Aug. 30
IRAN:
Saeed Malekpour's Death Sentence Commuted to Life Because "He Repented"
Saeed Malekpour, a web developer who had previously been sentenced to death for
blasphemy, was sentenced to life in prison after he repented at the Supreme
Court. Malekpour's lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaee, told ISNA News Agency
on Monday, August 26, that after his death sentence was upheld at the Supreme
Court, he repented and showed remorse, and therefore his sentence was reduced
to life in prison.
The 37-year old prisoner's lawyer told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA)
that Saeed Malekpour did not deserve the death sentence, and that he is trying
to reduce this sentence to 15 years in prison.
Arrested in 2008, Saeed Malekpour, an alumnus of Tehran's Sharif University and
a web developer and resident of Canada, was sentenced to death in October 2010
on charges of "blasphemy" for alleged "management of pornographic websites."
The Supreme Court overturned the sentence in November 2011 because of
deficiencies in investigations and insufficient evidence, and forwarded his
case to the Revolutionary Court. However, the Supreme Court upheld his death
sentence on January 30, 2012. He is currently being held at the IRGC's Ward 2-A
in Evin Prison.
In a May 2012 interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in
Iran, Maryam Malekpour, Saeed Malekpour's sister, said that her brother had
been repeatedly coerced to provide television confessions, which he refused.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
TANZANIA:
LHRC recommends amending human rights in new constitution
LHRC executive director, Helen BisimbaThe Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC)
has recommended the amendment of the new constitution draft in areas of human
rights and citizens; right to ownership of natural resources.
The statement was given yesterday in Dar es Salaam by the LHRC executive
director, Helen Bisimba after submitting views of the Centre's constitution
council to the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC).
"Human rights should be given enough protection and also hold accountable those
who violate human rights without delay...there should also be transparency on
citizens' right to own natural resources such as land, minerals and gas," she
said.
Bisimba outlined other areas that LHRC wants to be amended as the removal of
death penalty, one united government, boost right to access health services
which is said to be weak, clear definitions of special groups such as women,
children, the elderly and people with disabilities so that they are not left
behind, removal of 'in accordance with the law' provisions and literal and
formats corrections.
She however said they recommended that some areas be left unaltered, including
human rights, human rights for special groups such as women, children, the
elderly and people with disabilities, general rights as right to clean
environment and right to education; and the 50 percent ratio for men and women
in parliament.
However, Bisimba said they came across various challenges during the exercise
of collecting opinions as many people were not much aware of the draft content
due to insufficient access.
"Various institutions did not have enough copies of the draft and in other
places citizens were denied copies and told that it did not concern them and if
they insisted they would be told to go and read it at their local governments'
offices and leave the copies there after reading," she said.
She finally called on other councils for constitution draft to submit their
opinions and recommendations in time so that they do not lose their rights,
adding that the CRC should treat other councils equal to CRC councils.
(source: IPP Media)
INDONESIA:
Indonesia upholds death sentence for UK woman; Country's top court endorses
lower court which convicted Lindsay Sandiford of smuggling $2.5m worth of
cocaine.
Indonesia's highest court has upheld the death sentence for a British woman
convicted of smuggling $2.5 million worth of cocaine into the resort island of
Bali, a court official has said.
A 3-member judge panel unanimously rejected Lindsay June Sandiford's appeal,
the Supreme Court spokesman Ridwan Mansur said on Friday.
The 57-year-old woman was found guilty in January by a district court for
smuggling 4.79kg of cocaine into Bali and sentenced to face a firing squad.
She lost an appeal 3 months later after the Bali High Court upheld the lower
court's ruling.
A spokesman for the British embassy in Jakarta, Adam Rutland, said consular
assistance would continue to be provided to Sandiford and her family.
"We are aware that Lindsay Sandiford's appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court
has been denied," Adam Rutland, spokesman for the British Embassy in Jakarta,
said in an email.
