Nov. 16
EGYPT:
Egypt sentenced nearly 600 to death last year
The Egyptian government has sentenced nearly 600 people to death in the last
year, with the vast majority of death sentences handed down in relation to
political protest, human rights organization Reprieve has found.
Data collected by Reprieve has found that since January 2014, at least 588
people have been sentenced to death in Egypt. In the cases that Reprieve was
able to identify, some 72% of sentences were handed down for attending
pro-democracy protests.
Reprieve's report, released today, also found that the Egyptian authorities are
overseeing a marked rise in actual executions. Between 2011 and 2013, only 1
execution was carried out in Egypt; but since January 2014, some months after
President Sisi seized power, at least 27 people have been executed. The report
also finds that least 15 mass trials have taken place since March 2014.
Since taking power, President Sisi has overseen a regime of mass trials and
sweeping death sentences for protestors - sometimes involving hundreds of
prisoners at a time. Among those on trial and facing a potential death sentence
is Irish teenager Ibrahim Halawa, who is being assisted by Reprieve. Yesterday,
it was revealed that Ibrahim has witnessed torture methods including
'crucifixion' and electrocution being carried out in Wadi Natrun prison, where
he is being held.
Mr Halawa's family were last week joined by several British MPs in asking the
UK to intervene on the case, during President Sisi's visit to London for talks
with the Prime Minister. The Foreign Office has told Reprieve that the UK is
'monitoring' Ibrahim's case, and has said that it has been raised with the
Egyptian authorities.
However, there are concerns over the UK government's apparent support for the
Egyptian security forces. Reprieve has found that the British government
invited security and policing firm G4S to be part of the UK delegation at a
recent major Egyptian trade conference hosted by President Sisi.
Commenting, Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, which is
assisting Ibrahim Halawa, said:
"President Sisi has overseen an unprecedented surge in death sentences as part
of a wave of repression that should attract condemnation from Egypt's allies.
Since 2013, many thousands of people - including journalists, activists and
juveniles like Ibrahim Halawa - have been locked up for attending protests.
Police torture is reported all too often, and Kafkaesque 'mass trials' have
seen hundreds of death sentences handed down at a time. More than ever, the UK
must use its increasingly close relationship with Egypt to urge an end to these
terrible abuses - including the release of juveniles like Ibrahim."
(source: reprieve.org)
BANGLADESH:
Appellate Division to hear war criminals Salauddin Quader, Mujahid's review
pleas Tuesday
The Appellate Division will hear on Tuesday petitions of war criminals
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid to review their death
sentences.
The Supreme Court website shows the appeals are on Tuesday's list of business
agenda of the full bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.
The bench on Nov 2 set Nov 17 to hear the review petitions of former BNP MP
Chowdhury and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami's Secretary General Mujahid.
Mujahid's petition is on 3nd on the top appeals court's cause list while
Chowdhury's petition is 3rd.
Besides these petitions, the appeal (partly heard) of Jamaat chief Matiur
Rahman Nizami against his death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal
(ICT) is 4th on the Appellate Division's cause list.
On Monday, the High Court dropped a writ petition of Salauddin Quader's wife
Farhat Quader Chowdhury challenging the constitution of the war crimes tribunal
from its cause list.
Wartime terror of Chittagong Salauddin Quader was sentenced to death on Oct 1,
2013 by the war crimes tribunal for genocide and torture of Hindus and Awami
League supporters.
Mujahid, who was the social welfare minister in Khaleda Zia's coalition
Cabinet, had planned and executed mass murders including those of
intellectuals, scientists, academics and journalists during the Liberation War.
The International Crimes Tribunal on Jul 17, 2013, sentenced him to death for
the massacre of intellectuals and his involvement in the murder and torture of
Hindus in 1971.
Besides the chief justice, the other members of the bench that will hear the
petitions are Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, and
Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.
The bench on Nov 2 had dismissed a plea of Chowdhury seeking deposition by 8
defence witnesses, including 5 Pakistani nationals.
It also rejected another plea by Mujahid seeking order to let his junior
counsels help the senior lawyer at the hearing.
The bench upheld Mujahid's death sentence on June 16 and Chowdhury's on July
29.
The full appeals verdicts were published on Sep 30.
The special court then sent the death warrants to the jail authorities who read
those to the convicts on Oct 1.
Chowdhury is in Kashimpur Jail and Mujahid in Dhaka Central Jail.
The last legal hope for the duo to evade execution rests on the review
petitions.
If the court does not reverse the verdicts on appeal, they will be left with
the option to seek presidential clemency.
The court took only a day to hear and reject review petitions of war criminals
Jamaat assistant secretaries general Abdul Quader Molla and Mohammad
Kamaruzzaman.
They did not seek president's pardon and were eventually hanged.
Supreme Court Bar Association President Khandaker Mahbub Hossain is the chief
counsel for both Chowdhury and Mujahid.
Chittagong braces for extra security
Security in Chittagong has been heightened ahead of the hearing of the review
petitions of Salauddin Quader and Mujahid.
Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Additional Commissioner Debdas
Bhattacharya said check posts had been set up at key points of the city.
CMP had already raised the number of check posts after Jamaat's student
affiliate Islami Chhatra Shibir's plan to attack oil refineries was revealed
last month.
Salauddin Quader was a lawmaker from Chittagong's Fatikchharhi in the 9th
Parliament.
After the verdicts of war criminal Jamaat leaders Delwar Hossain Sayedee,
Quader Molla and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, several policemen were killed in
clashes with activists of Jamaat and Shibir in the port city.
(source: bdnews24.com)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
40 Islamists on trial in UAE linked to Syria's Nusra
40 Islamists charged with attempting to overthrow the Emirati regime are linked
to Syrian Islamist militants and have smuggled in weapons for attacks, a court
heard Monday.
The defendants include 38 Emiratis, the English-language Gulf News daily
reported in its online version, without giving other nationalities.
The trial of the group known as Al-Manara opened in August at the state
security court in Abu Dhabi, but the international press is barred from
attending.
The group smuggled in weapons, ammunition and detonators "obtained in
collaboration with Syria's Al Nusra Front", an Al-Qaeda affiliate, as well as
militants in Iran, witnesses told the court, quoted in the daily.
They said the suspects planned to overthrow the government, assassinate
leaders, attack malls and hotels and to declare an Islamic state in the Gulf
country.
The trial was adjourned to December 8.
Authorities reported their arrest on August 2 and prosecutors immediately
levelled the accusations against them and said they would face trial.
The UAE is part of a US-led coalition that has been carrying out air strikes
against the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria since September 2014.
In July, it adopted tougher anti-terror legislation and introduced the death
penalty for crimes linked to religious hatred and "takfiri" radical Islamic
groups.
These measures were taken a week after an Emirati woman convicted of the
jihadist-inspired murder of a US schoolteacher was put to death by firing
squad, in a rare execution in the UAE.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
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