Aug. 24
IRAN----execution
Man hanged in Ahvaz city prison, tens executed in a week
The Iranian regime hanged a man on Saturday in Ahvaz city prison of the
Khuzestan province, the head of mullahs' judiciary announced.
The victim was identified as Saeed Geshtil who has been arrested on drug
related charges, the state-run Mehr News Agency reported.
Since the June election in Iran over 130 executed in Iran including minors and
women. Many executions have been carried out in public.
During the past 7 days at least 34 prisoners have been hanged.
(source: NCR-Iran)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Stop Aid for Executions (SAFE)
No. of countries with the mandatory death penalty for drug offences: 12
No. of executions for drug offences in Iran between 1979 and 2011: 10,000
Conviction rate in Pakistan Special Courts for drug offences: 91%
British counternarcotics aid to Pakistan and Iran since 1998: in excess of $28,
870, 000
SAFE aims to:
1. Prevent the death penalty for drug offences by encouraging the British and
other European governments to place conditions on the financial and practical
anti-narcotics aid such that it does not lead to executions for drug offences.
2. Assist British nationals and residents currently on death row in Pakistan
and elsewhere in the world for drug offences.
3. Expose the links between counter-narcotics strategies and executions for
drug offences around the world.
Background: The War on Drugs and the Death Penalty
Vast sums of money have been (and continue to be) spent by the British
government on counternarcotics. The intention is to stem the flow of drugs,
particularly heroin coming from the 'Golden Crescent" (Afghanistan via Pakistan
and Iran), into Britain.
Unfortunately, the funding is often applied in regions which maintain the death
penalty for drug offences. The 'success' of British counternarcotics strategies
in countries such as Iran and Pakistan are calculated in terms of the number
and size of seizures made, and quite obviously, the larger the seizure the more
likely it is that the accused will be sentenced to death. Consequently, British
funding can be identified as directly contributing to the increased death
sentences and potential executions of hundreds of people around the world,
including a number of British nationals.
The UK government has spent millions on counternarcotics in Iran, as well as
providing direct assistance to the Iranian Anti-Narcotic Police (ANP) through
training and intelligence sharing. Executions for drug offences are swift and
frequent. In 2011 alone there were at least 488 executions for drug offences.
Foreign nationals, particularly Afghan nationals, are most at risk (there are
at least 4000 Afghan nationals on death row in Iran for drug offences according
to reports). Horrifyingly, executions of juveniles for drug offences, often
without trial, are also common in Iran.
In Pakistan, which has the questionable distinction of having more prisoners on
death row than any other country in the world, tens of millions of pounds of
British aid has been spent on counternarcotics in recent years. Pakistan is a
strategic priority for UK counternarcotics efforts, and in addition to
bilateral and multilateral financial assistance, Britain also provides
substantial training, equipment and intelligence to the Pakistani
Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF). Drug trafficking is a strict liability offence in
Pakistan and anyone caught with more than 1kg of heroin is likely to be
sentenced to death. Drug offences are tried in 'special courts', designed to
achieve 'speedy prosecutions'. The ANF website boasts that they have a 91%
conviction rate in the special courts established for counternarcotics cases
and that 106 death sentences have been handed down for drug offences.
Since the counternarcotics funding is designed to reduce the flow of drugs
reaching the UK, it is hardly surprising that arrests of British nationals en
route from Pakistan to the UK are frequent.
In truth, most of the funds expended by the UK seem to focus attention on the
small fry -- vulnerable people who may, or may not, know that they are being
used as mules - rather than those who are using the 'mules' and making large
sums of money off the drug trade.
Reprieve has identified a number of British nationals who are on death row or
who are facing a death sentence in Pakistan as a consequence of the
counternarcotics money provided by the British government.
British Examples
One of the most recent victims of the 'war on drugs' is Khadija Shah, a 25 year
old British woman who was arrested in Islamabad airport in May 2012. Khadija,
who was heavily pregnant at the time of her arrest, was imprisoned in the
infamous Adiala Jail in Pakistan. Her 2 young children (aged 4 and 6 years old)
were incarcerated alongside Khadija for 4 1/2 months before being released into
the care of their grandmother and allowed to return to Britain. Khadija herself
was let out of the prison for just 1 day to give birth, and returned
immediately to the notoriously unhygienic Adiala Jail, where she and her
newborn baby girl have remained since. Khadija is currently facing a death
sentence.
Cases like Khadija's are common and show just how flawed the UK's current
policy on counternarcotics aid is. Instead of targeting the 'masterminds'
behind the global drugs trade, British aid money serves to facilitate the
arrests and executions of the most vulnerable and abused.
