[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 5


INDIA:

Death sentence to gangsters


The MP High Court's principal bench in Jabalpur on Thursday awarded death
penalty to Mukhtar Malik and Asif Mamu, and life imprisonment to Muzaffar
Husain alias Munne Painter and 8 others in the 1996 shootout case in the
Bhopal district court in which three persons were killed.

While announcing the death penalty, the bench observed that Mukhtar and
Asif, against whom a number of criminal cases are pending, had become
menace to the society and the crime they committed in the court precincts
fell in a category of the 'rarest of rare' case.

On March 30, Mukhtar, Asif Mamu and Painter escaped from the HC premises
minutes after the division bench comprising Justice S S Jha and Justice
Sushma Shrivastava found the absconding trio and eight others guilty in
the shootout between the gang of Mukhtar and Painter. The eight other
accused including Mazhar Hussain, Badshah, Sadiq, Sadiq Sultan, Mohsin,
Guddu Jadugar, Salim Kela and Raziullah Khan were arrested and sent to the
Central Jail here on March 30.

The court had then announced to award the punishment on April 3. But after
hearing the arguments in connection with sentence, the court reserved its
order, which was announced on Thursday.

While allowing the State's appeals on Thursday, the High Court reversed
the Bhopal district court order of August 1999, which had acquitted the
respondents.

Those killed in 1996 shoot out were Salim Baba, Salim Bucha and Omar
Ezhar.

The HC directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate Bhopal to get arrested the
absconding persons and send them to jail.

(source: Hindustan Times)






IRAN:

West Balochistan: Appeal to Halt Executions


The UNPO remains deeply concerned about the fate of 9 Balochs who have
been arrested by the Iranian authorities, and appeals to halt further
executions.

On 14 February 2007 a bus carrying security officials from the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard was attacked in Sistan-Balochistan Province in
southern Iran, leaving at least 14 people dead. This indefensible act of
violence appears however to have been followed by a campaign of extensive
human rights violations, targeting members of local Baloch communities and
their activists.

Recent reports suggest two Balochis were executed within days of the
attacks, with human rights organisations such as Amnesty International
also reporting concern about nine additional Balochis presently in
detention and believed to be facing imminent execution:

Mr. Said Qanbar Zahi (17) , Mr. Ismail Vafai (21), Mr. Asad Vafai (27),
Mr. Javad Narou, Mr., Masoud Nosrat Zahi, Mr. Houshang Shahnavazi, Mr.
Yahya Sohrab Zahi, Mr. Ali Reza Brahoui, Mr. Abdalbek Kahra Zahi

All believed to have been arrested because of family ties to individuals
linked to the 14 February attacks. Media reports also indicate that five
members of this group have recently appeared on Iranian state television
"confessing" to a range of violent crimes that occurred in the Province in
March of 2006. 17 other individuals are believed already to have been
executed in connection with these events.

UNPO and its members condemn all acts of violence, but fear Iranian
authorities are using these events as a pretext to continue their
oppression of the Baloch minority community. The above sentences of death
have all followed from highly irregular trials, falling well short of
internationally recognised standards of justice, and reports suggest that
the televised "confessions" may, as is in other similar cases elsewhere in
Iran, have been extracted through torture.

UNPO has therefore appealed to Prof. Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur
on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Ms. Louise Arbour,
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Helene Flautre MEP,
Chairperson of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights, Ms.
Angelika Beer MEP, Chairwomen of European Parliament Delegation for
Relations with Iran, Mr. Romano Maria La Russa MEP, Vice-Chairman of
European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Iran, Ms. Christa Prets
MEP, Vice-Chairwoman of European Parliament Delegation for Relations with
Iran, and Ms. Yanine Poc, Head of Asia Desk in Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights to:

- Urge Iran to end immediately its use of executions as a weapon of fear
and oppression, in particular where minors are involved;

- Remind Iran that serious charges of terrorism must be examined by open
and transparent courts, in full accord with internationally recognised
standards of justice;

- Continue your efforts to visit Iran in order to evaluate and report on
its use of the death penalty, in particular in cases involving activists
belonging to their many minority communities; and

- Raise the issue of minority rights whenever your mandate brings you into
contact with Iranian officials.

