[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 21



AUSTRALIA:

Call for campaign against death penalty


The federal government must take a "strong and principled" approach to
opposing the death penalty whenever and wherever it is applied, former ALP
national president Barry Jones told a public forum attended by more than
100 people on April 19. The forum was organised by Australians Against
Capital Punishment.

The AACP was established by Lee and Christine Rush as part of their
campaign for clemency for their son. Scott Rush was arrested in Bali in
April 2005 by Indonesian authorities, acting on information from the
Australian Federal Police.

Lee Rush addressed the forum and pointed out that his son, and the other
"drug mules", were being punished harshly, while the real organisers of
the international drug trade were largely untouched. Other speakers
included associate professor Patrick Keyzer, Tim Goodwin from Amnesty
International and Reverend David Pitman from the Uniting Church.

(source: GreenLeft)






IRAQ:

Iraq death penalty raises concerns: Amnesty report warns of greater
brutalization as government executes more criminals, some after rushed
trials.


The trial of Mohammed Munaf on charges of kidnapping three Romanian
journalists in 2005 lasted about an hour, his lawyer said. And even though
no witnesses testified, he said, the Iraqi-born U.S. citizen was sentenced
to hang.

Munaf's case is under appeal and he has not been executed, but Amnesty
International said Friday that about 100 convicts had been hanged since
Iraq reinstated the death penalty 3 years ago, including many whose cases
were rushed through the system without due process.

The London-based human rights group said the trend could lead to further
brutalization of the war-torn nation, but the Iraqi government asserted
that the executions were the best way to send the message that it was
serious about ending violence.

"We're just shy of 100" hangings, said Bassam Ridha, a legal advisor to
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. "That's nothing compared to what these
insurgents are doing to the Iraqi people."

On one day in February, 14 people were hanged across the country for
crimes such as terrorism, murder and rape, Ridha said. Each day, he said,
Iraqi citizens call his office to demand more executions, telling him that
if the government executed more people, there might be more stability in
Iraq.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died in shootings, bombings,
mortar attacks and other violence linked to sectarian warfare since the
U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. A U.S.-Iraqi security plan launched in
mid-February has put thousands of additional troops on the ground, but the
bloodshed continues.

Attackers are finding ways to evade the checkpoints and searches that have
become a feature of daily life here. On Friday, they attached a bomb to a
bicycle in an open-air bicycle market in Salman Pak, south of Baghdad. At
least 1 person was killed and 3 people were wounded in the blast. Salman
Pak is a mixed town, with a slight Shiite Muslim majority. In Baghdad, two
people died in separate mortar attacks.

In southwest Baghdad, shooting broke out around a Shiite mosque as people
arrived for prayers, and at least two people died. There were conflicting
accounts of the incident.

In a statement, the U.S. military said American troops on patrol came
under fire from the direction of the mosque. During the ensuing shootout,
with U.S. helicopters providing cover, 2 suspected insurgents were killed,
the military said.

But a Shiite cleric, Sheik Suhail Uqabi, delivered a sermon in Sadr City
in which he accused troops of killing at least three worshipers in the
incident.

The U.S. military announced the death of a Marine in an attack overnight
south of Baghdad. The Marine died when a rocket was fired into a military
base in Mahmoudiya, a statement said. At least 3,316 U.S. troops have died
in the Iraq theater since the March 2003 invasion, according to the
website icasualties.org, which monitors the military casualties.

Unfair trials alleged

Executions were common during Saddam Hussein's 34-year regime, but the
death penalty was suspended after his fall in 2003. It was reinstated by
the new Iraqi government in August 2004, and more than 270 people have
been sentenced to death since, Amnesty International says.

The 51-page Amnesty report says that in 2006 alone, 65 people, including
two women, were hanged in Iraq. That figure was surpassed only by China,
Iran and Pakistan. The numbers are especially troubling given Iraq's
population of about 27 million compared with the other countries, which
have tens of millions more people, said Carsten Jurgensen, one of the
researchers.

The report says some executions, including that of a former aide to
Hussein, were carried out despite international observers' concerns that
the cases had been mishandled or rushed through the system.

"We fear that ... because people have been sentenced to death after unfair
trials, the return to the death penalty will lead to further brutalization
of society," Jurgensen said.

The numbers were based on figures compiled from lawyers, court records and
media reports. The Amnesty study focused on several cases, including that
of Munaf, who was arrested in connection with the Romanian journalists'
abduction after their release in May 2005.

Prosecutors accused Munaf, who had been working with the journalists, of
involvement in their abduction and said he had confessed to the crime. His
lawyer, Badee Arif Izzat, said the so-called confession was made after
Munaf and several codefendants were tortured.

When the 3-judge panel announced the death sentence, he said, the accused
tore off their shirts to show marks they said were from beatings.

"The trial took about 1 hour," Izzat said, adding that none of the
Romanians was there to testify. "The court took 11 minutes to deliver the
sentence."

On April 6, a federal appeals court in Washington rejected Munaf's appeal
to have the United States intervene in his case, saying U.S. courts had no
jurisdiction. The case continues to wind its way through the appellate
process in Iraq, a system that Ridha, the prime minister's advisor, says
guarantees a fair outcome for defendants.

