[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 18 IRAN: 10 Prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison Scheduled for Execution About 10 prisoners in Karaj's Rajai Shahr Prison (Alborz Province, northern Iran) were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions scheduled for Wednesday July 20. According to close sources, 2 of the prisoners have been identified as Reza Teimouri and Mohsen Khanmohammadi. A close source tells Iran Human Rights: "Most of these prisoners are on death row for murder charges. They weren't able to obtain consent from the complainants on their case files to stop their executions, so they are scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday morning." On Wednesday July 13, Iranian authorities reportedly executed 6 prisoners at this prison. Since last week, starting from Monday July 11 until Sunday July 17, about 30 executions were reportedly carried out across Iran. (source: Iran Human Rights) BANGLADESH: Bangladesh charges 38 with murder over 2013 garment factory collapse A court in Bangladesh formally charged 38 people with murder on Monday in connection with the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building which killed 1,135 people in the country's worst industrial disaster. A total of 41 defendants face charges over the collapse of the complex, which housed 5 garment factories supplying global brands. Plaza owner Sohel Rana is the principal accused. Public Prosecutor Abdul Mannan said 38 people had been charged with murder while 3 were charged with helping Rana to flee after the incident. Rana was arrested after a four-day manhunt, apparently trying to flee across the border to India. Of the 41 people charged, 35, including Rana, appeared before the court and pleaded not guilty, Mannan told reporters. The other 6 are fugitives and will be tried in absentia. If convicted, defendants could face the death penalty. The collapse of the complex, built on swampy ground outside the capital Dhaka, sparked demands for greater safety in the world's 2nd-largest exporter of readymade garments and put pressure on companies buying clothing from Bangladesh to act. Duty-free access to Western markets and low wages for its workers helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $28 billion-a-year industry that is the economic lifeblood of the country of 160 million people. The minimum monthly wage for garment workers in Bangladesh is $68, compared with about $280 in mainland China, which remains the world's biggest clothes exporter. The Rana Plaza tragedy prompted safety checks that led to many factory closures and the loss of exports and jobs but the industry had begun to recover strongly despite sporadic attacks in Bangladesh claimed by Islamic State and al Qaeda. These have included murders of liberals, gay people, foreigners and members of religious minorities. But a targeted attack on a restaurant in Dhaka on July 1 that claimed the lives of 20 people including 18 foreigners, many of whom worked in the garment business, could pose a fresh threat to the industry. Islamic State said it was responsible for one of the most brazen attacks in the South Asian nation's history, although that claim has yet to be confirmed. (source: Reuters) TURKEY: Turkey's President Erdogan refuses to rule out death penalty Turkey's President has refused to rule out the death penalty for the thousands of people arrested following a violent failed military coup Friday. "There is a clear crime of treason and your request can never be rejected by our government," said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaking through his translator in a world exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson at his presidential palace in Istanbul, Turkey. "But of course it will take a parliamentary decision for that to take action in the form of a constitutional measure so leaders will have to get together and discuss it and if they accept to discuss it then I as president will approve any decision that comes out of the parliament." This is the 1st interview given by the president since the attempted military coup on Friday, July 15. If Turkey does reintroduce the death penalty, it won't be joining the European Union, according to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini earlier Monday. Commenting on people's calls for the death penalty for coup plotters, Erdogan said: "'Why should I keep them and feed them in prisons, for years to come?' -- that's what the people say." "They want a swift end to it, because people lost relatives, lost neighbors, lost children... they're suffering so the people are very sensitive and we have to act very sensibly and sensitively," he added. The comments come in the wake of Friday's failed military coup and the president's vow over the weekend that those responsible "will pay a heavy price for this act of treason." A total of 8,777 officers from the Turkish Ministry of Interior have so far been removed from office, according to the state
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., USA
July 18 TEXASimpending execution In Texas death row case, punishment does not fit crime Jeff Wood has an appointment he hopes to miss. On Aug. 24, 2016, at about 6 p.m., the Texas Department of Criminal Justice plans to inject a lethal dose of pentobarbital into Jeff???s veins to stop his heart as punishment for the 1996 murder of Kris Keeran. What makes this execution controversial is that everyone, including law enforcement and the prosecution, agrees that Wood, the driver of the getaway car, did not kill Kris Keeran inside a Kerrville convenient store on the morning of January 2, 1996. In fact, Daniel Reneau, the actual and sole killer of Keeran, was executed for his crime on June 13, 2002. Wood was convicted and sentenced to die under Texas' arcane felony-murder law, more commonly known as the "the law of parties" - for his role as an accomplice to a killing, which he had no reason to anticipate. Under the law of parties, those who conspire to commit a felony, like a robbery, can be held responsible for a subsequent crime, like