(source: UNPO (Netherlands) )






(in) PAKISTAN:

Death sentence is not an Islamic punishment, says CII


In Lahore, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has agreed that the death
sentence is not an Islamic punishment and/or necessary in Islam, except in
cases of 'fasad fil arz' (mischief in land) and murder.

The CII has recommended that the Quranic penalty for rape and theft is to
be enforced "only in exceptional cases, otherwise a court/judge can act
leniently in accordance with the nature and circumstances of an incident."

It also declared that there should be no gender or religious
discrimination in calling or accepting witnesses in cases being tried
under the Hadood laws.

The CII unanimously agreed on a 10-point recommendation regarding the
application of Hadood laws at its recent 164th meeting. These 10 points
are likely to become part of the official minutes to be sent to the prime
minister and the president.

In a statement, the CII has announced its unanimous view that a rape (zina
bil jabr) victim should not be required to produce four witnesses.
According to details provided by sources, the 10-point recommendation
approved by the council on the application of Hadood laws is as follows:
The maximum punishment for zina and theft is 100 lashes and the amputation
of hands respectively, according to the Holy Quran. These punishments
should be awarded only when the crime is extraordinary in
nature/circumstances and the convict does not deserve any leniency or
concession. Courts, if considered appropriate, can be lenient and hand out
a lesser sentence, depending on how much leniency the convict deserves.

Rape and adultery/consensual sex (zina bil raza) are two separate crimes.
A victim of rape should not be required to produce four witnesses to file
a complaint.

In cases of rape, the affected woman should be the complainant, not a
defendant. The state should be bound to investigate, arrest the alleged
rapist and punish him if the crime is proven. A person accused of adultery
should be acquitted if the complainant fails to produce four witnesses to
prove his/her allegation in court.

Once acquitted, the accused person cannot be tried/punished under any
other law, unless he/she refuses to give a statement under oath or
confesses to the crime. In cases of li'an, where the accused person
confesses or denies the charges on oath, courts will decide the cases in
view of the circumstances.

The council decided that only dacoity was not the only crime that should
be treated as fasad fil arz and haraba (violence). It said that offences
like terrorism and rape were also fasad fil arz and haraba, and the
perpetrators of these acts should punished as provided in Sura Maida of
the Holy Quran. The death sentence/penalty is permissible only for the
killing of a human being or in (extreme) cases of fasad fil arz.

It is clearly stated in the Holy Quran that the death sentence is
unworkable, and cannot be handed down except in cases of fasad fil arz and
murder. The will/consent of the heir (wali) is not important in qisas
cases. Qisas can be enforced even after a wali's forgiveness. On the other
hand, no relaxation/concession can be given without the walis consent.

Diyat is compulsory in qatal-e-khata (unintentional homocide) and
qatal-e-amd (deliberate murder), according to Shariah. However, social
customs/traditions can be followed to set the amount. In Shariah, there
are 5 crimes for which sentences have been defined: zina, qazaf, murder,
fasad fil arz and theft.

Apart from these crimes, all crimes are related to the (maintenance of)
collective (social) discipline/order, and a sentence/punishment can be
defined/handed out accordingly. There is no discrimination against any
man/woman, Muslim/non-Muslim in acceptance of statements by any witness.

(source: Khaleej Times)






ENGLAND/CALIFORNIA:

Our innocent son faces Death Row-----FACING TRIAL FOR MURDER: North-East
man Neil Revill is waiting to be tried for a double murder in the US and
faces the possibility of the death penalty is he is found guilty


THE family of a man who could face the death penalty in the US told last
night of their belief in his innocence.

Neil Revill, 34, from Consett, County Durham, will stand trial in August
for the double murder of drug dealer Arthur Davodian, 22, and Kimberley
Crayton, 21, in Los Angeles in 2001.

Last night, his father, Graham Revill, speaking from his home in Perth,
Australia, said he believed in the death penalty but was certain his son
was innocent.

He said: "He is innocent. I have every confidence that he will be found
not guilty.

"We have been waiting for a trial for 5 years and we will go over there
and sit behind him and support him all the way.

