March 28




BANGLADESH:

Nizami to file review petition Tuesday


Condemned war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami will file a petition seeking review of the Appellate Division verdict that upheld his death sentence.

"The review petition will be filed tomorrow with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against his death sentences, upheld by the apex court, as all preparations have already been completed," Nizami's son Barrister Nazib Momin was quoted as saying by BSS.

The apex court on March 15 released the 153-page judgement after its 4 judges concerned signed the verdict that upheld the Jamaat chief's death penalty for war crimes.

International Crimes Tribunal issued a death warrant against the war criminal on the same day.

There is a provision of filing a review petition within 15 days after releasing the full verdict.

Nizami was given the death sentence on October 29, 2014 on 4 charges and life imprisonment on 4 other charges. He challenged the verdict at the apex court.

On January 6, the Appellate Division upheld the tribunal's sentence for the al-Badr chief for masterminding the killing of intellectuals and his involvement in 2 incidents of mass murders of over 500 people in Pabna in 1971.

He is the 3rd former minister after Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury to get the death penalty for his notorious role during the war.

(source: dhakatribune.com)





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Punishing ministers a message for all: Supreme Court


The Supreme Court has said that its verdict punishing 2 Cabinet members for contempt is a warning for all over undermining the judiciary's dignity.

Food Minister Md Qamrul Islam and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq have been found guilty by the apex court on Sunday for their remarks on a war crimes convict's appeal hearing.

The 8-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has slapped a fine of Tk 50, 000 on each. If they don't pay up within 7 days, they will have to suffer a week's imprisonment.

Speaking at a discussion on Mar 5, Qamrul called for a new bench that, in his view, should exclude the chief justice to hear Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali's appeal.

Justice Sinha's displeasure at the work of the International Crimes Tribunal's investigators and prosecutors in the war crimes cases, including Mir Quasem's one, had been interpreted by the minister as a 'broad hint' that the war criminal's death penalty might not be upheld.

Mozammel had also criticised the chief justice at the same programme.

The verdict, which was given 3 days later on Mar 8, however, upheld the death penalty awarded to the Jamaat leader by the International Crimes Tribunal.

But before that, the chief justice along with all of the 9 Appellate Division judges, summoned the two ministers for their comments.

The ministers later issued unconditional apologies and sought the court's mercy.

But according to Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, the court rejected their petitions as it found the extent of their offences 'far too much'.

Before announcing the verdict on Sunday, the chief justice said: "We, the judges of the top court, have evaluated everything meticulously. The reports (ran by media on the discussion where the comments were made) stated many other names. We did not draw proceedings against everyone.

"The contempt proceedings against the two ministers was done to send a message."

Speaking to the media after the verdict, the attorney general elaborated it. "The message which the Appellate Division wanted to give was that, under no circumstances the judiciary's dignity can be undermined."

Asked whether the ministers can still hold offices after being convicted, Alam declined to comment and said as far as he knows the Constitution did not address the matter clearly.

"But it's an ethical issue," he said adding that it was up to the Cabinet to decide on the matter.

(source: bdnews24.com)






PAKISTAN:

Worst fears come true for Pakistan's Christians in Easter attack


The worst fears of Pakistan's Christians came true with the carnage in Lahore on Easter Sunday, said activists who had braced for a backlash since thousands took to the streets over the execution of a murderer feted as an Islamist hero.

Taliban militants said they were targeting Christians with the suicide bombing which killed at least 72 people, nearly half of them children, in a crowded park in Lahore as thousands marked Easter on a warm spring evening.

Christian leaders said they had been filled with foreboding ever since the government executed Mumtaz Qadri, who murdered a liberal governor calling for reform of the country's blasphemy laws.

Their fears grew when Islamists announced on Friday that they would hold prayers for Qadri over the Easter weekend, four weeks after his hanging.

"The Christian community had the feeling that there would be backlash from Qadri's execution, especially on festivals like Easter," said Shamoon Gill, a Christian activist and spokesman for the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance.

"We feared that something might happen."

The Taliban did not mention Qadri in their claim of responsibility.

But the attack came as thousands of his supporters clashed with police in Islamabad, several hundred kilometres away, with activists attacking the government's apparent tolerance of the demonstrators.

"People are calling for an assassin to be declared a hero and the government is giving them space," said Cecil Shane Chaudhry, executive director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, a Christian NGO.

