[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 8



SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi Arabia beheads Pakistani for murdering compatriot


A Pakistani man was beheaded by the sword after he was convicted of
murdering a compatriot in Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry said.

Mohammed Faruq Fadl was found guilty of beating Mohammed Afdal Wali
Mohammed to death and dumping his body in a mountainous area, a ministry
statement carried by the official SPA news agency said.

The execution, in the southern Assyr region, is the 38th announced by
Saudi Arabia this year.

Last year, a record 153 people were executed in the Gulf kingdom, which
applies a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law. This figure compared
with 37 beheaded in 2006, and the previous record number of 113 executions
in 2000.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry
the death penalty in the ultra-conservative country, where executions are
usually carried out in public.

(source: Agence France Presse)






ALGERIA:

Death penalty against 3 narcotic traffickers


The 3 defendants involved in the 6 hundredweights cannabis trafficking
have been deeply shocked by the death penalty decision issued by the
Criminal Court in Ghardaia southern province, as they have been charged
with prohibited products smuggling, affecting the public health, and
forming a criminal conspiracy.

The juries at the Criminal Court in Ghardaia yesterday have agreed of
founding guilty the 3 defendants involved in the 625kg of cannabis.

The court has responded to the General Prosecutor, who required maximum
punishment against the drug traffickers, while ignoring defence plead.

The 3 defendants have agreed that the drug quantity was owned by an
unknown person named Salek, who has recruited them for transporting the
drug from Bechar to Ourgla, in exchange of 2 m AD.

The defendants have been arrested in October 2004, on board of a car
carrying 625kg of cannabis. The defendants failed persuading the court,
while the judge said the unknown person named Salek is likely a fictive
person.

(source: El Khabar)






QATAR:

Court sentences man to death in absentia for drug smuggling


A criminal court has sentenced in absentia an Asian to death for smuggling
into the country large quantities of hashish. The court said in its
verdict the convict has to face the firing squad.

The Anti-Drug Enforcement Directorate had laid a trap in September last
year following a tip-off that a huge consignment of narcotics was expected
to land on the shores of the country in the wee hours one morning for
peddling.

The Directorate sought permission from the Public Prosecution to launch
the operation as per the law of the land.

The Directorate, using its expertise in combating the nefarious trade,
first set up a team of sleuths to make sure the information was authentic.

Once it was confirmed that the consignment was indeed on its way, a task
force of select sleuths from the Directorate as well as the Coast Guard,
according to a local Arabic daily, was set up to foil the smuggling bid
and catch the culprits red-handed.

A trap was laid around the area on the coast where the drug was supposed
to be delivered. Obviously, the drug traffickers were to use the sea route
to make the delivery.

The convict, who later managed to run away (he was the one convicted in
absentia), called the man on the phone who was to take the delivery saying
that the consignment will be buried in the dunes on a particular spot
onshore.

He, however, changed his mind a little later and called his contact again,
saying the consignment was instead to be left at the appointed spot at
3am.

Officials of the Coast Guard, who were already on an alert having laid a
trap, saw four men suddenly emerge near the place which was identified to
them earlier, at around 3am. They were carrying boxes on their backs.

The foursome stopped, looked around and then put the boxes at a spot and
just as they were to return, the Coast Guard personnel managed to pound on
them and nab them. In the process, though, 1 of the 4 culprits managed to
escape.

The officials opened the boxes for inspection a little later and
discovered to their shock that they together contained some 160 kg of
hashish. The consignment was brought into the country for peddling.

The suspects were questioned and the matter was referred to the court,
which announced its verdict recently.

(source: The Peninsula)