Member of Indonesia's parliament tweets that gays should be put to death

Tifatul Sembiring

Tifatul Sembiring later takes down tweet amid criticism

In the latest incident of anti-gay rhetoric in Indonesia, a member of Parliament from the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party posted on Twitter that gays should be put to death.

Tifatul Sembiring, who is the country’s former Information and Communications Minister, tweeted: ‘A saying of the Prophet [Mohamed]: Whomever you find committing the acts of the community of Lot (homosexual) should be put to death.’

After he received criticism from others online, Sembiring deleted the tweet from his account, according to BuzzFeed News.

Anti-gay rhetoric has been on the rise in the Southeast Asian country.

Earlier this week, Indonesia’s leading psychiatric body classified homosexuality and gender dysphoria mental disorders that can be cured with proper treatment.

The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders in 1970.

Gay sex is not a crime in Indonesia but remains taboo in many parts the Muslim-majority.

Also this week, Indonesia’s minister of defense said the LGBTI movement was more dangerous than nuclear warfare.

And in January, the minister of research, technology and higher education called for LGBTI students to be banned from universities.

Source: Gay Star News, Greg Hernandez, Feb. 27, 2016

Indonesian psychiatrists label LGBT as mental disorders

The leading Indonesian psychiatric body has classified homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism as mental disorders, which it says can be cured through proper treatment.

Indonesian Psychiatrists Association (PDSKJI) member Suzy Yusna Dewi said that most of the time, the aforementioned sexual tendencies were triggered by external factors, such as the influence of a person's social environment, and therefore they could be healed through psychiatric treatment.

"We really do care about them. What we are worried about is, if left untreated, such sexual tendencies could become a commonly accepted condition in society," Suzy told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday.

She made comments about the association’s recent statement to address rising concerns about the growing prominence of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, which has drawn sharp criticism from government and religious leaders.

Referring to Law No.18/2014 on Mental Health and the association’s Mental Health and Mental Disorder Diagnostic Guidelines, the PDSKJI categorizes homosexuals and bisexuals as “people with psychiatric problems”, while transgender people have “mental disorders”.

According to this classification, a psychiatric problem is condition in which a person is at risk of developing a mental disorder.

A person with mental disorder will develop physical symptoms and behavior that may affect their welfare and social functioning.

The PDSKJI said that psychiatric problems of homosexuals and bisexuals and mental disorders of transgender people had nothing to do with schizophrenia or other conditions such as intersex , or an anomaly in a person's genetic or chromosomal makeup.

Commenting on the issue of homosexuality and bisexuality, Suzy said there was not enough data to support the idea that the conditions were caused by biological factors, adding that limiting inappropriate social interaction could be effective in curbing such abnormal sexual tendencies.

The psychiatrist further said proper interventions were crucial in curing psychiatric problems and mental disorders. She said that a person's sexual appetite was a mental issue similar in nature to drug addiction.

“Without constant intervention, a person can easily return to their previous sexual tendency once he or she experiences withdrawal,” Suzy said.

She stressed the importance of upholding national values and norms. “We must respect Indonesian traditions, which culturally do not accept same-sex marriage, and we should not bow to the influence of foreign values that may not fit in with our values,” said Suzy.

On May 17, 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders.

In support of WHO’s stance, Chatarina Wahyurini of the Indonesia Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI) said her organization recognized the existence of people with different orientations and did not view them as having disorders.

Referring to its stance on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, Wahyurini said the PKBI called for an end to discrimination of minority groups. She urged the government to take a more serious approach to providing protection and security to every citizen regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Repeating what was stated in a press statement released by the PKBI on Monday, Wahyurini referred to Indonesia’s national ideology, Pancasila, which she said guaranteed and protected diversity. The 1945 Constitution also protects the right of every Indonesian citizen to be protected from any form of discrimination.

Wahyurini said the LGBT community should have equal access to public services and space needed to freely express their identity, participate in dialogue and to contribute to the nation in a positive manner.

Source: thejakartapost.com, Liza Yosephine, February 24 2016

Indonesian clerics declare LGBT groups haram

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) announced on Wednesday that it considered individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) to be haram, in the wake of recent controversy surrounding LGBT communities across the country.

The MUI, along with several other Islamic organizations, declared that the existence of LGBT communities was against the Constitution and against religious norms.

"The opinion is based on LGBT activities prohibited by Islam," MUI chairman Ma'ruf Amin said at a press conference at the MUI office in Jakarta on Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

LGBT activities were against the national ideology of Pancasila, the Constitution and the 1974 Marriage Law, he said.

Furthermore, the MUI issued a fatwa in 2014 stating that homosexuality, sodomy and sexual assault were haram

"LGBT activities could also cause dangerous and infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS," he said.

LGBT issues came into the spotlight after Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir made a controversial statement banning LGBT groups from university campuses. His statement was made in response to a student organization at the University of Indonesia named the Support Group and Resource Center on Sexuality Studies (SGRC) that offered counselling for LGBT students.

