OCTOBER 30TH, 2015 – NOVEMBER 6TH, 2015
TURKS & CAICOS SUN
Page 41
WORLD NEWS
Florida man to be executed for killing family
ORLANDO, Florida — A central Florida man convicted of stabbing to death his young daughter, his ex-wife and her mother and sister 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed months after his execution was postponed so attorneys could litigate whether a sedative used in Florida’s executions was constitutional. Jerry Correll is set to be executed on Thursday for the fatal stabbings of his former wife, Susan Correll; their 5-year-old daughter, Tuesday; Susan Correll’s mother, Mary Lou Hines; and Susan Correll’s sister, Marybeth Jones. It will be Florida’s first execution since last January. Some of the victims’ family members plan to attend the execution, said Whitney Ray, a spokesman for the Florida Attorney General. Correll , 59, had been scheduled for execution last February, but it was put on hold as his attorneys
in Florida, and attorneys at the U.S. Supreme Court in a separate case out of Oklahoma, argued over whether a sedative used in the execution protocol was effective in knocking inmates out. The sedative, midazolam, is one of three drugs used in executions in Florida and some other states. Several other states use sedatives such as pentobarbital and sodium thiopental, which have been in short supply due to restrictions placed on their use for the death penalty by manufacturers and the European Union, forcing some states to delay their scheduled executions. Midazolam had been used in executions where inmates gasped and made noises before dying. In Oklahoma, Clayon Lockett writhed on the gurney, moaned and clenched his teeth for several minutes before prison officials tried to halt the process. Lockett died after 43 minutes. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last June
AU report cites cannibalism, atrocities in South Sudan JUBA, South Sudan — Investigators discovered atrocities by all sides in South Sudan’s civil war, including testimony of forced cannibalism and the discovery of mass graves, according to a long-awaited report by the African Union. The report, released late Tuesday, also accused the forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, of recruiting an irregular tribal force before the outbreak of civil war in December 2013. It also disputes a claim by the government that there was a coup attempt at that time by former Vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer. The report alleged that government troops carried out organized killings of ethnic Nuer in Juba, the capital. When the violence began, Machar became a rebel leader. Tens of thousands of people have died and over 2 million more are displaced by warfare in South Sudan, according to the United Nations, which blamed the violence and the subsequent threat of famine on the young country’s feuding leaders. The African Union investigators, led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, found that the conflict began Dec. 15, 2013, when a skirmish broke out between Dinka and Nuer soldiers in the presidential guard following political tension between Kiir and Machar, his onetime deputy who had been fired the previous July. Hundreds of Nuer men were rounded up and shot, and their mass graves were discovered, according to the report. Perpetrators — described as government forces or their allies — allegedly tortured their victims, sometimes forcing them to jump into bonfires or eat human flesh, witnesses told investigators. The killings were “an organized military operation that could not have been successful without concerted efforts from various actors in the military and government circles,” the report said. “Roadblocks or checkpoints were established all around Juba and house-to-house searches were undertaken by security forces. During this operation male Nuers were targeted, identified, killed on the spot or gathered in one place and killed.” The investigators found “evidence that some of the people who had been gathered were compelled to eat human flesh, while others were forced to drink human blood belonging to a victim who had been slaughtered and his blood collected on a plate,” it said.
in an Oklahoma case that the use of midazolam was constitutional. Florida Department of Corrections spokesman McKinley Lewis said in a statement that his agency has the proper equipment to carry out Correll’s execution, but he wouldn’t discuss anything about its supply of execution drugs. Correll’s attorneys have argued that his history of alcohol abuse and subsequent brain damage would render midazolam ineffective in knocking him unconscious. The sedative is followed by drugs that cause paralysis and stop the heart. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling, Correll’s case was sent back to a court in Orlando to determine whether the sedative would work on Correll. After listening to medical experts, a state judge ruled that Correll’s execution could take place. Correll’s attorneys also argued that
the time he had spent on death row amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court rejected all those arguments, saying Correll’s attorney had failed to how he would suffer if midazolam was used. Correlll’s lawyers, Raheela Ahmed and Maria Perinetti, didn’t return phone calls, but in recent court filings they asked the Florida Supreme Court to postpone his execution until the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a separate case on whether Florida gives judges too much power in deciding deathpenalty sentences. Arguments in that U.S. Supreme Court case were heard earlier this month. “While the harm to Correll would be irreparable if a stay is not granted, Florida, in comparison, will suffer little appreciable harm,” Correll’s attorneys said in a recent filing.
Official nullifies results of Zanzibar presidential poll government dictates policies, especially on economic issues. On Monday, Zanzibar’s opposition presidential candidate, Maalim Seif Hamad of the Civic United Front, claimed that he had won, days before the official results were to be released. Armed police were then deployed in Stone Town to break up crowds of opposition supporters who had gathered to celebrate. Helmeted police made some arrests. The Civic United Front has tried for years to win control of Zanzibar’s local government from the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party), narrowly losing the last election police Special Forces ride in the back of a vehicle with unidentified men they had in 2010 arrested, in the Darajani area of Stone Town, Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous island On mainland Tanzania, archipelago of Tanzania. Zanzibar’s election commission chief announced Wednesday the results for the general that the results of the island archipelago’s presidential election have been nullified and presidential elections are because of alleged irregularities, saying that the decision was taken because of several expected Thursday. It is the issues with the voting process, but did not say when another election would take place most tightly contested race since ZANZIBAR, Tanzania — peaceful democratic process.” Tanganyika became independent The political future of Zanzibar, a Zanzibar’s main from Britain in 1961. semiautonomous archipelago off opposition party, the Civic United In the race for the the coast of Tanzania, was thrown Front, expressed “outrage” at president of all Tanzania, the into doubt Wednesday when the election annulment. “This ruling party’s candidate is Works its election commission chief is a deliberate effort to thwart Minister John Magufuli. He nullified results of an election democracy in Zanzibar and cause is challenged by former Prime that the opposition claims it won. chaos in the country,” said the Minister Edward Lowassa, The results were scrapped party in a statement. By nullifying who used to be a high-ranking because of several issues, Jecha the election results the electoral member of the ruling party until Salim announced without saying commission “has plunged the he defected to the opposition after when new elections will take United Republic of Tanzania into failing to win the ruling party’s place. a crisis,” said the statement. presidential nomination. The U.S. Embassy said Tanzania was formed Lowassa told reporters in in a statement that it is “gravely when Zanzibar and its northern Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest alarmed” and called for a reversal island, Pemba, united with city, that he would challenge the of the annulment. mainland Tanganyika in April results being announced by the “This action halted an 1964, three months after the election commission, which he orderly and peaceful election, as islands’ black majority overthrew accused of falsifying some figures evaluated by observer missions the traditional Arab rulers. But to favor Magufuli. Results from from the U.S. Embassy, European for years, many have felt that some constituencies that have Union, Commonwealth, and Zanzibar, and its ancient capital, been announced by the election Southern Africa Development Stone Town, have been relegated commission do not tally with the Community, and a tabulation to second-class status. numbers of votes that were cast process nearing completion,” the Zanzibar is semi- in those places, he said. statement said. “We call for this autonomous and elects its local Damian Lubuva, the head announcement to be recalled, and government, including a president, of Tanzania’s election commission, urge all parties to maintain a but many on the islands complain denied the charges while issuing commitment to a transparent and that the mainland Tanzanian partial results Wednesday.