[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 11



CZECH REPUBLIC:

Over half of Czechs would prefer death penalty introduction- poll


More than 1/2 of Czechs believe that death penalty should exist in the
Czech Republic, according to a poll the CVVM agency conducted in May and
released today. Supporters of the capital punishment's reintroduction most
often said they consider it an appropriate and just punishment for severe
crimes.

22 % of respondents said that death penalty should definitely exist in the
Czech Republic and another 36 % said they tend to believe so.

28 % of Czechs are more or less opposed to death penalty and about 1/6 of
those polled said they could not answer the question.

The former Czechoslovak Federal Assembly abolished death penalty in May
1990.

More than 1,200 convicts were executed in Czechoslovakia between 1945 and
1990.

The number of Czechs approving the existence of death penalty dropped from
76 % in 1992 to 60 percent in 2000.

At the same time, the number of death penalty's opponents rose from about
1/10 to 1/4.

The number of death penalty's advocates and opponents has remained
unchanged since the CVVM's previous poll, held in May 2005.

In the latest poll, the resolute advocates of death penalty were mainly
supporters of the left-wing opposition parties and the people who present
themselves as left wingers.

Death penalty's advocates mainly said it should exist as an appropriate
and just penalty for severe crimes (35 %), as an instrument to eliminate
severe criminals and prevent them from committing further crimes (16 %),
as a warning (14 %), as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth solution
(14 %), as a tool to help curb crime (12 %) and as a financial relief for
the state that spends high sums on prison inmates serving long sentences
(6 %).

Death penalty's opponents most often pointed to possible judicial errors
(48 %) and said that such punishment is inhuman and no one has the right
to kill another (31 %).

5 % of respondents said in their opinion death penalty's reintroduction
would be a step backwards.

(source: Czech Happenings, Czech Republic)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Arabia executions rise to new high this year


Not even the king can save a convict on death row for premeditated murder
from the executioner's sword in Saudi Arabia.

The death penalty is here to stay in the ultra-conservative kingdom, where
there has been a dramatic spike in the number of executions this year --
whether as a result of rising crime or lower tolerance in a country
governed by strict Islamic law.

Instead, turning to a more merciful side of Islamic law, rights activists
try to secure a pardon from the victim's family, a drawn-out process that
involves all sorts of mediators.

"But we seek to constrain the authority of the judge in cases where the
death sentence is left to his discretion," said Mufleh al-Kahtani, vice
president of the National Society for Human Rights, the first rights
watchdog sanctioned by the government in March 2004.

Ninety-one people -- including some from Asian countries such as Pakistan
and Sri Lanka -- have been executed in the ultra-conservative oil-rich
kingdom so far this year, more than double the 37 beheaded in all of 2006.

The figure is the highest since 2000 when at least 113 were executed.

Most of those beheaded this year were convicted of either murder or drug
smuggling, but some had been found guilty of rape or armed robbery.

"Social and economic changes are bringing with them new kinds of crimes,
like armed robbery by organised gangs, more cases of manslaughter and
crimes which are of such concern to the public that they could lead to
execution, like rape," Kahtani told AFP.

Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said that in cases of
premeditated murder, the legal process leading up to execution can often
take a long time.

"Some cases drag on for years while efforts are made to convince a
victim's family to waive the punishment, especially when there are minors
among the victim's children," who must have their say once they become
adults, he told AFP.

Turki said the government was also standing firm to prevent the spread of
drugs, "which can kill those who become addicts.

"The government does not want the kingdom to become a transit point for
international traffickers through the exploitation" of the Mecca
pilgrimages, when millions of people from all over the world flock to the
kingdom.

The only crime punishable by death for which there have been no
convictions for many years is apostasy, said lawyer and rights activist
Abdurrahman al-Lahem.

Like premeditated murder, capital punishment is mandatory for apostasy
under the strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, applied in Saudi
Arabia.

Manslaughter, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery can be punishable
by death, depending on the scope of the crime. But the death penalty can
be commuted to a prison term and the king can grant amnesty or order a
review of the case.

Local newspapers occasionally carry stories of people on death row for
murder who are pardoned by the family of the slain victim.

A Saudi woman walked free on May 26 after spending eight years behind bars
for killing a male compatriot, a case which prompted the intervention of
Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.

Such pardons are accompanied by the payment of diyya, or blood money, to
the victim's family. They can also be the result of "reconciliation"
involving greater compensation than stipulated by law, Kahtani said.

But in one case the family of a murder victim turned down an offer of 50
million riyals or more than 13 million dollars (9.5 million euros),
according to Turki al-Sudairy, chairman of the governmental Human Rights
Commission set up in September 2005.

