[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 17


SUDAN:

Sudan condemns leading Darfur rebel to death


A Sudanese court on Sunday sentenced to death a top Darfur rebel and seven
others, bringing to 38 the number condemned to hang over an unprecedented
attack on Khartoum that killed more than 222 people.

Abdul Aziz Ashur, brother-in-law of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)
leader Khalil Ibrahim, and seven alleged cohorts were sentenced to hang
after a trial that began on July 3.

The judge handed down the death sentence after declaring them guilty under
Sudanese criminal and counter-terrorism legislation of involvement in the
May attack on Khartoum. He gave them two weeks to appeal.

The accused, handcuffed and sitting in a wire-caged dock, and relatives
barred from attending the hearing began chanting anti-government slogans
after the sentences were read out, an AFP correspondent said.

"Up with JEM!" and "Death to the authorities!" they shouted.

Ashur joined JEM in 2003 and headed its operations in Eritrea until 2005
when Sudanese-Eritrean relations improved after a peace agreement between
north and south Sudan ended 21 years of civil war.

Special Sudanese courts last month sentenced 30 alleged Darfur rebels to
death over the attack on the capital on May 10 -- the first time decades
of regional conflict had reached Khartoum itself.

Defence lawyers argue that the special courts are unconstitutional and do
not guarantee their clients' legal rights.

Defence lawyer Kemal Omar dismissed the court as a political entity and
charged that the sentences would complicate efforts to find a solution to
the five-year conflict in the western region of Darfur.

"We will appeal this decision but our appeal will have no meaning. The
Sudanese judge is not independent," he told AFP.

The United Nations has also voiced concern over the trials, calling for
comprehensive appeal procedures and on Khartoum to abolish capital
punishment.

Under Sudanese law, any death sentence must be ratified by both an
appeals' court and the high court. All death warrants must then be signed
and approved by President Omar al-Beshir.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor has asked for an arrest
warrant for Beshir for allegedly ordering his forces to annihilate 3
ethnic groups in Darfur, masterminding murder, torture, pillaging and
using rape to commit genocide.

Those 3 groups are the Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa -- the tribe to which most
JEM members belong.

More than 222 people were killed when rebels thrust upwards of 1,000
kilometres (600 miles) across the sandy expanse from western Sudan's
region of Darfur to Omdurman, just across the River Nile from the
presidential palace.

The United Nations says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than
2.2 million have fled their homes since the conflict in Darfur erupted in
February, 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.

The war began when African ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the
Arab-dominated Khartoum regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting
for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on
earth.

(source: Agence France Presse)





INDONESIA:

Indonesia's AG says plea won't delay execution of bombers


Indonesia's Attorney-General says the latest plea by the 3 Bali bombers to
the constitutional court would not affect plans for their execution.

Hendarman Supandji says in accordance to regulations, the plea won't delay
executions except the formal process needs to be completed first.

The lawyers for the three men -- Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, had
lodged a legal challenge saying that Indonesia's method of executing
convicts by firing squad was inhumane.

They say they would prefer an Islamic method of execution by beheading.

(source: Radio Australia News)