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

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 20



POLAND:

Poland uses Finnish abortions in case against anti-death penalty day


Unnamed civil service sources told the Finnish News Agency (STT) on
Thursday that the Polish justice minister had on Thursday listed the
number of abortions in Finland in an effort to back Poland's veto against
plans to create an EU-wide day against the death penalty.

Some sources said the minister read out the abortion figures pertaining to
Denmark and Sweden as well.

Tuija Brax (green), the Finnish justice minister, was at the receiving end
of the Polish stratagem at the EU justice ministers' meeting.

The first anti-death penalty day had been scheduled to take place on 10
October before Poland vetoed it.

Lene Espersen, the Danish justice minister, counterattacked by saying
Poland's "right to life day" initiative was and expression of "moral
decay".

(source: Newsroom Finland)






INDIA:

Amnesty India launches online campaign for death penalty ban


The India wing of Amnesty International has launched an online campaign
seeking a ban on death penalty.

The human rights watchdog also sought New Delhi's support in favour of a
resolution moved in the United Nations which calls for a global moratorium
on executions.

Addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the online petition says that
death penalty legitimises an "irreversible act of violence by state and
will inevitably claim innocent victims as has been persistently
demonstrated".

"We oppose the death penalty in all cases and without exception believing
it to be a violation of the right to life and no one should be subjected
to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment," it says.

The European Union resolution favouring global moratorium on executions,
which would be put to vote next month in the UN General Assembly, is an
"important milestone" towards the abolition of death penalty in all
countries,the Amnesty says.

Amnesty claims that the momentum is gathering to end capital punishment
and already 130 countries have abolished death penalty by law or practice.
Statistics revealed that only 25 countries carried out executions in 2006.

During 2006, at least 1,591 people were executed in 25 countries and
Amnesty statistics reveals that 91 % of the executions were carried out in
six countries -- United States, Pakistan, China, Iran, Iraq and Sudan.

While Iran had executed 177 people last year, the figure for Pakistan was
82, United States 53, Iraq and Sudan 65 each.

(source: The Hindu)






IRAN:

Campaign against Execution of Underage Children in Iran Continues: Iranian
law-defender


Despite refutations by the Iranian officials, the world community
continues to protest against the execution of underage in this country.

"The protest campaign against the execution of children in Iran has been
ongoing for 6 months," Mina Ahadi said, a law-defender operating in
Germany and chairman of the Campaign against executions worldwide.

On 17 September Louis Arbar, the UN Commissar on Human Rights, criticized
the execution of a 16-year old in Iran last week, who was accused of
raping 2 underage children in Iran. The law-defenders have numerously
criticized the execution of underage children.

Death penalties used against children in Iran is not news, Ahadi said in a
telephone interview with Trend from Berlin. "According to data we hold, a
minimum of 72 convicted children aged less than 18 years have been
sentenced to death," she added.

Ahadi said that the campaign against the execution of children in Iran has
been ongoing for 6 months.

Iran joined the UN Public and political convention in 1975. Article 6.5 of
the Convention bans the death penalty of children under the age of 18
years.

(source: Trend News)






FRANCE:

Vichy Leader's Grave Vandalized


Vandals targeted the grave of Marshal Philippe Petain, the leader of
France's wartime Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis, an
official said Wednesday.

Vandals smashed vases and mortuary plagues from nearby tombs onto Petain's
grave on the Ile d'Yeu off the coast of western France, said Vincent
Lagoguey, an official in the western Vendee region. Petain's tomb itself
was not damaged.

Police have opened an inquiry, and no suspects have been identified.

Petain was a hero of World War I, but was discredited later for
collaborating with the Nazis. He was convicted of treason after World War
II, but his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He died in
1951 while imprisoned on Ile d'Yeu.

(source: The Baytown Sun)