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| Words in the News
Monday 18 February 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Speight sentence commuted
Summary: Fiji coup leader George Speight has had his death penalty for treason commuted to life in prison by the country’s president, Ratu Josefa Il Ilo. This report from Phil Mercer.
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| | The News | |
| | | George Speight has been spared death by hanging and is now starting a life sentence in jail. It’s been a day of high drama in Fiji: it started with Speight walking confidently into court at the start of his trial for treason. He immediately pleaded guilty, but broke down and wept as the presiding judge, Justice Michael Scott, donned a ceremonial black cap to order his execution by hanging.
Within hours the case was being reviewed by Fiji’s mercy commission, headed by the attorney-general, which advises the president on issues of clemency. The government said last week it would introduce legislation to take the death penalty off the statute books and replace it with life in prison
It’s two years since Speight’s armed gang of nationalists stormed parliament. The target of the uprising was Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji’s first ethnic Indian prime minister. He was accused by Speight of dismantling the rights of the indigenous majority at the expense of the Indo-Fijian minority.
Speight may appeal the life sentence. The weeping figure with his head bowed as the earlier death sentence was passed, stood in stark contrast to the confident and charismatic man who brought down democracy in May 2000.
Phil Mercer, BBC News, Brisbane
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| | The Words
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| | | spared
if someone is spared, they are not punished
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| | | treason
the crime of betraying your country
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| | | pleaded guilty
stated in court that he had committed a crime
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| | | donned
put on
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| | | clemency
kind treatment from a person who has the authority to punish
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| | | statute books
the collection of laws that are in force in a particular country
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| | | accused
charged with committing a crime
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| | | appeal
to request someone in authority to change a decision
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| | | bowed
lowered, looking at the ground
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| | | charismatic
able to influence and inspire people by their personal qualities
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| | Other Words in the News archives | |
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