Oct. 7
GLOBAL:
MIDDLE EAST: FAREWELL TO DICTATORSHIPS AND THE DEATH PENALTY
There are clear indications that the world is moving away from capital
punshment: the legal abolition of the sanction in recent years in many states
of the US -which saw a drop in executions from 52 in 2009 to 46 in 2010-, the
drop that is apparently occurring in China, the reduction in the number of
capital offenses in China and Vietnam, and the thousands of death sentences
commuted in Pakistan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Burma, writes Emma Bonino, Vice
president of the Italian Senate and a leader of the Radical Party.
There are clear indications that the world is moving away from capital
punshment: the legal abolition of the sanction in recent years in many states
of the US -which saw a drop in executions from 52 in 2009 to 46 in 2010-, the
drop that is apparently occurring in China, the reduction in the number of
capital offenses in China and Vietnam, and the thousands of death sentences
commuted in Pakistan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Burma, writes Emma Bonino, Vice
president of the Italian Senate and a leader of the Radical Party.
In this analysis, Bonino also cites the abolition of the sanction in recent
years in Africa and particularly countries like Rwanda and Burundi, symbols of
a continent that has been battred more than any other in recent history by
human tragedy. The arrest warrant issued in 2009 by the International Criminal
Court for Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir for the massacres in Darfur was a
judiciary prelude to the political development that would soon occur in many
Arab countries and others: the end of the myth of the invincibility of
dictators who had ruled for decades.
But it isn't all good news: Iran, which has consistently finished among the
world's top executioners, kicked off the new year with an orgy of executions.
In North Korea public executions tripled in recent years. In Iraq there has
never been a pause in executions, even under the "democratic" government of
Nouri al-Maliki. In China as in Iran, and North Korea as Iraq, it will be the
"parallel democracy" by the Radical Party that will have to compensate for the
lack of official presence on the part of the so- called liberal, civil,
abolitionist world.
****************
Mumia still on death row, but executions of journalists on the wane
On the eve of the 9th World Day Against the Death Penalty, Reporters Without
Borders and the Paris-based NGO Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) would
like to point out that being a journalist, editing a website or keeping a blog
can still expose a person to the possibility of the death penalty in some
countries.
The charges of “subversion,” “endangering state security” and even “apostasy”
can be used in some countries to convict and execute someone who has criticized
the government, made fun of a leader in a cartoon or just covered a highly
sensitive subject.
Around 10 people, mostly bloggers and netizens, are awaiting execution or are
facing the possibility of a death sentence in Iran and Vietnam. What will
become of Vahid Asghari, 25, who has been jailed since 2008 in Tehran and who
was sentenced to death on a date that was never made public?
As well as a negation of justice, capital punishment is also a deadly threat
that encourages self-censorship. China, which leads the world in executions,
has no fewer than 55 capital offences of which three are direct threats to
freedom of expression: “endangering public security,” “instigating the
country’s division” and “divulging state secrets.”
In Uganda, the imprisoned journalists Augustine Okello and Patrick Otim are
still waiting to know whether the charges of subversion and treason that have
been brought against them will cost them their lives. Abdelrahman Adam, a
Sudanese radio journalist who has been held since October 2010 on a charge of
violating state secrets, is in the same situation.
Nonetheless, the number of journalists being sentenced to death is declining.
Even in Iran, which ranks second in the world in the number of executions,
death sentences are being commuted or quashed. Capital punishment neither
deters crimes nor compensates for the damage caused. Still less can it destroy
the inalienable right to inform, question and speak out.
Of the few journalists actually under sentence of death, the one who has been
in the situation longest has become a symbol of the campaign for abolition. He
is not an Iranian, Vietnamese or Sudanese. He is a citizen of the United
States. Sentenced to die for the murder of a policeman at the end of a trial
marked by irregularities and racism, Mumia Abu-Jamal will soon complete his
30th year on death row.
Would he have suffered the same fate if he had not been what he called the
“Voice of the Voiceless," a voice that still makes itself heard from his cell ?