"I would say I was a supporter of the death penalty - if someone is found
guilty and there is no doubt about it - like for people who walk onto tube
trains with bombs."

advertisementThe last time Mr Revill and his wife, Brenda, saw their son
was at Christmas, when they were allowed half an hour's visit behind
armoured glass.

Mr Revill, a former RAF mechanic, said: "The last time we had actual
physical contact with him was at his wedding in 1997.

"It's harder for his mum because I am an old-fashioned North of England
person, but the first thing I will do when he walks out of the court is
give him a bit of a squeeze."

Mr Davodian and his girlfriend, Miss Crayton, were murdered in their
apartment in 2001. Mr Davodian was stabbed 17 times before being
decapitated.

His head was discovered in a bag by a schoolboy 10 days later.

Miss Crayton was killed as she cowered in her bedroom. Her 14-month-old
daughter survived.

Yesterday, another relative, Flora Marley, 71, of Leadgate, near Consett,
said: "It is a puzzle to us why it has taken so long for him to come to
trial. I just hope that it is fair. We hope and pray they will find him to
be the innocent person that he is.

"Everyone is fully behind him. They just cannot believe that he has done
something like this.

"I have no doubt that he is innocent. We are all praying for him, all the
time."

Neil Revill was born in the North-East but as a child he moved to Germany,
where his father was stationed with the RAF.

Later, he moved back to County Durham and lived with his grandfather in
Stanley, before moving to Sunderland.

>From there, he went backpacking around Europe, met his future wife and
moved to the US, where his marriage broke up.

He was a friend of murder victim Mr Davodian.

Yesterday, Mr Revill said that he and his wife had put their lives on
hold.

"We had plans, but we can't do anything until we know what is happening
with Neil.

"But we can't sit here every day and cry into our cups of tea.

"I feel helpless.

"As a father, I feel that I should be able to get him out, but it's I can
do as much for him from our home in Australia as I could sitting outside
the jail."

The prison allows inmates a onehour visit a week, or 2 half-hour visits.

Mr and Mrs Revill visited their son at Christmas because they were
permitted an additional half-hour on Christmas Day, and also on New Year's
Day.

Neil Revill has no other visitors and spends most of his time reading. His
father sends him books via the internet and money so that he is able to
buy luxuries, such as toiletries. Human rights charity Reprieve is
campaigning to stop the death penalty becoming a possible punishment in
the case before the trial begins.

Officials from the charity have asked Prime Minister Tony Blair to
intervene.

Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of Reprieve, said: "That Neil has
spent the last 6 years with the Damoclean sword of the death penalty
hanging over him is outrageous.

"This should never have been a death penalty case. It is critical that Mr
Blair supports the request to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office
to drop the death penalty.

"I have watched several Brits linger on death row in the US and seen 2 of
them executed.

"Mr Blair should act now to ensure that Neil doesn't share their fate."

Kevan Jones, the MP for North Durham, said: "It is cruel and inhumane to
keep someone waiting for trial for 6 years. I think it is wrong."

Mr Revill said that he understood the delay, which is common in the US
justice system.

He said: "I'm not really complaining about that sort of thing.

"My advice would be don't go to America and get yourself in trouble."

(source: The Northern Echo)






BULGARIA:

MEDICS ON DEATH ROW IN LIBYA TOUTED AS EURO-MP CANDIDATES


5 Bulgarian nurses on death row in Libya on charges they deliberately
infected 426 Libyan children with the HIV virus, will be listed as the top
candidates for the European parliament by a right-wing party for the June
2009 elections, Bulgaria's Novinite news agency reports. Yane Yanev,
leader of the Order, Rule of Law and Justice Party, told the agency he has
submitted the medics' names for registration to the Central Election
Committee which needs to approve the candidates. The announcement follows
a nationwide campaign to save the medics from capital punishment by making
them run for the European Parliament.

The medics, who have been jailed in Libya since 1999, have long claimed
they are innocent and are being used as scapegoats for unsanitary
conditions in the Benghazi hospital where they worked and where they say
the HIV virus already existed before they arrived in 1998. Of the infected
children, 52 have died.

A court on 19 December last year found the 6 defendants guilty of
deliberately infecting the Libyan children and sentenced them to death.
The medics had been sentenced to death by firing squad in a previous trial
in 2004, but Libya's supreme court ordered a retrial in December 2005.

