Nov. 11
NORTHERN IRELAND:
Amnesty International rejects MP's death penalty call
Responding to news that some Northern Ireland MPs are supporting a call for a
debate in the House of Commons on the reintroduction of the death penalty,
Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International
said:
"Capital punishment is a relic of the past and that is where it should stay.
There are many important issues warranting a Commons debate. The death penalty
is not one of them.
If there is a Parliamentary debate, Amnesty International will be reminding MPs
of its cruelty, its arbitrariness (rich people with good lawyers do not usually
receive the death penalty) and of how any capital justice system makes terrible
mistakes.
MPs should also be aware of the total lack of convincing evidence that the
death penalty is a deterrent against crime.
139 countries have formally abolished the death penalty or no longer use it. Of
those that cling on to it, China is by far the biggest user, followed by Iran
and countries like Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Yemen. Do some MPs really want
us to join this club?
When more and more countries are abandoning the death penalty around the world,
it would be a huge backward step to consider seriously its reintroduction here.
However, I am confident that any informed debate would lead to people dropping
their support for judicial killing."
(source: Amnesty International UK)
IRAN:
UN Committee exposes grave shortcomings in Iran’s human rights record
Following the UN Human Rights Committee’s recent examination of Iran’s report,
FIDH and its member organisation, the Iranian League for the Defence of Human
Rights (LDDHI), welcome the subsequent concluding observations issued by the
monitoring body on the country’s failure to uphold its obligations under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The Human Rights Committee noted grave shortcomings concerning Iran’s
compliance with many provisions of the ICCPR, mirroring concerns raised by FIDH
and LDDHI in their joint report submitted to the UN body prior to its October
session. Reacting to the Committee’s conclusions, LDDHI President and FIDH
Vice-President Abdol Karim Lahidji commented that the review had «unequivocally
demonstrated that Iran committed the very human rights violations its signing
of the ICCPR was supposed to prevent».
The Committee reserved particularly sharp comments for Iran in a number of
areas related to the ICCPR, with womens’ rights, the death penalty and the
freedoms of assembly, association and expression being just a few examples out
of many. Regarding womens’ rights, the monitoring body called on Iran to amend
its Civil Code in order, among other things, to end the right of men to
prohibit their wives from working, grant women the equal right to divorce and
prohibit polygamy. The Committee also expressed alarm at the exemption from
punishment of men who murder their wives on suspicion of adultery and called
for the adoption of legislation criminalizing domestic violence.
On the right to life, the Committee expressed its concern about the «extremely
high and increasing number of death sentences» issued and carried out in Iran
for a wide-ranging set of offences, often vaguely formulated and including
non-serious crimes. In light of such breaches of the ICCPR, the experts
recommended the abolition of the death penalty, beginning with an immediate end
to the execution of minors and people who were minor at the time of their
offence.
Concerning the freedoms of assembly, association and expression, the
independent experts noted among other things that «human rights defenders and
defence lawyers often serve prison sentences based on vaguely formulated crimes
such as ’mohareb’ (enemy of God)», with potential dissent stamped out through
arrests and Internet censorship. While calling for the guarantee of all three
freedoms to all individuals without discrimination, the Committee also urged
the withdrawal of the draft Bill on the Establishment and Supervision of NGOs,
which, if passed, would see the activities of civil society overseen and
further repressed by a ’Supreme Committee’ including Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps and Intelligence Ministry members.
Elsewhere the UN body’s conclusions noted serious violations of the ICCPR with
respect to freedom of religion, torture and discrimination on the grounds of
sexual orientation and gender identity. While reaffirming the Committee’s
assertion that the Covenant takes precedence over any internal law invoked by
Iran, Mr Lahidji further urged the Iranian authorities to «implement the
recommendations of the UN experts without delay, so as to reverse a
long-deteriorating, increasingly grave human rights situation in the country.
(source: FIDH)
INDIA:
Man sent to gallows in female infanticide case
A local court has awarded death penalty to a man for strangulating his
3-day-old daughter, sending a strong message against female infanticide.
District and Sessions Judge M S Chahan on Wednesday awarded capital punishment
to Mukesh, a resident of Siypur village in Sasni, for strangulating his
3-day-old daughter on January 21 when his wife Manju was in another room.
According to prosecution, the man who already had 2 daughters wanted a boy and
was unhappy over the birth of the girl.
(source: The Hindu)
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