By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TEHRAN, Iran – Amnesty International recently published a study with statistical information regarding nations retaining a form of capital punishment.  The late proliferation of judicial executions in Iran has invoked the apprehensions of numerous human rights groups, as it raises suspicions that the Iranian government is utilizing its capital punishment system as a mechanism by which it can quell political unrest and detractors of the state.

The temporal context of the surge in executions in Iran further suggests that the state has been using  judicial executions to serve political purposes.  Studies revealed a discernable rise in execution rates during last years tumultuous presidential elections.  The widely publicized riots subsequent to the unfavorable outcome of the elections, which reinstated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of Iran, caused much disorder in Iranian city streets and created an opportunity for people to voice their often suppressed opinions.

However, the opportunity created by the disorder in the streets did not entail the freedom to do so without punishment.  Within the weeks beginning with the summer elections and ending with the actual inauguration of Ahmadinejad, it has been reported that approximately 112 individuals had been put to death.  The executions also seemed served as a deterrent for political activism.  Even if the executions did not actually eliminate enemies of the current regime,, they have the effect of conveying a morbid message to  individuals and organizations speaking against the state.

Including the spike in executions done during the weeks surrounding Iran’s June elections, Amnesty International has reported that the Iranian government killed 388 people in the year 2009.  Further studies demonstrate that the number of executions in Iran has multiplied nearly four-fold since Ahmadinejad became president five years ago.  The execution statistics, if correct, signify that Iran under the presidency Ahmadinejad has seen the most capital punishment since the Islamic Revolution of the late 1970s.

The international community has taken significant steps to express its collective disdain towards the extensive use capital punishment.  Multilateral UN documents contain articles either restricting or moving for the elimination of the death penalty in signatory states.  Iran’s proliferation of judicial killing, and the purpose of these killings, signifies an abuse of power largely condemned and inhumane in its results.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty Int’l – Iran executions send chilling message – 30 March 2010

IOL News – Iran execution rates rising – 12 May 2008

Refworld – Execution date moved forward for Iranian young offender – 02 Febrary 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PAHANG, Malaysia – A woman in Malaysia, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, originally sentenced last July to caning for violating a Muslim law,  has had her punishment commuted. The Islamic department in Pahang announced that the state’s sultan decided to spare her.

Kartika, a former model and nurse, was initially sentenced to be caned. The mother of two had pleaded guilty to the crime. At the time, if the punishment had been carried out she would have been the first woman to be caned in Malaysia, where about 60% of the 28 million people are Muslims. Kartika was supposed to receive six strokes of the cane, and a fine of 5,000 ringgit (about $2,000) for drinking beer in December 2007 at a beach resort.

Photograph of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno and her two children. Image courtesy of: The Age.

The public reaction to Kartika’s sentence prodded an already fiery debate over whether Islamic laws should intrude into people’s private lives in this Muslim-majority country. Many people had condemned the punishment, sand expressed the concern that this was a sign that conservative Islamists are gaining influence over the justice system.

Malaysia follows a dual-track justice system. Shariah laws apply to Muslims in all personal matters. Non-Muslims – Chinese, Indians, Sikhs, and other minorities are covered by civil laws, and are free to drink alcohol. There are only three states in Malaysia, Pahang, Perlis and Kelantan that impose caning for drinking alcohol. In the other 10 states it is punishable by a fine. According to local sources, the caning would be different from the corporal punishment administered to male criminals under secular civil laws. Drug offenders, kidnappers and others are caned with a thick rattan stick on bare buttocks that break the skin and leave lifelong scars.

After Kartika was sentenced, the Prisons Department declared it was ready at any time to carry out the caning of Kartika, but were only waiting for an order from the Syariah court. Her sentence set precedent for sentencing women to caning for civil law violations again Muslim-based rules, three other Muslim women were sentenced to caning, and they became the first women to actually be caned. They were being punished for having sex out of wedlock.  Allegedly their cases did not draw as much national attention, because the caning was kept a secret until after it was done. Later, the women appeared before local media and said they deserved the punishment.

In carrying out the caning sentences, the country’s prison authorities have now demonstrated their willingness to carry out caning sentences on women if ordered to do so by a Syariah court.

