[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 5


IRAQ:

Iraqi minister criticizes Talabani for stalling on executions


Iraqi Minister of Justice Abdel Hussein Shandal accused President Jalal
Talabani of delays in issuing execution orders for 93 convicted criminals,
including a number of terrorists.

Talabani was responsible for delaying the execution of 93 convicted
criminals, Shandal was quoted by the Iraqi daily Al Sabah as saying.

The minister of justice also said there had been several jailbreak cases
involving death-row prisoners, who had been smuggled out of jail by armed
groups colluding with prison staff.

In one case a Baghdad detention centre was completely emptied of its 17
prisoners and guards, he said.

Iraq has hanged dozens of convicts since the death penalty was reinstated
in June 2004.

(source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur)






IRAN:

Woman hanged in public, juvenile sentenced to death


State-run daily IRAN reported today that a woman was hanged in public in
western province of Lorestan for alledged murder. Farzaneh Sadeqi was
sentenced to death by local judicial authorities and the sentence was
carried out yesterday at 5:35 am local time, according to mullahs' police
report.

The same daily also reported today that death sentence for a young man,
Qarib Rahman, has been approved by mullahs' judiciary and he is on the
verge of execution. He was also charged with murder that he denies.

Etemad state daily also reported that a 17-year-old boy from central city
of Isfahan has been sentenced to death by the judiciary. The daily
identified the boy by his first name only as Nemat.

Etemad also added that a 26 years old man in Tehran identified as Saber
has also been condemned to death by hanging.

International bodies have condemned execution of juvenile in Iran and have
expressed deep concern over the high number of executions by the religious
dictatorship in that country. The number of executions have gone up since
the appointment of Ahmadinejad as the president of the clerical regime.

(source: National Council of Resistance of Iran, May 3)






JAMAICA:

Appeal Court hears fresh evidence from death row inmate


DEATH ROW inmate, 27-year-old Kevin Mayne, who was convicted of the murder
of taxi driver Valerie Williams, of Christiana, Manchester, is applying to
the Court of Appeal to call fresh evidence in an attempt to be set free.

Mayne is relying on a report this year from psychiatrist consultant Dr.
Carol McDaniel, that because of his mental retardation from a head injury
when he was 11 years old, he was not responsible for his acts in being a
party to the murder.

NOT AVAILABLE AT TRIAL

The hearing began yesterday in the Court of Appeal in which Dennis
Morrison, Q.C., argued that the evidence was not available at Mayne's
trial or appeal. Mr. Morrison said that, had the evidence been available
at the trial, it might have created a reasonable doubt in the mind of the
jury as to Mayne's guilt.

Mayne and Jeffrey Miller were convicted in November 1999 for the October
30, 1997 murder of the taxi driver. The Crown led evidence that they
robbed her of her motor car and stabbed her to death. They lost their
appeal in July 2001 against their convictions and death sentences.

BODY FOUND IN CAVE

The taxi driver's body, which had 20 stab wounds and a broken neck, was
found in a cave in Coleyville, Manchester, on October 31, 1997. The two
men were seen going into the taxi at Christiana after one of them spoke
with the taxi driver. The car was involved in an accident on October 30,
1997, and, at the time of the accident, only the two men were in the car.
The men were also seen with the car in Clarendon, and were subsequently
held by the police.

(source: Jamaica Gleaner)






ISRAEL:

Israeli demands execution of pro-Hamas MPs


A right-wing Israeli party leader yesterday called for the execution of
Israeli Arab politicians who had had contacts with Hamas or failed to
celebrate the state's independence day, overshadowing the swearing-in of
the new coalition government.

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the mainly Russian immigrant party Yisrael
Beieinu, told the Israeli parliament that Arab members who met with Hamas
should be tried for "co-operating with the enemy".

Mr Lieberman, who failed to reach a deal to join the new coalition
government of Ehud Olmert which was sworn in yesterday, declared: "The
Second World War ended with the Nuremberg trials and the execution of the
Nazi leadership. Not only them, but also those who collaborated with them.
I hope that will also be the fate of the collaborators in this house."

Outraged Arab Knesset members warned that the comments of Mr Lieberman,
whose party was one of the surprise successes of the March elections,
securing 12 seats, would lead to violence against Arab citizens of Israel.
"You are a racist," the Labour member Raleb Majadele told the Moldova-born
party leader. "You do not accept the decisions of the nation. You are
2-faced."

The exchanges cast a shadow over a session of the Knesset in which the new
Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, sealed the formation of his Kadima-led
coalition with Labour, the ultra-orthodox party Shas, and the new
Pensioners' Party.

Mr Olmert restated his plan to move tens of thousands of Jewish West Bank
settlers to settlement blocks in most cases nearer to - but still on the
other side of - the 1967 eastern border of Israel; blocks which he intends
to annex under the "convergence plan" which was at the centre of his
election campaign.

Warning that the maintenance of settlements throughout the West Bank
"creates an intermingling of populations which is impossible to separate,
and which endangers the state of Israel as a Jewish state", Mr Olmert made
clear his determination to establish borders for Israel which would ensure
a Jewish majority. Mr Olmert said: "The achievements of the settlement
movement in main concentrations will forever be an integral part of the
sovereign state of Israel."

Mr Olmert cannot yet be sure of commanding a Knesset majority in favour of
his proposal, and Shas entered the coalition without signing up to the
ideal of unilateral "disengagement" which Mr Olmert has said will happen
if he cannot negotiate it with the Palestinian leadership.

