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

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 1



IRAQ:

A Saddam lawyer says death sentence would 'open the gates of hell' in Iraq


If Saddam Hussein is condemned to death when the verdict in his first
trial is handed down next week, it would "open the gates of hell" to U.S.
forces in Iraq, a lawyer for the deposed president said Wednesday.

Bushra al-Khalil, a Lebanese lawyer who was thrown out of Saddam's trial
in May, also accused U.S. President George W. Bush of exploiting Saddam's
expected death sentence for "electoral purposes."

On Sunday, 2 days before the U.S. Congressional elections, judges in a
Baghdad court are scheduled to deliver their verdict and sentence on
Saddam and 7 others, who have pleaded innocent to charges of crimes
against humanity for the killing of 148 Muslim Shiites from the northern
Iraqi town of Dujail. The inhabitants were shot after an attempt to
assassinate Saddam as he passed through the town in 1982.

If convicted, Saddam could be condemned to death by hanging, but he will
have the right to appeal.

"A death sentence against Saddam Hussein will have grave consequences,"
al-Khalil told reporters. "It will lead to a major security flare-up in
Iraq and to stepped up attacks on the U.S. Army."

Al-Khalil is no longer recognized by the Iraqi High Tribunal in Baghdad,
but she remains a member of the former president's legal team.

Addressing the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, she said: "I
tell Khalilzad that any death sentence against Saddam will open the gates
of hell to the U.S. army in Iraq."

Al-Khalil, who said she met Saddam and other defendants on a visit to
Baghdad last month, said Bush and the Republican Party had taken note of
the high prominence that Iraq was receiving in surveys of voter concerns
in the Congressional elections.

"President Bush and the Republican Party believe that a death sentence
will serve the interest of their candidates," she said.

Ambassador Khalilzad has rejected suggestions that the verdict has been
timed to influence the midterm elections.

A death sentence could potentially help the Republicans by reminding
American voters of Saddam's crimes.

(source: Associated Press)






CHINA:

China pulls back on death penalty----High court to review all capital
sentences


Responding to domestic and international criticism of its extensive use of
capital punishment, China adopted new rules Tuesday requiring review of
all death sentences by the Supreme People's Court, state news media
reported.

The amendment, which takes effect Jan. 1, restores a power that was
stripped from the Supreme Court in 1983 and given to provincial courts as
part of a major crackdown on crime. The authorities are facing mounting
criticism from human-rights groups and Chinese legal scholars for what
they say is the widespread and arbitrary use of capital punishment.

China executes more people every year than all other nations combined, by
some Chinese estimates, up to 10,000 annually. Chinese courts have been
embarrassed in recent years by a number of executions of people later
proved innocent.

The legislature, the National People's Congress, approved the amendment,
the official New China news agency reported.

The state news media have estimated that executions could drop by as much
as 30 % under the new system, though they have not said how they arrived
at that figure.

Human-rights groups welcomed the change, saying it was likely to lead to
fewer executions, but they urged further action. "This is a positive step,
but it falls well short of what is needed," said Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong
Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Chinese political leaders strongly defend capital punishment as an
essential tool to fight crime and preserve social order in a country of
1.3 billion people. The authorities also argue the death penalty is an
important deterrent to official corruption, which has emerged as a major
threat to the reputation of the governing Communist Party.

China does not disclose the number of executions it carries out under the
criminal code, where almost 70 offenses carry the death penalty.

(source: New York Times)

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

Temple killer appeals against death penalty


A northwest China farmer who was sentenced to death for killing 10 people
in a Taoist temple made an 11th hour appeal Tuesday, a day before the
court ruling was to take effect.

Qiu Xinghua, 47, said he went on his killing spree because he fell into a
rage when he saw Xiong Wancheng, the abbot in the remote mountain temple,
flirt with his wife.

"I lost control. The only way to vent my fury was to kill," he said in the
appeal, which was passed on to the Intermediate People's Court in Ankang,
a city in Shaanxi Province, Tuesday.

The court sentenced him to death at the 1st trial on October 19 and also
fined him 5,000 yuan (625 U.S. dollars). The ruling was given to him on
October 21 and was to take effect in 10 days.

Qiu maintains that he is a victim too. "Who should compensate me for my
trauma? My self-esteem should also be protected and the abbot and my wife
should be punished too."

He is in custody in Hanyin County. The wardens said he has occasional
tantrums but eats and sleeps well.

Qiu hacked to death the temple abbot, five staff and four pilgrims on July
14. He cut out the abbot's eyes, heart and lungs and fried them in a wok
and used the victims' blood to write "Deserved to die" on the temple wall.

He killed another person during a robbery when he fled to neighboring
Hubei province.

Qiu was caught in August when he tried to return home, after hundreds of
police had pursued him for weeks.

(source: Xinhua News)