"In line with our strong opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances,
we will consider how to support any application for judicial review or clemency
that Lindsay Sandiford chooses to make."
Prosecutors had initially sought 15 years in prison for Sandiford, but the
court surprised many by issuing a death sentence.
Under Indonesian law, Sandiford still has the opportunity to avoid execution, a
judicial review of the top court's decision or a presidential pardon. But death
row convicts in Indonesia rarely have their sentences reduced.
The British woman was sentenced to death after cocaine was found in her
suitcase as she arrived on a flight from Bangkok in May last year.
4 other defendants - 3 British and an Indian - connected to the case were
sentenced to jail terms ranging from 1 to 6 years.
Police said she was at the centre of a drugs-importing ring involving 3 other
Britons.
Sandiford said she was forced to transport the drugs to protect her children
whose safety was at stake. The court, however, rejected that argument.
(source: Al Jazeera)
*************************
Lindsay Sandiford loses appeal against death sentence in Indonesia; Supreme
court throws out appeal by 57-year-old from Cheltenham convicted of smuggling
1.6m pounds worth of cocaine into Bali
A British woman convicted of smuggling 1.6m pounds-worth of cocaine into Bali
has lost her appeal to Indonesia's highest court against a death sentence.
A 3-member panel of the country's supreme court unanimously rejected Lindsay
Sandiford's appeal, a spokesman for the court, Ridwan Mansur, told the
Associated Press. The 57-year-old from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire was
arrested for drug trafficking in May last year after police at Bali airport
said they found almost 4kg of cocaine in the lining of her suitcase.
In January, she was sentenced by a district court to face a firing squad, even
though prosecutors sought only a 15-year jail term.
During her trial, Sandiford said she was forced to carry the drugs by a gang
who threatened to hurt her children. She lost an appeal to Bali's high court in
April. Sandiford can still seek a judicial review of her case before appealing
directly to the president for clemency.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware that Lindsay Sandiford's appeal
to the Indonesian supreme court has been denied. In line with our strong
opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances, we will consider how to
support any application for judicial review or clemency that Lindsay Sandiford
chooses to make.
"We will continue to provide consular assistance to Lindsay Sandiford and her
family at this difficult time."
Indonesian police say Sandiford was at the centre of a drugs ring involving 3
other Britons, all of whom have been convicted.
Julian Ponder, 43, was jailed for 6 years in January and fined the equivalent
of 65,000 pounds after being convicted of cocaine possession. His lawyers said
he was told Sandiford was delivering a present for his child's birthday and,
when he met her to receive the gift, police officers arrested him.
Ponder's partner, Rachel Dougall, 38, from Brighton, received a 1-year jail
sentence in March, She had been in jail for 8 months awaiting trial and was
freed in May. Paul Beales, a property developer and long-time Bali resident,
was jailed for 4 years for possession of cannabis.
(source: The Guardian)
***************************
Singaporean charged with smuggling 6.6kg of crystal meth in Indonesia;
Ex-relief worker found with 6.6kg of crystal meth in Surabaya
A Singaporean former relief worker, Abdul Wahab Mohamed Tahir, 64, has been
charged with drug smuggling in a Surabaya court and could face the death
penalty if convicted.
Abdul Wahab was a senior manager for international programmes with humanitarian
charity Mercy Relief at the time of his arrest at Surabaya's Juanda airport in
late April with 6.6kg of shabu, or crystal meth, in his luggage.
A former assistant superintendent of prisons in Singapore, he joined Mercy
Relief in June 2010 and resigned on May 1, when the organisation was notified
of his detention.
Police said Abdul Wahab had landed on a SilkAir flight from Singapore, where he
transited on a flight from New Delhi.
(source: New Striats Times)
UNITED KINGDOM:
The world of Clive Stafford Smith, civil rights lawyer; Clive Stafford Smith
talks to Jessica Salter about the death penalty, spies, and Joan of Arc.