- Persecution -

Sunday's blast was the latest in the "long history of persecution of Christians in the country", leading human rights activist Hussain Naqi told AFP Monday.

In Rome, Pope Francis appealed to Pakistani authorities to step up security for religious minorities after the "abhorrent" suicide bombing.

Christians are frequently the target of militant attacks, including a double suicide bombing that killed 82 people at a church service in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar in 2013.

They also often face discrimination at work and routinely fall victim to the blasphemy laws, which rights groups say are often used to wage personal vendettas.

Blasphemy can carry the death penalty in Pakistan and is a hugely sensitive issue in the Muslim nation of around 200 million.

Even unproven allegations can stir mob violence. Christians, who make up 1.6 % of the population, are often the target.

"We are teaching our kids a distorted, rather false history where the mullah is pious and the minorities are evil, and this is a very dangerous trend," Naqi said.

"It's not only with Christians, we are doing the same with Hindus and Ahmadis and that's why they take every possible step -- either legal or illegal -- to leave the country."

Chaudhry agreed.

"There is a growing sense of insecurity among minorities in Pakistan, and whoever is not a Muslim is not safe in this country," he said.

Activists pointed to officials who appeared to dismiss the militants' statement they were targeting Christians, accusing them of downplaying the threat.

"The target was not the Christian community in particular," senior police official Haider Ashraf told AFP Monday despite the Taliban statement, adding that Muslims were among the dead.

Naqi branded the statement a "cover-up" and said the government was in denial, "trying to downplay the incident to hide its own failure at protecting Christians and minorities".

On Monday around 3,000 of Qadri's supporters were still holding a sit-in near main government buildings in Islamabad.

Their demands include the execution of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother-of-five who has been on death row since she was convicted of blasphemy in 2010.

They are also calling for Qadri to be officially declared a martyr and want the immediate imposition of Sharia Islamic law.

"Didn't the government know what their demands would be? Why did the government not stop them?" asked Chaudhry.

(source: Daily Mail)






MALAYSIA:

Duo plead not guilty to alternative charges over Kevin Morais' murder


2 of the 7 men charged with alleged involvement in the murder of Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais have been offered 1 alternative charge each by the prosecution.

College student S. Nimalan was offered a charge under Section 201 of the Penal Code with assisting to hide Morais' body and destroying a vehicle bearing plate number WA 6264 Q with intention to protect 6 other co-accused from prosecution.

The offence was said to have committed between Jalan Dutamas 1 here and the oil palm plantation in Kampung Sungai Samak, Hutan Melintang, Hilir Perak, between 7am on Sept 4 and 2am on Sept 5 last year.

Unemployed A.K. Thinesh Kumar was offered a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304(a) of the Code.

He allegedly committed the offence during the journey from Jalan Dutamas 1 here to No. 20, Desa Mentari in Petaling Jaya between 7am on Sept 4 and 11.30am on Sept 5 last year.

Nimalan and Thinesh, both 22, pleaded not guilty to the alternative charges.

High Court judge Justice Azman Abdullah said the 1st day of trial, which was fixed on April 6, remained.

When met by media after the court proceedings Monday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Abdul Razak Musa said the alternative charges that were offered to Nimalan and Thinesh were based on the facts and their role in the case.

On Jan 27 this year, army pathologist Col Dr K. Kunaseegaran, 52, was charged in the High Court with abetting in the murder of Kevin, 55, under section 109 of the Penal Code, read together with section 302 of the same Code.

6 people - G. Gunasegaran, 47, R. Dinishwaran, 23, Thinesh, M. Vishwanath, 25, Nimalan and debt collector S. Ravi Chandaran, 44 - were jointly charged with the murder of Morais between 7am and 8pm from Jalan Dutamas Raya to Jalan USJ 1/6D on Sept 4 last year.

They faced the mandatory death penalty, if convicted under section 302 of the Penal Code.

Morais went missing on Sept 4 after leaving his residence in Menara Duta for work in Putrajaya in a grey Proton Perdana.

His body was discovered cemented in an oil drum on Sept 16, which was dumped into a swampy area in Subang Jaya near here.

(source: The Star)






IRAN:

Call to save a young man on the verge of execution ---- He was under 18 at the time of arrest


The Iranian Resistance calls for urgent action to save the life of Himan Uraminejad, a 21-year-old Kurdish prisoner, who at the time of the alleged crime was under 18 and is now on death row, and demands effective action by international human rights authorities to stop this brutal sentence.

