Aug. 27
AFGHANISTAN:
Afghan civilians executed by Taliban; At least 6 aid workers on government
projects killed by armed group in the Afghan province of Hera
The Afghan Taliban has executed at least 6 men who worked for a government
programme in western Herat, one of Afghanistan's most stable provinces,
officials said.
The men were shot in the head late on Monday, despite efforts by governor
Fazlullah Wahidi to convince the Taliban the men did not work for him, the
governor told Reuters new agency.
"We had gathered some elders to meet the Taliban to tell them that they ...
worked for everyone in the country, but the Taliban killed them before they
arrived for negotiations," Wahidi said on Tuesday.
The Afghan men worked for a World Bank-funded programme created by the Ministry
of Rural Rehabilitation and Development that aims to improve project management
ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops from the country next year.
Multiple attacks
Meanwhile, 6 civilians who remain unidentified were found by a roadside on
Tuesday, Rohullah Samon, spokesman for eastern Paktia province, told Associated
Press.
The western province has been mostly stable, but 17 civilians have been killed
in multiple Taliban attacks in Afghanistan in the same region on August 17.
Taliban fighters also stormed a court where the group's members were standing
trial in April, killing seven and wounding 75.
About 2 weeks ago, 8 people who worked for Afghan security forces were executed
in violent Ghazni on their way to Kabul by bus.
Elections are to be held on April 5 to replace President Hamid Karzai, who came
to power in 2001 after US-led forces toppled the Taliban.
(source: Al Jazeera)
ZAMBIA:
LUSAKA business woman sentenced to death for killing husband's love appeals the
sentence
Lusaka business executive Beatrice Hangwende and her 3 accomplices in the
murder of her husband's lover have appealed against the death penalty slapped
on them by the Lusaka High Court.
Beatrice who was sentenced to death along with her elder brother, John, and
Joseph Banda and Charles Mwanza lodged their appeal notice in the Supreme Court
on grounds that they were not satisfied with the outcome of the judgment.
The quartet was facing 1 count of murder of Chabmoe Enterprises chief executive
officer Monica Chabwera Phiri contrary to section 200 of the Penal Code on
April 22, 2007 and attempted murder of her driver, Benny Banda.
The duo is also appealing against the life imprisonment for attempted murder of
Mr Banda.
In their notice of appeal, the 4 contended that upon perusal of the case record
the appellants desired to appeal against the whole judgment saying both
sentences slapped on them were too harsh.
"We are appealing against both the conviction and sentence of both counts where
the court convicted us of murder and sentenced us to hang until pronounced dead
by a medical doctor and life imprisonment for attempted murder," they said.
Supreme Court Judge Gregory Phiri sitting as High Court Judge slapped the death
sentence on the quartet last week after finding them guilty of murdering Ms
Phiri in cold blood and dumped her body in the bush in Chisamba area.
Justice Phiri said his hands were tied and could not hand down any sentence
apart from that of murder and attempted murder as required by Law.
(source: Lusaka Times)
INDIA:
Youth gets death penalty for raping & killing minor
Bolpur court on Monday sentenced Binoy Maji, (23), to death for killing a minor
girl after raping her.
The additional district judge of Bolpur court, justice Manash Basu, delivered
the verdict in a packed courtroom.
Court records reveal that on December 9, 2011, Maji, an unemployed 22-year-old
from Santra village under Nanoor police station, had raped and murdered the
8-year-old, a class 2 student of a local primary school.
Sources said that the little girl used to live with her maternal uncle's family
while her own stays in Gobindapur village under Labhpur police station.
On that fateful day, Santra residents were celebrating nabanna or the new rice
festival and the victim's parents were in the village to take part in the
festivities. From that evening itself, the minor went missing. As a search
began for the missing child, eyewitnesses said she was last seen with a village
youth.
Incidentally, there was a witness in the case - a 4-year-old girl from the same
village, with whom the victim was playing, told the police that Maji had called
the victim aside to offer her chocolates.
The father of the deceased, a farmer, lodged a complaint against Maji with the
local police station.
Subsequently, the cops arrested the accused from near his home. During
interrogation, Maji confessed to his crime and even identified the area where
he had raped and then murdered the girl.
"He (Maji) confessed that after the rape, the girl complained she was not
feeling well. He then strangled her and dumped her body nearby," a police
officer said.
Sources said the medical test conducted on Maji helped prove he had committed
the crime. Police then filed a charge sheet against him.
"After the trial, Basu on August 23, 2013, found Maji guilty under sections 363
(kidnapping), 376(2)(F), raping a minor, 302 (murder) and 201(destroying
evidence) of IPC," said Tapan Kumar Dey, the assistant public prosecutor.
Following the verdict, the victim's father broke into tears, saying, "I wanted
the death penalty for Maji. He is a brutal killer...he murdered my sweet
daughter. We are happy that the court has given us justice."
(source: Hindustan Times)
***************
Documentary on convict released
The trailer of Uyirvali, a 52-minute Tamil documentary about the life of
Perarivalan, a death row convict arrested in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination
case, was released here on Monday. The trailer is soon to be uploaded at the
website saveperarivalan.com, said activists from People's Movement Against
Death Penalty (PMADP).
