[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 21


LIBERIA:

Liberia President must veto death penalty bill


Following the confirmation by the Liberian Senate of a bill re-proposing
the death penalty for certain crimes, Amnesty International called on
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to veto the bill.

"The surest way to address crime is to strengthen the criminal justice
system and the capacity of law enforcement agencies  not to carry out
state killings, which have never been shown to be a deterrent," said
Amnesty International.

The bill, passed by the House of Representatives on 7 May and the Senate
on 16 July, makes armed robbery, terrorism and hijacking capital offenses.
(source: Australia.To.)

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

WORLD COALITION AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY CALLS UPON LIBERIA TO REJECT
REINSTATEMENT OF THE DEATH PENALTY


The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) is deeply concerned
that Liberia intends to reintroduce the death penalty, in violation of its
international commitments.

In a vote on 15 July, the Liberian Senate concurred with the House of
Representatives by voting in favor of a law that would reintroduce capital
punishment. The law would reestablish the death penalty for murder
committed during armed robbery and appears to be a reaction to an increase
in such offenses in the whole country. It also makes the death penalty
available for murder committed during acts of terrorism or hijacking.

The bill will now be submitted for signature to President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf before it can become a Law. Should President Johnson refuse to
sign it into law, law-makers can override this decision by voting with a
two-thirds majority.

Such a law would be in direct violation of Liberia' scommitments under
international law made when it signed the Second Optional Protocol of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in September 2005, an
international treaty that requires the States parties to renounce the use
of the death penalty definitively. By its signature, the Liberia abolished
the death penalty, in accordance with the three main obligations
recognized in the Protocol: no executions shall be undertaken in the
States parties, the death penalty shall be withdrawn from the domestic
criminal legislation and the death penalty shall not be re-established.

The 76 members of the World Coalition call upon the Liberian government
not to implement the retrograde step of reintroducing the death penalty
against the international trend. The people of Liberia must be protected
from violent crime but the death penalty continues the circle of violence,
it is not the answer.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty calls upon the Liberian
Presidency to respect its legally-binding international commitments by
rejecting the bill reestablishing the death penalty and for the Senate and
House of Representatives to respect that decision.

www.worldcoalition.org

THE WORLD COALITION AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY The World Coalition Against
the Death Penalty was created in Rome on 13 May 2002 and is composed of 76
NGOs, bar associations, local authorities and trade unions. It aims to
strengthen the international dimension of the struggle against the death
penalty and to contribute to bringing a definitive end to death sentences
and executions. The World Coalition particularly endeavours to facilitate
the creation or development of national coalitions against the death
penalty. 10 October has been established as the World Day Against the
Death Penalty since 2003. This totally decentralised event, which has
particular presence in countries where the death penalty is still applied,
invites citizens and organizations who want to say "NO" to the death
penalty to organise their own events on 10 October.

(source: World Coalition Against the Death Penalty)






PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY:

Hamas condemns collaborator to death


5 days after a Palestinian Authority court in Jenin sentenced two
Palestinians to death for collaboration with Israel, a Hamas court on
Sunday sentenced another Palestinian to death for the same offense.

He was found guilty of tipping off Israeli security forces on the
whereabouts of Palestinians who were later killed by the IDF. The judges
wrote in the verdict that Sukkar had been recruited as a spy 5 years ago.

The court was told that Sukkar's actions resulted in the killing of at
least two Palestinians: Muhammad al-Wadiyeh and Munir Sukkar. The 2 were
members of Hamas's armed wing, Izzadin al-Kassam.

This was the 1st time a court had sentenced a Palestinian to death since
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Death sentences must be approved by the president of the PA.

However, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, unlike his predecessor, Yasser
Arafat, has thus far refused to endorse any death sentences.

Ihab al-Ghissin, spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in the Gaza
Strip, said his government would act in line with the law and seek Abbas's
approval for the death sentence against Sukkar.

"Despite the political differences [between Hamas and Fatah], we will seek
the president's approval," Ghissin said. "But if Abbas refuses to approve
the court's verdict for political reasons, we will seek other
alternatives. We can't afford a situation where court rulings are ignored,
as was the case when Abbas's men were in control of the Gaza Strip."

The 2 men sentenced to death last week were identified as Wael Saed, 27,
and Muhammad Saed, 22. They are from the town of Yatta near Hebron.

The latter was sentenced in absentia after the court was told that he had
fled to Israel.

The 3-judge court ruled that the 2 men would be executed by a firing squad
for passing on information to Israeli security forces.

In April a PA security court in Hebron sentenced Imad Saad, an officer in
Abbas's National Security Force, to death by firing squad after convicting
him of having provided Israel with information that led to the killing of
4 Palestinians involved in terrorism.

At least 65 Palestinians have been sentenced to death by PA courts since
1995. Most of them were accused of collaboration with Israel.