There are 110 prisoners on death row in Sanandaj prison. In addition to Himan, a number of others were less than 18 years old at the time of their alleged offense. Yousef Mohammadi, 20, was 14 years old at the time of the offense. Siavosh Mahmoodi and Amanj Hosseini (Oveyssi) were arrested at the age of 17.

The UN Children's Rights Committee consisting of 18 experts, on February 5, 2016 issued a report on the continuing execution of juveniles by the clerical regime in Iran, and called the regime's inhumane policies and laws against children, especially girls, a violation of international standards and condemned it. The committee noted that based on the regime's laws, execution of even 9-year-old girls is permitted for the charges attributed to them ... the regime in Iran continues to execute juveniles. The head of the committee said that because of secrecy, there is no statistics on the number of executed and imprisoned children and juvenile offenders in Iran.

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Relatives of Iran's executed dissidents expelled from cemetery


Relatives of the victims of Iran's 1988 massacre of political prisoners have sent a report from their attempt to visit their loved ones' mass grave in Khavaran Cemetery, south-east of Tehran.

The sister of one of the martyrs of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) writes: "On the final Friday of the [Iranian calendar] year on March 18, I went to Khavaran. I just had enough time to spread the flower petals from the flowers in the vase I had taken there on the canal. The authorities quickly expelled us."

Iran's fundamentalist regime routinely prevents the families of executed political prisoners from commemorating the death of their loved ones.

Some 30,000 political prisoners, primarily affiliated to the main democratic opposition PMOI (or Mujahedin-e Khalq) were executed in the summer of 1988.

1 month after Ruhollah Khomeini was forced to accept a cease-fire in his 8-year war with Iraq, the fundamentalist ruler of the mullahs' regime ordered a mass execution of all political prisoners affiliated with the main opposition group PMOI (MEK).

The brutal prison massacre has been described by some international human rights lawyers as the greatest crime against humanity that has gone unpunished since the Second World War.

Near the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Khomeini who felt that defeat was imminent, decided to take his revenge on the political prisoners. He issued a fatwa (or religious decree) ordering the massacre of anyone who had not repented and was not willing to collaborate fully with the regime.

Khomeini decreed: "Whoever at any stage continues to belong to the Monafeqin (PMOI) must be executed. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately." He added: "Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the PMOI are waging war on God and are condemned to execution...It is naive to show mercy to those who wage war on God."

The Iranian regime has never acknowledged these executions, or provided any information as to how many prisoners were summarily killed. Young girls, old parents, students, workers, and many of those who had already finished their sentences prior to 1988 were among those who vanished in the span of a few months. Their bodies were dumped into mass graves, including in Khavaran Cemetery.

Khomeini had assigned an "Amnesty Commission" for prisoners. In reality it was a "Death Commission: comprised of the 3 individuals: A representative of the Ministry of Intelligence, a religious judge and a prosecutor. Most trials lasted for just a few minutes and resembled more of an interrogation session. The questions were focused on whether the prisoner still had any allegiances to the PMOI, whose supporters made up more than 90 % of the prisoners. If the prisoners were not willing to collaborate fully with the regime against the PMOI, it was viewed as a sign of sympathy to the organization and the sentence was immediate execution. The task of the Death Commission was to determine whether a prisoner was an Enemy of God or not. In the case of Mojahedin prisoners, that determination was often made after only a single question about their party affiliation. Those who said "Mojahedin" rather than the derogatory term "Monafeqin" (meaning hypocrites) were sent to the gallows.

None of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran and none of the regime's senior officials including the Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, have been brought to justice to date.

(source for both: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)

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Iran's Executions and Human Rights Abuses Hit 27 year high


The Islamic Republic hit the highest rate of executing people since 1989. The official number indicates that Iran executed nearly 2 times more people in 2015 in comparison to 2010 when the hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in office, as well as roughly 10 times more than the number of executions in 2005.

Approximately 1000 people were executed in 2015, according to the latest report from the United Nations investigator, Ahmed Shaheed, the special rapporteur for human rights in Iran. The unofficial number is higher.

The peak of the executions in 2015 was between April and June in which nearly 4 people were executed every day on average. Most of the executions were carried out in prisons located in urban areas such as Ghezel Hesar and Rajai Shahr in Karaj, and Adel Abad in Shiraz.

