June 11
IRAN:
Iran Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentences for Daesh Members
Iran's Supreme Court has upheld death sentence rulings for 8 members of the
Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group that followed their conviction on charges
of having a role in June 2017 terrorist attacks in Tehran, a judge said Monday.
Speaking to Tasnim, head of Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mousa Ghazanfarabadi,
said the death sentence rulings have been upheld by the Supreme Court.
He added that the Supreme Court has ruled that capital punishment is
commensurate with their conviction for "aiding and abetting" violent action
against the Establishment.
On June 7, 2017, Daesh terrorists launched simultaneous attacks on Iran's
Parliament building in downtown Tehran and on the mausoleum of the late founder
of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini.
The attacks left 17 people dead and more than 40 others wounded.
All of the 5 gunmen directly involved in the attacks were killed by the
security forces.
(source: tasnimnews.com)
BANGLADESH:
4 to hang for raping girl in Narayanganj
A court in Narayanganj today handed death penalty to 4 people for raping a
10-year-old girl in 2003.
The 4 convicted rapists -- Sumon, Alamin, Abul and Shahadat -- all residets of
Alirtek of Narayanganj Sadar upazila, are still at large.
After 15 years of the incident, the culprits were punshed for their crime today
as Judge Md Juel Rana of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal
awarded death penalty to them.
On January 13, the girl went missing, after it was reported that the 4 culprits
called the girl from her house, our Narayanganj correspondent reports quoting
Rakib Uddin, public prosecutor of Women and Children Repression Prevention
Tribunal.
The next day, her body was recovered from a field next to her house, the lawyer
said adding that ever since the victim???s brother filed a case with
Narayanganj Sadar Model Police Station, the culprits went into hiding.
However, the victim's family is content with the decision, the PP added.
(source: The Daily Star)
JAPAN:
High court rejects decision to reopen 1966 Hakamada quadruple murder case
The Tokyo High Court on Monday overturned the Shizuoka District Court's
decision to reopen the 1966 murder case involving former professional boxer
Iwao Hakamada, who was convicted of killing four people, despite recent DNA
evidence that undermined his prosecution.
The case, often cited as an example of how miscarriages of justice take place
in the Japanese judicial system, has seen Hakamada become an emblem of wrongful
convictions after spending over four decades behind bars, most of it on death
row.
The high court, presided over by Justice Takaaki Oshima, rejected the lower
court's ruling that the DNA on bloodstained clothes found near the crime scene,
presumably worn by the murderer, did not match Hakamada's DNA. The high court
claimed that the results were not credible and fell short of being
"indisputable" evidence.
The ruling also rejected the defense team's claim that the bloodstained clothes
might have been fabricated, dismissing the accusation as a mere "abstract
possibility."
The ruling, however, did not overturn the district court's decision to release
Hakamada from detention, nor its suspension of his death penalty, claiming that
the final judgment on detention should wait until the case is finalized, given
Hakamada's frail health.
The more than 4 decades of detention have diminished Hakamada's mental health,
and he also reportedly has dementia.
Hakamada was held at the Tokyo Detention center for a total of 48 years until
the Shizuoka District Court ruled in favor of reopening the case in 2014,
allowing him to be released. The Shizuoka District Court also decided to
suspend his death penalty.
At a news conference after the ruling, Hakamada's legal team said it will
appeal.
Despite losing the retrial request, Hideko Hakamada, the defendant's sister and
longtime advocate, said she was "slightly relieved that Iwao won't have to be
taken into custody."
Many people, including politicians, members of citizens' groups and the
Japanese Bar Association all expressed disbelief and disappointment at the
ruling.
"This judgment is not based on evidence, but rather on mistaken assumptions,"
said Hideyo Ogawa, a lawyer on the defense team.
"We strongly believe that we can prove (Hakamada's innocence) with factual
proof," he continued.
"I'm devastated at the ruling," Nobuhiro Terazawa, a member of a citizens'
group campaigning for Hakamada's freedom, said at the news conference.
"Iwao Hakamada is posing a question to (Japan's) judicial system, and we have
to answer to that question," he continued.
Hakamada, who was a live-in employee at a soybean processing firm, was arrested
in August 1966 on suspicion of robbery, murder and arson after the firm's
senior managing director, his wife and 2 children were found dead with stab
wounds at their burned-down house in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Accused of robbery, murder, and arson, Hakamada was sentenced to death in 1968.
His death sentence was finalized in 1980 by the Supreme Court.
(source: The Japan Times)
*******************
Longest-serving death row inmate deserves retrial despite court ruling
Responding to news that Tokyo's High Court has overruled a lower court, and
denied a retrial to Hakamada Iwao, 82, who spent more than 4 decades on death
row, Hiroka Shoji, East Asia Researcher at Amnesty International commented:
"Today's ruling is a gross injustice and flies in the face of the facts.