However, only 13 have been executed by hanging or firing squad. Many
others were killed while they were in detention, hospital, on their way to
court or even while they were in court.

(source: Jerusalem Post)






NEW ZEALAND:

Clark doesn't support 'death' for Bali bombers


Prime Minister Helen Clark said while the actions of the Bali bombers were
heinous the Government did not support them being executed.

It was reported on Friday that three Indonesian militants convicted for
their roles in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings appeared to have exhausted
all legal avenues to avoid the death penalty.

The 3 Islamic militants - Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas alias Ali Ghufron
and Imam Samudra - have been on death row since 2003, when a Bali court
sentenced them to death for their roles in the nightclub bombings that
killed 202 people including 3 New Zealanders.

Miss Clark was asked at her post-Cabinet press conference for comment.

"The New Zealand Government does not support the death penalty under any
circumstances," she said.

"Clearly these men are guilty of heinous crimes and those crimes, in any
jurisdiction, would justify them (getting) very serious penalties
available under law but the New Zealand Government will not and does not
support the death penalty."

On Friday Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose country lost 88
citizens in the blasts, said while his centre-left government opposed the
death penalty, it would not intervene.

"In the case of foreign terrorists we are not in the business of
intervening on any of their behalves," he said.

Indonesia does not make public the timing and exact location of
executions.

The men are being held in a maximum-security jail on Nusakambangan island
off Central Java, hundreds of kilometres from their families who live in
East and West Java.

(source: New Zealand Herald)






PHILIPPINES:

DFA monitoring 8 potential death penalty cases for OFWs


The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is closely monitoring 8 potential
death penalty cases involving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in various
stages of judicial process in different parts of the world.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos
said there are 29 cases punishable with death in various stages of appeal.

Conejos said the cases are pending in courts in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Malaysia and China, mostly murder and drug-related offenses.

"We're actively monitoring 26 death penalty cases in various stages of
judicial process. Some are in Court of Appeals, Supreme Court but most of
the charges are still in the trial stage," Conejos said.

He said 2 Filipino women are awaiting execution in Riyadh after they were
found guilty of committing murder with robbery. Their conviction in the
Grand Shariah Court was sustained in the Court of Appeals and affirmed in
the Supreme Judicial Council. A royal decree of execution has also been
issued.

Of the 29 active death penalty cases, 11 are in Malaysia; 9 in Saudi
Arabia; 4 in China; 3 in Kuwait; and 1 each in Brunei and the United
States, the DFA said.

(source: Philippine Star)






ISRAEL:

The death penalty for terrorists


The sickening specter of a monster like Samir Kuntar being welcomed home
in Lebanon as a conquering hero should turn the stomachs of all who repose
faith in humanity. Even for a generation neutered to horror stories, his
crimes stand out. In April, 1979, after killing a police officer and then
shooting Danny Haran at close range in the back in front of his
four-year-old-daughter Einat, Kuntar proceeded to smash the head of the
little girl on beach rocks and then crushed her skull with the butt of his
rifle. The coup-de-grace was when, in an attempt to hide her surviving
child Yael from Kuntar, Smadar Haran accidentally suffocated her while
attempting to quiet her whimpering so as not to reveal their hiding place.

I still remember, as a boy, encountering the rabbinical teaching that
humiliating someone in public is worse than actually killing them. What?
Worse than murder? Years later, it made sense to me. When you embarrass
someone, you make them wish they were dead. You have, in effect, made them
into their own murderer. This is the legacy of Kuntar. True evil corrupts
all around it and is capable of transforming even the most loving mother
into an accomplice to murder. One can only imagine the anguish that Smadar
Haran, who has since thankfully remarried, feels as she watches Israel's
northern neighbor roll out the red carpet for the heartless killer who
exterminated her family.

But the bizarre story of the release of Kuntar does not end there and
includes the fact that while a prisoner in jail he married an Israeli Arab
woman who campaigned on his behalf. Although he later divorced her, she
was paid a monthly stipend by the government for being the wife of an
incarcerated prisoner.

All this would be comical if it were not so tragic.

IT IS time that we articulate what few wish to, namely, that Israel must
finally institute a death penalty for convicted terrorists.

To be sure, human life is of infinite value and every human being is
equally a child of God. No country upholds this statute more than Israel,
which is why it is prepared to set killers free just to retrieve the
bodies of its fallen soldiers. Israel could have defeated Hizbullah and
Hamas with ease had it not always limited its overwhelming firepower to
protect innocent civilians. A country this virtuous naturally balks from
putting anyone, even terrorists, to death.

But there exist those fiends whose crimes are so heinous that they have
erased the image of God from their countenance and have forfeited any
reasonable right to walk God's earth. Worse, keeping terrorists alive in
prison just invites further kidnappings of innocent civilians and soldiers
who are hunted down by Hamas and Hizbullah to exchange for their terrorist
brothers.

