[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 15


SAUDI ARABIA:

Rights groups: Half of all executions by Saudis are foreigners


At least 200 Syrians have reportedly been sentenced to death in Saudi
Arabia.

Human rights groups said nearly 1/2 of all executions in Saudi Arabia
during the past year were of foreigners. Some 158 people were executed in
2007.

On April 17, Saudi Arabia beheaded 2 Syrians in Tabouk prison. Both men,
identified as Feras Al Aghbar and Feras Al Maktabi, were accused of drug
offenses.

European human rights groups said 2,000 Syrians, including children, have
been detained in Saudi Arabia, Middle East Newsline reported. The groups
said about 10 % of the detainees were awaiting execution in connection
with illegal drug trafficking.

(source: World Tribune)






EUROPEAN UNION:

Declaration by the EU Presidency on behalf of the EU concerning the
resumption of executions in the USA


On 2 May 2008 the Ambassadors of the European Union in Washington appealed
to the relevant authorities in the State of Georgia to spare the life of
Mr. William Lynd. Most regrettably, clemency appeals in the case of Mr.
Lynd were denied and a subsequent appeal hearing before the Georgia
Supreme Court also proved unsuccessful.

The European Union deeply regrets that Mr. William Lynd was executed in
the State of Georgia on 6 May 2008.

This execution breaks a de facto moratorium that has been in place across
the United States while the United States Supreme Court was hearing the
Baze v. Rees case. The United States Supreme Court ruling of 16 April 2008
in Mr. Baze's case, allowed for the continued use of lethal injection as
practiced by the State of Kentucky.

The EU again reiterates its longstanding position against the death
penalty in all circumstances and accordingly strives to achieve its
universal abolition, seeking a global moratorium on the death penalty as
the first step. We believe that the elimination of the death penalty is
fundamental to the protection of human dignity, and to the progressive
development of human rights.

The EU recalls that on 18 December 2007, the United Nations General
Assembly adopted a resolution on a Moratorium on the use of the death
penalty, which explicitly calls upon all States that still maintain the
death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to
abolishing the death penalty.

The EU notes that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the application
of the death penalty represents an irreparable and irreversible loss of
human life. No legal system is immune from mistakes and there is no
reliable evidence that the death penalty provides added value in terms of
deterrence.

In light of this most regrettable resumption in the use of the death
penalty in the United States, with the execution of Mr. Lynd in the State
of Georgia, the European Union urges the immediate re-establishment of a
de facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty across the entire
United States, with a view to abolishing the death penalty.

The Candidate Countries Turkey and Croatia*, the Countries of the
Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland,
Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well
as the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan align themselves with
this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be
part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

(source: European Commission)



INDIA:

India: a "lethal lottery"


A study of the rulings by New Delhi's Supreme Court (photo) for more than
50 years concluded that "the administration of the death penalty in India
is manifestly flawed".

Amnesty International India and the People's Union for Civil Liberties
(Tamil Nadu & Puducherry) have issued the study, Lethal Lottery: The Death
Penalty in India, A study of Supreme Court judgments in death penalty
cases 1950-2006.

The first major study into India's legal judgements on death penalty
cases, it reveals that the system is riddled with fatal flaws and that the
only remedy is to abolish the death penalty completely. The Anti-Death
Penalty Asia Network, a regional coalition of abolitionist organisations
and activists, wil be using the report to campaign for a moratorium and
ultimately for the abolition of the death penalty in India in the coming
months.

Errors and arbitrariness

The study of the courts highlights some of the main failings as:

Errors in consideration of evidence - most death sentences handed down in
India are based on circumstantial evidence alone. In a 1994 Supreme Court
appeal, the Court noted sarcastically that the main witness's memory
constantly improved. His testimony at the trial three years after the
incident was observed to be far more detailed than his confessional
statement recorded a few days after. Inadequate legal representation -
concerns included lawyers ignoring key facts of mental incompetence,
omitting to provide any arguments on sentencing, or failing to investigate
the age of possible child offenders. Poorer defendants were found to have
particularly inadequate legal representation.

Anti-terrorist legislation - concerns include the broad definition of
'terrorist acts', insufficient safeguards on arrest, and provisions
allowing for confessions made to police to be admissible as evidence.

Arbitrariness in sentencing - in the same month, different benches of the
Supreme Court have treated similar cases differently, with mitigating
factors taken into account or disregarded arbitrarily. Death penalty not
confined to the "rarest of rare" cases

In the Bachan Singh judgment of 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the
death penalty should be used only in the "rarest of rare" cases. More than
a quarter of a century later, the report concludes that the courts and the
State authorities have failed to apply consistently the procedures laid
down by law and by that judgment.

9 capital offences exist in India's penal code, and at least 14 other
'special' or 'local' laws also provide for the death penalty in India
including for terrorism and drug offences.

The last execution in India took place in 2004. Secrecy surrounds the
country's death penalty statistics, but Amnesty International believes
that at least 140 people were sentenced to death in India in 2006 and
2007.

(source: World Coalition)






SIERRA LEONE:

Death Penalty Must Remain,"- Dr. Nahim of Sierrra Leone


Sierra Leone's only psychiatrist, Dr. Edward Nahim has disclosed that a
premature abolition of the death penalty in the country could increase
crime rates, especially murder.

Dr. Nahim said that once that is done, people will commit murder with
intent and impunity. He cited an incident where a young man who threatened
to teach his girl friend a lesson intentionally ended up chopping off the
girl's head after taking drugs. According to the psychiatrist, the young
man in question was psychologically alright before taking the drugs. Such
people he said are guilty of committing murder. He said the high level of
drug abuse has given rise to violent clashes which have the potential to
plunge the country into another chaos.

He disclosed that out of every ten people in Sierra Loene, one needs
psychiatric attention. These he said include direct victims of torture
during the war and the perpetrators themselves. The reason for this he
went on is that these set of people have experienced mental disorder
through depression, frustration, terror and trauma. He however lamented
that traditional beliefs in Africa and the Caribbean, irrespective of
their level of education naively attribute psychological problems to
witchcraft, fetish and other evils. "This is responsible for the refusal
of most of psychological patients to seek scientific treatment as most of
them prefer to diagnose their illnesses using traditional methods," he
stated.

Dr. Nahim also disclosed that formerly the mental home at Kissy, which is
over a century old used to be the main referral center for most countries
in sub-Saharan Africa, including the Gambia and Nigeria. He noted however,
that demand for the Home doubles every 25 years, and that the need has now
outweighed its facilities.

(source: Awareness Times Newspaper)