Saudi Arabia's record on human rights is frequently the butt of criticism
by Western rights groups.

But Sudairy said that where murder is concerned, Westerners would do well
to consider the tribal structure of the Arabian peninsula powerhouse
before passing judgement.

"If the government does not implement the punishment, the victim's family
will take revenge. Old traditions die hard. You can build skyscrapers and
introduce the latest technologies, but people don't change easily," he
told AFP.

Kahtani said his group defends human rights within the context of sharia,
in which capital punishment for premeditated murder is untouchable.

"If the king changes it, there will be demonstrations," he said.

Both he and Sudairy said ruling family members go to great lengths to
secure family pardons, and this is where rights groups are helping too.

Kahtani said the practice of carrying out executions in public is meant to
deter potential offenders.

But Lahem called for alternatives to the death penalty.

"Imprisonment can serve the purpose of deterrence. The right to live is a
basic human right," he said.

Lahem said cases in which the public prosecution -- which is affiliated to
the interior ministry -- demands the death penalty go through 3 courts
before the sentence is ratified by the king.

However, Amnesty International, in its 2007 report, said "many defendants
complained that they were not represented by lawyers and were not informed
of the progress of their trial".

(sources: Agence France Presse/Lanka Business Online)

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

Pardons hard to come by as more get capital punishment in Saudi Arabia


Not even the king can save a convict on death row for premeditated murder
from the executioner's sword in Saudi Arabia.

The death penalty is here to stay in the ultra-conservative kingdom, where
there has been a dramatic spike in the number of executions this year
whether as a result of rising crime or lower tolerance in a country
governed by strict Islamic law.

Instead, turning to a more merciful side of Islamic law, rights activists
try to secure a pardon from the victim's family, a drawn-out process that
involves all sorts of mediators.

"But we seek to constrain the authority of the judge in cases where the
death sentence is left to his discretion," said Mufleh Al Kahtani, vice
president of the National Society for Human Rights, the first rights
watchdog sanctioned by the government in March 2004.

Ninety-one people  including some from Asian countries such as Pakistan
and Sri Lanka  have been executed in Saudi so far this year, more than
double the 37 beheaded in all of 2006. The figure is the highest since
2000 when at least 113 were executed.

Most of those beheaded this year were convicted of either murder or drug
smuggling, but some had been found guilty of rape or armed robbery.

"Social and economic changes are bringing with them new kinds of crimes,
like armed robbery by organised gangs, more cases of manslaughter and
crimes which are of such concern to the public that they could lead to
execution, like rape," Kahtani said.

Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur Al Turki said that in cases of
premeditated murder, the legal process leading up to execution can often
take a long time.

"Some cases drag on for years while efforts are made to convince a
victim's family to waive the punishment, especially when there are minors
among the victim's children," who must have their say once they become
adults, he said.

Turki said the government was also standing firm to prevent the spread of
drugs, "which can kill those who become addicts.

"The government does not want the kingdom to become a transit point for
international traffickers through the exploitation" of the Makkah
pilgrimages, when millions of people from all over the world flock to the
kingdom.

The only crime punishable by death for which there have been no
convictions for many years is apostasy, said lawyer and rights activist
Abdurrahman Al Lahem.

Like premeditated murder, capital punishment is mandatory for apostasy
under the strict version of Aharia, or Islamic law, applied in Saudi
Arabia.

Manslaughter, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery can be punishable
by death, depending on the scope of the crime. But the death penalty can
be commuted to a prison term and the king can grant amnesty or order a
review of the case.

Local newspapers occasionally carry stories of people on death row for
murder who are pardoned by the family of the slain victim. A Saudi woman
walked free on May 26 after spending eight years behind bars for killing a
male compatriot, a case which prompted the intervention of Crown Prince
Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.

Such pardons are accompanied by the payment of diyya, or blood money, to
the victim's family. They can also be the result of "reconciliation"
involving greater compensation than stipulated by law, Kahtani said.

But in one case the family of a murder victim turned down an offer of 50m
riyals or more than $13m, according to Turki Al Sudairy, chairman of the
governmental Human Rights Commission set up in September 2005.

Saudi Arabia's record on human rights is frequently the butt of criticism
by Western rights groups.

But Sudairy said that where murder is concerned, Westerners would do well
to consider the tribal structure of the Arabian peninsula powerhouse
before passing judgement.

"If the government does not implement the punishment, the victim's family
will take revenge. Old traditions die hard. You can build skyscrapers and
introduce the latest technologies, but people don't change easily," he
said.

