April 1
IRAN:
Arjang Davoudi's Death Sentence Reduced to 5 Years Imprisonment
Arjang Davoudi, political prisoner in Rajai Shahr prison says; his death
sentence has been reduced to 5 years imprisonment in exile. He should be ready
by 14th June to be exiled to Zabul prison.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA),
the death penalty for the old political prisoner in Rajai Shahr prison, in
Karaj, Arjang Davoudi, was reduced to 5 years imprisonment and exile to Zabol
prison.
Mr. Davoudi in this regard told HRANA's reporter: "A few days before the new
year I was informed in prison that the appeals court has broken my execution
sentence and turned it to five years imprisonment in exile and I should wait
until June 14, 2016, to be transferred to Zabol prison."
He continued: "I have been told, as Zabul prison was a detention center,
probably I would be transferred to the prison of Zahedan."
It should be noted that, the aged political prisoner, Arjang Davoudi, who has
served his first 10-year-sentence, during this period of imprisonment and due
to another verdict, has been sentenced to 20 years and 8 months imprisonment,
and then by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Karaj, he was charged with
supporting and working effectively in advocating the goals of the People's
Mojahedin Organization in prison, and sentenced to death."
(source: HRA News Agency)
YEMEN:
Baha'i Adherent Faces Death Penalty----End Persecution of Religious Minority
Yemeni authorities should drop all charges against a member of the Baha'i faith
detained since December 2013, apparently for his religious beliefs. Prosecutors
are expected to seek the death penalty for Hamed Kamal Muhammad bin Haydara in
a court hearing scheduled for April 3, 2016.
Yemeni authorities should stop the persecution of the country's Baha'i
community, Human Rights Watch said.
"The Yemeni authorities have committed an injustice by prosecuting Haydara for
his religious beliefs and compounding that injustice by seeking to execute
him," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. "The charges should be
dropped and Haydara should be released."
Haydara was detained on December 3, 2013, by officers from Yemen's National
Security Bureau (NSB), an intelligence agency. He was held in an NSB detention
center in the capital, Sanaa, for almost a year, as officers beat him and
subjected him to electric shocks and other mistreatment.
On January 8, 2015, the Specialized Criminal Court prosecutor issued an
indictment claiming that Haydara was an Iranian citizen, using a false name,
who arrived in Yemen only in 1991. Yet photocopies of his Yemini ID and
passport provided by his wife show he was born in Yemen in 1964. The prosecutor
also charged him with collaborating with Israel by working for the Universal
House of Justice, the Baha'i supreme governing institution, which is based in
Haifa, Israel. The prosecutor also alleged that Haydara lured potential Muslim
converts to the Baha'i faith through charitable giving and tried to "establish
a homeland for the followers of the Baha'i faith" in Yemen.
In the indictment, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, the prosecutor charges
Haydara under Yemen's penal code with committing, among other crimes, "an act
that violates the independence of the republic, its unity, or the integrity of
its lands," "working for a foreign state's interests," "insulting Islam," and
"apostasy." The prosecutor is seeking "the maximum possible penalty," which for
some of these charges is death, as well as confiscation of his property.
4 members of the Baha'i community who have been monitoring the court
proceedings told Human Rights Watch that since Haydara's 2013 arrest, his case
has had 13 court hearings, but he has only been allowed to attend 3. The local
human rights group Mwatana monitored the most recent hearing, on February 28,
2016, for which Haydara was absent. The director of Mwatana, Radhiya
al-Mutawakil, who was at the session, said the judge asked the prosecutor,
Rajeh Zayyed, about Haydara's absence, but received no explanation.
Zayyed claims to have had 14 interrogation sessions with Haydara, but according
to Haydara's lawyer, Abdulkarim al-Hamadi, the prosecution only interrogated
Haydara twice, and brought him to the prosecutor's office twice more but then
did not question him. Al-Hamadi has only been allowed to communicate with his
client by phone.
At the February 28 hearing, Zayyed reiterated that the prosecution is seeking
the death penalty. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all
circumstances as an inherently cruel form of punishment.
Haydara's wife, Elham Muhammad Hossain Zara'i, told Human Rights Watch that in
a September 4 meeting with one of the judges presiding over the case, he
threatened her with prison because of her faith and told her that all Baha'is
should be in prison.
Since the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, took control of Sanaa and other
areas of Yemen in September 2014, the judiciary has significantly slowed its
processing of cases, though many employees within the judiciary system have
remained the same.
Most of the charges against Haydara relate to his practice of the Baha'i faith.
They violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
which Yemen ratified in 1987. Article 18 states: "Everyone shall have the right
to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include
freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom,
either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to
manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching."
Yemen's penal code includes provisions that impose criminal penalties for
renouncing Islam as well as attempting to convert Muslims to other faiths.
About 1,000 Baha'i members live in Yemen. The case against Haydara is not the
1st of its kind, representatives of the global Baha'i community said. In June
2008, National Security officers arrested Behrooz Rouhani, a Baha'i man, and 2
visiting Baha'i friends, all of whom carried Iranian passports, at Rouhani's
home in Sanaa. Rouhani told Human Rights Watch that the officers handcuffed and
blindfolded them and then searched his home, confiscating many Baha'i books,
video cassettes, and documents. They said they were kept handcuffed and
blindfolded the first 2 days of their detention.
Officers arrested a 4th Baha'i man, who carried an Iraqi passport, the next
day. Rouhani said that officers interrogated him about his faith the 1st week
every night for 5 or 6 hours, accusing him of trying to convert Muslims and of
collaboration with Israel. The 4 were released without charge after 120 days.
The authorities told them to leave Yemen within 2 months, but this order was
later revoked and 2 of them still live in Yemen.
A person who was at the trial told Human Rights Watch they heard the
prosecutor, Zayyed, use derogatory language against the Baha'i community,
saying that its members committed hostile acts toward Yemen.
Immediately after an earlier hearing in Haydara's case, on March 8, 2015,
Zayyed apprehended two members of the Baha'i community who had been monitoring
the trial, Nadim al-Sakkaf and his brother, Nader Tawfiq al-Sakkaf, both told
Human Rights Watch. They said that Zayyed tried to get the judge to issue a
court order to formalize the arrest but he refused, so after checking their
names off a list of members of the Baha'i community and holding them in the
courthouse guard booth for 2 hours, he transferred them to the Political
Security Organization's headquarters. Security forces held them for two days,
interrogating them several times about their faith and asking for names of
other members, then released them without charge.
Local human rights activists have reported that past Yemeni governments also
imposed unlawful restrictions on other religious minorities, including
Christian, Jewish, and Ismaili individuals. Based on comments she said she
heard from NSB officers, Zara'i fears authorities may deport Haydara to Iran.
Punishing citizens with exile is a violation of fundamental rights under
international law. Article 12 of the ICCPR states, "No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of the right to enter his own country." The United Nations Human
Rights Committee, the international expert committee that monitors compliance
with the ICCPR, has interpreted article 12 to mean that this includes exiling
or banning citizens based on repressive domestic laws. The committee concluded
that, "There are few, if any, circumstances in which deprivation of the right
to enter one's own country could be reasonable. A State party must not, by
stripping a person of nationality or by expelling an individual to a 3rd
country, arbitrarily prevent this person from returning to his or her own
country."
Even if Haydara were found not to be a Yemeni citizen, under international law
he still may not be deported to a country where he faces persecution or abuse.
Because of his Baha'i faith, Haydara would probably face persecution in Iran,
Human Rights Watch said.
Haifa, in present-day Israel, has been the Baha'i faith's administrative
headquarters since 1868, when the city was under Ottoman rule. The Iranian
government, like the Yemeni authorities in Haydara's case, routinely uses the
connection to accuse Baha'is in Iran of spying for Israel, with which Iran has
hostile relations. The Baha'i faith originated in Iran, but its members suffer
severe persecution there, including arbitrary detention and prosecution related
solely to their religious activities, restrictions on access to higher
education, confiscation of property, and destruction and desecration of their
cemeteries. Iran???s judiciary often charges and convicts Baha'is of unlawful
links with foreign governments, including Israel. 7 leaders of the Iranian
Baha'i community are serving prison sentences, ranging from 7 to 20 years, on
charges that include propaganda against the state and espionage on behalf of
foreign governments.
"The prosecution of Hamed Kamal bin Haydara is symbolic of the broader attack
on Yemen's Baha'i community," Stork said. "If the current authorities want to
show the world that they represent an inclusive Yemen, they need to release him
and anyone else being held for their opinions and beliefs."
(source: Human Rights Watch)
UGANDA:
Supreme Court ruled that all death sentences not carried out in 3 years are
automatically commuted to life imprisonment
Inmates on death row at Luzira Maximum Prison have petitioned Parliament over
what they claim is the current flawed system in the Judiciary, which sees many
poor Ugandans with no financial ability to hire quality lawyers sent to the
gallows.
In their petition channeled through Serere Woman MP, Alice Alaso, the Luzira
death row inmates contend that the policy of lawyers on state briefs, though
well intentioned, is actually turning out to be a poisoned chalice.
State brief is where government pays a lawyer to represent an indigent person
accused of an offence that can fetch him a death penalty. This is a requirement
under Article 28 of the constitution as part of a right to a fair hearing.
"These inmates complain that lawyers on state briefs simply go through the
motion while representing them. They hardly meet them and go to court once or
twice because the state does not pay them well," Alaso told the House.
Alaso visited Luzira prison 'condemned section' recently as part of her
research work on the Law Revision (Penalties in Criminal Matters) Miscellaneous
Amendment Bill, 2015 - a private members Bill.
The Bill seeks to amend a raft of sections in the Penal Code Act, Trial on
indictments Act, UPDF Act, and Anti-terrorism Act relating to mandatory death
penalty following the landmark Susan Kigula case.
In the Kigula case judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that all death sentences
not carried out in 3 years are automatically commuted to life imprisonment.
Therefore, the Bill seeks to remove all reference to mandatory death penalty
prescribed in the above Acts of Parliament and restrict application of the
death penalty to the "most serious crimes" by converting the maximum penalties
prescribed in those Act into imprisonment for life.
According to Alaso, the Bill also seeks to give effect to the commitment made
by Government to the United Nations following the 1st periodic review of
Uganda's human rights record, to consistently apply the rulings of the court by
converting all death penalties not carried out within 3 years to imprisonment
for life.
"The inmates want lawyers on state briefs to be paid well in order not to
compromise their defense," Alaso noted.
The inmates also complained about missing record of judgment in courts of first
instance which has in many times impended their attempt to appeal their
conviction and sentence.
Inmates told Alaso that absence of records of judgment means that the only way
they can have their convictions and sentences overturned is through a retrial
which they admitted is almost impossible.
According to Ugandan Prison Services spokesperson, Frank Baine, there are 297
inmates at Luzira prison on death row.
Those convicted by military court marital, Alaso said, the process of appeal as
provided for under the UPDF Act is as unwieldy and convoluted.
"There are inmates who have been in Luzira on death row since 1999 and attempts
to appeal their conviction are problematic because of the UPDF Act," Alaso
said, without delving into the sections that make appealing against convictions
hard.
(source: newvision.co.ug)
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:
Death penalty is long overdue
We must agree that since the criminals are aware there is no substantial
punishment for the crimes committed here in Trinidad and Tobago, they will
continue to kill our people, rape our citizens and in some cases decapitate
them for unknown reasons.
Both the United National Congress (UNC) and People's National Movement (PNM)
had given us promises and promises that crime is the number one item on their
agenda. But that was ole talk before and it is again today.
The UNC had introduced the Death Penalty Bill but it did not pass in Parliament
because it needed the 11 vote that were lacking by the PNM opposition under the
UNC administration.
Now that the PNM is in Government, none of the ministers including the PM has
since advocated to reintroduce capital punishment.
In fact, they are all more silent than ever whilst our citizens are murdered
from left to right.
The last time we heard or observed hanging carried out was under the Basdeo
Panday government in the matter of Dole Chadee and his gang.
How come the Panday government was able to carry out capital punishment and now
we can't even get pass the threshold for reintroduction?
Is our Government complicit when it comes to implementing the death penalty
once again?
The governments past and present have invested immense amounts of money to
fight crime and secure our borders from the importation of drugs and arms, they
have purchased patrol vessels and sophisticated technology to prevent or abate
the criminality in our country, but it all appears to be a waste of time and
money.
It is obvious that criminals are the ones who are in charge here. They have a
cache of AK 47s, AR15s, and now they have hand grenades and probably rocket
propel grenades.
The current situation warrants that our Government do something soon before the
Red House goes up in smoke and rubble.
The PNM has a golden opportunity to reintroduce the death penalty regardless of
all the naysayers, the Privy Council and Pratt and Morgan ruling. We are at the
mercy of the criminals and absolutely nothing solid is coming forth from the
people we vote for. And in addition, these ministers took an oath of office to
protect and safeguard the lives of our citizens.
I say it is highly warranted that our Government reintroduce the Capital
Punishment Bill in Parliament for support from the opposition which I firmly
believe will support the bill since they were the ones who initially brought it
to Parliament.
Mr Prime Minster your administration prevented the passage because of the 11
votes that were required. Please send a message to the criminals that your
Government will not tolerate the killing of our citizens.
Jay G Rakhar
New York
(source: Letter to the Editor, Trinidad Daily Express)
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