Egypt's trial by fire

Hosni Mubarak, the man who ruled Egypt for three decades, has been declared healthy enough to be transferred from his hospital in the luxury resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, to the infamous Tora prison on the outskirts of Cairo, the capital.

Although the relocation may take weeks as the prison is outfitted with the necessary medical equipment, the move signifies a dramatic escalation in the possibility that Mubarak will face trial, a turn of events most Egyptians never dreamed possible.

Mubarak is being held on charges of corruption, amassing wealth in the tens of billions during his 30-year reign, which has potentially made him one of the richest men in the world. Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, and two sons, Gamal and Ala'a, face similar charges.

The most serious accusation, however, is documented in the report of the official state fact-finding mission responsible for investigating the deaths of over 800 protesters during Egypt's revolution that began on January 25 and led to the ouster of Mubarak and his government.

It contends that the former Egyptian president bares ultimate responsibility for the killings, after his Minister of Interior, Habib el-Adly, directly ordered security forces to quell the uprising with live ammunition, among other brutal and subversive tactics. El-Adly, one of the most loathed officials in Mubarak's regime, was convicted of profiteering and money laundering on Thursday and sentenced to 12 years in prison, a sign of the seriousness of Egypt's new leaders to carry out the people's demands for justice. If el-Adly is convicted of murder in an upcoming trial set to commence on May 21, he could potentially face the death sentence.

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Source: Al Jazeera, May 11, 2011

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China drops death penalty for 13 nonviolent crimes

BEIJING (AP) — China dropped the death penalty Friday for more than a dozen nonviolent crimes and banned capital punishment for offenders over the age of 75 in a bid to rein in abuses in the justice system.

China executes more people every year than any other country and critics say too many crimes are punishable by death.

Thirteen economic, nonviolent offenses will be removed from the list of 68 crimes punishable by the death penalty, said Lang Sheng, who heads the legal committee of the Standing Committee to the National People's Congress, China's legislature. The 13 crimes include forging and selling invoices to avoid taxes and smuggling cultural relics and precious metals such as gold out of the country.

The move would not bring down the number of people executed because it targets crimes that have rarely, if ever, had capital punishment applied to them, said Joshua Rosenzweig, research manager for the U.S.-based human rights group Dui Hua Foundation.

Capital punishment can still be used to punish other economic crimes such as corruption.

"The big obstacle, I think, is corruption. Because there still is a very strong sense that corrupt officials must die, among the Chinese population at large," Rosenzweig said. "The revulsion for that offense is so strong that there would be a potential political cost to eliminating the death penalty for corruption."

Legal authorities have sought to stamp out abuses of the death penalty, particularly by demanding that all death sentences be reviewed by the nation's supreme court. They have called also for the penalty to be imposed only in the most extreme cases, although the punishment has wide public support in China.

Source: AP, February 25, 2011

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