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

[Rick Halperin]

July 27



BOTSWANA:

Death Row Inmate Fails to Get Court of Appeal Reprieve


The fate of death row inmate, Sepeni Popo lies with President Festus
Mogae, after he failed to get a reprieve at the Court of Appeal this week.
The condemned prisoner can only escape the hangman's noose if the
President exercises his prerogative of mercy to save him. But Mogae, a
confessed retributionist, has never pardoned a death row convict.

Popo was sentenced to death last year, by the Lobatse High Court for
killing a Molepolole woman, Binki Balotlegi in what was believed to be a
ritual murder. He confessed that he was promised P1,000 for the murder. 3
other men who were charged with him were later acquitted and discharged of
murder.

In his appeal, Popo's lawyer, Themba Joina argued that the trial judge,
Ian Kirby was wrong in failing to recuse himself and that the confession
statement by his client was wrongly admitted in court.

He submitted that the judge should have found extenuating circumstances
and refrained from passing a death sentence. The defence wanted Kirby to
recuse himself from the case because at the time it was registered, he was
the Attorney General and as result he might have been an interested party.
However, the Court of Appeal ruled that there was no need for Kirby to
recuse himself since he did not directly deal with the case when he was
Attorney General.

Joina argued that there was no evidence that Popo had been advised of his
right to legal representation before the confession statement was taken.
He added that the court erred in not ordering a trial within a trial
before admitting the confession statement.

Joina submitted that the hand written statement was not produced in court
and there was no evidence as to what happened to it. He said the original
statement was the only document which could prove to the court what
actually transpired when the confession was made.

The Court of Appeal ruled that that it was clear from the evidence that
Popo freely and voluntarily made the statement to a judicial officer.

The court was of the view that this was a particularly brutal murder and
the injuries were horrible.

The court ruled that the murder was deliberately planned for a reward.

In dismissing the appeal, the judges said there was no evidence to
diminish Popo's moral culpability.

In his confession statement, Popo said a man asked him and his colleagues
to get a baboon without fur. He said when they asked him what he meant,
the man said he wanted them to find a woman's private parts for him.

Popo said each of them was promised P1,000 after delivering the goods.

He said he later arranged with his accomplices to find out what the man
was looking for. He went into detail about how they found their prey.

After a drinking session, they later led a woman to an isolated spot where
they brutally attacked her. Popo said after they killed the woman, one of
his partners cut off a piece of her private parts.

He said they parted after the job was finished and he went to sleep. Panic
struck him the following morning when he realised that his cap was
missing.

"When I recalled carefully I came to the conclusion that it was left at
the crime scene," he said.

The confession statement narrates what Popo did up to the time when police
spoke to him, including washing his clothes to remove blood stains. He
told the judicial officer about his unsuccessful attempts to get the
promised payment after the mission was accomplished.

(source: The Reporter)






RWANDA:

UN rights chief praises Rwanda death penalty ban


The United Nations' top human rights official on Friday praised Rwanda's
decision to end capital punishment, a move that should allow suspects in
the 1994 genocide to be extradited to stand trial in the country.

Louise Arbour, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, called the
abolition which took effect this week "a powerful endorsement of the
importance of pursuing justice while repudiating violence in all its
forms."

Many suspects accused of involvement in the killings of 800,000 Tutsis and
moderate Hutus in 1994 are believed to be at large in Europe, North
America and West Africa.

Rwanda's parliament voted in June to end capital punishment to smooth the
transfer of suspects from countries which refuse to extradite people to
nations that practise the death penalty or torture. The law was signed on
Thursday.

"With the promulgation of the law banning the death penalty, Rwanda
simultaneously takes an important step forward in ensuring respect for the
right to life and makes further progress in bringing to justice those
responsible for the heinous crimes of the 1994 genocide," Arbour said in a
statement.

(source: The Recorder)

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

UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF PRAISES RWANDAS ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY


United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today
hailed Rwanda's abolition of capital punishment, calling the decision by a
country that has suffered genocide an example for others to follow in the
pursuit of justice while repudiating violence in all its forms.

"Abolition in Rwanda sends a very strong message," Ms Arbour said in a
statement. "A country that has suffered the ultimate crime and whose
people's thirst for justice is still far from quenched has decided to
forego a sanction that should have no place in any society that claims to
value human rights and the inviolability of the person. Rwanda is
demonstrating leadership by action."

The decision should allow the extradition to Rwanda of persons accused of
genocide in order to stand trial in the national courts for the massacres
in 1994 of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu extremists. Many
countries refuse to hand over suspects to countries where they may face
capital punishment.

"With the promulgation of the law banning the death penalty, Rwanda
simultaneously takes an important step forward in ensuring respect for the
right to life and makes further progress in bringing to justice those
responsible for the heinous crimes of the 1994 genocide," Ms. Arbour said.

(source: UN Human Rights Centre)

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

Rwanda abolishes death penalty----The ban will help the transfer of
genocide suspects to the Rwandan judiciary [EPA].


Rwanda has abolished the death penalty, opening the way for genocide
suspects to be tried there.

