Feb. 25
IRAN:
Iran girl gets 100 lashes for sex
A teenage girl and 2 young men in Iran have been sentenced to lashes for
having sex.
The court dismissed the girl's claim that she was raped. It said she had
sex of her own free will, the official Iran Daily newspaper reported.
The girl was sentenced to 100 lashes because her accusations of rape and
kidnap could have landed her partners a death penalty, the Tehran judge
said.
Sex outside marriage is illegal in Iran and capital punishment can be
imposed.
The young men in the case were sentenced to 30 and 40 lashes each.
Rights violations
The Iran paper quotes the girl, who has not been named, as confessing: "I
trusted one of these young men, whom I got to know by phone, and went to
his place.
"But because he betrayed me, I filed the case against him and his friend
out of revenge."
International concerns continue to be raised about women's rights in Iran.
In December the UN General Assembly voted to censure Iran for human rights
violations, including discrimination against women and girls.
Tehran rejected the criticism as propaganda.
Under Iranian law, girls over the age of 9 and boys over 16 face the death
penalty for crimes such as rape and murder, while capital punishment can
be imposed in certain cases of illegal sexual relationships.
(source: BBC News)
ENGLAND/SAUDI ARABIA:
Former Saudi death row Scot set to become father again
A Scot who faced the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, after being wrongly
convicted of a bombing murder, is to become a father for the second time.
Sandy Mitchell, 49, who spent three years in jail for a crime he did not
commit, is delighted his wife Noi, 29, is expecting a baby.
He faced public beheading after being wrongly convicted of involvement in
a car bombing which killed Briton Christopher Rodway in November 2000.
Mr Mitchell was chief anaesthetist technician at a security forces
hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, when he was arrested on suspicion
of being involved in gang warfare to control the bootleg alcohol trade.
Mr Mitchell, originally from Kirkintilloch, said he and 2 other men were
tortured into making videotaped confessions, which were broadcast around
the world.
He was convicted with British friend Dr Bill Sampson and a Belgian nurse,
who had been trying to help victims at the scene of the 2nd car bombing.
The three were sentenced to death in September 2001 and remained in prison
awaiting their fate before winning a royal pardon 2 years later.
Mr Mitchell, who had worked in the Middle East since the 1980s, now lives
in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
At an inquest this week, Wiltshire coroner David Masters said he found
nothing linking Mr Mitchell and Dr Sampson to Mr Rodway's death. Mr
Mitchell, who has a 5-year-old son Matthew, will become a father again in
August.
He said: "I'm delighted - if the Saudis had carried out their threat to
execute me, this baby would never have been born.
"Originally, we had hoped to give our son Matthew a brother or sister
rather closer to his age but the Saudi authorities put paid to that."
Mr Mitchell's book about his ordeal is due to be published in May.
In the autobiography, he describes how he was kept alone in the dark, hung
by his feet and viciously beaten while guards threatened to rape and hurt
his wife.
One of his worst memories is of fighting for breath while a 25-stone man
sat on his chest and another man beat the soles of his feet.
Since his return to the UK he has battled to force the Saudi authorities
to apologise for their treatment of him.
He said the strain of imprisonment had left him with heart problems. A
SCOT who faced the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, after being wrongly
convicted of a bombing murder, is to become a father for the 2nd time.
Sandy Mitchell, 49, who spent three years in jail for a crime he did not
commit, is delighted his wife Noi, 29, is expecting a baby.
He faced public beheading after being wrongly convicted of involvement in
a car bombing which killed Briton Christopher Rodway in November 2000.
Mr Mitchell was chief anaesthetist technician at a security forces
hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, when he was arrested on suspicion
of being involved in gang warfare to control the bootleg alcohol trade.
Mr Mitchell, originally from Kirkintilloch, said he and 2 other men were
tortured into making videotaped confessions, which were broadcast around
the world.
He was convicted with British friend Dr Bill Sampson and a Belgian nurse,
who had been trying to help victims at the scene of the 2nd car bombing.
The 3 were sentenced to death in September 2001 and remained in prison
awaiting their fate before winning a royal pardon 2 years later.
Mr Mitchell, who had worked in the Middle East since the 1980s,
(source: The Evening Standard)
NAMIBIA:
The Death Penalty: A violation of basic human rights and an ineffective
crime deterrent
The Namibian public is rightfully outraged in response to the sexual
assault and murder of 2 young girls in Windhoek and Swakopmund.
In response, a number of people have called for the re-introduction of the
death penalty in Namibia.
I respectfully submit that the call to consider the legalization of
capital punishment is misguided.
Not only is the death penalty explicitly outlawed by the Namibian
Constitution, it also contravenes Namibia's regional and international
human rights obligations.
Moreover, the death penalty has not been shown to deter criminal behaviour
or reduce crime rates in other countries, and there is no proven method to
ensure that innocent people will not be put to death at the hands of the
State.
Article 6 of the Namibian Constitution states that "the right to life
shall be respected and protected."