Kahtani said his group defends human rights within the context of Sharia,
in which capital punishment for premeditated murder is untouchable.

"If the king changes it, there will be demonstrations," he said.

Both he and Sudairy said ruling family members go to great lengths to
secure family pardons, and this is where rights groups are helping too.

Kahtani said the practice of carrying out executions in public is meant to
deter potential offenders. But Lahem called for alternatives to the death
penalty.

"Imprisonment can serve the purpose of deterrence. The right to live is a
basic human right," he said.

Lahem said cases in which the public prosecution-which is affiliated to
the interior ministry-demands the death penalty go through three courts
before the sentence is ratified by the king.

(source: The Peninsula)





JAPAN:

Deposing Survivors May Hit Abolition Campaign


A proposal under discussion in the Japanese Diet (parliament) to allow
survivors of murder victims to address the courts is being watched with
growing dread by death penalty opponents in this country.

''The new proposal is clearly aimed at appeasing victims rather than
fostering legal justice. I fear such a move, if passed, will turn the
spotlight on the emotional aspect of a murder trial and work against the
accused through harsher sentencing," Kei Itoh, a human rights lawyer, told
IPS.

Itoh is currently fighting to overturn the death sentence handed down to
Masaru Okunishi, an 81-year-old man who continues to claim innocence 37
years after his conviction for murder in 5 cases. Okunishi was originally
found guilty of killing his wife, her lover and three others by serving
them poisoned wine.

There have been 5 previous appeals, including one which overturned his
sentence because of lack of evidence. But today Okunishi is back again on
death row. Itoh is seeking a complete re-trial.

The main driving force behind the proposal to give crime victims the right
to address the courts is lawyer Isao Okamura, 77, himself a crime victim.
His wife was murdered in October 1999. Okamura today heads the Tokyo-based
National Association of Crime Victims and Surviving Families, an
organisation representing more than 3,000 families which argues that crime
victims are getting a raw deal in Japan.

Okamura was stirred into action when the man found guilty of murdering his
wife was given a life sentence rather than being sent to the gallows in
2001. "The ruling was unacceptable to me -- both as a husband and a
lawyer," he said in a recent newspaper interview.

Bereaved victims often remain bitter and resentful for years and
desperately want a chance to speak out in court, Tsuneo Matsumura,
spokesman for the association and a former prosecutor, told IPS.

"They cannot bear a system where they are forced to watch silently as the
trial is conducted between prosecutors, defendants and the accused. We
welcome the new proposal because crime victims will finally be allowed to
speak out the truth publicly," he said. A judge would have powerful
additional testimony based on their personal ties, something a prosecutor
could never provide.

He refuted claims by opponents that if the proposal became a law it would
work against a fair trial. The crime victims would only be allowed to
testify after receiving permission from prosecutors who would ensure
objectivity, he said.

But legal experts point out that the new proposal would mark out Japan in
legal practice among most other countries. Japan is already one of the few
countries in the industrialised world which continues to implement the
death penalty. Last Christmas Day it executed four men, ending a 15-month
pause in hanging while a Buddhist justice minister had refused to sign
death warrants because of his conscience.

Shouzo Inou, an anti-capital punishment activist, is adamantly against
permitting crime victims standing up in trials.

Inou is the only activist permitted to visit Okunishi, now frail after
surgery for stomach cancer. Okunishi still remains eager to clear his name
before he dies. Many ordinary citizens are sympathetic and send letters of
encouragement.

"Okunishi has suffered tremendously and so have his family members," Inou
said, highlighting the often ignored suffering of the innocent family
members of the accused in highly publicised capital trials. Okunishi's
siblings and parents found it so difficult to endure the notoriety of
their family connection in the poor farming community of Nabari, west of
Tokyo, that they moved to a place where they could live in anonymity.

Opponents of the death penalty are calling now for a widespread public
debate on the capital punishment system before the proposal is adopted
into the legal system.

"We have to educate the public on the pitfalls of supporting the death
penalty in Japan. The highly questionable practice of relying on
confessions made in police custody suggests that there may be innocent
victims out there (on death row)," Hiroyuki Ito, professor of political
science at Ritsumeikan University, said, stressing this was one issue he
would like addressed more openly.

In March, the Japanese media reported the concerns over one capital case
voiced by Norimichi Kumamoto, a retired judge. Kumamoto and two colleagues
presided over the trial of Iwao Hakamada, a professional boxer who was
sentenced to death for murder in November 1980. Kumamoto told newspapers
that he thought the evidence at the trial was insufficient for a
conviction.

