death penalty news August 17, 2004
UZBEKISTAN: Uzbek blast trial restarts The trial is under way in Uzbekistan of 15 people allegedly involved in a series of suicide bombings and other violence in March. More than 40 people died in the carnage. The authorities have accused the 15 of belonging to an Islamic group with links to al-Qaeda. The trial originally began in July, but was adjourned after suicide bombers staged new attacks outside the US and Israeli embassies in Tashkent. The suspects sat silently in cages in the courtroom on Tuesday. Most of them are young men in their early 20s, dressed in tracksuits and flip flops, who gaze at the floor throughout the proceedings. Two are women kept in a separate cage and wearing the full veil of devout Muslims. The group could face the death penalty for the charges against them, mainly complicity in a series of killings that shocked the country in late March. It was the first time that suicide bombers had struck in Uzbekistan. It seems that the carnage was mainly caused by two young women who blew themselves up at a police drill yard outside a bazaar. The authorities say the suspects belong to a previously unknown Islamic group called Jamoat, or community. They say the group has links with international organisations, specifically al-Qaeda. Significantly, some of the accused have confessed to training in south Waziristan in the Pakistani borderlands close to Afghanistan, where the Pakistani army has been waging a long campaign against militants. The trial first got going in July, but was adjourned when three more suicide bombers blew themselves up at the US and Israeli embassies, and then at the Interior Ministry. (source. BBC) =============================== PHILIPPINES: 2,856 Filipino workers in foreign jails: Foreign Department The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Tuesday said that there are currently 2,856 Filipino workers in foreign jails, 19 of whom are facing death penalty. According to the DFA's data, 13 Filipino workers were imposed with capital punishment in Saudi Arabia, five in Malaysia and one in the United States. Foreign Undersecretary and head of office of Migrant Workers Affairs Jose Brillantes said that the government is making necessary representations with the Saudi government to commute thesentence of the two Filipinos in death row, who were convicted by final judgment and may be headed in Saudi Arabia. "We are doing everything we can to save the lives of these Filipinos. The same is being done to other Filipinos facing death penalty," Brillantes told a press briefing. While the case is in progress, the embassy usually adopts and recommends actions for amicable settlement, he explained. The government has extended every possible assistance within its resources, to the families and exhaust all remedies, legal andconsular, during the presidency of the case regardless of how longthe case lasts, he added. House Representative Juan Miguel Zubiri Monday raised an alarm over 2,856 Filipinos languishing in jails in 56 countries, whom hedescribed as "POFW" or prisoner-overseas Filipino workers. According to a 369-page report from the DFA, at least 673 POFWsare women and of those imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, 50 are minors, he said. "There are more POFWs than officially listed because some of our foreign service posts were not able to submit their reports for a variety of reasons," he said. "To repatriate them all, the country would need 20 Boeing 737 planes." "Even in the tiny Maldives in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there was a Filipino in prison," Zubiri added. Enditem (source: Xinhua / Chinaview.cn) ==================== UNITED KINGDOM / IRAQ: Left-wingers hit out over Iraq PM visit Left-wing Labour anti-war activists have expressed anger over Tony Blair's plans to invite Iraq's prime minister to the party's annual conference. It has been reported that Iyad Allawi could be a special guest speaker at next month's gathering in Brighton. But some anti-war MPs and activists warn such a move would increase Labour divisions over the conflict when unity is needed ahead of the election. A Labour Party spokeswoman said the line-up of speakers at the conference had yet to be confirmed. Reports of the proposed invitation to Mr Allawi come as an Iraqi national conference in Baghdad is meeting to choose an assembly ahead of elections next year. Mr Allawi has faced some criticism for asking for help from US-led forces to help attack supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Najaf. Last year's international guest speaker at the Labour conference was Afghan leader Hamid Karzai in a show of support for his interim administration. The previous year it was ex-US president Bill Clinton. Mr Blair has repeatedly said people with different views about the war can unite about the need to back efforts to build a stable and democratic Iraq. London Labour anti-war MP Jeremy Corbyn said today: "It is wholly inappropriate to invite this man who has reintroduced the death penalty and banned a television station in Iraq, not to mention who was appointed by the American administration. "It will be extremely irritating to the party grass roots and test their patience." (source: The Scotsman)
