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may 26 IRANexecutions 2 Prisoners Hanged in Southern Iran 2 prisoners were reportedly hanged in Shiraz (Fars province, southern Iran) on Tuesday May 24. According to the human rights news agency, HRANA, one of the prisoners, identified as "Hadi Shekasteh", was hanged at Adel Abad Prisoner on drug charges. According to the Baloch Activists Campaign, the other prisoner's name is "Moslem Mahmoud Zehi Khash". It is not known at this time what charge Mr. Zehi Khash was sentenced to death for and whether he was executed in a prison or in public. Iranian official sources, including Iranian state run media and the Judiciary, have been silent on these 2 executions. Iranian authorities have ramped up the number of executions in the lead up to Ramadan. (source: Iran Human Rights) PAKISTAN: Verdict: PHC stays execution of militant A division bench of the Peshawar High Court suspended the execution of a militant who was awarded death sentence by a military court and sought record of his trial. The bench, comprising PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Ikramullah Khan, heard a writ petition on Wednesday. The petition was filed by Alam Khan through his counsel Barrister Amirullah Chamkani. Chamkani said the petitioner's brother Muhammad Umar, a resident of Battagram, was arrested by intelligence agencies on August 10, 2014 from Mansehra. The counsel said little was known about his whereabouts since then. However, his family came to know on May 3, 2016 that he was awarded the death penalty by a military court and his execution was approved by chief of army staff. He said the convict was sentenced to death on charges of having affiliation with militant organisations, carrying out attacks on security forces and keeping explosives. (source: The Express Tribune) VIETNAM: Australian woman caught with 3 kilos of heroin at Vietnam airport Police and customs officers at Tan Son Nhat Airport on Thursday arrested an Australian national for attempting to smuggle around three kilograms of heroin to Australia. The 76-year-old woman hid the drug in 5 jars of fermented fish paste among other items in her luggage. She said she owed gambling money to some people in Australia and they forced her to smuggle the drug over to clear the debt. The heroin is estimated to have a street value of around US$720,000. Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty. (source: Thanh Nien News) SINGAPORE: MHA: Sole purpose of the applications by Kho's counsels was to try and delay his execution Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a media statement on 26 May 2016 stating that there had been several inaccurate points made in relation to the legal process in the case of Kho Jabing, a Malaysian national who has been executed on 20 May 2016. It went on to state that sole purpose of the applications by Kho's counsels was to try and delay his execution. MHA noted that Kho had been represented by counsel throughout the whole process and was given every opportunity to file appeals and apply for re-sentencing and petition the President for clemency. After amendments were made in 2012 on the laws on the death penalty in Singapore, Kho was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane after an appeal to the High Court. The prosecution, however, appealed the re-sentencing and the case was brought to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal then proceeded to overturn the previous ruling and reversed the sentence back to death sentence in 2013. In 2015, the court rejected his application for clemency. On 23 November 2015, Kho was granted a temporary reprieve pending the outcome of a petition filed by his lawyers, which raised questions of fact and law. MHA said that the above process by Kho's counsels was a pattern which was to be repeated more than once subsequently. On 6 April this year, the Court of Appeal lifted the temporary reprieve after dismissing the appeal and upheld its decision to impose the death penalty on Kho Jabing, saying that it observed that there were in reality no new arguments. On 19 May, Lawyer, Gino Hardial Singh filed a criminal motion citing grounds of apparent bias on the part of Judge of Appeal Andrew Phang, who had sat on both Jabing's appeals. He argued Justice Andrew Phang's involvement in the 2013 appeal essentially involved the judge deliberating over an appeal against his own decision - the one made in 2010. However, this criminal motion was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. On that same day, an originating summons was filed by lawyer, Ms Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss. She challenged the constitutionality of certain aspects
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May 25 INDONESIA: Child Rapists Face Death Sentence Now As President Approves New Law Indonesian President Joko Widodo has approved a law prescribing the death penalty as the maximum sentence for child rapists, after several brutal gang rapes sparked public outrage in the country. Sexual violence is prevalent in Southeast Asia's most populous country, but gang rape is unusual. Social media erupted in calls for harsher punishment following a case early this month, in which a group of men was charged with raping and killing a schoolgirl in Bengkulu in the western island of Sumatra. The case prompted rights groups to accuse the government of not doing enough to protect women and children, and provoked a tweet by Widodo himself seeking punishment of the perpetrators, although his call came more than a month after the event. Today however, Widodo said those responsible for sexual abuse of children, as well as repeat sex offenders, could also face chemical castration and be tagged with an electronic chip to track their movements, citing the law he signed. "Sexual violence against children is an extraordinary crime," Widodo told a news conference at the presidential palace. This regulation is meant to overcome (such) incidents, in which we have seen a significant rise." (source: wetinhappen.com.ng) * Indonesian president introduces death penalty for child rapists President Joko Widodo on Wednesday (May 25) signed a government regulation in lieu of the law approving the death penalty as a maximum sentence for sexual crimes against children. According to the regulation, offenders could face chemical castration and be monitored with an electronic chip tracking their movements. Other forms of punishment included in the bill extend to life imprisonment, as well as a minimum of 10 to 20 years in jail. "Sexual violence against children is an extraordinary crime," the President said at a news conference at the presidential palace, adding that he hoped the regulation would keep perpetrators in check and discourage sexual crimes. The harsher stance for child rapists and perpetrators of sexual violence against children comes after activists and masses called for reform, in the wake of the brutal gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old-school girl in Bengkulu on the western island of Sumatra in April. The incident erupted on social media after activists spoke out, sparking public outrage and prompting protests in the capital. The National Commission on Violence against Women reportedly gets 35 cases of sexual violence towards women every day. Indonesia meanwhile sentences rapists to a maximum of 14 years in prison. (source: channelnewsasia.com) IRANexecutions 17 Prisoners Executed in Alborz Province According to Iran Human Rights (IHR) sources 17 prisoners have been executed in 2 different prisons of Karaj (west of Tehran) on 24 and 25 May. IHR had previously reported about the scheduled execution of 2 groups of prisoners in Karaj. 6 prisoners were transferred on Sunday (May 22) from the Karaj Central Prison and at leats 8 were transferred from Rajaishahr on Tuesday (May 24) in preparation of execution. According to close sources the 6 prisoners from the Central Prison were hanged in Gehzelhesar prison of Karaj yesterday morning May 24. All the prisoners were charged with drug offences. Sources have also reported about the execution of 11 prisoners in the Rajaishahr prison of Karaj early this morning. 10 of the prisoners were charged with murder and 1 was sentenced to death charged with rape. 1 of the prisoners identified as "Mehdi Rajaei" was reportedly under 18 years of age at the time of alleged offence. IHR is currently investigating to find more details regarding whether Mehdi Rajai was a minor offender. IHR strongly condemns the new wave of executions in the Iranian prisons. Near 60 people have been executed in different Iranian prisons since the beginning of May. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: "Despite the alarming rate of executions the international community has not shown any reaction yet. We urge the UN, EU and all countries with diplomatic relations with Iran to condemn these executions and call for an immediate moratorium for the death penalty in Iran". (source: Iran Human Rights) OMAN: State Council deliberates on draft law of new Omani Penal Code Oman's penal code, covering rulings for the most serious crimes, could see changes since it was first adopted in 1974. The State Council has been holding marathon sessions to make amendments to the law. Of the code's 398 articles, Council members discussed 172 on Tuesday at a meeting that lasted from mid-morning to early evening. The discussions will continue on Wednesday to prepare the code before it is sent to His Majesty the Sultan. Among the major proposals is setting a limit on the number of years in life
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May 25 GLOBAL: Why Pointing a Finger at Countries With the Death Penalty for Drugs Is Not Enough The death penalty for drug offences has received much attention recently. Mass executions last year in Indonesia, and the announcements of further killings, have garnered world headlines. Iran continues to execute drug offenders at an astonishing rate, earning condemnation from human rights groups. At last month's United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem (UNGASS), the death penalty prompted vocal debates between retentionist and abolitionist States, and more than sixty countries voiced their opposition to the practice. When Harm Reduction International (HRI) launched our death penalty for drugs project in 2007, this issue was largely invisible in both the human rights and the drug policy discourse. It was certainly not an issue of debate during UN meetings on drug control at the time, which passed every year with no mention of capital punishment. Given that our research has found as many as 1,000 people are executed annually for drug offences, the increased attention over the last decade is welcome. I am often asked what the international community can do to challenge the practice of death penalty States. There are options. One is for abolitionist governments and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to end financing of drug enforcement operations in death penalty States, which HRI and others have shown to directly contribute to death sentences and executions. Another is to fund human rights advocates working in death penalty countries to influence public opinion and government policy, and to defend death row prisoners. After watching dozens of countries speak against capital punishment during the UNGASS, I think there is a third and perhaps even more important action that States can take if they are truly committed to ending the death penalty for drugs around the world. The death penalty for drugs is the most extreme example of what I call 'punitive suppression'--the logic that the harsher we punish people, the more effectively we will suppress drugs and drug markets. While this logic is commonly used by death penalty supporters to justify the practice, it also underpins the legal and policy frameworks of drug control in almost every country, regardless of whether they have capital punishment. Punitive suppression is at the heart of the core UN treaties on drug control, particularly 1988 drug convention that established obligations to enact harsh penal provisions at domestic level. A 2001 UN report recorded a 50% increase in the number of countries prescribing the death penalty for drugs into domestic law between 1985 and 2000, the exact period during which the treaty was drafted, adopted and implemented at national level. Punitive suppression takes different forms in different places. While capital and corporal punishment for drug crimes are obvious abuses that draw attention, other practices such as criminal penalties and incarceration for drugs, mandatory minimum sentences, felony disenfranchisement, stop and search, mandatory drug testing of people receiving benefits or prisoners and bans on accessing food assistance for drug offenders are equally driven by this same logic. While abolitionist States argue (correctly) that the death penalty does nothing to deter drug crimes, this argument is undermined when punishment continues to be the premise of drug laws and policies in their own countries. This disconnect allows death penalty States and their defender to argue that capital punishment is rooted in national culture or tradition, and is simply their particular approach of pursuing drug suppression objectives shared by all countries. While capital punishment for drugs is only practiced by a small handful of governments, it has much wider significance in the drug reform debate. It is a window onto the failure - in both human rights and efficacy terms - of the global experiment in punitive drug suppression over the past half century. For this reason, the crucial work of abolishing the death penalty must go further than simply pointing our fingers at that tiny number of extremist fringe States that continue to execute people. We must acknowledge the flawed logic at the heart of the regime itself, and undo its corrosive effects on the drug laws and policies everywhere. We are commonly told by political leaders that punitive drug laws are needed to 'send a message'. Perhaps, then, the most powerful way that non-death penalty States can truly challenge capital punishment for drugs is to reject the supremacy of punitive suppression within their own domestic drug laws, and 'send a message' of a different kind. Only then can we start to create a future in which the use of criminalisation, punishment and prisons as core tools of drug control is as much an extreme fringe position as is executing
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May 24 INDONESIA: 8 drug suspects handed over to prosecutors The National Narcotics Agency ( BNN ) on Monday handed over 8 drug suspects, who had allegedly attempted to traffic almost 100 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine into the country from China, to the Semarang Prosecutor's Office in Central Java. The BNN also handed over the drug evidence for the case to be brought to trial at the Semarang District Court. "We handed over 8 suspects, including 97 kg of methamphetamine as evidence. The suspects will be detained at the Kedungpane Prison," said chief BNN spokesman Slamet Pribadi on Monday. "Regarding the evidence, of the whole amount confiscated, 2.5 % is for evidence and 97.5 % will be destroyed. It all depends on the prosecutor's office," he said. He added the suspects are accused of violating articles 112 and 114 of the 2009 law on narcotics, which carry either a life sentence or the death penalty. The 8 suspects were arrested at a furniture warehouse in Pekalongan village, Batealit district, in Jepara regency, Central Java, on Jan. 27 when they were allegedly unloading a shipment of crystal meth concealed in Zhouma brand generators from China. The BNN disassembled the 194 generators, 94 of which it said contained drugs. The agency claimed each generator was packed with between 1.5 to 1.9 kg of methamphetamine. The suspects consisted of 4 Pakistanis named Faiq, Amran Malik, Riaz and Toriq. The other 4 are Indonesians named Yulian, Tommy, Kristiadi and Didit. Of the 8 suspects, Didit was the official tenant of the warehouse owned by a local man named Yunpelizar. The warehouse appeared to be a finishing workshop for furniture. However, the BNN claimed that it was a transit place for drugs before they were distributed across Indonesia. During the raid in Jepara, residents in Pekalongan village were unaware of the fact that the CV Jepara Raya International furniture warehouse was possibly used as a drug distribution center. Residents were only aware of the regular presence of a foreign citizen, namely Faiz, in the warehouse. The BNN opened the case when it received information about a shipment of drugs via the sea when it was working together with the local customs and excise office in 2015. At that time, the BNN did not know which port would be used to bring in the drugs from China. It was eventually determined that the drugs would enter through the Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang. (source: The Jakarta Post) SINGAPORE: 2 men charged with murder over Orchard Towers deathMuhammad Daniel Abdul Jalil and Radin Abdullah Syaafii Radin Badruddin, both 22, had their charges upgraded to murder after the death of the victim. 2 men were charged with murder on Tuesday (May 24), following the death of the victim more than a month after being assaulted. Muhammad Daniel Abdul Jalil and Radin Abdullah Syaafii Radin Badruddin, both 22, were previously charged with causing grievous hurt to 34-year-old Navarro Dorian Regis in the early hours of Apr 1 at Orchard Towers. Their charges were upgraded to murder after the victim died of his injuries last week. If convicted of murder, the pair could face the death penalty or life imprisonment with caning. They will next appear in court on May 31. Daniel faces a 2nd charge of causing grievous hurt for punching another victim, Mr Goudal Pierre-Eric Jules, on the same day at Orchard Towers. Mr Jules sustained a nasal bone fracture. For this charge, Daniel faces up to 10 years' jail and caning. (source: channelnewsasia.com) *** Death penalty sought for man accused of beheading girl, 4 Taiwanese prosecutors have indicted a man for murder over the public decapitation of a 4-year-old girl, saying they would seek the death penalty for the "extremely cold-blooded" attack. Wang Ching-yu, 33, is accused of overpowering the mother of the child near a metro station in central Taipei, and beheading the young girl with a kitchen knife. The mother and a number of bystanders tried to intervene but were pushed away and unable to save the child, whom police have identified only by the surname Liu. Prosecutors at the Shihlin District Court in Taipei said yesterday that it was an "extremely cold-blooded" crime which had deeply shocked the generally peaceful island. "It has caused indelible pain to her mother, who witnessed the cruelty," the prosecutors said in a statement at the close of their investigation, which took less than 2 months. "The suspect has never repented... so we suggest the court sentence him to death," they said, adding that capital punishment in this instance was important to maintain society's faith in law and justice. Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year hiatus. Executions are reserved for serious crimes such as aggravated murder. Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various
