Rajiv case: Death penalty opposed

Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan

In a clear indication of the brewing resentment among different sections of the society over the move to execute the death sentence awarded to 3 persons in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, protests were organized by various groups across the state on Saturday.

In Madurai, members of Makkal Iyakkam (People's Front) staged a protest at Scott Road raising slogans against capital punishment and the UPA government. Advocates owing allegiance to various Tamil organisations have decided to boycott court proceedings for 2 days from August 29. Manitha Urimai Pathukappu Mayyam, a forum for human rights, has planned to take out a rally from the district court to Madurai collectorate on Monday. Several other outfits have also announced protests against execution of the death sentence.

In Coimbatore, a few students of Government Law College, Coimbatore, delayed the departure of Chennai-bound Kovai Express for half an hour on Saturday when they squatted on the railway track at Coimbatore City Junction station. They demanded that the state assembly pass a resolution to commute the death sentence awarded to Perarivalan, Murugan and Santhan, who are to be hanged to death on September 9.

A heavy posse of police had camped at both entrances of the railway station to prevent the students from entering the station. But they sneaked into the platform pretending to be passengers. Once inside the station, they started raising slogans against the "hurried move" by the jail authorities to execute the death sentences. They also sought the personal intervention of chief minister J Jayalalithaa to commute the death sentences.

Police intervened half an hour after the protest began and arrested the students. Talking to TOI, student representative Tholkapian said they would continue the agitation with more vigour till they get the death sentence reversed. He also criticised a section of the media for reporting their agitation in a distorted manner. He said the protest by students at the collectorate on August 26 was a genuine attempt to save three precious lives. "We will do our best to ensure they are not hanged, since there are many loopholes in the case. In addition, many facts have not been substantiated," he said.

In Salem, nearly 50 students of central law college took part in the rail roko. Around 11am, they entered the station and squatted on the tracks and raised slogans against the practice of capital punishment. The protestors were arrested and removed in 45 minutes.

In Trichy, cadres of the Communist Party of India and MDMK participated in a "human chain" organised under the auspices of P Nedumaran's Moontru Tamilar Uyirkappu Iyakkam (Movement for Saving the life of Three Tamilians) to protest the "barbaric death sentence". CPI leader Nallakannu spoke at the function. Makkal Kalai Illayakkiya Kazhagam, another group, staged a protest at a different venue. Makkal Kalai Illayakkiya Kazhagam's secretary Sreenivasan said releasing the trio must be the natural corollary of they being in jail for such a long time, and hanging them would bring disrepute to the country.

Nearly a hundred families of Puthupatti village in Theni district observed a day-long fast demanding the Centre to commute the death sentence. The villagers, who gathered in the village yard on Saturday morning, maintained that the death sentence was against humanity and it should not be permitted in a civilised society.

Source: The Times of India, August 28, 2011

Jayalalithaa says she has no powers to stop Rajiv assassins' execution

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday ruled out playing any role in stopping the death sentence of the three assassins of Rajiv Gandhi.

Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, three LTTE cadres convicted in Rajiv's murder, are scheduled to be hanged on September 9. Rajiv was killed by an LTTE suicide squad at Sriperumbudur, about 50 km from Chennai, on May 21, 1991.

Jayalalithaa's statement in the assembly that she has no powers to stop the death sentence after President Pratibha Patil had rejected their plea for mercy, came in the wake of calls made by various political parties, including the DMK, her erstwhile ally MDMK and several rights organizations to her to save the lives of the three condemned prisoners now lodged in Vellore central prison. Haritha, the 19-year-old daughter of Murugan and Nalini, another person involved in the case whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, has also appealed to Jayalalithaa and Sonia Gandhi to save her father's life.

Jayalalithaa sought to clarify that only the President of India has the powers to give clemency to a murder accused. The chief minister of a state does not have such powers, she clarified.

She also recalled a DMK cabinet decision taken in 2000, which advised the governor against considering Nalini's clemency.

"Now he (DMK president M Karunanidhi) is demanding to save them which is nothing but double standards," she charged.

Jayalalithaa also urged other political leaders not to create an impression that she had the powers to revoke the presidential order rejecting the clemency petition.

