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Four men given death sentences in India gang rape
Four men given death sentences in Delhi gang rape (Agencies) / 13 September 2013 A judge sentenced four men to death on Friday for the fatal gang rape of an Indian student on a bus last December, triggering applause inside the packed courtroom. Here is a timeline of the major events leading up to sentencing on Friday of four adults for the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus last December. December 16, 2012: The physiotherapy student goes out for an early evening screening of the “Life of Pi” at a cinema with her male friend at an upmarket shopping mall in south Delhi. Unable to track down a taxi or auto rickshaw, they are tricked onto a white private bus at around 9:00pm which they believe will take them back home. Inside, a group of six draw the urtains, beat up and rob the male friend and then take turns in raping the girl as the bus drives around the capital. After more than an hour, the bloodied young couple are dumped by a main road leading to the international airport, narrowly avoiding death when the gang try to reverse over them with the vehicle. December 17: Police open a case and begin viewing CCTV footage from cameras fitted outside hotels, offices and government buildings. They identify a white bus with a missing wheel cap and “Yadav” written on both sides. The driver of the bus Ram Singh is arrested. Inside the vehicle, the seats and curtains have been washed. Police say forensic experts find strands of hair belonging to the victim and some of the attackers in the bus. December 18: Fuelled by wall-to-wall television coverage and front-page newspaper articles, large numbers of women, students and other protestors hold demonstrations as the rape victim battles for life on a ventilator. December 22: Police use batons, water cannon and tear gas on angry crowds who gather at the India Gate memorial in the heart of the city and outside the president’s official residence. All six accused have now been arrested and remanded in police custody. The government sets up an inquiry to suggest ways to enhance women’s safety in Delhi. December 24: Two Delhi police officers are suspended for failing to halt the bus at checkpoints designed to stop suspicious vehicles. Roads across central Delhi are blocked as protests continue. December 26: The gang-rape victim is airlifted to Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital after her condition deteriorates in Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. In one of many operations, doctors in India remove her intestines which were damaged when she was violated with an iron bar. December 29: The woman dies from organ failure in Singapore, spurring more protests in New Delhi. January 28, 2013 : The Juvenile Justice Board declares one of the rapists is a minor, sparking a fierce debate about the criminal justice system for under-18s and demands for him to stand trial as an adult. February 2: The five adult accused are charged with a string of offences, including murder, gang-rape, kidnapping and robbery. They are sent to judicial custody in Tihar Jail. Three weeks later, the juvenile is charged with the same offences. March 11: Ram Singh, the main accused and a public hate-figure, is found dead in his cell after an apparent suicide. His family and lawyer allege murder. March 21: India’s parliament completes the passing of a tougher rape law which includes a provision for the death sentence if the victim dies. It also provides for a minimum 20-year prison sentence for gang rape. August 31: The juvenile suspect is found guilty of rape and murder and sentenced to three years in a correctional facility — the maximum possible sentence for the teenager under Indian law. September 10: The four adult suspects — Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta — are found guilty of all charges. The judge says they committed a “cold-blooded” murder. September 13: The court sentences to death Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh. Judge Yogesh Khanna told a court in the Indian capital that the case, which sparked widespread anger against the treatment of women in the country, fell into the “rarest of rare category”, which justified capital punishment. “In these times when crimes against women are on the rise, court cannot turn a blind eye to this gruesome act,” he said. As the courtroom burst into applause, the father of the 23-year-old victim told reporters that he was delighted with the sentence. “We are very happy,” said the father, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his late daughter. “Justice has been delivered,” he told reporters inside the court, flanked by his wife and sons. His wife said that her daughter’s “wish has been fulfilled at last”. One of the men, Vinay Sharma, broke down in tears as the sentence was announced, according to an AFP correspondent. All four suspects were teary eyed as they entered the cramped room to hear their punishment after they were convicted on Tuesday of a string of charges including murder and gang rape. There had been a huge clamour for the four — Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Mukesh Singh — to be executed for their attack on the physiotherapy student and her male companion on December 16. After prosecution lawyers argued on Wednesday the gang were guilty of a “diabolical” crime, the victim’s mother had implored the judge to hand down the death sentence. Police in riot gear maintained a heavy presence outside the court on Friday with the road leading up to the complex barricaded off. India had an unofficial eight-year moratorium on capital punishment until last November, when the only surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks was executed. Weeks later, a Kashmiri was hanged over his