Iran has surpassed China in the number of executions being carried out per capita. Most of the executions in Iran are being done by hanging. In addition to the alarming increase in executions, fundamental rights of Iranians and ethnic and religious minorities appear to have regressed in 2015 as well. In addition, this year witnessed the highest level of disqualification of political candidates, 61 %, since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, 1979.

Who and Which Groups are Being Mainly Targeted

Iranian authorities claim that these executions are overwhelmingly related to drugs offenses. Nevertheless, many of the executions were linked to other issues. Only around 65 % of those who were executed, were charged, with violating Iran's narcotics law.

In other areas, according to Amnesty International, the Islamic Republic remains a leading executioner of minors. Currently, 160 juvenile offenders are on Iran's death row. Other human rights groups also believe that Iran has executed more juveniles than any other country. Michael G. Bochenek, senior counsel of the children's rights division at Human Rights Watch pointed out "Iran is almost certainly the world leader in executing juvenile offenders." Some articles in Iran's criminal code allows girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15 to receive death sentences.

In addition, ethnic and religious minority communities, including the Sunni, Arabs, and Bahai continue to be systematically targeted and discriminated against.

Iran's Sunni are the largest minority in the country. Some of the discrimination that the Sunnis have suffered, according the UN report, are that the Sunni communities in Iran "have long complained that Iranian authorities do not appoint or employ them in high ranking government positions such as cabinet-level ministers or governors. They have also raised concerns regarding reported restrictions on the construction of Sunni mosques in Shia-majority areas, including the capital Tehran, and the execution or imminent execution of Sunni activists the government alleges were involved in terrorist-related activities."

Other groups include journalists, artists, writers, musicians, and human rights activists who witness arbitrary arrests, detentions and prosecutions.

Amnesty International and the United Nations do not have executive power to force Iran to reform its law or hold Iranian leaders accountable, but the UN can offer recommendations such as the latest one in which Iran is asked to "take the necessary steps to ensure and that it citizens fully enjoy the rights and freedoms awarded to by the Iranian constitution with special emphasis on the right to freedom of expression, the right to political activity and their right to assemble". According to Nazanin, an Iranian lawyer based in Karaj, "Iran's judiciary and parliament will ignore these recommendations and not follow up with them".

Rouhani's Pledges

One of Rouhani's main promises was to promote and reform restrictive law in relation to civil liberties and social justice. "The situation has not changed since Rouhani came to power. They only talk about their victory with regards to the nuclear deal, while a lot people and religious minorities face daily discrimination", Morteza, an Iranian teacher in city of Esfahan pointed out.

When it comes to number of people being executed as well as the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, Iran's president would not change the status quo regardless of whether he is being presented as a moderate or hardliner.

The major institutions which have power over these matters are the judiciary system (its head is appointed by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), the ministry of Intelligence, the office of the Supreme Leader, the Revolutionary Guards, and paramilitary groups such as the Basij.

In order to preserve his own interests and power, an Iranian president will not stand against these powerful political establishments, and will support the ruling political establishment. In fact, the number of executions increase and rights for ethnic and religious minorities appear to deteriorate when the Islamic Republic has "moderate" or "reformist" president. The above institutions tighten the rules in order to send a message to the Iranians that a non-hardline president does not mean that the country is liberalizing its politics.

(source: Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an American political scientist, business advisor and the president of the International American Council on the Middle East. Harvard-educated, Rafizadeh serves on the advisory board of Harvard International Review. An American citizen, he is originally from Iran and Syria, lived most of his life in Iran and Syria till recently. He is a board member of several significant and influential international and governmental institutions; Huffington Post)






ISRAEL:

Killing an injured terrorist may be wrong, but it isn't murder either----The killing of an injured terrorist in Hevron poses a difficult moral dilemma - but in grappling with it we must not lose our perspective.


What to make of the controversy surrounding the killing of an injured terrorist in Hevron by an IDF soldier last week?

While many on both sides of the debate see it as a straightforward issue - "he is a murderer" versus "he is a hero" - the reality is far more nuanced.

On the one hand, morally-speaking the soldier most certainly is no murderer. An armed terrorist who comes in order to kill and hoping in the process to achieve "martyrdom" can hardly be described as a "victim." I'll go further still: he deserved to die. Him and all the others like him; those motivated by a genocidal, Nazi-like bloodlust to murder and maim as many Jews as possible. These are no innocent victims but jihadist terrorists, murderers and degenerates of the worst kind - whether they ultimately succeed in killing or not.

