[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 18



IRAQ:

Iraqi Judge Sentences U.S. Citizen To Death After U.S. Military "Demanded"
the Man Be Executed


An Iraqi-born US citizen is in a battle to save his life as he tries to
avoid execution in Baghdad. But he's not up against insurgents groups -
he's up against the Iraqi and US governments.

The man, Mohammad Munaf, was arrested by US troops last year. He was
charged with kidnapping three Romanian journalists and holding them
hostage for nearly two months. Last week, Munaf was sentenced to death.
He's being held in a US-run prison at the Baghdad airport.

Munaf maintains his innocence. Just weeks ago, it appeared he would be set
free. Munaf's attorneys say the presiding judge promised to dismiss the
charges after he concluded there was no material evidence to support a
conviction.

But then came a strange intervention. 2 US military officers appeared in
court to advocate giving Munaf the death penalty. One of the officers
claimed to be acting on behalf of the Romanian embassy and said Romania
"demanded" Munaf be put to death. The two officers then held a private
meeting with the judge - without the defense in the room. When he
returned, the judge ruled Munaf was guilty and ordered his execution.

The Romanian government says it did not authorize any US official to speak
on its behalf and that it is not seeking the death penalty. Munaf's
attorneys are asking a federal court to stop the US military from handing
him over to the Iraqi government. In an emergency motion filed last week,
the attorneys write: "Mr. Munaf was convicted and sentenced to death by an
Iraqi court operating under glaring procedural deficiencies and the direct
manipulation of US military personnel." Lawyers have also filed a motion
arguing the US has no legal right to turn Munaf over to a government where
he might face torture.

For more on this case, I'm joined now by one of Mohammad Munaf's
attorneys. Jonathan Hafetz is Associate Counsel for the Liberty & National
Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

(source : Democracy Now -- Jonathan Hafetz, attorney for Mohammed Munaf
and Associate Counsel for the Liberty & National Security Project at the
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law)






INDONESIA:

Judge gives hope Bali six will avoid death penalty


6 Australians on death row in Bali for heroin smuggling have been given
hope of avoiding firing squads after the judge who sentenced two fellow
couriers to life imprisonment said their roles did not warrant execution.

Muhammad Taufik's reasons for the judgement rejecting the death penalty in
the cases of Michael Czugaj and Martin Stephens were released to their
lawyers yesterday.

Judge Taufik said the difference in sentencing gave the other members of
the Bali nine grounds for requesting a judicial review of their death
penalties.

The presiding judge in the Supreme Court appeals of Czugaj and Stephens
said the pair were only "intermediaries" in the smuggling scheme and did
not deserve death sentences.

In Bali yesterday, Colin McDonald, the Australian head of the team
representing courier Scott Rush, said the disparity outlined by Judge
Taufik would be the central plank in a request for the Supreme Court to
review its verdicts.

The other three couriers facing the firing squad would be able to make the
same argument, he said.

"The sentencing differential gives solid grounds for a judicial review,"
Mr McDonald said. "Scott was in the same factual circumstances. By what
logical reason could he have got the death penalty when he was never
anything more than a low-level courier?"

Czugaj and Stephens's lawyers said they had not studied the judgements and
would not comment until they consulted their clients.

Judge Taufik said life imprisonment was a sufficient penalty for Stephens
and Czugaj.

"Their roles in this case are intermediaries, not permanent syndicate
members. They are kids, around their 20s, with jobs, who were promised a
holiday in Bali.

"I think life imprisonment is enough  Later on there will also be a
remission."

The court judgement for Stephens states it could not justify reducing his
penalty from life imprisonment.

In Czugaj's case, the judgement says his term should be increased from 20
years to life because he had not considered "the consequence of the drugs
import and distribution which [would] have a negative impact on the
nation's life".

The other three condemned couriers, Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen and Tan Duc
Thanh Nguyen, also claimed to be pawns in the plan to import more than 8
kilograms of heroin into Australia. A different panel of judges heard
their Supreme Court appeals.

Two ringleaders of the scheme, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, received
death sentences in their original trial. Their sentences were upheld in an
appeal to the Supreme Court.

Last month's Supreme Court decision to upgrade the four couriers'
sentences to death came as a shock, as prosecutors had only requested life
penalties.

Their lawyers have been awaiting the reasons for the decision so they can
frame a last-ditch plea to the Supreme Court.

The full judgements in the remaining 6 cases are unlikely to be released
until next month.

Mr McDonald said he was drawing up plans for a judicial review for Rush,
based on the disparity in sentencing.

"The parity issue is the strongest case he's got," Mr McDonald said. "I'm
eager to get the Supreme Court's reasons because it's difficult to see any
logical reason for his penalty."

(source: Sydney Morning Herald)