May 18
LEBANON:
106 handed down death penalty in Lebanon over Arsal clashes
A Lebanese military judge has sentenced 106 men to death over the 2014 clashes
between the army and terrorists in the country's northeast near the border with
conflict-ridden Syria.
A judicial source said Judge Najat Abou Chakra convicted 73 Syrians, 32
Lebanese and one Palestinian of belonging to terrorist groups and attacking the
town of Arsal.
They were also indicted for "carrying out terrorist acts, killing and
attempting to kill a number of soldiers from the Lebanese Army, Internal
Security Forces and civilians, kidnapping several servicemen, burning and
looting military posts and vehicles, causing insecurity and sowing sectarian
strife."
According to the judge, the militants planned killing all those aged over 15
who sought to resist them.
Among those convicted, 77 are in custody but the remaining 29 are at large.
The suspects include Jamal Hussain Zainieh, also known as Abu Malek al-Talli,
who is the al-Nusra Front terrorist group's leader in Syria's Qalamoun region.
Lebanon is suffering from the spillover of militancy in neighboring Syria,
where foreign-backed extremists have been fighting government forces since
2011.
Daesh and al-Nusra Front, which is the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, have been
active on the outskirts of Arsal.
The militants briefly overran Arsal in August 2014, taking about 30 Lebanese
army and police forces hostage, some of whom were executed.
After lengthy negotiations, 16 of the captives were released last December as
part of a prisoner swap deal.
Assisting Syrian army forces, fighters with the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance
movement have thwarted several terrorist attacks.
(source: Presstv)
ISRAEL:
Report: Liberman turned down Defense Minister offer----Yisrael Beytenu head
rejects position, promise of death penalty for terrorists; says current gov't
not really right-wing.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently offered Yisrael Beytenu chairman
Avigdor Liberman the Defense Minister position, Channel 10 reports Tuesday, if
his party joined the coalition.
Nertanyahu also offered Liberman a commitment to uphold a "death penalty for
terrorists" policy Liberman has championed for years.
But Liberman evidently turned him down.
A senior Likud source told Arutz Sheva late Tuesday that the move was due to
Netanyahu's beliefs that "a broad government can better cope with political,
security, and economic challenges." Currently, the coalition is teetering with
a treacherous 61 MKs - a majority of just one in the 120-seat Knesset.
But Yisrael Beytenu sources rejected this claim, saying that Netanyahu
continues to deceive voters about his promises of a right-wing government, even
more so since Netanyahu has entered serious talks with jis political nemesis
Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) about a unity government.
"Since the elections, Yisrael Beytenu demands the establishment of a genuine
national government - which overthrows the Hamas regime in Gaza, builds up
Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim, and void [Joint List MKs] Ayman Odeh and Hanin Zoabi
from running for the Knesset," Yisrael Beytenu sources fired.
Polls Monday showed that a vast majority of Israelis are opposed to a unity
government, with Zionist Union voters in particular outraged over the proposal.
If elections were held today, Liberman's party would gain three additional
seats as Likud would lose several, two separate studies have indicated - most
likely due to voter frustration over a string of stalled promises from
Netanyahu. Jewish Home, the Knesset's other right-wing party, would also stand
to gain several seats, the projections show.
(source: Israel National News)
IRAN----executions
Iran regime steps up executions; 21 hanged in 48 hours
Iran's fundamentalist regime has sharply increased its rate of executions,
carrying out at least 21 hangings in a 48-hour period this week.
2 men were hanged earlier on Wednesday in the Central Prison of Urmia
(Orumieh), north-west Iran. They were identified as Dariyoush Farajzadeh and
Ghafour Qaderzadeh.
Another 2 men were hanged on Wednesday in a prison in Yasuj, central Iran,
according to Mehrdad Karami, the regime's prosecutor in the city. The men,
whose names were not given, were 26 and 34 years old, he said.
A man, only identified by his initials S. R., 31, was hanged on Wednesday in a
prison in Sari, northern Iran, according to the regime's judiciary in
Mazandaran Province.
The state broadcaster IRIB, quoting the regime's judiciary in Yazd Province,
central Iran, announced on its website that 8 prisoners were hanged in the
province on Tuesday. The regime's Prosecutor in Yazd Province had earlier told
the state-run Rokna news agency that 6 people had been hanged in the province
on Tuesday.
A separate report from Isfahan, central Iran, said that a prisoner was hanged
in the city's notorious Dastgerd Prison on Monday, May 16. He has been
identified as Malek Salehi, 35.
6 men were hanged collectively in the Central Prison of Urmia on Tuesday, May
17. They had been serving a prison sentence in Ward 15 of the jail on
drugs-related charges.