It then goes on to explicitly state that "no Court or Tribunal shall have
the power to impose a sentence of death on any person," and that "no
executions shall take place in Namibia."
Further, Article 131 provides that the repeal or amendment of the
fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution that would
diminish or detract from them is impermissible.
Because the right to life is a fundamental right, the only way that
Article 6 or portions thereof could be changed is to throw out the
Constitution and begin the process anew.
Taking such a drastic measure in order to legalize the death penalty,
which is currently condemned by the majority of countries in the world, is
without merit.
Current figures reveal that 118 countries in the world have abolished the
death penalty, either in law or in practice.
Since 1985 only four countries that had previously abolished the death
penalty have reinstated it (Nepal, the Philippines, Gambia, and Papua New
Guinea).
However, Nepal has now abolished it again, the Philippines have suspended
executions, and there have been no executions in Gambia and Papua New
Guinea.
Thus, if Namibia were to reintroduce the death penalty and carry out an
execution, it would stand alone in the world.
It is clear that countries that have abolished the death penalty far
exceed the number of countries which both retain and use the death penalty
(78).
In fact, in 2003, 84 percent of all executions were carried out in only 4
countries (China, the United States, Iran, and Vietnam).
Internationally, there are 4 treaties through which various countries have
explicitly agreed not to use the death penalty, or to only do so during
wartime.
Further, the cornerstone of international human rights, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, enshrines the protection of the right to life
and prohibits cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment (Articles 3 and 5).
Namibia has signed and ratified a number of international treaties that
similarly enshrine the protection of the right to life as well as prohibit
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
They include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(Articles 6 and 7), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article
37), and the Convention Against Torture and Other forms of Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Articles 1 and 16).
Moreover, Namibia has obligations to two regional treaties that enshrine
the right to life and prohibit cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment;
namely the African Charter on Human and People's Rights (Articles 4 and 5)
and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Article
5).
By reintroducing the death penalty, Namibia would arguably contravene each
of these international and regional agreements.
Even if it were acceptable to Namibians to throw out the Constitution and
ignore all of these international and regional human rights obligations -
which it should clearly not be - research shows that the death penalty is
simply not effective in combating crime.
Indeed, a recent report that considers the relationship between the death
penalty and homicide rates conducted for the United Nations concluded that
"it is not prudent to accept the hypothesis that capital punishment deters
murder to a marginally greater extent than does the threat and application
of the supposedly lesser punishment of life imprisonment."
This same report, in comparing the relationship between changes in the use
of the death penalty and crime rates, stated that "the fact that the
statistics - continue to point in the same direction is persuasive
evidence that countries need not fear sudden and serious changes in the
curve of crime if they reduce their reliance upon the death penalty."
In Canada, for example, the homicide rate peaked the year before the death
penalty was abolished for the crime of murder, and has fallen by 40
percent since.
In the United States, the State of Texas has become the nation's leader in
the use of the death penalty since 1982, yet in the years between 1982 and
1991 the rate of violent crime grew by 46 percent and the general crime
rate grew by 24 %.<
The facts also show that the death penalty can lead to state sponsored
killing of innocent people.
For example, in the United States, 117 individuals have been released from
death row since 1973 after evidence of their innocence was revealed.
Indeed, in 2000 the governor of one US state (Illinois) declared a
moratorium on the death penalty after thirteen death row inmates were
found to have been wrongfully convicted since 1977.
One of the men exonerated, Madison Hobley, made a false confession after
police wrapped a plastic bag over his head, beat him, and choked him in
order to force a confession.
Based on this coerced confession, he was convicted and spent 13 years on
Illinois' death row before being exonerated.
In countries that permit the use of the death penalty, the risk of
innocent people being killed at the hands of the state is simply
unavoidable.
It can and does happen.
While it is natural that we want to protect ourselves and our children
from crime, the death penalty is simply not a wise or effective way to
accomplish that objective.
This does not mean, however, that a national debate on crime reduction and
prevention does not need to take place in Namibia.
It is the responsibility of every Namibian to consider ways in which to
make Namibian society a safer place for everyone, but the death penalty is
not the answer.
(source: Matthew Burnett, a former legal intern at the Legal Assistance
Centre, is a researcher and writer on international human rights and other
public international law topics----He currently lives and works in
Johannesburg, South Africa; Th Namibian)
RUSSIA:
Senior Russian Prosecutor Backs Death Penalty for Terrorists
Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov has advocated the
cancellation of Russias death penalty moratorium for terrorists. His
statement was sent to the Federation Council, the upper house of the
Russian parliament, on Friday.
Kolesnikov also proposed bringing back the practice of seizing property as
a penalty for certain crimes.
"It is worthwhile bringing back such a type of penalty as the seizure of
property obtained in a criminal way, and to toughen the penalty against
people who have committed crimes repeatedly," his statement read.
The deputy prosecutor general also noted that the Criminal Procedure Code
articles on legalization of incomes earned in an illegal manner do not
work, although they must be directed at solving very serious problems and
we must make them work."
(source: Moscow News)
