog Amnesty International is urging people around the world to pressure countries to abolish the death penalty.

'LAND OF THE FREE' SET TO EXECUTE TWO PRISONERS BY FIRING SQUAD: Wanted: Willing executioners for two convicted murderers. Must be psychologically sound and familiar with .30-calibre rifles. No victims' relatives need apply.

TEXAS EXECUTES 300th PRISONER Keith Clay was executed tonight, becoming the 300th prisoner in Texas to die by lethal injection since the rogue state resumed the death penalty 20 years ago.

AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY " ... Our nation was built on a promise of life and liberty for all citizens. Guided by a deep respect for human dignity, our Founding Fathers worked to secure these rights for future generations, and today we continue to seek to fulfil their promise in our laws and our society.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Please note the following article carefully.....it shows clearly the hateful, uncaring and anti-human rights attitude as reflected by the Governor of Texas (and most other elected Texas officials).

Bush rules out death sentence review US President George W Bush says has dismissed any chance of a review of America's system of capital punishment.

Amnesty urges Bush to shut death row Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged US President George W. Bush to take a "moral stand" and abolish the death penalty after the Illinois Governor dramatically emptied that state's death row.

USA - A NATION IN TURMOIL: As the year 2002 draws to a close, little if anything, has changed in the United States in regards to state-sanctioned killing. Various campaigns, calls for clemency, petitions, and international condemnation, have failed to humanize U.S. politicians.

Here come de Judge - Time to Leave [266]
There have always been examples of rulings and interpretations that have supported the saying "The law is an ass". This is increasingly the case, because even the best intentioned judges are now facing an avalanche of new technologies and social change. But, it is no good making excuses for the judiciary and continuing to accept their strange interpretations. We must recognise that not only judges but the whole legal system will struggle more and more. In the end the whole system will become a farce. This is the way empires end.