(source: Reprieve)
PAKISTAN:
PM Nawaz directs interior ministry to halt executions until Sep 9
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Friday, directed the interior ministry to halt
executions until September 9, reported a private news channel quoting sources.
Sharif met President Zardari Thursday night at the President House, where the
head of the state told the premier that his government had stopped
implementation of death sentences of several accused terrorists and criminals
for 5 years as per the party policy.
He also wished that the 5-year moratorium should be put on hold until September
9, after which the government can review the decision with the new president,
Mamnoon Hussain, who will assume office on September 9.
Since the authority to decide whether capital punishment should be implemented
or not rests with the head of the state, Nawaz Sharif directed the interior
ministry to hold the execution of death sentences until the new President takes
oath.
Nawaz Sharif had earlier said that he would not come under pressure from any
threat related to the policy on the death penalty.The Taliban had said they
will consider the executions of any of its prisoners a declaration of war.
Official figures state that Pakistan has more than 7,000 prisoners on death
row, one of the largest populations of prisoners facing execution in the world.
(source: Independent News Pakistan)
**********************
3 counts: Kidnapping convict sentenced to death
An Anti Terrorism Court on Friday awarded death penalty to a man convicted of
kidnapping for ransom. Judge Ishtiaq Ahmad also directed the police to
confiscate the entire property of the convict.
Chak Jhumra police said Ataullah Yousafzai, a resident of Mini Khela district
in Charsadda, and his accomplices Yousaf Pathan and Rashida Khalid, both
residents of Lahore, had abducted Tehsil Municipal Officer Nusrat Amaan on
August 22, 2012.
They had demanded Rs4 million ransom, which the police said, was paid by
Amaan's family.
A case was registered against the kidnappers under Section 7 of the Anti
Terrorism Act and Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Khalid was the 1st to be arrested and convicted. She was awarded capital
punishment. Yousafzai was arrested a few weeks ago. Police said a 3rd
accomplice had been declared proclaimed offender.
(source: The Tribune)
INDIA:
URGENT ACTION----2 EXECUTIONS STAYED, ANOTHER IMMINENT
India's Supreme Court stayed the execution of Shivu and Jadeswamy on 21 August,
the day before the men had been scheduled to be executed. Devender Pal Singh
Bhullar remains at imminent risk of execution.
Shivu and Jadeswamy, who were sentenced to death in 2005, had petitioned the
president for mercy. He rejected their petition, and the men were scheduled to
be executed on 22 August. Their lawyers submitted a writ petition for
commutation of their sentence, based on the executive's inordinate delay of 6
years in considering their mercy petitions which rendered the punishment cruel
inhuman and degrading.
While the Supreme Court was hearing their petition, Shivu attempted suicide in
Hindalga prison by cutting his wrists and other parts of his body. Prison
officials told journalists that the wounds were minor and Shivu was treated
within the prison. He and Jadeswamy are now held in the same prison, the
Central Jail in the Belgaum district of Karnataka. A large bench of the Supreme
Court will begin hearing the men's case on 22 October, as well as those of at
least 17 other condemned prisoners whose mercy petitions have been rejected by
the president.
No execution date has been set for him, but Devender Pal Singh Bhullar remains
at imminent risk of execution after the Supreme Court upheld its rejection of
his commutation plea. He was sentenced to death under the Terrorist and
Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), a law that contained provisions
incompatible with international fair trial standards, and had no access to a
lawyer after he was arrested or at his trial. He was found guilty on the basis
of a "confession" to the police, which he later retracted, claiming he had made
it under police pressure. Devender Pal Singh Bhullar has been receiving
treatment at a psychiatric facility, and a medical board has apparently said
that he is suffering from severe depression and shows symptoms of psychosis and
suicidal tendencies.
Please write immediately in English or your own language:
-- Calling on the authorities not to execute Devender Pal Singh Bhuller,
Shivu, Jadeswamy or any other prisoner;
-- Urging them to retry Devender Pal Singh Bhuller in proceedings that meet
international fair trial standards;
-- Urging them to halt immediately any further executions, commute all
outstanding death sentences to terms of imprisonment and establish a moratorium
on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty altogether.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 4 OCTOBER 2013 TO:
President of India
Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
Rashtrapati Bhawan
New Delhi 110001 INDIA
Fax: 011 9111 2301 7290
Email: (via website)
http://www.helpline.rb.nic.in/GrievanceNew.aspx
Salutation: Dear President
Prime Minister
Dr Manmohan Singh
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi 110001 INDIA
Fax: 011 9111 2301 9545
Email: (via website)
http://pmindia.nic.in/feedback.php?ln=english
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister
And copies to:
Minister of Home Affairs
Mr. Sushilkumar Shinde
104 North Block
Central Secretariat
New Delhi 110001 INDIA
Fax: 011 9111 2309 4221
Email: [email protected]
Also send copies to:
Ambassador Nirupama Rao, Embassy of India
2107 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20008
Tel: 1 202 939 7000----Fax: 1 202 265 4351
Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Please check with the
AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date.
