November 13
IRAQ:
Iraq court sentences 5 Islamic State members to death
The Central Criminal Court of Iraq on Monday convicted 5 members of the Islamic
State to death by hanging.
The 5 members were accused of detonating a car bomb at an Iraqi Army security
checkpoint in Baghdad, resulting in the death and injuries of 13.
According to the Media Center of the Supreme Judicial Council in the Rasafa
Federal Appeal Court, the alleged terrorists admitted to being members of the
Islamic State, performing duties in affiliation with the organization, as well
as to the bombing itself.
The court convicted the perpetrators under the Iraqi Anti-Terrorism Law, No. 13
of 2005, which allows the death penalty as punishment for convictions of
terrorism.
The verdict can be appealed and is subject to challenge before the Federal
Court of Cassation.
(source: jurist.org)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Urgent Action Update: 12 Men at Imminent Risk of Execution (Saudi Arabia: UA
182.17)
The families of 12 Saudi Arabian men sentenced to death after a grossly unfair
mass trial fear that their relatives could be executed imminently, as their
cases were transferred from the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) to the
Presidency of State Security.
The families of 12 Saudi Arabian men sentenced to death after a grossly unfair
mass trial fear that their relatives could be executed imminently, as their
cases were transferred from the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) to the
Presidency of State Security.
TAKE ACTION----Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
Urging the Saudi Arabian authorities not to execute the 12 men and quash
their convictions, given the grave concerns about the fairness of the trial,
and to retry them in line with international fair trial standards, without
recourse to the death penalty;
Calling on them to order a prompt, impartial, independent and effective
investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment;
Urging them to immediately establish an official moratorium on executions
with a view to abolishing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.
Contact these two officials by 21 December, 2018:
King and Prime Minister
His Majesty King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court, Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: (via Ministry of Interior)
+966 11 403 3125 (please keep trying)
Twitter: @KingSalman
Salutation: Your Majesty
Ambassador Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz,
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington DC 20037
Phone: (202) 342-3800
Contact Form: https://www.saudiembassy.net/node/2306
Twitter: @SaudiEmbassyUSA
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
(source: Amnesty International USA)
EGYPT:
Urgent Action: 80-Year-Old Egyptian’s Death Sentence Upheld (Egypt: UA 193.18)
On 24 September 2018, the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentence of
Sheikh Abdel Halim Gabreel – an 80-year-old Quran tutor – in one of Egypt’s
largest mass trials since 2011.
TAKE ACTION----Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
Urging the Egyptian President to grant Sheikh Abdel Halim Gabreel a
presidential pardon to halt his execution.
Urging the Egyptian authorities to halt any planned executions, to commute
all existing death sentences and immediately establish an official moratorium
on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty;
Calling on them to ensure that Sheikh Abdel Halim Gabreel has adequate and
regular access to qualified health professionals providing health care,
including access to prescribed medication, in compliance with medical ethics,
including the principles of confidentiality.
Contact these two officials by 24 December 2018:
President
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Office of the President
Al Ittihadia Palace
Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: +202 2391 1441
Email: p.spokes...@op.gov.eg
Twitter: @AlsisiOfficial
Salutation: Your Excellency
Ambassador Yasser Reda
Embassy of Egypt
3521 International Ct NW, Washington DC 20008
Phone: 202 895 5400
Fax: 202 244 4319 -OR- 202 244 5131
Email: emba...@egyptembassy.net
Twitter: @EgyptEmbassyUSA
Contact Form: http://www.egyptembassy.net/
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
(source: Amnesty International USA)
IRAN----executions
Iran executes 22, alleging links to military parade attack
Iran has executed the 22 people it arrested in late September for alleged
involvement in a deadly shooting at a military parade in the southern city of
Ahvaz, multiple sources told 2 rights groups on Sunday.
"It seems that authorities executed all of them on Thursday," one of the
sources told Iran Human Rights (IHR). After the executions, the group said,
authorities "told the prisoners’ families" of the hangings in Ahvaz Central
Prison (ACO) and warned them "against public mourning."