role in an attack on parliament a decade ago. During Wednesday’s hearing, defence lawyers argued Judge Khanna should resist “political pressure” and instead jail the gang for life, citing the youth of their clients, who are all in their teens or 20s. The gang’s relatives had also been pleading for their lives to be spared ahead of the announcement. Handing down his verdict at the end of a seven-month trial Tuesday, Khanna found the men guilty of the “cold-blooded” murder of a “helpless victim” whose fight for life won her the nickname of Braveheart. Feelings have been running high in a country disgusted by daily reports of gang rapes and sex assaults on children. A total of 1,098 cases of rape have been reported to police in Delhi alone so far this year, according to figures in The Times of India on Friday. That represents a massive increase on the 450 recorded in the same period last year, although campaigners say the rise reflects a greater willingness by victims to come forward after the December bus attack. Since the convictions, newspapers have printed graphic details of the onslaught against the student, including of the internal injuries she suffered while being violated with a rusty iron bar before being thrown naked off the bus. Her injuries were so severe that she died nearly a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital. Before her death she had briefly regained consciousness, telling family and friends of her desire to see her attackers burn to death. Lawyers for the men have already said they will appeal the convictions in the Delhi High Court, which will spell years of argument and delays in India’s notoriously slow legal system. In appeal, the defence is likely to advocate lesser sentences for some of the gang, and argue it was a “spur of the moment” crime and not premeditated. There was widespread anger after a juvenile who was convicted last month for his role in the attack was sentenced to just three years in a correctional facility — the maximum allowed by law. The gang all lived in and around Ram Dass Camp, an unauthorised slum in southern Delhi where former neighbours had called for their execution. “They deserve the harshest punishment… Reform is out of the question,” said Maur Singh, a one-time neighbour who promised to hand out sweets in celebration if the judge sent them to the gallows. Rattled by the mass protests, the government rushed through new anti-rape laws and ordered the trial be held in a special fast-track court. Continue reading
UAE hopes to build capacity for Somalia
UAE hopes to build capacity for Somalia Allan Jacob / 11 September 2013 While the international community and navies have succeeded in bringing down Somali maritime piracy, problems on land remain. Al Shabab militants are striking at will as shown by their attempt on the life of the president of that country last week and the killing of 15 innocents recently. The fledgling government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud requires long-term support to rebuild the nation still struggling to find its feet after decades of civil war. A good start was made at last year’s conference where, led by the efforts of the UAE, the leaders of Somalia and breakaway Somaliland agreed to begin stalled negotiations after 20 years. At the third counter-piracy conference starting in Dubai today, the UAE and other regional countries hope to build capacity and foster long-term development in the Horn of Africa. “Central to the UAE’s counter-piracy strategy is the recognition that the capability and capacity of countries in the region to combat piracy are varied and at different stages of development. Determining specific gaps thus allows the UAE to target assistance where it can have the greatest impact, thereby advancing regional partners’ security and stability,” said Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a statement. The plan is to help countries like Somalia which are affected by civil strife to develop their own counter-piracy capability, strengthen their rule of law, and protect their sovereignty and territory against the scourge of maritime piracy, said the minister. He said the UAE had strengthened its military’s maritime security capability, engaged and trained private industry on best practices in areas such as port security, and used the legal system as a tool for prosecuting and deterring piracy-related offences. “The recent reduction in piracy in the Indian Ocean region is the result of exactly these kind of strategic, focused and multi-disciplinary approaches that include security operations, investments in economic and social development, humanitarian assistance, and capacity building for local security forces and legal systems,” Shaikh Abdullah said. Credit is due to international naval patrols: Eunavfor, Nato Operation Ocean Shield, and CTF-151, as well as efforts by China, India, Japan and South Korea, which curbed the phenomenon, but Oceans Beyond Piracy, a think-thank, said their mandates would expire in 2014 and gains could be reversed if the global community dropped the ball on Somalia. “It is vital that the international community continues to engage with the government in Mogadishu to provide them assistance and support. It is only when the conditions ashore become stable and there is commerce and employment, that piracy will cease to be a threat to ships at sea,’’ Pottengal Mukundan of the International Maritime Bureau said from London. Maritime forces like the Eunavfor continue to engage with the Somalis. Last week, it hosted the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, onboard the Dutch Eunavfor flagship, HNLMS Johan de Witt. The Somali officials met the EU’s Special Envoy to Somalia, Michele Cervone d’Urso; the EU Naval Force Operation Commander, Rear Admiral Bob Tarrant; and the Head of Mission of