[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 3


IRAN:

Iran hangs 3murderers: report

Iran has hanged 3convicted murderers in Tehran's Evin prison, the latest
in a growing number of executions in the Islamic republic, a press report
says.

The Kargozaran newspaper said that Hamid Reza, 21, and Naqib, whose age
was not given, were sent to the gallows on Wednesday for stabbing their
friends to death in separate incidents.

The 3rd person hanged, identified as Reza, was convicted of killing his
friend in a fight 2years ago. The new hangings bring to at least 117 the
number of executions carried out in Iran so far this year, according to an
AFP count.

Amnesty International reported that in 2007 Iran applied the death penalty
more often than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people
during the year.

Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed
robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.

Human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death
penalty but Tehran insists it is an effective deterrent that is carried
out only after an exhaustive judicial process.

(source: AFP)






MALAYSIA:

Couple sentenced to death for trafficking heroin


A couple with 4 children, 3 of whom are below 16 years, was sentenced to
death by the High Court hereThursday for heroin trafficking 5 years ago.
High Court Justice Ahmad Maarop also convicted them of possession of the
narcotic and sentenced them to 15 years to jail, from their date of arrest
in 2003, which they are to serve before their execution.

Justice Ahmad, now a Court of Appeal Justice, however, granted them a stay
on the death sentence pending an appeal.

Azaha Abd Rani, 49, and his wife Zainun Mohd Noor, 42, both from Kelantan,
were composed and unfazed when Justice Ahmad Maarop read out the verdict.

However, Azaha grasped his wife 's left hand when leaving the dock after
the sentencing.

Based on our countrys law, it is a mandatory death sentence for those
convicted of drug trafficking and its our (court) responsibility to mete
out the death penalty, said Justice Ahmad.

The court also noted that Azaha, a taxi driver, had given a sworn
statement while Zainun chose to remain silent without calling any
witnesses in her defence.

The couple were charged under Section 39B (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs
Act and Section 12 (2) of the same act for trafficking and being in
possession of heroin, respectively.

They were convicted of distributing 12.25g of heroin on December 7, 2003,
in front of BP petrol kiosk in Kampung Jabi, Besut.

They were also convicted of being in possession of 9.57g of heroin on the
same date, time and area. Earlier in mitigation, defence counsel Aziz
Derasi appealed to the court for a lighter sentence in viewof the fact
that the offence was their 1st and they were parents to 4 children aged 24
years, 15 years, 11 years, and 9 years.

But the Deputy Public Prosecutor Othman Abdullah argued that there was
only one sentence reserved for cases under Section 39B and that was the
death penalty. (source: The Star)






KURDISTAN:

Capital punishment opposed in Kurdistan


"If without this sentence people are safe, let the death penalty be
abolished..." - Brigadier Mustafa Ali Bawil-agha, police chief of Erbil
Central Jail

A conference was held in Erbil on Tuesday by the Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG) Ministry of Human Rights to discuss a project demanding a
decrease in capitol punishment sentences in Kurdistan Region.

"We are working to decrease the use of the death penalty in Kurdistan
according to Iraqi laws," said Dr. Shwan Muhammad, KRG Minister of Human
Rights, in attendance at the conference.

Officials of the ministry, lawyers, judges, representatives of local and
international nongovernmental organizations, and a number of Kurdistan
Parliament members also attended the conference.

Dr. Muhammad said participants met with the intent to present to
Parliament their opinion on how to "decrease the use of the death penalty
in Kurdistan" and to suggest changes within the anti-terrorism law.

Kurdistan Parliament decreed the use of capital punishment as part of the
anti-terrorism law in Kurdistan for a duration of 2 years beginning on
August 16, 2006; that decision expires next August.

"But the main goal of the Human Rights Ministry is to abolish the death
penalty in the future," stated Dr. Muhammad. He also explained that
Parliament retains the death sentence because of terror-related threats in
the region. "Whenever this threat disappears, then Parliament will work
with us to completely abolish the death penalty in Kurdistan," said Dr.
Muhammad.

In a session on Sunday, June 29, Kurdistan Parliament, by a majority of
votes, decided to extend working with the current anti-terrorism law for
another 2 years.

The law issued in 2006 expires on July 16. Before going on summer vacation
for 2 months, Kurdistan Parliament has extended the law until July 16,
2010.

"Parliament's committees of Human Rights and Interior Affairs emphasized
the importance of this project and assured that this anti-terrorism law
needs more analysis and amendments...," said Tariq Jawher, media advisor
of Kurdistan Parliament speaker Adnan Mufti.

He also quoted speaker Mufti, who praised the law, saying it has "helped
to settle several suspended issues; for example, those who are arrested
and accused according to [the anti-terrorism] law are summoned to court
sooner to receive their sentences."

However, extending the law has been criticized by the Human Rights
Ministry and NGOs.

"Whether or not there is the death penalty, our main aim is that our
county live in peace and safety," said Brigadier Mustafa Ali Bawil-agha,
police chief of Erbil Central Jail and attendee of the conference.

Bawil-agha, assuring the necessity of firm sentences to uproot crimes that
threaten national security, also stated, "If without this sentence people
are safe, let the death penalty be abolished..."

Dr. Muhammad assured their support for the implementation of the
anti-terrorism law, but said it required changes in articles, especially
those related to the death penalty.

Capital punishment already existed in the region before Parliament decreed
its use. Eleven people were executed in 1992 for the 1st time since the
establishment of the KRG, and other executions followed, according to
Amnesty International.

According to statistics provided by Aso Qadir Abdullah of the Human Rights
Ministry, in the past three years since Parliament decreed the use of
capitol punishment, 34 people have been sentenced to death. A total of 89
have been sentenced to death in the region, including 3 women.

25 death penalty cases have been executed. 7 of them were in 2002; the
rest in 2006, 2007, and 2008. All executions occurred in Erbil, with the
exception of one case in Duhok.

(source: Kurdish Globe)






UGANDA:

Court to hear death penalty appeal


The Supreme Court will today begin hearing arguments in a case that is set
to determine whether the death penalty should be imposed on murder
convicts.

Ms Susan Kigula and 416 other convicts on death row, in a case filed
against the attorney general, have appealed against 2005 Constitutional
Court decision that fell short of scrapping the death penalty from Ugandas
criminal justice books.

The 417 convicts, all of them con((s(sdemned for murder, are challenging
the constitutionality of the death penalty.

Their lawyer is expected to argue that the death penalty is cruel, inhuman
and degrading, according to documents before the Supreme Court.

But the government wants the Supreme Court to retain the death penalty as
the mandatory sentence for murder and other serious crimes. The
governments legal team is expected to ask the Supreme Court to nullify all
the decisions of the Constitutional Court.

In June 2005, the Constitutional Court reached a decision that was largely
favourable to the convicts, most of whom had been on death row for more
than 5 years.

In a majority judgement, the court ruled that the automatic nature of the
death penalty for murder and other offences was unfair as it did not allow
the convicts an opportunity to mitigate their death sentences.

The court also outlawed inordinate delays by the government in carrying
out death sentences, saying all convicts who had spent at least three
years on death row were entitled to have their death sentences commuted to
life imprisonment. The decision nullified the death sentences on all 417
prisoners.

Now, a decision by the Supreme Court would determine, once and for all,
whether the death sentences on the 417 individuals should be set aside.

The death penalty is currently carried out by hanging, and the 417
prisoners say that those on death row often wait in torment for
unreasonable lengths of time before execution. According to prison
records, at least 377 people have been legally executed by hanging since
1938.

(source: Daily Monitor)