Multiple activists also told a 2nd group, Iran Human Rights Monitor (I-HRM),
that Ahvaz's Ministry of Intelligence Office phoned some of the families of the
prisoners and informed them of their relatives' executions.
On Sep. 22, 4 men dressed in military uniform opened fire on a viewing stand
where Iranian officials were seated to observe a procession held yearly to mark
the start of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. The attack resulted in the deaths of
25, 12 of which were members of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC). Dozens more were injured.
After the incident, the Islamic State (IS) published a statement on their
propaganda website, Amaq agency, in which they claimed responsibility for the
attack. A day later, they posted a video as alleged proof.
In response, the Aerospace Force Division of the IRGC launched several
ballistic missiles into eastern Syria, later saying they had killed multiple IS
members in the operation. An Iraqi commander of a militia in the Popular
Mobilization Forces (PMF), many of which receive direct backing from Iran,
claimed while speaking to local media that the strikes nearly missed the
organization's elusive leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Weeks later, the IRGC also said that they had killed 5 "terrorists," one of
whom they asserted was the "mastermind" behind the attack, in Iraq's Diyala
Province.
However, well before IS' initial statement on the attack, an Iranian Arab
opposition group announced that they, in fact, had coordinated the parade
shooting. The group, known as the Ahvaz National Resistance, claims to
represent Iran's Arab community that has "long been neglected by the central
government" and has poorer living standards in comparison to the rest of Iran.
Since the attack, security forces have arrested nearly 800 people, alleging
connections to the parade attack. Some of the detainees have been transferred
to unknown locations and most of them have previously been reported to be
ethnically Arab Iranians.
(source: kurdistan24.net)
****************
Woman Hanged at Sanandaj Prison
A woman was hanged at Sanandaj Prison this morning.
According to the IHR sources, Sharareh Elyasi was executed on a murder charge
at Sanandaj prison this morning. “Civil activists and the prisoner's family
tried a lot until the last minutes to obtain a consent from the victim’s
family,” the source said, "but they failed to win the consent."
The Penal Code of Iran does not specifically state that convicted murderers are
subject to the death penalty, but rather to “qisas” which means “retribution in
kind” or retaliation. In this way, the State effectively puts the
responsibility for executions for murder on the shoulders of the victim’s
family.
The Iranian media outlets have not published news related to the aforementioned
execution so far.
According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the
517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. There
is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in
issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and
intent.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
PAKISTAN:
Imran Khan’s treatment of Asia Bibi is a dangerous betrayal----
While Pakistan’s blasphemy law has long been a flashpoint, the leader’s
capitulation to violent extremists is deadly serious
On 31 October, Pakistan’s supreme court acquitted Asia Bibi, a 54-year-old
Christian woman who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. Bibi, a farm
labourer and mother of five, had spent 8 years on death row, accused of
insulting the Prophet Muhammad after an argument with her neighbours. After her
acquittal, protests erupted in all of Pakistan’s major cities: smashed
shopfronts, blocked motorways, burning tyres. And it has left the prime
minister, Imran Khan, wavering between defending the verdict and trying to
appease the hardline religious protesters.
Perhaps more than any other individual, Bibi has become a symbol of Pakistan’s
blasphemy laws. To liberals and secularists in the country – as well as to
outsiders – this law is brutal, disproportionate and inhumane. Blasphemy in
Pakistan carries the death sentence but, despite this harsh penalty, has a
remarkably light burden of proof. The accuser can refuse to repeat the
allegation in court for fear of blaspheming themselves; the law sets no
standards for evidence and no requirement to prove intent. Lower court judges –
such as those who condemned Bibi to 8 years on death row
– are often afraid to acquit in blasphemy cases because of the threat of mob
violence. More than 60 people have been killed by mobs after blasphemy
accusations since 1990.
To Islamists and conservatives, however, the law has become emblematic of
Pakistan’s status as a Muslim state. It is therefore seen as something that
must be defended at all costs. While the blasphemy law has been a political
flashpoint for years, a specific movement has coalesced around it since Bibi’s
arrest. In 2011, two politicians who had spoken up for her release were
murdered – the Punjab governor, Salman Taseer, and the only Christian cabinet
member, Shahbaz Bhatti. Taseer was murdered by his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, who
was executed in 2016. Mass protests were held by Islamist groups, who have held
up Qadri as a hero.
In 2015, a political movement called Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which
exists more or less only to defend the blasphemy law, sprung up. As is so often
the case in Pakistan, these extreme elements have been pandered to by
mainstream politicians, which provides the space for them to flourish and grow.
After the assassinations of Taseer and Bhatti, tentative discussions of
reforming the blasphemy law were shelved, sending a clear signal that violence
works. During this year’s election campaign, the winner, Khan, appealed to this
section of the voter base by vowing to “defend” the blasphemy law.
While the recent protests are ostensibly about Bibi’s acquittal, they are more
than that: the TLP and other Islamist groups are defending an intolerant,
inward-looking vision of Pakistan that rejects secularism and does not make
space for religious minorities. The uniting power of the blasphemy law is such
that it has brought together disparate, usually competing Islamist groups in a
rare show of unity on the streets. In a particularly alarming speech at a
recent protest, firebrand cleric and politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman called
for “the people’s court” to override the supreme court.
The judges at the supreme court threw out Bibi’s case since there was no
evidence against her. Even against the blasphemy law’s own incredibly low
standard, the case against her fell apart. Perhaps this is why Khan, in his
responses to the verdict, has repeatedly cited the need to respect the rule of
law: he can support the supreme court’s verdict without going back on his
election promise to “defend” the law itself.
Yet Khan’s apparent attempt to find a middle ground has left many dissatisfied.
Soon after the announcement of Bibi’s acquittal, he gave a speech that – given
his history of appeasing more extreme elements – surprised many in its
stridency. In it, he supported the supreme court’s verdict and referred to
protesters as “enemies of the state”. Yet in the days that followed, as
protests closed off major motorways and caused businesses and schools to
shutter, Khan and his inner circle appeared to vacillate. Reports emerged that
in negotiations with the TLP, the anti-blasphemy group orchestrating the
protests, Khan agreed to allow a court to review the acquittal, and to work to
prevent Bibi from leaving the country. This was a betrayal of immense
proportions, since it is clear that her life cannot be protected while she
remains in Pakistan. Her lawyer, Saif ul-Malook, has already fled the country
after receiving death threats. In addition to calling for Bibi’s death, the
TLP’s leaders called for the death of the 3 supreme court judges who acquitted
her, and instructed followers to rise up against the army chief. Her current
location is unclear; over the weekend, there were reports she had left the
country which were then denied.
Khan is far from being the 1st prime minister in Pakistan to pander to the
conservative religious lobby, but this does not make it any less worrying. “If
a government does not stand by the decisions of the apex court, the country
cannot survive,” Khan said over the weekend. Yet these words are empty if they
go alongside a willingness to cede ground to groups representing a bigoted and
intolerant mindset that explicitly seeks to override the rule of law.
(source: Opinion; Samira Shackle is deputy editor of the New Humanist---- The
Guardian)
MALAYSIA:
Malaysia's Cabinet decides to end death penalty for 33 offences
Malaysia's Cabinet has reached a consensus that the death penalty for 33
offences as provided for under eight Acts of law should be abolished, including
Section 302 of the Penal Code, which pertains to murder, Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong said on Tuesday (Nov 13).
He said the decision, which was reached collectively, also encompassed the
Firearms (Heavier Penalties) Act, 1971; Firearms Act, 1960; Kidnapping Act,
1961; and Armed Forces Act, 1972.
Death penalties also provided for under the Water Services Industries Act,
2006; Strategic Trade Act, 2010; and Dangerous Drugs Act, 1952, are also to be
abolished.
"Following the Cabinet decision, a Cabinet memorandum has been circulated to
the relevant ministries for their comments and to get public feedback on it,"
Datuk Liew said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat.
He was replying to a question from Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen, the Pakatan Harapan
MP from Bandar Kuching, who wanted to know the government's position on
abolishing the death penalty, in particular with respect to whether there will
be exceptions for extremely cruel crimes,
Mr Liew also told the House that the Bill on the Independent Police Complaints
and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) was expected to be tabled at the next sitting
of Parliament after all issues and policies were finalised.
He said follow-up meetings on the setting up of the commission had agreed that
it should be truly independent, effective and have the power to tackle problems
involving the police force.
"The framework takes into consideration powers that are more holistic and in
line with existing laws and are currently in force," he said in reply to a
question from Ms Maria Chin Abdullah, the Pakatan Harapan MP representing
Petaling Jaya.
Mr Liew said the police's rights would also be assured as enshrined in Article
10 of the Federal Constitution.
In September 2018, the government announced the setting up of the IPCMC to
replace the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission.
(source: straitstimes.com)
**************
“Death Penalty Will Be Reviewed for Murder Cases,” Says DPM Wan Azizah
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail stated today (13 November) that the government will
reconsider the decision of abolishing the mandatory death sentence for the
conviction of murder.
The deputy prime minister mentioned this just hours after the Parliament had
stated that the Cabinet has decided to scrap the punishment for 33 crimes.
According to the Malay Mail, Wan Azizah said, “We are reviewing it. The death
penalty is one of those that we will review” when she was asked whether the
government would keep the death penalty for child murders.
This question was raised especially after the recent incident where a baby was
raped and sodomised as well as suffered head injuries under the care of her
babysitter and died.
MP Ramkarpal Singh mentioned that it was debatable to abolish the death penalty
in other cases, apart from muder, especially of children.
He said, “I also note the concerns of the families of murder victims recently
that the abolishment of the death penalty may send the wrong signal that such
crimes are not taken seriously enough,” he added.
(source: worldofbuzz.com)
GUYANA:
Experts to lobby against death penalty in Guyana
A delegation of international experts on the death penalty is in Guyana to
address the use of capital punishment in the country and prospects for moving
towards abolition.
A release from the EU Delegation here said that the team has been organised
with the support of the European Union and the British High Commission in
Guyana.
A de facto moratorium on the death penalty has been in place here since 1997.
According to the release, Saul Lehrfreund, Co-Executive Director of The Death
Penalty Project (UK) will be joined by Randy Susskind, Deputy Director of Equal
Justice Initiative (USA) and Surinamese parliamentarians Krishnakoemarie
Mathoera and Patrick Ciciel Kensenhuis.
The release said that the international delegates will be supported by senior
Guyanese lawyer. Nigel Hughes, who will provide expertise on the death penalty
in Guyana.
Although Guyana has not carried out any executions since 1997, death sentences
continue to be imposed and there are currently 17 people on death row, the
release noted.
“Guyana’s continued retention of capital punishment marks it as an outlier not
only within the region, as it is the only South American country that still has
the death penalty, but also on the global stage, where a majority of the
world’s nations have now abolished capital punishment”, the release said.
The death penalty was imposed on Guyana through British colonial rule. Since
then the UK has rejected capital punishment and today is vocal in advocating
for global abolition.
Meetings will be held with policymakers and key stakeholders including senior
government ministers, members of parliament, the Bar Association of Guyana,
criminal law practitioners and human rights advocates. A public lecture will
also be held at 9 am today at the National Library in Georgetown to promote
debate and increase understanding of key human rights issues relating to the
use of the death penalty in Guyana.
The Death Penalty Project is an independent legal action charity housed and
supported by London legal firm Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP. For more than 30
years, The Death Penalty Project has worked to promote and protect the human
rights of those facing the death penalty.
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is a non-profit organization based in
Alabama, USA. EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive
punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice,
and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American
society.
(source: Stabroek News)
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