December 8
GAZA:
Gaza military court sentences 6 to death for collaboration
A spokesperson for Gaza’s interior ministry announces the death sentences
against 6 Palestinians convicted of collaboration by a military court on 3
December. Ashraf Amra APA images
A military court in Gaza this week sentenced 6 Palestinians, including a woman,
to death and 8 others to prison terms with hard labor for collaborating with
Israel.
Palestinian human rights groups in Gaza decried the “unprecedented” number of
death sentences issued in a single day and called for the abolition of the
death penalty.
According to Al Mezan, a human rights group in Gaza, 5 persons were sentenced
to death by hanging and one by firing squad.
“The court also issued 8 other sentences of imprisonment with hard labor,
ranging from 6 to 15 years,” Al Mezan stated.
Authorities in Gaza, where the resistance faction Hamas oversees internal
affairs, have issued or approved nine death sentences since the beginning of
2018, the rights group said.
Al Mezan stated that despite “the seriousness of the criminal acts committed by
the convicted, the death sentences issued should not be carried out but
replaced by alternative penalties in line with Palestine’s international
obligations.”
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, also based in Gaza, stated that any
death sentence carried out without the approval of the Palestinian Authority
president, as required by Palestinian basic law, would amount to an
extrajudicial killing.
Nearly 30 death sentences have been carried out in Gaza without the PA
president’s approval since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the territory
after winning legislative elections held the previous year.
Kenneth Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, stated that “No one should be
sentenced to death. Supposedly collaborating with Israel is no excuse.”
He added: “And given Hamas’ unfair courts, its sentencing of 6 for execution
smacks of militia rule, not the rule of law.”
European Union officials also condemned the death sentences.
The body’s missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah stated that “The EU 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."
A Hamas spokesperson said that the 6 sentenced to death on Monday were not
directly connected to an Israeli commando unit uncovered in Gaza 3 weeks ago,
triggering more than 48 hours of intense fire over the boundary with Israel.
The spokesperson told the AFP news agency that the convictions were linked “to
a communications and eavesdropping device planted by the occupation.” AFP
added: "6 Hamas members were killed when the device apparently exploded after
detection near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza in May."
Israeli commandos posed as medical aid workers
Meanwhile more details have emerged regarding the Israeli commando unit exposed
in Gaza last month.
Hamas officials said that undercover forces posing as medical aid workers used
forged ID cards of actual Palestinians living in Gaza who were unaware that
their identities had been used.
Their cover was blown because the Hamas fighters who checked their IDs were
“suspicious as their accents and voices did not match the areas where they said
they were from,” a Hamas official told the UK publication The Independent.
Citing a Hamas source, The Independent reported that the undercover unit was in
Gaza “to replace listening and surveillance devices that had been laid before.”
An Israeli lieutenant-colonel, a Hamas military commander and 6 other fighters
were killed in a gun battle when the undercover unit was discovered in Khan
Younis on 11 November.
The Israeli military launched air strikes to provide cover for the retreating
commandos and the forged IDs were found in the destroyed vehicle used by the
Israeli agents.
7 more Palestinians were killed during intensive Israeli bombardment after
armed groups in Gaza launched hundreds of rockets towards Israel, killing a
Palestinian man in a home in Ashkelon.
PA detains and tortures woman activist
Meanwhile Amnesty International has called on Palestinian authorities to
“urgently investigate the torture and other ill-treatment” of a woman detained
in the occupied West Bank.
Suha Jbara, described by Amnesty as “a Palestinian, US and Panamanian citizen
and social justice activist involved with Islamic charities,” told the rights
group “that she was beaten, slammed against a wall and threatened with sexual
violence by her interrogators."
Jbara was arrested during “a violent raid on her home” on 3 November, according
to Amnesty, which said “she was asked about collecting and distributing money
in illegal ways, an accusation she denies.”
The activist told Amnesty that she had a seizure and lost consciousness during
her arrest and was taken to a hospital. There security forces “dragged her out
of her hospital bed, barefoot, and transferred her to Jericho Interrogation and
Detention Center."
At the detention center, she was physically abused by a male interrogator.
“He insulted me all the time, used very dirty and violent sexual language,
threatened to bring a doctor to look into my virginity and say that I was a
whore, and threatened to hurt my family and to take my kids away from me,”
Jbara told Amnesty.
Jbara was denied access to a lawyer during her 3-day interrogation. On 7
November a judge granted the prosecution’s request to extend her detention for
another 2 weeks and she was transferred to another detention center.
After she began a hunger strike on 22 November, “in protest at her torture
during interrogation and unfair treatment by the prosecution and judiciary,”
according to Amnesty, she was placed in solitary confinement after a brief
hospitalization.
Jbara remains on hunger strike and reported being subjected to various forms of
pressure and punishment to end her protest, such as being denied family visits
and phone calls.
Amnesty stated that it “is calling on international donors to the Palestinian
security sector to review their assistance to Palestinian forces to ensure that
it is not facilitating human rights violations and is in line with
international standards.”
A recent report by Human Rights Watch, based on 2 years of investigation,
faulted both the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza for widespread use of
arbitrary arrests and torture to crush dissent.
(source: electronicintifafa.net)
IRAN----executions
Prisoner Hanged at Bandar Abbas Prison
A prisoner was hanged at Bandar Abbas Central Prison on murder charges last
Tuesday.
According to the IHR sources, Jamshid Agha-Rahimi was hanged on the morning of
December 4, 2018, at Bandar Abbas Central Prison.
“Jamshid was from Hajiabad city and was imprisoned there. He was transferred to
Bandar Abbas Prison 15 days ago for the execution. He killed a person who had
abused his sister four years ago,” the source said, “He could not win the
consent of the victim’s family and was executed."
According to the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (IPC) murder is punishable by qisas
which means “retribution in kind” or retaliation. In this way, the State
effectively puts the responsibility of the death sentence for murder on the
shoulders of the victim’s family. In many cases, the victim's family are
encouraged to put the rope is around the prisoner's neck and even carry out the
actual execution by pulling off the chair the prisoner is standing on.
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.
***********************************
Prisoner Hanged at Gorgan Prison
A prisoner was hanged on the charge of rape at Gorgan Central Prison.
According to Mizan Online News Agency, the prisoner was sentenced to death for
raping a 13 years old child. He was executed on the morning of Tuesday,
December 4, 2018, at the northern city of Gorgan’s prison.
The whole process leading to the prisoner’s execution, from the arrest to
carrying out the verdict, only took place in 6 months.
**************************************
Forgiveness: Iranian Juvenile Offender Milad Azimi Saved from Execution
Milad Azimi, a juvenile offender who allegedly committed a murder at the age of
17, was forgiven by the plaintiffs on Thursday, December 6, 2018.
Milad's death sentence was upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court a few months
ago. The plaintiff had set a diyeh (blood-money) of 500 million Toman
(approximately 50.000 USD) with the deadline of December 4. Milad's family were
not able to pay that amount of money. However, the local human rights defenders
and civil society activists could motivate righteous people to help to collect
money.
(source for all: Iran Human Rights)
*****************
Juvenile Offender Executed as Tehran Continues to Reject Human Rights
Principles
Between Sunday and Tuesday, the Iran Human Rights website issued 3 separate
reports related to the Iranian judiciary’s ongoing use of capital punishment in
cases where the accused person was below the age of 18 at the time of the
crime.
Such executions are categorically banned by the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Iran is a
signatory to both of these documents, but the judiciary and the Iranian regime
as a whole have routinely rejected key provisions, including the ban on
juvenile executions, while insisting that international human rights standards
are often examples of cultural imperialism.
Despite such talking points, the regime has occasionally showed sensitivity to
widespread international condemnation of juvenile executions and other clear
instances of prisoner abuse. However, these sorts of death sentences are rarely
overturned, even when they are delayed and placed under review. The judiciary
has a long history of affirming the supposed intellectual and emotional
maturity of people who allegedly committed capital offenses when they were
young teenagers. Iranian law sets the age of legal majority at 13 for boys and
only 9 for girls.
International outcry over death sentences for juvenile offenders was credited
with bringing about case reviews as recently as last year. But at the beginning
of 2018, human rights organizations warned that the pace of implementation for
such sentences was actually accelerating, with three taking place in the month
of January alone.
That pace did not continue, however, and only 2 other juvenile offenders were
known to have been put to death prior to last month, although executions are
often not officially recorded by the regime, leaving domestic human rights
activists to reveal more complete numbers over time.
Indeed, the report issued by Iran Human Rights on Monday indicated that the
most recently reported juvenile execution actually took place on November 14.
The identity of this individual, Omid Rostami, initially went unnoticed in part
because he was only one of 10 prisoners to be executed on that same day in
Rajai Shahr Prison.
Now that new details have been revealed, it has been reported that this was
Rostami’s 5th trip to the gallows for a murder that he allegedly committed only
2 days after his 16th birthday. Many death row prisoners in Iran have reported
being taken to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions, only
to then be returned to their cells, adding an element of uncertainty and
psychological torture to their ordeal.
Iran Human Rights explained one contributing factor in this phenomenon, noting
that the family of Rostami’s victim had repeatedly requested more time to
reconsider whether to grant him reprieve, as is their right under the principle
of Islamic jurisprudence known as qisas.
This feature of the Iranian criminal justice system also allows a victim’s
family to set an amount of blood money, or diyeh, to be paid in order to spare
the convict from execution. In the case of another juvenile offender, Milad
Azimi, this figure was set as the equivalent of 50,000 dollars.
Iran Human Rights reported on Tuesday that his family is unlikely to be able to
raise this amount of money, making poverty an imminent determining factor in
the young man’s death, while indecision was a determining factor in Rostami’s.
According to Rostami’s mother, “On September 4, 2018, the prosecutor told the
plaintiffs that they have the maximum of 1 month time to take their final
decision to forgive Omid or carry out his execution. Otherwise, Omid should be
released on bail.” Facing this pressure, the family finally visited the prison
to see the sentence carried out on November 14.
The prosecutor’s instructions to the family arguably help to paint the picture
of a judiciary that is committed to maintaining its world-leading rate of
executions along with the practice of juvenile executions.
And this picture is further clarified by the judiciary’s failure to take steps
that might have allowed a legal alternative to Rostami’s execution. Under an
amendment to Iran’s Islamic Penal Code put into effect in 2013, a judge may
vacate the death sentence for a young offender who was unable to fully
understand the consequences of his or her actions. Not only was this option
refused in the given case, but the judge denied the Rostami family’s request
for a forensic examination to determine Omid’s level of psychological
development.
The same issue hangs over another juvenile death sentence, which may be the
next to be implemented now that it has been upheld by the Iranian Supreme
Court. On Sunday, Iran Human Rights reported upon the case of Seyed Danial
Zeinol-Abedini, who allegedly committed murder at the age of 17 in September of
last year. Given that his case was so recent, it was fully subject to the New
Islamic Penal Code, and yet his lawyer complains that the defendant was never
sent to forensics as is required for the court to make a determination of his
maturity.
There is little chance of the attorney’s argument holding sway over the
judiciary now that the death sentence has been upheld by the highest court. But
in the case of Omid Rostami, no lawyer was even present to argue his case prior
to the death sentence being carried out.
This, of course, casts serious doubt upon the fairness of his case even under
the outmoded and non-amended principles of the Islamic Penal Code. And it is
indicative of a problem that has serious bearing on other capital cases besides
those involving juvenile offenders.
Iran Human Rights Monitor called attention to 2 such cases last week. In the
first place, it reported that the judiciary had issued and carried out a
sentence of hanging while ignoring clear signs of the defendant’s mental
illness.
The individual in question, barely more than 18 years old himself, had been
hospitalized only days before committing the murder for which he was very
promptly executed. IHRM adds: “The execution of this convict and all other
judiciary processes were carried out in less than 10 months, raising concern
over lack of sufficient due process.”
In another recent case, the hanging was carried out for a convicted murderer
who claimed diminished responsibility because his victim was an Islamic cleric
who had subjected him to sexual abuse over several years, beginning when he was
14 years old.
According to Iran Human Rights, far from being regarded as a mitigating factor
in the case, the victim’s identity only accelerated the conviction and further
erased the appearance of due process.
The man’s father was quoted as saying, “We did not have a chance to prove [the
abuse] in the court, because the victim was a clergyman and he had an
influential family.
Everything was for them and the court did not listen to us… Finally, the judge
issued the death sentence in three or four months and then the Supreme Court
upheld the verdict.”
(source: irannewsupdate.com)
PAKISTAN:
Death Penalty Awarded In Murder Case In Faisalabad
Additional Session Judge Tandlianwala Ejaz Ahmad Sheikh awarded death penalty
in a murder case of Sadar police station.
According to the prosecution, Ghulam Mustafa Shah along with his accomplices
Altaf Shah, Ali Aqdas Shah, Zuhray Khan and Shahid Khan had killed Muhammad
Ameer Shah resident of Chak 404-GB over a minor dispute, 5 years ago.
The convict was also directed to pay Rs. two lakh as compensation to the legal
heirs of the deceased whereas other four accused were acquitted.
(source: urdupoint.com)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Julian Assange can leave embassy as U.K. says he won’t be sent to death penalty
nation: Ecuador
Ecuador’s president said Thursday that conditions have been met for WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange to leave the country’s embassy in London, which would
end a six-year standoff with British authorities.
“The way has been cleared for Mr. Assange to take the decision to leave in
near-liberty,” President Lenin Moreno told reporters, explaining that he still
had to answer in Britain for violating the terms of his bail.
Moreno, however, said Britain had guaranteed that the 47-year-old Australian
would not be extradited to any country where his life would be in danger.
Ecuador has been seeking a way to terminate Assange’s stay for several months,
amid souring relations with its embassy guest, who recently sued Quito for
restricting his internet access.
Assange, who gained international renown by publishing huge caches of hacked
State Department and Pentagon files, has repeatedly expressed fear that Britain
would extradite him to the United States to face charges there.
The 251,000 classified cables from U.S. embassies around the world — released
by WikiLeaks in 2010 and published by leading international newspapers —
embarrassed the Bush administration in Washington and caused uproar in its
bilateral relations with other countries.
U.S. prosecutors last month inadvertently revealed the existence of a sealed
indictment against Assange, according to WikiLeaks, but it was not known what
the actual charges were.
The possible indictment suggested that Washington will seek Assange’s
extradition if he leaves the embassy.
There is speculation that the U.S. interest in Assange is connected to the
investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in
the 2016 election that brought President Donald Trump to office.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper last month reported that Trump’s former campaign
chairman Paul Manafort held secret talks with Assange, whose organization is
accused of leaking thousands of emails allegedly stolen by Russian hackers from
the Democratic campaign of Hillary Clinton.
In July, Mueller charged 12 Russian spies with conspiring to hack the
Democratic National Committee computers, stealing and publishing data in an
effort to sway the election.
Assange took refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London in 2012 to avoid
extradition to Sweden to face questioning in 2 alleged cases of sexual assault.
Sweden has since dropped that case, and Ecuador says there are no pending
extradition requests against the WikiLeaks founder.
“The British government sent us an official communication indicating that the
constitution of Great Britain bars extradition of a person to a place where his
life would be in danger,” Moreno said.
That could be an issue in the case of the United States because it has the
death penalty.
His lawyer Carlos Poveda said last month that Assange was prepared to surrender
to British police if he receives assurances he will not be extradited.
Ecuador’s foreign minister Jose Valencia said at the time that Britain was
merely asking him to appear in court to answer for having broken his bail
conditions, and that he was likely to get a sentence of no more than 6 months.
“We do not see the British changing their point of view, they continue to
insist that he appear before the courts,” said Valencia.
(source: japantimes.co.jp)
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