murder, if it "should have been anticipated." The law does not require a finding that the person intended to kill. It only requires that the defendant, charged under the law of parties, was a major participant in the underlying felony and exhibited a reckless indifference to human life. In other words, neglecting to anticipate another actor's commission of murder in the course of a felony is all that is required to make a Texas defendant death-eligible. Texas is not the only state that holds co-conspirators responsible for one another's criminal acts. However, it is one of few states that applies the death sentence to them. There have been only 10 people in the U.S. executed under the law of parties - and 5 of those 10 executions were in Texas. The last such execution was in 2009, where the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) recommended, with a 5-2 vote, that Robert Thompson's death sentence be commuted to life. Rick Perry rejected that vote and allowed the execution to proceed. Thompson was executed, even though it was his co-defendant, Sammy Butler, who actually killed the victim. Butler was given a life sentence. When the convenient store robbery took place, Wood was sitting in a car outside, under the impression that Reneau was going into the store to get "road drinks and munchies." Although it is true that Wood and Reneau had talked about robbing the store at the behest of the manager, Wood had backed out of the idea. Wood had no idea Reneau was carrying a gun and was going to attempt to rob the store. Wood also claims he was forced to drive Reneau away from the crime scene at gunpoint. Wood's actions before the murder, namely sitting in a car unarmed and unaware that another person was going to commit a robbery, does not constitute reckless indifference to human life. Even many supporters of capital punishment agree that the Texas law of parties is wholly unfair. In 2009, the Texas Moratorium Network and Wood's family led an advocacy campaign to end the death penalty for people convicted under the law of parties. The Republican-controlled Texas House overwhelmingly voted in favor of the bill. Unfortunately, the bill died in the Senate after Gov. Perry threatened to veto it. Last year, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence voted again in favor of a bill to exclude the death penalty as punishment in law of parties cases. However, the session ended without an opportunity for a floor vote. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles should recommend that the governor commute Wood's death sentence to life in prison or a lesser term consistent with Wood's level of participation in the crime. They have made that recommendation in similar cases, including those of Kenneth Foster in 2007 and Robert Thompson in 2009. Wood might deserve punishment for driving away from the crime scene, but he does not deserve to die. He has never taken a human life with his own hands. (source: Opinion; Hooman Hedayati is an attorney and a member of the Texas Moratorium Network Board of DirectorsAustin American-Statesman) CONNECTICUT: Connecticut Court Reaffirms Ruling Abolishing Death Penalty The Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld its decision to abolish the state's death penalty, including for the 11 inmates on Connecticut's death row. The Connecticut Supreme Court has reaffirmed its decision that Connecticut's abolition of the death penalty must also apply to those already convicted of a capital felony. Monday's ruling comes in the case of Daniel Webb, who was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Diane Gellenbeck. The 37-year-old bank vice president was killed in a Hartford park after being abducted from a downtown parking garage. The court last August found the 2012 state law that banned executions for future crimes did not go far enough, ruling the death penalty was unconstit
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 18 IRANexecutions 16 prisoners including a woman hanged in 1 day, 2 in public 30 prisoners executed in less than a week in cities across the country In a new wave of executions, the Iranian regime executed 30 prisoners in various cities from July 11 to 17. 16 were executed Sunday, July 17, in Karaj and Birjand. In Karaj, 11 prisoners including a woman were executed en masse in Ghezel Hessar Prison and another 2 were hanged in public in Mehrshahr district. 2 prisoners were executed in the Central Prison of Lakan, in Rasht (northern Iran) on July 16. 6 prisoners were hanged on July 13, in Gohardasht Prison of Karaj. 5 more prisoners were hanged on July 11, in the Central Prison of Arak (central Iran), and another prisoner was executed also on July 11, in the Prison of Maragheh (East Azerbaijan Province in northwest Iran) after enduring 8 years in prison. Beset by various crises, the Iranian regime is unable to respond to the most basic needs of the Iranian people, especially the deprived and low income strata. To confront growing public dissent and protests across the country, it has resorted to a new wave of executions. 1 year after the nuclear deal, these crimes reveal the claims of moderation in the clerical regime as hollow and expose the falsehood of promises of improvement under the mullahs' rule. It was thus proved that appeasement of the mullahs' medieval regime will not bring about change. The Iranian Resistance calls on human rights organizations to condemn the rising number of executions in Iran and to immediately undertake measures to send the dossier of violations of human rights in Iran to the UN Security Council. All relations with the Iranian regime must be made conditional on an end to executions and an improvement of the human rights situation in Iran. (source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran) INDIA: Final hearing in December 16 gang rape case to begin from today The Supreme Court will from today begin its hearing in the appeals filed by the four accused in the December 16 gang rape case. A special bench of the apex court hearing the plea of death convicts in the case has decided to sit 2 hours beyond its