* A Palestinian taxi driver, Zakhariah Daragmeh, 37, was shot and killed
by Israeli troops after he advanced towards a checkpoint near Nablus to
pick up passengers. The army was reported to have designated the area
where he was shot a prohibited zone.

A right-wing Israeli party leader yesterday called for the execution of
Israeli Arab politicians who had had contacts with Hamas or failed to
celebrate the state's independence day, overshadowing the swearing-in of
the new coalition government.

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the mainly Russian immigrant party Yisrael
Beieinu, told the Israeli parliament that Arab members who met with Hamas
should be tried for "co-operating with the enemy".

Mr Lieberman, who failed to reach a deal to join the new coalition
government of Ehud Olmert which was sworn in yesterday, declared: "The
Second World War ended with the Nuremberg trials and the execution of the
Nazi leadership. Not only them, but also those who collaborated with them.
I hope that will also be the fate of the collaborators in this house."

Outraged Arab Knesset members warned that the comments of Mr Lieberman,
whose party was one of the surprise successes of the March elections,
securing 12 seats, would lead to violence against Arab citizens of Israel.
"You are a racist," the Labour member Raleb Majadele told the Moldova-born
party leader. "You do not accept the decisions of the nation. You are
two-faced."

The exchanges cast a shadow over a session of the Knesset in which the new
Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, sealed the formation of his Kadima-led
coalition with Labour, the ultra-orthodox party Shas, and the new
Pensioners' Party.

Mr Olmert restated his plan to move tens of thousands of Jewish West Bank
settlers to settlement blocks in most cases nearer to - but still on the
other side of - the 1967 eastern border of Israel; blocks which he intends
to annex under the "convergence plan" which was at the centre of his
election campaign.

Warning that the maintenance of settlements throughout the West Bank
"creates an intermingling of populations which is impossible to separate,
and which endangers the state of Israel as a Jewish state", Mr Olmert made
clear his determination to establish borders for Israel which would ensure
a Jewish majority. Mr Olmert said: "The achievements of the settlement
movement in main concentrations will forever be an integral part of the
sovereign state of Israel."

Mr Olmert cannot yet be sure of commanding a Knesset majority in favour of
his proposal, and Shas entered the coalition without signing up to the
ideal of unilateral "disengagement" which Mr Olmert has said will happen
if he cannot negotiate it with the Palestinian leadership.

* A Palestinian taxi driver, Zakhariah Daragmeh, 37, was shot and killed
by Israeli troops after he advanced towards a checkpoint near Nablus to
pick up passengers. The army was reported to have designated the area
where he was shot a prohibited zone.

(source: The Independent)






PAKISTAN/ENGLAND:

No justice for for man facing death


AS miscarriages of justice go, it takes some beating. A former Headingley
schoolboy faces execution next month after spending 18 years in prison for
a crime a court has ruled - twice - that he did not commit.

There will be those in West Yorkshire today who will remember Mirza Tahir
Hussain from the days he played in the streets of Headingley, from the
time he attended Lawnswood School, from his days as a soldier in the
Territorial Army.

How to comprehend now that their old friend now languishes in prison
awaiting an execution, scheduled to take place on June 1 which is, by
cruel coincidence, his 36th birthday.

Mr Hussain, who holds dual British / Pakistani nationality, was jailed at
the age of 18 for the murder of a taxi driver during a Christmas holiday
in 1988. His family say he was trying to defend himself from being
assaulted. His conviction was overturned in the Pakistani High Court twice
but he was then found guilty separately under Sharia law - the strict
Islamic code - and he now awaits his fate in Rawalbindi central jail near
Islamabad.

Who can imagine the horrors endured by his family. His father died broken
hearted two years ago and his mother, who is in her 70s, is ill and
desperate to see her son return home.

Leeds MPs John Battle (Leeds West) and Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West)
have written to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urging him to do what he can
to stop the execution. We echo their plea.

"We want the Pakistani authorities to overturn what is clearly a dodgy
decision legally. The whole legal process is flawed and the death sentence
would be a travesty of justice," said Mr Mulholland.

Whatever the ins and outs of the case Mr Hussain's murder conviction has
been overturned twice. He has been cleared of the crime and yet he has
been in prison for 18 years. Now he is about to die.

This is not justice. This is an outrage.

(source: Leeds Today)






ENGLAND:

Study: Royal Executions Followed Pattern


A study of British royal executions has determined that the killings
followed consistent patterns that correspond to Charles Darwin's "survival
of the fittest" theory.

The study helps to explain why so many British royals killed family
members, particularly over a 200-year period called The Cousins' Wars that
spanned the 14th to the 16th centuries.

It also suggests that human behavior, even family murders, can be
consistent with patterns of survival under circumstances in which
resources are scarce, yet highly valued, life-supporting and gained only
through inheritance.

According to the researchers, such conditions existed after Edward III's
death in 1377. The king and his wife produced 5 sons and 3 daughters who
survived to adulthood and who all had their eyes on the crown.

Richard II, Edward's successor and eldest son, proved to be a weak,
despised leader. Richard's cousin, Henry IV, executed the king and began
the apparently Darwinian Cousins' Wars.

"Darwin's major contribution to science was selection - natural and
sexual, which depend upon competition between individuals and their
choices," explained Kathleen Heath, who worked on the study, which has
been selected for publication in The History of the Family journal.

(source: Discovery Channel)