Hanging of Afzal Guru was in violation of International Standards of Death Sentence and Execution, Says Amnesty International [Read the Report]

Amnesty International, in its report on Death Sentences and Executions in 2013 published this week, has condemned India for defying international standards for Death Sentences and Executions while executing Death Sentence of Afsal Guru.Report says as followsIndia carried out one execution on 9 February, when Mohammad Afzal Guru was hanged in secret at Tihar Jail in New Delhi. He had been sentenced to death in 2002 after being convicted of conspiracy to attack the Parliament of India, waging war against India and murder in December 2001 by a special court designated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), a law which fell considerably short of international fair trial standards and has since been repealed. Afzal Guru's death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in August 2005, and his mercy petition was rejected by the President on 3 February 2013. Serious concerns about the fairness of Afzal Guru's trial – including the fact that he did not receive legal representation of his choice or a lawyer with adequate experience at the trial stage - were not addressed. Afzal Guru's family were not informed in time of his imminent execution and his body was not returned to the family for last rites and burial, in violation of Death sentences and executions in 2013 international standards. Afzal Guru was also denied the opportunity to seek a judicial review of the decision to reject his mercy petition. The President of India rejected the mercy petitions of 18 other prisoners in 2013, the most rejections by any President in nearly 25 years. Authorities began to take steps to increase secrecy around the use of the death penalty, including by removing information regarding decisions on mercy petitions by the President from the website of the President's Secretariat.Regarding the Death Sentence of Khalisthan Liberation Terrorist Devinder Pal Bhullar report states as follows;The Supreme Court of India rejected the commutation plea of Devender Pal Singh Bhullar on 12 April. He had been sentenced to death in 2001 for his involvement in a bomb attack in New Delhi in 1993 that killed nine people. He was arrested in January 1995 under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), a law that subsequently lapsed, and contained provisions incompatible with international fair trial standards. Devender Pal Singh Bhullar had no access to a lawyer during his initial detention and trial. He was found guilty on the basis of an unsubstantiated "confession" that he made to the police, which he later retracted, claiming it was made under police pressure. In March 2002, the Supreme Court upheld Bhullar's death sentence, though one of the three judges on the bench had found him not guilty, saying there was no evidence to convict him. Bhullar had been receiving treatment at a psychiatric facility in New Delhi, and in 2011 his lawyer requested that the Supreme Court consider his mental condition as grounds for commuting his death sentence. The President of India rejected Devender Pal Singh Bhullar's mercy petition in May 2011, eight years after the request was filed. Devender Pal Singh Bhullar approached the Supreme Court seeking commutation of his death sentence on the grounds of inordinate delay in its consideration. On 12 April 2013, the Supreme Court rejected his plea and decided not to commute the death sentence because of the "enormity of the crime". The judgment stated that delay "cannot be invoked in cases where a person is convicted for an offence under TADA or similar statutes." Though a larger Bench overruled the dictum in the Bhullar Case, the plea of Bhullar is still pending in the Supreme Court. The Central Government yesterday filed a no-objection in commuting his Death sentence.In January Supreme Court in Shatrughan Chauhan & Anr. vs Union Of India & Ors has issued Guidelines issued by the Supreme Court on various procedures before executing a death convict.Guidelines are as follows;1. Solitary Confinement:Supreme Court, in Sunil Batra held that solitary or single cell confinement prior to rejection of the mercy petition by the President is unconstitutional. Almost all the Prison Manuals of the States provide necessary rules governing the confinement of death convicts. The rules should not be interpreted to run counter to the above ruling and violate Article 21 of the Constitution.2. Legal Aid:There is no provision in any of the Prison Manuals for providing legal aid, for preparing appeals or mercy petitions or for accessing judicial remedies after the mercy petition has been rejected. Various judgments of this Court have held that legal aid is a fundamental right under Article 21. Since this Court has also held that Article 21 rights inhere in a convict till his last breath, even after rejection of the mercy petition by the President, the convict can approach a writ court for commutation of the death sentence on the ground of supervening events, if available, and challenge the rejection of the...

Hanging of Afzal Guru was in violation of International Standards of Death Sentence and Execution, Says Amnesty International [Read the Report]

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