death penalty

He wants a mandatory death sentence for offenders who traffic 5 kilograms or more of a Class A drug.

Matangi Tonga reported Fakafanua saying "drugs offences are on the rise and at a very alarming rate in Tonga.

Fakafanua also said most re-offend.

Several other pieces of legislation aimed at getting on top of Tonga's drug problem, are now before parliament.

They include the Intoxicating Substances Bill 2021 and the Therapeutic Goods (Amendment) Bill 2021.

The Illicit Drugs Control (Amendment) Bill 2021 proposes:

No-one has been executed in the Kingdom since 1982, and a de facto moratorium has been maintained since then.

But it still remains an option for convictions of murder and treason.

At an event in Nuku'alofa this week, high commissioners of New Zealand and Australia as well as several NGO representatives urged abolition.

Sankar, 22, was hacked to death on a crowded road in broad daylight. People watched in horror as the attackers then fled on a motorcycle.

He was murdered for marrying a woman from a higher Hindu caste, police say. She was also injured in the assault.

Dalits, formerly called untouchables, are at the bottom of the caste system.

The bride's father, who handed himself in and admitted to carrying out the attack, was one of those sentenced to death.

“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.

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 European Union has welcomed Fiji’s decision to abolish the death penalty through the RFMF Amendment Act of 2015.

EU Ambassador to the Pacific, Andrew Jacobs, says this is a big step forward for the nation as Fiji prepare to commemorate World Day against the Death Penalty on Saturday.

He adds that it’s important to continue to push for the abolishment of death penalty worldwide- as it represents an inhumane, degrading treatment.

Titled “Moving Away from the Death Penalty – The Voices of Victim’s Families”, the event was presided over by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Prince Zeid Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, opened the event with a message from the United Nations Secretary-General. Prince Zeid said, “The United Nations has just adopted a new vision for sustainable development that aims for a life of dignity for all people.

Broward County prosecutor Gregg Rossman said Moscatiello hired a mob hit man to fatally shoot Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis in 2001 during a dispute over the SunCruz Casinos fleet of gambling ships. Trial evidence showed that Moscatiello is a reputed member of New York's Gambino crime family.

Premeditated murder for financial gain is among the aggravating circumstances that can warrant a death sentence under Florida law. The jurors are to recommend to a judge what sentence to impose.

Lawyers for Dylann Roof argue in papers filed Thursday they want all documents, reports, witness statements and recordings the state plans to use in its case. The request is a fairly routine in a criminal case.

State prosecutors have said they will pursue the death penalty against Roof in the June 17 shootings of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church.