They were identified as Naji Keywan, Nader Mohammadi, Ali Shamugardian, Aziz
Nouri-Azar, Fereydoon Rashidi and Heidar Amini.
Also on Tuesday, a man was hanged in public in the north-eastern city of
Mashhad.
The victim, who was not named, was hanged at 7 am in the city's Mofatteh
Square. His sentence had been upheld by the regime's Supreme Court.
Ms. Farideh Karimi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
(NCRI) and a human rights activist, on Tuesday criticized the lack of response
by the international community and human rights groups to the appalling state
of human rights in Iran.
The latest hangings bring to at least 97 the number of people executed in Iran
since April 10. 3 of those executed were women and 1 is believed to have been a
juvenile offender.
Iran's fundamentalist regime last week amputated the fingers of a man in his
30s in Mashhad, the latest in a line of draconian punishments handed down and
carried out in recent weeks.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement on April
13 that the increasing trend of executions "aimed at intensifying the climate
of terror to rein in expanding protests by various strata of the society,
especially at a time of visits by high-ranking European officials, demonstrates
that the claim of moderation is nothing but an illusion for this medieval
regime."
Amnesty International in its April 6 annual Death Penalty report covering the
2015 period wrote: "Iran put at least 977 people to death in 2015, compared to
at least 743 the year before."
"Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions recorded" in the Middle East
and North Africa, the human rights group said.
There have been more than 2,300 executions during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as
President. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation
in Iran in March announced that the number of executions in Iran in 2015 was
greater than any year in the last 25 years. Rouhani has explicitly endorsed the
executions as examples of "God's commandments" and "laws of the parliament that
belong to the people."
(source: NCR-Iran)
**********
Open letter to UN human rights experts to intervene against ongoing juvenile
executions
Paris-Geneva, 17 May 2016
To:
-- The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic
Republic of Iran, Mr. Ahmed Shaheed
-- The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
Mr. Christof Heyns
-- The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, Mr. Juan Mendez
-- Members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
-- Members of the UN Human Rights Committee
Dear Sirs/Madams,
I am writing to request your urgent intervention in the case of Alireza Tajiki,
who was 15 years old at the time of his arrest in 2012 for alleged rape and
murder. His execution was scheduled for Sunday 15 May 2016 in Adelabad prison
in the city of Shiraz, but his lawyer and a number of other supporters managed
to secure a temporary stay of execution. However, it is not clear for how long
the execution has been postponed, notably because Iran's Islamic Penal Code
empowers parents of the victims of murder to demand the execution of the
alleged perpetrator.
The death sentence imposed on Mr. Tajiki is primarily based on a "confession"
extracted from him under torture during his initial detention in solitary
confinement, even though he retracted this "confession" during his trial,
stating that he had been tortured and proclaiming his innocence. Throughout his
detention and trial, Mr. Tajiki was denied due process, including being denied
access to a lawyer during the investigation period.
After a trial that failed to meet international standards of fairness and
transparency, he was sentenced to death in April 2014. A branch of the Supreme
Court overturned this sentence and sent the case back to the issuing court for
lack of evidence, and ordered further investigation. Nevertheless, the
first-instance court re-imposed the death sentence based on the defendant's
"confessions," without any reference to any other evidence or investigation
into torture allegations. Despite this gross failure to investigate, the
Supreme Court upheld the 2nd death sentence.
Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, Alireza Tajiki's lawyer, who has applied for his retrial,
stated on her Facebook page: "There are many ambiguous aspects in his file that
create many doubts about the sentence. The worst aspect is that Alireza Tajiki
was not older than 15 [at the time of the commission of the alleged offence]."
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been the biggest executioner of juvenile
offenders worldwide for some years. The usual practice in Iran is to keep the
alleged juvenile offenders in prison until they reach the age of 18 and then
execute them. Nevertheless, several defendants have been executed even before
reaching the age of 18.
International human rights organisations have documented the executions of at
least 73 juveniles since 2005, including 4 in 2015, 13 in 2014, 8 in 2013, 4 in
2012 and 7 in 2011. On 19 October 2015, the UN Secretary General expressed his
deep sadness regarding the execution of 2 juvenile offenders the week before in
Iran. According to the Secretary General's report to the Human Rights Council
in February 2015, at least 160 juvenile offenders were reportedly on death row
as of December 2014. (A/HRC/28/26)
Recalling that Iran is a State party to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, I request you to:
- ask Iran to order a fair retrial of Alireza Tajiki without recourse to the
death penalty, and to fully investigate the allegations that he was subjected
to torture;
- urge Iran to repeal all death sentences against juveniles and order retrials
in all cases of death-row juveniles, in compliance with its obligations under
international human rights law, including the Convention on the Rights of the
Child; and
- call on UN member states, and in particular those States with economic and
political ties with Iran, to use their influence to insist that Iran stop the
practice of juvenile executions.
