[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 10



IRAN----executions

2 hanged amid debate about death penalty


2 men from the Iranian province of Baluchistan were hanged in Iran on
Thursday after being accused of links to an armed militant group.

The 2 men were arrested 4 months ago following a clash between the
followers of Abdolmalek Righi and security forces.

Righi leads a small group known as the Organisation of God's Soldiers for
Sunni Mujahedeen.

During the conflict 4 months ago, 2 members of the group were killed and
another 13 were arrested, including the 2 put to death on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a group of judges, lawyers and students from the law faculty at
the University of Tehran have held a conference on the enforcement of the
death penalty against minors.

Lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaii, principal speaker at the conference, said the
use of the death penalty against minors was " an illegal act" and accused
judges that used such sentences of "acting outside Iranian and
international laws".

"Often these adolescents are forced to admit crimes they did not commit,
and then based on these admissions they are condemned to death," Mostafaii
said.

The lawyer referred to several cases that had attracted attention inside
Iran and internationally, like the young artist Delara Darabi or the young
homosexual, Makwan Moloudzadeh.

Mostafaii said Iran had signed all the international conventions on the
rights of minors and children in which the death penalty for anyone under
the age of 18 is declared completely illegal.

Since the beginning of the year, 54 people have been put to death in Iran.
According to Amnesty International, 298 people were condemned to death in
2007.

(source: AKI News)






JAPAN----executions

Japan executes four inmates, including poet


Japan on Thursday hanged four convicted murderers, including one who wrote
remorseful poetry about his crimes, as the country steps up the pace of
executions, officials said.

Japan is the only major industrial country other than the United States to
use the death penalty, which enjoys wide public support in a nation known
for its low crime rate.

The justice ministry executed 4 convicted murderers aged 41 to 64 in
different places in Japan, a justice ministry official said.

Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama has now signed off on 10 executions since
taking over last year, marking the fastest pace since Japan ended a
three-year hiatus in the death penalty in 1993.

"I ordered the executions in line with the law to fulfil my
responsibilities as justice minister," Hatoyama told reporters.

"I didn't pay any attention to the number of executions nor to the pace of
executions," he said, adding that he personally reviewed the records of
the inmates before agreeing to execute them.

One of the executed inmates, Kaoru Okashita, 61, was convicted of killing
2 people nearly 20 years ago including an 82-year-old woman with whom he
had a property dispute.

Okashita, who also went by the surname Akinaga, later wrote traditional
tanka poetry from death row in which he expressed remorse over his crimes
and reflected on life waiting to die.

Keiko Mitsumoto, 62, the head of a tanka club who edited and published
Okashita's poetry, said she had just sent him back his latest proof-read
verse a few days ago.

"He once told me he hoped to live until next year when our group's tanka
anthology is published. But his wish wasn't realised," she told AFP, her
voice breaking with emotion.

She said that Okashita each month sent her 10 tanka poems -- an ancient
form of Japanese verse with 31 syllables.

"His poetry was very, very gentle and even offered solace and
encouragement to me. I could hardly believe he would commit murder," she
said.

"He said he feared the day would suddenly come when the footsteps of a
guard would stop in front of his cell to announce his execution," she
recalled.

"He seemed prepared for that, though, along with not meeting those close
to him for a final farewell."

Controversially, Japan tells inmates of their executions only shortly
before they are taken to the gallows in a bid to prevent last-minute
appeals. Until December, the government did not publicly state who was
hanged.

"It is unforgivable that the executions were again conducted secretly,"
said Makoto Teranaka, an official at the Japanese branch of rights group
Amnesty International, which opposes the death penalty.

"Observing the current pace of executions, we can't help but predict a
huge number of executions this year, which goes totally against the world
trend of abolishing capital punishment and is a shame on Japan," Teranaka
said.

Amnesty said that 2 of the executed inmates including Okashita had been
acquitted in early trials before the verdicts were overturned.

Another inmate continued to insist he was innocent, while Amnesty said
that the fourth may have been mentally unfit.

The other executed inmates were:

-- Masahito Sakamoto, 41, who was convicted of raping and killing a
high-school girl

-- Katsuyoshi Nakamoto, 64, convicted of killing a jeweller and his wife
to steal the gems and cash

-- Masaharu Nakamura, 61, who was found to have killed two men by drugging
their drinks.

(source: Agence France Presse)

********************

Japan attacked over spiralling number of executions as it sends 4
murderers to the gallows


Japan hanged four murderers today in a marked acceleration of executions,
further fuelling international concern over the country's secretive
justice system.

The round of executions was the third since December, when the Japanese
justice ministry first started disclosing the identities of those hanged
and details of their crimes.

Japan, one of the few industrialised countries still using capital
punishment, has executed 10 criminals in the past four months under
justice minister Kunio Hatoyama, an outspoken supporter of the death
penalty.

