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

[Rick Halperin]

March 20



IRAQ:

Chemical Ali will not go to the gallows alone: Iraq


The Iraqi government wants to execute 3 aides of former president Saddam
Hussein together - including his cousin "Chemical Ali" - who were
sentenced to death for genocide, Iraqi media reported Wednesday.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, along with former defence
minister Sultan Hashim and a former army chief of operations, Hussein
al-Tikriti, were all sentenced to death in June for a genocide campaign
against the Kurds in the 1980s.

Al-Majid earned the name Chemical Ali for gassing the Kurds in the brutal
crackdown.

The executions have been delayed, with Iraq's 3-member Presidential
Council endorsing only the execution of al-Majid.

"The Iraqi cabinet calls for the execution of the 3 together in accordance
with the court ruling issued against them," a cabinet statement carried by
al-Sabah newspaper said.

The row over the execution pits Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki against the
Presidential Council, which has vetoed the executions of Hashim and
al-Tikriti.

Hashim and al-Tikriti are regarded by many Sunni Arabs as career soldiers
who were just following orders.

Sunni Vice-President Tarqi al-Hashimi has launched a campaign to spare
Hashim, who along with the 2 other Saddam-era officials are in US custody.

The US military is refusing to hand the 3 over to the Iraqi authorities
unless the legal wrangling is resolved.

(source: IANS)






IRAN:

New death penalty for Kurdish journalist


A young Kurdish journalist has been condemned to death in Iran for the 2nd
time.

Hiwa Boutimar, a journalist and environmental activist, received the death
penalty after a 2nd trial failed to acquit him.

Hiwa, who received the City of Siena-Isf award for freedom of information
in Italy in November last year, was condemned to death for the 1st time
last July.

An international campaign which began in Italy and extended throughout
Europe forced Iran's Judicial Authority to cancel the first verdict.

Sources close to the journalist's family have told Adnkronos International
(AKI) that the new trial was carried out in the same way as the first
trial without legal representation.

The new death penalty issued just after the parliamentary elections in
Iran, was not officially communicated to Hiwa, imprisoned in Mariwan,
western Iran, or to his family, only to his lawyer verbally.

The Portuguese president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso,
the Italian and French governments and around 60 Italian MPs called for an
end to the death penalty.

During meetings held in Rome in the month of December by Hiwa's relatives,
local and national institutions condemned the Iranian decision to hang the
Kurdish journalist.

(source: AKI News)






INDIA:

Shivani case: Prosecution seeks death penalty for IPS officer


The prosecution on Thursday demanded before a Delhi court that senior IPS
officer R K Sharma and the hired killer Pradeep Sharma be awarded capital
punishment in the sensational Shivani Bhatnagar murder case.

"There are 2 categories of the convicts in the case. R K Sharma and hired
criminal Pradeep had played more active role than the other 2 convicts,"
special public prosecutor S K Saxena said, while seeking gallows for them.

Citing various apex court judgement, Saxena said that the duo played "more
pivotal role" in the commission of the offence as the convicted IPS
officer had all the intentions to kill the "defenceless journalist" while
the other convict was a "cold-blooded murderer", who eliminated Bhatnagar
just for money.

"The other 2 convicts -- Satya Prakash and Sri Bhagwan -- though convicted
under the same provisions of the law, had played a lesser role," he said
during the arguments on quantum of sentence before Additional Sessions
Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri.

Elaborating on the role of Pradeep, the prosecutor submitted that the
convict first got acquainted with the deceased scribe and went to her flat
and killed her. She was unaware of his "nefarious" intention, he said.

The court had on March 18 convicted four persons including Sharma for
criminal conspiracy and murder, holding him as the "main conspirator" in
the case.

Bhatnagar, the scribe with The Indian Express, was killed in her East
Delhi apartment on January 23, 1999.

(source: Economic Times)