Jessica Wongso, Mirna Salihin and the fatal cyanide drink

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5h6TUoCDHCWjJlNNqk7UMQ6mzNTPcXq_BMwWo5_pfA_yCkuH_sF30CTF5KjkxHuNC29wPxz6JQ5zUGqXEGqeUqdunqRNzLKsIBMRQgC0a05Nr91GVqfCfOM4YxIHq_EZVEcdjlOHryp8/s1600/Re-enactment+at+Olivier+Cafe+in+Jakarta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Police officers conduct a preliminary re-enactment at Olivier Cafe." border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5h6TUoCDHCWjJlNNqk7UMQ6mzNTPcXq_BMwWo5_pfA_yCkuH_sF30CTF5KjkxHuNC29wPxz6JQ5zUGqXEGqeUqdunqRNzLKsIBMRQgC0a05Nr91GVqfCfOM4YxIHq_EZVEcdjlOHryp8/s400/Re-enactment+at+Olivier+Cafe+in+Jakarta.jpg" title="Police officers conduct a preliminary re-enactment at Olivier Cafe." width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Police officers conduct a preliminary re-enactment at Olivier Cafe.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">An Indonesian Australian woman charged with the fatal cyanide ­poisoning of her friend must be ­executed if found guilty to prevent copycat murders, the dead woman’s father says.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Justice Minister Michael Keenan and Indonesian Law Minister Yasonna Laoly have confirmed Indonesia gave an undertaking in return for Australian Federal Police co-operation in the case that the death penalty would be taken off the table for Indonesian-born Australian permanent resident Jessica Wongso.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ministerial approval is a necessary condition for Australian assistance in investigating crimes that could lead to the death penalty, after the AFP tip-off that ultimately led to the ­execution last year of Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dermawan Salihin, 64, told The Australian yesterday that this should not affect the Indonesian judges’ final sentencing decision should Ms Wongso be found guilty of his daughter’s murder. “If this girl manages to get away then the same thing can happen to other people. Somebody can just poison another person and get away with it,” the Jakarta businessman said. “This girl has to be killed as an example so nobody else follows what she has done. Everybody in Indonesia is watching this.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSPcuaDQlEcxueKzjfv4Ljya_MPKdVSXWXK6yww18wYJz3zqGVo9OjXoAXYxdjgShymGMsqR_r_k82qt86HZULnmxjdmHE_bY9L8vb-M72oPAKgr84CMiP5XVfybiui9bVuIG0aJsElqE/s1600/Salihin+and+Wongso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSPcuaDQlEcxueKzjfv4Ljya_MPKdVSXWXK6yww18wYJz3zqGVo9OjXoAXYxdjgShymGMsqR_r_k82qt86HZULnmxjdmHE_bY9L8vb-M72oPAKgr84CMiP5XVfybiui9bVuIG0aJsElqE/s400/Salihin+and+Wongso.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ms Salihin (left) and Ms Wongso (right)</td></tr></tbody></table>Ms Wongso will face a Jakarta court today charged with the premeditated murder in January of former college friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, 27, at an upscale cafe in Jakarta. The women studied together at Billy Blue College of Design in Ultimo, Sydney. Ms Salihin returned to Indonesia in 2014 while Ms Wongso had been back in Jakarta just five months when she was detained on suspicion of murder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An autopsy confirmed Ms ­Salihin died of cyanide poisoning soon after drinking a Vietnamese iced-coffee ordered for her by Ms Wongso. The case has become a tabloid staple, fuelling salacious speculation over the motives for Salihin’s killing and a ghoulish boom in business for the Olivier cafe where she was killed. “Everybody calls it Mirna’s coffee; ‘I’ll have a Mirna’s coffee, but without the cyanide’,” Mr ­Salihin said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Police say CCTV footage shows Ms Wongso ­arriving at the cafe an hour before Salihin and a third friend, ordering drinks and waiting alone at the table.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just before her arrest, Ms Wongso told an interviewer on Indonesian TV that she had no idea what was happening when Salihin became ill after sipping her drink. “I was thinking, ‘What is wrong with her? At that time I didn’t think anything more. I thought it might be a heart attack, but it’s not possible, she’s still so young.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Indonesian police travelled to Australia in February, where they are understood to have interviewed former work colleagues of Ms Wongso at the NSW Ambulance Service. Potassium cyanide is a chemical commonly used in goldmining and is cheap and readily available in Indonesia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/jessica-wongso-mirna-salihin-and-the-fatal-cyanide-drink/news-story/86d3715edd6eb61eeb23b7277aae66df" target="_blank">The Australian</a>, Amanda Hodge, June 15, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Australia Indonesia Jessica Wongso Poisoning Women Jessica Wongso, Mirna Salihin and the fatal cyanide drink

Police officers conduct a preliminary re-enactment at Olivier Cafe. An Indonesian Australian woman charged with the fatal cyanide ­poisoning...

