Malaysia - Pena di morte per Maria Exposto nonna di Sydney, vittima di un inganno, ha trasportato droga

Corriere della Sera
Maria Exposto fu fermata nel 2014 all’aeroporto con oltre un chilo di «ice» nella borsa che le avrebbe dato un «fidanzato conosciuto online». I giudici: «Doveva controllare».

Una donna (e nonna) australiana di 54 anni, Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, è stata condannata a morte in Malaysia per traffico internazionale di droga: tre anni e mezzo fa fu arrestata all’aeroporto di Kuala Lumpur mentre rientrava a Melbourne con oltre 1 chilo di metanfetamine, meglio note come «ice», in un compartimento segreto di una borsa che però, ha sempre sostenuto la difesa, lei non sapeva cosa contenesse. 

I tre giudici della Corte d’appello della capitale malese l’hanno ritenuta colpevole e per la legge del Paese sul traffico di droga, introdotta nel 1983, chi viene beccato con più di mezzo chilo «dev’essere impiccato». C’è ancora una speranza per Maria Exposto: che almeno l’ultimo grado di giudizio, come aveva fatto il primo, creda alla sua innocenza.l raggiro del «fidanzato online»
Sul fatto che nella valigia della signora ci fosse la droga non ci sono dubbi. Ma secondo il giudice di primo grado Maria era stata raggirata: non sapeva cosa trasportava. La valigia le era stata consegnata da un «fidanzato conosciuto online, che sosteneva di essere il capitano Daniel Smith delle forze speciali Usa». Secondo il giudice la signora si era «ingenuamente innamorata» di quest’uomo incontrato su internet, con cui ha avuto una relazione soltanto online per due anni, prima che lui la convincesse ad andare a trovarlo a Shanghai. Lì l’uomo le ha dato la borsa: «Dentro ci sono dei vestiti che dovresti portare a Melbourne». Lei ci ha creduto e si è imbarcata per fare ritorno a casa.

L’accusa e i documenti per la pensione
Allo scalo di Kuala Lumpur la sua ingenuità ha abbattuto un altro limite: la signora — sottolinea la difesa a sostegno della sua innocenza — si è offerta di passare la valigia nello scanner degli agenti di controllo, quando l’operazione era ancora facoltativa. «Lì hanno scoperto che in una parte nascosta dello zaino c’era la droga». 

E così Maria è stata arrestata, ha perso il visto e ha affrontato il processo. Assolta in primo grado a dicembre, sembrava aver evitato la pena capitale. «Siamo di fronte a un caso di adescamento online: volevano trasformarla in un mulo della droga a sua insaputa, è evidente», ha detto all’Afp la sua avvocata Tania Scivetti. 

Ma la Corte d’Appello è di un’altra opinione. «Avrebbe avuto tutto il tempo per controllare cosa c’era nella borsa che le aveva dato un uomo conosciuto da così poco. Avrebbe dovuto avere dei sospetti, e sappiamo che la signora prima del volo aveva incontrato qualcuno per ottenere i documenti per la pensione», come se sapesse che con i soldi della partita si sarebbe sistemata a vita. Ora l’Alta Corte è l’ultima chance che le resta per evitare la fine toccata già a tre australiani in Malaysia negli ultimi 30 anni, tutti impiccati per traffico di stupefacenti. Gli avvocati dicono che Maria «è ancora fiduciosa. Non aveva mai visto della droga in vita sua».

Malaysia - Singapore: Kho Jabing has received a stay of death penalty in final hour

The Malaysian Insider
Sarawakian Kho Jabing has received a stay of execution on a death sentence less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to be hung in Singapore, rights advocacy group We Believe in Second Chances co-founder Kirsten Han said today.

Jabing's lawyer had filed a criminal motion on Wednesday at the Singapore Court of Appeal to request a remittance of his case.

The court rule granted a stay of execution early Thursday, but have yet to announce the dates for his case to be mentioned, Han told The Malaysian Insider in a phone interview shortly after the ruling was made.


 "We still don't know when the next hearing will be... but it's just great news that the sentencing will not be carried out as scheduled tomorrow," Han said.
However, she said there was yet work to be done as the court decision merely meant that lawyers and rights groups "have only delayed, not halted the execution".

"We will continue to advocate as much as we can for him to be granted clemency."

Jabing, 31, was convicted of murder in 2010 and was due to be hanged tomorrow morning after exhausting all legal avenues for appeal.

His sister Jumai, who has been in Singapore with their 54-year-old mother, said she was "speechless with joy" when she received news of the stay of execution earlier today.

"I couldn't sleep the whole night. I was just praying and praying for a miracle," she told The Malaysian Insider.

"And this morning, when I heard the news, I'm just speechless with joy."

She thanked the Singaporean government and rights groups that had helped appeal for Jabing's death sentence to be commuted.

"My mother is so happy, she is weeping right now"

She said she was looking forward to meeting Jabing in the afternoon to share the good news.

In an immediate response to the news of the stay, Amnesty International Malaysia welcomed the court decision, and repeated calls for Jabing's death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment, or that he be granted clemency.

"We call upon the Malaysian and SIngaporean authorities to study the details of Jabing's case, and they will see why we know that the death penalty is not an answer for Jabing, or for any other person on death row," said the organisation's executive director Sharmini Darshni. – November 5, 2015.