Hakamada's conviction is based on a forced 'confession' and there remain
serious unanswered questions over DNA evidence.
"Time is running out for Hakamada to receive the fair trial he was denied 50
years ago. Any appeal by Hakamada's legal team should be heard without undue
delay. Hakamada is elderly and has poor mental health because of his many years
on death row.
"To send Hakamada back to prison would not only set the Japanese authorities
against international safeguards protecting those with mental disability and
the elderly from the use of the death penalty, but would be plain cruel. While
his fight for justice continues, he must be allowed to remain at home on
humanitarian grounds."
Background
Hakamada Iwao was sentenced to death in 1968 and was the longest-serving death
row inmate in the world. After an unfair trial, he was convicted of the murder
of his employer and his employer's family. Hakamada "confessed' after 20 days
of interrogation by police. He retracted the "confession" during the trial and
told the court that police had beaten and threatened him.
He was temporarily released from prison in March 2014, when a district court
granted him a retrial after new DNA evidence cast serious doubt on the
reliability of his conviction.
The decision to open a retrial was also based on more than 600 pieces of
evidence which the prosecutor was ordered by the court to disclose after
Hakamada submitted his 2nd request for a retrial in 2008. Some of this evidence
undermined the veracity of earlier evidence.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception
regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or
other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to
carry out the execution.
(source: Amnesty International)
SCOTLAND/PAKISTAN:
Christian man fears death if forced to leave UK
A Christian man who has spent 6 years seeking asylum has appealed to the Prime
Minister to allow him to stay in the UK, fearing he and his family face death
if they return to Pakistan.
Maqsood Bakhsh fled Pakistan in 2012 with his wife Parveen and their sons Somer
and Areebs, then aged 9 and 7, after Islamic extremists threatened to kill him
because of his religious beliefs.
The catalyst was the murder of 2 Christians shot outside a court, while in
police custody, in Faisalabad 2 years previously.
Pastor Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and Sajid, 24, were accused of writing a pamphlet
critical of the Prophet Muhammad that flouted Pakistan's controversial
blasphemy law, which carries the death penalty.
Mr Bakhsh, 50, claims the people responsible for the deaths believe he is in
league with the 2 men and would kill him and his family if they had the chance.
The Home Office has repeatedly rejected their asylum applications, largely as
officials do not believe they would be at risk in Pakistan. The family, who
live in the north of Glasgow, have now been told they have exhausted the
process and have no right to appeal, but plan to launch a legal challenge.
Mr Bakhsh said: "Prime Minister, please help us because I do not understand why
the Home Office keep rejecting us.
"They keep telling us that some parts of Pakistan are safe for Christians.
"It is true that lots of Christians live in Pakistan but once you have been
targeted by Islamic extremists who know your name and your face, it is
impossible to live.
"4 of my friends have been killed by Islamic extremists and my sister-in- law's
brother is serving life in jail because of the blasphemy law.
"My nephew was kidnapped last month and no one knows what has happened to him."
Glasgow North East Labour MP Paul Sweeney plans to raise the case in the House
of Commons.
Mr Bakhsh, who was a commissioner at the Kirk's General Assembly in 2017,
worked as a data analyst in Pakistan and holds 2 Masters degrees, while his
wife is a trained neo-natal midwife with 17-years of experience. Due to their
immigration status both have been unable to work since arriving in Scotland and
survive on benefits and charity.
Mr Bakhsh said: "Not being able to use our talents and abilities to make a
contribution to this great country has been very hard and frustrating for us."
He added: "We love this city, my sons feel Scottish and they are thriving here.
"They feel safe, which is my biggest concern, and want to stay with all their
friends - the only people they know - and get a good education."
Rev Linda Pollock, minister at Possilpark Parish Church where Mr Bakhsh is an
elder, said their situation is "unconscionable".
She added: "I hope that the Home Office will re-examine the family's case, stop
treating them as numbers and acknowledge them as human beings because they have
so much to give to Scotland."
(source: scotsman.com)
AUSTRALIA:
A Rare Australian Advocate Fighting The Death Penalty
An Australian lawyer working against the death penalty in the United States
will be back in Australia next month to speak. Stephen Keim SC and Madeleine
Murphy are hoping people won???t miss the chance to hear what he has to say.
"We are all going to die, and we have no choice about that, but we do choose
whether to kill or not," concluded Australian-born capital defence lawyer,
Richard Bourke, during a moving speech he delivered at a TedxSydney event in
early 2015.
Since then, the effectiveness and availability of various drugs employed in the
lethal injection protocols of various US states has again brought the debate
about the death penalty to the fore.
In its June 2015 ruling (Glossip v Gross), a 5 Justice majority of the United
States Supreme Court ruled that use by the State of Oklahoma of the sedative
midazolam in the lethal injection protocol does not violate the Eighth
Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The finding was
contrary to contentions by the Applicants that midazolam failed to render the
person insensate (unconscious and without sensation).
In a dissenting opinion in which Justice Ginsberg joined, Justice Breyer wrote,
"Rather than try to patch up the death penalty's legal wounds, one at a time, I
would ask for a full briefing on a more basic question: whether the death
penalty violates the Constitution".
Recently, the United States Supreme Court has accepted for review, a challenge
by a Missouri man to his death sentence on the basis that the combined effect
of his particular medical condition and the drugs used in the lethal injection
cocktail would result in a death which violates the same Eighth Amendment
protections. That matter (Bucklew v Precythe) is due to be heard in the next
sitting Term of the Court.
Richard Bourke is returning to Australia in July to speak at the Banco Court of
the QEII Courts building in Brisbane in a joint initiative of Australians
Against Capital Punishment, the Julian Wagner Memorial Fund; the UQ Law Alumni
Association and the TC Beirne School of Law. Bourke's talk will be recorded for
broadcast on the ABC's Big Ideas program.
Bourke often speaks of the dignity and humanity involved in the work of
defending capital cases and it is certainly these words which come to mind when
hearing his own story.
(source: newmatilda.com)
KENYA:
Only female inmate hopes to evade death penalty in retrial
Hawo Mohamed, a mother of 3, stands out at Marsabit Prison. She is the only
female prisoner at the facility.
She has been assigned a female prison warder who is always in tow, watching her
every move. In her yellow dira, she does not strike many as a prisoner.
Her male colleagues mostly spot the prison uniform of white and navy blue
stripes. Hawo is in remand awaiting retrial as ordered by the Court of Appeal
in Meru.
Favourable ruling
"I was sentenced to death in 2013," she says, tears flooding her eyes, as
memories of that day stream through her mind.
After lodging an appeal, Hawo received a favourable ruling in June 2016 by
Court of Appeal judges, who declared the 2013 case a mistrial and ordered that
she be retried.
Like most prisoners, Hawo claims that she is innocent.
She has been a guest of the State since 2011 - the year her husband accused her
of killing his mother.
She claims that her husband sent her to the market to buy kitchen supplies in
preparation for a feast; child-naming celebrations. When she returned home,
angry villagers pounced on her and brutally beat her up.
"My husband accused me of killing his mother and stuffing her body in a bag,"
she says.
Police saved her in the nick of time from lynching. As the only female prisoner
among 84 inmates, one might worry about her safety.
"Mostly, I'm kept separate from the male prisoners," she says.
"And so I feel secure. I haven't been attacked."
Not long ago, the female section of the prison housed 8 inmates, but 7 were
either released or moved, leaving her alone.
Hawo wishes there were other female colleagues to interact and have
conversations with. Right now, she adds, a TV set is her only companion.
"I watch TV when I am bored. It keeps my mind engaged somehow," she says.
For now, she says, she can stomach the loneliness. Of all the jails she has
been remanded or incarcerated in - including Moyale, Lang'ata, Meru, and Nyeri
- she says Marsabit is where she feels she has been treated well.
Case review
Hawo is 1 of the 56 remandees at the prison whose cases are being reviewed by
the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DDP). The exercise is
expected to be undertaken in at least 90 % of prisons in Kenya.
"Our prisons are severely congested. About 1/2 of prisoners are remandees whose
cases are yet to be concluded. DPP is having a 2nd look at all remand cases to
fast-track them in order to lessen the backlog," said Ms Dorcas Oduor, the
secretary of public prosecutions, who led a team of prosecutors from ODPP to
the prison.
(source: standardmedia.co.ke)
ALGERIA:
Algeria blogger faces death penalty charges for posts
An Algerian blogger is to go on trial on Thursday accused of collaborating with
a foreign country and inciting an uprising, charges which carry the death
penalty, his lawyer said.
Merzoug Touati has been held since January 2017 in Bejaia, on the coast in
northeast Algeria, after having called for protests against a new financial law
on his Facebook page and posted a video interview with an Israeli foreign
ministry spokesperson.
Lawyer Boubakeur Esseddik Hamaili told AFP that his client was being charged
under an article of the penal code which carries the death sentence for armed
incitement against the state.
He would call on the court to throw out the charges, arguing that his client,
an unemployed university graduate, had simply campaigned for acts of civil
disobedience.
According to Amnesty, "there was no incitement to violence or advocacy of
hatred" in Touati's posts, which were "covered by freedom of expression in
relation to his work as a citizen-journalist".
It said he was faced with "trumped-up espionage charges".
"Every day Merzoug Touati spends in prison is 1 day too many, and is a further
stain on Algeria's human rights record," Amnesty International said in a
statement.
(source: news24.com)
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