[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 13 MAURITANIA: Mauritanian clerics urge for blogger's death penalty to be applied Muslim clerics in Mauritania on Sunday urged the authorities to execute a blogger who was sentenced to death in 2014 for apostasy after writing a blog post on Islam and recial discrimination. Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir's article touched a nerve in Mauritania, a West African country with deep social and racial divisions. He was tried for apostasy and received the death penalty despite having repented and saying his article was misunderstood. According to the U.S.-based Freedom Now rights group who provide Mkhaitir with legal counsel, the blog post appears to have been the 1st he published. Prior to his arrest he worked as an engineer for a mining company and was not an activist, Freedom Now said on its website. Mauritania has not applied a death penalty since 1987 but on Sunday, the influential Forum of Imams and Ulemas issued a fatwa, or Islamic decree, calling for Mkhaitir to be killed. It condemned "Mkhaitir and his heresy, recalling that the legal penalty in his case is death, with no exception made for his repentance," according to a statement. "We demand that the competent authorities apply the law: kill him and bury him in conformity with the law of God." Rights groups like Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders have campaigned for Mkhaitir's pardon and release. (source: Reuters) IRAN: Death Sentences of 3 Sunni Prisoners Commuted by the Supreme Court After the "Black Monday" in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj when by transferring 37 Sunni prisoners under tight security measurements to solitary confinement, at least 20 of them were executed, reportedly the execution of 3 Sunni prisoners have been canceled and they were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the death sentences of three Sunni prisoners namely Taimor Naderizadeh, Farzad Shahnazari, Farshid Naseri have been rejected in the Supreme Court and after returning to branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, their sentences have been changed to 15 years in prison. A close source to the prisoners, explained to HRANA's reporter in this regarding: "The sentences of the prisoners had been confirmed by the Appeals Court and they were the co-defendants of some of the executed Sunni prisoners. According to the lawyers of the prisoners, the sentences have been violated and they were sentenced to 15 years in prison by branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran headed by Mr. Salvati." Need to be mentioned on Black Monday of Rajaei Shahr prison, after unprecedented raid of black uniformed prison guards, 37 death row prisoners of ward number 10 were transferred to solitary confinements under security condition with handcuffs, shackles and blindfolded. According to the judiciary, the sentences of at least 20 of them were executed. However, some others unofficial sources estimated that up to 26 prisoners were executed. HRANA had reported that Farshid Naseri, Barzan Nasrollah Zadeh, Seyed Jamal Seyed Mousavi, Farzad shahnazari, and Taimoor Naderzadeh were the 5 prisoners who had been transferred to hall number 7 from solitary confinements later. Also in another report, HRANA published a video of the defenses of 4 prisoners before their executions. Need to be mentioned that at least 11 Sunni prisoners in Rajaei Shahr are in danger of being executed. Among them, only 2 prisoners, including 1 minor were saved from mass executions. Due to recent unprecedented mass executions they are serving along 49 other prisoners, including 9 with death sentences, in fear of being executed. (source: HRANA News Agency) NIGERIA: Corruption is murder in disguise - Charly Boy Charly Boy says the only way corruption can be effectively tackled is by making the crime a treasonable offence. The entertainer, real name Charles Oputa, described corruption as murder in disguise while noting that majority of Nigerians are at the mercy of a "few politician". Charly Boy said this Thursday during a news conference organised by the "Occupy Unlimited" group, a civil society group advocating for good governance and a corruption-free society. "Corrupt leadership has been killing ordinary Nigerians slowly and steadily over the years," said Charly Boy, national coordinator of the group. "It is time to properly define it as 'murder in disguise', and treat as treasonable offence against our dear country. "Over 180 million people are surviving at the mercy of few politicians who have mastered the art of creating division among her own people through religion, ethnicity, corruption, and frivolous issues. Charly Boy said the death penalty should be applied on all politically-corrupt persons if Nigeria is serious about getting majority of its population out of economic hardship. The singer said Nigeria would
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., GA., ALA., ARIZ., ORE.
Nov. 13 CONNECTICUT: 2 Connecticut killers' appeals headed to state Supreme Court The appeals of 2 convicted killers sentenced to lethal injection before Connecticut's death penalty was abolished are set to go before the state Supreme Court. The separate cases of Sedrick Cobb and Jessie Campbell III are on the court docket for December. Cobb was convicted in the 1989 killing of Julia Ashe. The 23-year-old woman had been Christmas shopping at a Waterbury department store when she was abducted, raped then left in an icy culvert to die, prosecutors say. Cobb argues on appeal that his trial lawyer failed to present evidence that he has a severe mental illness. Prosecutors reject Cobb's arguments and say his convictions should stand. In Campbell's appeal, he argues the trial judge improperly ruled he was competent to stand trial and failed to properly instruct the jury on his defense of extreme emotional disturbance. Campbell was convicted of shooting 3 women outside a Hartford home in 2000. LaTaysha Logan, 20, Campbell's girlfriend and mother of his son, was killed. Her friend, 18-year-old Desiree Privette, also was fatally shot. Privette's aunt, Carolyn Privette, survived the shooting. Prosecutor Matthew Weiner rejected Campbell's arguments, saying that even if errors were made, they weren't significant enough to affect the verdict. "The state presented overwhelming evidence that at the time the defendant shot each victim, he intended to cause her death," Weiner wrote in a brief to the court. Last year, a divided Supreme Court ruled that a 2012 state law that abolished capital punishment for future crimes must be applied to the 11 men who still faced execution for killings that happened before the law took effect. A majority of justices said the death penalty "no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency" and doesn't serve any "legitimate penological purpose." The death penalty was replaced with life in prison. (source: New Haven Register) GEORGIAimpending execution//volunteer) Things to know about the upcoming execution in Georgia Georgia is preparing to carry out its 8th execution of the year with plans to execute a man who killed his ex-girlfriend 15 years ago. Steven Frederick Spears, 54, is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted of murder in the August 2001 slaying of his former girlfriend Sherri Holland at her home in Dahlonega, about 65 miles northeast of Atlanta. Here are some things to know about the scheduled execution: THE CRIME Spears told investigators in a 90-minute, tape-recorded confession that he came up with four different plans to kill Holland. According to a summary from the Georgia Supreme Court: -- He went into the crawl space under her house and attached wires to the drainpipe and cold water pipe of her shower that he planned to attach to her home's circuit board to electrocute her as she showered; -- He planned to carve a baseball bat from a tree branch, leave it under a canoe at her house and beat her to death with it; -- He planned to crawl into her house from the crawl space through an air conditioner vent and load her shotgun so he could use it later; -- He hid duct tape under her canoe so he could choke her, bind her with the tape and suffocate her with a plastic bag. He ultimately chose the 4th plan, placing Holland's bag-covered head on a pillow, "so her face wouldn't be smashed on the floor," he told investigators. He left her body in her bedroom and locked the door with a padlock to keep her teenage son from entering when he returned home from his dad's house. Spears lived in the woods for 10 days before an officer saw him walking along a highway, asked his name and arrested him. --- THE MOTIVE Spears said he told Holland when they began dating that if he caught her or heard that she was sleeping with someone else he would "choke her ass to death." He told investigators he told her he loved her just before choking her. Toward the end of his confession, Spears told investigators, "I loved her that much. I told her I wasn't letting her go, and I didn't." He added that he'd do it again if he had to. --- NO POST-CONVICTION APPEALS Georgia death sentences are automatically appealed. If a sentence is upheld through the direct appeal process, the case generally winds its way through post-conviction appeals in state and federal courts. Authorities in Georgia typically wait until those appeals are exhausted before setting an execution date. But Spears has taken the unusual step of declining to file any post-conviction appeals. His trial attorney, Allyn Stockton, said Spears made it very difficult for his defense team because he threatened to take the stand and torpedo his own case if they presented any mitigating evidence. Stockton said Spears has failed to answ