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Widodo promises 'to respect' accused cyanide-coffee killer death penalty deal

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMrxIg8HEEV4YeS8idYOKwIvd_ha3N9vVAKEcqt_hXukDEwgNEtaCQlUvF9YvXyOSttdoMYMb3p6RU_DIlwjiUe-erzpQS11xpFudpVqDdUQOvv-MDsNcycIwzSPlzjQAeJtf72soZKA/s1600/Joko+Widodo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Indonesia's President Joko Widodo " border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMrxIg8HEEV4YeS8idYOKwIvd_ha3N9vVAKEcqt_hXukDEwgNEtaCQlUvF9YvXyOSttdoMYMb3p6RU_DIlwjiUe-erzpQS11xpFudpVqDdUQOvv-MDsNcycIwzSPlzjQAeJtf72soZKA/s400/Joko+Widodo.jpg" title="Indonesia's President Joko Widodo " width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indonesia's President Joko Widodo</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Indonesia's President Joko Widodo will intervene if an Australian resident charged with murder is sentenced to death. Indonesia's Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly says Indonesia will honour a guarantee to Australia that Jessica Wongso will not be executed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"As a state we have to respect the international agreement," Mr Laoly said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He has also revealed that Wongso may never have gone to trial but for Australian Federal Police (AFP) assistance with the case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wongso will face a Jakarta court on Wednesday charged with the murder by cyanide poisoning of her friend Mirna Salihin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Salihin, who had also lived in Australia and studied in Sydney with Wongso, died shortly after drinking a Vietnamese iced coffee ordered by her friend in an upmarket Jakarta cafe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Police say Wongso poured cyanide into the coffee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wongso lived in Sydney until shortly before Ms Salihin's death, and the AFP helped Jakarta detectives work on the case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jakarta police travelled to Australia as part of their investigations and worked with AFP officers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Justice Minister Michael Keenan said he approved AFP assistance after Indonesia promised Wongso would not face the death penalty if convicted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Australian evidence crucial in case against Wongso</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">District Court spokesman and judge Jamaluddin Samosir, who will try the case, told the ABC earlier this month that a deal to strike-out the death penalty "was not possible".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Judge Jamaluddin said: "The judges can decide any penalty they want. We are independent, there can be no intervention."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That statement caused a stir in Indonesia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Of course the judges have independence. But in a state system, the institutions will respect an agreement made with another country," Mr Laoly responded yesterday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If the judicial process ignores the guarantee, the president has power (to give clemency)."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Laoly said the AFP assistance was crucial in helping the case become "clearer".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"She almost got away for the sake of regulations," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If we did not get the evidence provided by Australia, how could we proceed?"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prosecutors repeatedly refused to accept a police file on the case because of a lack of evidence in the brief of evidence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under Indonesian law, suspects must be released after 90 days in custody if the case has not been passed on to prosecutors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: abc.net.au, June 14, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Australia Indonesia Jessica Wongso Joko Widodo Poisoning Police Widodo promises 'to respect' accused cyanide-coffee killer death penalty deal

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo Indonesia's President Joko Widodo will intervene if an Australian resident charged with murder is ...

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Death penalty up to judge: Indonesia

