Sept. 17
INDONESIA/UNITED KINGDOM:
Manchester dad could face death penalty
A dad from Manchester could be facing the death penalty after being arrested on
suspicion of drug smuggling in Indonesia, the Foreign Office has said.
53-year-old Jack Walker has been held in jail after being stopped at the
airport in the capital Jakarta.,
It is understood the father of 2 was arrested as he was about to board a flight
back to the UK.
Officials allegedly found a substantial amount of methylamphetamine, commonly
known as crystal meth or 'ice'.
Mr Walker, who is a diabetic, collapsed after he was stopped and his family are
anxious he may not be getting the right medication while in custody.
A friend of the family said: "The family fear he could be facing the death
penalty or 20 years in jail.
"He is not the kind of guy that you would expect would get involved in anything
like this."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the arrest of a British
national at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia. Consular
assistance is being offered."
(source: ITN)
GLOBAL:
Top 5 countries to execute the most people
According to Amnesty International’s annual Death Sentences and Executions
report, at least 527 people were executed in 23 countries in 2010, plus
thousands in China. The number of people executed worldwide since 2007 is more
than 2,500. Here are the 5 countries registering the most executions since
2007:
5. Pakistan
Pakistan made the Top 5 despite a moratorium on executions imposed by the
ruling Pakistan Peoples Party that prevented the government from executing
anyone in 2009 or 2010. In 2007, 135 people were executed and 36 were in 2008.
Despite the moratorium on executions, Pakistan continued to sentence people to
death – 276 in 2009 and 365 in 2010 – and thousands of people remain on death
row from previous sentences, as noted by Monitor correspondent Issam Ahmed.
4. United States
The US, the only country in the Americas to execute people in the past few
years, executed 46 people in 2010, down from the 2009 total of 52 but still a
notable increase from the 2008 total of 37. The US has executed a total of 177
since 2007.
Texas, Alabama, Ohio, Virginia, and Oklahoma are the states with the most
executions since since 2007.
3. Iraq
Iraq executed at least 120 people in 2009, but Amnesty International has been
unable to confirm how many were executed in 2010 – the 2010 tally is “1+,”
meaning Amnesty only knows that at least one person was executed. That person
was Ali Hassan Al-Majid, better known as “Chemical Ali,” who was hung on Jan.
24, 2010. Despite the lack of numbers in 2010, Iraq still has the 3rd most
executions on the books since 2007, with at least 188 confirmed.
Iraq also sentenced more people to death in 2009 than any other country other
than China and has sentenced at least 1,129 people to death since 2007.
2. Iran
After carrying out more than 300 executions a year in 2007, 2008, and 2009,
Iran executed at least 252 people in 2010 and at least 1,303 since 2007. A
large percentage of Iranian executions are punishment for drug-related
offenses. Seventeen members of Iran’s Kurdish minority are also on death row
for what the report called “political offenses.”
Iran is also one of the few remaining countries to sentence people to death by
stoning – the punishment for “adultery while married.” While no one was
executed by stoning in 2010, at least 14 people were sentenced to it at the end
of the year.
1. China
China is far and away the global leader in terms of the number of people
executed: It executed at least 470 people in 2007 and at least 1,718 in 2008.
For 2009 and 2010, Amnesty's report only lists “thousands” because of the
Chinese government’s stance that such statistics are state secrets. In 2010,
China executed more people than the rest of the world combined, according to
Amnesty International.
According to the Death Sentences and Executions report, a large number of
China’s death sentences are for drug-related offenses.
(source: Christian Science Monitor)
CHINA:
China must halt execution of Pakistan national
The Chinese government should halt the imminent execution of a Pakistan
national, Amnesty International said today.
Syed Zahid Hussain Shah, a 36-year-old-Pakistani businessman, is due to be
executed by lethal injection on 21 September.
Arrested in Shanghai in 2008 on drug trafficking charges, he was sentenced to
death in 2010. That sentence was subsequently upheld by an appeal court and
approved by China’s Supreme Court. Four other Pakistanis arrested with Shah
were sentenced to life imprisonment.