"We have a judicial process, and it is a very lengthy one," he said,
adding that some of the 14 prisoners hanged Feb. 11 had been convicted 2
years earlier. "It does not happen in an hour."

But Amnesty and Iraqi defense lawyers said they were concerned that the
polarization in Iraq was leading to a court system more interested in
exacting revenge than ensuring that every defendant receives a fair trial.

'We're new to this'

Most hangings have received little attention. Ironically, it was Hussein's
execution in December after his mass murder conviction that first cast
negative attention on the government's use of the death penalty.

A witness to the execution, who was not identified, used a cellphone to
record the hanging. The footage, which landed on the Internet, showed the
ex-leader being taunted as he was led to the gallows.

The government was embarrassed again in January when Hussein's half
brother and former intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim Hasan, a codefendant
in the murder trial, was accidentally decapitated while being hanged.

Ridha blamed those problems on the government's inexperience with the
gallows.

"We are not in the custom of doing this, unlike Saddam and his vicious
regime," he said. "We're new to this."

Last month, international human rights groups objected to the execution of
Hussein's former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan. Ramadan was
convicted in the same case, which centered on the killings of 148 men and
boys from a small Shiite town in the 1980s after an assassination attempt
against Hussein.

Amnesty International and other groups said witnesses failed to directly
link Ramadan to the killings and that his conviction was politically
motivated.

(source: Los Angeles Times)






MALAYSIA:

Aceh Sets Up Probe Team On Acehnese Facing Death Penalty In Malaysia


Aceh's Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD) will set up an investigation
team that will be tasked with reviewing data on Acehnese workers facing
the death penalty in Malaysia.

"The DPRD will conduct investigations and review data on problematic
Acehnese workers in Malaysia," Sayed Fuad Zakaria, the chairman of the
DPRD said.

He made the statement after holding talks with officials of the Aceh
branches of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and Kontras (National Commission
for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence) here today.

Zakaria said that the team would not only investigate cases of problematic
Acehnese workers in Malaysia but also in other countries such as Thailand
and Singapore.

"In the near future, the DPRD will also lobby the Malaysian government and
other related agencies and take urgent actions so that they can be spared
the death penalty," he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.

In the meantime, the LBH and Kontras recommended that the DPRD should
establish contacts with European Union and ASEAN countries, which were
once involved in the Aceh peace process regarding the matter.

They also handed over documents on the latest position of 52 Acehnese
workers who are likely to face the death penalty in Malaysia.

The death penalty is imposed in Malaysia for very serious crimes like drug
trafficking and premeditated murder.

(source: Bernama)






EUROPEAN UNION:

India's president should pardon Mohammad Afzal Guru


Ahead of the visit to Strasbourg of India's President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,
it is important to flag the case of Mohammad Afzal Guru, who is currently
on death row in India's Tihar Jail, awaiting a presidential pardon.

Afzal Guru was sentenced to death in December 2002, after being convicted
of conspiracy to attack the Indian Parliament, waging war against India
and murder. A charge of being a member of a terrorist organisation was
dropped by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence.

On December 13, 2001, five men carried out an armed attack on the
Parliament when it was in session. In the ensuing gun battle between the
attackers and police, all of the armed attackers, eight police personnel
and a gardener were killed and 16 others, including a press photographer,
were injured.

In the following days, 4 Kashmiris, including Afzal Guru, were arrested.
They were charged with conspiring, planning and abetting the attack under
the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO), which was later replaced by
the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

The POTA, which was repealed in September 2004 because it had been
misused, falls considerably short of international fair trial standards
and Afzal Guru was not provided legal representation for his trial.
Amnesty International condemned the death sentence and insists justice is
never served by judicial murder.

Mohammad Afzal was scheduled to be executed on October 20, 2006. His
execution was stayed following a mercy petition by his wife. Afzal Guru
has also filed a separate mercy petition on the grounds he did not receive
a fair trial. Political pressure on the President and government is
growing.

On one hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party - who were heading the coalition
government when the attack took place - have circulated a pamphlet
outlining the reasons why Afzal Guru should be executed. On the other,
regular widespread protests against the execution have taken place in
Jammu and Kashmir and the Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, has stated
that the execution would have a negative impact on the ongoing peace
process.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
It violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on
the innocent. It has also never been shown to deter crime more effectively
than other punishments. Afzal Guru's case clearly illustrates the danger
of the death penalty in a political situation where the right to a fair
trial does not appear to be guaranteed.

President Abdul Kalam is personally against the use of capital punishment
and is one of the key abolitionist voices in South Asia. The European
Parliament is the standard bearer for human rights within the EU and, in
line with the EU's human rights guidelines, it is incumbent on us all to
urge President Abdul Kalam to show mercy, pardon Mohammad Afzal Guru and
call for an immediate moratorium on executions, with a view to total
abolition.

(source: Sajjad H. Karim is a Member of the European Parliament from
England, of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and on the
Subcommittee on Human Rights)