Dec. 22
PAKISTAN: SC stops implementation of death penalty against 4 convicts in zina case Supreme court Shariat Appellate Bench has stopped implementation of death penalty awarded to four accused belonging to Faisalabad by anti terrorism court under Zina ordinance. The convicts were to be executed on Wednesday. Shariat Appellate bench comprising Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Mian Shakir Ullah Jan, Justice Dr Allama Khalid Mehmood and Justice Allama Rashid A Jalandhri was headed by Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar. Moulvi Iqbal Hider had challenged section 10(4) of zina ordinance in Wafaqi Shariat Court and his plea was rejected. It was again challenged in the Shariat Appellate bench of Supreme Court on Wednesday. Earlier judge of anti terrorism court had stopped implementation of capital punishment orders in respect of these 4 death convicts. being the case fixed in Supreme court. They were charged with committing sexual assault on one Saima Bibi, a Christian girl in 1999. Anti terrorism court had convicted and awarded dearth sentence to them. These orders were later upheld by the high court. Age of all the 4 convicts were below 25 years at the time of occurrence of incident. The death convicts including Omar Hayat, Ishrat, Shahzad and Mubarak were kept in central jail Faisalabad where from their death warrants had been issued and their last meeting with their family members had also taken place. Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar asked Moulvi Iqbal Haider advocate "You have now succeeded in your aim as execution has been averted and the decision would now be taken as per rules and regulations." Moulvi Iqbal Haider contended that there was no flexibility in section 10(4) of penal code. Any accused of zina case can not be sentenced to death as this punishment is against Quran and Sunnah. The hearing of the case was adjourned till December 29. (source: Pakistan Tribune) AFGHANISTAN: Death sentences over aid kidnap In Kabul, an Afghan court on Thursday sentenced 2 men to death and another to 20 years in prison for the murder of an Afghan businessman and the kidnapping of an Italian aid worker that had fueled fears of Iraq-style abductions in Kabul. Meanwhile, media rights groups hailed an appeals court verdict on Wednesday to free the editor of an Afghan women's magazine who had been sentenced to 2 years in prison for publishing articles deemed offensive to Islam. The 2 verdicts from Afghanistan's fledgling legal system come days after another keystone of its experiment with democracy, its first popularly elected parliament in more than 30 years, was convened in the capital Kabul. 3 men implicated in the abduction of CARE International worker Clementina Cantoni were sentenced by the National Security Court. Cantoni, who had been working on a project helping Afghan widows and their families, was kidnapped in the capital by armed men May 16 and released unharmed June 9. The president of the court, Abdul Baset Bakhtyari, said Temur Shah and Haroom, another defendant who goes by one name, were sentenced to death by hanging after a 1-day trial. A 3rd man, only known as Esat, received 20 years in prison, Bakhtyari said. He said the convicted men would appeal. Bakhtyari said Shah and Haroom were also accused of kidnapping a businessman, Hafid Ullah Zadan earlier this year and demanding a $500,000 ransom for his life. When Zadan refused, Shah drowned him in a deep well near his house in Kabul, Bakhtyari said. He said Shah had confessed to both crimes. There has been a spate of abductions and attempted kidnappings over the past year, sending shivers through the Kabul's foreign community, amid fears that criminals and Taliban-linked rebels could be mimicking tactics of rebels in Iraq. The circumstances of Cantoni's release and the motive for the kidnapping remain unclear. Also Thursday, an Afghan journalists' association and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists hailed the imminent release of Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, who was convicted of blasphemy in October over articles published in his magazine Haqooq-i-Zan -- Women's Rights. One article had criticized a provision under Shariah, or Islamic law, of punishing adulterers with 100 lashes. An appeals court reduced Nasab's sentence to 6 months, and suspended the remaining 3 months after he apologized to the court for the articles, said Maulvi Muhayuddin Baluch, a religious affairs adviser of President Hamid Karzai. Nasab was expected to be released from prison on Saturday, said Abdul Razzaq, the magazine's deputy editor. "We are very happy but it was international pressure, human rights groups and our organization that got him released," Rahimullah Samandar, head of the Afghan Independent Journalists' Association. Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the court order was a "positive development for the Afghan media." "The constitutional protections guaranteeing freedom of the press must be respected by the government," she said in a statement. Nasab's case underlines the fragility of press freedoms in Afghanistan, a conservative Islamic country where tensions prevail between religious moderates and hardliners four years after the ouster of the Taliban regime. Under a revised March 2004 media law signed by Karzai, content deemed insulting to Islam is banned. Criminal penalties were left vaguely worded, leaving open the possibility of punishment in accordance with Shariah. Meanwhile Thursday, a patrol of U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan police came under attack in central Ghazni province, triggering a shootout that left 2 rebels dead and three injured, the U.S. military and an Afghan official said. An Afghan policeman was killed. More than 1,500 people have been killed this year in the deadliest militant violence since American-led forces toppled the Taliban from power in 2001. (source: Associated Press) LIBYA/BULGARIA: Families visit jailed Bulgarian nurses in Libya The families of five Bulgarian nurses charged with infecting Libyan children with the HIV virus were allowed to visit them in their jail for the holidays, officials said Thursday. The 5 nurses and a Palestinian doctor have been sentenced to death for allegedly infecting the children, charges they deny. Europe and the United States have put mounting pressure on Libya to free them, and the issue has become an obstacle to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's efforts to improve ties with the West. Libya and the EU have been trying to negotiate a compromise for the medics' release, but so far no breakthroughs have been announced. A court is to hold its latest hearing on the medics' appeal of their sentence Sunday. The families spent the past week in Libya, where they were allowed daily visits to the nurses in a prison near Tripoli on the occasion of Christmas and New Year's, a Libyan official said on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to make statements to the press. Relatives were allowed a similar holiday visit a year ago for the holidays. The 5 nurses recently have been moved to a specially constructed cell block inside the Women's Prison in Tripoli that Libyan officials said had better facilities. Marc Pierini, the EU representative to Libya, also visited the nurses in the jail. He told The Associated Press that the families of the Bulgarian nurses are also in contacts with families of the Libyan children "in order that each side knows the views of the other." First arrested in February 1999, 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced last year on charges of intentionally infecting more than 400 children at al-Fath Children's Hospital in Benghazi with HIV as part of an experiment to find a cure for AIDS. The 6 medics face death by firing squad. Bulgarian and other European officials have accused Libyan authorities of trying to pin blame on the defendants for poor hygiene practices they say caused the infections. At least 50 of the 426 children reportedly have died, heightening the pressure on Libya's government to carry out the sentences. Angry families of the Libyan victims have been waging protests wanting retribution. Libyan officials have proposed that Bulgaria pay compensation to the families of the HIV victims to spare the medics' death penalty. Bulgaria rejected the offer because it would imply their guilt. The EU and United States have criticized the trial, saying it did not meet international standards. (source: Associated Press)
