[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 10 TAIWANexecution Taiwan executes subway killer Taiwan on Tuesday executed a former college student who killed 4 people in a random stabbing spree on a subway 2 years ago, in an attack which horrified the generally peaceful island. Cheng Chieh, 23, was anaesthetised then shot 3 times by a firing squad at a jail outside Taipei a little before 9pm (9pm Singapore time), deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters. "Death was the only way to show publically that justice had been served and to relieve the sorrow and pain of victims' families," he said. Cheng was sentenced to death last year for killing 4 people and injuring another 22, in the first fatal attack on the capital's subway system since it launched in 1996. His execution surprised many, however, as it came less than 3 weeks after the supreme court upheld the death sentence despite last-ditch efforts by rights groups. Among the victims of the attack in May 2014 was a man named Hsieh Ching-yun. His mother said she was "glad" Cheng had been executed. "Losing my son is a pain that will last forever, for the rest of my life," she told the TVBS cable news network. Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Cheng, saying psychological evaluations showed that he was not suffering from any mental disorder when he committed the crime. Cheng, who pleaded guilty to the charges, was expelled by his university after the attack and was described by prosecutors as "anti-society, narcissistic, immature and pessimistic". Local media said he had been obsessed with gory online games and had written horror stories. Cheng's parents had asked for him to be sentenced to death, calling their son's actions "unforgivable". The incident shocked Taiwan, otherwise proud of its low levels of violent crime, and resulted in several minor injuries as edgy commuters fled trains over false alarms in the following week. There are currently 42 prisoners on death row in Taiwan, all of whom will face a firing squad when they are executed. Hundreds of Taiwanese rallied in April (2016) to show support for retaining the death penalty after the beheading of a four-year-old girl on March 28 near a Taipei metro station. The attack was carried out by 33-year-old man who had previously been arrested for drug-related crimes and had sought treatment for mental illness. Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year hiatus. But executions are reserved for the most serious crimes such as aggravated murder and kidnapping. Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various opinion surveys show majority support for the death penalty. In 2012 the murder of a 10-year-old boy in a playground reignited debate over the death penalty, after the suspect reportedly said he was anticipating free board and lodging in jail and would get a life sentence at most even if he were to kill 2 or 3 people. (source: straitstimes.com) PHILIPPINES: New President should break cycle of human rights violations, not compound them If President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is serious about introducing change in the Philippines, he must turn his back on the history of human rights violations and end the prevailing culture of impunity, Amnesty International said today. Rodrigo Duterte, the former Mayor of Davao city, is set to become the newly-elected President of the Philippines after leading the voting in the 9 May 2016 election. Duterte's principal rivals have conceded defeat. "If Rodrigo Duterte is serious about bringing change to the Philippines, he should address the dire human rights situation in the country and put an end to extrajudicial executions, unlawful arrests, secret detention as well as torture and other ill-treatment," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International???s Director for South East Asia and the Pacific. During the course of the presidential election campaign, Duterte has issued a series of inflammatory statements that, if enacted, would contravene the Philippines' international human rights obligations, including his promise to reduce crime rates by shooting suspected criminals. "As leader of the Philippines, the President-elect must protect and uphold human rights, not reject them. This includes the right to life, due process and fair trial," said Rafendi Djamin. "The way to bring about true and lasting change for the Philippines is by putting in place robust, transparent and accountable mechanisms to bring about an end to longstanding human rights violations. Threatening to introduce a culture of impunity, as Rodrigo Duterte has done in recent weeks, will only exacerbate the problems that he campaigned to resolve." Background: First 100 days In November 2015, Amnesty International published a human rights agenda for the Philippines' next President outlining 5 areas which should be top of their human rights agenda in their first 100 days. These
[Deathpenalty] Actions against imminent executions in Indonesia and Bangladesh
