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

[Rick Halperin]

July 4


IRAN:

Death sentence sought for 22 people in Khuzistan


The semi-official daily Jomhouri Islami quoted on July 4 the Prosecutor
General of the southwestern city of Ahwaz, Iraj Amirkhani, as saying, "The
maxim [death] sentence has been sought for 22 people indicted in the Ahwaz
bombings."

Simultaneous death sentences for 22 people are an indication of the
province's volatile state and the medieval regime's ever-increasing
weakness in confronting the popular discontent in the forms of
demonstrations and uprisings which have come about as a result of severe
poverty and extreme suppression by the regime in the past few months.

Confronted by a wave of increasing popular discontent, the mullahs' regime
has dispatched groups of suppressive forces to Khuzistan Province, in
particular targeting the city of Ahwaz to suppress the uprisings.

The Iranian Resistance condemns the suppression of the people of Khuzestan
and urges international human rights organizations to take urgent steps to
prevent the execution of the innocent people of Khuzistan Province.

(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)






UGANDA:

Ugandan Parliament Considers Death Penalty for Knowingly Infecting Minors
with HIV


In Uganda, parliament is considering a bill that could impose the death
penalty for people living with HIV/AIDS who knowingly infect those under
the age of 18.

Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye is a member of the Ugandan parliamentary committee
on HIV/Aids. From Kampala, he spoke to VOA English to Africa reporter Joe
De Capua about the bill.

"Its major purpose is to amend the previous act, which was giving a life
sentence to all those who had sexual contact with minorsthe previous act
was sentencing them to life imprisonment. But it was considered that we
should be able to categorize the different categories of defilers. And we
came out with a new term called aggravated defilement.

Now aggravated defilement carries a death penalty if parliament approves
it and this will be given to those people who have sexual intercourse with
children below the age of 18. And if those people already know they are
HIV positive and you go on to have sex with somebody below the age of 18
and you are proved in court to have been in the know of your (HIV)
statusthen you would be liable upon conviction to death," he says.

The bill still must be debated and the issue of the death penalty itself
is expected to play a role. Some have called for its abolishment.

(source: Voice of America News)






VIETNAM:

Death penalty for 8 drug traffickers


The Judges' Council of the People's Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City in a
2-day court of appeal rejected on July 3 an appeal of defendant Tran Xuan
Ha and maintained the death sentence which had been handed down by the
court of first instance on him for his drug trafficking charge.

In addition, the Judges' Council also rejected the appeal for reduction of
the penalties for another 14 defedants and agreed with Ho Chi Minh City
People's Procuracy to put harsher sentence on defendant Tran Thi Anh Tram.
Accordingly, defendants Tran Xuan Ha, Le Thi Thu Van, Tran Huy Cong, Tran
Xuan Bao, Hoang Trong Hung, Tran Van Than, Le Quang Dung Lam and Tran Thi
Hieu still faced death penalty.

According to the Judges' Council, from December 2003 to January 2004,
defendants Tran Xuan Ha, Hoang Trong Hung and Tran Van Than had seven
times transported 152 cakes of heroine to places in Binh Duong province,
Binh Phuoc and Tan Binh industrial zone in Ho Chi Minh City and hid in a
house number 15/7/12 Tran Binh Trong road, Binh Thanh and then sold them
to other drug traffickers in the city. On April 22, Ha was caught
red-handed while carrying drug for sale. Searching his house, police also
found 44 cakes of heroine weighed 14.929 kilogrames.

The Judges' Council said that Tran Xuan Ha and other accomplices had
committed drug trafficking with a great deal of quantity.

(source: Nhan Dan)






INDONESIA:

Indonesia refuses EU request on cancellation of death penalty


Indonesia refused on Tuesday the demand of the ambassadors of the European
Union (EU) countries to revoke the country's death penalty.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin made the statement
after meeting with the Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, a counselor
delegation of the European Union and the ambassadors of Finland and
Germany at the vice presidential office. As "they asked us to delete the
death penalty, Indonesia still had the law, which was inherited from the
Dutch colonial rule and event in the country's view of criminal law, death
penalty should still exist," the minister said, adding "the vice president
and I explained our position... and Indonesia's criminal law still has a
cause of it (death penalty)."

Awaluddin said that in the new draft, "the death penalty is still
stipulated, which sparks pro and contra."

Indonesia has executed 71 people up to now and prepares to conduct the
death penalty on tens of others, including 3 bombers whom played leading
roles in the Bali bombings in 2002, which killed 202 people.

Indonesian has been imposing death penalty on the cases of terrorism, drug
trafficking and planned assassination.

(source: Xinhua)

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

Bali bombers to appeal death row sentences


At least 2 of 3 bombers on death row for the deadly 2002 Bali nightclub
attacks will lodge a final appeal against their sentences, their lawyers
said.

Lawyers for 2 key bombers, Amrozi and Imam Samudra, said they would file a
judicial review with the Supreme Court by the end of the month because
judges misapplied newly written terror laws.

'We are going to appeal for judicial review because of mistakes in
application and new evidence,' Wirawan Adnan, the lawyer for Amrozi, told
Agence France-Presse.

The lawyer for Imam Samudra, said he would also appeal for a judicial
review based on a constititional court ruling which said the terrorism
laws could not be used retroactively.

'We will appeal, based on the constitutional ruling,' Qadhar Faisal said,
adding he would file the appeal within a week.

News of Amrozi's appeal comes a day after the attorney generals office
said it was preparing to execute the three bombers on the prison island of
Nusakambangan and not on Bali, where they were sentenced.

The attorney general's office said, however, it was waiting to hear
whether the three militants would file a final appeal, before ordering the
executions.

The 2002 Bali bombings killed 202 people, mostly Western holidaymakers.

Wirawan said his client should not have been tried under the terror laws,
which were passed after the bombings.

A judicial review may be granted if lawyers present evidence, if a law has
been wrongly applied, or if judges handed down different punishments for
the same crime, said Wirawan.

(source: XFN News)