[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 11



IRAN----executions

Iran hangs 8 men and gives 3 others reprieve


Iran hanged eight convicted murderers and rapists on Wednesday, an Iranian
news agency said, but 3 others were given a one-month reprieve following a
U.N. appeal.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called on
Iran on Tuesday to stay the execution of four men convicted of murders
committed when they were under 18, including 2 of those whose hanging was
postponed on Wednesday.

The semi-official Fars News Agency did not mention Arbour's statement in
its report but said the victims' families had agreed that the executions
of Behnoud Shojai, Mohammad Fadai and Davoud Mahdour be delayed.

Shojai's execution was postponed last month, after the European Union
urged Tehran to spare his life.

Under Iran's Islamic law, sharia, the family of the victim can agree to
pardon the murderer in exchange for "blood money," or financial
compensation, but it was not clear whether this may happen in the cases of
Shojai and Fadai.

Amnesty International has said Shojai intervened to stop a fight between a
friend and another boy, and stabbed the other boy with a shard of glass
after being threatened with a knife. It says he was 17 at the time of the
crime 3 years ago.

In her statement issued in Geneva, Arbour reminded Tehran that Iran had
ratified international laws prohibiting imposing the death penalty for
juvenile offenders.

It was not clear when the two other convicted murderers she mentioned were
due to be put to death but their names were not among the ones Fars said
were hanged on Wednesday.

Of those executed in Tehran's Evin prison, 5 were convicted of murder and
3 of rape, Fars said.

Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are
all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, practiced since the 1979
Islamic revolution.

Amnesty listed in April the Islamic state as the world's second most
prolific executioner last year, with at least 317 people put to death,
trailing only China which carried out 470 death sentences.

The London-based rights group says that Iran has executed at least 28
child offenders since 1990.

Iran rejects accusations it is violating human rights and accuses the West
of double standards and hypocrisy.

(source: Reuters)

***********************

Reprieve should be first step in ending juvenile executions


The 1-month reprieve of two juvenile offenders who were due to be executed
today should be the first step towards putting an end to the obscene
practice of juvenile executions, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

"We call on Iran to end, once and for all, such executions, including
those of at least 85 other juvenile offenders on death row," said Amnesty
International. "These juveniles should not have been sentenced to death in
the first place, when Iran has given its word by signing international
treaties banning executions of children."

Behnoud Shojaee and Mohammad Fedai were accused of premeditated murder and
sentenced to qesas, or retribution, for which the penalty is death. Both
had claimed that they did not intend to kill.

Amnesty International is also concerned about reports that Saeed Jazee, a
third juvenile offender now aged 21, is also scheduled to be executed on
25 June.

The reprieve was granted on Tuesday 10 June by Ayatollah Mahmoud
Shahroudi, Head of Iran's Judiciary. It came one day before the two were
due to be executed after they had been sentenced to qesas. Amnesty
International had received news of at least eight other executions that
were also due to take place today Wednesday 11 June, in Tehran. The basis
for conviction of the remaining eight is unknown.

Amnesty International has longstanding concerns with trial procedures that
fall short of international standards which Iran is obliged to uphold.

In a recent letter by Mohammad Fedai that was publicised on 7 June, he
said that while in detention, officials kicked and tortured him, to the
point that one night he agreed to sign a confession without knowledge of
its content.

"I am a 21 year old, a young man, who was only 16 when he entered prison.
Like any other teenager, [I was] still living my childhood dreams []", he
wrote, adding "I was beaten and flogged repeatedly [] They hanged me from
the ceiling [and] left me with no hope of living. "

Amnesty International recognises the right and responsibilities of states
to bring those suspected of criminal offences to justice in fair
proceedings, but opposes the death penalty in all cases.

"We call on Iran's leaders, its judiciary and its new parliamentarians to
ensure that Iran joins the global trend away from the use of the death
penalty, powerfully expressed in the UN General Assembly's resolution
calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions on 18 December 2007,"
said Amnesty International.

Background

Since 1990 Iran has executed at least 30 juvenile offenders, 7 of them in
2007 and at least one in 2008. Amnesty International is aware of at least
85 juvenile offenders currently on death row and fears there may be many
more.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Iran is party,
forbid the execution of people sentenced for crimes they committed under
the age of 18.

Under Article 206 (b) of Iran's Criminal Code, murder is classed as
premeditated "in cases where the murderer intentionally makes an action
which is inherently lethal, even if [the murderer] does not intend to kill
the person."

The right to insist on the execution, or to pardon the killer, rests with
the family of the victim. A convicted murderer has no right to seek pardon
or commutation from the state, in violation of Article 6(4) of the ICCPR.

(source: Amnesty International)






SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi man beheaded for killing compatriot


A Saudi man, condemned to death for murdering a compatriot, was beheaded
in Bishah in the south of the kingdom after his victim's sons refused to
accept blood money in exchange for his life.

Mohammed Al Bishi was convicted of shooting dead Ali Al Aklabi after a
row, said the interior ministry in a statement carried by the Saudi news
agency SPA.