working time to ensure speedy disposal of the case that has been pending in the court for more than 2 years. The convicts Vinay Sharma (23), Akshay Thakur (31), Mukesh (29) and Pawan Gupta (22) were awarded death sentence by a trial court in September 2013 and 6 months later the Delhi High Court upheld their conviction and sentence. All the convicts then approached the Supreme Court which had in 2014 stayed their execution and the matter is pending in the top court since then. The Delhi High Court had upheld their conviction and award of death penalty by terming the offence as 'extremely fiendish' and 'unparalleled in the history of criminal jurisprudence' and said the 'exemplary punishment' was the need of the hour. Though arguments started in April before a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra, arguments will have to be made afresh since the combination of judges in the bench has been changed. The bench comprises Justices Dipak Misra, C. Nagappan and Ms. R. Banumathi. 23-year old Nirbhaya was brutally assaulted and gang-raped by 6 people in a moving bus in south Delhi on the night of December 16, 2012, and thrown out of the vehicle with her male friend. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29. (source: Business Standard) THE VATICAN: Why the Church Cannot Reverse Past Teaching on Capital PunishmentIf Pope Francis were to teach that capital punishment is ???absolutely??? immoral, he would be contradicting the teaching of scripture, the Fathers, and all previous popes, and substituting for it "some new doctrine." Editor's note: This is Part 1 of a 2-part article on Catholicism and the death penalty. Part 2 will be posted later this week. Pope St. John Paul II was well-known for his vigorous opposition to capital punishment. Yet in 2004, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- the pope's own chief doctrinal officer, later to become Pope Benedict XVI -- stated unambiguously that: [I]f a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment ... he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities ... to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible ... to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about ... applying the death penalty ... (emphasis added) How could it be "legitimate" for a Catholic to be "at odds with" the pope on such a matter? The answer is that the pope's opposition to capital punishment was not a matter of binding doctrine, but merely an opinion which a Catholic must respectfu
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 18 TURKEY: EU reminds Turkey it bound by treaty not to use death penalty The European Union reminded Turkey on Monday that it is bound by its commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights and as a member of the Council of Europe not to reintroduce the death penalty. "No country can become an EU member state if it introduces the death penalty," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters when asked about suggestions that EU accession candidate Turkey might execute leaders of the failed coup. She also noted that Turkey was a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights, which bans capital punishment across the continent: "Turkey is an important part of the Council of Europe and is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, which is very clear on the death penalty," she said. (source: Reuters) *** Germany tells Turkey return of death penalty would end EU accession talks Turkey cannot join the European Union if it reinstates the death penalty, a spokesman for the German government said on Monday, sending a clear message to President Tayyip Erdogan who has raised the possibility after a failed military coup. The government also urged Turkey to maintain the rule of law in investigating and bringing those behind the weekend coup attempt to justice, and raised questions about Turkey's decision to round up thousands of judges. "Germany and the member states of the EU have a clear position on that: we categorically reject the death penalty," government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference. "A country that has the death penalty can't be a member of the European Union and the introduction of the death penalty in Turkey would therefore mean the end of accession negotiations." Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004, allowing it to open EU accession talks the following year, but the negotiations have made scant progress since then. With pro-government protesters demanding that the coup leaders be executed, Erdogan said on Sunday that the government would discuss the measure with opposition parties. Even before the coup attempt, many EU states were not eager to see such a large, mostly Muslim country as a member, and were concerned that Ankara's record on basic freedoms had gone into reverse in recent years. Turkey widened the crackdown on suspected supporters of the coup on Sunday, taking the number of people rounded up in the armed forces and judiciary to 6,000. German officials said they had seen no evidence of any conspiracy in the events beyond an effort by parts of the Turkish military to seize control of the government. Erdogan and the Turkish government have accused the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan, of orchestrating the coup. Seibert said German and EU officials would emphasize the need to maintain the rule of law in all their conversations with Turkey. He said he expected EU foreign ministers to address their concerns about the revival of the death penalty and disproportionate punishment in a joint statement about the situation after a meeting in Brussels later on Monday. "Everyone understands that the Turkish government and the Turkish justice system must bring those responsible for the coup to justice, but they must maintain the rule of law, and that always means maintaining proportionality ... and transparency." German Foreign Minster Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke to his counterpart early on Sunday, but Chancellor Angela Merkel has not spoken to Erdogan since the attempted