April 20
ISRAEL/GAZA:
EU Condemns Death Sentences in Gaza for Suspected Collaborators With Israel
The European Union released a statement earlier today in which it condemned the
military courts in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for sentencing to death 5
convicts accused of collaborating with Israel.
"The EU Missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah condemn the 5 death sentences issued
by military courts in the Gaza Strip on 18 April," said the EU statement.
"These include 3 new death sentences and the confirmation of 2 previous ones,
all on the grounds of collaboration with enemy forces."
"This brings to ten the total number of death sentences to be issued in Gaza
this year," the EU added.
Death sentences for convicted informants and collaborators with Israel are
nothing new for the Hamas regime as the terror organization has executed many
such individuals over the years. However, the EU focused less on opposition to
the punishment of suspected collaborators with Israel and more on the use of
the death penalty in general.
"As in their most recent statement on 13 April, the EU Missions in Jerusalem
and Ramallah recall the EU's firm opposition under all circumstances to the use
of capital punishment," the EU stressed in its statement.
"It considers capital punishment to be cruel and inhuman, that it fails to
provide deterrence to criminal behavior, and represents an unacceptable denial
of human dignity and integrity," the statement continued.
The EU expressed its belief that the removal of the death penalty would help to
serve as a step forward in the advancement of human rights under the Hamas
terror regime in Gaza.
The EU also asked that the Hamas authorities in Gaza abide by the decision of
the Palestinian Authority, which only governs over Palestinian communities in
Judea and Samaria and not in Gaza, to implement a moratorium on the death
penalty.
"The authorities in Gaza must refrain from carrying out any executions of
prisoners and comply with the moratorium on executions put in place by the
Palestinian Authority, pending abolition of the death penalty in line with the
global trend," insisted the EU.
(sources: Tazpit News Agency/Jewish Press)
EGYPT:
Kafr El-Sheikh Death Row Political Detainees in Day 6 of Hunger
Strike----Protesting severe abuse for themselves in detention, as well as for
their families in visits, prisoners of conscience refuse all food for 6th day
running.
Death penalty detainees, in the case known as "the bombing of Kafr El-Sheikh
stadium", started a full hunger-strike which is now in its 6th day running,
because of the brutal treatment of some prison officers, who threw 1 of them in
solitary confinement to punish him, and took away all their personal
belongings: food, blankets and medicine.
Notably, orders were never signed by the military governor in Alexandria. Thus,
locking detainees in solitary confinement is certainly in violation of the law.
Moreover, detainees' families are subjected to the worst and most humiliating
treatment, and the most savage insults during visits.
Relatives of the detainees exhort all human rights organizations to intervene
to stop the abuses practiced by the prison administration and guards against
their loved ones.
(source: ikhwanweb.com)
MAURITANIA:
Mauritania must quash the death sentence against blogger
Mauritania must quash the death sentence handed down to a blogger for apostasy
and release him unconditionally, Amnesty International said today, ahead of his
appeal court hearing in the south-western city of Nouadhibou tomorrow.
Mohamed Mkhaitir, 33, was sentenced to death in December 2014, after a year in
pre-trial detention, for writing a blog that criticized those who use Islam to
discriminate against certain groups in the society. It is the 1st time the
death sentence has been imposed for apostasy in Mauritania since the country
gained independence in 1960.
"The death penalty should not be used in any circumstances, the sentencing of
Mohamed Mkhaitir to death for writing a blog that criticized those who use
religion to discriminate is unjust and it shows how far the Mauritanian
authorities will go to try and stamp out dissent", said Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty
International West Africa researcher.
"The Mauritanian authorities must quash the death sentence and immediately and
unconditionally release him."
Mohamed Mkhaitir is a prisoner of conscience, jailed solely for the peaceful
expression of his right to freedom of expression. Amnesty International
considers the use of penal sanctions to compel religious belief is a violation
of international human rights law, particularly the African Charter on Human
and Peoples' Rights, to which Mauritania is state party.
The organization opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception,
regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime. The death penalty
violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
(source: Amnesty International)
IRAN:
10 executions, including 2 women, concurrent with Ms. Mogherini's trip to Iran
From April 14 to 16, concurrent with the visit of the EU High Representative to
Iran, the antihuman clerical regime sent 10 prisoners to the gallows. 3 were
executed in Rasht central prison on April 16 while the other 7, including 2
women, were collectively hanged in Birjand central prison on April 14. Prior,
on the verge of the visit by the EU representative and the Italian Prime
Minister, 14 prisoners had been executed.
Officials of the Iranian regime, who are fearful of a revolt by the army of the
unemployed and hungry, are ratcheting up suppression and slaughter on a daily
basis to rein in social protests. The head of the regime's commerce chamber
noted: "Security may be harmed by economic factors such as an increase in
unemployment, stagnation and huge governmental debts to the private sector...
and this situation has been passed on from the year 94 [last Persian year 1394]
to year 95. The brittle climate of business is unable to absorb political
tensions... Playing politics in the economic climate may imperil national
security." (Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC Quds Force - April 17)
The relationship of European countries with the religious fascism ruling Iran
and visits by their officials to Tehran amid their continued shameful silence
and inaction regarding the horrendous and systematic violation of human rights
in Iran emboldens this regime to continue with its torture, executions,
slaughters, suppression of women and ethnic and religious minorities, and its
defiance of international law and conventions. Improvement of economic and
political relations with this medieval regime ought to be preconditioned to
improvement of human rights and in particular a halt to executions.
(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)
**********
30 Executions Carried Out in Last 10 Days
Iranian authorities have hanged 4 prisoners in northwestern Iran on drug
charges. This brings the total of prisoners who have been executed in Iran in
the last 10 days to 30.
On the morning of Tuesday April 19, 4 prisoners were reportedly hanged on drug
charges at Urmia's central prison, Darya. According to the Kurdistan Human
Rights Network, the names of the 4 prisoners are: Majid Moradi, Ahmad Mohi,
Alireza Sarian, and Mansour Raziani. Iranian officials sources, including state
media and the Judiciary, have been silent about these executions.
The rate of executions in Iran had significantly decreased during a 3-month
period, from the outset of 2016 until after the Iranian parliamentary election
and the Nowruz holiday. However, executions have resumed since April 2016.
According to Iran Human Rights, 30 people have been executed in Iran in the
last t10 days alone.
(source: iranhr.net)
INDONESIA:
Indonesian delegate booed at UN meeting after defending use of death penalty on
drug offenders
World governments at a UN meeting on the global drug problem were urged Tuesday
to move away from repression, abolish the death penalty for drug offenses and
step up treatment.
In the 1st such meeting in nearly 20 years, the UN General Assembly adopted a
document that marks a shift away from the "war on drugs" launched in the 1970s,
with its heavy-handed approach centered on law enforcement and criminalization.
"Drug policies that focus almost exclusively on the use of the criminal justice
system need to be broadened. They need to be broadened by embracing a public
health approach," said World Health Organization (WHO) director Margaret Chan,
drawing applause.
The 3-day special session was requested by Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala,
which have felt the brunt of the war on drugs with an explosion of crime and
violence.
Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto said the fight against drugs must be seen
from a "human rights perspective" and warned that harsh penalties for drug use
"create a vicious cycle of marginalization and crime."
Saying that his country had paid a "high price" for failed global drug
policies, he also backed calls for decriminalizing marijuana use for medical
and scientific purposes.
Delegates from the European Union, Switzerland, Brazil, Costa Rica and Uruguay,
among others, called for abolishing capital punishment for convicted drug
felons, a practice widely used by China, Iran and Indonesia.
Indonesia's delegate drew jeers when he declared that the use of the death
penalty was a matter for individual states to decide, in a statement backed by
Singapore, Saudi Arabia, China, Iran and Pakistan, among other countries.
The document adopted at the session makes no reference to the death penalty but
calls on government to "promote proportionate national sentencing policies...
whereby the severity of penalties is proportionate to the gravity of offenses."
Pakistan said it was gravely concerned by the trend toward legalizing the use
of marijuana and other drugs.
Uruguay became the 1st county to fully legalize marijuana in 2013 and Canada is
among countries looking at a similar measure.
"This would give a fillip to drug demand, thus igniting the supply chain having
direct fallouts on our region," Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali
Khan warned.
"We have dreamed of a drug-free society rather than a drug-tolerant society,"
he said.
China's Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun agreed: "Any form of legalization
of narcotics should be resolutely opposed."
- Hong Kong success -
Some 27 million people worldwide are living with drug-use disorders, and more
than 400,000 of them die each year, according to the WHO.
Drug use by injection accounts for 30 % of new HIV infections outside Africa
and contributes to epidemics of hepatitis B and C in all regions.
The WHO's Chan singled out Hong Kong as a success story, saying methadone
treatment for drug users had been key to reducing petty crime.
"People with drug dependence can be helped and returned to productive use in
society," she said.
The adopted document calls for "appropriate medication-assisted therapy
programs, injecting equipment programs as well as antiretroviral therapy and
other relevant interventions."
Ethan Nadelmann, who heads the Drug Policy Alliance, which is pushing for
reform, said the UN text was a "notable improvement" but still "quite limited
and disappointing."
"Those in favor of maintaining the status quo, notably the Russians and their
allies, won the bigger battles in the negotiations leading up to this week's
meeting," he said.
Last week, the former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Nigeria joined
celebrities Sting and Michael Douglas along with businessman Warren Buffett to
call for an end to the "disastrous" war on drugs.
"Humankind cannot afford a 21st-century drug policy as ineffective and
counterproductive as the last century's," the letter to UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said. "A new global response to drugs is needed, grounded in
science, compassion, health and human rights."
(source: coconuts.co)
KYRGYZSTAN:
Bakyt Torobaev proposes to introduce death penalty for pedophiles
Candidate for the post of Speaker Bakyt Torobaev (Onuguu-Progress) said in
Parliament that he considers it necessary to introduce the death penalty for
pedophiles.
"I think it's necessary to introduce the death penalty for pedophiles, those
who rape children. Probably, punishment for terrorists should be toughen. But
the decision to change the Constitution should be taken together," Bakyt
Torobaev said.
Recall, Kyrgyzstan abandoned the capital punishment - the death penalty, as it
took up a number of international obligations. Since 1998, our country has a
moratorium on the death penalty and in 2006, when the Constitution was adopted,
the death penalty has been abolished and replaced by life imprisonment.
(source: eng.24.kg)
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