Source: thejakartapost.com, Feb. 17, 2016

- Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com - Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Florida executes Michael Tanzi

Florida on Tuesday executed a death row inmate described by one local detective as a "fledgling serial killer" for the murder of a beloved Miami Herald employee. Florida executed Michael Tanzi on Tuesday, 25 years after the murder of beloved Miami Herald employee Janet Acosta, who was attacked in broad daylight on her lunch break in 2000. Michael Tanzi, 48, was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.

South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi

Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers A man facing the death penalty for committing two murders was executed by firing squad on Friday, the second such execution in the US state of South Carolina this year. Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers, an off-duty police officer, and the murder of a convenience store employee three days earlier. According to a statement from the prison, "the execution was performed by a three-person firing squad at 6:01 pm (2201 GMT)," with Mahdi pronounced dead four minutes later.

Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city. The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said. 'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

USA | Why the firing squad may be making a comeback

South Carolina plans to execute Mikal Mahdi on Friday for the murder of a police officer, draping a hood over his head and firing three bullets into his heart. The choice to die by firing squad – rather than lethal injection or the electric chair – was Mahdi’s own, his attorney said last month: “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils.” If it proceeds, Mahdi’s execution would be the latest in a recent string of events that have put the spotlight on the firing squad as a handful of US death penalty states explore alternatives to lethal injection, by far the nation’s dominant execution method.

I spent 16 years in solitary in South Carolina. This is what it did to me. | Opinion

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the effects 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi , who spent months in solitary as a young man. For 16 years, I lived in a concrete cell. Twenty-three hours a day, every day, for more than 3,000 days, South Carolina kept me in solitary confinement. I was a young man before I was sent to solitary — angry, untreated and unwell. I made mistakes. But I wasn’t sentenced to madness. That’s what solitary did to me. My mental health worsened with each passing day. At first, paranoia and depression set in. Then, hallucinations and self-mutilation. I talked to people who weren’t there. I cut myself to feel something besides despair. I could do nothing as four of my friends and fellow prisoners took their own lives rather than endure another day of torturous isolation.

South Carolina | Man who ambushed off-duty cop to face firing squad in second execution of its kind

Mikal Mahdi, 48, who was found guilty of killing an off-duty police officer and a convenience store worker, is the second inmate scheduled to executed by South Carolina's new firing squad A murderer who ambushed and shot an off duty police officer eight times before burning his body in a killing spree is set to become the second person to die by firing squad. South Carolina's highest court has rejected the last major appeal from Mikal Mahdi, 41, who is to be put to death with three bullets to the heart at 6pm on April 11 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. Mahdi's lawyers said his original lawyers put on a shallow case trying to spare his life that didn't call on relatives, teachers or people who knew him and ignored the impact of weeks spent in solitary confinement in prison as a teen.

Louisiana | Lawyers of Jessie Hoffman speak about their final moments before execution

As Louisiana prepared its first execution in 15 years, a team of lawyers from Loyola Law were working to save Jessie Hoffman’s life. “I was a young lawyer three years out of law school, and Jessie was almost finished with his appeals at that time, and my boss told me we needed to file something for Jessie because he’s in danger of being executed,” Kappel said. Kappel and her boss came up with a civil lawsuit to file that said since they wouldn’t give him a protocol for his execution, he was being deprived of due process, and the lawsuit was in the legal process for the next 10 years.

Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners

South Carolina resumed executions with the firing squad killing of Brad Sigmon last month. Mikal Madhi’s execution date is days away. The curtain shrieked as it was yanked open to reveal a 67-year-old man tied to a chair. His arms were pulled uncomfortably behind his back. The red bull’s-eye target on his chest rose and fell as he desperately attempted to still his breathing. The man, Brad Sigmon, smiled at his attorney, Bo King, seated in the front row before guards placed a black bag over his head. King said Sigmon appeared to be trying his best to put on a brave face for those who had come to bear witness.

Execution date set for prisoner transferred to Oklahoma to face death penalty

An inmate who was transferred to Oklahoma last month to face the death penalty now has an execution date. George John Hanson, also known as John Fitzgerald Hanson, is scheduled to die on June 12 for the 1999 murder of 77-year-old Mary Bowles. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday set the execution date. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board has a tentative date of May 7 for Hanson’s clemency hearing, executive director Tom Bates said.

Arizona | The cruelty of isolation: There’s nothing ‘humane’ about how we treat the condemned

On March 19, I served as a witness to the execution of a man named Aaron Gunches, Arizona’s first since 2022. During his time on death row, he begged for death and was ultimately granted what is likely more appropriately described as an emotionless state-assisted suicide. This experience has profoundly impacted me, leading to deep reflection on the nature of death, humanity, and the role we play in our final moments. When someone is in the end stages of life, we talk about hospice care, comfort, care, easing suffering and humane death. We strive for a “good death” — a peaceful transition. I’ve seen good ones, and I’ve seen bad, unplanned ones.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog