44 million pending cases, 300,000+ undertrials, endless dates, elusive justice. At this rate, it will take 300+ years to resolve all cases. In the age of insta, why are India’s courts moving at a snail’s pace? Who’s responsible? How can this be fixed? Listen in to Palki Sharma Upadhyay.

Gravitas Plus: 3 in 4 people in India’s jails are under-trials

A court in Vietnam has jailed a man for 14 years for attempting to overthrow the state, in cahoots with a group based in the United States, the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

Phan Van Binh, 47, was accused by the court of working for a California-based group called the Provisional National Government of Vietnam, which opposes the ruling Communist Party, the ministry said in a statement on its official news website.

"Binh's activities were serious violations of the law which undermined national unity, infringed upon national security, and went against the national interest," the ministry said, citing state prosecutors present at the one-day trial in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

Despite sweeping economic reform and increasing openness to social change, Vietnam's ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate criticism.

Binh uploaded posts to his Facebook account that "smeared the image of Ho Chi Minh, and the leaders of the party and the state", the ministry said in its statement, referring to the Vietnamese revolutionary leader and founding president.

Binh's Facebook posts "distorted the Party's history and guidance, and the state's policies and laws, with the aim of overthrowing the people's administration," the ministry said.

A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment. Reuters was unable to identify and contact Binh's lawyers. Telephone calls to the court went unanswered.

The Provisional National Government of Vietnam, which is listed by the Ministry of Public Security as a "terrorist organisation", did not respond to a request for comment.

The organisation's leader, Dao Minh Quan, assigned Binh to recruit people into joining the group by using his telephone to show videos created by the organisation to his neighbours, the ministry said.

Facebook is widely used in Vietnam and serves as the main platform for dissidents. This month, Vietnam accused Facebook of violating a new cybersecurity law by allowing users to post anti-government comments.

A court in Vietnam has jailed a man for 14 years for attempting to overthrow the state, in cahoots with a group based in the United States, the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

A court in Vietnam has jailed a man for 14 years for attempting to overthrow the state, in cahoots with a group based in the United States, the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday. Phan Van Binh, 47, was accused by the court of working for a California-based group called the Provisional National Government of Vietnam, which opposes the ruling Communist Party, the ministry said in a statement on its official news website. "Binh's activities were serious violations of the law which undermined national unity, infringed upon national security, and went against the national interest," the ministry said, citing state prosecutors present at the one-day trial in the central province of Khanh Hoa. Despite sweeping economic reform and increasing openness to social change, Vietnam's ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate criticism. Binh uploaded posts to his Facebook account that "smeared the image of Ho Chi Minh, and the leaders of the party and the state", the ministry said in its statement, referring to the Vietnamese revolutionary leader and founding president. Binh's Facebook posts "distorted the Party's history and guidance, and the state's policies and laws, with the aim of overthrowing the people's administration," the ministry said. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment. Reuters was unable to identify and contact Binh's lawyers. Telephone calls to the court went unanswered. The Provisional National Government of Vietnam, which is listed by the Ministry of Public Security as a "terrorist organisation", did not respond to a request for comment. The organisation's leader, Dao Minh Quan, assigned Binh to recruit people into joining the group by using his telephone to show videos created by the organisation to his neighbours, the ministry said. Facebook is widely used in Vietnam and serves as the main platform for dissidents. This month, Vietnam accused Facebook of violating a new cybersecurity law by allowing users to post anti-government comments.

Vietnam jails man for 14 years for attempting to overthrow state

Turkey will grant early release to some 38,000 prisoners who committed crimes before July 1, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday, amid reports of prison overcrowding after the failed coup. 
 
Bozdag said in a series of messages on Twitter that the move was &quot;not an amnesty&quot; and the convicts were not being pardoned but released on parole. 
 
It will not apply to convicts guilty of murder, terrorism or state security crimes, or the thousands jailed after the putsch which took place on July 15. 
 
&quot;The regulation refers to crimes committed before July 2016. The crimes committed after July 1, 2016, are outside its scope,&quot; Bozdag said. 
 
&quot;As a result of this regulation, approximately 38,000 people will be released from closed and open prisons at the first stage.&quot; 
 
The timing means that it is impossible that anyone detained for complicity in the coup can be released as part of the mass parole move. 
 
There have been reports in Turkish media that jails in the country were suffering severe overcrowding due to the influx of tens of thousands of prisoners in the wake of the failed July 15 coup. 
 
According to Turkish officials, over 35,000 people have been detained since the coup attempt although almost 11,600 of them have since been released. 
 
It is likely that releasing convicts not linked to the coup will make room for the alleged coup plotters who still face trials and heavy jail sentences.&nbsp; 
 
Bozdag, however, did not outline his reasoning for the move. 
 
(AFP)

Country's justice minister tweeted that the move was 'not an amnesty' and convicts were not being pardoned but released on parole

Turkey will grant early release to some 38,000 prisoners who committed crimes before July 1, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday, amid reports of prison overcrowding after the failed coup. Bozdag said in a series of messages on Twitter that the move was "not an amnesty" and the convicts were not being pardoned but released on parole. It will not apply to convicts guilty of murder, terrorism or state security crimes, or the thousands jailed after the putsch which took place on July 15. "The regulation refers to crimes committed before July 2016. The crimes committed after July 1, 2016, are outside its scope," Bozdag said. "As a result of this regulation, approximately 38,000 people will be released from closed and open prisons at the first stage." The timing means that it is impossible that anyone detained for complicity in the coup can be released as part of the mass parole move. There have been reports in Turkish media that jails in the country were suffering severe overcrowding due to the influx of tens of thousands of prisoners in the wake of the failed July 15 coup. According to Turkish officials, over 35,000 people have been detained since the coup attempt although almost 11,600 of them have since been released. It is likely that releasing convicts not linked to the coup will make room for the alleged coup plotters who still face trials and heavy jail sentences. Bozdag, however, did not outline his reasoning for the move. (AFP)

Turkey to release 38,000 prisoners to possibly make space for coup plotters

An Indian court today sentenced a Bollywood director to seven years in jail for raping an American research scholar last year, the victim&#39;s lawyer said. 
 
Mahmood Farooqui, best known for co-directing the popular 2010 satire Peepli Live on farmer suicides, was convicted on Saturday after a fast-track court in New Delhi found him guilty of the March 2015 attack. 
 
The victim, then aged 35, had travelled to India to seek Farooqui&#39;s assistance with her research when the assault took place at his home in an upscale area of the capital.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;The court sentenced him to seven years (of imprisonment), which is the minimum jail term for this offence,&quot; the victim&#39;s lawyer, Vrinda Grover, told AFP. 
 
Grover, who had argued for the maximum term of life imprisonment, said the court had also imposed a 50,000 Rupee ($747) fine. 
 
Farooqui, who pleaded not guilty, was taken into custody at the weekend. 
 
The woman returned to the US shortly after the incident but came back to report the matter to police. 
 
&quot;Peepli Live&quot;, which explores the divide between urban and rural India, was produced by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan. 
 
Farooqui co-directed it with his wife, Anusha Rizwi. 
 
India introduced tough laws against sex offenders in the wake of the fatal gang-rape of a Delhi student in the capital in December 2012 that sparked mass street protests. 
 
But high levels of sexual violence against women continue. 
 
(AFP)

The victim had travelled to India to seek Mahmood Farooqui's assistance with her research when he assaulted her at his home

An Indian court today sentenced a Bollywood director to seven years in jail for raping an American research scholar last year, the victim's lawyer said. Mahmood Farooqui, best known for co-directing the popular 2010 satire Peepli Live on farmer suicides, was convicted on Saturday after a fast-track court in New Delhi found him guilty of the March 2015 attack. The victim, then aged 35, had travelled to India to seek Farooqui's assistance with her research when the assault took place at his home in an upscale area of the capital. "The court sentenced him to seven years (of imprisonment), which is the minimum jail term for this offence," the victim's lawyer, Vrinda Grover, told AFP. Grover, who had argued for the maximum term of life imprisonment, said the court had also imposed a 50,000 Rupee ($747) fine. Farooqui, who pleaded not guilty, was taken into custody at the weekend. The woman returned to the US shortly after the incident but came back to report the matter to police. "Peepli Live", which explores the divide between urban and rural India, was produced by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan. Farooqui co-directed it with his wife, Anusha Rizwi. India introduced tough laws against sex offenders in the wake of the fatal gang-rape of a Delhi student in the capital in December 2012 that sparked mass street protests. But high levels of sexual violence against women continue. (AFP)

India court jails 'Peepli Live' director for 7 years over rape

Mario Dimaculangan shares a toilet with 130 other inmates in one of the Philippines&#39; most overcrowded jails, and conditions are getting worse as police wage an unprecedented war on crime.&nbsp; 
 
Security forces have killed hundreds of people and detained thousands more in just one month as they have followed the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has said the top priority at the start of his six-year term is to eliminate drugs in society.&nbsp; 
 
Those detained appear doomed for lengthy stints in an underfunded and overwhelmed penal system, like in the Quezon City Jail where Dimaculangan&nbsp;(name changed)&nbsp;has wallowed for 14 years while his trial over murder and robbery charges have dragged on.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Many go crazy. They cannot think straight. It&#39;s so crowded. Just the slightest of movements and you bump into something or someone,&quot; Dimaculangan said in one of the jail&#39;s packed hallways that reeked of sweat.&nbsp; 
 
There are 3,800 inmates at the jail, which was built six decades ago to house 800, and they engage in a relentless contest for space. Men take turns to sleep on the cracked cement floor of an open-air basketball court, the steps of staircases, underneath beds and hammocks made out of old blankets. Even then, bodies are packed like sardines in a can, with inmates unable to fully stretch out. When it rains, the conditions are even worse as inmates cannot sleep on the basketball court, which is surrounded by the cells in decaying concrete buildings up to four storeys high.&nbsp; 
 
The cash-strapped national government has a daily budget of just 50 pesos ($1.10) for food and five pesos (11 cents) for medicine per inmate, although with the bulk buying of supplies, Quezon City Jail detainees have a sustainable diet of soup, vegetables and meat.&nbsp; 
 
Pails of water are used to flush the scarce toilets, with the stench compounded by the rotting garbage in a nearby canal.&nbsp; 
 
Unthinkable conditions&nbsp; 
 
The jail&#39;s management does what it can to make life bearable, such as running dance competitions and other rehabilitation activities. Inmates also say there have been improvements in recent years, particularly with the food and more rehabilitation programmes.&nbsp; 
 
But Raymund Narag, a criminal justice scholar at the Southern Illinois University in the United States, said such conditions were unthinkable in Western nations. &quot;If this happened in America, there would be a riot every day. Courts would declare these jails unfit for human habitation,&quot; Narag said.&nbsp; 
 
The Philippine penal system is the third most congested in the world, according to the University of London&#39;s Institute for Criminal Policy Research. Jails nationwide have nearly five times more inmates than they were built for, according to government data. And the situation is set to get much worse, very quickly.&nbsp; 
 
Under Duterte&#39;s crime war, police have reported arresting more than 4,300 people for drug-related crimes since he took office on June 30. Duterte has repeatedly urged his law enforcers to do more, calling on them to triple their efforts to eradicate the drug menace that he says is threatening to turn the Philippines into a narco-state.&nbsp; 
 
The population of Quezon City Jail, which houses inmates in a northern district of the Philippine capital who are on trial but not yet convicted, has grown by 300 since Duterte won May elections.&nbsp; 
 
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said government was preparing locations for new prisons while courts have been ordered to prioritise the expected deluge of drug cases.&nbsp; 
 
But Duterte has said little about far-reaching reforms needed to fix the systemic problem of overcrowding. &quot;If there are no new jails, no budget increases, no additional courts and prosecutors, the system will explode. That will be a humanitarian crisis,&quot; said Narag, the scholar who speaks from harrowing personal experience.&nbsp; 
 
Justice delayed&nbsp; 
 
Narag, 41, was locked up in Quezon City Jail in 1995 as a 20-year-old after being accused of killing a student from a rival college fraternity. It took seven years for a court to acquit him, which is about the average length of a trial in the Philippines and one of the main drivers of the overcrowding problem. Dimaculangan is the longest-serving inmate in Quezon City Jail, after being charged with killing a politician&#39;s relative in 2001.&nbsp; 
 
Dimaculangan insists he has a &quot;clear conscience&quot; but cannot get a chance to prove his innocence in court, averaging just one trial hearing a year in a chaotic judicial system notorious for its lack of judges, publicly funded lawyers and court rooms.&nbsp; 
 
Dimaculangan said his spirits used to rise when he was informed of a date for a court hearing, but he had been disappointed too many times with cancellations or postponements. &quot;Now when they say I have a hearing, I don&#39;t care anymore,&quot; he said.&nbsp; 
 
With no hopes of freedom, Dimaculangan said he had turned to his Catholic faith and values. &quot;My purpose is to help my fellow detainees,&quot; he said.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;God did not send me here because I am a thief. There are many thieves out there but how come they are not in jail?&quot;&nbsp; 
 
(AFP) 
&nbsp;

After President Duterte's crackdown on drugs, security forces have detained thousands in just one month

Mario Dimaculangan shares a toilet with 130 other inmates in one of the Philippines' most overcrowded jails, and conditions are getting worse as police wage an unprecedented war on crime. Security forces have killed hundreds of people and detained thousands more in just one month as they have followed the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has said the top priority at the start of his six-year term is to eliminate drugs in society. Those detained appear doomed for lengthy stints in an underfunded and overwhelmed penal system, like in the Quezon City Jail where Dimaculangan (name changed) has wallowed for 14 years while his trial over murder and robbery charges have dragged on. "Many go crazy. They cannot think straight. It's so crowded. Just the slightest of movements and you bump into something or someone," Dimaculangan said in one of the jail's packed hallways that reeked of sweat. There are 3,800 inmates at the jail, which was built six decades ago to house 800, and they engage in a relentless contest for space. Men take turns to sleep on the cracked cement floor of an open-air basketball court, the steps of staircases, underneath beds and hammocks made out of old blankets. Even then, bodies are packed like sardines in a can, with inmates unable to fully stretch out. When it rains, the conditions are even worse as inmates cannot sleep on the basketball court, which is surrounded by the cells in decaying concrete buildings up to four storeys high. The cash-strapped national government has a daily budget of just 50 pesos ($1.10) for food and five pesos (11 cents) for medicine per inmate, although with the bulk buying of supplies, Quezon City Jail detainees have a sustainable diet of soup, vegetables and meat. Pails of water are used to flush the scarce toilets, with the stench compounded by the rotting garbage in a nearby canal. Unthinkable conditions The jail's management does what it can to make life bearable, such as running dance competitions and other rehabilitation activities. Inmates also say there have been improvements in recent years, particularly with the food and more rehabilitation programmes. But Raymund Narag, a criminal justice scholar at the Southern Illinois University in the United States, said such conditions were unthinkable in Western nations. "If this happened in America, there would be a riot every day. Courts would declare these jails unfit for human habitation," Narag said. The Philippine penal system is the third most congested in the world, according to the University of London's Institute for Criminal Policy Research. Jails nationwide have nearly five times more inmates than they were built for, according to government data. And the situation is set to get much worse, very quickly. Under Duterte's crime war, police have reported arresting more than 4,300 people for drug-related crimes since he took office on June 30. Duterte has repeatedly urged his law enforcers to do more, calling on them to triple their efforts to eradicate the drug menace that he says is threatening to turn the Philippines into a narco-state. The population of Quezon City Jail, which houses inmates in a northern district of the Philippine capital who are on trial but not yet convicted, has grown by 300 since Duterte won May elections. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said government was preparing locations for new prisons while courts have been ordered to prioritise the expected deluge of drug cases. But Duterte has said little about far-reaching reforms needed to fix the systemic problem of overcrowding. "If there are no new jails, no budget increases, no additional courts and prosecutors, the system will explode. That will be a humanitarian crisis," said Narag, the scholar who speaks from harrowing personal experience. Justice delayed Narag, 41, was locked up in Quezon City Jail in 1995 as a 20-year-old after being accused of killing a student from a rival college fraternity. It took seven years for a court to acquit him, which is about the average length of a trial in the Philippines and one of the main drivers of the overcrowding problem. Dimaculangan is the longest-serving inmate in Quezon City Jail, after being charged with killing a politician's relative in 2001. Dimaculangan insists he has a "clear conscience" but cannot get a chance to prove his innocence in court, averaging just one trial hearing a year in a chaotic judicial system notorious for its lack of judges, publicly funded lawyers and court rooms. Dimaculangan said his spirits used to rise when he was informed of a date for a court hearing, but he had been disappointed too many times with cancellations or postponements. "Now when they say I have a hearing, I don't care anymore," he said. With no hopes of freedom, Dimaculangan said he had turned to his Catholic faith and values. "My purpose is to help my fellow detainees," he said. "God did not send me here because I am a thief. There are many thieves out there but how come they are not in jail?" (AFP)

1 toilet for 130 inmates: A harrowing tale of Philippine's overcrowded jails

Three senior Irish bankers were jailed on Friday for up to three-and-a-half years for conspiring to defraud investors in the most prominent prosecution arising from the 2008 banking crisis that crippled the country&#39;s economy. 
 
The trio will be among the first senior bankers globally to be jailed for their role in the collapse of a bank during the crisis. 
 
The lack of convictions until now has angered Irish taxpayers, who had to stump up 64 billion Euros, almost 40 per cent of annual economic output, after a property collapse forced the biggest state bank rescue in the euro zone. 
 
The crash thrust Ireland into a three-year sovereign bailout in 2010 and the finance ministry said last month that it could take another 15 years to recover the funds pumped into the banks still operating. 
 
Former Irish Life and Permanent Chief Executive Denis Casey was sentenced to two years and nine months following the 74-day criminal trial, Ireland&#39;s longest ever. 
 
Willie McAteer, former finance director at the failed Anglo Irish Bank, and John Bowe, its ex-head of capital markets, were given sentences of 42 months and 24 months respectively. 
 
&quot;Dishonest, Deceitful&nbsp;and Corrupt&quot; 
 
All three were convicted of conspiring together and with others to mislead investors, depositors and lenders by setting up a 7.2-billion-Euro circular transaction scheme between March and September 2008 to bolster Anglo&#39;s balance sheet. 
 
Irish Life placed the deposits via a non-banking subsidiary in the run-up to Anglo&#39;s financial year-end, to allow its rival to categorise them as customer deposits, which are viewed as more secure, rather than a deposit from another bank. 
 
&quot;By means that could be termed dishonest, deceitful and corrupt they manufactured 7.2 billion Euros in deposits by obvious sham transactions,&quot; Judge Martin Nolan told the court, describing the conspiracy as a &quot;very serious crime&quot;. 
 
&quot;The public is entitled to rely on the probity of blue chip firms. If we can&rsquo;t rely on the probity of these banks we lose all hope or trust in institutions,&quot; said Nolan. 
 
None of the defendants reacted visibly to the sentencing before being led away by officers to Mountjoy Prison, the country&#39;s largest, and used in the past to hold Irish Republican Army prisoners. 
 
&#39;Green Jersey&nbsp;Agenda&#39; 
 
Lawyers for the accused argued during the trial that their motivation in authorising the deal was the &quot;green jersey&quot; agenda, the financial regulator&#39;s request for Irish banks to support one another as the financial crisis worsened. 
 
McAteer was convicted in 2014 of illegal lending and providing unlawful assistance to investors, but sentenced to perform community service when a judge ruled he was &quot;led into error and illegality&quot; by the Irish regulator. 
 
Scandal-hit Anglo-Irish, described by Nolan as &quot;probably the most reviled institution in the state&quot;, was put into liquidation in 2013 and remains subject to other criminal trials. 
 
Irish Life and Permanent was broken up during the restructuring of Ireland&#39;s financial sector and its banking arm, permanent tsb, remains under 75 per cent state ownership. 
 
Two other Anglo-Irish bankers, chief operations officer Tiarnan O&#39;Mahoney, 56, and former company secretary Bernard Daly, 67, earlier this year had their sentences quashed on appeal after spending several months in prison. 
 
Banks in the United States and Britain have paid billions of dollars in fines and settlements connected to wrongdoing over their handling of subprime loans that helped cause the crisis. But no senior industry executives in those countries have been sent to jail. 
 
(Reuters)

Banks in the US and Britain have paid billions for their handling of subprime mortage loans but no senior execs from there have gone to jail

Three senior Irish bankers were jailed on Friday for up to three-and-a-half years for conspiring to defraud investors in the most prominent prosecution arising from the 2008 banking crisis that crippled the country's economy. The trio will be among the first senior bankers globally to be jailed for their role in the collapse of a bank during the crisis. The lack of convictions until now has angered Irish taxpayers, who had to stump up 64 billion Euros, almost 40 per cent of annual economic output, after a property collapse forced the biggest state bank rescue in the euro zone. The crash thrust Ireland into a three-year sovereign bailout in 2010 and the finance ministry said last month that it could take another 15 years to recover the funds pumped into the banks still operating. Former Irish Life and Permanent Chief Executive Denis Casey was sentenced to two years and nine months following the 74-day criminal trial, Ireland's longest ever. Willie McAteer, former finance director at the failed Anglo Irish Bank, and John Bowe, its ex-head of capital markets, were given sentences of 42 months and 24 months respectively. "Dishonest, Deceitful and Corrupt" All three were convicted of conspiring together and with others to mislead investors, depositors and lenders by setting up a 7.2-billion-Euro circular transaction scheme between March and September 2008 to bolster Anglo's balance sheet. Irish Life placed the deposits via a non-banking subsidiary in the run-up to Anglo's financial year-end, to allow its rival to categorise them as customer deposits, which are viewed as more secure, rather than a deposit from another bank. "By means that could be termed dishonest, deceitful and corrupt they manufactured 7.2 billion Euros in deposits by obvious sham transactions," Judge Martin Nolan told the court, describing the conspiracy as a "very serious crime". "The public is entitled to rely on the probity of blue chip firms. If we can’t rely on the probity of these banks we lose all hope or trust in institutions," said Nolan. None of the defendants reacted visibly to the sentencing before being led away by officers to Mountjoy Prison, the country's largest, and used in the past to hold Irish Republican Army prisoners. 'Green Jersey Agenda' Lawyers for the accused argued during the trial that their motivation in authorising the deal was the "green jersey" agenda, the financial regulator's request for Irish banks to support one another as the financial crisis worsened. McAteer was convicted in 2014 of illegal lending and providing unlawful assistance to investors, but sentenced to perform community service when a judge ruled he was "led into error and illegality" by the Irish regulator. Scandal-hit Anglo-Irish, described by Nolan as "probably the most reviled institution in the state", was put into liquidation in 2013 and remains subject to other criminal trials. Irish Life and Permanent was broken up during the restructuring of Ireland's financial sector and its banking arm, permanent tsb, remains under 75 per cent state ownership. Two other Anglo-Irish bankers, chief operations officer Tiarnan O'Mahoney, 56, and former company secretary Bernard Daly, 67, earlier this year had their sentences quashed on appeal after spending several months in prison. Banks in the United States and Britain have paid billions of dollars in fines and settlements connected to wrongdoing over their handling of subprime loans that helped cause the crisis. But no senior industry executives in those countries have been sent to jail. (Reuters)

Ireland jails three top bankers over 2008 banking meltdown

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