[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 14


PAKISTAN:

Pakistan Christian Converts Could Face Death Penalty For Leaving Islam
---- Pakistani Christians worship amid reports of persecution.


A key human rights group in Pakistan has expressed "grave concern" over
government plans to introduce an anti-apostasy law under which those
leaving Islam, including Christian coverts, could face the death penalty
or life imprisonment.

In a statement monitored by BosNewsLife on Monday, May 14, the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said, "It is imperative that the
authorities carefully consider any decision in this regard given the
tendency to abuse laws in the country."

The HRCP noted that already the controversial "blasphemy law" is "widely
used to settle petty, personal disputes" which it claimed inflicted
suffering "on many innocent persons through its misuse."

The human rights group urged the government to realize that a "great many
other issues of national significance currently face the country, and
perhaps deserve greater attention than apostasy" which it stressed "could
open up a new and dangerous controversy."

PROPOSED LAW

Under the proposed law a man who leaves Islam for another religion can
reportedly be sentenced, to death while a woman can face life in prison
"until repentance occurs."

It stipulates that the 'offender' must be granted up to 30 days to recant
the conversion and return to Islam, according to observers familiar with
the law. Even in cases where the person returns to Islam judges can impose
two-year sentences as punishment for the original 'crime'.

Under the law proposal, the accused can convert and reconvert up to 3
times before the death sentence becomes automatically imposed.

PROPERTIES AWARDED

In addition properties of the accused are apparently awarded only to
Muslim relatives while they also lose custody to any minor in their care
and guardianship, including their biological children. "There is as such a
danger the new law could ignite further sectarian friction and acrimony,"
HRCP said.

"It is also a fact that there is apparent lack of unanimity among Islamic
scholars on the application of centuries-old concepts in the modern age,"
the group stressed adding that authorities also "to carefully consider
global opinion" and "Pakistans obligations to uphold human rights..."

It comes amid growing international and local concern about reports of
violence and threats against Pakistans Christian minority.

(source: BosNewsLife)






EUROPEAN UNION:

EU asks Italy to lead push for death penalty ban


The European Union has mandated Italy to lead a push for a U.N. moratorium
on the death penalty across the world, the 27-member bloc said on Monday.

Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said Rome had been
asked to draft a text calling for the suspension of the penalty at the
next meeting of the United Nations General Assembly later this year.

"We have been lobbying hard in the past year for the suspension of the
death penalty and we believe the time is right now to have another stab,"
German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier told reporters after a
meeting in Brussels.

Data collected by rights group Amnesty showed a fall in worldwide
executions to 1,591 in 2006 from 2,148 in 2005, and a fall in the number
of countries imposing the death penalty.

Some 99 countries ban capital punishment while 69 still use it. 6
countries -- China, Iran, Iraq, the United States, Pakistan and Sudan --
account for about 90 % of the total, and China the bulk of these.

(source: Reuters)