The abolition was one of the conditions set by the UN-backed International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to allow the transfer of genocide
suspects to the Rwandan judiciary.

Tharcisse Karugarama, Rwanda's justice minister, said: "The abolition of
death penalty is effective from July 25, 2007."

Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights, welcomed
Rwanda's decision.

"A country that has suffered the ultimate crime and whose people's thirst
for justice is still far from quenched has decided to forego a sanction
that should have no place in any society that claims to value human rights
and the inviolability of the person," Arbour said.

She praised Rwanda for "demonstrating leadership by action" and said the
ban announced on Thursday meant countries which had refused to hand over
suspects to the courts there because they may face the death penalty could
now do so.

The bill was initially put forward by the president, Paul Kagame's Rwandan
Patriotic Front, approved by the cabinet at the beginning of the year and
by the parliament over the past 2 months.

As a result of the bill's promulgation, some 600 Rwandans should see their
death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

The move was immediately hailed by the European Union, which congratulated
"the Rwandan government and people" for taking "this important decision."

According to the United Nations, the 1994 genocide killed 800,000 in a few
weeks, mostly from the Tutsi minority.

Offloading some of the less high-profile cases to Rwandan justice has
become a necessity for the Tanzania-based ICTR, which is supposed to wind
up all criminal proceedings by the end of 2008, 14 years after its
creation.

(source: Aljazeera)






IRAN:

Cleric praises judiciary for execution of convicts


A senior Iranian cleric praised yesterday the country's judiciary for
executing 16 men convicted for various offences including rape and
kidnapping.

"The execution of those [convicts] was one of the best ... political and
cultural actions that has ever taken place," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a
conservative cleric who heads the constitutional watchdog the Guardian
Council told Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran.

Some 12 men convicted of various charges including rape, kidnapping and
drug-smuggling were executed on Sunday inside Tehran's Evin prison, only a
few days after 4 others were hanged for similar crimes.

Iranian police have arrested dozens of people in recent weeks as part of a
regular summer crackdown on 'immoral behaviour'. A number of women have
also been arrested for flouting Islamic dress code, imposed since Iran's
1979 Islamic revolution.

Tehran public prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi told state television that 17
more criminals who have been arrested in the the crackdown would be hanged
soon.

Iran's 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi criticised the hangings in a
statement saying her human rights group was "concerned that some people
arrested for burning fuel stations [after Iran started rationing gasoline]
were among those hanged."

At least a dozen pump stations were attacked in June after the government
started to ration fuel in the No. 2 Opec oil producer.

"Such actions should happen again and people should support and follow
it," Jannati said, adding that it was necessary in order to "ensure the
society's security".

Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, according to
Amnesty International.

(source: Reuters)

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

France "preoccupied" with death penalty in Iran


French foreign ministry has summoned the charge d'affaires at the Iranian
embassy in France to express its "profound preoccupation" with the
enforcement of capital punishment in Iran.

The charge d'affaires was summoned by the ministry Wednesday at the
request by Rama Yade, French minister of state in charge of foreign
affairs and human rights, according to a ministry statement.

During the meeting, "we took the opportunity to express our extreme
preoccupation and underscored our opposition to the death penalty, our
commitment for its universal abolition, our commitment to see that Iranian
authorities uphold the 2002 moratorium against stoning, our appeal that no
one should be condemned to stoning," according to the statement.

France condemns the execution of 12 Iranians, which occurred on July 22
and is "particularly concerned" with the fact that on July 10 an Iranian
official announced that sexual orientation was one of the charges brought
against those who were executed, according to the statement.

On July 5, 2007, an Iranian man was condemned to die by stoning after
being convicted of adultery, according to the same source.

(source: Xinhua)

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

Death penalty in Iran : stop executions now!


The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Iranian League
for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) strongly condemn the execution of
12 Iranian citizens, hanged in Tehran on 22 July 2007. The men were
charged with a variety of offences arising out of the Government?s May
2007 "crack down on immoral behaviour".P> On Sunday, 22 July 2007, 12 men
were hanged at Evin prison, Tehran. The condemned had been convicted of
"repeated rape, sodomy, and violent assault and battery" as well as drug
trafficking offences.

According to the information received, the men were arrested, along with
hundreds of other Iranians, during a so-called "morality crackdown" in May
this year. Some among the accused would, in fact, have been condemned for
having defamed religion or for their homosexual behaviour.

These executions come during a time in which the Iranian authorities have
dramatically increased the use of the death penalty, confirming its
position as one of the world?s top practitioners of the death penalty. In
announcing the latest round of executions, the Prosecutor of Teheran
reportedly confirmed that he will also seek the execution of another 17
individuals in the coming days. Since January 2007, more than 100 people
have been executed, disregarding the petitions of the international
community.

FIDH and LDDHI reaffirm its total opposition to the death penalty. In
addition, the United Nations Human Rights Committee specifically mentions
that death penalty should be reserved for the most serious crimes; under
no circumstances should a State sanction the right of its citizens to
freely express their opinion nor condemn homosexuality.

FIDH and LDDHI urge the Iranian authorities to conform with their
international obligations in respect of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and other international human rights instruments.

(source: FIDH.org)