Would he still today be the victim of judicial persecution by a Pennsylvania
district attorney, who is trying to block a new sentencing hearing?
30 years on death row is a long time. But 30 years since France abolished the
death penalty and scrapped the guillotine is not. The coincidence reinforces
the symbolism. All the more reason to insist that, after Troy Davis’ execution,
Mumia Abu-Jamal is not subjected to judicial murder too.
(source: Reporters Without Borders)
*********************
see: http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/world.html
IRAN:
Supreme Court Dismisses Reports on Nadarkhani's Case
Head of the Iranian Supreme Court Ayatollah Mohseni Garakani dismissed recent
reports by the western media outlets on the case of Yousef Nadarkhani, and said
his dossier has not been sent to the Supreme Court yet.
"His death sentence has not been approved yet," Garakani told FNA, rejecting
the western media ballyhoo about Nadarkhani.
Some western media alleged that the Supreme Court has upheld Nadarkhani's death
sentence verdict initially issued by his 1st court.
Nadarkhani, 32, was arrested on accusations of rape, corruption and
security-related crimes, including extortion, in October 2009. He was given a
death penalty after being convicted in a Gilan court last November. He further
appealed his conviction to the Iranian Supreme Court, and his appeal trial
began last Sunday in Gilan province.
Nadarkhani's death sentence was sent to the Supreme Court in 2010, and it was
overruled after a year.
Sources had also told FNA last Friday that "the Supreme Court has referred the
case to a 2nd court to be verified again, but it has not received the result of
this verification yet".
After his arrest in 2009, the western media launched an intense propaganda
campaign and introduced Nadarkhani as a Christian convert and a pastor who runs
a network of church houses, alleging that he had been arrested and would be
punished for apostasy and recanting his Islamic faith.
Iranian officials were quick to strongly dismiss such claims, saying that
Nadarkhani is standing trial for rape and extortion, and not for apostasy and
refusing to renounce his religion, as the western news media have claimed.
"This individual has committed crimes, but his crime is not, as some claim,
recanting Islam or converting others to Christianity," Deputy Governor-General
of Gilan province for Political and Security Affairs Gholam-Ali Rezvani, told
FNA.
Rezvani blasted the western media for twisting the real story, and underlined
that Nadarkhani had committed several violent crimes, including repeated rape
and extortion.
"He is guilty of security-related crimes," said the deputy governor-general of
Gilan, where Nadarkhani's case is being reheard.
"The issue of crime and of capital punishment of this individual is not related
to his faith or religion as in our system, no one can be executed for changing
his/her religion," he added.
"Islam is a religion of argument, logic and rationality and has dialogue with
other religions as it has a message, and this is the very same message of God's
verses that acts as our soft power and challenges the world oppressors and
those who trample upon the nations' rights," Rezvani stated.
"…this Islamic state has nothing to do with those who have embraced other
religions…," he reiterated, and added, "But he (Nadarkhani) is a Zionist, a
traitor and had committed security crimes."
Despite the western media's propaganda campaign which have all introduced
Nadarkhani as a pastor who runs a network of church houses, the official said
he has opened a "corruption house".
A corruption house means a place where illegal and unethical activities are
done, like an opium house or a prostitution house.
Yet, the deputy governor-general further stated that Nadarkhani's execution is
neither imminent nor final.
Also, in his several interviews with the foreign media last Thursday,
Nadarkhani's attorney Mohammad Ali Dadkhah confirmed Rezvani's rejection of the
western media propaganda which claimed Iran is killing Nadarkhani for choosing
Christianity as his new religion.
Dadkhah told the Associated Press that neither the Iranian law nor clerics have
ever stipulated the death penalty as punishment for converting from Islam to
Christianity.
Nadarkhani, now 32, converted from Islam to Christianity at the age of 19, but
he was arrested in October 2009, suggesting that he has not been arrested for
changing his religion, otherwise he should have been arrested 13 years ago.