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May 24 GAZA: Hamas announces public executions that will 'take Gaza past Saudi Arabia' The Palestinian militant group Hamas is to carry out a string of public executions in the Gaza strip, the patch of territory it controls. The executions were announced by Hamas's attorney general in Gaza, Ismail Jaber. "Capital punishments will be implemented soon in Gaza," he said. "I ask that they take place before a large crowd." 13 men, most convicted of murder connected to robberies, are currently awaiting execution, another Hamas official, Khalil al-Haya, said on Friday at the main prayers. If all those go ahead, Gaza's execution rate relative to the size of its population will overtake that of Saudi Arabia's in one go. Last year, Saudi Arabia, with a population of 31.5 million, executed 153 people. Though one of the most densely populated territories in the world, Gaza has a population of just 1.8 million. Palestinian law allows the death penalty for collaborators, murderers and drug traffickers. On Sunday, the families of the victims of those on death row protested in favour of the executions outside Gaza's parliament, after the authorities gave a rare permission to stage a public demonstration. The last time Hamas carried out public executions was during the summer 2014 war with Israel, when a Hamas firing squad shot dead 7 people outside Gaza's main mosque following Friday prayers . Bodies were then dragged through the streets. According to a May 2015 report by Amnesty International, Hamas forces also carried out at least 23 extrajudicial killings of Palestinians in Gaza in 2014, with at least 17 people killed on 1 day alone. So far in 2016, approximately 10 people have been sentenced to death in Gaza. Since the creation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, more than 170 Palestinians have been sentenced to death and around 30 have been executed, mostly in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR). All execution orders must in theory be approved by the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, but his legitimacy is not recognised by Hamas in the Gaza strip. In February this year, it was announced that Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a commander from Hamas's military wing, was executed in Gaza by a firing squad. (source: telegraph.co.uk) SAUDI ARABIAexecution Saudi man executed for murder Saudi Arabia put to death a citizen convicted of murder on Tuesday, bringing to 94 the number of executions in the kingdom in 2016. Imad al-Assimi was found guilty of shooting dead a compatriot in a dispute, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA. Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword. Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" on a single day in January, 2016. According to human rights group Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia had the 3rd-highest number of executions last year - at least 158. That was far behind Pakistan which executed 326, and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which executed at least 977, said Amnesty, whose figures exclude secretive China. Rights activists have raised concerns about the fairness of trials in Saudi Arabia and have been particularly critical of the use of the death penalty for non-violent offences like drug trafficking. The interior ministry has said it is "determined to fight drugs of all kinds due to the serious damage they do to individuals and society". Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death. (source: Agence France-Presse) IRANexecution Man Hanged In Northwestern Iran 1 prisoner was hanged in Qazvin Prison (northwestern Iran) on the morning of Thursday May 19, reports the official website of the Iranian Judiciary in the province of Qazvin. The man, who was identified as "Sepahdar", was reportedly convicted of murdering another man who allegedely had an affair with his sister. * At Least 8 Prisoners Transferred to Solitary Confinement For Execution At least 6 prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement in Karaj's Rajai Shahr Prison (west of Tehran) on Saturday May 20, report close sources to Iran Human Rights (IHR). These prisoners, who are all convicted of murder, are scheduled to be executed on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. According to reports gathered by IHR, at least 40 prisoners were executed in Iran during the first 3 weeks of May. * 5 Other Prisoners Scheduled to Be Executed in Coming Days 5 prisoners are scheduled to be hanged in the coming days, according to sources of Iran Human Rights. 6 prisoners from Karaj Central Prison were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions, which were scheduled for Sunday May 22. 1 of
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May 22 PHILIPPINES: Lacson wants death penalty for 'habitual' public fund stealers Senator-elect Panfilo Lacson thinks if the death penalty will be reimposed, those found guilty of plunder or even the crime of graft, especially if is a "habit," should be subject to capital punishment. Lacson said the law should bear down hard on those who "habitually" steal public funds, even if the amount is less than the P50 million as specified by the present law. "Kung puwede, kung mabalik ang death penalty, masentensyahan siya ng death. Kasi sa hirap ng buhay lalo sa mga kanayunan, ang P50 million, P10 million, P20 million, it doesn't matter. Kung repetitively ginagawa dapat talaga parusahan nang mabigat," Lacson stressed. He noted that Republic Act 7080, punishes anyone who accumulated ill-gotten wealth through a combination or series of overt or criminal acts involving P50 million. (source: journal.com.ph) Duterte told: Executions antipoor The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) on Saturday warned presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte that his plan to revive the death penalty and implement a "shoot-to-kill" policy against criminals would be antipoor and violate international law. In a statement on Saturday, FLAG chair Jose Manuel Diokno reminded Duterte that before the death penalty was abolished in 2006, about 70 % of death row inmates were poor and had been wrongfully convicted. He also reminded Duterte that the Philippines ratified in 2007 an international treaty prohibiting executions and providing for the abolition of the death penalty. "The death penalty and shoot-to-kill policy are antipoor," Diokno said. "These actions are illegal and unconstitutional, render our legal system impotent and meaningless, and blatantly violate international law," he added. According to FLAG, majority of the 1,121 inmates on death row before the death penalty was abolished in 2006 were poor. Diokno said the poor were "vulnerable to the death penalty because they have no voice, no money, no power and lack the resources to hire good lawyers." 'Disregard for human dignity' "For exactly the same reasons, they will also be vulnerable to the proposed shoot-to-kill policy of the (presumptive) president-elect," said Diokno, a son of the late senator and antimartial law activist Jose Diokno. He said the death penalty and the shoot-to-kill policy, along with Duterte's proposal of death by hanging "reflect a callous disregard for human dignity not befitting a chief executive." "Advocating state-sanctioned killings is not just antipoor but antilife," Diokno added. "The death penalty and shoot to kill policy will not deter crime. Only the certainty of being caught and punished can do that. What the country needs is a better justice system, not a new one based on the barrel of a gun," he said. He said Duterte was bound to the international treaty called the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which the Philippines signed on Sept. 20, 2006, and ratified about a year later. 'A great stigma' That treaty is the only internationally acknowledged treaty to prohibit executions and provide for the total abolition of the death penalty, he said. Quoting other death penalty experts, Diokno said it would be "unprecedented and illegal" for a state that signed that treaty to restore the death penalty. "If the Philippines reinstates capital punishment, the county would be condemned for violating international law. It would be a great stigma," he quoted University of Oxford criminology professor emeritus Sir Roger Hood and Leiden University law professor William Schabas as saying. (source: Philippine Inquirer) * New Negros solon to oppose re-imposition of death penalty A newly elected lawmaker has joined the House leaders in opposing incoming president Rodrigo Roa Duterte's plan to breathe life into efforts to re-impose the death penalty. Negros Oriental Rep. Manuel Sagabarria, who belongs to the Nationalist People???s Coalition (NPC), agreed with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. that the restoration of death penalty is not the antidote to the rising cases of crimes in the country. "I am a Catholic and it says in my religion that 'Thou shall not kill.' So by conscience, I am not in favor," he said, in rejecting Duterte's planned public executions by hanging, especially for drug-related crimes. Duterte vowed to push for the restoration of death penalty for heinous crimes, including robbery with rape. (source: ManilaBulletin) *** Still no to the death penalty First, a legal reason. In 2007, after a long period of hesitation, we acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil Political Rights. This agreement binds state-parties to abolish the death penalty. The Philippines therefore has a treaty-obligation to abolish this form of barbarism. We
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May 22 IRAN: 23 executions in 2 days Iranian Resistance calls for saving the lives of 10 young prisoners facing the gallows At a time when 23 prisoners were executed on May 17 and 18 in the prisons of Urumieh, Tabriz, Yazd, Yasouj, Sari and Mashhad across Iran, another 10 young prisoners between the ages of 21 and 25 are currently facing imminent execution. On Saturday, May 21, these inmates were transferred from various wards, including the youths' ward, in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj (west of Tehran) to solitary confinement in the quarantine ward of this facility, specifically allocated for prisoners before being sent to the gallows. The Iranian Resistance calls on the international community and especially human rights organizations to take urgent action aimed at preventing these vicious executions. The goal of the mullahs' regime in Iran, already engulfed in crises, in increasing the horrendous use of executions is to cement a climate of fear in society to rein in increasing social protests. Yasouj public prosecutor Mehrdad Karimi said that these executions "will teach a lesson for others in the society, and the judiciary will take action with the utmost severity and full jurisdiction." "There is no longer any time for counseling and this is a black month for hooligans and thugs; a new trend has been launched in the judiciary system ... in the next few days several hooligans and thugs will be executed," said Isfahan Province police chief Abdulreza Agha-Khani while launching the oppressive "Social Security" plan from May 21 and announcing the arrest of 7 individuals described as 'hooligans and thugs.' In implementing the plan to improve security, the struggle against hooligans and thugs is priority number one, and actions will be taken against drug distributors, people harassing women, raucousness regarding vice and hijab regulations, violating luxurious halls and restaurants, dog runners and vehicles with +20% tinted windows," he added. (State-run Tasnim news agency - May 21, 2016). (source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran) ISRAEL: A Death Penalty Only for Palestinians There are so many reasons to oppose capital punishment. But Avigdor Lieberman's attempt to adopt it is particularly odious. The question of the death penalty is once again on the public agenda, because this was one of MK Avigdor Lieberman's demands in his negotiations to bring his Yisrael Beiteinu party into the coalition. But Lieberman will apparently give up on a bill sponsored by Sharon Gal, a former Knesset member from his party, that would have allowed Israel's civilian courts to impose the death penalty for terrorist murders. Instead, he is focusing on an attempt to actualize an existing but hitherto dormant legal provision allowing military courts in the territories to impose the death penalty. This would be done by scrapping the rule that capital punishment can be imposed only if it is unanimously approved by the military judges hearing the case. Lieberman's proposal would allow capital punishment even if only a majority of the judicial bench supports it. It should be noted that as long as the military prosecution's policy of not even seeking the death penalty remains unaltered, the possibility of capital punishment is unlikely to arise. Nevertheless, it's clear that the new legislation is also an attempt to sway the military prosecution and instruct it on how to behave. Therefore, to all the known arguments against the death penalty - which have led to its abolition in all Western democracies aside from a few U.S. states - an additional argument must be added, one that justifies a special and vigorous opposition to the current effort to enact capital punishment: This is an attempt to apply the death penalty to only one population group only: the Palestinians. After all, an Israeli citizen who perpetrates a terrorist murder (like the murder of a Palestinian family in the West Bank village of Duma, according to the indictment) will be brought to trial in a civilian court, not a military one. This selective application of the death penalty (which admittedly already exists on paper, but which the government is now seeking to implement) is liable to further erode Israel's international legitimacy as a country aspiring to belong to the family of democratic states. And on this issue, it won't be possible to rely on the American precedent, because capital punishment in America isn't applied selectively to a certain population group. Aside from the discrimination the government is seeking to promote, the very fact that this demand to allow capital punishment, whether by military or civilian courts, is even being discussed in principle ought to worry us. Morally, this is a shocking punishment: A state is taking a life in the name of its citizens. And this is happening at a time when even the best researchers