EU Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP) Nestor, Etienne de Poncins. The Dubai counter-piracy conference will be followed by the ‘New Deal for Somalia’ summit in Brussels on September 16 where countries will endorse a ‘Compact’ between Somalia and the international community that identifies the key political, security and socio-economic priorities. “Somalia welcomes cooperation with the EU to improve maritime security as part of the broader engagement of the EU in Somalia. Maritime cooperation will have important effect on the stabilisation and development of coastal areas in my country,’’ said President Mohamud in a statement. Public-private partnership The two-day conference in Dubai is jointly convened by the UAE Ministry Foreign Affairs, global ports operator DP World and Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC). The organisers said 500 participants comprising foreign ministers, senior government officials, military officers, executives of global maritime-sector companies, and leading experts are expected to attend. DP World called on the private sector to identify mechanisms to further create an environment for sustainable development of Somalia’s emerging economy and address the root causes of maritime piracy. allan@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Emerging Markets’ Crisis Could Derail Global Economic Recovery
http://www.gulf-times.com/Default.aspx 7 September 2013 The current emerging market (EM) crisis in Asia and Latin America may derail the incipient global economic recovery, QNB has said in a report. The financial turmoil unleashed by the Federal Reserve (Fed) announcement that it will start tapering its asset-purchasing programme soon—the so-called Quantitative Easing (QE) — has led to large capital flight from most emerging markets, a large weakening of their currencies, and higher long-term interest rates globally. If the Fed starts QE tapering in its forthcoming meeting on September 17 and 18 as announced, this is likely to unleash further EM capital flight, thus undermining their economic growth and reducing global export demand. This, QNB said, will inevitably have a knock-on effect on the relatively weak growth in the US and the incipient recovery in Europe. Ultimately, QE tapering may well be self-defeating as it could in fact lead to lower growth both in the US and the rest of the world, thus derailing the global economic recovery. In June Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had announced a tapering of its QE policies contingent upon continued positive US economic data. This announcement marked an end to three waves of QE that have flooded US financial markets since 2009 with an estimated $2.9tn (19.3% of US GDP), according to the economic research of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The opportunities, however, to invest these resources have been limited in advanced economies given near-zero interest rates in Europe, Japan, and the US. Global financial institutions therefore used a significant portion of this liquidity to invest in EM, which offered higher returns. This led to higher EM exchange rates, lower interest rates, and to some extent higher growth momentum. Unfortunately, the QE party for emerging markets came to an end on June 19, the day Bernanke made the announcement. As has been the case in previous EM crises, it pays to be the first one out of the door, because exchange rates are still high and it is easier to liquidate large financial investments when foreign exchange liquidity is still plentiful. Accordingly, global financial institutions have rushed to liquidate their EM investments since the Fed announcement in order to cash in their capital gains and avoid being faced with policy measures that could restrict their capital movement. The result has been a panic selling of EM exchange rates. The Fed announcement has also lowered demand for government bonds globally, thus leading to higher long-term interest rates in EM and, to a lesser extent, in advanced economies. This has shaken EM consumer and investor confidence, which will inevitably lead to lower economic growth going forward. Emerging markets central banks have added to the capital flight by trying to lean against the wind. They have used their international reserves and raised policy rates to defend their currencies. Most prominent in this defence has been the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has witnessed a decline in the rupee of 14% since June 19. In response, the RBI has used its international reserves to defend the rupee and tightened liquidity. Restrictions on gold imports and capital account outflows have also been tightened in order to stem the outflow without success. At the same time, there are early signs that the Indian economy is slowing down rapidly, with the HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index indicating the manufacturing sector contracted in August for the first time since the global economic crisis of 2009. There is even talk of a possible IMF credit line to help India weather the storm. Similar narratives are occurring in other emerging markets, like Brazil, Indonesia and, to a lesser extent, Malaysia and Thailand. Overall, the emerging markets crisis resembles in many aspects the Asia crisis of the late 1990s. Today’s emerging markets crisis has serious implications also for advanced economies. Unlike in the 1990s, advanced economies are today more than ever dependent on emerging markets for their own growth. China, the US, Germany and Japan were the world’s largest exporters in 2012 and an increasing share of their exports have flown to emerging markets in recent years. A significant decline in emerging market growth would inevitably have a knock-on effect on their own exports and therefore on their growth momentum. Continue reading
