[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 27 JORDAN: Death sentence for 2 connected to Karak terror cell upheld The Court of Cassation upheld a February State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing 2 men to death in connection with the Karak terror cell case that resulted in the death of 10 people in Karak Governorate in 2016. In November, the SSC sentenced the two defendants to death, but decided immediately to reduce the sentence to life in prison, because “the 2 men were young and deserved a 2nd chance in life”. However, the Court of Cassation overturned the verdict a few months later, asking the SSC to sentence the 2 defendants to death. “The defendants should not benefit from any penalty reductions because their actions caused fear, terror and chaos among Jordanians and tourists and caused multiple deaths,” the higher court ruled. In February, the SSC adhered to the Court of Cassation’s request and handed the 2 defendants the death penalty. 8 other defendants received prison terms ranging from 3 to 15 years in prison for their role in the terror attack that also left 34 people injured. The defendants were standing trial on charges of plotting subversive acts that led to the death of people, manufacturing explosives, financing terrorist acts and joining armed terrorist groups. The victims included 7 security personnel, 2 Jordanian civilians and a Canadian national. The charge sheet said that the defendants plotted to carry out terrorist acts around Jordan and started by attacking a police patrol in Karak Governorate, 140km south of Amman, followed by an attack on a police station and a shootout at Karak Castle. Some of the security forces were killed as they attempted to arrest some of the group’s members in Karak, while the 2 citizens and the Canadian were killed during shootouts between the defendants and security forces, according to the charge sheet. The defendants did not contest the death sentence imposed on them by the SSC in February. Meanwhile, the higher court ruled that the SSC followed the proper proceedings when issuing a new sentence against the defendant and they deserve the death penalty. The Court of Cassation judges comprised Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat and Hamad Ghzawi. (source: The Jordan Times) IRAQ: Iraq sentences 4th French Daesh fighter to death An Iraqi court on Monday condemned a 4th French citizen to death for joining the Daesh group, despite France reiterating its opposition to capital punishment. Mustapha Merzoughi, 37, was sentenced to death by hanging, according to an AFP journalist at the court. In recent months Iraq has taken custody of thousands of extremists including foreigners captured in neighboring Syria by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during the battle to destroy the IS “caliphate.” Among them are 12 French citizens, three of whom — Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou — were handed death sentences Sunday by a Baghdad court in a first for French extremists. They have 30 days to appeal. The trials have been criticized by rights groups, which say they often rely on evidence obtained through torture. They have also raised the question of whether suspected Daesh militants should be tried in the region or repatriated, in the face of strong public opposition at home. France has long insisted that its adult citizens captured in Iraq or Syria must face trial locally, refusing to repatriate them despite the risk they face capital punishment for waging their jihadist war in the region. Paris on Monday reiterated its opposition to the death penalty, saying it would take “the necessary steps” to prevent Iraq from carrying out capital punishment against its citizens. “France is opposed in principle to the death penalty at all times and in all places,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “The evidence and the confession show that you joined the Daesh group, that you worked in its military branch,” the judge told Merzoughi on Monday before handing down his sentence. Wearing a yellow prison uniform, Merzoughi said he was “not guilty of crimes and killings” but simply of traveling to Syria. “I ask for forgiveness from the people of Iraq, Syria, France and the families of the victims,” he said. Merzoughi told investigators he had served in the French army from 2000 to 2010, including a tour in Afghanistan in 2009. In France, he lived in the southwestern city of Toulouse, the hometown of brothers Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain who claimed the deadly 2015 attacks in Paris and were killed fighting in Syria. Passing through Belgium and then Morocco, the French citizen with Tunisian roots underwent “religious and military training in Aleppo,” in northern Syria. He allegedly told investigators previously that he pledged allegiance to a masked Daesh leader in Mosul, claiming that many senior jihadists worried about being “recognized or ide
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS
May 27 MAY 27, 2019: TEXAS: Despite bipartisan support, Texas bill tackling intellectual disability in death penalty cases failsNegotiators in the House and Senate couldn't come to an agreement on a bill addressing how Texas handles capital murder defendants who may be intellectually disabled. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. A bill aimed at ending Texas' years of legal troubles around ensuring it is not administering the death penalty on people with intellectual disabilities died in the Texas Legislature this weekend after negotiators in the Senate and House failed to find common ground. The legislative session ends Monday. House Bill 1139, by state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, was originally written to allow capital murder defendants to request pretrial hearings to determine if they are intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. If the trial judges found they were intellectually disabled, they would be ineligible for a death sentence and instead receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. As the bill moved through the Senate, however, it was largely gutted, instead only stating that a defendant who has an intellectual disability can’t receive the death penalty and such determinations must be made using current medical standards. That language would have codified existing U.S. Supreme Court rulings but offered no direction on how to follow them. Earlier this week, when the bill came back from the Senate amended, Thompson requested a conference committee in which members from both chambers could iron out the differences between the two versions. The committees had until midnight Sunday to file a report with a compromise version. The deadline passed without a report. Thompson’s original version of HB 1139 passed out of the Texas House in an 102-37 vote and was supported by members of both parties. She could not be reached for comment Saturday night. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, but left it up to states to determine the definition of such disabilities. Texas has never passed legislation to regulate the process, leaving it up to courts to decide if a defendant is eligible for the death penalty. However, Texas courts have still run into trouble with the higher court because of a test some judges have implemented to determine if a defendant is eligible for the death penalty. In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ process as unconstitutional in a case involving Bobby Moore, ruling that it used outdated medical standards and non-clinical factors that advanced stereotypes, like how well a defendant could lie. The Texas court was asked to re-evaluate Moore using different methods. The court’s revised method, which still rejected Moore’s claim of intellectual disability, was again knocked down by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. “There’s a disconnect between the U.S. Supreme Court and our court down here,” Thompson told the Tribune earlier this year. “We just want to make sure that we’re doing justice, that we’re following the law.” State Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican who is vice-chair of the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee, opposed the version of the bill that passed the House, questioning whether the pretrial process would allow “activist judges” who were against the death penalty to use it as a way to limit capital punishment. State Sen. Borris Miles, a Houston Democrat who carried the bill in the Senate, later presented the much more limited version of the bill, which passed out of that chamber. “As the legislation moved, I worked with my fellow members in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and passed a version of the bill to continue the discussion in a conference committee where we could craft language that would respect the US Supreme Court rulings,” Miles said in a statement Saturday night. “Unfortunately, the leadership would not allow HB 1139 to move forward, dooming the bill.” A spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick did not immediately respond to questions on the bill. State Rep. Joe Moody D-El Paso, a member of the conference committee, said that the House members on the committee attempted to use the report to advance two other death penalty-related bills when it became clear that the Senate was not going to support addressing the issue of ensuring that Texas isn't executing people with intellectual disabilities. The 1st, House Bill 1030, would clarify instructions to a jury when they are deciding whether to give a defendant the death penalty of life in prison. The 2nd, House Bill 464, would allow evidence appeals that could lessen punishments, like a