“Executing someone for drug related offences violates internationally accepted
standards for imposing the death penalty,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty
International’s Asia Pacific Director. “The Chinese government should grant
clemency in this case, particularly n light of its ‘special relationship’ with
Pakistan.
"The Pakistani government should provide Shah with urgent additional consular
assistance.”
Members of Shah’s family told Amnesty International that they believe he is
innocent. They said he had been falsely implicated by his business partners.
Although Shah received consular assistance during his three years in detention,
his family claim it was inadequate.
Pakistan’s Advisor for Human Rights told Amnesty International he has asked the
President to intervene and request his Chinese counterpart to delay the
execution.
No one sentenced to death receives a fair trial in China. Fair trial standards
fall short of international commitments made by the Chinese government.
Allegations of torture are seldom investigated adequately. Many defendants are
convicted based on confessions they insist were extracted through torture.
Defendants are in effect presumed guilty unless they can prove their innocence,
and often have limited access to legal counsel.
Statistics on the death penalty are a state secret. But Amnesty International
estimates that China executes thousands of people every year, more than the
rest of the world combined. It provides no clemency procedures for condemned
prisoners after they have exhausted their appeals through the courts.
Amnesty calls on the National People’s Congress to introduce a legal procedure
for clemency. An immediate moratorium should be placed on executions in China
and all other countries that retain the death penalty, including Pakistan.
(source: Amnesty International)
NIGERIA:
4 Nigerians hit with terrorism rap
4 Nigerian men were charged yesterday with organizing a suicide bombing that
killed 25 people and wounded more than 100 at the United Nations’ headquarters
in Nigeria. The charges carry the death penalty.
The defendants are among 19 Nigerians believed to belong to a radical Muslim
sect that claimed responsibility for the attack. The sect is known as Boko
Haram, Hausa for “Western education is sacrilege.”
Prosecutors say Abdusalami Adamu, Danzumi Haruna, Salisu Mohammed and Musa
Mukailu ordered a suicide bomber to drive a Honda SUV to the UN.
The suspects, who did not enter pleas, were ordered held until their next court
appearance, scheduled for Nov. 3.
Boko Haram has engineered the assassination of local officials and bombed
locations around Nigeria in the last year, continuing its campaign for the
strict implementation of sharia law.
The prosecutor, Chijioke Okezie, told the court that government investigations
into both the bombing and the sect were ongoing and that more arrests and more
charges were possible.
Nigeria, a nation of 150 million people, is split largely between a Christian
south and a Muslim north. The existence of high unemployment and unceasing
poverty in a nation that pulls in billions of dollars a year from oil
production has fueled resentment in recent years, especially in the north. Boko
Haram and other extremist groups have tapped into that unrest.
Meanwhile, another man charged yesterday is accused of carrying out a New
Year’s Eve bomb attack on an army barracks in Abuja, killing at least four
people and wounding 21.
The charges against Hamisu Husseini marked the first time authorities have
linked that attack to Boko Haram.
(source: Associated Press)
SOMALIA:
Puntland Court Sentences Judge Killer to Death
A court in Somalia's Puntland region has convicted and sentenced a killer to
death, Radio Garowe reports.
Mr. Mohamud Hassan Osman, Puntland's Attorney-General, told Puntland-based
independent station Radio Garowe that Bossaso First Degree Court had ruled the
death penalty after convicting Jama Abdullahi Abdulle.
Mr. Abdulle was convicted of killing court judge Abdinasir Haji Aden in front
of the courthouse on Sept. 14, 2011. Mr. Abdulle was immediately captured by
the court police, according to witnesses.
It was not immediately clear why Mr. Abdulle had targeted the court judge. Mr.
Abdulle, who is the young brother of notorious Somali pirate Boyah, had
previously served a jail term for piracy crimes.
Mr. Boyah, who was arrested by Puntland police in May 2010, remains in jail.
(source: All Africa News)
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