"Generally speaking, ordinary people tend to find it difficult to accept
the notion that suspects are innocent until proven guilty," said Ito,
addressing concerns that the proposal might undermine this basic legal
principle. "It is important that lawyers keep this point in mind when
defending suspects," he stressed.

Opponents of the scheme also believe it could harden attitudes still
further against abolishing the death penalty in Japan. In the last
government poll on capital punishment in February 2005, 80 % of Japanese
expressed support for the death penalty. Recent highly publicised murders
have made it even more difficult for the government to go against the
majority of public opinion and ban capital punishment, even if it wanted
to, Ito said.

One such case was the killing of a married woman and her young daughter by
an 18-year-old man some eight years ago. The woman's husband, Hiroshi
Motomura, is currently campaigning for the courts to set aside its life
imprisonment sentence for the convicted killer, now 26, and send him to
the gallows. The Hiroshima High Court has decided to review the sentence.

The proposal to allow crime victims the right to address the courts has
still not been formulated into a draft law. It will take 2 years at least
for it to become law, according to Itoh.

(source: IPS)





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

Japan Activists See Rise In Death Sentence----Opponents of capital
punishment said on Monday Japan would see more death sentences imposed
after legislation.


Opponents of capital punishment said on Monday Japan would see more death
sentences imposed after legislation is enacted giving victims and their
relatives a bigger say in court and a new system of lay judges is
introduced.

Japan has more than 100 inmates on death row, and since late last year 7
people have been executed by hanging.

"The fact that a new system will be introduced where victims or their
families can make their desires known means they will seek the heaviest
penalty, and that of course is the death penalty," said lawmaker Nobuto
Hosaka, secretary-general of a 72-member group of parliamentarians opposed
to the death penalty.

"With average citizens as lay judges confronted with the details of
horrendous crimes, they will be naturally inclined toward the heaviest
penalty and the two factors will inevitably increase the number of death
sentences," Hosaka, a member of the small opposition Social Democratic
Party, told a news conference.

Parliament's lower house this month approved bills to allow crime victims
and their families to question the accused and recommend sentences in
cases of serious crimes such as murder.

Some legal experts agree the changes, expected to be enacted by the upper
house, combined with a lay judge system to be introduced in 2009 in which
citizens hand down verdicts with professional judges, will lead to stiffer
sentencing.

(source: Javno World)




EGYPT:

Egypt: Halt Execution of Accused Taba Bombers----Government Should Give
Alleged Attackers a Fair Trial


Egypt should not execute three men sentenced to death by a State Security
Court for the 2004 bombings in Taba, Human Rights Watch said today. In a
letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Human Rights Watch said that
because of serious trial irregularities, including allegations of torture,
coerced confessions, and prolonged incommunicado detention, the accused
should be tried again before a court whose proceedings comply with
international fair trial standards.

"If the government thinks these men are to blame for the outrages in Taba,
it should prosecute them in a fair trial," said Joe Stork, deputy director
of Human Rights Watch's Middle East division. "Executing these men after
such deeply flawed trials would be a travesty of justice."

On November 30, 2006 a State Security Emergency Court in Isma'iliyya
sentenced Yunis Muhammad Mahmud `Alyan, Usama Muhammad 'Abd al-Ghani
al-Nakhlawi, and Muhammad Jayiz Sabbah Hussein to death after convicting
them in connection with the October 7, 2004 bombings in and around the
resort city of Taba. This court, established under Egypt's Emergency Law,
does not provide the right of appeal. Only the President of the Republic
can order a retrial or alter the sentences. Human Rights Watch said it had
information that legal advisers in Mubarak's office recently recommended
that he ratify the death sentences against these men.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because
of its cruel and inhumane nature. While the death penalty has not been
abolished as a matter of international law, there is consensus that it be
imposed only in cases where due process has been scrupulously applied.

"It's shocking that President Mubarak would ratify a death penalty imposed
on the basis of coerced confessions and proceedings rife with
irregularities," Stork said.

Human Rights Watch, which had an observer at the trials, said that all 3
defendants alleged they confessed following extended periods of
incommunicado detention and torture at the hands of State Security
officers. During the proceedings the defendants had limited ability to
consult with their legal counsel. In the case of Yunis Muhammad, the court
was not troubled that he confessed to having used a different kind of bomb
in a different place and using a different car than crime scene
investigators had determined had been used and placed in the attacks.

"We don't know if these men are guilty, but we know that the state hasn't
proven it beyond a reasonable doubt," Stork said. "Executing them would
only further besmirch Egypt's reputation as a country that values rule of
law."