Were it not for the heavy concentration of soldiers in Hevron, Judaism's 2nd-holiest city, the terrorist would surely have targeted civilians, as many others have. Men, women and children; civilians, police officers and soldiers; pregnant women, the elderly and the disabled; mothers, fathers, rabbis, nurses, teachers and students; peaceful worshippers at prayer - all of these are considered fair game to the Arab and Islamic chauvinists for whom the very notion of Jewish empowerment and independence, Zionism, is considered a most grievous "provocation."

The only essential difference between the knife/gun/car/ax-wielding Arab terrorist who stalks the streets looking for Jews to kill in 2016, and the machine-gun-wielding guard at a Nazi concentration camp in the 1940s, is that while the latter's Jewish victims were mostly powerless to resist, the former's are - to his great misfortune - a very different breed of Jew indeed.

So please, spare me the faux outrage. And no, the video did not disturb me - far more disturbing are the videos and pictures of murderers being given free treatment at Israeli hospitals at tax-payers' expense. To know that a man or woman who robbed a family of a loved one, who left orphans, widows and grieving parents behind, or left innocent people with life-changing injuries, will be pampered and treated using my taxes is a far more sickening prospect than a jihadist killer getting his just desserts.

And yet, at the same time, the prospect of a soldier carrying out a field execution - if that is indeed what occurred (which, though you would believe otherwise from some of the media coverage, has still yet to be determined) - poses a very disturbing problem.

In a rule-of-law society it is the courts who must mete out justice to criminals; not soldiers, not police officers and not civilians - no matter how enraged or wronged they are.

For the record, I am personally a supporter of the death penalty, at least in cases of terrorist murderers. I believe that such a punishment is not only fundamentally the only just one for premeditated murder, but that it would serve as a deterrent - even to those who attack with the intention of dying in the process. It's one thing to be killed in a blaze of (in)glory during the course of an attack, quite another to die alone, as a common criminal, staring at the hangman's noose.

But allowing individuals to exact "justice" in the field is the start of a slippery slope which could well lead to a total breakdown in law and order, with terrifying consequences for the general public. If such authority is granted to the army or police - let alone private citizens - Israel could quickly descend into the dark, savage anarchy engulfing many of our neighbors, where the rule of the gun (or sword) is the only real authority, and blood-vengeance, death squads and summary executions affect the innocent and guilty alike. Worse still, such authority could easily be abused by those in power in unthinkable ways. It could be the death-knell of Israeli democracy.

It is worth pointing out that the law and order argument, too, is a nuanced one. Take the recent stabbing in Petah Tikva: putting aside the fact that in that case the terrorist was not yet neutralized and therefore still posed a potential danger anyway - automatically justifying his victim's subsequent heroic actions - should a stab victim pulling the knife from his neck and killing the terrorist who attacked him with it in retribution - even if he was already neutralized - be subsequently punished? Personally, I would recoil from such a notion, and it would take a particularly heartless, morally-bankrupt judge to seriously consider punishing a victim in such a way.

Yet the case last Thursday was markedly different: the soldier who fired the fatal shot was not injured and the terrorist in question was lying mortally wounded on the ground. Angry though he may understandably have been over the preceding attack which injured his comrade, he was not himself the victim. The only legitimate justification (and for his part this is the soldier's version of events) would be if he believed the terrorist still posed some kind of threat, for example by carrying a concealed explosive device.

This is not impossible - in at least one attack terrorist knifemen also used improvised explosives - but whether that was the soldier's true motivation is for the military court to decide. It is of course the IDF's duty to try the soldier in question and, if it is determined that he broke the rules of conduct, he should be punished accordingly.

But there is something very disturbing in the way the case has played out in parts of the media. I'm not talking about the trial by media which is, unfortunately, an all too common phenomenon - rather, I refer to the way in which we are being subtly robbed of our moral compasses without even knowing it.

Consider, that when a Palestinian terrorist stabs a pregnant woman, or stabs a mother or father to death in front of her or his children, or guns down parents in front of their children, or stabs and slashes scores of innocent passersby, it is forgotten within a day or two, and certainly receives little critical analysis or direct criticism of Palestinian society and the terrorism it breeds. It's just one of those things; maybe it's even Israel's fault.