For more information, please see:

CNN International – Malaysia commutes woman’s caning sentence – 3 April 2010

New Tang Dynasty News – Malaysian Woman’s Caning Sentence Dropped – 2 April 2010

Tha Malaysian Insider – Outrage over women’s caning – 3 April 2010

BBC World News – Malaysia beer drink woman’s caning sentence commuted – 3 April 2010

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TOKYO, Japan – An investigation conducted by the United Nations (UN) found that foreign migrant workers in Japan face racism and discrimination.

Japan has increasingly relied on migrant laborers from countries like China and the Philippines as a result of their declining population.  However, the UN report found that some conditions the migrant workers face in Japan “may well amount to slavery.”

UN Special Rapporteur Jorge Bustamante, a specialist in international migration, said, “They [migrants] face racism . . . , exploitation, a tendency by the judiciary and police to ignore their rights and the overall lack of a comprehensive immigration policy that incorporates human rights protection.”

The UN report also highlighted that racism and discrimination based on nationality in schools, workplace, housing and health care  are also very common in Japan. 

Bustamante especially drew attention to the high rates of domestic violence against migrant women and children.  He said, “Appropriate policies to protect and assist single mothers and their children who find themselves in this extremely vulnerable situation are lacking . . . .”

For example, large number of migrant children in Japan does not attend school.  The UN is urging the Japanese government to increase efforts in helping these children study and learn Japanese.

There have also been cases where parents of children born in Japan who have lived in the country for more than ten years have recently been deported or detained, which resulted in children being separated from their parents.

The Special Rapporteur expressed concern that “[i]n accordance with the principle of the best interest of the child, families should not be separated.”

Furthermore, the UN investigation found that Japan has a policy of detaining irregular immigrants, e.g., asylum-seekers, parents and children, for extended period of time.  In certain cases, some were detained as long as three years, which, according to the UN, is a “de factor indefinite detention.”

Japans’ Foreign Ministry has declined to comment, and Bustamante will represent his full report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in October.
For more information, please see:

AFP – Racism and discrimination common in Japan: UN envoy – 31 March 2010

Financial Times – Japan’s treatment of migrant workers criticized – 31 March 2010

UN News Centre – Independent UN rights expert urges end to migrant discrimination in Japan – 1 April 2010

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HYDERABAD, India – The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has been facing extensive violence and disorder in its streets, as continual rioting has plagued its streets since Saturday.  The riots allegedly began as a result of an agitated skirmish over decorations for the celebration of the Hindu deity Hanuman’s birthday.  Hindus and Muslims both committed violent acts towards one another as the Hyderabad streets dissolved into chaos.   Communal tensions between the two religious groups are not new to the state of Andhra Pradesh, which has an approximately 60:40 Hindu-to-Muslim population ratio.

It seems that greater friction between Hindus and Muslims has manifested since the Indian government began discussing splitting the Andhra Pradesh state.  However, the riots that began on Saturday represented an instance in which the streets of Hyderabad were consumed in violent action.  There have been myriad reports of people setting buildings aflame, damaging vehicles on the street and turning the Andhra Pradesh streets essentially to a war zone.  Also, about five mosques and one Hindu temple were damaged in the streets

Approximately one-hundred people have been arrested in connection to the rioting thus far.  While there has only been one reported death, a man who was stabbed to death in the riots, scores more have been injured to varying degrees.  The continual activity and disturbance on the Hyderabad streets would have made it difficult to deliver assistance to those who have sustained injuries.

The police have allegedly been looking into possible catalysts for the extensive violence.  However, cooperation from Indian nationals has been difficult to attain.  In order to crack down on the raging communities in the Muslim-majority Old Hyderabad, where the riots spiraled out of control, the police stations in various parts of the city have been subject to a curfew.  Fluctuations in the terms of the curfew have occurred over the week, including relaxations to allow women and older women to wander.

Both Hindu and Muslim groups claim that the government has done a poor job in quelling the riots, declaring that there was actually a Congressional interest in allowing the riots to continue.  These allegations, however, have yet to be confirmed or substantiated.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Curfew follows Hyderabad riots – 30 March 2010

HinduJagruti – Jihadi Riots in Hyderabad… – 31 March 2010

SifyNews – Shoot-at-sight orders issued in Hyderabad… – 30 March 2010

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia