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

[Rick Halperin]

May 30


UAE:

'Good Samaritan' inmate saves death row mates


An Emirati who saved an Indian and Sri Lankan from death row said he was
just responding to the friendship he shared with the 2 men during his
short time in Al Ain jail.

"They taught me the Quran and religious matters in which I was very weak,"
said Khadim M. Al Daheri, 42, who coordinated efforts to secure a pardon
from the family of the victim who was murdered. Court sentenced the 2 men
to death in 1998 for the victim's murder.

Al Daheri also asked another Emirati to contribute to the blood money
[diya], in order to secure the pardon from relatives of the victim, who
are from Kerala in South India. Saeed Mohammad Al Ameri, a prominent
Emirati in Al Ain donated Dh300,000, said Al Daheri.

"I am planning to take the 2 men for Umrah next month. I have never met
such good people," he said, speaking about Abdul Rahim Mohammad Farouq,
43, a Sri Lankan and Radwad Naeem Al Deen, 37, an Indian, who spent about
10 years in jail.

"Man becomes an animal when he is angry and things happen," he said. The 2
men have been convicted of stabbing their roommate to death over a fight
about which movie to watch.

Al Daheri said he went to jail in 2001 on an economic offence. "I was held
accountable for certain financial irregularities committed by a group of
Arab nationals who ran an agricultural company under my sponsorship and
fled the country," he claimed.

He said they became good friends and when he was released in 2005, he
assured them he would do whatever he could to save them from the death
sentence.

"I knew it was not easy as their families had already travelled to Kerala
several times to secure the pardon from the victim's family but with
little success," he said.

His efforts gained momentum when a businessman from Kerala who frequently
travelled to the UAE came forward to offer his help.

"He played a crucial role in convincing the family of the victim to grant
the pardon," said Al Daheri.

Al Daheri also received help from a number of senior UAE officials
including Abdullah Al Shehi, Ex-Manager of Al Ain prison and the Sri
Lankan and Indian embassies.

(source: Sri Lanka Daily Times)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Turk Receives Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia


A Turkish-born barber, living and working in Saudi Arabia, was recently
convicted for the 'crime' of apostasy and has been sentenced to death. The
man, Sabri Bogday, had a quarrel with a person from Egypt and a Saudi
during which he seemingly cursed the name of God. This is of course
unacceptable in Saudi Arabia and as a result, the judges of that country
have decided that Bogday deserves to die.

With this case its important to act fast; on May 1, the Appeals Court
confirmed the verdict of a lower court.

Bogday isnt the only person in trouble in Saudi Arabia; a blogger is in
trouble as well. 'On May 5, the prosecution service in Jeddah charged
Ra'if Badawi with "setting up an electronic site that insults Islam," and
referred the case to court, asking for a 5-year prison sentence and a 3
million riyal (US$800,000) fine. Unknown persons have hacked Badawis
website multiple times, and have published his phone numbers, work
address, and a threat on the hacked site: "Oh you retard, you are in the
land of Muhammad, peace be upon him. Underline 'Muhammad' with a thousand
lines before a thousand swords are put above your neck!" Prosecutors have
not investigated the hackers or the death threats against Badawi."

Luckily for him, however, he escaped from Saudi Arabia.

You can read more about it here at Human Rights Watch. As Peter Slutsky
points out HRW is the only organization currently trying to help these two
individuals. Thats why Slutsky decided to post about it at the Huffington
Post; he hopes that writing about it will help get the two out of jail.
The more people know about these cases, the more likely it is that the
Saudi government will receive angry letters, negative attention and
political pressure. The same goes, of course, for the Turkish government
(which should do everything in its power to help Bogday).

If you are Turk, or from Turkish origin, please send an e-mail to the
Turkish government, the AK Parti leadership (awesome site in English), the
MHP leadership and the CHP leadership. If you don't live in Turkey please
also send an e-mail to the Turkish embassy in which you live. And lets not
forget Turkish newspapers like Todays Zaman and Turkish Daily News (plus
the Turkish language Turkish newspapers).

If you are not a Turk, please do the same (they can all read English) and
also send an e-mail to your own government.

(source: PoliGazette)






THAILAND:

High court upholds death penalty for 3


The Punjab and Haryana high court Friday upheld a sessions court judgement
sentencing 3 people, including a young woman, to death for kidnapping and
murdering a 16-year-old schoolboy in Hoshiarpur town of Punjab in 2005. A
division bench of the high court ruled that the death penalty for the 3
accused, who had killed the boy, Abhi Verma, in cold blood after
kidnapping him on way to school Feb 14, 2005, fell in the rarest of rare
cases.

All the 3 people were earlier sentenced to death by the district and
sessions court in Hoshiarpur town, 140 km from here, for murdering Verma.

Handing down the death sentence in Dec 2006 to the 3 accused - Vikram
Walia, Jasbir Singh and his wife Sonia, district and sessions judge G.K.
Rai observed that the 3 had premeditated the kidnapping and murder of the
innocent boy.

They were held guilty of kidnapping and murdering Verma while he was in
their custody. Verma was kidnapped in a car while on way to his school.

The kidnapping was masterminded by Vikram, who knew the boy's family
closely. The boy died in their custody after they injected an overdose of
tranquilizer.

The sensational incident had shocked Hoshiarpur town and resulted in
violence there.

Verma's kidnappers demanded a ransom of Rs.5 million from his family and
even as negotiations were on, his naked body was dumped near Adampur town,
20 km from here.

The mastermind, Vikram, even met Abhi's businessman father after the
kidnapping to know what was happening in the boy's home.

Even though his kidnappers knew that he was already dead, they continued
to seek the ransom from his family.

Vikram, Jasbir and Sonia had planned the kidnapping to become rich with
the ransom money. However, things went out of their hands after the
tranquilizer shot administered to the boy became fatal.

They had tried to drug him as he knew Vikram and would have identified him
when released after the ransom had been paid by his family.

The police was able to track down Vermas killers within days of his
murder.

(source: IANS)




KUWAIT:

Kuwaiti emir may commute Filipinas death sentence


The emir of Kuwait might commute the death sentence of Filipino maid May
Vecina to life imprisonment following the intercession of monarchs from
friendly countries.

Vice President Noli de Castro, presidential adviser on Overseas Filipino
Workers (OFWs), said this Thursday as he expressed optimism about the
possible escape of Vecina from execution.

According to De Castro, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo relayed this
possibility after the latter was informed by Spain's foreign minister
about the possible commutation of Vecina's sentence.

De Castro said the Philippines had sought the help of Spain, particularly
King Juan Carlos, as well as that of the ruler of Bahrain to intercede for
Vecina. He said these 2 monarchs are close friends of Kuwait Emir Sheikh
Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah.

De Castro said Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Eric Endaya relayed the
same news to him.

Early this month, De Castro went to Kuwait to personally appeal for the
commutation of Vecina's sentence when he handed the government's letter of
condolences on the death of the emirs father, Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah
Al-Selam Al-Sabah.

Another letter contained President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's appeal for
forgiveness and the commutation of Vecinas death sentence, the Department
of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.

The Vice President said the emir promised to give the Philippine
governments appeal for Vecina his "very serious consideration."

De Castro acknowledged that there was still no official announcement from
Kuwait on the commutation of Vecina's sentence. However, the Vice
President said he was confident that what was relayed to Romulo by the
Spanish foreign minister was one positive news to look forward to.

(source: Asian Journal)






ENGLAND:

'Bring back the death penalty for knife crime'


Roger Gale A Kent MP has called for a return to the death penalty in order
to deal with knife crime.

Roger Gale, the Tory MP for North Thanet, said that bringing back capital
punishment for murder was the only way to deter people from carrying
knives, short of banning all tools and kitchen utensils that could cause
harm.

Mr Gale said: "Either ban hammers and screwdrivers and other carpenters'
tools or bring back capital punishment as the maximum available sentence
for murder.

"Are we seriously suggesting that Sabatier chef's knives should be banned?

"At home I have an oyster knife with a blade scarcely more than an inch
long. It is potentially lethal. My wife Suzy and I also have a full range
of kitchen cutlery and most of the knives have sharp points. Are we
seriously suggesting that the fundamental implements of Western culinary
art should be banned?

"Because if so then a panoply of carpenters and plumbers 'weapons', for
example, such as hammers and screwdrivers, will have to be taken out of
circulation.

"I would suggest that the much more basic but practical response to the
growth in armed crime is the re-introduction of capital punishment for
murder."

Mr Gale insisted that he is not in favour of a return to hanging.

He added: "I appreciate that a re-introduction would mean the repeal of
the Human Rights Act but I have no problem with that whatsoever.

"Parliament must act in the interests of the UK and its people and not,
necessarily, in compliance with European legislation."

(source: Kent News)






CANADA:

Death penalty: the only solution


I was struck by the image on your front page on Sunday of Nancy Michaud's
son weeping at the funeral of his murdered mother. The anguish on his face
left me in tears. The only way to prevent this type of tragedy in the
future is to support capital punishment for all murderers of mothers,
children and other innocents.

When will a political party take a stand on this issue? After seeing the
face of a child who has just lost his mother to a murderer, I 'd support
capital punishment in a heartbeat.

Paul Nagy, Sr.----Ville St. Laurent

(source: Letter to the Editor, Montreal Gazette)




INDIA:

A Matter of Life and Death


It's a question of life and death for Nitish Katara murder convicts  Vikas
Yadav and Vishal Yadav. Their fate hangs in balance as they await order on
sentence from a city court that will on Friday decide whether to give them
life imprisonment or send them to the gallows.

Generally courts award life imprisonment to convicts in a murder case.
However, in "rarest of rare" cases, murder convicts are given death
penalty.

Death sentence is imposed on the convict only when the court comes to the
conclusion that life imprisonment is inadequate having regard to the facts
and circumstances of the case.

The court has to give special reasons for sentencing a convict to death.
Capital punishment can be inflicted only in gravest cases of extreme
culpability and in making choice of the sentence the condition of the
convict is also to be taken into account.<>P> What is "rarest of rare?

There is no statutory definition of rarest of rare. It depends upon facts
and circumstances of a particular case, brutality of the crime, conduct of
the offender, previous history of his involvement in crime, chances of
reforming and integrating him into the society etc.

What is the test for "rarest of rare"?

The generally applied test while sentencing a convict to death is whether
the survival of an orderly society demands extinction of life of the
person, who has committed the murder and whether failure to impose death
sentence on him would bring to naught the sentence of death provided under
Section 302 of IPC.

Pre-planned, heart-less, brutal, cold-blooded and sordid nature of the
crime, without giving any chance to the victim are generally taken into
account to decide whether a particular case falls within the parameters of
"rarest of rare".

What does the Supreme Court say?

"Death penalty should be imposed when collective conscience of the society
is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power centre
to inflict death penalty irrespective of their personal opinion as regards
desirability of otherwise of retaining death penalty," said the Supreme
Court in Bachchan Singh Vs. State of Punjab.

The Crime has to be viewed from various angles  manner of commission of
murder, motive for commission of murder, anti-social or socially abhorrent
nature of crime and magnitude and personality of victim of murder.

(source: Hindustan Times)