In some cases - and it has happened far too often to be anything other than a concerted editorial position - news articles will either whitewash the act of evil committed or even go so far as to equate the victims and their killers, or highlight the "suffering" not of the victims' families, but of the families of the Palestinian "martyrs".

Much in the same way as the Duma attack was the focus of so much more outrage, international criticism and self-flagellation by Israel and Jews everywhere, there are those who would have us approach the events in Hevron last Thursday as somehow more outrageous than the attack which preceded it.

Well, it wasn't. In fact, after half a year of daily attacks (and decades of brutal terrorism before that), that one soldier may have lost his calm and shot a would-be murderer in the head is far less worthy of outrage than the daily acts of Arab terror we have sadly become inured to. If anything, we should give pause for thought to just how few such incidents have occurred in spite of the huge pressure and constant dangers faced by IDF soldiers.

To those who answer with the predictable "we should be better than them," I would say that - apart from being a fundamentally racist sentiment (why are "we" better than "them"?) - I personally have no desire to be held to a "higher standard" than anyone else. "Higher standards," too, are a form of racism, particularly when - as is the case with Israel in the kangaroo court of international opinion - they magically apply only to our obligations, but afford us no greater rights or legitimacy.

So, as Israel navigates the difficult yet crucial task of enforcing the rule of law even on the complex and morally challenging battlefield, we must resist the urge to leap to uninformed conclusions, as well as the groupthink which pushes us to sympathize with the terrorist as a victim, and to view the soldier as a cold-blooded killer.

What happens subsequently is up to the military court to decide, and we should be proud of the State of Israel for that.

(source: Op-Ed; Ari Soffer----The writer is the Managing Editor of Arutz Sheva English----Israel National News)






SCOTLAND:

Mother of tragic teen signs petition calling for murderers and rapists to face death penalty


CAMPAIGNERS on the Change.org page are calling for convicted criminals such as paedophiles to be executed if forensic evidence shows a person is 100 % guilty.

THE mother of tragic teenager Paige Doherty has signed a petition calling for murderers and rapists to face the death penalty.

The Change.org page calls for convicted murderers, paedophiles and rapists to be executed if forensic evidence can guarantee a person is 100 % guilty.

It also demands tougher sentencing for killers and rapists, claiming that prisons "seem like a holiday camp".

The petition comes just days after 15-year-old Paige's body was found in a wooded area just off Glasgow's Great Western Road.

Her devastated mum, Pamela Munro, signed the petition on Saturday writing "#justiceforpaige".

Since being created 2 days ago it has already had more than 20,000 signatures.

The online document states: "Bring back some sort of death penalty to convicted murders, paedophiles, and rapists.

"If Forensics can 100% guarantee that a person is guilty for the crime then why should the hard working people of the UK pay our taxes to put a roof over their head, food in their stomach, a job, an education, and all other luxuries you can get in prison these days.

"Prison is for punishment and these days it seems like a holiday camp.

"Too many people are suffering horrific crimes for these evil sick twisted people and it's time we put a stop to it.

"We are scared to walk our streets and let our children play outside without adult supervision.

"Our crime rate for rapes and murders are at an all time high.

"Men, women and children are all being victimised by rape and even worse, murder.

"Innocent people do not ask to have such atrocities to happen to them.

"Things have to change and if we bring back the death penalty there will be a drop in the crime rate that our country has."

Dozens of Paige's friends and colleagues left messages of support for the petition and for Paige's family.

Amy Strawhorn wrote: "I was Paige's boss. So tragic."

Lorna Jane Anderson said: "Something needs to be done to protect our children."

? And Lynn Banks wrote: "You take someone's life, you don't deserve to be living yours."

Paige's body was found in a wooded area in Glasgow's West End last Monday after going missing two days before.

(source: dailyrecord.co.uk)






GLOBAL:

The death penalty: Bad in U.S., atrocious in other countries


The debate about putting someone to death for committing a crime is an issue often raised in criminal justice conversations.

Regardless of which side of the discussion we take, we Americans have some sense as to which crimes are appropriate for death penalty consideration. Our laws and our public view is that murder is on that short list. Contrast our view with others around the world. Others elsewhere view life differently, sometimes considerably so.