(source: Human Rights Watch)






LIBYA:

Bush urges Libya to free nurses

 5 Bulgarian nurses, 1 Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya

 Medics accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with HIV

 Detained since 1999, medics say they were tortured until they confessed

 President Bush, in Bulgaria Monday, called for their release


U.S. President George W. Bush urged Libya on Monday to free 5 Bulgarian
nurses who face the death penalty for allegedly deliberately infecting
children with HIV -- charges the medics contend were based on confessions
obtained through torture.

"We're deeply concerned about the plight of the nurses," Bush told
reporters after meeting with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, whose
government has been working with the European Union and the United States
to gain the medics' freedom.

"They should be released and they should be allowed to return to their
families," Bush said on the final stop of his European tour.

Bulgaria's leaders were appealing to Bush for U.S. help in freeing the 5
Bulgarians and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya for
allegedly infecting hundreds of children with the virus.

Detained since 1999, the six are accused of intentionally infecting about
400 children with HIV at a hospital in Benghazi. All deny the charge.

The six medical workers were sentenced to death twice, in 2004 and again
in 2006 following a court appeal. Libyan court officials said they
confessed, but some of the nurses have since said they confessed under
beatings and torture. They all say they are innocent.

On Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier -- whose
country holds the EU's rotating presidency -- traveled to Libya to try to
win their release. Steinmeier was accompanied by Benita Ferrero-Waldner,
the EU's external relations commissioner.

"The German EU presidency and the European Commission are striving to
exert the necessary influence on Libya so that the individuals in question
are released as soon as possible," the German government said Monday in a
statement.

Steinmeier and Ferrero-Waldner visited the 5 nurses and the Palestinian
doctor in Tripoli on Monday.

"The whole of Europe is in solidarity" with the nurses and the doctor,
Steinmeier said, according to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, adding that
"we found them in tense but steadfast spirits."

"This meeting was very moving," he added. "We are not leaving the
prisoners alone. They can reckon firmly with our support. We will do
everything to achieve their release. Europe remains at their side."

Steinmeier also said the Europeans were working "to improve the lot of the
HIV-infected children in Benghazi."

On Sunday, Steinmeier said he had an emotional visit with some of the
children and their parents and doctors.

Expert witnesses at the medics' trial testified that HIV was rampant at
the Benghazi hospital and that the children were infected before the
Bulgarians began working there in the late 1990s.

The 6 are awaiting another appeal of their convictions and death sentences
before Libya's supreme court.

Parvanov thanked Bush for his support of his government's efforts "to
achieve a just sentence for our countrymen in Libya, meaning their
release."

Their plight has been a major issue for Bulgarians, who have staged
numerous protests and rallies over the years to call for their release.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Hoping for justice


A top EU official and Germany's foreign minister were due in Tripoli
yesterday to seek a settlement over 6 medics on death row for an AIDS
epidemic among Libyan children, an official has claimed. EU external
relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeir are expected to meet Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi,
his son Saif al-Islam and families of the victims "to negotiate an
agreement" to resolve the case, said the official who asked not to be
identified.

The 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor are awaiting a final
verdict on their appeal against a death sentence first handed down in May
2004 after they were convicted of infecting 438 children with tainted
blood at a Benghazi hospital. Fifty-six children have died. The sentence
against the nurses - Kristiana Valcheva, Nassia Nenova, Valia
Cherveniachka, Valentina Siropoulo and Snejana Dimitrova - and Doctor
Ashraf Ahmad Juma was upheld last December.

Tripoli has acknowledged that negotiations are under way to resolve the
affair, saying however that an agreement could not be reached before the
court gives its last and "final verdict". Families of the victims said
earlier that an understanding had been found during a meeting with
visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair that would remove by the end of
June, when Germany's presidency of the European Union ends, the threat of
death from the 6 medics.

Spokesman for the families Idriss Lagha said that an agreement must
guarantee meeting the expenses and providing free treatment of infected
children in European hospitals, and payment of indemnities to the
families.

"Negotiations are under way to fix the total of these indemnities," he
said.

He said "the sympathy of representatives of the 27 European countries with
the cause of the Libyan children, as well as their support for the
independence of the Libyan justice system during negotiations on May 10 in
Brussels, are all pointers towards a solution soon" to the crisis.

The nurses and doctor have been in prison for more than 8 years, while
foreign health experts have said the AIDS epidemic in Libya's 2nd city was
probably sparked by poor hygiene.

(source:  7DAYS)