death penalty

Offences such as treason, piracy, murder – including sorcery related violence – and aggravated rape will now be punishable by life imprisonment without parole or parole after 30 years.

The last execution in Papua New Guinea took place in November 1954 in Port Moresby. The country abolished capital punishment in 1970 but reintroduced it in 1991, though there have been no executions since then.

Minister for Justice, Bryan Kramer, said the cabinet has made the decision to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole.

“The history of the death penalty in PNG has been problematic. The death penalty was first introduced in the territory of Papua in 1907 and last execution was carried out in 1954.

“It was later abolished in 1974 prior to independence in 1975. Despite being reintroduced in 1991, the death penalty has never been properly implemented,” he said.  

On this important occasion, the European Union delegation to PNG calls for an end to state-sanctioned capital punishment.

Today, the EU delegation to PNG joined other EU missions around the globe to recall the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Countries are reminded that the death penalty is a violation of human rights.

A number of points were raised in today’s press briefing by the EU Ambassador to PNG.

First and foremost, Ambassador Ioannis Giogkarakis-Argyropoulos said capital punishment is an irreversible act.

Following the passage of the death penalty by parliament in 2013, the criminal justice system has imposed the penalty on serious criminal offences.

However, the sentence imposed by the courts in various serious criminal cases have not been carried out because of the procedures involved in executing the death penalty.

The three were convicted and sentenced over the cold blooded murder of eight people on 26 September 2007, between the waters of Namatanai and Kokopo.

Three of the five-man Supreme Court bench dismissed the appeals against conviction and sentence that were filed by prisoners Botchia Hagena of Urkuk, Duke of York islands, Peter Taul and Tobung Paraide of Pilapila village, East New Britain Province.

They were sentenced to death by hanging on 14 July 2011 by the Kokopo National Court. They were convicted after trial.  

“On this important occasion, we recall that the death penalty is a violation of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and call for an end to state-sanctioned capital punishment.”

Shahram Amiri had been in custody in Iran since 2010.

"Shahram Amiri had access to the system's top secrets and had gotten connected with our number one enemy the Great Satan," Iranian judicial spokesman Hojjat al-Eslam Mehdi Mohseni-Ejehei told reporters Sunday, according to state news agency IRNA.

Amiri's case had been reviewed by the Iranian high court, which upheld the conviction, according to Mohseni-Ejehei. "The Iranian High Court reviewed this decision with extreme care given the allegations of espionage," he said.

The country's human rights record was scrutinised at its second Universal Periodic Review on Friday night.

Several countries encouraged PNG to decriminalise homosexuality, to improve its rates of violence against women - some of the worst in the world - and to put a stop to police brutality.

PNG to pay K10m to host World Cup games

http://www.looppng.com/content/png-pay-k10m-host-world-cup-games

It will cost tax payers K10 million to host the three matches of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in Port Moresby.

UN draws attention to death penalty law in Pacific nations

Today is World Day Against the Death Penalty, but execution has yet to be abolished in Tonga, Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

The death penalty was revived in PNG in 2013, but was put under review in May without being implemented.

The United Nations Resident Co-ordinator in PNG, Roy Trivedy, says it's not clear when the review will be completed or what might follow.