The ministry did not say when Bishi was sentenced but that his execution,
by the sword, was carried out on Sunday after the victim's sons -- who
could have pardoned him in exchange for cash compensation -- attained
their majority.

The sons, about whom no further details were given, refused clemency and
insisted the death sentence be carried out.

Saudi Arabia has announced 64 executions so far this year compared to a
record 153 people in 2007 and 37 in 2006.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry
the death penalty in the country, where executions are usually carried out
in public.

(source: Agence France Presse)






MALI:

Religious leaders oppose abolition of death penalty


The President is trying to pass a law banning the death penalty in the
National Assembly but protests from religious groups are delaying the
bill's progress.

A new bill to abolish the death penalty is sparking hot debate in the
National Assembly amid protests from Islamic groups who say abolishing it
goes against Islamic principles.

"Our recommendations focus on maintaining the death penalty in conformity
with Islamic principles," said Boubacar Camara, an Imam and a member of
the High Islamic Council of Mali (HCIM). "The Islamic Council refuses to
endorse a legal decision that is fundamentally opposed to what God and His
Prophet have decreed."

President Amadou Toumani Tour introduced the bill to abolish the death
penalty in a speech he delivered in September 2007 but protests from
religious groups and the opposition party Union Nationale pour la
Renaissance (UNPR) in November and December 2007 put the bill on hold.

It is now being debated once again, and if passed by the National Assembly
the President would initiate a process to amend all other laws referring
to the death penalty, including the penal code.

Though the death penalty has not been enforced in Mali since 1979, the
controversy is one of principle over practice, according to Lamine Keita,
communication officer at the department of justice.

Anti-abolitionists

Banning the death penalty goes against Islamic principles and would weaken
the state's ability to deter crimes, according to Camara.

"The death penalty is defined in Islam as a legitimate act of retaliation,
as enacted by God in the Koran," he told IRIN. "According to the Koran it
allows one to preserve human life and social stability. Its abolition
would open the way to widespread insecurity, anarchy, and general social
instability."

Under the Koran the death penalty is a "required and unequivocal
requirement" in criminal cases involving deliberate attacks on human life,
according to Camara.

Thierno Hady Thiam, chairman of the Islamic council, agrees the nation's
security is at stake. "We should simply abandon the bill because it could
undermine the security foundations of the state and society. For instance
[crimes such as] high treason committed against the state or complicity
with external enemies or coups d'etat would be seen as less dangerous to
attempt."

The same groups have expressed opposition to a proposed amendment to the
family law in Mali, claiming it too goes against Islamic principles.

But it is not only religious groups who oppose the ban. According to one
observer, opposition cuts across many sections of society. Amadaou Togo,
an adviser in the justice ministry told IRIN abolishing the death penalty
would be inappropriate in Mali.

"It is unfair to ask authorities to adopt a legal document which includes
clauses that go against citizens religious and moral sensitivities.
Clearly there is no way that they [the authorities] can fight for ideas
that are imported from societies whose practices and customs are a million
miles from ours," he argued.

Pro-abolitionists

But human rights groups welcome the Presidents actions. "We salute the
head of state in abolishing the death penalty in Mali," Brahima Kon,
president of the Malian Association for Human Rights (AMDH) said. "The
death penalty is anti-constitutional, given that article one of the
constitution proclaims the sanctity of human life."

Kon continued, "For years, we have recommended the death penalty be
abolished, particularly given the possibility of errors in making a legal
pronouncement in a state like Mali where medical services lack the means
to detect the mental state of offenders."

And according to AMDH records, when analysing the link between the death
penalty and crimes committed in other countries, it does not deter crime.
"The president should not maintain the death penalty for the simple reason
that it is not a deterrent," Kon added.

Though it has not been enforced for many years Kon fears maintaining the
death penalty in law is risky because it could be abused by political
groups in the future.

The human rights organisation Amnesty International has been running a
campaign pushing Parliament to adopt the bill since 2007. "2/3 of the
world's countries have abolished the death penalty since the adoption of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948," said Adama Sangar from
Mali Amnesty International, "and Mali should join them."

And according to Sangar, some members of the Muslim community are
supporting Amnesty's campaign, arguing in their interpretation of the
Koran, it is forbidden to kill.

Other concerns

While it is far from certain that the bill will be passed, even if the
President does succeed, amending all related laws will be time-consuming
and complicated estimates Lamine Keita, communications officer in the
Justice ministry

But Ladji Samak, head of the country's prisons hopes passing the bill will
catalyse a wider overhaul of the countrys incarceration system, which he
says is currently characterised by poor facilities and overcrowding. "We
need to put in place better prison facilities, and set up detention
centres for prisoners with psychological problems  that is the most
important next step," he told IRIN.

The authorities should ensure that those people who are not condemned to
death are confined for life so they do not present a danger to society, he
added.

Neither side looks ready to shift as the debate continues, and several
members of Parliament are calling for the justice ministry to hold a day
of discussion between all interested parties to try to find a way forward.

"We need to canvas civil society's voices on the issue and try to get out
of this impasse," Samak told IRIN.

(source: IRIN News)