coup, government spokesmen said. (source: The Daily Star) No Country Can Become EU Member if Reintroduces Death Penalty - Mogherini Late on Friday, Turkish authorities said that an attempted coup d'etat took place in the country. The coup was suppressed several hours later. Soon after the coup attempt, both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that capital punishment could be reinstated in the country. "Let me be very clear on one thing ... No country can become an EU member state if it introduces death penalty," Mogherini told a briefing when asked about the situation in Turkey, a state that abolished capital punishment in 2004 to bring its legislation in line with the EU standards. Late on Friday, the Turkish authorities said that an attempted coup d'etat took place in the country. The coup was suppressed several hours later. The coup attempt was suppressed by early Saturday, with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim stating that all coup supporters were identified and would be apprehended as the country was returning to normal life. At least 208 people have been killed and at least 1,400 injured during the attempted coup, according to the country's foreign ministry. (source: Sputnik News) * Turkey's pr
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., LA., UTAH, USA
July 18 FLORIDA: 2 cases delayed by new death penalty to be in Duval County court 2 death penalty cases affected by the new death penalty ruling will be in Duval County court Monday morning. The recent ruling stated that the death penalty law in the State of Florida is unconstitutional. The ruling that affects two Duval County cases has families in the courtroom longer, which can be tiring for the family. James Rhodes is accused of killing Shelby Farah at a Metro PCS store in 2013. Rhodes' court appearance is expected to include motions regarding death penalty. Rhodes was charged in connection to the death of Farah, 20. Farah's mother has been candid about her disagreement with the State Attorney's Office to seek the death penalty for her daughter's accused killer. Farah's mother said it will only keep the case going, but State Attorney Angela Corey said the law requires her to seek death. In the Michael Shellito case, he was convicted in the murder of 18-year-old Sean Hathorne. Hathrone was shot in the chest in 1994 and Shellito was sentenced to death. But the Florida Supreme Court unanimously overturned his death sentence back in 2013 citing mental issues and that he may have suffered from brain damage from child abuse. Shelitto has a final pretrial hearing Monday morning. His case isn't scheduled to go to trial until 2017. As of today, there are 388 people in Florida on death row. (source: actionnewsjax.com) LOUISIANA: Inmates' lawyers: A/C only way to prevent heat-related illness, death at Angola With south Louisiana's summer heat and humidity kicking into high gear, the legal battle rages on over how to best protect 3 ailing condemned killers from extreme heat indexes on Angola's death row. In the most recent federal court filings in the 3-year-old case, attorneys for Elzie Ball, Nathaniel Code and James Magee insist air conditioning is the only way to shield them from the substantial risk of heat-related illness or worse. "Public health agencies as well as the medical community agree that exposure to air-conditioning is the only method of preventing heat-related illness and death in extreme heat," the inmates' attorneys, including lead lawyer Mercedes Montagnes with The Promise of Justice Initiative in New Orleans, argue in documents filed July 11 at Baton Rouge federal court. Attorneys for state corrections officials, however, claim their second heat remediation plan - which calls for a daily cool shower and additional ice and fans for the prisoners - adequately remedies a violation of the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment that Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found in relation to the Louisiana State Penitentiary's death row. The state's lawyers, in documents filed July 11 as well, contend the heat remediation plan's measures "are sufficient to cure the constitutional violation." They argue further that the relief "extends as far as is necessary to correct the constitutional violation in this matter." Jackson opined last month at a hearing on the state's second remediation plan that corrections officials have done "little if anything" to prevent heat indexes on death row from topping 88 degrees, something he ordered them to do 2 1/2 years ago. The state's 1st court-ordered heat remediation plan included air conditioning for the inmates, but the 5th Circuit ruled last summer the prisoners are not entitled to mechanical cooling. But the appellate court said they do deserve some relief. In their latest court filing, the state's attorneys - a combination of private lawyers and assistant state attorney's general - say they interpret the 5th Circuit ruling to mean the state is not required to maintain the heat index in the inmates' cells below 88 degrees. "The Fifth Circuit noted ... that a permanent injunction requiring (the state) to develop a plan to keep the heat index at or below 88 degrees would 'effectively' require (the state) to install air conditioning," the state's attorneys point out. "It is (the state's) position that the Fifth Circuit ruled that (the state) must implement sufficient remedial measures ... when the heat index reaches 88 degrees - not that (the state) must maintain the heat index below 88 degrees." In its ruling last year, the New Orleans federal appeals court suggested the state could divert cool air from the air-conditioned guard pods into the death-row tiers or allow the inmates access to air-conditioned areas, but corrections officials rejected those suggestions for security and other reasons. The inmates' lawyers acknowledge that while no 5th Circuit case has previously upheld an order requiring air conditioning to remedy a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, no authority explicitly bars the use of air conditioning as a remedy. "The Fifth Circ