The British lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, 54, who studied at the University of
North Carolina, has represented more than 300 prisoners facing the death
penalty in the United States and secured the release of 65 prisoners from
Guantanamo Bay. He is the director of the charity Reprieve, which he founded in
1999, and was awarded an OBE for humanitarian services in 2000. His 2nd book,
Injustice, was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2013. Stafford Smith lives with
his wife, Emily Bolton, a lawyer, and their son, Wilfred, 5, in west Dorset.
Routine - I'm not a morning person, but Wilf is. We get up at 7am and have
breakfast, then I take him to school, which is only a few yards down the road.
Then I work in my little study at home. I have to go up to London a couple of
days a week, and then flee as rapidly as I can. I travel too much - I go to
America and Pakistan and places like that.
Music box My granny was a wonderful woman who stopped having birthdays aged 23
- she was 23 for 54 years. She had this 19th-century music box in her kitchen.
Now Wilf is as obsessed by it as I used to be.
Spies - One of my favourite stories about my mum, Jean, was how in 1944, when
she was 17, she went all the way to London with a friend from her home in
Northampton. She'd just done very well in her French exam and decided to
volunteer to be parachuted into France as a spy. A nice chap at the Foreign
Office gave her and her friend a cup of tea and sent them home.
Joan of Arc - When I was 11 or 12 I came across a picture of Joan of Arc being
burnt at the stake. She looked very like my sister Mary. That did have an
influence on me.
Starting out - After university I wanted to write a book that would persuade
the US of the error of its ways on the death penalty - oh, the arrogance of
youth. I spent a lot of time visiting a guy on death row in Georgia called Jack
Potts, where I discovered to my surprise that on death row you don't have a
right to a lawyer. I thought I could do more good representing these people
than writing about them.
Guantanamo Bay - Along with a couple of friends I brought the first lawsuit
against Guantanamo, which ended up in the Supreme Court and meant we were
finally allowed to visit the prisoners in 2004. One of the other lawyers, Sabin
Willett, made us these caps [pictured below]. I wear mine a lot, mainly when I
play cricket. I was at Guantanamo on July 4 this year but they wouldn't let us
visit our clients, so we played cricket outside.
Death penalty - I've seen 6 executions - 2 in the electric chair, 2 in the gas
chamber and 2 by lethal injection. These were people I knew well - Nicky Ingram
[executed in 1995 aged 31] and I were born in the same hospital in Cambridge,
and the torturous death he went through was so barbaric. I was the only person
there as a friend. It allows me to tell jurors the truth of what they're being
asked to do.
Cheque - Dan Bright was on death row in Louisiana for 9 years. When we managed
to get him off that they gave him a life sentence, until his conviction was
overthrown 3 years later, in 2004. As he left, the authorities gave him
something they give everyone, a $10 cheque as compensation. My wife thinks I'm
cheap because I gave him $20 for his cheque, which is one of my favourite bits
of paper because it shows how absurd the world is.
Wilf's potty - One of Emily's clients, George Toca, spent 2 decades in prison
for something he didn't do, and we're very close to him. When Wilf was born he
made this little wooden potty [pictured] and shipped it from Louisiana.
Bedtime - I go to bed at about midnight and unwind by reading bad books; I have
a collection of 87 Robin Hood books, which I think must be the largest in the
world.
(source: The Telegraph)
INDIA:
Twin murder convict gets death penalty
Mavelikkara Additional District and Sessions Court I on Thursday awarded death
sentence to Santhosh Kumar, accused in a twin-murder case.
The 35-year-old, hailing from Umbarnad, near Mavelikkara, was convicted under
Section 302 IPC. He was found guilty on Tuesday.
On June 26, 2006 Santhosh entered into an altercation with Suresh, 34, who runs
a shop near Mavelikkara railway station, when he refused him a cigarette.
Santhosh stabbed to death Suresh and his relative Prasannan. The court had
observed it as a rarest of rare cases as the convict had carried out the murder
without any provocation.
(source: New Indian Express)
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