[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 3 IRAN: Another Juvenile Offender in Sanandaj Prison Sentenced to Death With issuing of another death sentence for a juvenile offender in Sanandaj Prison, the number of prisoners who are sentenced to death for an offence they have committed while being a juvenile, has rose to 5. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a juvenile offender (K.N) imprisoned at Sanandaj Prison, who at the time of crime was 17 years and 9 months old, was sentenced to death by retaliation in kind (Qisas) for murder. 1 of K.N's relatives has told HRANA's reporter: "He was born in May 1997. In a group brawl, he has killed a person he didn't know at all. He was only 17 years and 9 months old when he committed the crime." He added: "A public lawyer was assigned for him, and was not even sent to forensics to be tested for cognitive and psychosocial developments. In October 2015, after the 1st trial presided by judge Hamed Soltan-Bakhsh at branch number 1 of the criminal court of Sanandaj, he has been sentenced to Qisas (retaliation in kind), however this sentence was disclosed to him with a delay just recently." It is worth mentioning that there are currently 4 more juvenile offenders imprisoned in Sanandaj Prison, who have been arrested and sentenced to death. All of these 4 juvenile prisoners have been charged with murder. Below is the previously gathered reports of HRANA on the identity and age at the time of murder or arrest of these prisoners: Yousef Mohammadi, born in 1995, age at the time of arrest: 14, sentenced to death Himan Orami-Nejhad, born in 1997, age at the time of arrest: 17 years and 9 months, year in which the crime was committed: 2011, sentenced to death Siavash Mahmoudi, born in 1995, age at the time of arrest: 17, sentence to death, Note: he has claimed that the murder was the result of a self-defense against sexual assault. Amanj Hosseini (Oveisi), age at the time of arrest: 17, sentenced to death It should be noted, offenders under 18 are considered as juveniles according to human right treaties, and the legal punishment of a juvenile in Iran including death penalty for crimes such as brawl, murder, drug trafficking etc., has always been a major challenge and violation of human rights In Iran. Iran???s action is in contrast with its obligation to the international covenant on civil and political rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Iran along with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Sudan are the only countries that still continue to execute minors. In recent years Iran's judicial system detains the juvenile offenders that are sentenced to death at correctional centers and executes them only after they reach the age of 18. In 2013, after the reforms to the Islamic penal code, the death penalty for juvenile offenders is subjected to the offender's ability to understand and realize the nature of the committed crime. However recently Fatemeh Salbehi who had been sentenced to death for committing murder under the age of 18, was reconvicted for murder after the retrial on the grounds that at the time of the murder she has been aware of the nature of the crime, and her sentence was executed. The execution of Fatemeh Salbehi has once again raised the concerns regarding the execution of juvenile offenders in Iran. (source: HRA News Agency) AUSTRALIA: Ben Quilty says he would rather live on Indonesian execution island than with kowtowing politicians Ben Quilty will leave Australia if politicians do not campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in countries like China and the United States. The Archibald Prize-winning artist and Art Gallery of NSW trustee said, with a dose of black humour, he would rather live on Indonesia's execution island than witness Australian politicians kowtow to countries that kill their citizens. "Next year is the 50th anniversary of the last person executed in Australia and if some politicians don't get up and use a soap box to proclaim that to the world, I'm leaving," he said. Ronald Ryan was hanged in Melbourne in February 1967 for the murder of a prison officer during an escape from Pentridge prison in 1965. Asked where he would settle, Quilty said: "I don't care. I'd rather live on Nusa Kambangan than have no politicians stand up for the great parts of what we've achieved." "We haven't executed anyone for 50 years. We have things to be proud of but politicians like to kowtow to countries that still execute people, namely China and America and no one f***ing says anything." Quilty was speaking at last month's Art Basel Hong Kong art fair where his large-scale autobiographical painting, After Afghanistan, Over the Hills and Far Away, priced at $130,000, was sold by Melbourne's Tolarno Galleries to an undisclosed buyer. Quilty said the painting started as a self-portrait "and I guess in a way it maps out the last few
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., IND., ARK., OKLA., ARIZ.
April 3 TEXASimpending execution Texas Prepares for Execution of Pablo Vasquez on April 6, 2016 Pablo Lucio Vasquez is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CDT, on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. 38-year-old Pablo is convicted of the murder of 12-year-old David Cardenas, on April 17-18, 1998, in Donna, Texas. Pablo has spent the last 17 years of his life on Texas' death row. Pablo dropped out of school after completing the 8th grade. He had no prior prison record. On the evening of April 17, 1998, Pablo Vasquez and his 15-year-old cousin Andy Chapa, attended a party at which David Cardenas was also present. After the party, Chapa and Vasquez took David. They struck him with a metal pipe, slashed his neck, and drank the boy's blood. Vasquez and Chapa then attempted to bury him. David, who was assumed to be relatives for the weekend, was not reported missing until April 20. His body was found 2 days later. He had been scalped, was missing 1 of his arms and part of another, and had no skin on his back. His body had also been mutilated after death. Additionally, David had been robbed. Police quickly detained Vasquez and questioned him. Vazquez admitted to hitting the boy, cutting his throat, and drinking his blood, along with dragging his body through a field and burying him. Chapa later testified that Vasquez killed the boy because David did not "give him what he wanted" During his trial, Vasquez claimed that the "devil" and other voices made him do it. Vasquez was convicted of David's murder and sentenced to death. Chapa was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty. 3 others were convicted of helping to cover-up the murder, resulting in 10 years probation, a fine, and restitution to David's family. Please pray for peace and healing for the family of David Cardenas. Please pray for strength for the family of Pablo Vasquez. Please pray that if Pablo is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his execution. Please pray that Pablo may come to find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, if he has not already. (source: theforgivenessfoundation.org) Race and the Death Penalty in Texas This month, the Supreme Court will consider whether to hear the appeal of Duane Buck, a black man from Texas who was sentenced to die for the 1995 murder of his ex-girlfriend and a man who was with her. There is no dispute about his guilt; the issue is how he ended up on death row. Under Texas law, a person can be sentenced to death only if prosecutors can show that he or she poses a future danger to society. During the trial's penalty phase, Mr. Buck's defense lawyer called a psychologist who testified that race is one of the factors associated with future dangerousness. The prosecutor got the psychologist to affirm this on cross-examination, and the jury sentenced Mr. Buck to death. In other words, Mr. Buck is scheduled to be executed at least in part because he is black. Nearly everyone who has had any involvement with Mr. Buck's case agreed that making this link was wrong - including one of his prosecutors, Texas' state courts, the federal district and appeals courts, and the Supreme Court itself. In fact, the psychologist who testified in Mr. Buck's case also said there was a link between race and dangerousness in 5 other cases with black or Latino defendants who were sentenced to death. All of those men received new sentencing hearings after Texas' attorney general at the time, John Cornyn, who is now a United States senator, agreed in 2000 that they were entitled to proceedings free of racial discrimination. Mr. Buck, however, got no such relief. That's because it was his lawyer, not the prosecutor, who first elicited the psychologist's view on the correlation between race and future dangerousness. That's an astonishingly flimsy rationale for allowing a state to kill someone. If, as Mr. Cornyn said in 2000, "it is inappropriate to allow race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice system," does it matter who brought it up first? It did to the Supreme Court, which declined to review Mr. Buck's previous appeal in 2011, even though it called the testimony "bizarre and objectionable." Mr. Buck is now back before the justices, this time with a claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective. A federal district judge said Mr. Buck's lawyer "recklessly exposed his client to the risks of racial prejudice," but still found that his case was not "extraordinary" enough to reopen. It's hard to see how this case isn't extraordinary. The risk of prejudice is particularly high in Harris County, Tex., where Mr. Buck was sentenced. In a 7-year period that included Mr. Buck's trial, Harris County prosecutors were more than 3