The activists of PMADP Chennai Chapter who recently created the website, to
campaign against capital punishment, are now in the process of bringing out a
documentary about the life and case of Perarivalan. "The film will provide
details of Perarivalan's legal battle during his imprisonment of more than 2
decades" said Selvaraj Murugaiyan, coordinator of PMADP, Chennai.<>P>
Pragadiswaran, the director of the documentary, said, "We took Perarivalan's
legal battle as a case study in an effort to work against death penalty as a
whole."
Speaking about the film Arputham Ammal, mother of Perarivalan, said, "Even
after 22 years of detention many people across the State, the country and the
world do not know about Perarivalan. We thought that people around the world
should know about him and his legal battle against death row."
"We are in the process of releasing the documentary through television
networks. Since it is being released through television, no censor clearance is
needed," said Murugaiyan.
Noted film personalities and activists such as poet Thamarai, poet Thamizhachi
Thangapandian, film directors R K Selvamani, Va Gauthaman and Kayalvizhi were
present during the release of the trailer.
(source: The New Indian Express)
IRAN----executions
A prisoner has been hanged in Ahwaz
A man who was charged with drug trafficking, has been hanged in Ahwaz prison on
August 24, 2013.
According to a report by Mehr, Said Gashtil, had been charged with trafficking
11 kg Heroin and was hanged after his request of forgiveness was denied twice.
On Thursday August 22 also, 28 prisoners were hanged in different prisons in
Iran.
***********************
5 executions in Qom / 39 executions in less than 1 week
5 prisoners who had been charged with drug trafficking were hanged in Qom
central prison yesterday morning.
Ganj, the prosecutor of Qom said: "These prisoner have been hanged because of:
trafficking 354 kg Opium, 15 kg Krack and 3 kg Heroin and marketing 2 kg
Krack."
Counting the 5 recent ones, there have been 39 prisoners executed since August
21 in Iran.
(source for both: Human Rights Sctivists News Agency)
*****************
6 prisoners hanged in Qum and Ardebil
The Iranian regime's judiciary in the city of Qum declared that five prisoners
were hanged on Monday in the city's prisons, state-run daily Aser-e Iran
reported.
Mostafa Barzegar Ganji, the city's prosecutor did not identify the prisoners
but he said all had been arrested on drug related charges.
Also on Monday, a 56 years old prisoner was hanged in Ardebil province, the
state-run IRIB reported.
Meanwhile the mullahs' judiciary in Fars province declared that four prisoners
have been sentenced to death, state-run website INN reported.
(source: NCR-Iran)
TANZANIA:
Strike off death penalty in new constitution - call
The Tanzania Women Parliamentarians Group (TWPG) has called upon the new
Constitution to abolish the capital punishment from the Country Statutes due to
difficulties in its implementation specifically on humanitarian basis.
TWPG thus call upon the need to repeal Article 69 (1) (k) from the Draft
Constitution due to the latter specifying one of the duties of the President as
to endorse execution of death sentence.
Anna Abdallah who is the TWPG's Chairperson made the call recently at the
Constitutional Forum to ponder over additional inputs to the recently launched
Draft Constitution.
"We have problems with the death penalty in the country perhaps we should
abolish it as the fact that it has not been implemented in all these years is a
vivid testimony that we don't need it in our Country's Statute Books," said
Abdallah, amid applause from majority of TWPG's members.
Article 69 (1) (k) of the recently launched Draft Constitution specifies
clearly that "The President shall have powers to endorse the execution of a
death sentence as declared by the Court in accordance with the laws of the
Country."
Subsequently, Article 82- (b) of the very document gives the President the
power to commute a death sentence into life imprisonment.
The 2 articles however contravenes with Article 23 of the very same document
which guarantees the individual's right to life and protection for the same
from the government and society in accordance to the laws.
The World Congress against the Death Penalty recently called upon Judges in
countries whose books still retain the capital punishment to use their
discretionary power to individualise sentences, to not sentence to death or to
encourage juries to decide not to condemn to death.
The call was part of the final declaration of the 5th World Congress against
the Death Penalty held in Madrid recently, a document endorsed by its members
from various organisations in the world including the Legal and Human Rights
Centre (LHRC) of Tanzania.
The move comes as a case to challenge the legality of the death sentence lags
at the High Court of Tanzania for almost 6 years now.
On October 10, 2008, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) in collaboration
with the SAHRINGON Tanzania Chapter and the Tanganyika Law Society filed a case
at the High Court of Tanzania challenging the imposition of the capital
punishment on account that it violates the right to life.
Their argument is also based on the fact that no system is safe from judicial
errors a situation that has more often seen innocent people pay for a crime
that they did not commit.
Statistics by the World Congress against the death penalty indicate that at
least 93 Countries in the world still retain the death penalty in their books
while 58 countries still implement it every year.
Tanzania still retains the death penalty in its legislation and the last time
someone was hanged was in 1994.
In Tanzania, the death penalty is imposed in capital offences such as murder,
treason, and military related offences.
(source: IPP Media)
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