[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 11



JAPAN:

Amnesty asked to stop executions in Japan


Amnesty International deeply regrets the hanging of 4 men -- Akinaga
Kaoru, 61, Nakamoto Masayoshi, 64, Nakamura Masahura, 61 and Sakamoto
Masahito, 41 -- in Japan today, Thursday 10 April.

These executions bring to 7 the number of executions announced in Japan in
2008. "We are extremely concerned about the increased number of
executions. We call on the Japanese government to adopt an immediate
moratorium on executions in accordance with last year''s UN resolution,"
said Amnesty International.

The executions have taken place despite the UN General Assembly's adoption
in December 2007 of resolution calling upon all member states to uphold a
moratorium on executions as a 1st step towards abolishing the death
penalty. The resolution (62/149) was passed by a large majority: 104 votes
to 54.

Executions in Japan are typically held in secret. Until December 2007 the
Ministry of Justice did not disclose the names of those executed or
details of their offence. Prisoners are still only informed hours before
their executions and these are carried out without prior notice to their
families.

Under the Minister of Justice Hatoyama Kunio, there have been 10
executions in less than 6 months. He announced publicly in September 2007
that he was considering scrapping the rule under the Criminal Procedure
Code requiring the signature of the Minister of Justice for executions.
This will allow for death row inmates to be automatically executed within
6 months of the end of their appeals process.

In 2006 only 25 countries carried out executions. Among G8 members Japan
is now the only country with a fully operational death penalty system: the
US Supreme Court has suspended all executions until it rules on the use of
lethal injections.

(source: MyNews.in)






GLOBAL:

More Death Sentences in Algeria, Syria, Pakistan, a Reprieve in Vietnam


The resort to the ultimate sanction against drug offenders continues this
month, with courts in Algeria, Syria and Pakistan handing down death
sentences. But yielding to pressure from the West, the Vietnamese
government commuted the death sentence of a British citizen.

In Syria, the anti-death penalty watchdog Hands Off Cain reported, a court
sentenced four Syrian nationals, 2 Turks, and one Lebanese to death April
1 for drug trafficking. 2 of the Syrians were arrested in Homs with 5
kilos of heroin and one of cocaine. The 2 Turks were convicted of selling
prescription pain relievers to the 2 other Syrians, who in turn were to
sell them to the Lebanese man.

Also according to Hands Off Cain, the Criminal Court in Algeria's southern
Ghardaia province Tuesday sentenced 3 men to death for trafficking about
1,300 pounds of marijuana. While the 3 said they were only couriers who
had been hired by another person, the judge said he did not believe them.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Daily Times reported District and Sessions Judge
Iqbal Malik sentenced Awal Khan to death for possessing about 90 pounds of
marijuana. To add insult to injury, the judge also sentenced him to pay a
5 million rupee fine. If he fails to pay the fine, he will have to do 6
months in jail (presumably before he is executed).

There is one bit of good news on the death penalty front this week. Again
according to Hands Off Cain, Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet
commuted the death sentence of Vietnamese-born British citizen Le Manh
Luoung for heroin trafficking to life imprisonment. That announcement came
from the British Embassy on April 4. Luong and 3 other Vietnamese
defendants were sentenced to death in 2006 for trafficking 750 pounds of
heroin. Lacking powerful Western governments to argue on their behalf,
Luoung's accomplices have not been so fortunate. Their death sentences
remain pending.

(source: Stop the Drug War)