[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 30



INDIA:

Siblings get death sentence, another gets life


A local fast track court of Govind Prasad Singh today awarded capital
punishment to 2 siblings and life imprisonment to another in a double
murder case.

After hearing the matter, the judge awarded death sentence to Munna Ram
and Mahendra Ram under section 302/34 and life imprisonment to their
youngest brother in the same case.

According to the charges the accused had shot dead O P Verma and Chote Lal
Mahto at Sadipur locality on March 10, 2005.

(source: UNI)






UGANDA:

Condemned choir voices opposition to penalty----One in three people on
Ugandas death row could be innocent  claim


RELEASE: Ugandan death row prisoners sing for their lives for an album
released through the UK's African Prisons Project

AFRICAN death row inmates who formed a "condemned choir" are singing for
their lives this week with a special album released through a British
charity.

The Ugandan prisoners, who were convicted for crimes including murder,
armed robbery and treason, recorded the CD with the help of the African
Prisons Project to campaign against the death penalty.

On Thursday, inmates will take their case for the abolition of the death
penalty to the Supreme Court.

Human rights groups estimate that one in 3 of the 600 or so men and women
on death row in the East African country could be innocent.

Alexander McLean, the 23-year-old founder of the project, is calling for
leniency.

"When you are on death row, and you face the possibility of death every
day, singing becomes a form of release," he said.

Mr McLean said the atmosphere in death row, situated in the Luzira prisons
complex outside Kampala, was "optimistic and expectant."

There have been no executions of civilian prisoners on death row since
1999 when 28 men were hanged at the gallows in a single day. Since then, a
coalition of inmates formed a joint petition against the Ugandan
government, arguing that the death penalty is cruel, inhuman and
degrading.

In 2005, the constitutional court ruled in favour of the death penalty,
but it did find there should be no mandatory death sentence.

Death row inmate Africa Gabula, 37, said he was arrested for treason at
the age of 17. He has spent more than 15 years on death row  and has been
"dying for 20 years."

"It's very easy to go mad here when you live in the shadow of death all
the time," he said during an interview at the prison.

The Commissioner General of prisons, in charge of the country's 220 jails
and 26,000 inmates, is himself an outspoken critic of the death penalty
and justice system.

"Because of our inefficient systems, you cannot be sure that you are not
going to execute the wrong people," he said.

Freedom Cry, Songs from the Condemned Choirs of Luzira Prison Uganda, is
on sale at www.africanprisons.org and www.condemnedchoirs.co.uk

(source: Press and Journal)






IRAN:

Iran sentences man to death for spying for Israel


An Iranian court on Monday sentenced to death an Iranian businessman on
charges of being an Israeli spy who targeted the Islamic Republic's
disputed nuclear program and its military, media said.

The Tehran court handed down its sentence at a time of high tension with
Israel and speculation of a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear
installations.

Iranian media identified Ali Ashtari as the manager of a company selling
communications and security equipment to Iran's government and said he had
been accused of "engaging in espionage for (Israel's) Mossad intelligence
service."

The 43-year-old Ashtari had confessed and asked for clemency after a
two-day trial, the semi-official Fars News Agency said.

Ashtari, who had been in financial trouble, said he had accepted a loan of
$50,000 from Israeli agents, Fars said.

His name indicated he was a Shi'ite Muslim but Iranian media did not
specify his religion.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli government official said: "We have no knowledge
whatsoever regarding this case."

Tension between the Islamic Republic and Israel has risen sharply since a
U.S. newspaper report this month said the Jewish state had rehearsed a
possible strike against Iran aimed at thwarting its disputed nuclear
ambitions.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at generating
electricity. But the West and Israel fear Iran is seeking to build atomic
bombs. Israel is believed to be the only Middle Eastern state with nuclear
arms.

The report has prompted tough statements of military preparedness from
Iranian commanders.

"Our response to any aggression will be crushing, fiery and powerful and
the armed forces are at a level of utmost readiness in defense of the
country," Mohammad Hejazi, a senior commander of the elite Revolutionary
Guards, told a military event, Fars reported.

SPY NETWORKS

Iran, which does not recognize Israel, has previously reported breaking up
spy networks and accused the United States and "Zionists" of trying to
destabilize the country.

In 2000, 10 Jews from the city of Shiraz were convicted of spying in a
closed door trial that sparked international outrage. The last five
detained were released in 2003.

Fars quoted Ashtari as telling the court that three Israeli agents had
presented themselves to him as foreign bank representatives looking for a
commercial partnership.

Meetings with the agents, two of whom were called Jack and Tony, took
place in Thailand and Turkey and they provided him with a laptop computer
for coded communication as well as satellite phones, the news agency said.

Television showed images of the equipment allegedly used.

ISNA quoted a senior, unnamed Iranian counter-intelligence official as
saying Ashtari had had business contacts with the Iranian government
agency in charge of the nuclear program as well as "some defense and
military centers" while working for Mossad.

With Mossad's help, Ashtari at times supplied "defective and contaminated
equipment ... (and) in some instances the application of these parts led
to the defeat of the project with irreversible damage," the official said,
without elaborating.

(source: Reuters)

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

Iran has sentenced to death a man found guilty of spying for Israel, state
media reported Monday.


Tehran's Revolutionary Court convicted Ali Ashtari, 45, of spying for
Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, in exchange for money, the news
agencies said.

According to Ashtari's "confession," published by the news agency Fars,
Ashtari was a salesman who obtained high-end but security-compromised
electronic equipment from Mossad and sold them to military and defense
centers in Iran.

During the trial prosecutors displayed spying tools that Mossad had
allegedly provided, Iranian Student's News Agency said.

Ashtari can appeal his verdict, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.

Iran and Israel have been engaged in an escalating war of words.

Iran accuses Israel of trying to destabilize the republic. Israel has not
ruled out military action to halt Iran's nuclear aspirations.

(source: CNN.com)