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May 20 INDONESIA: Selangor police seize 600,000 Eramin 5 pills worth RM9 mln Selangor police seized 600,000 Eramin 5 pills worth RM9 million and arrested a local man in Teluk Gong, Klang on Wednesday. Head of the Selangor Narcotics Crime Investigation Department ACP Amran Ramli said the suspect, in his 30s, was arrested at about 11.10am following a 2-month intelligence work. He said the man was detained after his Toyota Vellfire was stopped by the police. Upon inspection, police found 600,000 Eramin 5 pills, weighing a total of 169.2 kilogrammes, hidden in 60 small boxes in the car. The arrest of the suspect led the police to a house in Ampang where they seized a Toyota Camry and a Nissan X-Trail, as well as cash totaling RM15,000, he told reporters here yesterday. Amran said the suspect was believed to have smuggled the dugs into the country in a container and they were meant for distribution in local markets, especially in the Klang Valley. "However, the suspect, who is believed to have been active over the past two months, does not have any previous criminal record, and we are investigating into possibility of him having any contacts or a syndicate network involved in this case," he said. Amran said the suspect had been remanded until Wednesday and the case was being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries a mandatory death penalty. (source: theborneopost.com) IRAQ: Isis executes 25 Iraqi 'spies' by lowering them into nitric acid until their 'organs dissolve' The Islamic State (Isis) has executed 25 alleged spies by lowering them into a huge tub of nitric acid, until their 'organs dissolved', Iocal news source Iraqi News has claimed. The report could not be independently verified. The alleged spies were captured in the IS (Daesh) stronghold of Mosul, in northern Iraq, accused of working for the Iraqi government's security forces. Mosul is the largest city in Iraq still under IS control, but is facing increasing pressure from the north, south and east by the Iraqi army, Kurdish Peshmerga forces and US-led Western air strikes. A number of shocking and brutal killings have taken place at the hands of IS as they try to assert their domination over the the city, which Barack Obama had predicted would fall be the end of this year. According to witnesses of the killings, the 25 alleged 'spies' were tied together with a huge rope and lowered in a basin containing the highly corrosive acid. Nitric acid is generally used for manufacturing ammonium nitrate that can be used to make fertiliser and explosives but it can also be used for photoengraving, etching steel, and reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. "ISIS terrorist members executed 25 persons in Mosul on charges of spying and collaborating with Iraqi security forces,' a source told Iraqi News in a statement. "ISIS members tied each person with a rope and lowered him in the tub, which contains nitric acid, till the victims organs dissolve." On Wednesday (18 May), IBTimes UK reported the burning alive of a Christian child who asked her mum to forgive the Isis militants who torched her home. The courageous child, believed to be around 12-years-old, was burned in Mosul after her family were raided by the jihadists for 'Jaziya' - a religious tax. Earlier this week, the US Defence Department estimated that Isis fighters lost control of about 40% of the territory they once had in Iraq and roughly 10% of the land they held in Syria. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters this week: "They are looking for ways to start to regain their momentum or regain the initiative". (soruce: ibtimes.co.uk) MALAYSIA: 'Tuhan Harun', followers to enter defence on murder charge The High Court here Friday ordered the leader of deviant sect "Tuhan Harun", Harun Mat Saat, and 5 of his followers to enter their defence on the charge of murdering a Pahang Islamic Religious Department (JAIP) officer 3 years ago. Judicial Commissioner Ab Karim Ab Rahman made the decision after scrutinising the testimonies of 54 prosecution witnesses and found that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against all the accused. He also set July 25 to 27, Aug 8 to 12 and 22 to 26 to hear the submission of defence. Harun, 50, his 3rd wife, Azida Mohd Zol, 33, his driver Shaizral Eddie Nizam Shaari, 40, and 3 other followers - Jefferi Safar, 39, Sumustapha Suradi, 41, and Shamsinar Abdul Halim, 39, - along with another follower still at large, were charged with committing the crime of conspiracy to murder Ahmad Raffli Abd Malek. They were alleged to have committed the offence at No 7, Lorong IM 2/29, Bandar Indera Mahkota, here at 1.50pm on Nov 10, 2013. Sumustapha and Shaminar also face the charge of murdering Ahmad Raffli, who was JAIP Enforcement Division principal assistant director, on the same day and at the
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May 20 SINGAPOREexecution Singapore Executes Malaysian Convict Hours After Last Appeal A Malaysian man convicted of murder in Singapore was executed Friday hours after the city-state's highest court rejected a last-minute appeal, police said. The Court of Appeal found no merit in the appeal by a lawyer representing Kho Jabing that challenged the constitutionality of the death penalty in Singapore. The decision ended a brief stay of execution, but the court left the timing of the execution to prison authorities. Rachel Zheng of the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign said it was the first time an execution in Singapore had proceeded on the same day that an appeal was dismissed. "All of us are in deep shock," she said after being informed by Kho's family that he had been executed. The Singapore Police Force's statement said the death sentence was carried out after Kho had been "accorded full due process under the law." Kho, 31, was accused of using a tree branch to assault and rob a construction worker in 2008. The worker died from multiple skull fractures and Kho was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010. What followed was 6 years of legal twists during which he was sentenced to death, won appeals, resentenced to life imprisonment and caning, and again sentenced to death. The European Union and Amnesty International had called on Singapore to grant Kho clemency, but applications to the president were rejected. Executions in Singapore are by hanging, and are usually carried out before dawn at Changi prison. According to the prison records, Singapore executed 4 people in 2015, 1 for murder and 3 for drug crimes. In 2012, Singapore amended its laws on the death penalty, making it no longer mandatory for those convicted of drug trafficking or murder to receive death sentences. (source: Associated Press) * Kho Jabing executed in Singapore After a long battle that saw several last-minute stays of executions, Sarawakian Kho Jabing was hanged in Singapore on Friday. He was executed at about 3.30pm at the Changi Prison after meeting his family for the last time, said Rachel Zeng of the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign. The timing of his execution was considered highly irregular as executions usually take place at dawn on Friday. His execution came after a 5-panel Court of Appeal dismissed an 11th-hour attempt to stay the execution. Jabing, 31, was originally scheduled to be hanged in the morning for the brutal killing of a construction worker in 2008 but received a temporary stay of execution late Thursday night. (source: The Star) KYRGYZSTAN: About 11,000 citizens of Kyrgyzstan initiate introduction of death penalty for pedophiles More than 10,000 citizens in Kyrgyzstan have initiated the introduction of death penalty for pedophiles. Handing over of the document took place today at the session of the parliamentary faction Onuguu-Progress. Signatures of nearly 11,000 citizens of Kyrgyzstan have been handed over to the faction leader Bakyt Torobaev by the chairman of the Committee for Protection of Children "Strong family - strong state" Zhenish Akmatov. The activist said that there are much more people standing for introduction of the death penalty for the perpetrators of crimes against sexual inviolability of minors. "Many of them live in remote inaccessible areas, so the collection of signatures is still ongoing," he explained. Presenting the analysis of the crimes against the juveniles, Zhenish Akmatov noted that this figure is growing from year to year, and sexual offenses increase most of all. Explaining the need for the introduction of capital punishment, the activist reminded that, as of today, many developed countries use the death penalty. It is Belarus, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and more than 12 US states. And the countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Algeria, Niger, Mali, Guyana and other have the rule, permitting the use of the death penalty, in the fundamental laws but it is not executed in practice. (source: eng.24.kg) EGYPT: Journalist decries Egypt handing him death sentenceSentence sought for Al Jazeera news director on alleged espionage charges to be confirmed next month A former Al Jazeera news director facing the death penalty following an Egyptian court's ruling has denounced the decision as politically motivated. Ibrahim Helal, who was director of news for Al Jazeera's Arabic TV network between 2011 and 2015, was sentenced in absentia earlier this month along with 2 other journalists on charges of endangering national security. The journalists are among a group of 6 men accused of endangering Egyptian national security by spying for Qatar. But Helal told Anadolu Agency that the accusations of espionage were baseless. "I have never been anything but a journalist. I have never participated in political actions at any
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May 19 ISRAEL: Death penalty for terrorists deal infuriates former AGFormer Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein says capital punishment 'not ethical,' calls on current AG to threaten to resign in protest. Former Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has roundly condemned the reported agreement between the Likud and Yisrael Beytenu parties, to include provisions for implementing the death penalty for terrorists as part of a coalition deal. Under the agreement, a new directive will be issued to military courts, by which only a simply majority of 2 judges will be needed to sentence a terrorist murderer to death, as opposed to the unanimous requirement currently in place. Imposing a death penalty for terrorist killers was one of the key conditions set by Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman for entering the governing coalition. While the death penalty technically exists under Israeli law, it has only ever been implement once - the hanging of Nazi leader and "Final Solution" architect Adolf Eichmann. Weinstein reacted furiously to the reported deal, telling the left-wing Haaretz paper that current Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit should veto the move, or threaten to resign. "I said that I would not (agree to be) appointed as Attorney General if there will be a death penalty here," Weinstein said. "I think that this is without a doubt the appropriate position (to take), and I think that Mandelblit also needs to vigorously oppose this ruling." Explaining his objection to capital punishment, Weinstein noted that Israel would be bucking a global trend by which capital punishment was gradually being rejected by some states. "This has no parallel in the world," he said. "There is no country which adds the death penalty to its laws - there are only those who removed it." He also claimed it would serve no purpose, since jihadists who glorify "martyrdom" wouldn't be deterred by capital punishment. "It is not practical as a deterrent - since these criminals acts in any case from an ideological motivation, and do not worry about death - and moreover it is unethical," Weinstein asserted. (source: Israel National News) PHILIPPINES: Pacquiao says he supports Philippine death penalty plan Philippine boxing hero turned senator Manny Pacquiao said Thursday he supports a plan by the newly elected president to impose the death penalty, a proposal that has been met with strong opposition in the Catholic nation. Speaking after he was sworn into office, the high school dropout and devout evangelical Christian said he supported capital punishment because it was sanctioned by his faith. "I'm in favour of the death penalty. Actually God allows this in the Bible," Pacquiao told reporters after being formally sworn in as one of 12 new senators. The remarks follow previous comments by the 8-time world boxing champion earlier this year describing homosexuals as "worse than animals". Tough-talking Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to restore the death penalty as part of a campaign pledge to stamp out crime, a plan opposed by the Church and rights groups. Pacquiao, who garnered more than 16 million votes in last week's national election, has vowed to take his political duties seriously after coming under fire for an undistinguished stint in the House of Representatives. "I will perform this job well, avoid corruption, and be a God-fearing servant of the people," he said. Analysts say the retired boxer has an eye on the presidency and his period in the senate is a possible stepping stone for the top office. His performance in parliament was roundly criticised due to his frequent absences as he trained for boxing matches, hosted television shows and even dabbled in professional basketball. (source: tenplay.com.au) SINGAPOREstay of impending execution Singapore reprieves Malaysian murderer hours before execution Kho Jabing, 31, was scheduled to be hanged at dawn on Friday, but wins stay of execution for 2nd time due to appeal A Singaporean court has stopped the planned execution of a convicted murderer for a 2nd time, hours before he was scheduled to be hanged. Kho Jabing, 31, was expected by his family and rights groups to be executed at dawn on Friday but was granted a stay of execution following a last-minute application by his lawyer on Thursday evening exploiting a legal loophole. Kho, who is Malaysian, was sentenced to death in 2010 for killing a Chinese construction worker in a robbery gone wrong 2 years earlier, and spent the next 6 years on a legal rollercoaster trying to avoid the gallows. His family said on Tuesday they had received a letter from prison authorities setting his execution for Friday. On Thursday a 5-member appeal court dismissed an 11th-hour application to set aside the death sentence, but the defence lawyer Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss filed a separate suit against the
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May 19 IRAN: 13 executions in a single day Javad Larijani, the regime's head of human rights, acknowledges a "torrent of executions" and justifies torture and brutal punishments under the pretense of Qisas describing them as "holy verdicts". The mullahs' antihuman regime hanged 13 prisoners on May 17 in the cities of Yazd, Urmia and Mashhad. In Yazd and Urmia 12 prisoners were collectively hanged. 1 prisoner had been condemned to death just for thievery. Also in Mashhad, a young prisoner was publicly hanged. A placard posted at the hanging site described the death penalty as an "element for the survival and establishment of security in the society." A day prior to these collective executions, Javad Larijani, the brother of the head of the judiciary and the regime's theorist of torture and execution who is the head of the so-called "human rights" institution, confirmed the "torrent of executions related to narcotics." He expressed concern that the cruel punishments of the mullahs' Sharia Law are being questioned, stating: "Regretfully, today, the Qisas verdict which is a holy verdict ... is being questioned ... the universality of the United Nations documents does not mean that the Western lifestyle is the best model ... this is exactly where we should strongly stand up." He then resorted to justifying torture, noting: Some "believe that any corporal punishment is torture, whereas torture is to use force to extract something." (State-run Aftab website, May 16) On this same day, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran???s criminal prosecutor, brazenly said: "Officials in Western countries always bring up allegations relating to human rights ... against Iran that lack any basis in reality." When the medieval regime acknowledges a "torrent of executions" and describes atrocious and medieval punishments such as chopping of hands and gouging out of eyes as "holy verdicts" and justifies torture, this shows that it cannot sustain its rule for a single day without resorting to execution and suppression. This is where all factions of the mullahs' regime are one and the same, and any propaganda about a moderate faction is a despicable deception that serves to justify trade with this regime. However, without paying any heed to these absurd propaganda, the Iranian people demand nothing less than the overthrow of this regime and the establishment of democracy in Iran. (source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran) * Anti-Death Penalty Activist Sentenced To 16 Years In Prison Narges Mohammadi, human rights and anti-death penalty activist who is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran was sentenced to 16 years in prison. On 18 May 2015, Judge Abolghasem Salavati who heads the 15th division of Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court stretched the already long prison sentence of Narges Mohammadi by sentencing her to 16 years in prison. This new 16 year sentencing is in addition to all of Mohammadi's pervious sentencings. On the most recent of the charges that the Iranian state brought against Mohammadi, she is now "convicted" of leading a right to life campaign which aimed to end capital punishment in Iran. Mohammadi, who is already serving numerous prison sentences on different charges, inaugurated the "Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty" (Lagam in Persian). She is also charged with "assembly and spreading propaganda against the state" as well as "acting against the national security of Iran." According to Taqi Rahmani - Mohammadi's husband who now lives in exile - of the 16 years, 10 years is on the account of Mohammadi's involvement with "Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty", 5 years for "assembly and spreading propaganda against the state" and 1 year is for "acting against the national security of Iran." The trial of the most recent charged brought against Mohammadi started in 20 April 2016 and was rescheduled numerous times since its original date of 3 May 2015. The "Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty" campaign which seems to be the main reason Mohammadi is convicted this time, is now completely crumbled with this sentencing. Mohammadi's lawyer was present during the trial but the trial was closed to the public and members of the press. Her husband, Taqi Rahmani has been living with their children outside of Iran. Rahmani on a number of occasions has told the media that Evin prison officials have denied his wife the right to be in contact with her children regularly. Mohammadi's Children have only had 1 single phone call during her time in prison and Rahmani has never spoken to her wife since her arrest. Mohammadi was first arrested in 1998 for her criticisms of the Iranian state and spent a year in prison. In April 2010, she was summoned to the Islamic Revolutionary Court for her membership in the Defenders of Human Rights Center and sent to Evin prison.
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May 19 UNITED NATIONS: UN's rights chief urges firms to follow Pfizer's lead on death penalty U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein praised Pfizer on Thursday for banning sales of its chemicals that have been used for lethal injections in some U.S. states, and urged other companies to follow its lead. Zeid said Pfizer's stance was "heartening" but said there were other companies, beyond the pharmaceutical industry, that could be facilitating the death penalty. He also urged governments not to resort to "questionable sources" for the drugs used in lethal injections. (source: channelnewsasia.com) AUSTRALIA: Let's not rest until the death penalty is a thing of the past around the world In a sane world, shouldn't the right to life trump political expediency? Apparently not: given the addiction of some countries to the death penalty, and the possible re-introduction of capital punishment by some of our neighbours in the region. Issues around capital punishment reverberated throughout our community last year, with the execution of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, 2 Australians who spent 10 years on death row in Kerobokan prison. The bipartisan position of the Australian Parliament, as well as the pleadings of many in the international community did little to persuade the Indonesian President to show mercy. I remember all too well the conditions of death row from when I visited members of the Bali Nine at Denpasar. Having met with Myuran, Andrew and Scott Rush and some of their families I also witnessed first-hand, what can only be described as a successful rehabilitation: Myuran an accomplished Artist and Andrew a prison Counsellor and religious Pastor. If anything, this should have been seen as an example of the accomplishments of Indonesia's correctional system - proof that people can turn their lives around and make a positive contribution to society, even after going down such a dark path. Instead, it resulted in two funerals, no social benefit and two deeply grieving families, innocent of any wrongdoing. Together with Phillip Ruddock, I have been the convenor of Australian Parliamentarians Against the Death Penalty and sought to publicly advocate for the right to life and arguing that capital punishment is not the answer. Most credible criminal justice research shows that the death penalty does not deter crime. Partly due to the diplomatic fall out following the 2015 executions, which included the execution of a Brazilian man with mental health issues, the Indonesian Government placed a moratorium on further executions. But it didn't last long. "It is clear that we have a long way to go with our efforts to preserve the right to life. As Parliamentarians and community leaders, I believe we have a moral and legal obligation to advance the cause of global abolition of this cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment." Indonesian Attorney-General H.M Prasetyo has recently confirmed that executions will resume in the near future. The government has already moved 3 prisoners, to Nusakambangan Island, better known as 'Death Island,' a facility reserved for executions by firing squad. According to Amnesty International, around 10-15 people are being considered for the next round of executions which include both Indonesian and foreign nationals. Astonishingly, Yusman Telaumbanua, currently on death row in Indonesia for a crime he committed when he was 16, was sentenced to death as a child, not at the request of the prosecution but of his own lawyer. This in itself would have set the alarm bells ringing for any reasonable person let alone members of the Judiciary. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions clarified in his 2012 report that the death penalty "may only be imposed for crimes that involve intentional killing." This effectively limited its application to premeditated murder and certainly not crimes of passion. Clearly these views are being ignored in favour of domestic political posturing. The Philippines, largely a Catholic country, abolished capital punishment in 2006. But for rank popularism, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte indicated he will re-introduce the death penalty. During his election campaign, Duterte issued a series of inflammatory statements that contravenes the Philippines??? international human rights obligations, including his promise to reduce crime rates by shooting suspected criminals. He also says he would 'execute 100,000 criminals and dump them into Manila Bay.' It is worrying to see in such an emerging nation that political leaders are still looking for the future in the rear view mirror. Re-introducing such barbaric and archaic measures when there is clearly no evidence to prove that the death penalty reduces crime shows little vision in a civilised world. Although the trend is clear as 140 nations have now abolished the
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May 18 INDONESIA: Human Rights Watchdog Calls for End to Capital Punishment As preparations for the third round of executions continue on Nusakambangan Island near Cilacap, Central Java, human rights activists and legal academics have criticized Indonesia's continued use of capital punishment. Respublica Political Institute executive director Benny Sabdo said the death penalty is a violation of human rights, inhumane and ineffective as a form of punishment. "The death sentence still applies in the United States, but violent crime rates are still high there. Meanwhile in Canada, where capital punishment has been abolished, crime rates have receded," the law professor said on Wednesday (18/05). Benny believes capital punishment equals man playing God. "Punishments for crime should not violate basic human rights, and should not degrade human dignity in any way," said the professor, who also believes that the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to crime. According to Amnesty International, Indonesia is 1 of 37 United Nations member states that continue to use the death penalty in law and practice, while 102 have completely abolished it for all crimes. The University of Indonesia constitutional law alumni emphasized that death row inmates are not objects and therefore still entitled to basic human rights. He added that Indonesia must be consistent in enforcing human rights for all. Besides Indonesians, citizens of China, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are expected to be on the list of inmates facing the firing squad in the third round of executions. (source: Jakarta Globe) ** Indonesia strives to avoid media frenzy over drug executions While Indonesia prepares to execute 15 prisoners convicted of drug offences, it seems the government is keen to avoid the media attention that surrounded executions last year. 5 Indonesians, 1 Pakistani, 4 Chinese, 2 Senegalese, 2 Nigerians and 1 Zimbabwean are due to face a firing squad this month, according to local media. Speaking to Southeast Asia Globe, Indonesian lawyer Ricky Gunawan, who represented one of the convicts executed last year, said the death sentences were likely to be carried out soon. "Lots of government officials have said that they want to avoid the hysteria and media frenzy and spotlight on Indonesia," Gunawan added. Indonesia's chief security minister, Luhut Pandjaitan, appeared to confirm this when he recently told journalists that "the executions can take place any time, but there will not be a 'soap opera' about it this time". 14 prisoners were executed in 2015, all but 2 of them foreign nationals. They included Australian citizens Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, members of the so-called Bali 9, and Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte. Philippine national Mary Jane Veloso was given a last-minute reprieve but remains on death row. All these cases were followed closely in their home countries and further afield. Notably, of this year's batch of 10 foreigners, 7 are from countries that also employ the death penalty. Last week, the Anti-Death Penalty Civil Society Coalition, a group of 16 Indonesian NGOs, held a press conference to decry the executions, saying they were not the solution to address drug crime in their country. The head of the Indonesian Drug Victim Advocacy Brotherhood (PKNI), Totok Yulianto, said the number of drug convicts has been rising, despite two rounds of executions last year. 6 people were executed in January and 8 more in April 2015. According to PKNI, nearly 62,000 prisoners were incarcerated for drug-related crimes in October 2014, and by February this year the number stood at 69,662. This meant that almost 40% of all prisoners were in jail for narcotics offences. "Even though the government had carried out executions in January and April. This shows that the death penalty does not create a deterrent effect. This is data from the directorate general of corrections," the Jakarta Post reported Yulianto as saying last week. In April, the UN's General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the global drug problem. Indonesia delivered a statement in defence of retaining the death penalty, on behalf of a coalition comprising China, Singapore and Malaysia, among others. A statement released by PKNI on Monday said that the lack of fair trials in Indonesia is another reason why the use of death penalty should be reviewed. They pointed to the use of torture to extract confessions and a lack of adequate legal representation for those without the resources. (source: Southeast Asia Globe) *** A year on, Indonesia gears up for executions again Only a year after the execution of Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Indonesia is gearing up for another round of executions. Determined to keep it low profile, Indonesian authorities are remaining tight-lipped about the condemned. If Indonesia has learnt anything from
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May 18 LEBANON: 106 handed down death penalty in Lebanon over Arsal clashes A Lebanese military judge has sentenced 106 men to death over the 2014 clashes between the army and terrorists in the country's northeast near the border with conflict-ridden Syria. A judicial source said Judge Najat Abou Chakra convicted 73 Syrians, 32 Lebanese and one Palestinian of belonging to terrorist groups and attacking the town of Arsal. They were also indicted for "carrying out terrorist acts, killing and attempting to kill a number of soldiers from the Lebanese Army, Internal Security Forces and civilians, kidnapping several servicemen, burning and looting military posts and vehicles, causing insecurity and sowing sectarian strife." According to the judge, the militants planned killing all those aged over 15 who sought to resist them. Among those convicted, 77 are in custody but the remaining 29 are at large. The suspects include Jamal Hussain Zainieh, also known as Abu Malek al-Talli, who is the al-Nusra Front terrorist group's leader in Syria's Qalamoun region. Lebanon is suffering from the spillover of militancy in neighboring Syria, where foreign-backed extremists have been fighting government forces since 2011. Daesh and al-Nusra Front, which is the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, have been active on the outskirts of Arsal. The militants briefly overran Arsal in August 2014, taking about 30 Lebanese army and police forces hostage, some of whom were executed. After lengthy negotiations, 16 of the captives were released last December as part of a prisoner swap deal. Assisting Syrian army forces, fighters with the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement have thwarted several terrorist attacks. (source: Presstv) ISRAEL: Report: Liberman turned down Defense Minister offerYisrael Beytenu head rejects position, promise of death penalty for terrorists; says current gov't not really right-wing. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently offered Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman the Defense Minister position, Channel 10 reports Tuesday, if his party joined the coalition. Nertanyahu also offered Liberman a commitment to uphold a "death penalty for terrorists" policy Liberman has championed for years. But Liberman evidently turned him down. A senior Likud source told Arutz Sheva late Tuesday that the move was due to Netanyahu's beliefs that "a broad government can better cope with political, security, and economic challenges." Currently, the coalition is teetering with a treacherous 61 MKs - a majority of just one in the 120-seat Knesset. But Yisrael Beytenu sources rejected this claim, saying that Netanyahu continues to deceive voters about his promises of a right-wing government, even more so since Netanyahu has entered serious talks with jis political nemesis Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) about a unity government. "Since the elections, Yisrael Beytenu demands the establishment of a genuine national government - which overthrows the Hamas regime in Gaza, builds up Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim, and void [Joint List MKs] Ayman Odeh and Hanin Zoabi from running for the Knesset," Yisrael Beytenu sources fired. Polls Monday showed that a vast majority of Israelis are opposed to a unity government, with Zionist Union voters in particular outraged over the proposal. If elections were held today, Liberman's party would gain three additional seats as Likud would lose several, two separate studies have indicated - most likely due to voter frustration over a string of stalled promises from Netanyahu. Jewish Home, the Knesset's other right-wing party, would also stand to gain several seats, the projections show. (source: Israel National News) IRANexecutions Iran regime steps up executions; 21 hanged in 48 hours Iran's fundamentalist regime has sharply increased its rate of executions, carrying out at least 21 hangings in a 48-hour period this week. 2 men were hanged earlier on Wednesday in the Central Prison of Urmia (Orumieh), north-west Iran. They were identified as Dariyoush Farajzadeh and Ghafour Qaderzadeh. Another 2 men were hanged on Wednesday in a prison in Yasuj, central Iran, according to Mehrdad Karami, the regime's prosecutor in the city. The men, whose names were not given, were 26 and 34 years old, he said. A man, only identified by his initials S. R., 31, was hanged on Wednesday in a prison in Sari, northern Iran, according to the regime's judiciary in Mazandaran Province. The state broadcaster IRIB, quoting the regime's judiciary in Yazd Province, central Iran, announced on its website that 8 prisoners were hanged in the province on Tuesday. The regime's Prosecutor in Yazd Province had earlier told the state-run Rokna news agency that 6 people had been hanged in the province on Tuesday. A separate report from Isfahan, central Iran, said that a prisoner was hanged in the city's notorious
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May 17 SINGAPORE: HRW: Grant clemency to death row inmate in Singapore Singapore President Tony Tan should urgently grant clemency to death row prisoner Kho Jabing, who is due to be executed on May 20, Human Rights Watch has said. Jabing was convicted of the murder of Cao Ruyin in 2007. On 5 April 2016, the Court of Appeal, Singapore's highest court, dismissed Kho Jabing's appeal. An Appeals Court panel in January 2015 had reversed, by 3 to 2, a high court ruling overturning Kho Jabing's death sentence. At dispute was whether his actions during a botched robbery had been done in "blatant disregard of human life". At the time of Kho Jabing's conviction, Singapore law imposed a mandatory death penalty for the offence, thus preventing the court from considering the full circumstances of the crime. "President Tan should grant clemency to Kho Jabing in recognition of sentencing reforms under Singapore law," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The death penalty is always cruel, and a man's life should not hinge on a legal technicality." Mandatory death sentences are contrary to the rights to a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said. As the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions stated in 2005, a mandatory death sentence "makes it impossible [for the court] to take into account mitigating or extenuating circumstances and eliminates any individual determination of an appropriate sentence in a particular case The adoption of such a black-and-white approach is entirely inappropriate where the life of the accused is at stake." In 2012, Singapore's parliament amended the Penal Code to provide courts with some discretion in sentencing certain categories of murder, including murder without intent. Since the change of law was considered retroactive, Kho Jabing sought a review of his death sentence, stating the murder had not been pre-meditated, and there had been no "blatant disregard for human life." In August 2013, the High Court agreed and re-sentenced Kho Jabing to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane. Kho Jabing's accomplice in the crime, Galing Anak Kujat, had his conviction for murder overturned, and the court re-sentenced him for committing robbery with hurt and sentenced him to 18 1/2 years in prison and 19 strokes of the cane. Singapore is one of few countries that retains the death penalty, claiming without evidence that capital punishment deters crime. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases because of its inherent cruelty and irreversibility. "Singapore's continued use of the death penalty has no place in a modern state," Robertson said. "President Tan should cut through the complexities and controversies of this case and grant Kho Jabing clemency so that he is imprisoned for life." (source: aliran.com) *** Sarawakian's execution up to Singapore president If Singapore President Tony Tan does not reconsider Sarawakian Kho Jabing's new clemency petition, then the murder convict will be executed predawn on Friday. As recently as early this month, it was assumed Kho, 31, could have at least 3 more months pending a fresh clemency petition. "However, it has come to our attention that the president, while acknowledging Kho's intention to file a new clemency petition, has taken the position that his decision to reject the previous clemency petition in October 2015 still stands," said a joint statement released by human rights activists. "It is unclear if Tan will consider the new clemency petition once it is filed." The press release was issued by We Believe in Second Chances and the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign. Co-signees include Amnesty International, the Sarawak Advocates Association, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, Reprieve Australia, Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network and Center for Orang Asli Concerns. 12 relatives of other inmates on death row in Singapore also joined in the group petition. They include sisters, mothers and fiancees. The campaigners are urging the president to grant clemency to Kho and commute his death sentence to life imprisonment. "The fact that 1 High Court judge and 2 Appeal judges have expressed the opinion that the death penalty is not an appropriate punishment for Kho Jabing shows there continues to be doubt a death sentence is justified in this case. "It is of utmost importance this case not be rushed. "We call on the president to stay the execution scheduled for May 20, as to allow a reasonable time for the consideration of Kho's new petition," the statement added. Kho received a letter from the Singapore Prison Service on May 12 informing him that his execution had been scheduled. Kho was convicted of murder in 2011. The announcement came as a shock to family members who have flown to Singapore. "We do not condone Kho's crime, nor do we seek
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May 17 JAPAN: After hanging, ex-citizen judge calls death penalty 'murder' Toshiyasu Yonezawa says he committed "murder" when he was performing his civic duty. The 27-year-old's "victim" was Sumitoshi Tsuda, himself a convicted killer who fatally stabbed 3 people in Kawasaki, including the landlord of an apartment. Tsuda, then 63, was the 1st person executed under the citizen judge system that was introduced in 2009 to allow ordinary citizens to have a say in the legal process. Yonezawa was 1 of the lay judges who demanded capital punishment for Tsuda 5 years ago. "I do not want to accept the fact that he was hanged," said Yonezawa, referring to Tsuda's execution in late 2015. After long refusing media requests for comment on Tsuda's death, Yonezawa agreed to be interviewed by The Asahi Shimbun. Now an opponent of capital punishment, Tsuda explained how he came to regret his decision and the traumatic effect of being responsible for ending a person's life. He urged people to "have 2nd thoughts" on death sentences. Under Japan's revised judiciary system, citizen judges hear the 1st trial of serious felony cases, including murder and robbery resulting in death or injury. 3 professional judges and 6 citizen judges discuss and decide on the verdict in each case. If the judges cannot unanimously agree on a sentence for the guilty party, the punishment is determined by a majority vote. At least 5 of the judges, including at least 1 of the professionals, must agree before the sentence is adopted. Lay judges are duty-bound to keep confidential any developments in their discussions of the trial and the results of majority votes. But they are allowed to give their own opinions about the trials. "For me, the death penalty used to be somebody else's problem, but it currently is not," Yonezawa said. "It is tough for ordinary citizens to be involved in a legal process that can claim someone's life." Yonezawa, a resident of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, said he has tried to forget the murder suspect, but he sometimes has flashbacks of Tsuda's face. "His expressionless face I saw in the courtroom appears in my mind," Yonezawa said. "I can't help but think about what he felt in the last moment of his life." Yonezawa was a senior at university when he and other judges sentenced Tsuda to death on June 17, 2011, as prosecutors had demanded. "We determined the ruling after paying due consideration to the feelings of the bereaved families and the defendant's early background," Yonezawa said at a news conference following the ruling. "I hope he will reflect on what he did and sincerely accept the sentence." At that time, Yonezawa still believed that capital punishment should continue, and that certain criminals in the world deserve to be executed. The following month, Tsuda dropped his appeal, and his death sentence was finalized. Yonezawa said he was relieved to hear that because the condemned inmate "accepted the decision that we made after many discussions." Shortly after the death sentence was finalized, one of Yonezawa's close friends said, "So you killed the person." Yonezawa was appalled. He had believed that the death penalty is the "heaviest punishment" carried out by somebody else. He had never associated his decision with the notion that he "killed someone" by indirectly involving himself. But his friend's words made him think: "Was it a proper decision?" And he had trouble trying to dispel feelings that his decision may have been wrong. Although Yonezawa attempted to shut his mind and forget the experience, he became nervous each time he heard reports about an execution. He did not tell anybody, but Yonezawa felt relieved when he learned that the inmate put to death was not Tsuda. But on Dec. 18, Tsuda was executed at the Tokyo Detention House. "I could not accept it as reality," Yonezawa said. "I thought if I did not believe the execution had been carried out, I could continue believing Tsuda was alive somewhere." Yonezawa refused the flood of requests for media interviews, saying he had nothing to say. He was also focused on his work at a company that he joined after graduation. Months after Tsuda's death, Yonezawa said he still does "not want to believe that," although he is well aware that Tsuda is gone. "The death penalty is no different than murder except that it is legally authorized," he said. After thinking about the capital punishment issue as his own problem, he now opposes the practice. In 2014, Yonezawa, working with about 20 former citizen judges and others, called on the justice minister to disclose more details about the death penalty to stimulate nationwide discussion on the practice. They also urged the minister to suspend executions for the time being. "I feel anger toward the fact that the government continues carrying out hangings, even though we are demanding that it should not,"
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May 16 AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban Is Publicly Executing Women Again When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, they would shoot women for so-called "moral crimes" in front of stadium crowds. Activists fear that the terrorist group is going back to the bad old days of public executions. The Taliban has publicly executed 2 women in northern Afghanistan, with graphic video of 1 of the brutal killings circulating on social media in early May. According to Afghan officials, the women were both shot in Jowzjan Province in recent months. The executions came to light after a video of the 1st killing emerged online, and officials soon uncovered evidence of the 2nd. "Such executions of women by the Taliban is unfortunately a the dark reality," says Samira Hamidi, a board member of the advocacy group coalition Afghan Women's Network. "It is clear that militant groups like the Taliban have no pity on human beings, particularly women. The execution shows how powerless the Afghan government is, whilst significantly increasing the vulnerability of women." In the past, the Afghan government condemned similar killings that were captured on mobile phones and then streamed online. But this time, the executions have been overshadowed by the hanging of 6 Taliban prisoners on May 8. It is the 1st time Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has used the death penalty since going into office in 2014. "The execution of these 2 women can't be overlooked because of other events; there has already been 2 other executions of women by the Taliban earlier this year," Women for Afghan Women director Manizha Naderi tells Broadly. "Nobody is asking where and how the group is getting money to continue committing these acts. Neighboring Pakistan are funding the Taliban; this is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with." The New York Times named 1 of the victims as Rabia, a 22-year-old pregnant woman with 2 young children. Her husband had accused her of adultery; the Taliban tried and convicted her before shooting her 3 times. Relatives said that her husband had fabricated the claim because he wanted to inherit her land interests. "They buried her without even allowing her family to participate in her funeral," Shakera, her aunt, told the Times. "I know she was a very innocent woman. She did not have the heart to be unfaithful." Rabia's 6-month-old son and his three-year-old sister now live with their father, but the family cannot even afford to buy powdered baby formula for her youngest child. "In situations like this, the victim's family are also vulnerable and can even be at risk for raising their voice," Hamidi says. "The Afghan government must provide them necessary protection in order to prevent any form of harm to them." The video of the 2nd Jowzjan killing showed the execution of an unknown woman in northern Afghanistan. In a country where the law bars relatives of the accused from testifying against them, Naderi of Women for Afghan Women knows too well the fear that women have of honor killings. "I have never seen a man being stoned. You can't commit adultery on your own, yet why is it always women who have to pay the price?" she says in despair. "Every year more and more women are coming to the 32 shelters our organisation runs across the country. It isn't the culture of honour-killings, but because more women are aware of their own rights and are coming forward to seek help." Rabia's aunt says that the Taliban also had a politically motivated reason for killing Rabia: 2 of her uncles are militia commanders loyal to Abdul Rashid Dostum, a Uzbek leader who is also 1st vice president of Afghanistan. "The Taliban do what they do, to show their strength at the expense of other women," Naderi says. According to the district governor of Faizabad, a Taliban shadow governor had personally executed the woman himself. The video of the 2nd Jowzjan killing surfaced earlier this May. In the footage, a woman in a pale blue burqa sits on the ground outside as she is convicted by a Taliban court of killing her husband. The people surrounding her - including members of her husband's family - shout for her to be executed. A gunman then steps forward from the crowd and shoots her in the head. Local authorities say that the execution took place four months ago; the victim's identity remains unknown. The deputy police chief of Jowzjan Province, Col. Abdul Hafeez, believes that the executioner, who had his face covered, was the district's Taliban commander. The Taliban have not commented on the executions. But the Times notes that the killings are similar to executions between 1996 and 2001 when the Taliban were in power. In the past, women were publicly executed at the National Stadium in Kabul for so-called "moral crimes" like adultery. "Enough people die from the ongoing violence, but the executions by the Taliban show their strength at the expense of women." Although
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May 16 JAMAICA: The death penalty is not the answer National Security Minister Robert Montague recently said that his ministry is taking steps "to determine if there are any legal impediments to the resumption of hanging in Jamaica". He further stated that persons who intend to break the law must know that "punishment will be sure, swift and just". The minister's concern is understandable. When our country gained Independence in 1962, our murder rate was 3.9 per 100,000, one of the lowest in the world. In 2005, we had the dubious distinction of being the most murderous country in the world, claiming a rate of 58 per 100,000 people. Our rate now hovers around 40 per 100,000. Hanging is still legal in Jamaica, but was last carried out in 1988 at the St Catherine District Prison. The death penalty was subjected to a moratorium that year, but in 2008, Parliament voted to retain it. In Jamaica, the only offence that warrants the death penalty is aggravated murder, and the punishment is effected by hanging. However, the resumption of hanging has been affected by a 1993 Privy Council ruling stating that it is unconstitutional to have persons waiting for more than 5 years after sentencing to be executed. Our Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Act in 2011 overturned that ruling, but there still have not been any hangings here since. So we find ourselves again debating the sensitive and controversial topic of capital punishment. The overwhelming majority of Jamaicans will agree that something must be done to curb our unacceptable crime rate, especially murders. But is capital punishment the answer? Today, only 36 countries actively practise capital punishment, with the United Nations General Assembly calling for a global moratorium on executions, with a view to their eventual abolition. However, although capital punishment is not carried out in most countries, more than 60 % of the world's population live in countries where executions take place. Offences meriting the death penalty, termed capital offences, vary from country to country, and include murder, treason, sodomy, human trafficking, apostasy and atheism. The methods used also vary, and include hanging, shooting, electrocution, lethal injection, beheading, and the use of gas chambers. Objective research and analysis of relevant data, however, indicate that the death penalty is not effective in deterring crime. A study performed in the United States of America in 2008 found that 88 % of the nation's leading criminologists did not believe that the death penalty is an effective deterrent. Subsequently, a report released in 2012 by the National Research Council of the National Academies, based on a review of more than 3 decades of research, concluded that studies claiming a deterrent effect on murder rates from the death penalty are fundamentally flawed. The report read: "The committee concludes that research to date on the effect of capital punishment on homicide is not informative about whether capital punishment decreases, increases, or has no effect on homicide rates. Therefore, the committee recommends that these studies not be used to inform deliberations requiring judgments about the effect of the death penalty on homicide." Indeed, in that country, states that have death-penalty laws do not have lower crime or murder rates than states without such laws, and states that have abolished capital punishment show no significant changes in either crime or murder rates. Apart from the absence of convincing evidence demonstrating deterrence, capital punishment presents several other issues. The death penalty violates the right to life. When a person takes the life of another, one may claim that they have forfeited their right to live, a view held by many. Unfortunately, the death penalty is also discriminatory, and is often used against the most vulnerable in society, including the poor, the illiterate and people with mental disabilities. Where justice systems are flawed, as in Jamaica, the risk of executing an innocent person is a distinct possibility. Once a person is executed, the result is final. An innocent person can be released from prison for a crime they did not commit, but an execution can never be reversed. Since 1973, 156 innocent men and women have been exonerated and released from death row in the United States, including some who came within minutes of execution. One study found that approximately 4 % of persons sentenced to death in that country are innocent, and there is strong evidence that at least a dozen persons executed there over the past 40 years were actually not guilty, including a man who was executed in Texas because the jury confused him for another man with the same name and appearance. In the United Kingdom, the death penalty was abolished partly because a man was wrongfully executed for the murder of