Source: The Times of India, August 29, 2011

Woman immolates self to protest death penalty for convicts in Rajiv case

A 20-year-old woman immolated herself inside the Taluk office in Kancheepuram on Sunday evening, protesting the death sentence awarded to Santhan, Murugan and G. Perarivalan alias Arivu, convicted of plotting the 1991 assassination of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

P. Senkodi died within two hours after she set herself on fire. She emptied two litres of petrol from a bottle before setting herself ablaze.

Police sources said eyewitnesses had noticed a young woman, dressed in a salwar kameez, walking into the office around 5.45 p.m. Minutes later, they heard a woman's cries and rushed to the spot and noticed her engulfed in a ball of fire. Residents and the skeleton staff of government offices, including the police and fire stations, put out the fire. A government ambulance stationed nearby rushed her to the Government General Hospital, where she succumbed to injuries around 7.30 p.m.

Police sources said Senkodi was completely charred above her waist and her chances of survival were slim when she was brought to the hospital.

Senkodi, they said, had left behind a letter stating that she was protesting the capital punishment awarded to Murugan and Santhan, both Sri Lankan Tamils, and Perarivalan, an Indian, and the subsequent rejection of their mercy petitions by the President. Their execution has been fixed for September 9.

According to these sources, she wanted to emulate K. Muthukumar, a youth who had sought to highlight the sufferings of the Sri Lankan Tamils by immolating himself at Shastri Bhavan in Chennai on January 29, 2009.

A resident of Orikkai village on the outskirts of the temple town, Senkodi was the daughter of Parasuraman. A member of ‘Makkal Mandram,' a non-governmental organisation involved in issues of child and bonded labour in Kancheepuram district, Senkodi participated actively in street theatre performances and other awareness campaigns on issues of social importance, playing the “thappattai,” a traditional percussion instrument.

Source: The Hindu, August 29, 2011

Death Penalty News: India - Rajiv Gandhi assassination: 3 to hang ...

Aug 27, 2011

Prison Superintendent R. Arivudainambi Friday afternoon received the official communication to carry out the execution of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan. “We have informed the convicts about the date of hanging. ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: India: Mercy petitions in Rajiv assassination ...

Aug 12, 2011

Tags : India, Sri Lanka, Terrorism. Location Inde. 1 commentaires: naan said... Kindly read this below URL and give your thoughts, whether Perarivalan did or not. Hope you can understand more after you read this. ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: India: No to death penalty

Aug 18, 2011

Earlier this week, President Pratibha Patil dismissed the clemency pleas of Murugan, Santhan, and Perarivalan, on death row for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The Home Ministry has advised President Patil to dismiss the ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Comments

Tennessee | Questions Raised About the Doctor Who Was Overseeing Tony Caruthers’ Execution

Mark Fowler, according to a deposition, had not placed a central line in a patient for more than a decade when he attempted to put one in Carruthers Around 11 a.m. Thursday morning in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, a medical doctor stepped in and attempted to place a central IV line in Tony Carruthers’ chest. By that point, the prison staff had spent some 30 minutes trying unsuccessfully to insert a backup IV line that would allow them to proceed with the lethal injection. According to Carruthers’ attorney Maria DeLiberato, who was in the room, after asking a staff member to attempt inserting a line through Carruthers’ jugular vein, the doctor moved on to the central line, which is identified as the last resort in Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol .

EU GSP+ Reform: Will Brussels Finally Enforce Its Own Conditions on Pakistan?

The EU has tightened the rules governing GSP+ trade preferences, but Pakistan’s record raises a harder question: whether Brussels is prepared to suspend market access when a major beneficiary fails to demonstrate sustained compliance with human rights, labour and governance obligations. The European Union has formally adopted revised rules for its Generalised Scheme of Preferences, strengthening the conditions attached to preferential market access for developing countries. The new framework will apply from 1 January 2027 and is intended to tighten monitoring, widen the list of international conventions, and make suspension of benefits easier in cases of serious violations.

Florida executes Richard Knight

Man convicted of killing a woman and her 4-year-old daughter is executed in Florida A Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing his cousin’s girlfriend and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was put to death Thursday evening, becoming the 7th person executed by the state this year. Richard Knight, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Knight was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the June 2002 killings of Odessia Stephens and her daughter, Hanessia Mullings. The curtain of the death chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6:00 p.m. execution time. Knight was already strapped down with his arms extended and an IV line in place.

