[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

NOTE----my regular postings will resume on Sunday night, March 25




March 21


FRANCE/CHINA:

France backs extradition to China --- France is 1 of 3 EU countries to
sign an extradition text with China

France has signed an extradition treaty with China despite concerns
expressed by human rights groups over Beijing's use of the death penalty.

France's justice minister said a suspect would be extradited in cases
punishable by death only if China guaranteed they would not be executed.

Pascal Clement also said the treaty excluded offences judged to be
political or military.

France is the 3rd EU country after Spain and Portugal to sign such a pact.

"This treaty explicitly anticipates the rejection of extradition requests
based on offences viewed as political offences or military offences," said
Mr Clement at the signing ceremony.

A further guarantee was that the arrest warrants issued by a police
authority also had to be "validated by a judicial authority", he said.

Human rights groups have urged the French parliament - which must ratify
the treaty - to block its adoption because of what they say are continuing
serious human rights violations in China.

Amnesty International France said there was "no certainty that a Chinese
citizen extradited one day with the clearest guarantees will not be
sentenced to death at a later date on a different charge".

Outgoing French President Jacques Chirac, who made an official visit to
China in October aimed at strengthening economic ties, is a staunch
advocate of engagement with Beijing, correspondents say.

(source: BBC News)






IRAQ:

Iraqi says executions improving----Official, Hollywood actor regrets chaos
of country's earlier attempts


Basam Ridha Hussaini, 43 and Hollywood handsome, fled Iraq 25 years ago
after Saddam Hussein's secret police carted off 2 of his brothers, who
were never seen again. He settled in Los Angeles, became a building
inspector, then fell into acting, landing a job as the "Black Robe Leader"
in "Three Kings," starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube.

Now he's back in Iraq, playing a far different role: as the adviser who
oversees executions for Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

On Tuesday, Hussaini watched as Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's vice
president, was hanged for the killings of 148 Shiites in the village of
Dujail. He was the 4th former Iraqi leader -- including Saddam -- sent to
the gallows for the crimes.

"We learned from the past," Hussaini said afterward. "We're not accustomed
to executing; that's why we made mistakes, unlike Saddam and his people.
They did not care."

Ramadan's execution was the first that the government pulled off without
controversy. Hussaini said that this time all the procedures were
followed: Ramadan was weighed, the rope was measured and the trap door
wasn't triggered till Ramadan had said the Islamic creed twice.

Saddam's hanging was a squalid affair in a cramped room full of men
taunting the deposed dictator. Saddam was dropped in midprayer. The chaos
was captured on a guard's cell-phone camera and made its way around the
world on the Internet and satellite TV.

Hussaini blames that on his absence.

The one event he'd always wanted to attend, he missed. He was skiing in
the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai with his wife and 2 children, who still
live in Los Angeles, when he got a call that Saddam's execution would be
Dec. 30. He couldn't make it back in time.

"I almost divorced my wife in Dubai when I learned it was going to happen
the next day," he said jokingly from his high-backed chair, dressed in a
dapper suit and red tie. "I planned everything for Saddam to be executed
on the 10th of January. ... Everything went wrong."

On Jan. 15 he watched as Barzan Ibrahim Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother,
and Awad Bandar, the former head of the revolutionary court, were hanged.
Barzan's head popped off. Hussaini later called it an "act of God."

In his office before Ramadan's execution, Hussaini scrolled through
computer pictures of his Hollywood days. In one, he poses in a black robe,
turban and beard with Clooney. In another, his 2 young children are
playing outside his large Los Angeles home.

Then came a picture of the gallows. With pride, he pointed out how they
were built to international standards.

He has 2 business cards, one that identifies him as a member of the Screen
Actors Guild, another as Maliki's adviser.

(source: McClatchy News Service)

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

Stop executions in Iraq says Council of Europe----Council of Europe, which
is the human rights wachdog of Europe, urges Iraqi government to stop the
executions in Iraq, over the hanging of former vice president Taha Yassin
Ramadan on Tuesday.


Statement by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Executions in Iraq are no longer botched, but they are still inhuman. I
regret that the Iraqi authorities have ignored the concerns of the
international community and gone ahead with the hanging of Taha Yasin
Ramadan, a former Vice-President to Saddam Hussein. At the time he was
sentenced, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour warned
that his execution would violate international law.

Against the background of the daily bloodbath on the streets of Iraq, the
authorities should focus on arresting criminals who are still at large,
rather than executing those already in prison. The death penalty is not
justice, and state orchestrated killings are not only undermining the
credibility and the international reputation of the Iraqi government, but
also the prospects for a peaceful and just future for the Iraqi people.

(source: HULIQ)