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtcYgAJcMnE4Ib4ZNG3x9CMNw3zrC0EXgTEVfEytDnwUO9crDtoNgXjK1JU85aGAzcxfZ42cplUvIJgfwbHZ8xGkSTRYI-NRhuSBTlli3YGDQgSGvesCbQWhh9u4lkiZS6skJdvF5A7E/s1600/Jessica+K+Wongso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Jessica Kumala Wongso" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtcYgAJcMnE4Ib4ZNG3x9CMNw3zrC0EXgTEVfEytDnwUO9crDtoNgXjK1JU85aGAzcxfZ42cplUvIJgfwbHZ8xGkSTRYI-NRhuSBTlli3YGDQgSGvesCbQWhh9u4lkiZS6skJdvF5A7E/s400/Jessica+K+Wongso.jpg" title="Jessica Kumala Wongso" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jessica Kumala Wongso</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The Indonesian government is continuing to shy away from a public guarantee that the death penalty will not be carried out in the case of a woman accused of murdering her friend with a cyanide-laced coffee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During a joint press conference in Sydney on Wednesday, Justice Minister Michael Keenan said Australia had received written assurance from the Indonesian government that the death penalty would not be carried out in the matter of Jessica Kumala Wongso, thus paving the way for the Australian Federal Police to provide assistance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But when Indonesian Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan was asked during the same conference to guarantee that undertaking, he replied: "Well, I think we leave it to the judge, the court, but I believe we work it out (the) Indonesian way."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The comments followed annual talks in Sydney between Australia and Indonesia on law and security and come more than a week after Jakarta prosecutors and police stated it was still "possible" Jessica could face the death penalty were she to be convicted of murder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jessica is accused of killing her 27-year-old friend Wayan Mirna Salihin in January with a poisoned Vietnamese ice coffee at a popular Jakarta restaurant.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The AFP helped with investigations into the case only on the proviso that the death penalty would not be sought or carried out were Jessica convicted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the event that a death sentence was handed down by the judge, Indonesia's president could grant clemency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a case that has dominated local press, Jessica is accused of killing 27-year-old Mirna, with whom she studied in Australia - first at Billy Blue College in Sydney and later at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne in 2008.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jessica met up with Mirna and their friend Hani on January 6 during a trip home to Indonesia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She allegedly laced Mirna's Vietnamese iced coffee with cyanide and she collapsed and began convulsing moments after sipping it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prosecutors have more than 90 days to prepare the indictment against Jessica and hand it to Central Jakarta District Court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: AAP, Karlis Salna and Lauren Farrow, June 8, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Australia Indonesia Jessica Wongso Poisoning Death penalty up to judge: Indonesia

Jessica Kumala Wongso The Indonesian government is continuing to shy away from a public guarantee that the death penalty will not be carried...

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As the world moves away from the death penalty, why is India tightening the noose?

