[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 11



IRAQ:

Hussein Lawyers Skip Out on Court


Key attorneys mounting the defense of Saddam Hussein and his 7
co-defendants refused to appear in court Monday for closing arguments,
setting the stage for more chaos in what has already been a tumultuous
trial.

Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel Rahman named court-appointed lawyers to
represent the defendants in the absence of their attorneys.

Abdel Rahman also barred Hussein and other defendants from entering the
courtroom as a group, insisting that each defendant come alone before the
magistrate "in order to make sure that the trial will go on in a quiet and
orderly way" while the other accused watch the proceedings on television.

Hussein and several codefendants face possible death sentences for charges
stemming from the alleged 1982 slayings of 148 Shiites from the village of
Dujayl after a failed assassination attempt against the then-president.
Final defense arguments began Monday with statements in support of 2 minor
defendants whose lawyers attended the session.

Monday's courtroom scene amounted to defendants Ali Dayih Ali and Mohammed
Ali Azzawi, each only with their lawyers in court, making lengthy pleas
for acquittal on charges of crimes against humanity.

But most of the lawyers for the heavy-hitters, including Hussein, his half
brother Barzan Ibrahim Hasan and former Vice President Taha Yassin
Ramadan, stayed not only out of the courtroom but away from Iraq as the
final defense arguments began in the first criminal case regarding the
alleged crimes of Hussein's administration.

With 3 defense attorneys already shot to death, including last month
Hussein's No. 2 lawyer, Khamis Ubaidi, the lawyers argue that the country
is too dangerous for the trial.

"After Khamis Ubaidi was killed I became afraid," said Amin Adib, an
Egyptian lawyer on the defense team, in a phone conversation from his
Cairo home. "I have 3 kids and a wife. Not only my wife but my whole
family insists that I not go to Baghdad."

But attorneys representing Hussein and Hasan said they refused to attend
because the trial was stacked against them.

"We are asserting our defendants' rights," said Najib Nuaimi, a former
Qatari justice minister.

"The court doesn't respect international law," he said in a phone
conversation from the U.S., where he is visiting. "They don't respect
international standards. They are arresting our witnesses. They've
inhibited our ability to operate a defense."

Court officials took their own swipe at the boycotting defense attorneys,
urging them to act in the best interests of their clients. The officials
said they had offered defense attorneys the same protection provided to
prosecutors and judges, who live and work largely in Baghdad's
U.S.-protected Green Zone.

"The most important duty of the lawyer is to provide legal counsel for his
clients," Raid Juhi, the Iraqi High Tribunal's chief investigative judge,
told reporters gathered in the courtroom. "And of course, the most
important duty is to attend the courthouse to do his job."

But the defense attorneys argue that entering the court's security bubble
abrogates their independence and compromises their integrity. They say
they're ready to defend their clients under better security conditions.

Proceedings are to resume today with 2 more minor defendants.

Monday's defendants played bit roles in the Dujayl incidents, according to
the prosecution. The prosecutor, in his closing arguments, had already
urged the judge to let Azzawi go free.

"I am a man of honor and well-raised, from a good origin, and it would not
suit me to do such acts," Azzawi said.

Dayih allegedly guided security forces through the town as they arrested
suspects.

His lawyer, who was unnamed for security reasons, said his client was the
son of Dujayl's mukhtar, or sheriff, who traditionally would escort state
officials as they conducted arrests and searches to ensure property was
not stolen or women harassed.

He rejected the notion that any of the allegations against his client
amounted to crimes against humanity.

(source: Los Angeles Times)






AUSTRALIA:

Press Asia to end death penalty: ALP


Labor has demanded Australia press regional nations to abolish the death
penalty, as 3 Bali bombers and two Australian drug smugglers sit on death
row in Asia.

Indonesia announced on Monday that the three Islamic terrorists
responsible for the October 2002 bombings which claimed 202 lives
including 88 Australians could go before a firing squad by the end of the
month.

Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Nicola Roxon said Tuesday marked the
15th anniversary of the United Nations Death Penalty Protocol coming into
force.

"Death by hanging, beheading, electrocution, firing squad, or stoning is
inhumane, no matter what the crime," she said.

"Australia needs to use its position internationally and in the region to
abolish the death penalty universally.

"In the last year, we have been sadly reminded of this by the hanging of
Van Nguyen in Singapore, the 1st Australian to be executed since Malaysia
hanged Michael McAuliffe in 1993," said Ms Roxon.

She called for Australia to advocate more strongly for the abolition of
the death penalty to regional neighbours and allies and to encourage their
ratification of the protocol which came into force under international law
on July 11, 1991.

The protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) prohibits ratifying nations practising or reintroducing capital
punishment.

So far, just 57 countries have signed and ratified this protocol,
including Australia.

Ms Roxon said at least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries last
year and at least 5,186 people were sentenced to death in 53 countries,
according to Amnesty International.

"Although Australia has ratified the Second Optional Protocol, it has not
yet been adopted into domestic law," she said.

"I would like to see bipartisan support for adoption of the Protocol, so
that its provisions would have binding force over the Commonwealth, States
and Territories into the future."

Bali bombers Imam Samudra, 36, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, 43, and Ali Ghufron,
alias Mukhlas, 46, were all convicted and sentenced to die for their role
in the October 2002 attack.

2 ringleaders of the Bali Nine heroin trafficking gang, Australians Andrew
Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were both sentenced to death.

Indonesia executed 2 murderers in 2005 and 3 foreign drug traffickers - 2
Thais and an Indian - in 2004.

(source: AAP)