UA Network Office AIUSA----600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003
T. 202.509.8193----F. 202.675.8566----E. [email protected]/urgent
URGENT ACTION----2 EXECUTIONS STAYED, ANOTHER IMMINENT----ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
In the Indian justice system, a mercy petition is often the final opportunity
for condemned prisoners to have their death sentences commuted by the
executive, after their judicial appeals have been exhausted. In the past, some
mercy petition decisions have been successfully challenged before the higher
judiciary on grounds of the executive's undue delay in considering such
petitions. However, in April 2012, the Supreme Court upheld Devender Pal Singh
Bhullar's death sentence on the basis that such delay "cannot be invoked in
cases where a person is convicted for an offense under TADA or similar
statutes" and the "enormity of the crime". This judgment disregarded the
absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment under international law.
Since assuming office in 2012, President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected mercy
petitions of at least 19 people - Ajmal Kasab, Saibanna, Afzal Guru,
Gnanprakasham, Simon, Meesekar Madaiah, Bilavendran, Suresh, Ramji, Gurmeet
Singh, Sonia Choudhary, Sanjeev Choudhary, Jafar Ali, Dharam Pal, Praveen
Kumar, B A Umesh, Maganlal Barela, Shivu and Jadeswamy.
The Indian authorities have executed 2 of these people: Ajmal Kasab on 21
November 2012 and Afzal Guru on 9 February 2013. These 2 executions were
considered out of turn and were not announced to the public until they had been
carried out. A government minister stated that no prior announcement was made
in Ajmal Kasab's case to avoid intervention from human rights activists. In
Afzal Guru's case, his family only received notification of the execution after
it had been carried out, and his body was not returned to them for burial. The
last execution in India before these had been that of Dhananjoy Chatterjee in
August 2004.
Seven of the prisoners now on death row, Santhan, Murugan, Perarivalan,
Gnanaprakasam, Simon, Madaiah and Bilavendran were convicted by a TADA court.
The Indian authorities used to make information about the rejection of mercy
petitions and dates of execution available to the public before any executions.
However they have stopped this practice since 2012, making it difficult to know
which mercy petitions are being considered, when decisions are be made, and
whether these decisions would be public. In resolution 2005/59 the UN
Commission on Human Rights called upon all states that still maintain the death
penalty "to make available to the public information with regard to the
imposition of the death penalty and to any scheduled execution".
India's resumption of executions has set the country against regional and
global trends towards abolition of the death penalty:
140 countries are now abolitionist in law or in practice. Out of 41 countries
in the Asia-Pacific region, 17 have abolished the death penalty for all crimes,
10 are abolitionist in practice and 1 - Fiji - uses the death penalty only for
exceptional military crimes. Over the past 10 years, 4 Asia-Pacific countries
abolished the death penalty for all crimes: Bhutan and Samoa in 2004, the
Philippines in 2006 and the Cook Islands in 2007. UN bodies and mechanisms have
repeatedly called upon member states to establish a moratorium on executions
with a view to abolishing the death penalty, including through the adoption of
4 UN General Assembly resolutions in December 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012. India
voted against all 4 resolutions
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of
the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,
regardless of the nature of the crime; guilt, innocence or other
characteristics of the person facing execution; or the method used by the state
to carry out the execution.
(source: Amnesty International)
*********************
SC stays executions of 2 more condemned prisoners
The number of condemned prisoners approaching the Supreme Court for stay of
execution on the ground of long delay in rejection of their mercy pleas is
steadily growing.
A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justices Ranjana P Desai and Ranjan
Gogoi on Friday stayed the execution of condemned prisoners Suresh and Ramji,
lodged in Allahabad's Naini central prison, after hearing senior advocate Colin
Gonsalves.
With this, the number of condemned prisoners who have approached the Supreme
Court after their mercy petitions were rejected by the President has gone up to
13.
In their petition, Suresh and Ramji said they had filed mercy petitions before
the President in 2001 after the Supreme Court upheld their conviction and death
sentence.
"Despite reminders, the petitioners' mercy pleas remained pending for about 12
years during which the petitioners suffered excruciating agony and uncertainty.
They remained under a lingering shadow of hangman's noose fearing execution at
any moment," the counsel said.
Gonsalves said they had been in jail for more than 16 years, a large part of
which was spent in solitary confinement. "In view of the undue long delay in
the execution of the death sentence and adjudication of mercy petitions, the
petitioners have approached the Supreme Court for altering the death sentence
to life imprisonment," the counsel said.