For example, there are people and countries that applaud and encourage suicide bombings. It is not hard to understand, then, where they may be coming from when an individual does something they consider criminal.

There are also countries that will kill you if you are a homosexual or if you voice criticism against the government. In some countries you can be put to death if you are an adulterer or even if you are convicted of theft.

While the list of countries that allow and use the death penalty continues to decrease - as of July, 2015, according to Amnesty International (AI), 140 countries have legally abolished the death penalty or have effectively abolished it despite laws still on the books - what, in some countries, constitutes a crime that can trigger the death sentence is frequently unfathomable.

In the United States of America, being involved in the death of another person is almost a de facto prerequisite for getting the death penalty. Another death penalty crime is treason, which remains on the books in the Federal system and in some states as well.

Everyone in the U.S. who has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 participated in a crime in which at least one victim died. In most of these cases, the individual executed directly killed the victim. A small number of death sentences have been carried out where the defendant ordered or contracted with another person to carry out a murder. Some death sentences have been carried out where the person executed participated in a felony during which a victim died at the hands of another participant in the felony.

Elsewhere around the world:

--Death sentences can follow convictions for homosexuality in Afghanistan, Brunei Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, in the United Arab Emirates and in Yemen.

--Convictions for perjury and treason can result in death sentences in Algeria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Botswana, Central African Republic, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Israel (high treason), Japan, Kenya, Laos, Libya, Nauru, North Korea, New Guinea, Peru, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leon, Singapore, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, the United States, Vietnam and Zambia.

--A conviction for espionage can result in death in Algeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Iran, Peru, Qatar, the United States, Vietnam and Syria.

--Corruption is a death penalty crime in China, Cuba and Iran.

--Fraud is a death penalty offense in China and Vietnam.

--Stealing something can get you executed in Algeria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

--Adultery can result in the death penalty in Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen and Syria.

--A woman and her 2 daughters are being held in Papua, New Guinea on charges of sorcery. The death sentence may follow if they are convicted.

--Last November a Saudi Arabian court sentenced a Palestinian poet to death for apostasy, defined as the act of abandoning his Muslim faith.

--Saudi Arabia (AI reports) continues to impose the death sentence on individuals under the age of 18, violating child human rights laws.

But the death sentence cannot be justified.

--Around the world, some countries with absurdly unfair justice systems (such as China, Iran, Iraq) employ the death sentence after conducting unfair trials, when "confessions" are extracted through torture, and to punish political opponents. The death penalty in such countries is often used as a tool of repression, a quick way to silence political opposition. Frequently, those accused do not have lawyers representing them.

--It is discriminatory, particularly in the United States, when being poor or being a member of an ethnic or a religious minority is much more likely to result in a death sentence. This fact is the result of still blatant discrimination as well societal factors. Poor people and those in marginalized groups have less access to the legal resources that are necessary for them to defend themselves.

Amnesty International keeps statistics on executions around the world. They rank China the most prolific state executioner, despite the Chinese government's efforts to suppress the numbers. AI uses media sources and human rights groups, rather than official government sources to estimate the number of executions in China.

Executions in China can follow convictions for drug trafficking and for other offenses that would not trigger death sentences in the U.S. Apparently China does not discriminate by class, according to AI. Recently a billionaire was executed for running a criminal gang.

AI statistics place Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia in 2nd to 4th places in number of annual executions worldwide last year. The U.S. is currently number 5.

Beyond the debate about whether the death penalty should be allowed, many states in this country are struggling with the method of execution. The supply of lethal drugs, limited now for many years for a number of reasons, has resulted in alternate methods of execution being considered, which could be used if lethal injections are ruled unconstitutional or if a state cannot obtain the necessary drugs.

As for other methods under consideration, the Mississippi House wants to use firing squads. Oklahoma would pursue electrocution or a firing squad. Wyoming would use the gas chamber and Tennessee would use electrocution. Utah is the only state that has executed 3 men by firing squad, the most recent example occurring in 2010.

Countries that do execute individuals they define as "criminals" employ methods we Americans would never consider: beheading, shooting in the back of the head, and hanging. Saudi Arabia has conducted an execution by crucifixion.

Has anyone asked the current crop of Presidential candidates if they would support a death penalty ban?

To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice. -- Desmond Tutu

(source: Paul A. Samakow is an attorney licensed in Maryland and Virginia, and has been practicing since 1980----commdiginews.com)


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