Jan. 7
ISRAEL:
Chief Rabbi speaks out against death penalty for terrorists----Rabbi Yitzhak
Yosef says death penalty to terrorists law is against halakha, would endanger
Jews.
The Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, on Saturday night
spoke out against the death penalty for terrorists law being promoted by
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu).
According to the Kikar Shabbat website, Rabbi Yosef warned in his weekly shiur
(Torah lesson) that if the law is approved, it would endanger Jews, not just in
Israel but around the world as well, as it would mean that Jews who carried out
terrorist attacks would also be put to death, which would be against halakha
(Jewish law).
"Top religious figures were once at a meeting with the president, and there was
1 person - the president of the Sharia court - who started to speak against the
Jews because of the one who burned the family in Duma," recalled the Rabbi.
"Later on, I got up to speak and told him, 'You brought one example (of a
Jewish terrorist - ed.). There are examples of Arabs committing attacks every
day, thousands and tens of thousands, how can you compare? There was one [Jew
who carried out an attack] and everyone denounced him, the chief rabbis issued
a condemnation, did you issue a condemnation of the [Jewish families] who were
slaughtered on a Friday night?'"
"If there was a law stipulating capital punishment, then what would have to be
the sentence of that Jew who burned [Arabs in Duma]? He would have to be
sentenced to death, he deserves death, but death by heaven. Let him catch a
disease or be involved in a car accident, but can you kill him? Are we the
Sanhedrin?" said the Rabbi, who also expressed concern over what the reactions
to the death penalty in Israel would be around the world.
"From the verdict to the execution, what kind of noise will there be in the
world? The Jews in France, Spain, everywhere - will be in danger," he warned.
Rabbi Yosef also mentioned the opposition of the defense establishment to the
proposed legislation. "All the security people say that there is not much point
in this. That's why the great sages, the real ones, were always against this
law, it's not about left or right, it's connected to the judgment of a great
rabbi."
The law imposing death penalty on terrorists was approved in a preliminary
reading last Wednesday by a majority of 52 to 49.
If it passes its 2nd and 2rd readings, the law will allow army courts to
sentence terrorists found guilty of murder to death with only a simple
majority. Under current law, the death penalty may only be imposed by unanimous
decision.
However, so far there appears to be opposition to the law, even from members of
the coalition, and it is unclear whether it will be promoted further.
(source: israelnationalnews.com)
MALAYSIA:
Easy access to synthetic drugs, high relapse rates key factors behind
Malaysia's failing drug war
The ease of obtaining synthetic drugs and a high relapse rates among addicts
are why Malaysia is sounding the alarm over its losing battle against
narcotics, experts say.
Malaysia's anti-narcotics war centres on education, rehabilitation as well as
harsh penalties for drug abuse, but the country's national anti-drug agency
(AADK) says the main challenge lies in eradicating synthetic drugs like
methamphetamine, ecstasy and ketamine, which can easily be produced in homes
factories.
"Most addicts nowadays are hooked on synthetic drugs because it is easily
available," AADK's director-general Abdul Halim Hussein told TODAY.
The agency comes under the purview of the Home Affairs ministry and is tasked
with tackling the drug menace in the country.
Unlike heroin and marijuana addicts who tend to get their fix in back alleys
and well-known haunts across the country - making it easier for authorities to
nab them - users of synthetic drugs typically use the Internet and encrypted
apps such as WhatsApp to obtain their illicit goods.
This makes it harder for the authorities to trace and nab both the suppliers
and users, said Mr Abdul Halim, adding that abusers of synthetic drugs are also
not necessarily from the lower rugs of society, with many being successful
professionals and even students.
The country's drug menace has alarmed the country's leaders, with deputy prime
minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi publicly admitting last month that the government
had failed in its war on drugs due to the rising number of addicts, which went
up from 26,668 in 2015 to 30,847 last year in 2016.
In the same period, the number of new addicts has also risen from 20,281 to
22,295.
Also, random tests conducted in 2015 on 36,675 schoolchildren found that 1,475
of them tested positive for drugs.
Of these, 1,075 children, or 73 %, tested positive for amphetamine-type
stimulants, while the rest were for cannabis-related drugs.
Additionally, between January 2014 and October 2016, 702,319 individuals were
detained by police for trafficking and possessing drugs, according to
statistics from the Malaysian police.
Of the total, 21,371 arrests involved offences which carry a mandatory death
penalty.
