[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 8


CANADA:

Official made no commitment to seek clemency for death-row inmate


A Foreign Affairs official with the Canadian consulate in Denver who spent
2 years assisting this country's only death-row inmate in the United
States, has acknowledged in an affidavit that Canadian diplomats
"supported the commutation" of Ronald Smith's death sentence but held only
"informal and hypothetical" discussions about the case with Montana
officials before the Conservative government's abrupt reversal on the
clemency bid last October.

The testimony from consular officer Kimberly Pittman was submitted
Thursday to the Federal Court of Canada in response to a lawsuit filed
last fall by Smith and four high-profile Canadian defence lawyers who are
trying to force Prime Minister Stephen Harper to throw out his
government's controversial new policy on the clemency issue and relaunch
efforts to prevent the Alberta-born murderer's execution.

Documents filed in March by Smith's legal team described how Pittman
visited Smith on Oct. 30, 2007 and assured him he had Canada's "full
support" in his bid to avoid a lethal injection - just one day before the
Harper government announced it would no longer seek clemency for Smith or
other Canadians facing execution in "democratic" countries.

But in her affidavit, Pittman said she made no commitments to Smith or
aides to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer that Canada would make a "formal
request" to seek clemency or a transfer of the prisoner to a Canadian
jail.

"Mr. Smith asked about the possibility of transferring to Canada," Pittman
states, "and I advised him that chances are slim at present because only
14 per cent of transfer applications have been approved this year."

The affidavit also states that Pittman's talks with Montana officials had
revealed that "any possible commutation would be conditional on Mr.
Smith's transfer to a Canadian prison."

The government's about-face occurred in the days following an Oct. 27
Canwest News Service story which detailed Canada's efforts to press
Schweitzer to overturn Smith's death sentence "on humanitarian grounds."

By Oct. 31, that lobbying bid had been called off by the Harper
government, prompting an uproar in the House of Commons. All three
opposition parties condemned the policy change, a decision that also drew
fire from human rights groups, the Anglican and Catholic churches of
Canada and other opponents of capital punishment.

In the weeks that followed, the government softened its stance by saying
it would review clemency requests on a "case-by-case basis" but that
"multiple or mass murderers" were unlikely to ever win Canada's help to
avoid execution.

In November, Smith and his lawyers launched their suit in the Federal
Court, arguing that the federal government's sudden policy change
contradicted Canadian law on the death penalty and callously betrayed
Smith after years of consular support.

In another affidavit filed by the federal government on Thursday, the U.S.
attorney who prosecuted Smith for the 1982 murders of two Montana native
men argues that Canada's interventions against Smith's death sentence
would do very little to alter his fate.

"I doubt that any expression by a government at the clemency hearing would
carry any more weight than the statements of the victims' families,"
states Thomas Esch.

He adds that after controversy arose over the Smith case last fall, he
attended a meeting with the families of Thomas Running Rabbit and Harvey
Mad Man, the young Blackfeet Indian men killed by Smith during a drunken
road trip through Montana in 1982.

"We were told by the victims' families and friends and members of the
Blackfeet Tribal Council that they opposed both Mr. Smith's commutation
and his transfer back to Canada," Esch testifies.

(source: Canwest News Service)






SAUDI ARABIA/TURKEY:

Silent diplomacy working to save Turk facing death penalty


Turkish diplomats have been exerting hectic efforts to save a Turkish
citizen sentenced to death for blasphemy in Saudi Arabia, but also
highlight the need for calmness and patience with what is proving to be a
complicated legal process.

Sabri Bogday, 31, is from the southeastern city of Hatay. He is married
and has a 17-month-old son. For the last 10 years he has lived in Saudi
Arabia, running a barbershop in Jeddah. Bogday was arrested on March 11,
2007, after police received complaints that he had insulted Islam,
including swearing at God in public. Under Saudi Arabian law, insulting
God and the religion of Islam can be considered apostasy or heresy, both
of which are criminal offences punishable by death. Bogday and his family
say he is the victim of malicious slander.

Saudi Arabia's legal system is based on the Shariah, or Islamic law. Saudi
Arabia has long practiced a harsh form of the law, under which murderers
and drug smugglers may be executed, thieves lose their hands and
adulterers are stoned to death.

Bogday, who is not fluent in Arabic, was sentenced to death on March 31,
2008, after a trial before a closed court in Jeddah. He is being held at
Briman Prison in Jeddah.

"Unfortunately, the general tendency among judges was not to give Bogday a
chance to repent. Now, we'll appeal the verdict -- which is only a primary
decision -- within one month. Of course there is a possibility of approval
of the court of first instance's verdict by the Appeals Court. However,
this does not mean that the legal process ends then and there," Turkish
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Naci Koru told Today's Zaman over the
telephone.

If the Appeals Court approves the sentence, the case will be carried to
the Supreme Judicial Council and if the council approves it, the case will
finally go before Saudi King Abdullah, the ambassador explained, noting
that the execution cannot take place before the completion of this legal
process.

Along this legal process, authorities always have the chance to suggest
giving Bogday the chance to repent. Likewise, the king has the authority
to pardon Bogday and can intervene in the process before the case is sent
to him. "What we will do for now is work hard to calm the situation down
and be respectful to Saudi Arabia's judicial system. The king is known to
be closely interested in the issue," Koru said.

The undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Riyadh has already received
permission from Saudi authorities to visit Bogday at the prison in Jeddah
and he will see him on Sunday, Koru also said. "We're trying to boost
Bogday's morale and colleagues from the Foreign Ministry are in constant
contact with his family as well," he added. Turkish President Abdullah Gl
initiated a telephone conversation with Saudi King Abdullah on Tuesday
concerning Bogday's situation, the president's press office announced on
Wednesday. The Saudi king told Gl, who last month wrote a letter to him on
the same issue, that he has followed Bogday's situation closely since
receiving the letter, the press office said in a brief statement, without
elaborating further.

Last month, the London-based Amnesty International launched an urgent
action campaign for Bogday, who they said was victimized by "an unfair
trial." Amnesty International then highlighted that Saudi Arabia applies
the death penalty for a wide range of offences, including offences with no
lethal consequences, and does so following trials which invariably fall
short of the most basic international standards.

"Hearings are often held in secret and defendants are permitted barely any
formal legal representation. They may be convicted solely on the basis of
confessions obtained under duress or deception. In many cases defendants
and their families are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings
against them. Prisoners sentenced to death may not be informed of the date
of execution until the morning when they are taken out and beheaded. The
number of executions in 2008 continues to increase rapidly. At least 50
people have been executed so far this year, 20 of whom were foreign
nationals," according to Amnesty International records.

(source: Today's Zaman)