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmpQfoVOtznxxGxItZfOkdeEIwA63WCEmXeWKZxS5FqAyZW0G-aVs3tw4xZHOXpfebo8QSKk-kmoLvmu_nYHy_SdhOpp9V7QNjNY_PPzQgmHYld8tJpOGBi-E8j3-VdL_o0zuauQg0dBU/s1600/File+photo+of+a+gallows+at+the+Old+Central+Jail+in+Bangalore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Gallows at the Old Central Jail, Bangalore, India" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmpQfoVOtznxxGxItZfOkdeEIwA63WCEmXeWKZxS5FqAyZW0G-aVs3tw4xZHOXpfebo8QSKk-kmoLvmu_nYHy_SdhOpp9V7QNjNY_PPzQgmHYld8tJpOGBi-E8j3-VdL_o0zuauQg0dBU/s400/File+photo+of+a+gallows+at+the+Old+Central+Jail+in+Bangalore.jpg" title="Gallows at the Old Central Jail, Bangalore, India" width="265" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gallows at the Old Central Jail, Bangalore, India</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Two Acts passed this year widen the scope of capital punishment in India.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While a majority of countries globally have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, at least 2 laws have come into force in India in the last 2 months that expand the scope of the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016, passed in March, says that mixing poisonous substances with liquor can be punishable by death, in cases where death is caused. Then, the Anti-Hijacking Act 2016, which was notified by Parliament in May, allows for capital punishment in cases of hijacking that have resulted in the deaths of hostages, security personnel or any person not involved in the offence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is in sharp contrast to the position taken by the Law Commission of India in August last year. In a report, the commission said that the time had come for India to move towards abolishing the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The commission recommended doing away with capital punishment immediately for all crimes "other than terrorism-related offences and waging war," in the hope that the "movement towards absolute abolition [would] be swift and irreversible".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Intent to kill not required</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Apart from widening the ambit of the death penalty, the recent laws are also problematic because they do not require the accused to have lethal intent, that is, the intent to cause death, while committing the crime, in order to attract capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several preexisting Indian laws also prescribe the death penalty as a possible punishment for acts that do not involve intentional killing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some don't even require a death to have occurred for the imposition of the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For example, Section 364 (A) of the Indian Penal Code states that the death sentence can be imposed in cases of kidnapping for ransom, if amongst other things, the person kidnapped or abducted is threatened with death or hurt, or there is reasonable apprehension that this can happen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Departure from international stance</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The expansion of the death penalty through the recent laws is inconsistent with India's international obligations. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which India acceded to in 1979, countries that retain the death penalty may impose it only for "the most serious crimes". India's Supreme Court affirmed this standard in the Bacchan Singh vs State of Punjab judgment of 1980, where it also held that the death penalty should not be imposed "save in the rarest of rare cases when the alternative option is unquestionably foreclosed".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">United Nations' agencies and experts have clarified the scope of what constitutes "most serious crimes".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For example, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions had said that the imposition of the death penalty must comply with the "most serious crimes" restriction and "can only be imposed in cases where it can be shown that there was an intention to kill which resulted in the loss of life."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A 2014 report of the UN Secretary General further confirmed that in international human rights jurisprudence, the term "most serious crimes" has been interpreted as "allowing the death penalty to be applied only to the crime of murder or intentional killing", and concluded that, "Until it is fully abolished, retentionist states must ensure that the death penalty is imposed only for those crimes that involve intentional killing".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>A systemic problem</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While there have been only 4 executions in the past 16 years - 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon's hanging in July last year was the latest - the death penalty continues to be regularly used in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 1,303 death sentences were handed out in India between 2004 and 2013, and 95 people were sentenced to death in 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The larger systemic and institutional problems with the application of the death penalty in India have been rigorously documented.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A 2008 report by Amnesty International India and the People's Union for Civil Liberties (Tamil and Puducherry) said that the imposition of the death penalty in India was effectively a "lethal lottery" because of the arbitrariness inherent in the decision of whether to impose the death sentence in any particular case. The recently released report by National Law University's Delhi's Death Penalty Project observed that the death penalty in India is disproportionately imposed on prisoners from socio-economically marginalised groups. The report also outlined fair-trial violations in many cases where individuals were sentenced to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Indian Law Commission cited the "extreme agony" faced by convicts on death row - compounded by degrading and oppressive prison conditions - as one of the reasons to move away from the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These reports strengthen the case for the abolition of the death penalty in India in all circumstances and for all offences. Its brutal nature along with arbitrary and seemingly discriminatory manner in which it is applied violate the right to life and the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As of 2015, 140 countries in the world had abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Instead of keeping with this trend, India is expanding the scope of capital punishment in a manner that is not only inconsistent with international practices but also its own Constitutional values.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: scroll.in, June 7, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Abolition Hijacking India Kidnapping Poisoning Terrorism United Nations As the world moves away from the death penalty, why is India tightening the noose?

Gallows at the Old Central Jail, Bangalore, India Two Acts passed this year widen the scope of capital punishment in India. While a majority...

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No agreement with AFP on Jessica's sentencing: Indonesian Police