Suresh, with the help of his brother-in-law Ramji, had wiped out his brother's
family of five - two adults and three children - in October 1996 because of a
dispute over family property. The trial court convicted them in 1997 and
awarded them death penalty. In 2000, the Allahabad HC upheld the conviction and
sentence. The SC rejected their appeals in 2001.
(source: The Times of India)
****************
BJP wants death penalty for Mumbai rapists, though continues defending rape
accused Asaram Bapu at same time
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Saturday reiterated her
demands of introducing a stringent anti-rape bill that awards death penalty to
rapists. The veteran BJP's leaders views came in wake of charged up public
opinion after gang-rape of 22-year old photojournalist by 5 men in Mumbai on
Thursday.
Embarrassingly for the BJP, its leaders, however, continued defending tainted
spiritual guru Asaram Bapu terming rape allegations against him as 'conspiracy'
of the Congress party.
"Rape charges against Asaram Bapu are a well planned Congress conspiracy," BJP
vice-president Prabhat Jha told reporters in Madhya Pradesh city of Bhind on
Friday.
"As polls approach, Congress party gets upset and indulges in all sorts of
political conspiracies against its opponents," Jha further alleged. Before Jha,
Hindutva leader Uma Bharti had also defended the guru claiming that he was
being framed.
Asaram has been accused of sexual assault by a minor teenage girl who has
claimed that he had called her to her Jodhpur ashram on pretext of attending a
religious ceremony where he allegedly raped her.
A medical examination of the girl has confirmed her allegations. Following the
medical test, a complaint under 376 (rape), 509 (word, gesture or act intended
to insult the modesty of a woman) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman
with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) was filed at Kamla
Nagar police station in Delhi.
(source: Daily Bhaskar)
TRINIDAD:
Govt, Opposition move to resume hangings
When the Government and Opposition teams meet next week they will discuss
various proposals including options which would enable hangings to be carried
out in TT.
One option is restricting further appeals by prisoners under sentence of death
up to the local Court of Appeal, after they have appealed up to the Privy
Council.
Concerns about crime, particularly the recent murder of 6 people, among them
three teenagers, during a 20-hour period in East Port-of-Spain on August 13 and
14 have captured national attention. The Government led by Prime Minister Kamla
Persad-Bissessar and Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and his team met at the
Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, on Thursday to come up with measures to
deal with the increase in crime.
In an interview yesterday, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan was questioned about
the proposal to resume hangings, since the death penalty has not been abolished
in TT. The last time the death sentence was carried out was on September 3,
1996, when Dole Chadee and 8 others were hung. Ramlogan acknowledged that the
long appeal process impacted on the implementation of the death sentence.
"By the time the High Court and Court of Appeal and Privy Council decide, you
are already into the twilight zone of the 5th year. The law has developed to
the point where the State must await their petition to the Mercy Committee and
Inter American Court of Human Rights. This normally takes the process across
the 5-year line," he said.
In 1993 in the case of Pratt and Morgan v The Attorney General of Jamaica, the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled that a delay of 5 years or more
in carrying out the death sentence would constitute "cruel and inhumane
treatment" contrary to the Constitution of Jamaica. This legal precedent has
affected hangings in other Caribbean territories as well.
Ramlogan observed that Jamaica has recently moved to nullify the "5-year rule"
by amending its Constitution. In the case of TT, he said, "What is required is
a simple amendment to the Constitution which will allow the death penalty to be
implemented once the prisoner has exhausted his appeal, regardless of how long
the process takes."
Such a change, he explained, took into consideration that prisoners recognised
that it was in their best interest to delay their matters for as long as
possible "in the interest of self- preservation".
Another alternative could be imposing a "time frame" in local law within which
persons must obtain judgments from international bodies.
Ramlogan said "this would cater for the present problem of those bodies
dragging on the hearing (to the extent that the) 5-year threshold is crossed."
A 3rd alternative is restricting appeals in death sentence matters to the Court
of Appeal.
He said, "So you can challenge your conviction and sentence of death all the
way to the Privy Council but any subsequent challenge to the implementation of
the sentence of death will be restricted to local courts."
The AG said there were many ideas forthcoming on the contentious and sensitive
issue of the death penalty and the Government and Opposition would meet to
consider the various proposals and decide on the most prudent course in the
public's interest.
Questioned about the suggestion for a new criminal law for home invasion,
Ramlogan said while breaking and entering was an offence, in some countries
specific provision was made for home invasion.
"We intend to examine these options," Ramlogan said. He was cautiously
optimistic and hopeful about the discussions with the Opposition.
(source: Newsday)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