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May 16 INDIA: 7 given death penalty in 2012 'witch' lynching case 7 persons, including a woman, were today sentenced to death and 6 others to life imprisonment by a court in Ghatal for the 2012 lynching of 3 women of a single family on suspicion of their being witches at a village in West Midnapore district. 1 more person was sent to 9 years in jail by the court of SDJM Deboprosad Nath in the sensational killing of the 3 women at Dubrajpur village under Daspur police station area in June, 2012. FIRs were filed against a total 49 persons, all residents of the same village which the slain women belonged to for assaulting and torturing the victims to death after suspecting them to be witches. (source: Press Trust of India) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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May 16 SINGAPORE Grant Clemency to Death Row Inmate Sentencing of Kho Jabing Violated Fair Trial Rights Singapore President Tony Tan should urgently grant clemency to death row prisoner Kho Jabing, who is due to be executed on May 20, Human Rights Watch said today. Jabing was convicted of the murder of Cao Ruyin in 2007. On April 5, 2016, the Court of Appeal, Singapore's highest court, dismissed Kho Jabing's appeal. An Appeals Court panel in January 2015 had reversed, by 3 to 2, a High Court ruling overturning Kho Jabing's death sentence. At dispute was whether his actions during a botched robbery had been done in "blatant disregard of human life." At the time of Kho Jabing's conviction, Singapore law imposed a mandatory death penalty for the offense, thus preventing the court from considering the full circumstances of the crime. "President Tan should grant clemency to Kho Jabing in recognition of sentencing reforms under Singapore law," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. "The death penalty is always cruel, and a man's life should not hinge on a legal technicality." Mandatory death sentences are contrary to the rights to a fair trial. As the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, stated in 2005, a mandatory death sentence "makes it impossible [for the court] to take into account mitigating or extenuating circumstances and eliminates any individual determination of an appropriate sentence in a particular case The adoption of such a black-and-white approach is entirely inappropriate where the life of the accused is at stake." In 2012, Singapore's parliament amended the Penal Code to provide courts with some discretion in sentencing certain categories of murder, including murder without intent. Since the change of law was considered retroactive, Kho Jabing sought a review of his death sentence, stating the murder had not been pre-meditated, and there had been no "blatant disregard for human life." In August 2013, the High Court agreed, and re-sentenced Kho Jabing to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane. Kho Jabing's accomplice in the crime, Galing Anak Kujat, had his conviction for murder overturned, and the court re-sentenced him for committing robbery with hurt, and sentenced him to 18 1/2years in prison, and 19 strokes of the cane. Singapore is one of few countries that retains the death penalty, claiming without evidence that capital punishment deters crime. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases because of its inherent cruelty and irreversibility. "Singapore's continued use of the death penalty has no place in a modern state," Robertson said. "President Tan should cut through the complexities and controversies of this case and grant Kho Jabing clemency so that he is imprisoned for life." (source: Human Rights Watch) ** Grant Clemency to Death Row Inmate Singapore President Tony Tan should urgently grant clemency to death row prisoner Kho Jabing, who is due to be executed on May 20, Human Rights Watch said today. Jabing was convicted of the murder of Cao Ruyin in 2007. On April 5, 2016, the Court of Appeal, Singapore's highest court, dismissed Kho Jabing's appeal. An Appeals Court panel in January 2015 had reversed, by 3 to 2, a High Court ruling overturning Kho Jabing's death sentence. At dispute was whether his actions during a botched robbery had been done in "blatant disregard of human life." At the time of Kho Jabing's conviction, Singapore law imposed a mandatory death penalty for the offense, thus preventing the court from considering the full circumstances of the crime. "President Tan should grant clemency to Kho Jabing in recognition of sentencing reforms under Singapore law," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The death penalty is always cruel, and a man's life should not hinge on a legal technicality." Mandatory death sentences are contrary to the rights to a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said. As the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, stated in 2005, a mandatory death sentence "makes it impossible [for the court]to take into account mitigating or extenuating circumstances and eliminates any individual determination of an appropriate sentence in a particular case The adoption of such a black-and-white approach is entirely inappropriate where the life of the accused is at stake." In 2012, Singapore's parliament amended the Penal Code to provide courts with some discretion in sentencing certain categories of murder, including murder without intent. Since the change of law was considered retroactive, Kho Jabing sought a review of his death sentence, stating the murder had not been pre-meditated, and there had been no "blatant disregard for human life." In August 2013, the High Court agreed, and re-sentenced Kho
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May 15 SINGAPORE: Imminent executions in Singapore and Indonesia must be halted We the undersigned, human rights organizations, and concerned human rights defenders condemn the imminent executions of Kho Jabing in Singapore and at least 15 individuals which apparently includes, 4 Chinese nationals, 2 Nigerians, 2 Zimbabweans, 1 Senegalese, 1 Pakistani and 5 Indonesian nationals in Indonesia. We call on the authorities of the 2 countries to halt the impending executions. On 12 May 2016, the family of Kho Jabing, a Malaysian national on death row in Singapore, received a letter from the Singapore Prisons informing them that Kho Jabing would be executed on 20 May 2016. Kho Jabing was convicted of murder in 2011. Of particular concern is the fact that there was a lack of unanimity in sentencing Kho Jabing to death, which demonstrates that reasonable doubt exists as to whether Kho Jabing deserved the death penalty. As regards the imminent executions that will be taking place in Indonesia, Indonesia would contravene her own international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right by executing these individuals. The Association of South East Asian Nations Member States (???ASEAN???), including Singapore and Indonesia, have continuously emphasized the importance of the rule of law and the protection of rights. The death penalty therefore stands out as an aberration. In December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its latest resolutions calling on all States to adopt a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with a view towards abolition. A record number of 117 Member States supported the Resolution. Regrettably, Indonesia abstained and Singapore voted against the Resolution. The ASEAN Member States must use the opportunity presented by this Resolution to align themselves with the global movement towards abolition. Singapore has recently undergone its second Universal Periodic Review in January 2016. The continued use of the death penalty was one of the key highlights of the review, with Singapore receiving over 30 recommendations related to the death penalty, including recommendations to abolish the death penalty. In 2015, Indonesia, a United Nations Human Rights Council Member until 2017, executed 14 individuals convicted of drug-related offences amid strong international opposition. The imminent executions would further damage Indonesia's human rights record and erode her standing in the international community. The death penalty has no place in the 21st Century. Not only is there a real possibility of wrongful executions, it deprives inmates of their life and dignity, and creates new classes of victims. We strongly urge the governments of Singapore and Indonesia to halt the upcoming executions, immediately impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty and take meaningful steps towards its eventual abolition. List of Signatories: Anti-Death Penalty Network Asia (ADPAN) Center for Prisoner's Rights Japan (CPR) Community Action Network (CAN, Singapore) Free Community Church (Singapore) Function 8 (Singapore) MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture) Maruah (Singapore) International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Journey of Hope Legal Aid Community (LBH Masyarakat, Indonesia) Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) Ocean Pusat Studi Hukum dan Kebijakan Indonesia (The Indonesian Center for Law and Policy Studies) Reprieve Australia Sayoni (Singapore) Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC) Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS, Indonesia) The Indonesian Center for Law and Policy Studies (PSHK, Indonesia) The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR, Indonesia) The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy of Indonesia (ELSAM) The National Human Rights Society, Malaysia (HAKAM) Think Centre Singapore We Believe in Second Chances (WBSC, Singapore) (source: wordpress.com) * Questionable validity of the Court of Appeal in resentencing of death for Kho Jabing MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture) in a letter to the press, states that the questionable validity of the Court of Appeal that re-sentenced Kho Jabing to death is enough reason for immediate stay of execution of Kho Jabing that has been scheduled for Friday 20 May 2016 It states that the Justice Andrew Phang should not have sat on the 2 Court of Appeal as such a judge who had previously heard and determined a case involving the same accused person reasonably would not satisfy the conditions of an independent and impartial tribunal. It also noted that when Kho's case was sent to the High Court for re-sentencing by the Court of Appeal, the judge that heard and considered the re-sentencing was not the High Court judge that originally
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May 15 UNITED KINGDOM/TRINIDAD: UK judges to rule on death penalties for 'intellectually disabled' Case of 2 Trinidadians on death row may set global precedent that could prevent the execution of people with extremely low IQs The fate of 2 Trinidadian prisoners, both of whom have been condemned to death despite having extremely low IQs, will be decided by British judges this week. The 2-day hearing at the judicial committee of the privy council (JCPC) in London may set an international precedent that could prevent the execution of people on death row who have been diagnosed as "intellectually disabled". The JCPC, based in Westminster, acts as an ultimate court of appeal for smaller Commonwealth countries, including many in the Caribbean that retain capital punishment. Justices from the UK's supreme court hear its cases. Lester Pitman was convicted of a joint enterprise, triple killing of 3 Britons carried out in the island's capital, Port of Spain. In December 2001, the bodies of a former BBC newsreader, Lynette Lithgow, 51, her mother Maggie Lee, 83, and brother-in-law John Cropper, 59, were found in a blood-splattered bathroom at a 12-room bungalow. Cropper had moved to Trinidad several years earlier. All 3 were found with their hands tied behind their backs and their throats slit. The initial motive appeared to have been robbery. Pitman, who is now 36, was convicted of the killings in 2004 and sentenced to hang. The death penalty for murder is mandatory in Trinidad. Because he had waited for so many years on death row, however, his sentence was commuted in 2013 to 40 years in jail. At the end of the hearing, Trinidad's court of appeal declared that Pitman had previously been "properly sentenced to suffer the death penalty". Pitman's IQ was measured initially at 52 then at 67 - both figures are below the World Health Organisation guideline that classifies anyone with an IQ of below 70 as being "intellectually disabled". His mother, Cheryl Pitman, told the Trinidad Guardian: "People should have mercy for Lester because his IQ is very low. He thinks like a child." Neil Hernandez was convicted of killing a woman, Christine Henry, and her 6-year-old son, Philip, in the coastal village of Toco on Trinidad in May 2000. He was found to have slashed them with the cutlass he used for harvesting coconuts. Hernandez claimed he had not intended to kill them and had been tricked into signing a confession. In 2004, he was sentenced to hang. At a hearing in 2014 , the Trinidad appeal court commuted his death sentence to 25 years on the same principle as Pitman, that he had already spent too long on death row. Evidence given showed he had an IQ of 57. Delivering their decision, the appeal court judges in Port of Spain said: "If the members of this society [in Trinidad] hold the view that it is repugnant to evolving standards of decency to impose the death sentence on mentally retarded persons, then those members are entitled to make their views felt and to lobby members of parliament to introduce legislation which reflects those standards." An earlier Jamaican JCPC case, known as Pratt and Morgan, established in 1993 that it was "inhuman or degrading punishment" to impose a delay of more than 5 years after sentencing on anyone facing execution. Pitman and Hernandez are being represented at the JCPC by Saul Lehrfreund, the co-executive director of the Death Penalty Project, which is based at the London law firm Simons Muirhead and Burton, and provides free legal assistance to prisoners facing the death penalty around the world. He said: "These cases raise a novel constitutional point about the imposition of the death penalty on people who have intellectual disability. "It's important for both Commonwealth countries and the wider world where the death penalty is still in use. This could establish a principle that it's cruel and unusual punishment to impose a sentence of death on someone if they are intellectually disabled or suffer from significant mental illness." In court, the cases will be argued by Edward Fitzgerald QC and Paul Bowen QC. Pitman's appeal is against both conviction and sentence, Hernandez's only against sentence. Lehrfreund added: "Neither Pitman nor Hernandez are going to be executed, because the court in Trinidad has recognised they have been on death row for too long. If we are right, however, they should never have been sentenced to the cruelty of the death penalty in the first place. "We say there should have been a judicial determination to look into their intellectual disability before they were sentenced. If we are successful, it will create a precedent that would be persuasive and resonate in other countries [including Malaysia and Singapore] which also continue to impose mandatory death penalties for murder and other offences." : Pitman's conviction is also being contested on the grounds that it
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May 14 SINGAPORE: JOINT STATEMENT ON IMMINENT EXECUTION OF KHO JABING We, the undersigned, are troubled by the imminent execution of Jabing Kho in Singapore, despite strong concerns over the development of his case. We believe there are strong grounds for President Tony Tan of the Republic of Singapore to grant clemency in this case. The family of Sarawakian Jabing Kho, 31, received a letter from the Singapore Prison Service on 12 May 2016 informing them that his execution had been scheduled for 20 May 2016. Jabing was convicted of murder in 2011. The announcement came as a shock to the family and all involved in campaigning for Jabing. We had been under the impression that the authorities would allow his lawyer to submit a fresh clemency appeal on his behalf after the criminal motion filed in late 2015 was dismissed in April this year. His lawyer had sent President Tony Tan a holding letter informing them of his intention to file a new clemency petition, and had been in the process of drafting it when the execution was scheduled. On 13 May 2016, Jabing's lawyer received a letter from the President saying that he would be willing to consider a clemency petition if it is filed, but will not be postponing the scheduled execution. Considering that past practice shows that the President usually takes 3 months before any decision regarding clemency is announced, we are concerned that this current state of affairs will leave the Cabinet and the President with insufficient time to properly consider a fresh plea from Jabing. We do not condone Jabing's crime, nor do we seek to erase the hurt he has caused to the victim's family. Yet the course of Jabing's case has been tumultuous and traumatic. Due to amendments made to Singapore's mandatory death penalty regime and appeals lodged by the prosecution, Jabing had, over the years, been sentenced to death, then life imprisonment (with caning), then death again. This back-and-forth has taken a horrific toll not just on Jabing as the inmate, but his family. Furthermore, 1 High Court judge and 2 Judges of Appeal had not believed that the death penalty was an appropriate punishment for Jabing Kho, as they felt that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that he had exhibited a "blatant disregard for human life". (See Annex A, attached at the end of this statement, for relevant excerpts of the judges' ruling.) The death penalty does not simply exact an irreversible punishment, but also imposes emotional and psychological tolls on both the inmate and the family and we oppose it unconditionally. Having been re-sentenced twice, from death to life and back again, Jabing and his family have already been put through a deeply painful process. The knowledge that 3 respected and honourable judges hold the belief that the current punishment does not fit the crime simply makes the situation doubly hard to bear. We believe that Jabing Kho's case presents very strong and persuasive grounds for clemency, and that his death sentence should be immediately be set aside and commuted to life imprisonment as allowed by Singapore's Constitution. We therefore urge the Cabinet of Singapore to advise President Tony Tan to grant clemency to Jabing Kho without delay and re-establish a moratorium on executions as a 1st step towards the abolition of the death penalty. Signed: Local Organisations Community Action Network Function8 Maruah Sayoni Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign (SADPC) Think Centre We Believe in Second Chances Regional/International Organisations Advocates Association of Sarawak Amnesty International Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) Center for Orang Asli Concerns Civil Rights Committee KLSCAH Damn the Dams Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET) People's Green Coalition Reprieve Australia Sembang-sembang Forum Suara Rakyat Malaysia Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence Victims' Family Organisations Center for Prisoner's Rights Japan Journey of Hope Ocean Individuals Abdul Rashid bin Bakar, relative of inmate on death row in Singapore Atiqah bte Zaimi, relative of inmate on death row in Singapore Haminah bte Abu Bakar, relative of inmate on death row in Singapore Idros Ismail, brother of inmate on death row in Singapore Jolene Tan, writer and activist Kokila Annamalai, activist and community organiser Letchumy Arumugam, mother of inmate on death row in Singapore Marilyn Siew, activist M Ravi, anti-death penalty activist Osman bin Bakar, relative of inmate on death row in Singapore Priya Ratha Krishnan, fiancee of inmate on death row in Singapore Sangeetha Thanapal, activist Saraswathy Kataiah, sister of inmate on death row in Singapore Sean Francis Han, activist Sharmila Rockey, sister of inmate on death row in Singapore Syida Ismail, sister of inmate on death row in Singapore
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May 13 SINGAPOREimpending execution Kho Jabing to be hanged next FridayFamily of Sarawakian convicted of murder in Singapore told to make arrangements for his body to be flown back to Miri after execution. Sarawakian Kho Jabing is set to be executed by Singapore's prison authorities next Friday. According to Malay Mail Online today, the convicted killer's sister, Jumai Kho said that they received a letter 2 days ago from Singapore, notifying them of the scheduled execution. She said the letter, which was addressed to her mother Lenduk Baling, asked the family to make preparations to take Jabing's body back to Miri after the execution. Lenduk is in shock and unable to accept the news. Jumai said the family was working with NGO "We Believe in 2nd Chances", to fly to Singapore, and are also assessing the options available. She told the portal that the family had been under the impression that Kho would be spared the noose, pending a fresh clemency petition they had intended to push through last month. Kho's 1st plea for clemency was rejected in October last year. Kho, 31, from Ulu Baram, Sarawak, was found guilty of killing a Chinese construction worker with a tree branch in 2008 during a robbery attempt. He was sentenced to death in 2010. In 2013, the Singapore government amended the mandatory death penalty that gave judges the discretion to choose between death and life imprisonment with caning for murder, as well as certain cases of drug trafficking. In August 2013, following revisions to the mandatory death penalty laws, the High Court sentenced him to life and 24 strokes of the cane instead. It was then again revised to the death penalty after the prosecution challenged the decision before the Court of Appeal. Kho was scheduled to be executed on Nov 6, but received a stay the day before after his lawyer filed a motion raising points of law about the case's handling. (source: freemalaysiatoday.com) *** Halt Kho Jabing's Execution http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/singapore-halt-kho-jabing-s-execution-ua-10315 (source: Amnesty International USA) BANGLADESH: Turkey, Pakistan Protest Nizami Execution Diplomatic fallout from Bangladesh's execution of the chief of the country's largest faith-based party grew Thursday when Turkey summoned home its ambassador to Dhaka after condemning the hanging. The "Turkish Foreign Ministry has asked Turkey's ambassador to Bangladesh to report to Ankara for consultations in the aftermath of hanging of a senior Jamaat-e-Islami party leader in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka," Turkey's state-run Anatolia News Agency reported Thursday, citing an unnamed diplomatic source. Meanwhile, a diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan escalated over Wednesday's hanging of Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes allegedly committed during the Bangladeshi war of independence in 1971, when the country was known as East Pakistan. On Thursday Turkish ambassador Devrim Ozturk boarded a homeward flight, a day after Turkey's foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the execution of Nizami, the chief of the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) party, Bangladeshi officials said. "The Turkish ambassador left Dhaka at 6:20 a.m. Thursday on a Turkish airlines flight," Kazi Imtiaz Mashroor, the officer-in-charge of immigration at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, told BenarNews. However, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told reporters that the Turkish government had not officially informed Dhaka about a recall of its ambassador. "He [Ozturk] has informed us that he would be out of the country from May 12. And he also informed us who would be serving as ambassador in his absence," Alam said, without naming who would assume that role. The statement from the Turkish foreign ministry pointed out that Turkey had abolished capital punishment. "We strongly condemn the execution, since we do not believe that Nizami deserved such a punishment and wish God's mercy upon the deceased," the statement said. "For the protection of social harmony and peace in Bangladesh, we have in the last three years repeatedly called upon the leaders of Bangladesh at the highest level to suspend the execution of death sentences and conveyed our concerns that the practice of capital punishment may cause new tension in the society due to its unjust nature," the ministry added. Elsewhere, Pakistan on Thursday summoned Bangladesh's acting high commissioner in Islamabad, Nazmul Huda, to deliver a "strong protest" letter. Hours later, Bangladesh summoned Pakistan's envoy to Dhaka, Shuja Alam, and delivered its own protest letter. "The attempts by the government of Bangladesh to malign Pakistan, despite our keen desire to develop brotherly relations with it, are regrettable," Pakistan's foreign ministry said a statement. On Wednesday,
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May 12 IRAN: Teenager tortured into confessing is days away from execution in Iran The Iranian authorities must urgently halt the scheduled execution this Sunday of a teenager who was just 15 years old at the time of his arrest, said Amnesty International. Alireza Tajiki, now 19 years old, was sentenced to death in April 2013 after a criminal court in Fars Province, southern Iran, convicted him of murder and rape primarily on the basis of "confessions" extracted through torture which he repeatedly retracted in court. His execution is due to take place on Sunday, May 15 in Shiraz's Adel Abad Prison in Fars Province. "Imposing the death penalty on someone who was a child at the time of the crime flies in the face of international human rights law, which absolutely prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed under the age of 18. It is particularly horrendous that the Iranian authorities are adamant to proceed with the execution when this case was marked by serious fair trial concerns and primarily relied on torture-tainted evidence," said James Lynch, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International. "Iran's bloodstained record of sending juvenile offenders to the gallows, routinely after grossly unfair trials, makes an absolute mockery of juvenile justice and shamelessly betrays the commitments Iran has made to children's rights.The Iranian authorities must immediately halt this execution and grant Alireza Tajiki a fair retrial where the death penalty and coerced 'confessions' play no part." Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Iranian authorities to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. Tajiki was arrested along with several other young men in May 2012 on suspicion of murdering and raping his friend who was stabbed to death. He was denied access to lawyer throughout the entire investigation process. He was placed in solitary confinement for 15 days, without access to his family. During this period he was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, he said, including severe beatings, floggings, and suspension by arms and feet, to make him "confess" to the crime. He later retracted the "confessions" both before the prosecution authorities and during his trial, and has since maintained his innocence consistently. However, despite this, his "confession" was admitted as evidence during proceedings against him. In April 2014, a year after Tajiki was first convicted his verdict was quashed by a branch of the Supreme Court which found the investigation incomplete due to a lack of forensic evidence linking him to the sexual assault. It ordered the Provincial Criminal Court in Fars Province to carry out further investigations and to examine his "mental growth and maturity" at the time of the crime in light of new juvenile sentencing guidelines in Iran's 2013 Islamic Penal Code. The Code allows judges to replace the death penalty with an alternative sentence if they determine that there are doubts about the juvenile offender's "mental growth and maturity" at the time of the crime. In November 2014, the criminal court resentenced him to death, referring to an official medical opinion that found he had attained "mental maturity." However, the court's decision made no reference to concerns the Supreme Court had raised about the lack of forensic evidence, suggesting the investigation that had been ordered was not carried out. The court also relied once again on Tajiki's forced "confessions" as proof of his guilt, without conducting any investigation into his allegations of torture and other ill-treatment. Despite these flaws, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence in a paragraph-long February 2015 ruling that relied on the principle of "knowledge of the judge," which grants a judge discretionary powers to determine guilt in the absence of conclusive evidence. More than 970 people were put to death across Iran last year. In January 2016 Amnesty International published a report which found that despite piecemeal reforms introduced by the Iranian authorities in 2013 to deflect criticism of their appalling record on executions of juvenile offenders, they have continued to condemn dozens of young people to death for crimes committed when they were below 18, in violation of their international human rights obligations. (source: Amnesty International USA) ** The List of the Names of 56 Death Row Prisoners in Uremia Prison At least 100 prisoners with charge of murder are kept in wards number 4 and 5 in Uremia prison. HRANA is trying to gain public attention in order to save them from execution by publicizing their identities. For this reason the identities of 56 death row prisoners is being published in this report. After the authorities called more than 100 death row prisoners in this prison and said that
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May 12 PAKISTAN: Army Chief awards death penalty to 5 terrorists including Sabeen Mahmud's killer, IBA student Saad Aziz Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Thursday signed the death warrants of 5 hardcore terrorists, including the killers of Sabeen Mahmud. An ISPR statement said the men were convicted for "perpetrating the Safoora bus attack". They were also involved in improvised explosive device (IED) blast near Saleh Masjid Karachi, the killing of social worker Sabeen Mahmud and various attacks on law enforcement agencies, according to the statement. (source: Daily Pakistan) EGYPT: Irish juvenile Ibrahim Halawa marks 1000 days facing death penalty in Egypt An Irish student who was arrested in the wake of protests in Egypt marks 1000 days of detention facing a potential death sentence. Ibrahim Halawa faces the death penalty despite having been a juvenile - aged just 17 - at the time of his arrest in August 2013. He is being subjected to an ongoing mass trial alongside hundreds of adults, which has been delayed on multiple occasions. Following his arrest, the Egyptian police beat Ibrahim and denied him medical treatment. He has since been subjected to periods of solitary confinement in cells with no light or toilet. Despite the fact that Ibrahim was a juvenile when he was arrested he has been held in adult prisons and is being tried by adult courts. International human rights organisation Reprieve has discovered that hundreds of children - including some as young as 6 - were arrested in the same breakup of protests as Ibrahim. Efforts to have Ibrahim's case transferred to a juvenile court have been rejected. The 493 defendants in Ibrahim's mass trial are charged with attending an illegal protest during which protesters allegedly caused deaths and criminal damage. They are being held jointly responsible for these offences, despite a lack of specific evidence linking the vast majority of them to these crimes. Commenting, Harriet McCulloch, Deputy Director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, which is assisting Ibrahim, said: "Ibrahim has now suffered 1000 days of appalling mistreatment in violation of both international and Egyptian law. It is a scandal that the Egyptian authorities continue to seek the death penalty for Ibrahim despite his having been a child at the time of his arrest. The Egyptian authorities must immediately call an end to this mass trial and others like it and release Ibrahim and the hundreds of others like him who have been illegally detained for so long." (source: reprieve.org) BANGLADESH: Legal notice served to abolish death penalty A Supreme Court lawyer today sent a legal notice to the government requesting it to abolish the provisions of death penalty from all laws of the country within 24 hours. Eunus Ali Akond served the notice to cabinet secretary, law secretary and home secretary for taking the step in this regard. In the notice, he said there are 140 countries in the world including the Europeans have abolished the provisions of death penalty from their laws. He will file a writ petition with the High Court seeking necessary order if the government does not repeal the provision of death penalty, Akond said. Death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading, Akond said. (source: The Daily Star) *** UN raises concerns over hanging of JI leader in Bangladesh United Nation (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon regrets the hanging of the Bangladesh Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Motiur Rahman Nizami. The spokesman of the Secretary-General in a press briefing said that UN chief stands against the death penalty under any circumstances, reflecting the global trend away from capital punishment. He said we have raised our concern to Bangladesh over the handling of this case. (source: Pakistan Today) IRANexecutions 2 Prisoners Hanged in Northern Iran 2 prisoners with murder charges were reportedly hanged at Karaj's Rajai Shahr Prison (northern Iran) on Wednesday May 11. One of the prisoners has been identified as Reza Cheshmenour, the identity of the other prisoner is not known at this time. According to close sources, these 2 prisoners were among 12 who were transferred to solitary confinement at this prison on Saturday May 7 in preparation for their executions. The other 10 prisoners were returned to their cells after they received an extension on their execution order or received consent for a suspension by the plaintiffs on their case files, say close sources. Iranian official sources, including state-run media and the Judiciary, have been silent on these 2 executions. One of the prisoners has been identified as Reza Cheshmenour, the identity of the other prisoner is not known at this time. According to close sources, these 2 prisoners were among 12 who were transferred to solitary confinement at this prison on Saturday May 7 in