Sincerely,
Karim Lahidji, FIDH President
CC: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
(source: fidh.org)
***************
Halt Execution of Alireza Tajiki
Iranian teenager Alireza Tajiki is at continued risk of execution. The
authorities did not carry out his scheduled execution on 15 May after a global
outcry. However, they have not committed to not rescheduling the execution.
Alireza Tajiki had been sentenced to death for a crime he says he did not
commit. He was 15 years old at the time of the crime.
see:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/iran-halt-execution-of-alireza-tajiki-ua-11616
(source: Amnesty International USA)
PHILIPPINES:
House leaders slam Duterte's plan to revive public executions
House leaders have rejected the planned public executions by hanging especially
on drug-related crimes by incoming president Rodrigo Roa Duterte, saying that
the re-imposition of death penalty is not the antidote to the rising cases of
crimes in the country.
Speaker Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte Jr., vice president of the Liberal Party,
maintained that the revival of death penalty is not the answer to the brutality
of criminals who prey on the old and the weak.
He described as "divisive" Duterte's plan to restore the death penalty and said
that "it won't fly."
"A very divisive issue in the House," Belmonte, vice president of the ruling
Liberal party (LP), said, adding that the country's criminal justice system
should be strengthened first.
But Belmonte was quick to add that they will be "supportive" of the Duterte
administration's programs and legislative agenda.
On Monday, Duterte vowed to push for the restoration of death penalty for
heinous crimes including robbery with rape.
Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza, for his part, insisted "the problem is the
lack of effective and efficient law enforcement."
"It is not and never will be an effective deterrent to the commission of crimes
and will not address this serious problem," he said.
1-BAP Party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III, who served as Justice Secretary
during the Ramos administration, said the best and most effective deterrent to
criminality is the quick and effective apprehension and prosecution of
criminals.
"The death penalty runs counter to the provision and spirit of our Constitution
against inhuman and cruel punishment," he said.
In an earlier interview, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo branded the proposal as
"anti-poor", "considering that no rich person has been executed in the last 40
years."
"The presence of the death penalty has no effect on the reduction of
criminality," he said.
Republic Act (RA) No. 7659 or the Death Penalty Law was scrapped during the
leadership of 2 women presidents - the late President Corazon Aquino and former
president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
FRIGHTENING
Father Amado Picardal, who helped bury a teenager from a slum family who was
gunned down by motorcycle-riding assassins in Davao, said a Duterte presidency
is "very frightening."
He added that human rights groups will need to keep a close watch and document
any violations, especially extrajudicial killings, in the next 6 years.
In a report, the Commission on Human Rights said 206 people, mostly suspected
criminals and including 19 minors, were slain in shootings and stabbings
attributed to the death squads from 2005 to 2009 alone, adding that there were
witnesses to at least 94 of the killings.
"Nobody wanted to testify," said Loretta Ann Rosales, who headed the commission
at the time. "There was a measure of fear. We can't prove his criminal
liability because nobody would say that he ordered the killings."
Phelim Kine of the US-based group Human Rights Watch said it found no hard
evidence of any direct role by Duterte in 28 death-squad killings, mostly from
2007 to 2008 that it investigated.
Rosales said the Philippine human rights commission asked the Ombudsman, which
prosecutes officials for wrongdoing, to investigate Duterte in 2012 for
possible administrative liability "for his inaction in the face of evidence of
numerous killings committed in Davao City and his toleration of the commission
of those offenses."
Despite his brash campaign rhetoric, Duterte will find it hard to bring his
Davao crime-fighting style to the rest of the country because of the oversight
of Congress, the judiciary and other agencies that check abuses. The world will
be watching too, said Picardal, who was assigned to Davao for many years until
he moved to Manila in 2011.
"There are checks and balances," he said. "The eyes of the nation and the world
are on him."
(source: Manila Bulletin)
*************
Return of death penalty to be tackled in first 100 days of next Congress
The reimposition of the death penalty will be among the top legislative
priorities when the 17th Congress starts in July, the point person of incoming
President Rodrigo Duterte in the House of Representatives said.
Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon "Bebot" Alvarez said bills for the reinstatement
of capital punishment will be tackled within the first 100 days of the incoming
Congress.
"Isasalang 'yan," he told reporters Wednesday in a press conference in Pasay
City. Duterte, known for his tough stance against crime, has been vocal about
his desire to bring back capital punishment, particularly for heinous crimes
such as rape.
Earlier this week, the outgoing Davao City mayor said he wants to impose death
penalty by hanging. Alvarez, Duterte's choice for Speaker, is aware the
proposal to revive death penalty could face rough sailing in the Congress but
is determined to push for its passage.
"We respect yung mga iba't ibang opinions on the matter but the President
campaigned on the basis of those platforms and the people voted for him,
meaning meron siyang mandate to effect the necessary changes," he said.
Death penalty was abolished in 2006 when former President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo signed a law repealing Republic Act 7659, which imposes capital
punishment on certain heinous crimes.
Charter Change
Aside from the reviving capital punishment, Alvarez said Charter Change will
also be a priority of the Duterte administration.
However, the mode for amending Constitution has yet to be discussed.
"The [incoming] President is calling for a Con con (Constitutional convention),
but we have to remember that there are three modes of revising the
Constitution: the Constitutional convention, constituent assembly and the
people's initiative," he said.
Alvarez said Duterte wants to have a plebsicite on the proposed changes to the
Constitution conducted in 2019, the same time as the midterm elections.
(source: gmanetwork.com)
********
Mayor Beng to leave death penalty issue to lawmakers
Reelected Mayor Beng Climaco-Salazar did not make clear whether she will
support or not the imposition of the death penalty being pushed by incoming
president Rodrigo Duterte particularly for heinous crimes.
"Although the Catholic church is against death penalty, per se always pro-life,
what kind of justice must be given to our people? Will it be death or life
imprisonment?" Climaco told reporters in her first press conference at City
Hall Monday since the May 9 election.
"So we will leave it up to our justices, to the lawmakers to really see what is
a very good, corrective measure for the violators of the law," she said.
Citing Filipino citizens who commit crimes in other countries, the mayor said
they are meted with death penalty, but those foreigners who violate Philippine
laws are just deported back to their countries.
"That is why, this is not a strong deterrent particularly for foreign violators
of the law to conduct crimes in the Philippines," she added.
Climaco further said that personally, she does not think she would bein a
capacity to judge for herself "as there is always room for the person for
corrective measure."
"In that case, again, without washing my hands as a local chief executive, we
will abide by the product of the law," she said.
Climaco, meantime, said they will strongly support Duterte's proposals on
curfew for minors and liquor ban in public places.
"How it is to be translated in the form of the law that will guide all local
chief executives and the local government? We will just await the issuance of
the law and I believe once it is enacted or once the executive order from
president comes out, it will always be in accordance with the Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines without violating the rights of the people. We
will just abide," she explained.
The camp of Duterte had earlier said the curfew is principally forminors,
unescorted, past 10:00 p.m. It will not include minorswith their parents or
guardians.
It was also made clear that the liquor ban in Davao City, which prohibits
establishments from selling alcohol after 1 a.m., will only be ineffect in
public places.
Aside from the curfew and liquor ban, Duterte also imposed a karaoke ban and a
no-smoking policy in public areas in Davao City.
(source: Zamboanga Today)
MALAYSIA:
Cook and veggie seller escape the gallows
A cook and a vegetable seller charged with trafficking in more than 2kg of
ketamine at a house in Jalan Tanjung Bungah were sentenced to 5 years' jail
after they pleaded guilty to an alternate charge of drug possession.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Azmi Ariffin ordered the sentence for Teh Lai Heng,
40, and Tan Kean Lye, 48, to commence from Dec 18, 2013. which was the date of
their arrest.
The offence under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable
under Section 12(3) of the same act carries a fine of up to RM100,000 and a
jail sentence of not more than 5 years, or both.
Both were previously charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act
1952 which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
According to the facts of the case, the police conducted a raid at the house
and 5 plastic packets suspected to contain ketamine were discovered on Teh. Tan
was found in 1 of the rooms in the house.
At the premises, police also discovered numerous plastic packets containing the
same substance, a digital weighing scale, empty plastic packets and a small
plastic spoon.
In mitigation, Datuk Ranjit Singh Dhillon said Teh was a stroke, diabetes and
renal disease patient with a wife and a 5-year-old son while Tan is also
married with a 13-year-old child.
"Both had pleaded guilty at the 1st instance they were offered the alternate
charge. I hope the court can take into account that they are first-time
offenders and had been in remand since they were arrested in 2013."
DPP Emma Syafawati Abdul Wahab said an appropriate punishment should be meted
out due to the severity of the offence.
In his judgment, Azmi said public interest should not be compromised.
"I hope this can become a lesson for the 2 of you as it is not the right way to
earn a living and what you are doing can ruin the country, yourself, your
family and children," he said.
(source: The Star)
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