Nov. 15
IRAN:
Iranian Pastor on Death Row Under Pressure----Ruling awaited from supreme
leader on Christian sentenced to death for leaving Islam.
The mistreatment of a pastor in Iran awaiting a decision on his death sentence
for refusing to recant his faith amounts to physical and psychological torture,
a source close to the pastor’s family said.
Yousef (also spelled Youcef) Nadarkhani, sentenced to death a year ago after a
court of appeals in Rasht, Iran, found him guilty of leaving Islam in September
2010, is in deteriorating health, according to a member of Nadarkhani’s
denomination, the Church of Iran, who requested anonymity.
He said that communication with Nadarkhani is limited, but that sources close
to the imprisoned Christian indicated that he has undergone physical and
psychological torture.
“Certainly he was hit, but his [telephone] conversations are heard [by
authorities],” the source said. “We know that he has been in extreme
situations, and we consider that torture. When you have spent time in a
solitary cell unable to talk to others for a long time, or you are told you
will be killed, this is also torture.”
The court in Rasht, 243 kilometers (151 miles) northwest of Tehran, was
expected to pronounce a verdict on Nadarkhani’s appeal last month, and sources
said the court’s long silence bodes ill. Instead of pronouncing a verdict, the
court sent the Christian’s case to the nation’s Islamic authority, Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, to make a ruling.
Authorities have also continued to pressure Nadarkhani to recant his faith
while in prison. Last month they gave him Islamic literature aimed at
discrediting the Bible, according to sources, and instructed him to read it.
Some sources indicate a ruling could come the second half of December. One said
some Iranian Christians believe that, in the face of international outrage over
the case, the government would announce a verdict near the Christmas holidays
so that it would receive less notice. On Nov. 10, the Christian Broadcasting
Network (CBN) reported that a verdict on Nadarkhani’s case was expected in
mid-December, regardless of whether there is a ruling by Khamenei.
Authorities arrested Nadarkhani in his home city of Rasht in Oct. 2009 on
charges that he questioned obligatory religion classes in Iranian schools.
After finding him guilty of apostasy, the court of appeals in Rasht in November
2010 issued a written confirmation of his charges and death sentence.
At an appeal hearing in June, the Supreme Court of Iran upheld Nadarkhani’s
sentence but asked the court in Rasht to determine if he was a practicing
Muslim before his conversion. The court declared that Nadarkhani was not a
practicing Muslim before his conversion, but that he was still guilty of
apostasy due to his Muslim ancestry.
The Supreme Court had also determined that his death sentence could be annulled
if he recanted his faith. The Rasht court gave Nadarkhani three chances to
recant Christianity in accordance with sharia (Islamic law), but Nadarkhani
refused to do so. His final appeal hearings ended on Sept. 28, and the court
was expected to make its final decision two weeks from the final hearing.
“For the moment, we are waiting,” said the Church of Iran source. “We have no
response for now. The only thing his lawyer told me is that the file went to
the Supreme Court, but normally we should have had a response by now.”
There are 2 more Christians from the Church of Iran, a denomination that
Iranian Christians accuse of being “non-Trinitarian,” who are also serving
prison sentences. Behnam Irani has been in prison since he was arrested on
April 14 in Karaj, charged with “propaganda against the system.” Authorities
were due to release him on Oct. 20, but instead they handed him a letter just
days before informing him that a five-year prison sentence from 2008 for
“action against national security,” which had been suspended, was effective
immediately due to the second conviction on a similar charge, according to
Mohabat News.
The other incarcerated Christian, Mehdi Foroutan (also known as Petros), has
been in prison in Shiraz for 2 months, serving a one-year sentence for
propaganda against the state and “action against national security,” according
to sources.
As Christians in Iran are held hostage to the government’s political whims, the
source said, the key to their freedom is continued pressure from the
international community.
“The pressure is the most important thing,” he said. “When the Iranian state
sees pressure, they will understand the world hasn’t forgotten Yousef, Behnam
and Petros.”
Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, also faces charges for “actions and
propaganda against the Islamic regime,” due to his human rights activities.
In the past week U.S. State Department Ambassador-at-Large for International
Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson Cook called for the release of Pastor
Nadarkhani, according to CBN.
“I want to echo President Obama’s and Secretary Clinton’s – and repeat my own –
condemnation of his conviction and our calls on Iranian authorities to release
Pastor Nadarkhani immediately,” Cook said, according to CBN. “I urge all of you
to do the same.”
Arrests of Christians
Another wave of arrests is expected this December and January, a favorite time
for Iranian authorities to make the rounds at Christian house group meetings,
according to the Church of Iran source. He said the best Christmas gift for
Iranian Christians this year would be for Western powers and Christians to
continue to lobby for their freedoms.
Historically, the Iranian government has cracked down on Christians during the
Christmas season, when house group members gather in larger numbers. Last year
in a 2-month period over the holidays, authorities arrested more than 120
Christians belonging to Iran’s underground church.
All have been released, with a few known exceptions. One of those arrested,
Farshid Fathi, 32, has been in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran since Dec.
26, 2010. He has spent much of that time in solitary confinement and has been
mistreated, according to Mohabat News. He is married and has 2 young children.
Noorollah Ghabitizadeh (also spelled Qabitizade) has been in prison since Dec.
24, 2010. Authorities originally held him in Dezful and later transferred him
to Ahwaz as punishment for starting a Bible study at the Dezful prison, Mohabat
News reported.
Authorities have reportedly put Ghabitizadeh under intense pressure to renounce
Christianity and return to Islam. In his first trial hearing two months ago, a
judge pressured him by telling him his death penalty for apostasy would be
decided in that court hearing, according to Mohabat News.
On Oct. 17 authorities arrested another Christian convert, Fariborz Arazm, 44,
in Robat Karim, according to Mohabat News. His whereabouts and condition are
unknown.
Earlier this week, Amnesty International issued a statement denouncing the
continual degradation of human rights in Iran and the unwillingness of the
government to espouse international human rights practices.
The official religion of Iran is Shiite Muslim, and the country’s laws and
regulations are based on sharia.
(source: Compass Direct News)
INDONESIA:
Indonesian Islamic group wants death for graft
An Islamic group in Indonesia has said people convicted for corruption must be
sentenced to death, or "at the minimum have their hands cut off".
Islamic Defenders Front patron Habib M. Riziq said Tuesday he would fully
support the death penalty for graft convicts.
He termed it "ridiculous" that Indonesia was debating whether or not to award
corruption convicts with sentence cuts for good behaviour in prison.
"In Saudi Arabia corruption convicts' hands are cut off, in China their heads
are cut off, in Indonesia corruption convicts have their prison terms cut... I
don't understand," he said.
(source: IANS)
PHILIPPINES:
Sison: Death penalty against foreign drug traffickers
THE House Committee on Dangerous Drugs has reported for plenary action a bill
imposing death penalty to foreign nationals who are arrested in the country for
drug trafficking.
House Bill 4510 authored by Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro
City) and Maximo Rodriguez Jr. (Party-list, Abante Mindanao) seeks to amend
Republic Act 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of
2002. The law prohibits the imposition of the death penalty in the Philippines.
While the intention in passing the law was very clear and noble, there are some
sectors of society who believe that this law is not just and equitable.
Rodriguez said foreign drug syndicates are now establishing their area of
operations in the Philippines because the penalty for drug trafficking is only
life imprisonment.
Rodriguez said, they are now emboldened to establish their drug factories in
the Philippines, because if they are arrested and convicted, they only suffer
life imprisonment as compared to the penalties that they may suffer in other
countries which, in some cases like in China, is death.
There is a need to amend our laws to ensure that foreign nationals caught
violating our laws on drugs will also be convicted with the harshest penalties
that their national law imposes.
Rodriguez said there have been constant reports of foreign nationals, including
Chinese nationals, being caught selling drugs and operating drug dens and
laboratories in the country.
Once they are caught and convicted, the penalty that our local courts may
impose is only life imprisonment.
Rodriguez said some Filipinos who were accused of being drug mules were already
meted the death penalty in China but the Chinese nationals who were apprehended
for drug trafficking in the Philippines were only imprisoned for life, with a
chance to be pardoned.
Rodriguez cited the execution of three Filipinos in China namely Elizabeth
Batain, Sally Villanueva and Ramon Credo who were meted the death penalty after
being caught for drug trafficking.
Rodriguez said there is no reason to question the laws of foreign countries;
the country's laws however, must ensure that Filipinos do not suffer the short
end of the stick.
Under the bill, if the violator of any of the provisions of the proposed act is
an alien, the penalty to be imposed shall be the penalty prescribed by their
national law for the act committed or the penalty prescribed by the measure,
whichever is higher, provided, that if the act committed is not punishable in
their national law, then the provisions of this proposed act shall apply.
The bill provides that where the death penalty is not imposed, in addition to
the penalties prescribed in the unlawful act committed, any alien who violates
any provision of the proposed act shall, after service of sentence, be deported
immediately without further proceedings.
(source: The Sun Star)
BELARUS:
Lawyers to address court in Minsk bomb trial
Lawyers for 2 men accused of carrying out a bomb attack that claimed 15 lives
in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, will address the court on Tuesday, a day
after prosecutors demanded they face the firing squad.
Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalyov have been charged with detonating an
explosive device at a metro station on April 11. The blast also injured over
200 people. One of the suspects has pleaded guilty, citing pressure. Witnesses
in the case said the charges are unsubstantiated.
“The prosecution suggests that they are highly dangerous for society and the
country as a whole,” Prosecutor Alexei Stuk said, according to the Belarusian
news agency Belta. Prosecutors said earlier the suspects had been guided by a
hatred for mankind.
"I am asking for capital punishment," he said. The court is expected to give a
verdict in the next few days.
Kovalyov’s mother, Lyubov, said on Monday that the case was fabricated to cover
up the real culprits and referred to inconsistencies in the investigation.
“I am sure that my son is innocent,” she said, with tears in her eyes, and
added that the court was biased against the suspects.
A woman injured in the metro blasts, Lyudmila Zhechko, said “other people stand
behind” the terrorist attacks.
“I don’t believe it that 2 uneducated woodworker-mechanics could have
masterminded such a thing,” she said.
Prosecutors have also linked the 2 men to other bomb attacks, including one on
Independence Day in 2008 and blasts in the town of Vitebsk in 2005.
Belarus remains the only European country that allows death penalty. Last year,
2 people were sentenced to capital punishment and executed.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Helsinki Commission will hold a hearing on the human
rights situation in Belarus.
(source: Ria Novosti)
SIERRE LEONE:
Amnesty International Commends Attorney-General
For not carrying out any execution in the last 13 years, Amnesty International
has commended the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Franklyn Bai
Kargbo, and the Sierra Leone government under its Universal Periodic Review and
now considers the country to be abolitionist in practice.
In a meeting with Kargbo, AI delegates welcomed the country's acceptance in
principle of a moratorium on the death penalty adding that Sierra Leone will
henceforth be listed as one of the over 2/3 of the world's countries which have
abolished the death penalty either in law or practice.
The delegates however asked the minister to urge the government to embark on
the ratification of the outstanding international treaties like the optional
protocol to the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the
protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, among
others.
In his response, Kargbo noted some of the strides the government has made in
ratifying many international treaties as an obligation in the interest of human
rights saying:
"Many of these human rights laws have reflected and are enforceable under the
national law."
He maintained that the vision of his ministry is to restore strong legal system
which has credibility and integrity to strengthen the prosecution division in
Sierra Leone.
"We will continue to ensure the administration of justice, maintenance of law
and order, peace security and respect for human rights," he assured and added
that plans and actions are underway to ratify all the optional protocols the
delegates asked for from the government.
(source: All Africa News)
CHINA:
Executioner says job not "complicated"
Hu Xiao says his job as one of China's executioners is usually not very
complicated, except for the time when a prisoner he was about to kill stood up
and ran toward his loaded rifle.
The rare glimpse into the ranks of China's executioners appeared in the Beijing
Evening News newspaper Monday.
Hu, a veteran judicial police officer, described the routine of shooting
prisoners convicted of murder and other capital crimes in China, which rights
groups say carries out more judicial killings each year than anywhere else in
the world.
"In fact, it's not as complicated as outsiders think. We all use rifles, stand
about 4 meters from the condemned prisoner with a barrel 1 meter-long, take
aim, press the trigger, and that's that," Hu told the newspaper.
Most prisoners taken for execution are so terrified they collapse on the ground
and cannot stand, Hu said. The exception was an ex-soldier convicted of
homicide, he said.
"At the time of execution, the criminals kneel on the ground, but this former
soldier actually stood up and ran forward. The result was a moving target that
was taken down," said Hu, himself a former soldier who has worked as a police
officer for 19 years.
"These people all deserved what they got for their crimes."
China does not publish statistics of the number of people it executes. But
human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have said it
executes more prisoners than any other country -- thousands in 2010, according
to Amnesty.
The United States executed 46 people, nearly all by lethal injections, in 2010,
said Amnesty.
China has been moving toward using more lethal injections, which are less prone
to mishaps than guns, but Hu spoke only of his routine of shooting convicted
prisoners.
When he first took the job of judicial police officer, Hu told the newspaper,
older officers made him watch two executions and inspect the fresh corpses.
Then it was time for Hu to do it himself, and the newspaper said he was not
nervous.
"Yet the second time he was carrying out the task he did become nervous. Not
because he was afraid, but out of fear of not shooting straight and becoming a
laughing stock among his colleagues," said the report.
Younger police officers take longer to become used to executions, said Hu.
"For the older judicial police, carrying out executions became a routine task
long ago," said the report.
(source: Reuters)
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