Bangladesh: The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal against its ruling, upholding the death sentence against Motiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of the political party Jamaat-e-Islami. All legal appeals have now been exhausted and his only remaining option is to seek clemency from the President. He has been moved to Dhaka Central Jail and is execution is imminent: http://bit.ly/1NlqyYI Indonesia: Three death row prisoners were moved on 8 May to Indonesia’s Nusakambangan prison island, where 13 executions were carried out in 2015. On 10 May, the Attorney General confirmed to the media that another round of executions will be carried out soon: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa21/4008/2016/en/ ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 10 PAKSITANexecution Death row convict hanged in Sahiwal A death row prisoner involved in murder case was executed in the Central Jail Sahiwal on early Tuesday morning, Dunya News reported. According to details, prisoner Mansha had killed a man in 2001 during a robbery attempt. The dead body of the prisoner was handed over to his heirs after the execution. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted a 6-year moratorium on death penalty on December 17, 2014 for those convicted for terrorism a day after the deadly attack on Army Public School in Peshawar that left 150 persons including mostly children dead. There are more than 8,000 prisoners on death row in the country. (source: Dunya News) IRANexecutions 2 Prisoners Hanged in Northwestern Iran 2 prisoners with murder charges were reportedly hanged at Darya, Urmia's central prison (in the province of West Azerbaijan, northwestern Iran), on Monday May 9. According to a report by the human rights news agency, HRANA, these 2 prisoners are among 6 who were transferred to solitary confinement at this prison on Sunday May 8 in preparation for their executions. HRANA has identified the s executed prisoners as Nasser Saeedi and Mehdi Naboshi. s of the other prisoners, reportedly identified as Omid Behrouz and Khaled Zika, succeeded to postpone their executions for a brief period of time and were returned to their cells. Behrouz is scheduled to be executed one month from now and Zika in 5 days. The other 2 prisoners, reportedly identified as Behnam Hassanzadeh and Hesam Neez, were spared from execution after they succeeded to receive consent from the plaintiffs on their case files. They were also returned to their cells. Iranian official sources, including state-run media and the Judiciary, have been silent on these executions. Prisoner Hanged in Southern Iran on Drug Charges A prisoner with drug charges was reportedly hanged at Minab Prison (in the southern Hormozgan province) on Sunday May 8. The Baloch Activists Campaign has identified the prisoner as Mohsen Bahaoldini, a man who resided in Giran, a town located in the southern Sistan & Baluchestan province of Iran. Iranian official sources, including state run media and the Judiciary, have been silent about Bahaoldini's execution. (source for both: Iran Human Rights) INDONESIA: Govt Agrees on Death Penalty for Rapists The government has agreed to give maximum penalties to rapists and sexual offenders. The agreement is the result of a coordination meeting between ministries that was held at the office of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture Monday, May 10, 2016. Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yasonna H. Laoly said that the prison sentence for rapists and sexual offenders will be extended from 15 years to 20 years. Some rapists and offenders can also be given life sentences. "They may also be given the death penalty if the victim dies," Yasonna said. Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani said that the identity of sex offenders will also be revealed to the public. "So that the public knows that the offenders have committed an inhumane crime," said Puan. Yasona said that that only adult rapists and sex offenders will have their identities revealed to the public. The identities of offenders who are still minors when they committed the crime will be kept private. The government will also impose social sanctions to enhance the deterrent effect and provide shock therapy. "We are still discussing the technicalities of this social punishment," Puan said. During their sentences, the criminals will be guided and rehabilitated to prevent them from repeating their crimes. The coordination meeting this morning also discussed the possibility of castrating sexual offenders and rapists. No decisions have been made regarding this idea. Puan said the meeting was held in response to the rampant cases of rape and sexual assaults. The most recent case is one that took the life of a 14-year-old girl in Bengkulu, who was gang-raped and killed by her assaulters. The police have arrested 12 suspects. 2 others are still at large. 7 suspects are currently being tried in court. (source: tempo.co) * Preparations for Next Round of Death Penalty on Track: A-G Prasetyo Preparations ahead of the 3rd round of executions are on track with 14 death row inmates on the list, Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo said on Monday. "Preparations [of execution] have been conducted and the legal base as well. We just need to choose the time," Prasetyo told reporters. The Attorney General's Office, however, is still keeping the dates of executions and the names of inmates secret, although it is believed the round will take place this year. "We never said it would stop. The executions will be continued, but are yet to name the time," he s
