Death penalty for drug crimes denounced

Raising awareness of the use of the death penalty for drug offences globally was the focus of a special dinner held in recognition of the 13^th World Day Against the Death Penalty in Brisbane recently.
The dinner, hosted by one of Brisbane’s leading human rights lawyers and friend of the Griffith Law School, Stephen Keim SC, featured guest speaker, Barrister Julian McMahon, who represented Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Chan and Sukumaran were both convicted of drug trafficking in Bali and were ultimately executed on the tiny prison island of Nusakambangan on April 29 this year.
Griffith Law School lecturers Dr Olivera Simic and Zoe Rathus attended the dinner.
Dr Simic says the two men reformed themselves and were contributing positively to the world in which they lived.
“Sadly, that was not enough to save them from execution,” Dr Simic says.
“In his presentation Julian outlined the devastatingly uncertain lead-up for the families as the news kept on changing about if and when the executions would occur.
“He also described the raw anguish after the event and reminded us that it was not just our citizens who died at the hands of a State that day. There were six other prisoners shot—citizens of Brazil, Nigeria, Spain and Indonesia.”
Julian’s first death row client was Van Tuong Nguyen who was convicted of drug trafficking in Singapore in the mid-2000s. Van was born in a Thailand refugee camp to Vietnamese parents and after his mother re-settled in Australia, suffered violent beatings from his stepfather.
Griffith Law School Lecturer Ms Zoe Rathus (AM) says according to Julian, it is the poor, the vulnerable, people of colour and the dispossessed who tend to face the death penalty, no matter where it is applied.
Also speaking at the dinner was the Hon Phillip Ruddock MP, who has been a long time campaigner against the death penalty.
He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1973, which was only six years after the last of Australia’s judicially decreed executions – the hanging of Ronald Ryan.
Mr Ruddock MP says Ryan was also born into poverty, alcoholism and violence.
He explained that the group of countries whose citizens were recently executed with Chan and Sukumaran in Bali provided a basis for some multi-State action but emphasised the difficulties of working in this space while the USA still used capital punishment.

Photos and words by Griffith Law School’s Ms Zoe Rathus and Dr Olivera Simic

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The Bachelor of Laws (graduate entry) at Griffith Law School offers a professional legal curriculum that focuses on core areas of legal practice and the legal skills that lawyers must have. You will have the opportunity to choose law electives based on your interests, including clinical courses that emphasise practical legal skills, insights and experience.
Program: Bachelor of Laws
Location: Gold Coast or Brisbane, Queensland
Semester intake: February
Duration: 3 years

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