Malaysia: fosse comuni in campi migranti, in tutto sono 139 con resti di Rohingya e bengalesi

Ansa
Qui sarebbero tenuti in ostaggio Rohingya in fuga da Myanmar

Le autorità malaysiane hanno detto di aver scoperto un gran numero di fosse comuni in campi abbandonati da trafficanti di immigrati al confine con la Thailandia, dove passano i musulmani Rohingya in fuga dal Myanmar. La scoperta segue una simile fatta dalle autorità thailandesi. I trafficanti terrebbero ostaggio i migranti in questi campi, nella speranza di ottenere un riscatto dalle loro famiglie.

In totale sono 139 le fosse contenenti resti umani - con ogni probabilità di migranti Rohingya e bengalesi - trovate dalla Malaysia. Lo ha comunicato questa mattina la polizia di Kuala Lumpur, dopo l'iniziale annuncio del ritrovamento.

Overloaded boat sinks off Malaysia, 34 Indonesians missing, three dead. 60 survivors arrested under immigration laws

Reuters
An overloaded boat carrying suspected illegal Indonesian immigrants sank as it left Malaysia's west coast early on Wednesday, and at least three passengers drowned and 34 were missing.

The boat, whose passengers included women and children, sank at the mouth of a river shortly after midnight as it left Malaysia's Carey Island, likely bound for Indonesia's Sumatra island, officials and witnesses said.

Police said the boat lacked safety equipment such as life jackets, but that rescuers were still holding out hope of finding more survivors. The boat went down in shallow water close to shore.

"It is likely that survivors could have swum ashore and went into hiding since they have no legal documents here," said Mohammed Hambali Yaakup, head of operations in the area for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).

Hambali said he could not confirm reports that a people-smuggling gang had been involved with the boat. All 60 survivors have been arrested under immigration laws, he said.

Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's wealthier economies, has long been a magnet for illegal immigrants from Indonesia and other poorer countries in the region. Many undocumented Indonesians work in Malaysia's extensive oil palm plantations, a mainstay of its economy.

"This was an illegal boat and all the passengers were Indonesian," Mohamad Zuri, another MMEA official told Reuters.

Police said two bodies had been recovered. A Reuters reporter saw three bodies - two on the deck of a rescue boat and another washed up on shore.

Rescuers were scouring the area for survivors and had deployed a helicopter, one large ship and eight smaller boats in the operation, officials said.

Despite periodic crackdowns on illegal workers, Malaysia is home to an estimated 2 million undocumented immigrants or about 7 percent of its 29 million population.
The question of migrant workers has long been a touchy issue in Indonesia. Both candidates in a July 9 Indonesian presidential race have said that Indonesian workers overseas, often doing menial labour, need better protection.

Malaysia: ‘Secretive execution’ must not go ahead

Amnesty International

Malaysian authorities must immediately halt plans to carry out yet another “secretive execution” this Friday, Amnesty International said. 

 Amnesty International has learned that the Malaysian authorities plan to execute death row prisoner Chandran on Friday 7 February who has been imprisoned for murder for 11 years.  

 “The execution of Chandran would be an enormous step backwards on human rights for Malaysia – the authorities must put a stop to these plans immediately,” said Hazel Galang-Folli, Malaysia Researcher with Amnesty International. 

 R“For Malaysia to try to carry out executions in near-total secrecy is shameful – the government is essentially trying to hide its human rights violations from the world. Chandran’s family was informed only yesterday, and they are at a complete loss as to what they can do.”  

 Against international law, Chandran’s death sentence was imposed mandatorily, giving the judge no chance to consider mitigating circumstances of the case. A review of Malaysia’s mandatory laws was announced in 2012.  

 “What makes this even more shocking is that we had actually seen some progress on the death penalty in Malaysia over the past years, with moves to limit mandatory death sentences. But with yet another scheduled execution the authorities are undoing any positive steps taken, including the announcement of the legal review of mandatory death sentences,” said Galang-Folli.  

 Executions have been carried out in Malaysia in a secretive manner, without prior or posthumous announcements. Transparency on the use of the death penalty is an essential safeguard in death penalty cases, as it not only allows for informed and meaningful debates on the issue, but also gives the possibility of appeals being filed to ensure that due process has been followed.   

 Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception. The organization urges Malaysia to halt all plans for executions, commute existing death sentences and put in place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a first step towards abolition.  

Two Indonesians released from death row in Malaysia

Jakarta Post

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday said he appreciated efforts to save two Indonesian migrant workers from the sentence of death in Malaysia.

"I extend my gratitude to our embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the lawyers and other government players who have worked hard to have Heni Herawati and Indah Kumala Sari saved from a death penalty sentence," the President said on his Twitter account @SBYudhoyono.

He said that the government had been making every effort to have more than 140 Indonesian migrant workers worldwide freed from death penalty sentences.

"But I really hope that all Indonesian nationals living abroad would obey the law and not commit crimes," he said, as quoted by the Antara news agency.

Yudhoyono further said that if Indonesian nationals abroad had their death penalty sentences commuted, the leaders of those countries would ask the Indonesian government to do the same for their citizens.

Heni Herawati and Indah Kumala Sari have since been released from prison and are now at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur awaiting transit back to Indonesia.