[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

2018-10-20 Thread Rick Halperin







October 20




IRAQexecutions

Death sentences against 6 convicts involved in terrorism carried out: Ministry



The Iraqi Justice Ministry has carried out death sentences against 6 convicts 
involved in terrorism charges.


A statement by the ministry on Wednesday said "death sentences were carried out 
against 6 convicts in accordance with counter-terrorism law."


The ministry highlighted working on implementing the law.

Iraqi courts have recently issued death sentences against convicts involved in 
explosions and killing of civilians and security personnel that have occurred 
over the past few years.


On Sunday, the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad sentenced a man to death as he 
was caught supplying the Islamic State with explosive materials.


Many Islamic State members were detained during liberation battles that freed 
cities, which were recaptured by the militant group in 2014.


2 Islamic State members were sentenced, in September, to death over killing 12 
people in Anbar.


In December, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced gaining control 
on all the territories that were captured by Islamic State, since 2014. 
However, Security reports indicate that the militant group still poses threat 
against stability in the country. The group still has dormant cells, through 
which it carries out attacks, across Iraq like it used to do before 2014.


(source: Iraqi News)








PAKISTAN:

Peshawar High Court sets aside military court sentences of 74 convicts



The Peshawar High Court set aside on Thursday the sentences of 74 people 
convicted by the military courts.


In a short order, the 2-member bench, comprising PHC Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed 
Seth and Justice Lal Jan Khattak, ordered the release of the convicts.


The court is yet to release a detailed order.

50 convicts were awarded death sentences, while the remaining 24 were serving 
prison time. Relatives of the convicts had challenged the convictions under 
Article 199 of the Constitution, which deals with the jurisdiction of high 
courts.


The details of 2 of the 74 convicts have been released.

Zorawar Khan, a resident of Dir, had challenged the death sentence of his 
uncle, Gul Faraz, by the military court.


The applicant's lawyer, Shabbir Hussain, said that 28 people, including an MPA, 
were killed in an explosion at a funeral ground in Mardan on June 19, 2013. 
Faraz was convicted of facilitating and planning the explosion.


The counsel said that the military court did not have single evidence against 
his client, except his confession. Even the statement was recoded years after 
he was taken into custody, the lawyer said.


Hussain also represented another convict from Hangu, Jannat Karim. The lawyer 
said that Karim was given death penalty by the military court solely on the 
basis of his confessional statement. The convict's nephew, Ahsanullah, had 
challenged the conviction.


Karim was convicted of facilitating suicide attacks in 2009 and 2010, and other 
attacks on policemen.


(source: samaa.tv)

*

Quick government action needed to save Pakistanis on death row abroad: JPP



The Lahore High Court on Friday heard a petition pertaining to Pakistanis on 
death row in various middle eastern countries who are in urgent need of 
diplomatic assistance.


The hearing, presided over by Justice Ayesha A. Malik, reviewed an application 
filed by Justice Project Pakistan's Asma Shafi to highlight the issue.


Shafi has underscored the need for quick action in her petition, which states 
that Pakistanis in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, are being 
executed at an increasing rate. Over the past few weeks alone, nine Pakistanis 
have been executed, according to the petition.


The application further highlights that it is the responsibility of the 
government to keep an eye on the trial proceedings of Pakistanis convicted 
abroad and assure they are carried out transparently. It is the fundamental 
right of every Pakistani prisoner to receive assistance on a diplomatic level, 
Shafi has asserted.


Shafi has pleaded to the court to issue orders to the government to provide 
diplomatic assistance to Pakistanis jailed abroad and to take into 
consideration their trial proceedings.


The hearing was adjourned until December 12.

(source: dawn.com)








MALAYSIA:

Death penalty: To abolish or not?



Malaysia once again made it to the international headlines when the Government 
announced that Malaysia is in the process of abolishing the death penalty. With 
the moratorium already in place, it seems that the government is not merely 
being rhetorical with this progress but is serious about the direction that 
they are taking. This policy will likely be heavily scrutinised amongst the 
lawmakers and citizens of Malaysia.


In Malaysia, the death penalty is provided by the acts of Parliament including 
the Firearms Act 1971, Penal Code, and Dangerous Drugs Act 1959. Some of the 

[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, LA., TENN., ARK.

2018-10-20 Thread Rick Halperin





October 20




TEXASstays of 2 impending executions

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halts execution of Kwame RockwellIt was the 
2nd time the appellate court has stopped an execution this month.




For the 2nd time this month, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has halted an 
execution days before it was set to proceed.


Kwame Rockwell, 42, was set for execution Wednesday, Oct. 24. In a late appeal, 
his lawyers asked the high court to stop his execution, claiming he was 
incompetent for the punishment due to his schizophrenia. To be executed, an 
inmate must be able to understand his death is imminent and link it to the 
murder in which he was convicted.


Rockwell was convicted in the 2010 deaths of a gas station clerk and delivery 
man in Fort Worth, according to court records. Rockwell and 2 other men robbed 
the store and shot the 2 men, killing Daniel Rojas instantly and causing the 
death of Jerry Burnett 10 days later.


Though it wasn't brought up at his trial, Rockwell was later diagnosed with 
schizophrenia in prison. His attorneys raised the issue in Tarrant County early 
this month, but the court ruled that Rockwell hadn't shown a substantial doubt 
regarding his competency.


On Friday, a majority of the judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals 
disagreed, sending the case back to the trial court and ordering the judge to 
appoint at least 2 mental health experts and re-examine Rockwell's competency 
for execution. Three judges, Sharon Keller, Michael Keasler and Barbary Hervey, 
voted to proceed with the execution.


On an early March morning in 2010, Rockwell and 2 other men, dressed in black 
and ski masks, entered the Valero gas station next to Rockwell's used car 
business, according to a court opinion. Rockwell had decided to rob the gas 
station because he was in danger of losing his lease.


A co-defendant, Chance Smith - who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for 
the crime - testified at trial that Rockwell was the brains behind the 
operation and the one who was carrying the gun. He shot Burnett, the delivery 
man, in an aisle, and then, after taking money from the register and office, 
killed Rojas, the clerk, according to the opinion.


Rockwell was arrested in San Antonio 4 days later, when police barged into a 
convenience store bathroom he had barricaded himself in and found him 
threatening to kill himself with a broken piece of glass.


After he was convicted and sentenced to death in January 2012, the prison 
system diagnosed Rockwell with schizophrenia, and his appellate attorneys 
sought relief based on this new development. They claimed that Rockwell had 
told his trial attorneys that he'd suffered from paranoia and hallucinations at 
one point, but they thought it was a ruse and told him to "cease and desist the 
crazy talk," according to a court filing.


The prosecuting office pointed out that Rockwell had earlier told his lawyers 
that he had no mental health problems, and the courts rejected his appeal.


But competency for execution is a question that is raised when execution is 
imminent since it relies on an inmate's current mental state, and Rockwell's 
lawyers objected when the trial court ruled against stopping his scheduled 
execution earlier this month. They pointed to a psychologist's sworn statement 
that said within the last 3 months, Rockwell said he believed he was God and 
that demons built the walls of his incarceration.


(source: Texas Tribune)

***

Execution date called off for Fort Worth man convicted of murdering bus rider



A Tarrant County judge called off the upcoming execution of Emanuel Kemp, a 
Fort Worth killer once deemed too insane to be put to death.


But his scheduled punishment was canceled not over concerns about his sanity, 
but in light of a need for further DNA testing, according to court filings.


Kemp was scheduled to die on Nov. 7 for a decades-old crime. The high-school 
dropout had been out of prison for just 5 days when he hijacked a public 
transit bus at knifepoint in 1987, forcing the driver to drive around town 
while he raped and murdered the only passenger, Johnnie Mae Gray.


The 34-year-old died from nine stab wounds to the chest and throat according to 
Texas prison records. The driver was stabbed in the neck but lived.


Kemp was arrested three days later and sent to death row the following year 
after a whirlwind 6-day trial.


In the years after his conviction, Kemp was diagnosed with paranoid 
schizophrenia, according to his attorney, Greg Westfall.


"He has been very psychotic to entirely utterly out there since about 1990," 
Westfall said.


By the mid-90s, 1 court deemed Kemp incompetent for execution, though a higher 
court later reversed that decision after years of medication.


Since then, his attorneys raised claims of bad lawyering, violations of due 
process, questions about jury selection and denial of funds to get mental 
health experts.