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtcYgAJcMnE4Ib4ZNG3x9CMNw3zrC0EXgTEVfEytDnwUO9crDtoNgXjK1JU85aGAzcxfZ42cplUvIJgfwbHZ8xGkSTRYI-NRhuSBTlli3YGDQgSGvesCbQWhh9u4lkiZS6skJdvF5A7E/s1600/Jessica+K+Wongso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Jessica Kumala Wongso" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtcYgAJcMnE4Ib4ZNG3x9CMNw3zrC0EXgTEVfEytDnwUO9crDtoNgXjK1JU85aGAzcxfZ42cplUvIJgfwbHZ8xGkSTRYI-NRhuSBTlli3YGDQgSGvesCbQWhh9u4lkiZS6skJdvF5A7E/s400/Jessica+K+Wongso.jpg" title="Jessica Kumala Wongso" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jessica Kumala Wongso</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto has denied that the Jakarta City Police have made an agreement with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) about the sentence of murder suspect Jessica Kumala Wongso, who could potentially receive the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"No there is no such agreement. We are professional, working based on facts," said Moechgiyarto as reported by kompas.com on Friday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Australia is a country that has eliminated the death penalty, where Jessica holds permanent residency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the investigation, police investigators requested from the AFP Jessica's records while living in the country. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Sydney Morning Herald reported in late February that Jessica would not receive the death penalty as part of an agreement between the AFP and Jakarta Police.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jessica was accused of murdering Wayan Mirna Salihin on Jan. 6. The case came to light when Jessica, Mirna and another friend shared a table at Olivier cafe in Central Jakarta. Mirna died soon after meeting, on her way to hospital, after drinking cyanide-laced coffee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office in late May accepted the case dossier against Jessica - 2 days before her detention period by police was set to expire. Currently, Jessica is being detained by the prosecutors' office while awaiting trial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jessica's lawyers claimed police had no strong evidence against her because CCTV footage failed to confirm that Jessica was the one who placed poison in Mirna's coffee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Jakarta Post, June 3, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Australian student charged with murdering her friend with cyanide-laced coffee in Indonesia WON'T face the death penalty if found guilty</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A woman accused of slipping cyanide in her friend's iced coffee will not face the death penalty if she is found guilty of murder in Indonesia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Australian resident Jessica Kumala Wongso is due to face trial over the death of her friend Mirna Salihin who police allege was poisoned with cyanide in a Jakarta cafe on January 6.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Murder is a capital crime in Indonesia and it was speculated that Ms Wongso could have faced the death penalty if convicted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, an Indonesian official said a document was signed on Thursday to assure the Australian government that she will not be executed if found guilty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'We have written the letter. We co-ordinated it with the Attorney-General and the Jakarta Police Chief,' Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly told the Sydney Morning Herald.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan previously said he had been promised Ms Wongso would not be sentenced to death and had approved Australian Federal Police assistance in honour of that agreement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibHw8gy_no0hhfJ2bfKBflC8kojFeFv2PZVvSPgCqM6JHmDaB9CmtNQXgYWw4m1iXPY085ScoBiCAgLJ3fs_maQ4Bd_LOXEJk3AYPIW3HE1AxDl8hbPclyAHkG9bBxrXj6gLmswy7oCqM/s1600/Australia+AFP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibHw8gy_no0hhfJ2bfKBflC8kojFeFv2PZVvSPgCqM6JHmDaB9CmtNQXgYWw4m1iXPY085ScoBiCAgLJ3fs_maQ4Bd_LOXEJk3AYPIW3HE1AxDl8hbPclyAHkG9bBxrXj6gLmswy7oCqM/s400/Australia+AFP.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AFP agents</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">But a Central Jakarta District Court said on Tuesday there was no binding agreement preventing the death sentence because the Indonesian justice system 'does not recognise that kind of deal'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'No such deal is possible in our system,' District Court Judge and court spokesman Jamaluddin Samosir told ABC.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'The judges can decide any penalty they want. We are independent, there can be no intervention.'</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A spokesperson for Mr Keenan's office told ABC: 'The Indonesian government has given an assurance to the Australian government in writing that the death penalty will not be sought nor carried out in relation to the alleged offending.'</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Salihin began foaming at the mouth after one sip of Olivier Grant Cafe's 'Vietnamese coffee' and died on her way to hospital on January 6.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wongso ordered the drink for Ms Salihin after arriving at the restaurant an hour before her in January.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She was seen handling the beverage on CCTV footage before her friends arrived, according to local media.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 27-year-old was arrested on January 30, some 3 weeks after meeting her friend at the cafe. She denies 1 count of pre-meditated murder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wongso, a permanent resident in Australia, studied with Ms Salihin at the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney and at Swinburne University of Technology.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They graduated in 2008 but Wongso remained in Sydney to work. She returned to Indonesia sometime afterwards but the pair had grown distant, it was claimed by local police.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the time of Ms Salihin's death she had recently married husband Arief Soemarko.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A consultant called in by local police in March to help unravel the case alleged that Wongso, who did not attend their wedding, had been driven to murder by 'revenge and jealousy'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'A possible motive is some kind of jealousy and revenge,' Kirdi Putra told ABC's 7.30.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wongso denies killing her friend and has vowed to clear her name.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She previously took part in a police reenactment of their meeting at the Olivier Grand Cafe, returning to the scene in an orange jumpsuit and police guard.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Her lawyer, who is also her uncle, has called in to question an autopsy apparently commissioned by police which found 15 grams of cyanide per litre in her system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In March Wongso said she wanted to help her friend's family discover 'who was behind all of this'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Business has boomed at the Jakarta cafe since Ms Salihin's death, with travellers waiting up to four hours for a table to sample the the drink themselves and take photos inside the 'dark tourism' destination.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many took photographs of their visits to share on social media and joked about the looming case against Ms Wongso.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'Coffee without cyanide,' said one diner as she uploaded a photograph of the cafe's now infamous Vietnamese iced coffee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another said they had to book in advance for a table with the restaurant becoming 'far more crowded' as a result of the scandal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'We had the infamous Vietnamese iced coffee which was alright. The place was pretty busy so I guess no bad effects from the 'murder case'' said another.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Daily Mail, June 3, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Australia Indonesia Jessica Wongso Poisoning No agreement with AFP on Jessica's sentencing: Indonesian Police

Jessica Kumala Wongso Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto has denied that the Jakarta City Police have made an agreement with the A...