(source: Fars News Agency)
JAPAN:
Japanese bar associations seek debate on abolition of death penalty
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations has come out in opposition to the
death penalty, urging the government Friday to immediately start public debate
on its abolition and suspend executions while the discussions are ongoing.
"The death penalty is an inhumane punishment as it claims precious life, and it
robs those convicted of the potential to rehabilitate," the federation said in
its declaration adopted at its annual 2-day human rights meeting in Takamatsu,
Kagawa Prefecture.
Citing 4 postwar capital cases, in which death row inmates were acquitted in
retrials, the JFBA also said the death penalty system "always possesses a risk
of miscarriage of justice, and there will be no mending if a wrongfully
convicted person is executed."
"The abolition of the death penalty has become an unshakable international
trend, and now is the time to launch a social debate about its termination,"
the declaration noted.
While the JFBA has so far proposed that the government suspend executions until
problems, including miscarriages of justice and the secrecy surrounding
executions, are cleared up, the latest declaration "is a step toward its
abolition," Hideki Wakabayashi of Amnesty International Japan said.
"It is notable the declaration refers to the backgrounds of crimes, such as
poverty, and stresses the need to promote social reintegration of those who
have committed crimes," the executive director of the human rights group said.
"It will hold major significance for the anti-death penalty campaign."
Until now, the federation had declined to show a clear stance on whether to
terminate the death penalty partly out of consideration for its members who
support it, but a lawyer involved in drafting the declaration said, "We
compiled it based on a stance that it is 'desirable' to abolish capital
punishment."
The declaration followed a symposium on Thursday, the first day of the meeting,
to discuss how to handle crimes at a time when ordinary citizens are involved
in several cases in delivering death sentence under the lay judge system
introduced in 2009 to try serious cases.
At the symposium, Yumiko Yamaguchi, who sustained serious injuries during a
fatal 2000 bus hijacking by a 17-year-old boy, said she thought when she was
slashed by him that "he must be hurt so seriously that he is forced to do such
a thing."
She learned later the boy had refused to attend school after being bullied,
much like her own daughter. "The thing is that he is also a human being like us
who is carrying various concerns."
Another panelist, Masayoshi Taguchi, served as a citizen judge last year in a
case in which a person was charged with negligence as a guardian resulting in
death.
Sitting on the bench, Taguchi thought the defendant was "just an ordinary
person who laughs and cries." He said he had learned that the image of an
accused person is sometimes distorted "through the filter of media reports."
Taguchi, a member of a group of those who have served as lay judges, also said,
"A group member involved in delivering a death sentence once told me that
citizen judges become perpetrators against the defendant as they lead the
defendant to die. (The system) is irrational."
It was also reported that detention periods of those who received life
sentences are getting longer, forcing many prisoners to die in prison without
returning to society.
According to the data submitted to the symposium, among 14 people who served
life terms and were released on parole in 1990, 8 were detained for 20 years or
less. But 20 years later, the total number of those released was halved to 7
and all of the releases came after more than 20 years' detention.
The declaration has been issued at a time when 139 countries, or 2/3 of the
world's nations, have abolished the death penalty by law or in practice as of
2010. 58 countries still maintain it, of which only 19 nations actually killed
inmates in 2009 and 23 countries in 2010, according to the federation.
Under such circumstances, Japan was urged by the Geneva-based Human Rights
Committee to "favorably consider abolishing the death penalty and inform the
public, as necessary, about the desirability of abolition" regardless of
opinion polls.
Secrecy surrounding Japan's capital punishment system has also been strongly
criticized, with the public unaware of procedures following the issuing of a
death sentence.
The last execution in Japan came in July last year when then Justice Minister
Keiko Chiba, a qualified lawyer and former member of the anti-death penalty
parliamentarian group, approved the hanging of 2 inmates.
In an unusual move, she attended the executions and later allowed media to
visit the execution chamber at the Tokyo Detention House in a bid to stir
public debate over the death penalty.
(source: Mainichi Daily News)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