An international group of physicians and scientists has urged Libya to
free the medics, saying that accusations against them were unfounded.

An independent report by leading experts including Luc Montagnier, who
co-discovered the HIV virus, supported the medics' claim that the HIV
infections started in the Benghazi hospital before their arrival and were
caused by poor hygiene standards.

(source: Sofia Echo)



VIETNAM:

Brain-damaged man faces death for drug smuggling


A naturalised Briton who suffered brain damage in the Vietnam War will be
shot by firing squad unless Tony Blair intervenes in his appeal, according
to lawyers representing him.

Le Manh Luong, 47, a mechanic who used to live in Greenwich, south London,
was sentenced to death in Vietnam after being convicted of masterminding a
drug-smuggling operation.

But medical evidence obtained by a UK-based rights charity, Reprieve,
shows Luong would have been incapable of playing a pivotal role in such a
crime.

A report by a consultant psychiatrist reveals he was severely injured as a
child during the Vietnam War when US planes bombed his town. He sustained
serious brain damage and two of his brothers were killed.

Luong fled Vietnam in the Seventies, settling in Britain in 1983, where he
married his childhood sweetheart and had 2 children. He became a
well-known figure in Greenwich and Kidbrooke where he earned a living
working on cars and helping in gardens.

But family members describe Luong as having a child-like personality,
which led to the end of a short-lived marriage. They say a new girlfriend
lured him to Hong Kong, where he was recruited by the gang who were
convicted of smuggling heroin from Laos via Vietnam to Hong Kong and
mainland China.

Testimony shows that, during the trial last year, Luong developed more
serious mental problems and his "inappropriate behaviour" in court caused
people to laugh at him.

During his trial, the other seven members of the gang said Luong was the
controlling mind who gave orders to other members. But a new psychiatric
report on Luong's condition, commissioned by Reprieve although not yet
seen by the Vietnamese courts, casts doubt on the idea he could have led
the operation.

A consultant psychiatrist, Nicholas Kennedy, says the evidence is strong
that his long-standing behavioural problems are linked to his brain damage
and they would have affected his decision to take part in the smuggling.
An MRI brain scan carried out in Vietnam has revealed an "abnormal" brain
pattern which supports the diagnosis of neurological damage.

Dr Kennedy concludes: "The defendant, in my opinion, is probably suffering
from a significant deficit in executive functioning... It is my opinion
the defendant's decision to take part in the criminal enterprise of which
he has been convicted was the result, to an extent, of the brain injury he
suffered as a child."

Today, a court of appeal in Dong Hoi, central Vietnam, will decide whether
to commute his death sentence. If the judges uphold the punishment, as his
lawyers expect, he could be executed within weeks.

His niece, Thanh Le, 24, a nurse living in south London, said she has only
seen her uncle once since his arrest more than 2 years ago. "He was really
a very gentle man," she said. "I know what he is capable of and I know he
doesn't have the mental capacity to do what he is accused of. I'm not
saying he is innocent, just that he couldn't have been the mastermind."

Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of Reprieve, said Mr Blair should
make personal representations to the President of Vietnam. "Unless this
happens, there is the real danger of him being executed," he said.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the Government would consider what steps
to take after it heard the result of the appeal.

UK nationals on death row

* Linda Carty, from St Kitts, was sentenced in Texas for murdering a
neighbour whose child she wanted for herself. She has twice appealed.

* Chan King Yu, from Hong Kong, was charged with trafficking drugs in
Malaysia in 2000. He was sentenced to hang after losing an appeal.

* Kenny Richey, 41, was convicted in 1987 of murdering a child in the US,
in a fire that prosecutors claimed he started to kill his former
girlfriend. In 2003, his conviction was reversed, but it was overturned by
the Supreme Court in 2005.

* Kenny Gay, 51, a British citizen, has been on death row in California
for 21 years, after he and a co-defendant were convicted of murdering a
police officer.

* Omar Sheikh, a British-born Islamist, was sentenced to hang in Pakistan
for murdering a journalist, Daniel Pearl, in 2002. The US government and
Pearl's wife have acknowledged he was not responsible.

(source: The Independent)