Here in the United States there is an impassioned and legitimate debate as
to the humanity and righteousness of the death penalty. Those who argue
against it maintain that mistakes are made and innocent people are meted
out the most severe and irreversible punishment imaginable. They, of
course, have a point. A moral society shudders before it takes life and
only does so when there is an essential certainty that the defendant in
question is guilty of unspeakable crimes. Indeed, no major legal work has
ever been harsher on the death penalty than the Talmud which states: "A
Sanhedrin which kills once in seven years is considered murderous. Rabbi
Elazar ben Azariah said: Once in seventy years. Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi
Tarfon said: If we had been in the Sanhedrin, no one would have ever been
killed..." (Mishna Makot 1:10).

BUT SURELy these humanitarian considerations do not, cannot, apply to
terrorists like Kuntar who infiltrate a country looking to dash children's
brains against rocks. And keeping them alive once they are caught simply
draws a bull's-eye on countless other innocent civilians who become
magnets for trade. This, of course, is exactly what occurred with Eldad
Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Indeed, keeping terrorist mass-murderers alive
in prison bespeaks a contempt for life, demonstrating as it does that
civil societies lack the moral courage to draw a line and declare that the
lives of mass murderers, after a fair and impartial trial, will always be
forfeit.

Few Americans flinched when Timothy McVeigh was executed in June 2001 for
having murdered 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing six years earlier.
Israel itself put Adolf Eichmann to death in May 1962 for being one of the
supreme architects of the Holocaust. The allied nations of the world came
together to conduct the Nuremberg Trials of major Nazi war criminals,
hanging 10 of the convicted on October 16, 1946. Their purpose was to
broadcast to all humanity the fate of anyone who would ever attempt such
crimes again.

As for those who argue that if Israel puts its terrorist captives to death
the same will be done to its soldiers once captured, I ask, does anyone
seriously believe that it would be otherwise? We once believed that
Goldwasser and Regev might likewise come home alive, and for two years
Hizbullah manipulated the emotions of the country to believe just that.
But like so many other Israeli prisoners before them, they ultimately came
home in a box.

I am not suggesting that Israel take unilateral action and simply hang
captured terrorists. They should be given a fair trial, just like Kuntar,
in which he was found guilty and sentenced to more than 500 years in
prison. But once found guilty and allowed an appeal, if their conviction
is upheld, they must be executed.

There are times when a country must temporarily violate a principle to
ensure it is upheld. Police cars speed to catch those who themselves speed
on highways, thereby endangering other motorists. Surgeons cut open
people's chests with knives to save their blocked arteries and stopped
hearts. And just governments must sometimes take the lives of unrepentant
terrorist mass-murderers to protect and uphold the infinite value of human
life.

(source: The writer, Shmuley Boteach, is the international best-selling
author of 20 books, most recently The Broken American Male and How to Fix
Him; Opinion, Jerusalem Post)






IRAN:

9 face stoning death in Iran


At least 8 women and 1 man are reported to have been sentenced to death by
stoning in Iran.

The group, convicted of adultery and sex offences, could be executed at
any time, lawyers defending them say.

The lawyers have called on the head of Iran's judiciary to prevent the
sentences from being carried out.

The last officially reported stoning in Iran last year drew strong
criticism from human rights groups and the European Union.

The 8 women sentenced, whose ages range from 27 to 43, had convictions
including prostitution, incest and adultery, Reuters news agency reported.

The man, a 50-year-old music teacher, was convicted of illegal sex with a
student, reports said.

Under Iran's Islamic law, stoning to death is the punishment for the crime
of adultery.

In 2002 Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
imposed a moratorium on stoning, but at least three people are reported to
have been executed by stoning since then.

Shadi Sadr from the Volunteer Lawyers' Network, which is representing the
women, said: "We are very worried as there are at least 8 women and 1 man
with a definitive verdict which can be carried out any moment.

"There are no guarantees that the punishments will be halted or commuted."

She called on the international community to back their efforts, adding:
"We are in close touch with human rights organisations and many of them
have supported our campaign."

Fellow defence lawyer Mariam Kian-Arsi said: "Our specific and clear
demand is to have the stoning sentence stopped by Ayatollah Shahroudi
since the defendants are liable to be stoned at any moment."

In theory the penalty of stoning to death applies to both men and women.

But the lawyers say that in practice, many more women than men receive the
sentence because they are less well educated and often poorly represented
in court.

Human rights group Amnesty International earlier this year called on Iran
to abolish "this grotesque punishment" and said many facing execution by
stoning were sentenced after unfair trials.

Under Iran's strict penal code, men convicted of adultery should be buried
up to their waists and women up to their chests for stoning. The stones
used should not be large enough to kill the person immediately.

(source: Trend News)