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Coffee murder: Indonesian minister signed guarantee Jessica Wongso wouldn't be executed

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtcYgAJcMnE4Ib4ZNG3x9CMNw3zrC0EXgTEVfEytDnwUO9crDtoNgXjK1JU85aGAzcxfZ42cplUvIJgfwbHZ8xGkSTRYI-NRhuSBTlli3YGDQgSGvesCbQWhh9u4lkiZS6skJdvF5A7E/s1600/Jessica+K+Wongso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Jessica Kumala Wongso " border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtcYgAJcMnE4Ib4ZNG3x9CMNw3zrC0EXgTEVfEytDnwUO9crDtoNgXjK1JU85aGAzcxfZ42cplUvIJgfwbHZ8xGkSTRYI-NRhuSBTlli3YGDQgSGvesCbQWhh9u4lkiZS6skJdvF5A7E/s400/Jessica+K+Wongso.jpg" title="Jessica Kumala Wongso " width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jessica Kumala Wongso</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Jakarta: An Indonesian Cabinet minister personally signed a letter guaranteeing an Australian permanent resident accused of poisoning her friend with cyanide will not face the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly confirmed the Indonesian government had provided written assurance that Jessica Kumala Wongso will not be executed if found guilty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Yes, I was the one who guaranteed it," Mr Yasonna told Fairfax Media.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have written the letter. We co-ordinated it with the Attorney-General and the Jakarta Police Chief."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Wongso, an Indonesian with permanent residency status in Australia, has been accused of the premeditated murder of her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, with whom she had studied in Australia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Salihin died of cyanide poisoning on January 6 after drinking a Vietnamese iced coffee that Ms Wongso had ordered for her at an upmarket cafe in a Jakarta shopping mall.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The death penalty is the maximum sentence for premeditated murder in Indonesia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Indonesia asked the Australian Federal Police for assistance investigating the case given Ms Wongso worked for NSW Ambulance until late last year and the two women had studied together at Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However under the AFP guidelines on international police assistance in death penalty situations, ministerial approval is required if a person has been detained, arrested, charged or convicted of an offence that carries the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The AFP faced criticism for handing over information to Indonesian authorities about the Bali nine, which led to their arrests for heroin smuggling in 2005. The coordinators of the Bali nine, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in Indonesia last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">New guidelines for the AFP's role in cases involving the death penalty were introduced in 2009 after a federal court exonerated the AFP from acting unlawfully in the Bali nine case but argued new protocols were needed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Australian Attorney-General's office said the Indonesian government had given an assurance to the Australian government that the death penalty would not be sought or carried out in relation to the alleged offending.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We provided the guarantee otherwise it was impossible that they [Australia] accepted our team [to go] there," Mr Yasonna said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However Professor Tim Lindsey, the director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society at Melbourne University, <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/2016/05/australian-charged-with-cyanide-coffee.html" target="_blank">questioned the reliability of the agreement between the two countries</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think it's not much of an assurance at all in legal terms … you could imagine a situation in which she could still be executed."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dr Lindsey said there was a separation of powers between the legal system and the government in Indonesia. "The government can't give any undertaking that would bind judges," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Even if the prosecutors do not seek the death penalty, judges can certainly ignore that."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dr Lindsey also said that Ms Wongso would not be able to sit indefinitely on death row as guidelines required prisoners to be executed once they had exhausted their legal options.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If the letter was a promise to grant her clemency that would have to come directly from the president and even then it would be very dubious as he can only exercise that power after an application is made and he has received advice from the Supreme Court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"He probably would not be bound by the letter. As a matter of law, it's a very strange agreement and I don't know it's really reliable."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/coffee-murder-indonesian-minister-signed-guarantee-jessica-wongso-wouldnt-be-executed-20160602-gp9vff.html" target="_blank">SMH</a>, Jewel Topsfield, June 2, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Australia Indonesia Jessica Wongso Poisoning Coffee murder: Indonesian minister signed guarantee Jessica Wongso wouldn't be executed

Jessica Kumala Wongso Jakarta: An Indonesian Cabinet minister personally signed a letter guaranteeing an Australian permanent resident accus...

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