April 14
PAKISTAN----execution
Murder convict hanged in Haripur jail
A death row prisoner, convicted of murder, was executed in Haripur central jail
on Thursday morning, ARY News reported.
The execution of Imtiaz took place in Haripur jail for committing murder of a
man over a dispute in year 2005.
The execution of another death row prisoner Humayun was stopped after the 2
sides struck a compromise, the jail superintendent said. Humayun had killed his
father in year 2006.
The executions of 2 more convicts were also deferred in Gujrat and Faisalabad
prisons, jail officials said.
In Gujrat death row prisoner Arshad reached to a compromise deal with the
family of the victim, after which his execution was stopped.
In Faisalabad Central Jail, death row prisoner Nadeem alias Deema and the
aggrieved family were agreed over a compromise, after which his execution was
stopped. The convict had killed a man over a dispute 11 years ago.
Human rights group Amnesty International last week described Pakistan, with 326
hangings last year, as the world's 3rd most prolific country conducting
executions after China and Iran.
Pakistan had ended a moratorium on the death penalty after Taliban attackers
gunned down more than 150 people, most of them children, at Army Public School
in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.
The country had initially reinstated hangings only for those convicted of
terrorism, but later the decision was extended to all capital offences.
(source: Ary News)
IRAN----execution
Prisoner Hanged in Northwestern Iran
On Monday April 11 a prisoner was reportedly hanged at Tabriz's central prison
(located in the East Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran) on rape charges.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network has identified the prisoner as a man named
Ghader Mazaheri. Iranian official sources, including state media and the
Judiciary, have been silent about this execution.
(source: iranhr.net)
UNITED KINGDOM:
The UK needs to condemn executions in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran ---- The
rise in capital punishments worldwide should bring action from the UK???s
foreign office, but it has been criticised for deprioritising human rights
Driven by unprecedented execution sprees in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran,
the use of the death penalty has reached an all-time high, according to figures
published by Amnesty International. An alarming proportion of those executed
were carried out for non-violent crimes, including drug offences and attendance
at political protests.
UK human rights minister Baroness Anelay said the government was "deeply
troubled" by this resurgence in the use of the death penalty. But her words
rang hollow just hours after parliament's foreign affairs committee (FAC)
warned that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's (FCO) recent approach "raises
questions about how energetically the government is raising human rights
issues".
Indeed, though the UK has historically been a leading voice in opposition to
the death penalty, the last year has seen a shift, with trade apparently given
precedence over human rights. In October 2015 the FCO's permanent
under-secretary, Sir Simon McDonald confirmed to the FAC that human rights were
"not one of our top priorities" and that "the prosperity agenda is further up
the list".
Baroness Anelay has repeatedly stressed that "we make our opposition well known
at the highest levels to countries which continue to apply [the death
penalty]". But as the MPs' report pointed out, ministers have all too often
dodged the issue in diplomatic settings, even in one case failing to remember
whether or not human rights had been discussed during a business delegation to
Egypt.
The countries driving a global surge in executions are among the UK's closest
allies. This gives us a voice.
It is easy for ministers to condemn the death penalty in principle from Foreign
Office briefing rooms. But if these words are to mean anything, the UK must be
willing to engage in targeted ways on specific cases, including making its
concerns public where appropriate. The countries driving a global surge in
executions are among the UK's closest allies. This gives us a voice and we
should use it in service of our values.
In Pakistan, for example, 400 people have been executed since December 2014,
when the Pakistani government began a brutal execution campaign waged under the
pretext of fighting terrorists. The vast majority of people hanged were charged
with crimes bearing no resemblance to terrorism and a number have been proved
to be juveniles. Despite this, the UK continues to cooperate with Pakistani
police forces which actively boast about the death sentences they secure.
In Saudi Arabia, the government has executed more than 80 prisoners this year
alone - a rate that has it on course to double its executions total for 2015.
The cause of the spree appears to be a simple attempt to crush dissent and
calls for reform, following the new king's accession to the throne. But instead
of condemning the execution of juveniles who participated in political
protests, the UK's response has been pusillanimous, with the foreign secretary
appearing to defend the country's actions on the basis that those executed were
"terrorists" - a characterisation which is demonstrably untrue.
The UK might not have the same diplomatic ties to Iran that we do to Saudi
Arabia or Pakistan, but our recent resumption of diplomatic relations with the
country presents an opportunity for genuine dialogue on human rights issues. In
this light it is far from encouraging that foreign secretary Philip Hammond
pledged to discuss drug enforcement efforts with Iran in the same year the
country executed more than 600 non-violent drug offenders.
When the UK uses its voice to oppose these injustices, it makes a difference.
In April 2013, David Cameron spoke out about the torture and abuse of 3 young
men facing death sentences for drug offences in the UAE. It's no coincidence
that the men were included in a pardon that saw them released from detention in
July that same year.
It is to be hoped that we will see similar targeted interventions in other
cases. Andy Tsege is a British father of three who was kidnapped in June 2014
and rendered to Ethiopia, where he has been held under sentence of death
imposed in absentia ever since. Rather than condemning the unlawful abuses, the
UK government has limited itself to pushing for consular access and a lawyer
for Andy.
The death penalty has never been about justice or law enforcement; citizens are
no safer for living under the shadow of the gallows. Capital punishment is, in
fact, all about power and positioning, and the governments of Saudi, Pakistan
and Iran see the death penalty as a political asset.
Nations that oppose the death penalty, among which the UK should be foremost,
should not shrink from showing our allies that its use carries a political
cost.
(source: Maya Foa is the death penalty director at Reprieve----The Guardian)
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