Jan. 19
INDONESIA:
Teen murder suspect could face death penalty
The 17-year-old boy believed to be responsible for the quadruple murder at RTM
Road here is facing four tentative murder charges and one tentative charge for
attempted murder.
The Sessions Court here read the four charges under Section 302 of the Penal
Code and the other charge under Section 307 of the same Act after his remand
expired yesterday.
Each charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries a mandatory death
sentence, while Section 307 of the same Act provides for a maximum 20 years’
jail.
The boy’s 44-year-old mother was released on an RM10,000 bond with one surety
from a 14-day remand.
She was ordered to report to the police station here once a month.
Judge Indra Ayub fixed Feb 29 this year for further mention of the case.
Timber and shipping businessman Ling Tong Hock (37), his mother Leong Nyuk Lan
(77), his son David (11) and his daughter Amy (8) were found murdered in their
home on Jan 3.
Ling’s 10-year-old son, Kelvin, suffered serious injuries on the back of his
head and had to be transferred to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) in
Kuching.
On Wednesday he was transferred back to Sibu Hospital where he is still
undergoing treatment.
(source: Borneo Post)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
2 sentenced to death for killing housemaid
A court in Fujairah sentenced 2 Emirati men to death for murdering an elderly
Asian housemaid after she resisted their attempt to rape her.
The 2 had been invited by a teenaged friend to his house in Fujairah in
mid-2010 to have sex with his young Asian maid with her consent.
They then went into the room where another maid in her 50s was asleep. They
jolted her out of bed and tried to rape her.
“They strangled her to death after she resisted them…they then fled the house,”
the semi-official daily 'Al Ittihad' said.
It said the court acquitted the teenaged boy of murder charges but sentenced
him to 6 months at the juvenile delinquency centre for committing adultery. The
young maid was sentenced to 6 months in jail and ordered deported.
(source: Emirates247.com)
ETHIOPIA:
Journalists, politician found guilty
An Ethiopian court on Thursday found 3 journalists, a politician and a
politician's assistant guilty of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, in a
case that drew rebukes from rights groups who fear the country's anti-terrorism
law is being used to suppress dissent.
The 5 were charged under Ethiopia's controversial anti-terrorism laws.
Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal has said they were involved in planning
attacks on infrastructure, telecommunications and power lines.
Alemu Gobebo, a private lawyer and a father of one of the defendants, called
the case politically motivated. The five will be sentenced Jan. 26. They could
face the death penalty.
Among the 3 journalist convicted were Reeyot Alemu, a columnist for the
independent weekly Fetah and a former opposition member; Elias Kifle,
editor-in-chief of a U.S.-based opposition website, who was tried in absentia;
and Wubshet Taye, deputy editor-in-chief of the recently closed-down weekly
newspaper Awramba Times.
International rights groups have been calling for the release of the
journalists. Ethiopia recently found two Swedish reporters guilty of supporting
terrorism and sentenced them to 11 years in prison.
Ethiopia has arrested close to 200 people, among them journalists and
opposition politicians and members, under last year's anti-terrorism
proclamation.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more journalists have fled
Ethiopia than any other country in the world.
Amnesty International said it does not believe there is any evidence that the
five were guilty of any criminal wrongdoing. Claire Beston, the group's
Ethiopia researcher, called the five "prisoners of conscience." She said a
significant amount of the prosecution's evidence relied on the defendants'
reporting of and alleged involvement in calls for peaceful protest against the
government.
Human Rights Watch said the anti-terrorism law violates free expression and due
process rights.
"The verdict against these five people confirms that Ethiopia's anti-terrorism
law is being used to crush independent reporting and peaceful political
dissent," said Leslie Lefkow, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"The Ethiopian courts are complicit in this political witch-hunt."
(source: Associated Press)
GAZA:
EU, Rights Group Denounce Gaza Death Sentences
The European Union missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah and the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights in Gaza (PCHR) condemned in two separate statements
death sentences recently passed in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement issued from Jerusalem on Thursday, the EU missions condemned a
death sentence a Gaza military court had passed on January 11 against a
Palestinian accused of collaboration with Israel.
It said that the EU opposes use of capital punishment, adding that it
“considers that abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement
of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights.”
The statement called on the “de facto authorities in Gaza,” meaning Hamas, to
“refrain from carrying out any executions of prisoners and comply with the de
facto moratorium on executions put in place by the Palestinian Authority,
pending abolition of the death penalty in line with the global trend.”
PHCR also condemned another death sentence passed in absentia by a Gaza civil
court on Monday against a 27-year-old resident of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza,
after if found him guilty of murdering his brother in 2005.
It said it was “gravely concerned over the continued application of the death
penalty” in the Palestinian Territory and called for “an immediate moratorium
on the use of the death penalty as a form of punishment.”
With the 2 death sentences issued so far this year, the total number of death
sentences passed by the Palestinian Authority since 1994 has reached 123, of
which 25 have been issued in the West Bank and 98 in the Gaza Strip, said PCHR.
Among those issued in the Gaza Strip, 37 sentences have been issued since 2007
when Hamas controlled the coastal enclave.
The Palestinian president has to ratify death sentences before they are
executed, but since the 2007 division between the West Bank and Gaza, the Hamas
authorities in the Strip carried out death sentences without President Mahmoud
Abbas’ ratification.
(source: Palestine News & Info Agency)
ETHIOPIA:
Journalists, politician found guilty
An Ethiopian court on Thursday found 3 journalists, a politician and a
politician's assistant guilty of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, in a
case that drew rebukes from rights groups who fear the country's anti-terrorism
law is being used to suppress dissent.
The 5 were charged under Ethiopia's controversial anti-terrorism laws.
Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal has said they were involved in planning
attacks on infrastructure, telecommunications and power lines.
Alemu Gobebo, a private lawyer and a father of one of the defendants, called
the case politically motivated. The five will be sentenced Jan. 26. They could
face the death penalty.
Among the 3 journalist convicted were Reeyot Alemu, a columnist for the
independent weekly Fetah and a former opposition member; Elias Kifle,
editor-in-chief of a U.S.-based opposition website, who was tried in absentia;
and Wubshet Taye, deputy editor-in-chief of the recently closed-down weekly
newspaper Awramba Times.
International rights groups have been calling for the release of the
journalists. Ethiopia recently found two Swedish reporters guilty of supporting
terrorism and sentenced them to 11 years in prison.
Ethiopia has arrested close to 200 people, among them journalists and
opposition politicians and members, under last year's anti-terrorism
proclamation.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more journalists have fled
Ethiopia than any other country in the world.
Amnesty International said it does not believe there is any evidence that the
five were guilty of any criminal wrongdoing. Claire Beston, the group's
Ethiopia researcher, called the five "prisoners of conscience." She said a
significant amount of the prosecution's evidence relied on the defendants'
reporting of and alleged involvement in calls for peaceful protest against the
government.
Human Rights Watch said the anti-terrorism law violates free expression and due
process rights.
"The verdict against these five people confirms that Ethiopia's anti-terrorism
law is being used to crush independent reporting and peaceful political
dissent," said Leslie Lefkow, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"The Ethiopian courts are complicit in this political witch-hunt."
(source: Associated Press)
GAZA:
EU, Rights Group Denounce Gaza Death Sentences
The European Union missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah and the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights in Gaza (PCHR) condemned in two separate statements
death sentences recently passed in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement issued from Jerusalem on Thursday, the EU missions condemned a
death sentence a Gaza military court had passed on January 11 against a
Palestinian accused of collaboration with Israel.
It said that the EU opposes use of capital punishment, adding that it
“considers that abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement
of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights.”
The statement called on the “de facto authorities in Gaza,” meaning Hamas, to
“refrain from carrying out any executions of prisoners and comply with the de
facto moratorium on executions put in place by the Palestinian Authority,
pending abolition of the death penalty in line with the global trend.”
PHCR also condemned another death sentence passed in absentia by a Gaza civil
court on Monday against a 27-year-old resident of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza,
after if found him guilty of murdering his brother in 2005.
It said it was “gravely concerned over the continued application of the death
penalty” in the Palestinian Territory and called for “an immediate moratorium
on the use of the death penalty as a form of punishment.”
With the 2 death sentences issued so far this year, the total number of death
sentences passed by the Palestinian Authority since 1994 has reached 123, of
which 25 have been issued in the West Bank and 98 in the Gaza Strip, said PCHR.
Among those issued in the Gaza Strip, 37 sentences have been issued since 2007
when Hamas controlled the coastal enclave.
The Palestinian president has to ratify death sentences before they are
executed, but since the 2007 division between the West Bank and Gaza, the Hamas
authorities in the Strip carried out death sentences without President Mahmoud
Abbas’ ratification.
(source: Palestine News & Info Agency)
IRAQ:
Iraq Presidency approves 11 death penalties against bloody Wednesday bombers
Iraqi Presidency approved death penalty sentences against 11 convicted involved
in 2009’s bloody Wednesday explosions, a source from Iraqi presidency revealed
on Thursday.
“Iraqi presidency approved, today, death penalty sentences against 11 convicted
involved in the 2 explosions that targeted the Foreign Affairs and Finance
ministries on August 19, 2009,” Iraqiya channel cited a source from Iraqi
presidency as saying.
2 bombed trucks exploded, on August 19, 2009, targeting headquarters of Foreign
Affairs Ministry in Salihiya, central Baghdad, and Finance Ministry, western
Baghdad which led to the death of 112 people and the injury of 575. Regions
surrounding the explosion sites, Salihiya residential compound central Baghdad
and Mohamed Qassim Bridge western the capital were heavily damaged by the
explosions.
Iraqi government accused, at the time, Baathist commands in Damascus of being
behind explosions and called the UN to form an international tribunal to try
the accused. These accusations resulted in tension that lasted for over a year
between both parties. Iraqi authorities consequently undertook tight security
measures, increased security checkpoints in the capital, and brought 29
security members, including high ranked officers, to justice for neglect and
shortcoming, a source told Alsumaria.
(source: alsumaria.tv)
IRAN----execution
1 man was hanged publicly in southeastern Iran
1 man was hanged publicly in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman this
morning.
According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars, the man was convicted of
rape. He was 31 year old and father of 2 children, said the report.
According to the website Khabaronline, the man was identified as Majid Samimi.
The execution was carried out in Kerman’s Khaju Square early this morning.
Since 2011 there has been a dramatic increase in the number of public
executions in Iran. Of the total 55 reported executions in 2012 in Iran, 10 of
them have been carried out in the public. (source: Iran Human Rights)
**********************************
Iran must halt execution of web programmer
Iran must not execute a web programmer sentenced to death after one of his web
programs was used to post pornographic images without his knowledge, Amnesty
International said today, as the Iranian authorities continue their crackdown
on bloggers and other users of the internet.
Iran's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence for Saeed Malekpour, 35, on
Tuesday on charges of "insulting and desecrating Islam". He could now be
executed at any time.
The Supreme Court's decision comes as the Iranian government is stepping up its
targeting of internet users in a crackdown on freedom of expression ahead of
the Iranian parliamentary elections in March.
"By confirming Saeed Malekpour's death sentence after an unfair trial, the
Iranian authorities are sending a message to Iranians not to freely express
their views, or even to help others to do so, including on the internet," said
Ann Harrison, Amnesty International's interim Deputy Director for the Middle
East and North Africa.
"The Supreme Court should have investigated the reports of Saeed Malekpour's
torture instead of confirming his sentence. If he is held solely for the
peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression, he should be released
immediately and unconditionally."
Saeed Malekpour, a permanent resident of Canada, was arrested in October 2008
while visiting his family in Iran. He is alleged to have been tortured while
being held in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin Prison for more than a
year.
A Revolutionary Court sentenced Saeed Malekpour to death in October 2010. After
the Supreme Court returned the case for further review, the Revolutionary Court
re-imposed the death sentence in November 2011.
The charges against him are believed to be in relation to the misuse of a
program he created which enabled photos to be uploaded online.
Blogger Vahid Asghari, who had been studying information and computer
technology in India prior to his arrest in 2008, and website administrator
Ahmad Reza Hashempour are also on death row after apparently unfair trials,
awaiting execution on internet-related charges.
"It is time for Iran to stop executing people, especially after trials that
fall far short of international human rights standards. The authorities must
also not unlawfully limit the right to freedom of expression with vaguely
worded charges," Ann Harrison said.
A growing number of media workers in Iran are being targeted because of their
work on the internet.
According to reports, journalist and blogger Marzieh Rasouli was arrested by
security forces at her home in Tehran on Tuesday.
2 days earlier women's rights activist and blogger Parastoo Dokouhaki, also
known for her work as a journalist, was arrested by security forces at her home
in Tehran. She has since been charged with "propaganda against the system" and
believed to be held in Evin Prison.
On Wednesday, journalist and photographer Sahamaddin Bourghani was arrested in
his home in Tehran. The reasons for his arrest are unknown.
Simin Nematollahi, a contributor to Majzooban-e Noor, a Sufi news website was
arrested at her home in Tehran on 11 January on a charge of "propaganda against
the system".
Several members of the website's staff were arrested in September 2011 and have
since been freed on bail pending trial.
Dual Iranian and Canadian national, Hossein Derakhshan, known as the
"blogfather" for introducing blogging to Iran, is serving a 19 and a half year
sentence on internet-related charges. Fellow blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki is
serving a 15-year sentence for his writings on the internet.
He is in very poor health
The government has officially acknowledged executing at least 31 people already
this year, although Amnesty International has received information suggesting
at least another 22 people were put to death. This would bring the total number
of executions for 2012 to 53 people. Five of those executions were carried out
in public.
In December 2011, Amnesty International highlighted a massive wave of
executions in Iran throughout 2011, with over 600 people being put to death.
Most of these were for drug-related offences.
The scope of the death penalty is very broad in Iran and thousands are believed
to remain on death row. These include: Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, a dual national of
Iran and Canada, who was sentenced to death in 2008 on espionage-related
charges; Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who faces death by stoning after being
convicted of "adultery while married"; and Pastor Yousef Naderkhani, who is
held pending the outcome of his retrial on the charge of "apostasy from Islam".
(source: Amnesty International)
SINGAPORE:
Sabahan on Singapore’s death row turns 24 today
While waiting for the President of Singapore to make a decision on Yong Vui
Kong’s appeal for clemency against the death sentence for drug trafficking,
concerned Sabahans should not give up hope and must continue to plea for Vui
Kong’s life.
Tawau MP Datuk Chua Soon Bui said Vui Kong’s story of repentance has brought
about more than 100,000 support for clemency and more than one million visitors
to the blog site by people from different walks of life and ages from all over
the world.
“It is obvious that our existing laws on drug trafficking do not have any
deterent effect. Many young people, especially women, have become drug mules in
Malaysia,” she said.
Chua wrote a letter to Vui Kong telling him to continue to relate his story
that would bring about changes by raising the awareness of society about the
dark side of drugs. “Your sincerity of remorsefulness and repentance has
inspired many of us, you may not know it, but you have changed many lives to be
better in many different ways,” Chua wrote.
Chua said that although she still did not have the chance to meet with Vui Kong
personally but after joining the ‘Give life a second chance, Save Vui Kong
Campaign’ for a few years and read his many articles, she felt as if she has
known Vui Kong for a long time. “Vui Kong will be 24 years old today (Jan 19)
and I wish his time clock will continue ticking for years to come as in the
photo designed for him,” she said.
“I know that it had not been easy for him to have met with ‘bad companies’ and
being victimised at such a young and fragile age of 18,” she said.
Vui Kong has submitted his appeal for clemency to the President of Singapore
and he has truly repented and that he has earnestly changed.
The appeal for clemency is to request for the death sentence to be commuted to
life imprisonment and Chua had also submitted the appeal to the chairman of the
Human Rights Commission of the United Nation in New York last year.
(source: The Borneo Post)
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