[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
August 24 EUROPEAN UNION/LIBYA: EU concerned about Libya court's sentencing 45 former regime supporters to death The European Union Delegation to Libya on Thursday expressed concern over a Libyan court's sentencing 45 former regime supporters to death for killing demonstrators in 2011. "The 45 death sentences issued last week by the Criminal Division of Tripoli's Court of Appeal are a cause of concern," the delegation said in a statement. "The European Union Delegation and the EU Heads of Mission to Libya have a strong and unequivocal opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances and for all cases. They further call on Libyan authorities to uphold the de-facto moratorium in place since 2010," it said. Libya's Court of Appeal last week sentenced 45 supporters of former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime to death over the killing of demonstrators in the capital Tripoli during the 2011 unrest. On Aug. 21, 2011, the supporters of the Gaddafi regime killed a number of civilian demonstrators near the highway in the capital Tripoli. The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Thursday also expressed concern over the court's death sentences, saying it opposes "the imposition of the death penalty as a matter of principle." However, the UN-backed Libyan Ministry of Justice on Sunday rejected the foreign opposition to the death sentences, calling on international organizations and missions to "refrain from interference in Libyan sovereign affairs, especially judiciary." (source: xinhuanet.com) SUDAN: Sudan teen who killed rapist husband faces new calls for death penaltyNoura Hussein got a jail sentence after an international outcry. Prosecutors seek to overturn the ruling that spared her execution State prosecutors in Sudan are calling for the death penalty to be reinstated for a young woman who was sentenced to 5 years in jail for killing her abusive husband. Noura Hussein, 19, was found guilty of premeditated murder in May and had faced execution. But a month later, after a high profile campaign, the verdict was quashed and she was given a jail sentence and fined for manslaughter. However, it has emerged that prosecutors are seeking to overturn the latest ruling and reinstate the death penalty. Hussein was forced to marry at 16. She fled the marriage, but was tricked into returning to her husband by family members. She stabbed him as he tried to rape her. Judy Gitau, a human rights lawyer at Equality Now, which is campaigning on Hussein's behalf, said the development was extremely concerning. "We reiterate our calls to the Sudanese authorities to ensure that the rule of law is observed," said Gitau. "The Sudanese government took a positive step forward for women's and girls' rights by overturning Noura's death sentence. There should be no regression on this." Equality Now is asking Hussein's supporters to send letters of concern to Sudan's attorney general, Omer Ahmed Mohamed, the justice minister Dr Idris Ibrahim Jameel, and the National Commission for Human Rights of Sudan. Asked how she was coping in prison, Hussein told the Guardian she had applied to study law at university. Her lawyers said she had been offered a scholarship to study at the Open University of Sudan. Sudan allows girls as young as 10 to be married. More than 1/3 of girls in Sudan are married before 18 according to the UN, and 12% are wed before they reach 15. Since the case, Hussein's family have been forced to leave their home in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, fearing reprisals from the dead man's family. His father told al-Tayyar daily newspaper in Khartoum that the familywere not going to forgive Hussein. He added that even if she were executed they would still seek revenge because Hussein was only a woman who had killed a man, and women were not equal to men. The No to Women's Oppression group is mediating between the 2 families. Hussein's lawyer said he did not know when a decision on this latest appeal would be made. (source: The Guardian) UGANDA: Uganda's pop star-turned-lawmaker now facing treason charges A Ugandan pop star-turned-lawmaker who opposes the longtime president was charged with treason in a civilian court on Thursday, minutes after a military court dropped weapons charges. The treason charge, for which the death penalty applies, was bound to bring fresh outrage from Ugandans and global musicians after Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine, alleged he was severely beaten in detention. The government denies it. Ssentamu has emerged as an influential critic of President Yoweri Museveni, especially among youth, after winning a parliament seat last year. The 36-year-old Ssentamu had been charged last week with illegal possession of firearms for his alleged role in an incident in which Museveni's motorcade was pelted with stones. After the military court freed him on Thursday he was re-arrested
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., FLA., TENN., ARK., OKLA., UTAH/MO., ARIZ., CALIF., USA
August 24 PENNSYLVANIA: DA again seeks death penalty against convicted cop killer granted new sentencing hearing A man sentenced to death for killing a police officer in Cumberland County more than 2 decades ago will get a new sentence. And the district attorney just announced he's again seeking the death penalty. District Attorney Skip Ebert said he believes all the requirements are there to get a 2nd death sentence against Seifullah Abdul-Salaam. Abdul-Salaam was convicted of fatally shooting New Cumberland police officer Willis Cole during a robbery at a coin shop in August 1994. Abdul-Salaam has been appealing his sentence since his conviction, and a federal court ruled he can get a new sentencing hearing. Ebert said he's been in consultation with Cole's family. And along with the original evidence, Ebert decided to pursue the death penalty again, even though an execution hasn't been carried out in Pennsylvania in nearly 20 years. "The position on the death penalty is something that the Legislature has to address," Ebert said. "If they abolish it, that's fine. Right now, the law that I was sworn to uphold says there shall be the possibility of the death penalty in situations such as this." Abdul-Salaam had wanted to present evidence of his violent upbringing at his original sentencing hearing, but his attorney at the time didn't do that. That evidence may be presented at the new hearing. (source: WGAL news) FLORIDA: Florida's diehard pursuit of the death penalty is a blot on the Sunshine State Florida's approach to the death penalty is deepening its outlier status on this human rights issue and has now added an extra layer of arbitrariness to its already discriminatory and error-prone capital justice system, Amnesty International said in a new report released today. "While several US states have embraced abolition in recent years, Florida remains a diehard proponent of the death penalty and one of a handful of states that account for the bulk of executions in the USA," said Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International. "Despite its capital sentencing law being found unconstitutional 2 years ago, Florida still has the 2nd largest death row in the country. Its response to that ruling has been to dig in and defend the indefensible, including the execution of people with mental and intellectual disabilities." Florida shows few signs of joining the USA's 19 states that have already abolished the death penalty or the others that are rethinking it. It is ranked 4th in the number of executions carried out in the USA since 1976, when the US Supreme Court approved new capital laws. Darkness visible in the Sunshine State: The death penalty in Florida examines how many death row inmates have been denied the chance of a review of their death sentences by the state's response to the Hurst v. Florida ruling in 2016, in which the US Supreme Court overturned the state's capital sentencing statute because it gave juries only an advisory role in death sentencing. Instead of responding with a serious reassessment of capital justice, the state legislature quickly moved to revise the statute to allow death sentencing to resume. Florida's Supreme Court has since made the Hurst ruling apply only to a limited group of existing cases, meaning about half of the nearly 400 people then on death row would not even be entitled to new sentencing hearings. As one of Florida's Justices predicted when objecting to the decision to grant only limited retroactivity, the fate of those on death row would depend on "little more than a roll of the dice". 4 people deemed to fall on the wrong side of the retroactivity cut-off have already been put to death, while scores more await execution. The report provides case examples of the sort of arbitrariness being wrought upon death row, showing how some individuals are getting relief and others not, often simply due to timing. Matthew Marshall is on death row for murder committed in 1988 when he was 24 years old. The jury voted unanimously for life imprisonment but the judge overruled their decision, sentencing Marshall to death. Even though such overrides are now prohibited in Florida following the Hurst ruling, he has been deemed ineligible for retroactive relief. Even before the Hurst ruling, 2 US Supreme Court Justices had argued that the death penalty in the USA has fallen into disrepair because of arbitrariness and error, and was not being reserved for the "worst of the worst" crimes and offenders, as required under US constitutional law. The situation in Florida illustrates all their concerns. The report focuses on three categories of death row prisoners: individuals with serious mental disability, those assessed with actual or borderline intellectual disability, and young adults deemed as having mental maturity lower than 18-year-olds and backgrounds of severe