In 2005, only 1 inmate was executed. Four people were executed in 2006 and
9 last year.

The latest hangings drew immediate condemnation from Amnesty
International.

"Today's executions were conducted about two months after the previous
ones," its Japanese group said in a statement.

"This shows that the ministry is aiming at accelerating the pace of
executions and executing inmates in large numbers."

Mr Hatoyama, who took office last August, denied his ministry was
deliberately accelerating the pace of hangings.

3 men were executed in December, and 3 more in February.

"I just carry out executions solemnly as justice minister in response to
what the law requires," Mr Hatoyama said today.

Human rights activists have long attacked Japan's criminal justice system,
saying it relies too heavily on confessions extracted in lengthy - and
allegedly abusive - interrogation sessions.

Those condemned to death can wait many years for execution, and hangmen
come to their cells to take them to the gallows without advance notice.

Families are only notified after the execution so they can collect the
bodies.

The criticism of secrecy in the justice system led the ministry to begin
announcing the names of the executed and details of their crimes for the
1st time late last year.

Before that the ministry would simply announce the number of people
executed after the sentences were carried out, without giving details.

Prior to 1998, the government would only announce the total number of
executions at the end of the year.

The men executed today were Katsuyoshi Nakamoto, 64, who killed a jeweller
couple in 1982; Masaharu Nakamura, 61, who killed one victim with an
overdose of sleeping pills and dismembered the body, as well as strangling
a work colleague; Masahito Sakamoto, 41, who killed and raped a high
school girl after taking her captive in 2002; and Kaoru Akinaga, 61, who
killed 2 people in 1989.

Japan now has 104 inmates on death row, according to the justice ministry.

(source: Daily Mail)






SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi beheads Pakistani for drug trafficking


A Pakistani convicted of drug trafficking was beheaded by the sword in the
Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry announced.

The ministry, quoted by the state news agency SPA, said Qol Iyaz Moazem
Khan was found guilty of smuggling in heroin concealed in his stomach. His
beheading will be the 39th execution announced in the conservative Muslim
kingdom this year.

In 2007, a record 153 people were executed in Saudi Arabia, which applies
a strict version of Islamic law.

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: Express India)






CHINA:

Should China host the Olympics this summer?


What's with the dousing of the Olympic flame and the surrounding
controversy over the worldwide torch relay? I was curious so I did a
little research. I have heard of the Tibetans' struggle against the
People's Republic of China, I've heard of the many human rights violations
committed by China, but I would like to bring to light some of the darker
issues that will make this a controversial summer Games.

China executes more of its citizens than any other country in the world.
You may think this isn't a big deal because they have the largest
population in the world, but estimates say China executes 10,000 people
per year, which would put them in the top 10 list of countries by
executions per capita. The actual number of executions by China is
considered a state secret. There are 68 crimes punishable by death in
China, including embezzlement and tax fraud.

China has been accused of organ harvesting on living prisoners. Members of
the Falun Gong religion (or cult, as the Chinese government would have you
believe) have claimed their members have been imprisoned and executed
after having organs harvested.

China has been accused of apartheid in Tibet, they have treated Tibetans
as a lesser class of people, imprisoned Tibetans at random, and during the
Great Leap Forward, it is estimated that 300,000 to 1.1 million Tibetans
lost their lives in riots, military occupations and internment camps.

In preparation for the upcoming Olympics, China has displaced nearly a
quarter of a million people. They have issued new laws that will remove
the homeless and the mentally ill from Beijing during the games. They will
arrest any protestors and anyone who distributes anti-government
information. They have instructed the police to not hang up the phone when
someone calls in to report a crime.

Some have compared the games this summer to the 1936 Olympics, where
Hitler used the games as propaganda for the Third Reich. It was then
decided by the IOC "to not let politics enter the world of sport." Looking
back, maybe we should have denied Hitler the opportunity to grandstand his
sick policies and beliefs. Should we learn a lesson from history? Should
we deny or boycott the upcoming games because they are being held by the
world's largest Communist country? Let us not forget how many Americans
have died to stop the advancement of Communism.

Has the international community looked beyond the horrors that plague
China just because they manufacture so much of the worthless plastic crap
we buy at Wal-Mart? Has money and economic power eclipsed the need for
freedom and human rights?

If you watch the Games this summer, don't forget the gentleman whose bags
were packed, coat in hand, as the tank ran him over in Tiananman square.
Don't forget that he was one of two to three thousand that died during
that protest.

I believe hosting the Olympics is a privilege, not something you earn with
economic and manufacturing power. Imprisoning and murdering your civilians
should not be rewarded with a world showcase of sport and peace.

Matt Capodice

(source: Letter to the Editor, Port Clinton (Ohio) News Herald)