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 10 IRELAND: 10 amazing Irish men and women who cheated the hangman Ireland had a bitter history of the death penalty under the British. Famous rebels like Henry Joy McCracken, Robert Emmet and Padraig Pearse were put to death as a warning to other Irish people considering rebellion against the Crown. Based on this, it's no surprise that when the Irish sat down after independence to write their own laws they initially planned to abolish capital punishmen. The Irish Civil War soon changed minds, however, and the ultimate deterrent was kept on the statute books. 29 ordinary Irish people would be hanged for murder before capital punishment was abolished in Ireland in 1964, but an even greater number would be sentenced to death before narrowly escaping the gallows. Here is a list of 10 men and women who nearly came face-to-face with the executioner. 1. Hannah Flynn Flynn was from Killorglin, Co Kerry and in 1922 was working as a domestic servant for the O'Sullivan family who lived nearby. She was sacked after just 2 months, however, for theft and disobedience. On Easter Sunday the following year Margaret O'Sullivan was found lying on the kitchen floor by her husband when he returned from Mass. She had been butchered with a hatchet. Flynn was immediately under suspicion and was swiftly found guilty of murder and given a date of execution. She was given a recommendation to mercy on account of her "low intellect" and received a reprieve after the sentence. She spent 18 years in prison before being released into a convent. 2. Patrick Aylward Aylward was involved in an agricultural feud with his neighbors, the Holdens, in Kilkenny in 1923. He was accused, and found guilty, of taking their 18-month-old son William and pushing him into the fire, causing him an agonizing death as revenge. Aylward came within days of execution for the crime, but was reprieved at the last minute. He served 10 years in jail instead. He went to his death insisting that he had been framed for the horrific crime. 3. Jane O'Brien O'Brien lived in Killinick, Co. Wexford, with her nephew John Cousins. In 1932 Cousins was engaged to be married and told his aunt that she would have to move out to make way for his new bride. The elderly woman instead took a shotgun from under his bed and shot him as he returned from the pub. She was found guilty but received a reprieve on account of her age and gender. 4. Mary Agnes Daly Daly was threatened with eviction in 1948 for being unable to pay her rent. She then attacked a stranger in a church in Glasnevin, Co. Dublin, using a hammer she had brought with her (apparently to break open church money boxes.) The stranger was 83 year-old Mary Gibbons. Daly was quickly found guilty and scheduled to meet Pierrepoint, the hangman. She was reprieved 2 weeks before the execution, spending 6 years in jail instead. 5. Shan Mohangi Mohangi was a South African medical student who came to Dublin to study in the early 60s. The 23-year-old started seeing a 14-year-old girl named Hazel Mullen shortly afterwards but proved to be insanely jealous. In August 1963 he strangled her after accusing her of kissing another boy and dismembered her body gruesomely. Mohangi was sentenced to death for the despicable crime, but in a retrial was found guilty of manslaughter only. He served just 4 years in prison and returned to South Africa on his release. In 2009 he was running for political office in South Africa when his murderous past caught up with him. He was forced to withdraw from the race. 6. Mary Somerville Mary Somerville's daughter gave birth to a child outside of wedlock in Co. Monaghan in 1938. Instead of living with the huge social shame that came with such an occurrence in 1930s Ireland, however, Mary took the baby girl and threw her into a pond outside her house. The body was discovered some weeks later and the grandmother was given a death sentence for 2 days before Christmas, 1938. It was commuted on the 9th of the same month. 7. Daniel Duff Garda James Byrne is amongst the unfortunate number of Irish policeman shot dead while on duty. Incredibly, however, it was a fellow Garda who fired the bullet that killed Byrne. Byrne fought with Garda Daniel Duff in 1945 when they were both stationed on armed night-duty in Co. Limerick. Duff, convinced that his colleague was drawing his gun, pulled out his own firearm and shot Byrne twice through the heart. Duff claimed self-defence but was found guilty and given the death sentence. He was reprieved and served just over 5 years in Mountjoy Prison. 8. Hannah O'Leary O'Leary was jointly charged with murder in 1924 along with her brother Con. The 2 were found guilty of killing their brother Patrick and dismembering his corpse before scattering it around a field adjoining their farmhouse in Kilkerran, Co. Cork. Both denied the charges but were sentenced to death nonetheless. Con
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., TENN., MO., CALIF.
