[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide
URGENT ACTION APPEAL -- 04 January 2007 UA 02/07 Imminent execution/ possible death sentence IRAQ Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti (m) 'Awad Hamad al-Bandar al-Sa'dun (m) Taha Yassin Ramadhan (m) The three men named above are all at risk of imminent execution. The first two, who were sentenced to death on 5 November after an unfair trial, could be executed as early as 7 January. Former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadhan, though sentenced to life imprisonment, is now likely to be sentenced to death. Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti is Saddam Hussain's half-brother, and was the head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the Mukhabarat. 'Awad Hamad al-Bandar al-Sa'dun was the head of the Revolutionary Court. They were sentenced to death along with former president Saddam Hussain, after an unfair trial before the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT), in connection with the killing of 148 people from the village of al-Dujail, north of Baghdad, after a failed attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussain in 1982. Four other defendants in the case, including Taha Yassin Ramadhan, received prison terms and another was acquitted. The three men sentenced to death had their appeals rejected by the SICT's Appeals Chamber on 26 December 2006, and by law the sentences must be carried out within 30 days. Saddam Hussain was executed by hanging on 30 December. Taha Yassin Ramadhan is also at risk of execution. On 26 December 2006 the Appeals Chamber referred his case back to the court requesting a higher sentence, suggesting that he is now at risk of being sentenced to death and executed. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Amnesty International welcomed the decision to bring Saddam Hussain to justice for the human rights violations committed by his government, but this should have been through a fair trial process and without recourse to the death penalty. In the event, the trial, which opened in October 2005 in Baghdad, was unfair. It was marked by political interference and was widely criticized for failing to satisfy international standards for fair trial. No adequate measures were taken to ensure the protection of witnesses and defense lawyers, three of whom were assassinated during the course of the trial. Amnesty International raised its concerns about the trial of Saddam Hussain and others before the SICT on several occasions. Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in Iraq in August 2004, scores of people have been sentenced to death and there has been a rapid rise in the number of executions, with at least 65 people put to death in 2006 alone, many of them after trials which may have been unfair. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: - expressing concern that Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and 'Awad Hamad al-Bandar al-Sa'dun are facing imminent execution; - expressing concern that the Appeals Chamber has rejected Taha Yassin Ramadhan's sentence of life imprisonment and apparently requested that he be sentenced to death; - expressing concern that the trial of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Taha Yassin Ramadhan and 'Awad Hamad al-Bandar al-Sa'dun before the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal failed to meet international fair trial standards; - recognizing the right of governments to bring to justice those responsible for serious crimes but insisting that this be done through fair trial and without resort to the death penalty; - expressing opposition to the death penalty on the grounds that it is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment; - calling on the authorities to commute these and all other death sentences and take steps to abolish the death penalty in law and practice. APPEALS TO: fax numbers and e-mail addresses for the Iraqi authorities are not available. Please send appeals via the Iraqi embassy at: His Excellency Samir Sumaida'ie Ambassador to the United States Embassy of the Republic of Iraq 1801 P Street Washington DC 20036 email: amboffice at iraqiembassy.org fax: 1 202 462 5066 phone: 1 202 483 7500 Ask the Ambassador to forward your appeals to: President Jalal Talabani Salutation: Your Excellency Prime Minister Nuri Kamil al-Maliki E-mail: iraqigov at yahoo.com Salutation: Your Excellency Minister of Justice Hashim al-Shibli E-mail: minister at iraqi-justice.org head-minister at iraqi-justice.org deputy at iraqi-justice.org Salutation: Your Excellency Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari E-mail: press at iraqmofa.net Salutation: Your Excellency COPIES TO: Ask the Iraqi embassy to send copies to the Human Rights Minister, Wajdan Mikhail. PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights. This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal. Urgent Action Network Amnesty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.J., FLA., USA, CALIF.
Jan. 5 NEW JERSEY: Rethinking the Death Penalty New Jersey could take the lead among states in abolishing the death penalty if it follows the recommendation that a legislative commission made this week. It is the right thing to do, and not just because capital punishment is barbaric and a poor deterrent. It has become increasingly clear as the use of DNA evidence has grown that there is simply too great a risk of making an irreversible mistake. While we would have used stronger language, we applaud the 13-member panel for having the courage to recommend that New Jersey become the 1st state to abolish the death penalty since states began reinstating it 35 years ago. The commission included two prosecutors, a police chief, members of the clergy and a man whose daughter was murdered in 2000. Only one member, a former state senator who wrote the death penalty law, dissented. Although it has 9 people on death row, New Jersey has had a moratorium on executions since 2005 and has not put anyone to death since 1963. Nevertheless, the panels recommendation that the death penalty be replaced with life imprisonment without parole is likely to have significant influence both inside and outside the state. It comes as about 10 of the 38 states with death penalties, including New York, have suspended executions and as recent developments, like DNA exonerations and a botched lethal injection in Florida last month, have created a growing unease about executions. With Gov. Jon Corzine opposed to the death penalty, and substantial numbers of capital punishment opponents in both houses of the Legislature, there is a reasonable chance the commission's recommendations will become law. That would make New Jerseys criminal justice system more civilized and fair. It could also prod other states to abandon their own use of what Justice Harry Blackmun called the machinery of death. (source: Editorial, New York Times) *** Catholic officials back N.J. panel's advice to end death penalty Catholic officials have praised the recommendation by a New Jersey panel that the state abolish the death penalty in favor of life imprisonment without parole. The New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission, created in 2005, submitted its findings Jan. 2 to Gov. Jon S. Corzine. In their report commission members said they did not find compelling evidence in support of capital punishment and also found that it costs taxpayers more than it does to incarcerate prisoners for life. The commission voted 12-1 in opposition of the death penalty and said capital punishment is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency, serves no legitimate penological purpose such as deterrence or retribution and is not worth the risk of making an irreversible mistake. Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, urged the Legislature to act quickly on the report and pass laws to implement the panel's recommendation. The conference, the public policy arm of the state's bishops, also applauded Corzine's announced support of the commission's recommendation, but Brannigan said more needs to be done. He said abolishing the death penalty would not be an end or total solution to the issue of capital crimes and urged state leaders to continue to seek improvement in our criminal justice system. New Jersey's bishops have long stated their opposition of the death penalty. In a 2005 statement they said their opposition was formed by their belief that every person has an inalienable right to life. They also said that since the state has other means to redress the injustice caused by crime and to effectively prevent crime by rendering the one who has committed the offense incapable of doing harm, they would continue to consistently and vigorously oppose the use of capital punishment. The state panel that examined the death penalty held six public hearings and heard from dozens of witnesses including prosecutors, corrections experts, judges, police, community and religious leaders and citizens. The vast majority of witnesses called for an end to the death penalty. Trenton Bishop John M. Smith was the first person to offer testimony before the panel. During a July 19 public hearing he said the death penalty is not consistent with evolving standards of decency. The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976 after a three-year suspension. It was reinstated in New Jersey in 1982, but no one has been executed by the state since 1963. There are 10 men on death row in the state, which uses lethal injection as the method of execution. Jennifer A. Ruggiero, director of the Trenton Diocese's Office of Pro-Life Activities, called the commission's report a sign of hope for New Jersey. It reveals an increasing recognition that the dignity of the human person should never be taken away. Perhaps this is a step in the right direction for building up a culture of life, she added. Celeste Fitzgerald, program director of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., ARIZ., MONT., ORE.
Jan. 5 LOUISIANA: DA will seek capital penalty in infant's death Lafayette Parish District Attorney Mike Harson says he will seek the death penalty for a 29-year-old man charged with the first-degree murder of his girlfriend's 8-month-old baby. Brian Crimiel has been booked in the case. Although Harson said he has not received the details of the case, he made it clear that the nature of the crime justifies the use of capital punishment. Police say the infant sustained trauma to the head area, which may have caused her death. Officials have not disclosed what evidence led to Crimiel being arrested. (source: KATC News) ARIZONA: Killer to represent himself at death-penalty resentencing A Tucson man convicted of killing 2 women in 1993 will be allowed to represent himself during a death-penalty resentencing trial. Judge Clark W. Munger of Pima County Superior Court on Thursday granted Robert Joe Moody's request to represent himself, but appointed court-ordered attorney Brick P. Storts III to advise him. Munger warned Moody that he would have to conduct pretrial interviews and investigations by himself even though he is being housed at the Pima County Jail. Munger also noted that Moody was convicted and sentenced to death in two trials and that Moody claimed mistakes were made during his second trial in which he also represented himself. Moody would not be able to raise claims of ineffective counsel on appeals, Munger noted. Moody was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Michelle Malone and Patricia Magda in Tucson in 1993. Those verdicts were overturned because Moody's request for a new lawyer was denied. The 2002 retrial resulted in convictions and death sentences. However, while Moody's appeal was pending, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and a new state statute resulted in juries, not judges, deciding the death penalty. Moody asked for the charges to be dismissed entirely, claiming prosecutorial misconduct, errors by Judge Michael Cruikshank in Pima County Superior Court and double jeopardy rules. However, the Arizona Supreme Court denied his motion. A date has not been set for Moody's resentencing trial before a jury. (source: Tucson Citizen) MONTANA: Suspect not facing death penalty Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in a case involving a man accused of raping, killing and robbing a Livingston woman and then setting her house on fire to cover up the crimes, Park County Attorney Brett Linneweber said Thursday. Linneweber made the determination after reviewing the case against William Diaz Wassmer, 22, and death penalty case laws, and after consulting with the Montana attorney general and the attorney general's capital offense litigation team. Wassmer is accused of raping and killing Marcia Beck, 62, and setting fire to her house on Wineglass Mountain on Oct. 6 or 7. An autopsy determined that Beck died of three gunshot wounds. Investigators determined that a revolver and diamond ring were missing from her house, and they noted a conspicuous absence of cash and credit cards, court records said. [latestad:3] Wassmer, a citizen of Guatemala, spent several years in California before coming to Montana and was living legally in the United States, Linneweber has said. He pleaded not guilty Nov. 6 to the charges against him and is scheduled to appear in District Court for another hearing on Jan. 17. A trial date will be set at that time. Court records say Wassmer had been working near Big Sky and living in a fifth-wheel trailer on Beck's property with his uncle, Marco Gillson, and Gillson's son, Ludwig Wassmer. Gillson and Ludwig Wassmer had gone hunting and left a van for William Wassmer to use that matched the description of a vehicle a neighbor saw drive off the road near Beck's property at 2 a.m. on Oct. 7, court documents allege. William Wassmer was arrested in Idaho on other charges the same day. While incarcerated in Idaho, Wassmer implicated himself in Beck's death, along with arson and robbery, during a monitored phone call to a relative, court documents said. (source: Associated Press) OREGON: Inmates may face death penalty Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty if 2 Oregon State Penitentiary prisoners are convicted of murdering a fellow inmate. Gary Haugen and Jason Brumwell are charged with aggravated murder in death of David Shane Polin, who died from multiple stab wounds and blows to the head in September 2003. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Jan. 29. Oregon voters reinstated the death penalty in 1986, but the state has executed only 2 men. 33 people currently sit on Oregon's death row. Haugen, 44, and Brumwell, 31, are already serving life sentences for murder convictions. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Jan. 5 JAMAICA: PM supports retention of death penalty Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said the death penalty should remain on statue books here to be used as a sentencing option for certain types of murders. The government is firm on that. The death penalty should remain, he told reporters, noting that he was certain that over 90 per cent of Vincentian nationals supported the death penalty. He said St Vincent and the Grenadines had started a process of constitutional reform and he believed that there would be a consensus for a tightening of the death penalty laws. Gonsalves, who is a Roman Catholic, told reporters that although the church frowned on the death penalty he did not have to agree with everything that his church subscribed to. (source: Jamaica Gleaner News) MOROCCO: DEATH PENALTY: MOROCCO CLOSE TO ABOLISHING EXECUTIONS Morocco could soon decide to abolish the death penalty or suspend executions, a highly placed source in the justice ministry has told Adnkronos International (AKI). The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said authorities have set up a special commission of jurists to review the Moroccan criminal code and that the commission's work is now at an advanced stage. The death penalty is one of the issues which most interests this commission, the source told AKI, adding that the jurists are considering the requests advanced by the Moroccan civil society to abolish capital punishment. The debate on this is not over yet but it looks like the panel of jurists is in favour of abolishing the death penalty or suspending executions, the source explained, also considering that no one has been executed in Morocco since 1993 despite the fact that Moroccan courts have sentenced defendants to death during thet period. According to the source, leading members of a number of institutions have added their voice to calls by the 'Moroccan alliance for the abolition of the death penalty', a non-governmental orgganization, for an end to capital punishment in Morocco. However, Rabat authorities did not allow members of the NGO to stage a rally in front of parliament in Rabat to mark 10 October, world day against the death penalty. (source: AKI) IRAQ: 3,000 Jordanians protest Saddam's execution In the largest pro-Saddam demonstration to date, some 3,000 protesters marched through the Jordanian capital on Friday to lash out at American and Shi'ite Muslim influence in the Arab world. The protesters, mostly from Sunni Muslim or leftist opposition groups, accused Iran of being involved in the hasty hanging of the former Iraqi dictator, who was executed Saturday in Baghdad. Death to America and to Iran, shouted the crowd, who marched from a mosque in down town Amman after the noon prayers, bearing portraits of Saddam and waving the Iraqi flag. (source: Associated Press) ** Editorial ignores how death penalty is viewed The Statesman Journal's Dec. 31 editorial History may be kinder to man in noose than to U.S. was a refreshingly candid and blunt editorial. In death, Saddam will most likely be viewed as a martyr, inspiring more violence. I agreed with Gene McIntyre's overall perspective that the U.S. involvement in Iraq is misled, but McIntyre errs when he suggests that cultural misunderstandings are the root of Arab distrust of the Bush administration. An invasion founded on a lie that has cost the lives of over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians is the real reason. As Bush's current U.S. approval rating is around 30 percent, largely related to public disappointment about a war that has cost the lives of 3,000 U.S. soldiers, it would seem that most Arabs and Americans have a common understanding. Lastly, I wish that McIntyre and the editors would have mentioned that international reaction to Saddam's execution was far from positive. Most nations now oppose the death penalty. I oppose the death penalty and am therefore disappointed that Saddam was executed, vile though he was. Photographs of his execution made me feel as though we have returned to the Dark Ages. Andrew Parodi, Gervais (source: Letter to the Editor, Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., CONN.
Jan. 5 TEXAS: Alleged shooter to stand trial in Hidalgo County A man accused of participating in a 2003 Edinburg drug raid that ended in 6 deaths will stand trial in Hidalgo County, a district court judge ruled Thursday. Judge Bobby Flores dismissed Marcial Mata Bocanegra's request for a change of venue, explaining that his motion was improperly filed with the court. Flores also denied Bocanegra's separate request for a new defense attorney. Bocanegra told the judge he d d not believe he could receive a fair trial because of extensive media coverage of the case. Although the motion's dismissal was based on a technicality, lead prosecutor Judith Cantu believes the trial should stay in Hidalgo County. The crime was committed in the area, she said. The community of his peers should be able to decide his fate. In 2003, Bocanegra and a group of other men associated with the Tri-City Bombers gang allegedly planned and executed a raid on 2 homes on a Monte Cristo Road property. The group hoped to steal hundreds of pounds of marijuana, investigators said. The assailants found no drugs but used AK-47s and SKS assault weapons to kill 6 men, including two members of the rival Texas Chicano Brotherhood gang, according to police reports. 13 men were charged in the case. So far, Juan Raul Navarro Ramirez, Humberto Garza and Rodolfo Alvarez Medrano have faced a jury, been convicted and been sentenced to death. The case against Jeffrey Alan Juarez, who police believe ordered the attack from his home in Sugar Land, has been dropped. The district attorney's office has also declined to indict suspected shooters Reymundo Sauceda and Salvador Solis. That's not to say that they cannot be indicted later on, Cantu said. But for now, we determined that it did not serve the public interest to go forward with these cases. The trial of Roberto Rodriguez Cantu, accused of driving gang members to the property, is scheduled for February. All other defendants have pleaded guilty to their charges and are already serving time, Cantu said. Everything that we've expected to happen in these cases has happened so far, she said. Prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty in Bocanegra's case, but Judith Cantu would not explain the factors that played into that decision. Bocanegra faces life in prison if convicted. His attorneys could not be reached for comment Thursday. Suspected murderer appears defiant in court Mario Quintanilla held his head high as he stood before a municipal court judge Thursday, charged in the 2005 murder of 23-year-old Larissa Cavasos. And although he passed a few feet in front of the victims father, he never once glanced in Sergio Cavasos direction. Quintanilla, 25, of McAllen, stands accused of murdering Larissa Cavasos on Dec. 21, 2005, in what police describe as a mistaken attempt to steal drugs from her Edinburg apartment just blocks from the University of Texas-Pan American campus. Municipal Court Judge Terry Palacios charged Quintanilla with capital murder and set bond at $1 million. If convicted, Quintanilla could face a sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty. He never turned his head and looked over at us, Sergio Cavasos said. I wanted to make eye contact with the man. 2 other men charged in the case 30-year-old Jesus Oscar Arcos and 28-year-old Gilberto Toto Martinez await extradition from LeSeur County, Minn., where they were arrested last week. A 4th suspect, Alfredo Fro Valdez, 32, of Pharr, remains at large. Police believe Quintanilla, Valdez and Martinez all belong to the Hermandad de Pistoleros Latinos gang, but have said that Cavasos death was not gang-related. And while investigators continue to question why the men allegedly broke into the UTPA graduate's apartment, the probable cause affidavit in the case indicates they may have had reason to believe they would find drugs there. According to the document, Quintanilla and a fellow gang member bought drugs at the apartment two days before Cavasos' murder. But Edinburg Police Chief Quirino Muoz insisted the 23-year-old was not involved in drug activity. Instead, the document describes a frequent visitor to her apartment as the person who allegedly sold Quintanilla drugs. The girl was not involved in any sort of drugs, he said. You don't always know what people you have over to your house are involved in. On the night of the murder, all four men left a party together around midnight and did not return until dawn the next day, according to witness statements cited in the affidavit. After their return, Quintanilla and Valdez were allegedly overheard discussing the murder of a girl in Edinburg. Quintanilla and Arcos were arguing about her death, the document says. Investigators eventually identified the 4 men after tracking the signal from Cavasos' cell phone to McAllens southside La Balboa neighborhood. After finding the phone at a house in the 2500 block of Elmira
[Deathpenalty] FW: [AALSMIN-L] NEO-CON WW3
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT1333060.txt Url: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/private/deathpenalty/attachments/20070105/08dc23f7/attachment.txt
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide
Jan. 5 ITALY: Rome to light Colosseum in death penalty protest Rome will light up the Colosseum on Saturday to support Italy's campaign for a United Nations moratorium on the death penalty, launched in the wake of Saddam Hussein's hanging, the city's mayor said on Friday. The Colosseum, once the site of bloody battles to entertain gawking Roman spectators, is often lit to mark important events and days of national mourning. Italy, which has just taken up a temporary Security Council seat, said this week it would take its campaign to the countries which had already signed a non-binding declaration against the death penalty last year. Some 68 countries have the death penalty, including the United States and South Korea. Saddam was hanged on Saturday and speculation is mounting that the Iraqi government will soon execute his two co-defendants, his half brother and former intelligence chief, Barzan al-Tikriti, and Awad al-Bander, a former chief judge, now the focus of defence lawyer efforts. (source: Reuters)