The Malaysian parliament last month voted to remove the mandatory penalty,
giving judges discretionary power in sentencing drug offenders.
"We have to admit that our efforts had failed but it does not mean we have to
stop at it. We should not be in denial, we must to our failure," said Mr Zahid.
"Those who were involved in the drugs syndicate have outsmarted us and this is
why we failed. Now we have to be smarter than them."
A key factor behind the authorities' failure to keep the problem in check is
the high recidivism rates of addicts.
The figures tell the story.
Pengasih Malaysia, one of the country's biggest drug rehabilitation centres,
has treated more than 3,500 addicts at its 9 centres nationwide since its
founding in 1987, with an average relapse rate of 40 %.
This dovetailed with a 2016 study by AADK on 12,362 addicts which found that
4,919 or 39.8 % relapsed after undergoing rehabilition. The rest were
successfully rehabilitated.
Mr Yunus Pathi, the founder and president of Pengasih, attributed the high
relapse rates to a lack of "recovery capital", meaning the absence of family,
community and religious support and difficulties in securing employment.
"Recovery capital is very important, you need this when you leave the rehab
centre or it will be very difficult to be absorbed back into society," he said,
adding that those who undergo rehabilitation also need to be fully committed in
turning over a new leaf.
"Drugs is not a problem, it is people taking it that is the problem. People
turn to drugs because they want to escape their problems... to feel better."
While Malaysia has said it will not be emulating Philippine president Rodrigo
Duterte's extrajudicial crackdown on drug pushers, more public health
approaches are needed to resolve its currrent drug problems, said Universiti
Sains Malaysia's Centre for Drug Research director Prof B Vicknasingam.
Currently, Malaysia's drug policies are mostly centred around criminalisation
and punishment, which some right groups said have not been successful in
reducing its drugs problem.
Dr Vicknasingam said addicts cannot be forced to simply kick their habit as
drug abuse can lead to neurological changes, resulting in powerful cravings and
a compulsion to take drugs that make overcoming the addiction seem like an
impossible goal.
"With advancement in science, we now know that chronic drug use affects the
brains of addicts and continuing to incarcerate them will not help. They need
to be treated," he said.
"Also we need to understand that it is a relapsing disorder and it may take
some time for them to get better. Tobacco addiction is also the same. How many
smokers are able to quit at the first attempt? Not many. So, if quitting
smoking is difficult then quitting drug use is much more difficult as the drugs
are more addictive."
One of the health-based approach is the usage of methadone, introduced by the
country some 15 years ago, which Mr Halim of AADK said has shown some positive
results.
Methadone is used as a medical-assisted therapy to treat severe addiction of
drugs, such as opium, morphine and heroin. It is being offered at some clinics
run jointly run by AADK and the Health Ministry.
"Addicts (who have undergone methadone treatment) have gained stable employment
and stayed clean, which are critical to a successful transition, giving hope to
even the most hardcore drug addict," said Mr Halim.
(source: todayonline.com)
PAKISTAN:
Court seeks details of pardon offered to accused
A district and sessions court on Friday hearing the Shahzeb Khan murder case
sought the details of a pardon offered to the accused by the victim's family.
During the hearing of the case, the 4 accused of the murder of Shahzeb -
Shahrukh Jatoi, Siraj Talpur, Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Mustafa Talpur -
appeared before the court.
In addition to the details of the pardon that was offered by Shahzeb's family
to the accused, Judge Imdaad Hussain Khoso also sought the details of arguments
presented by the prosecution and the defence in the Sindh High Court before the
case was transferred to the district and sessions court.
The case was adjourned until January 20. In December, Jatoi and 2 co-accused
were released from jail after a district and sessions court approved their bail
applications.
Shahzeb Khan's father, Aurangzeb Khan, had had asked the sessions court to not
only release the 4 men earlier convicted of his son's murder on bail, but also
drop the case against them completely.
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had earlier awarded the death penalty to Shahrukh
Jatoi and Siraj Ali Talpur for 20-year-old Shahzeb's murder in 2012 following a
petty dispute. Siraj's younger brother, Sajjad Ali Talpur, and domestic helper
Ghulam Murtaza Lashari had been handed life sentences.
A couple of months after the sentence was passed, however, Shahzeb's parents
had issued a formal pardon for the convicts, approved by the Sindh High Court.
Despite the pardon, however, the death penalty had been upheld because of the
addition of terrorism charges to the case.
However, the SHC recently set aside the death penalty and ordered a retrial of
the case in a sessions court after a criminal review petition filed by Jatoi's
lawyer argued that terrorism charges should be dropped as the prime suspect was
a juvenile at the time of the offence.
(source: dailytimes.com.pk)
IRAN:
Minor waiting for death sentence to be commuted after 8 years of prison
Barzan Nasrollah Zadeh, a prisoner in Sanandaj, is waiting for his death
sentence to be commuted after 8 years of prison in Rajaie Shahr Prison of
Karaj. He has been charged with "enmity against God." Nasrollah Zadeh was shot
by the State Security forces when he was 17 on his way back from school on May
29, 2010 and was arrested. He was forced under pressure and torture to make
televised confessions that he had links to jihadist groups. The minor prisoner
has also been denied fair legal representation.
According to Amnesty International "At least 90 juvenile offenders currently
are on death row across Iran. Many have spent prolonged periods on death row -
in some cases more than a decade. Some have had their executions scheduled then
postponed or stayed at the last minute on multiple occasions, adding to their
torment."
International legal and judicial experts believe that these juveniles should
not be executed for the crime they committed under the age of 18, Iran, however
doesn't accept and considers the death penalty necessary.
(source: iran-hrm.org)
****************************
The Iranian Massacre Never Ended
Back in 1988, the Iranian Regime slaughtered over 30,000 political prisoners-
including children, the elderly, and pregnant women, in a massacre that has
continued to the current day.
Most of the victims were members or supporters of the Iranian opposition group,
the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), but many were only caught
with the group's literature.
For the Iranian Regime, that was evidence enough and they were subjected to
kangaroo trials- presided over by the infamous "death commissions" - which
lasted just a few minutes and did not allow for a defence.
Medieval justice system
Taher Boumedra, a former director of the UN's Human Rights Office, is helping
the families of the victims to seek justice and said that Iran has never
stopped this massacre - even branding their judiciary system "medieval."
He said: "This is about an ongoing crime and ongoing executions. And the
executions are justified using the same reason - that prisoners have committed
"corruption on Earth. There has never been an independent judiciary system in
Iran - the system is based on the fact that whoever does anything against the
regime is against Allah (God)."
The judges in Iran have little legal training and instead follow the so-called
religious laws of the country.
He continued: "In 1988, they were executing people who were already serving a
sentence, they were arrested before the fatwa (an Islamic ruling). There were
about 70 death commissions all over Iran. 3 or 4 people will sit down in a room
and a prisoner will appear and be asked the question 'are you with the
Mojahedin and do you still sympathise with them?' If you answer this question
yes or no, you are kept alive or are killed."
Murdered children
Hossein Abedini, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),
notes that former deputy-Supreme Leader Montazeri mentioned that children- as
young as 13 - were killed in their masses during the massacre.
He said: "Even people who were buying food for the opposition, and children
selling newspapers or disturbing leaflets, were arrested and killed. Many of
them were sent straight to the gallows - and hanged from cranes. They were
questioned, convicted and then killed within minutes."
No one has ever been prosecuted for their role in this massacre and many of
those who were responsible still hold high ranking positions within the Iranian
Regime.
In the history of the Iranian Regime, roughly 120,000 PMOI members have been
executed and they continue to be executed today.
UN recognition
Abedini, who survived an assassination attempt by the Iranian regime on his way
to Istanbul Airport in 1990, is pleased that the UN is finally recognising the
massacre.
He said: "Finally the United Nations after 29 years has acknowledged that this
massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran did take place."
The UN called on the Iranian regime to launch an investigation into the
killings but this has been rejected by many human rights advocates, including
Boumedra, for the simple reason that the Regime would not implicate itself.
Boumedra said: "The representatives of the families of the victims need an
international enquiry rather than a government investigation...It is quite a
complex situation in terms of who would exercise this jurisdiction. We need to
find a court that exercises universal jurisdiction. We need to make sure that
the UN investigates and confirms and identifies the perpetrators, then it will
be easy to follow the case with the courts."
Protests
Currently, the Iranian Regime is facing a wave of anti-regime protests and they
have responded in the only way they know how- arrests and murders. So far, at
least 21 people have died and 450 have been arrested, although it is worth
noting that the Regime has likely underestimated these numbers to make
themselves look better.
There are many reasons for these protests - not least Iran's human rights
abuses. Human Rights Watch notes that the Iranian Regime executes more people
per capita (including children) than any other country.
(source: ncr-iran.org)
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