May 10 TEXAS: Houstonians show a change in support for death penalty Have changes in attitudes, the law and forensic science combined to change Houstonians' support for the death penalty? A recent poll shows fewer Harris County citizens are in favor of the death penalty, and Harris County courts are handing down fewer death sentences. Texas has sent more prisoners to the death chamber in the last four decades than any other state. And of those sentences, more have been handed down in Harris County (126) than any other Texas county. But a recent Houston-area survey shows support for the death penalty steadily declining. The percentage of residents saying death is the most appropriate punishment for first-degree murder dropped from 39 % in 2008 to 27 % in 2016 -- the lowest result ever. Pat Monks is a lawyer and conservative Republican who contends the death penalty is too arbitrary, too expensive and too unjust. "It violates all conservative values to be for the death penalty," Monks said. Proof of that, he says, are recent exonerations, like that of Anthony Graves, who was freed from death row after spending 18 years there for a murder he didn't commit. "If you're going to kill somebody, that system has to be perfect. It's just not, that's what's wrong with the death penalty," Monks says. Last year, Harris County courts only handed down one death sentence. The number statewide has declined as well. A significant influence has been the legislature's adoption of life without parole as a sentencing option to death 11 years ago. But the death penalty in Texas remains the law, as well as a plank in the state Republican Party's platform. Jared Woodfill is an attorney and a conservative Republican who is running for state party chairman. "The reality is that the system, I don't believe, is broken," Woodfill said. He believes the death penalty should remain an option in capital cases. He insists the appeals process and improvements in DNA testing that have led to exonerations also ensure the system is just. "So there are multiple levels of protection in place to ensure innocent people are not executed. And that if mistakes are made, they are caught and reversed," Woodfill insists. Monks doesn't agree. He's urged the state Republican Party to change its platform support for the death penalty several times without success. Woodfill says it's not likely when the party convenes later this week in Dallas for its state convention. (source: click2houston.com) FLORIDA: Former chief justice pushes for death row re-sentencing The Florida Supreme Court is deciding whether 390 inmates on death row should be re-sentenced to life after the state's death penalty scheme was ruled unconstitutional. Harry Lee Anstead was the Chief Justice of Florida's Supreme Court from 2002 to 2014. 18 months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Arizona's death penalty in what is know as the Ring case, Anstead argued that Ring applied to Florida. Other justices disagreed. More than a decade later, he was proven right when the high court threw out Florida's sentencing scheme, citing the Ring decision. "This decision about Florida's statue being unconstitutional should have been made many years ago," said Anstead. Since the other justices ignored Anstead's dissent so long ago, he's now going to other former Florida Supreme Court justices in arguing that all 390 inmates on death row should now get a life sentence. "This hopefully is setting things right in a large way, not a small way, in a large way," he said. Anstead remains troubled that since his dissent, now proven right, several dozen inmates have been put to death. Gainesville killer, Danny Rolling, was among them. "A number of prisoners on death row have been put to death in Florida, and arguably, they've been put to death under an unconstitutional death penalty scheme," Anstead said. Ironically, Lloyd Duest, who was the inmate in the case in which Anstead first cited his Ring objections, has died; not by lethal injections, but by other cases. Lloyd Duest died in 2011, 8 years after justice Anstead thought his sentence should have been reduced to life in prison. While the 3 justices say all death row inmates should be re-sentenced to life, the attorney general said that everyone on death row should stay there. (source: WEAR TV news) Florida's Modified Death Sentencing Regime Is Still Unconstitutional, Judge SaysJuries in the state must unanimously impose the death penalty, a circuit judge ruled. A Florida judge ruled on Monday that the state's recently amended system for sentencing people to death is unconstitutional. Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch said that the new regime - which allows a "less-than-unanimous" jury to impose the death penalty - violates Florida's constitution, which requires unanimity. "Every verdict in every criminal case in Flo
