July 22
ENGLAND:
Mum dumps family for Death Row killer----Wife jets off to USA to be with
convict she met on the internet
A family has been torn apart by a mother who moved to Florida to be closer
to a brutal killer on death row she met online.
Xenia King, 31, flew out to the States on Monday to be united with
convicted murderer John Marquard, leaving behind her husband Stuart, 37,
and their children aged 4 and 10.
Shocked neighbours told how a removal van arrived at the four-bedroom
family home, which has been on sale for the last month at 275,000, in
Orchard Way, Lower Stondon, on Monday to collect the last of Xenia's
possessions.
She told a national newspaper: "I'm not mad. In life you can't help who
you fall in love with. John and I have a spiritual connection that I have
never had with anyone before. One day I will marry him."
Xenia became involved with Marquard when she discovered his appeal for
penpals online and started writing to him.
He has been on death row since 1993 after he and another man were
convicted for the brutal murder of 22-year-old Stacy Ann Willets in 1991.
Xenia said she fell for Marquard's good looks and his dark sense of
humour, although she has never spoken to him about his past.
Surprised neighbour in Stondon Colin Goss said: "They were perfectly
normal - a reasonable couple, quite quiet."
The couple married when Xenia was 17 and Colin told the Chronicle that the
couple met while Stuart was serving in Germany with the RAF.
Another neighbour who asked not to be named said: "I can't see the
attraction myself. It's quite bizarre for Stondon.
"I hope it's a wise decision for her. It's nice that some people have a
charitable view of criminals.
(source: Biggleswade Today)
IRAN:
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International
AI Index: MDE 13/038/2005 22 July 2005
Iran continues to execute minors and juvenile offenders
In the wake of the execution of three persons for crimes committed when
they were children (under 18), including one who is still a child, in less
than a week, Amnesty International today urges the Iranian government to
put a final stop to these executions.
On 19 July 2005, an 18-year-old, identified only as A. M. and a minor,
Mahmoud A, were publicly hanged in the north-eastern city of Mashhad.
According to reports, they were convicted of sexual assault on a
13-year-old boy and had been detained 14 months ago. Prior to their
execution, the two were also given 228 lashes each for drinking,
disturbing the peace and theft.
Prior to this, on 13 July 2005, Ali Safarpour Rajabi, aged 20, was hanged
for killing Hamid Enshadi, a police officer in Poldokhtar. Amnesty
International recorded his death sentence as having been passed in
February 2002, when he was 17 years old, and believes his crime may have
been committed when he was only 16 years old.
As a state party to the International Convention on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Iran
has undertaken not to execute anyone for an offence committed when they
were under the age of 18.
For the past 4 years, the Iranian authorities have been considering
legislation that would prohibit the use of the death penalty for offences
committed by persons under the age of 18. Under Article 1210(1) of Irans
Civil Code, the ages of 15 lunar years for boys and 9 lunar years for
girls are set out as the age of criminal responsibility.
In January 2005, following its consideration of Iran's 2nd periodic report
on its implementation of the provisions of the CRC, the United Nations
Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee), the body of
independent experts established under this Convention to monitor states
parties' compliance with the treaty, urged Iran:
"to take the necessary steps to immediately suspend the execution of all
death penalties imposed on persons for having committed a crime before the
age of 18, to take the appropriate legal measures to convert them to
penalties in conformity with the provisions of the Convention and to
abolish the death penalty as a sentence imposed on persons for having
committed crimes before the age of 18, as required by article 37 of the
Convention."
And, inter alia:
"to suspend immediately the imposition and execution of all forms of
torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, such as amputation,
flogging or stoning, for crimes committed by persons under 18."
(paragraphs 30 and 72.b of the Committee's Concluding Observations, UN
Doc. CRC/C/15/Add.254.)
So far this year, Iran has executed at least 4 persons for crimes
committed when they were children including 1 who is still a child.
Amnesty International has recorded 42 executions so far in 2005, but the
true number could well be higher.
It is now imperative for Iran to stop sentencing children to death, to end
the executions of children, and to halt all forms of violence against
children.
View all AI documents on Iran:
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadMlKabiRyMbb0havb/
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Outrage as Iran accused of executing gay teens
2 teenagers have been executed after a religious court found them guilty
of homosexuality, pro-democracy groups in Iran have claimed.
The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reports that the executions took
place on July 19 in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
A report of the executions was also carried on the website of the
democratic opposition movement, The National Council of Resistance Of
Iran.
ISNA says one of the teens was aged 18, the other was a minor, believed to
be aged 16 or 17. The organization ran a picture of what it said was the
execution on its website.
The English language Iran In Focus also reported the executions, saying
the teens were hanged in public in the city square.
It quotes sources as saying the teens were executed for having sex with
another minor but this could not be confirmed. Under Sharia law the victim
of a sexual assault must also be executed.
Both news services say that prior to their execution, the teenagers were
held in prison for 14 months and severely beaten.
Ruhollah Rezazadeh, the lawyer for the younger teen, reportedly had
appealed the death sentence but the Supreme Court in Tehran ordered him to
be hanged.
Under the Iranian penal code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as
15 can be hanged.
3 other young gay Iranians are reportedly being hunted by police, but they
are said to have gone into hiding and cannot be found.
(source: Ireland Online)
INDONESIA:
Indonesian prosecutors demand death penalty to Makassar bomber
Indonesian prosecutors demanded a death penalty to a bomber in a McDonald
restaurant in Makassar, South Sulawesi in December 2002 that killed 3
people, a media reported Friday.
Agung Abdul Hamid was charged as plotter and intellectual of the deadly
blast that also wounded 15 people.
"The terrorist defendant committed in 2 criminal acts, terrorism and
keeping the explosives," said prosecutor Muhammad Taupik.
Hamid responded the demand with smile, saying that the court session was
engineered.
His lawyer M. Yusron Rusdiono said that he will give respond to the
prosecutor demand in the next 10 days, on the next session on August, the
leading Kompas daily said.
(source: Xinhuanet News)