Iran executes Esma Zarei in Ardabil Prison after she gave birth in custody

Hengaw – Saturday, May 23, 2026. Iranian authorities have executed Esma Zarei, a 28-year-old Turkish woman from Parsabad in Ardabil Province, who had previously been sentenced to death on charges of “premeditated murder” in connection with the killing of her husband. She is the sixth woman executed in Iran since the beginning of 2026. According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Zarei was executed at dawn on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in Ardabil Central Prison. She had been sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) after being convicted of her husband’s murder.

Tennessee fails to execute Tony Carruthers after IV difficulties. State won't try again for a year

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials on Thursday called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, after his executioners tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line. Gov. Bill Lee announced soon afterward that the state would not try again for at least a year. In a written statement, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said medical personnel had quickly established a primary IV line but were unable to find a suitable vein for a backup line as required by the state’s execution protocol. Efforts to insert a central line also failed, and officials called off the execution.

Arizona executes Leroy McGill

Arizona executes inmate who set couple on fire in 'horrific attack' Arizona has executed Leroy McGill for setting 21-year-old Charles Perez and his 24-year-old girlfriend on fire. Perez died the next day and Perez survived with severe burn injuries. Arizona has executed a death row inmate for setting 2 people on fire more than 20 years ago, killing 1 of them and changing the other's life forever. The state executed Leroy McGill, 63, by lethal injection on Wednesday, May 20, for the 2002 murder of 21-year-old Charles Perez. McGill set Perez and his girlfriend on fire after they accused him of theft, court records say. Perez died of his injuries the next day while his girlfriend survived with severe burns.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

Florida: The Daily Routine of Death Row Inmates

The breakfast carts rattle through the concrete prison at about 5:30 am and as they approach Death Row the first sounds of morning repeat the last sounds of night - remote controlled locks clanging open and clunking closed, electric gates whirring, heavy metal doors crashing shut, voices wailing, klaxons blaring. A maximum security prison has no soft or delicate sounds. At the end of each corridor of death row cells a guard opens a heavy door of steel bars and a prison trusty pushes a breakfast cart inside. The door closes behind him and when it locks a second door opens and admits the trusty to the wing. He steers his cart along the wing stopping at each cell to pass a tray of powdered eggs and lukewarm grits through a small slot on the bars. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells. The food carts are full of cockroaches, the food is often undercooked or just rotten and is served on Styrofoam plates with a plastic "spork" - fork/spoon...

Iraq: German schoolgirl, 17, turned jihadi bride escapes death penalty and is jailed for six years

GERMAN Jihadi bride Linda Wenzel has been jailed for six years in Baghdad for her role as an Islamic enforcer with terror group ISIS. Wenzel, 17, who last year sobbed on TV “I have ruined my life,” could have faced the death penalty. German media reported that a German embassy representative in Iraq was in court yesterday to witness her sentencing. She received five years for joining IS and one year for entering Iraq illegally. Wenzel was found in the rubble of IS stronghold Mosul back in the summer of 2017. Charges were laid against her and three other German women captured with her. Schoolgirl Wenzel fled to Turkey then into Syria last year from her hometown of Pulsnitz in eastern Germany after being groomed online by a Chechen IS fighter who she married. He was killed in the savage fighting for Mosul while she was employed by the terror group enforcing the strict Islamic dress code on women in the city. She burst into tears after her capture and said s...

Florida | Jury recommends death for Otto Lenke, judge to make final call

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A St. Lucie County jury recommended the death penalty for Otto Lenke on Thursday in the penalty phase of his first-degree murder trial, though the final decision rests with the judge. Lenke, 66, a former Melbourne police officer and Indian River County firefighter , was convicted earlier this month of first-degree murder and first-degree arson in the Feb. 17, 2021, killing of Richard Benson at Fast Frank’s Custom Cycle Components, Benson’s motorcycle repair shop in Fort Pierce . Prosecutors said Lenke shot Benson multiple times inside the shop, then poured a flammable liquid on him and set him on fire while he was still alive. Surveillance video from the shop captured the attack.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog