Sept. 9
SAUDI ARABIA:
Saudi Arabia Sent 1,200 Death Row Inmates To Fight In Syria In Exchange For
Full Pardon
Saudi Arabia commuted the sentences of over 1,200 death row inmates in exchange
for them fighting for the rebel forces in Syria against the regime of Bashar
al-Assad, according to the Assyrian International News Agency. The inmates were
given a simple choice: fight for the Syrian rebels or be beheaded. The report
comes from a leaked secret memo from April 2012, a year into the civil war in
Syria. A translation of the memo reads as follows (emphasis mine):
Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings
In reference to the Royal Court telegram No. 112, dated on 04/19/1433 H [March
3, 2012], referring to those held in the Kingdom jails accused with crimes to
which Islamic Sharia law of execution by sword [decapitation] applies, we
inform you that we are in dialogue with the accused criminals who have been
convicted with smuggling drugs, murder, rape, from the following nationalities:
110 Yemenis, 21 Palestinians, 212 Saudis, 96 Sudanese, 254 Syrians, 82
Jordanians, 68 Somalis, 32 Afghanis, 94 Egyptians, 203 Pakistanis, 23 Iraqis,
and 44 Kuwaitis.
We have reached an agreement with them that they will be exempted from the
death sentence and given a monthly salary to their families and loved ones, who
will be prevented from traveling outside Saudi Arabia in return for
rehabilitation of the accused and their training in order to send them to Jihad
in Syria.
Please accept my greetings.
[Signed]
Director of follow up in Ministry of Interior
Abdullah bin Ali al-Rmezan
So...I guess this is good news. Certainly 1,200 people being saved from
decapitation is a good thing. They are not exactly free, but they won't be in
prison any longer. Sending them to fight against the Assad regime is better
than fighting with the Assad regime.
Still, it's a terrible precedent to turn death row inmates into soldiers: it
encourages Saudi Arabia to find more death row inmates, and while the death
penalty is bad, forced enlistment in a war is not much better. Also, the detail
about holding their families hostage within Saudi Arabian borders makes this
move that much darker.
The real human rights violation is that Saudi Arabia had over 1,200 death row
inmates to begin with.
(source: Owen; carbonated.tv)
PAKISTAN:
Family of Dead Pakistani Student Pardons Killers
The family of a Pakistani student whose death sparked outrage against the abuse
of power by the wealthy has decided to pardon the men convicted in his killing,
their lawyer said Monday.
The family filed an affidavit with the court several days ago pardoning the men
accused of killing their son, Shahzeb Khan, lawyer Mehmood Alam Rizvi said.
Pakistani law has a maximum punishment of the death penalty, or life in prison
for a murder. But, under Islamic laws victim families can strike an
out-of-court deal with the murderers. In that case, the victim's families
generally appear in court to testify that they have pardoned the murderer in
the name of God.
These pardons often include the accused paying the victim's families money but
in this case the lawyer said the victims' family did not accept any payment.
The court must now decide whether to accept the pardon, but judges generally
follow the decision of the family.
The 2 men convicted, Shahrukh Jatoi and Nawab Siraj Talpur, come from two of
the wealthiest families in the southern port city of Karachi, a violent
metropolis of 18 million people. They were convicted of killing the 20-year-old
Khan one late night in December after the university student had an argument
with one of Talpur's servants.
The killing led to an unusual social media campaign demanding the country's
rich and powerful be held accountable for their acts.
Powerful Pakistanis and their offspring are now faced with a growing cadre of
citizens - often middle class or upper middle class - who are increasingly
fighting them with the help of the Internet, an activist Supreme Court and
prominent political figures seeking to harness their anger.
Activists in Karachi sprang into action over Khan's death, holding protests,
using Twitter and setting up a Facebook page, "In memory of Shahzeb Khan," to
get word out about the case.
Eventually, the Supreme Court demanded that police arrest the suspected killers
in 24 hours, seize their property and freeze their bank accounts.
Jatoi was nabbed in Dubai, where he had tried to escape.
(source: ABC News)
_______________________________________________
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