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May 11 PAKISTAN: SC stays execution of 3 convicted by military courts The Supreme Court stayed on Tuesday execution of 3 convicts handed down death sentences by military courts and ordered office of the Attorney General to respond to allegations mentioned in a petition. The order was issued by a 3-judge bench headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim that had taken up the appeals moved by convicts Ajab Gul, Fazal Ghaffar and Ms Zarba Khelow against the April 13 judgement of the Peshawar High Court (PHC). The apex court also issued notices to the Judge Advocate General Branch, the legal arm of the armed forces, and postponed further proceedings to a date to be decided later. A separate 5-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali is seized with 12 different appeals instituted against convictions by the military courts, including death sentences handed down to militants for their role in various terrorist attacks. Rights activist Asma Jahangir told Dawn the apex court had stayed the execution of her client, Ajab Gul, the brother of Taj Gul who was awarded a death sentence by a military court. Taj Gul, a resident of Upper Dir, was handed over to security forces by elders of the area some 5 years ago. On April 13, the PHC had upheld the death sentences handed down by the military courts to 6 militants, including Taj Gul and Fazal Ghaffar. Ms Jahangir said that although the high court upheld the sentences on the grounds that due process was followed, she pleaded before the court that her client was denied the right, also available under the Pakistan Army Act, to be represented by a suitable legal counsel during the trial. Moreover, no document was shown to her client to prove that he actually participated in any assault on a government or public property or the personnel of law enforcement agencies, she added. Her petition claimed that even though their family members met the accused several times at an internment centre at the Pak-Austria Institute of Tourism and Management in Swat, they came to know about their conviction only through media reports on March 15. A public announcement made by the Inter-Services Public Relations on March 15 said the convict was an active member of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and was involved in attacking law enforcement agencies which resulted in the death of police constables and personnel of the Levies force. A large cache of arms and explosives was recovered from the possession of the convict and he confessed to having committed the offences before a magistrate, for which he was given the capital punishment. Fazal Ghaffar, 38, was represented in court by Advocate Ahmed Raza Kasuri. Ghaffar was also detained and subsequently kept at an internment centre until his conviction and award of death sentence by the military court. The family of this convict also came to know about the death sentence through the media. Ghaffar was charged with attacking personnel of security forces. Fateh Khan was represented by Advocate Laiq Swati. He was handed over to the security forces on Dec 27, 2009, in the Charbagh area of Swat district and believed to be a teacher at a seminary before his arrest by the security forces. The counsel too pleaded that his client had been denied fair trial as he was not allowed to engage a defence lawyer of his choice during his trial. The military courts, set up after the Dec 16, 2014 carnage at the Army Public School in Peshawar, have so far convicted 76 militants, of which 72 have been awarded death sentences and four life terms. Only 8 of the militants have so far been executed, most of them involved in the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. (source: Dawn) BANGLADESH: Bangladesh's Nizami urged patience before death: SonNizami's son Mohammad Nakibur Rahman says 'there is no doubt' that India is behind the execution "Stay patient" were the last words of Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami before being hanged last night, his son said. Hours after burying his father, Mohammad Nakibur Rahman told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that Nizami "asked all of us to remain patient" and wished for "all of us to see each other in Jannah," or Heaven. Motiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami party, was convicted by the nation's International Crimes Tribunal and hanged on accusations of committing atrocities during Bangladesh's 1971 War of Independence. Jahangir Kabir, a prison official, confirmed to Anadolu Agency reporter that Nizami was hanged at the Dhaka Central Jail at 12:10 a.m. local time Wednesday. Rahman, an assistant professor of finance at the U.S.' University of North Carolina, and a human right activist, said Jamaat-e-Islami had supported a united Pakistan and been "very active in keeping Pakistan united". But Jamaat had "no relationship with atrocities that took
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May 11 INDIA: Outfit seeks death penalty in Santhal woman's murder case All India Manji Pangana Mahal (AIMPM), a national Santhal tribe outfit, here today staged a sit-in protest demanding death penalty for the killer of a B.Ed student who was shot dead outside her college last week. 31-year-old Sonali Murmu, a married Santhal women, was shot dead outside her college and her hand severed in front of the institute's campus on May 4. Addressing the protest gathering at Subhash Chowk here, District Convener of the tribal outfit AIMPM Babulal Hembrom said the killer of Murmu should be "arrested and hanged". Hembrom said the government has been claiming that initiatives were taken for women empowerment but a poor tribal woman was killed in broad day light outside her college. The incident projects the true picture of women empowerment initiatives in the state, he added. According to police, Murmu was allegedly being harassed by one Suken Mandal of Dumka for long who had even threatened her after marriage. Prima facie, the killing appeared to be Mandal's handiwork as he was in love with her, Superintendent of Police, M Tamilvanan, had said. A number of Santhal men and women joined the protest today in front of the statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and demanded immediate arrest of the culprit and capital punishment. The protest was supported by various Left parties. (source: Zee news) IRANexecutions Iran regime hangs 4 prisoners in Isfahan The mullahs' regime has hanged 4 prisoners in a notorious jail in Isfahan, central Iran, according to local reports. The 4 prisoners, who were not named, were hanged on Sunday in Dastgerd Prison. Also on Sunday a man was hanged in public in Kermanshah, western Iran, and another man was hanged in a prison in Minab, southern Iran. On Monday 2 prisoners were hanged in a prison in Orumieh (Urmia), north-west Iran. The latest hangings bring to at least 70 the number of people executed in Iran since April 10. 3 of those executed were women and 1 is believed to have been a juvenile offender. Iran's fundamentalist regime on Monday amputated the fingers of a man in his thirties in the city of Mashhad, north-east Iran, the latest in a line of draconian punishments handed down and carried out in recent weeks. The state-run Khorasan newspaper identified the victim by his initials M. T., adding that he was 39 years old. The prisoner was accused of theft and is also serving a 3-year jail sentence. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement on April 13 that the increasing trend of executions "aimed at intensifying the climate of terror to rein in expanding protests by various strata of the society, especially at a time of visits by high-ranking European officials, demonstrates that the claim of moderation is nothing but an illusion for this medieval regime." Amnesty International in its April 6 annual Death Penalty report covering the 2015 period wrote: "Iran put at least 977 people to death in 2015, compared to at least 743 the year before." "Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions recorded" in the Middle East and North Africa, the human rights group said. There have been more than 2,300 executions during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as President. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran in March announced that the number of executions in Iran in 2015 was greater than any year in the last 25 years. Rouhani has explicitly endorsed the executions as examples of "God's commandments" and "laws of the parliament that belong to the people." (source: NCR-Iran) *** 19-Year-Old Prisoner Hanged in Northeastern Iran A young prisoner with murder charges was reportedly hanged at Mashhad Central Prison (in the Razavi Khorasan province, northeastern Iran) on Sunday May 8 at 4:50am. The state-run news site, Rokna, identifies the prisoner as a 19-year-old by the name of "Morteza". Although the report does not mention the date of arrest, there is a possibility that the prisoner was arrested when he was under the age of 18. (source: Iran Human Rights) PAKISTANexecutions Murderer of 11 among 2 sent to gallows 2 murder convicts were sent to gallows yesterday. Later, the dead bodies were handed over to the heirs for burial. The convicts identified as Captain (Retd) Zafar Iqbal and Mirza Shafique Ahmed were supposed to be hanged in April but their executions were delayed after they filed applications in courts against their execution. In the case of Iqbal, he was supposed to be hanged on April 25 but his execution was delayed on the directions of the district and sessions court after he filed an application saying that his family had reached a compromise with the victim family. Iqbal was convicted for killing 11 persons of a family. The convict had gunned down 6 of his relatives at Arya Mohalla in
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May 11 ANTIGUA & BARBUDA: UN wants death penalty off the books Several countries at the United Nations (UN) have recommended that the government of Antigua & Barbuda establish a formal moratorium on capital punishment. The recommendations, which came from among approximately 44 country representatives at the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council???s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), continued despite the representatives being advised that a de facto moratorium has existed since the 1990s. The 1st representative to raise the matter was from Australia. "Establish a formal moratorium on the death penalty with a view to ratifying the second optional protocol to the international covenant on civil and political rights," she advised. Many other countries followed suit. Panama's representative said, "Consider establishing an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty ..." while another Latin American country, Honduras, advised the same. The United Kingdom's (UK) representative said, " ... respect national legal procedures and the standards required by the Privy Council and the UN for the protection of the rights of prisoners sentenced to death." In response, Antigua & Barbuda's representative at the review, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Senator, Maureen Payne-Hyman, assured the group that in practice a moratorium exists. "With the issue of the death penalty, that's a very touchy and vexing issue in the Caribbean. In Antigua, it does not matter what type of crime you've committed, you're not executed," she said. Portugal responded by advising that the government abolish capital punishment "both in practice and in law." Many similar recommendations followed. The UPR is conducted on the human right records of all UN member states. The latest review was Antigua & Barbuda's 2nd. The 1st review was conducted in 2011. Superintendent of Her Majesty's Prison (HMP) Albert Wade confirmed that there are no inmates awaiting the execution of a sentence of death or "on death row" as any such inmates were ordered to be re-sentenced by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. (source: Antigua Observer) JAMAICA: Jamaican Diaspora's mixed feelings of possible return of hanging The Jamaicans in the U.S. may be united in a call for stronger action to stem the tide of killings in their birthplace but they are divided when it comes to resuming hanging. Reacting to a disclosure by Robert Montague, Jamaica's National Security Minister that the Andrew Holness Administration was considering bringing back the death penalty, Jamaicans in the Diaspora, especially in New York, said aggressive steps were urgently needed to reduce the high homicide rate but they were far from being unanimous on any return of capital punishment. "The problem we face is the wanton use of violence in the commission of crime in Jamaica," said New York Assemblyman Nick Perry, Assistant Speaker pro-tem of the legislature in Albany. "The killings of innocent people, especially in case in which the victims have handed over their possessions and are not fighting back are appalling and cry out for stiffer punishment. People are simply fed up with what is taking place and many are agitating for a strong response, including hanging. "Although I am not a supporter of the death penalty I wouldn't be among those who are arguing we must save the life of a convicted killer who murdered someone in such merciless circumstances," insisted Perry. "The country is desperate for a solution in the wake of some killings. "Scientific research has shown that capital punishment isn't a deterrent, but there is increasing support across Jamaica for it because in far too many cases, there was no rhyme or reason to take people's lives," added Perry, Chairman of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus in the state legislature. "I am not a death penalty advocate but in some cases its use may be justified." The recent killings of 2 American missionaries, Harold Nichols and Randy Hentzel, who had spent 14 years building houses and otherwise serving poor communities in the Albion Mountain region in north-eastern St. Mary have triggered widespread concern in and out of Jamaica. "Marks of violence were seen on Nichol's body," said Dwight Powell, Deputy Superintendent and acting head of St. Mary's police. Hentzel's body was found face down in bushes with his hands bound behind his back. "It was a horrible example of violence," said Assemblyman Perry. Joan Pinnock, President of the Jamaican-American Bar Association, Northeast, agreed but was quick to reject any return of hanging in the Caricom nation. "The crime situation is quite bad as children, seniors and the youth are being victimized," complained Pinnock, representative of the northeastern region of the U.S. on the Jamaica Diaspora Board. "But we must find
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May 10 TAIWANexecution Taiwan executes subway killer Taiwan on Tuesday executed a former college student who killed 4 people in a random stabbing spree on a subway 2 years ago, in an attack which horrified the generally peaceful island. Cheng Chieh, 23, was anaesthetised then shot 3 times by a firing squad at a jail outside Taipei a little before 9pm (9pm Singapore time), deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters. "Death was the only way to show publically that justice had been served and to relieve the sorrow and pain of victims' families," he said. Cheng was sentenced to death last year for killing 4 people and injuring another 22, in the first fatal attack on the capital's subway system since it launched in 1996. His execution surprised many, however, as it came less than 3 weeks after the supreme court upheld the death sentence despite last-ditch efforts by rights groups. Among the victims of the attack in May 2014 was a man named Hsieh Ching-yun. His mother said she was "glad" Cheng had been executed. "Losing my son is a pain that will last forever, for the rest of my life," she told the TVBS cable news network. Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Cheng, saying psychological evaluations showed that he was not suffering from any mental disorder when he committed the crime. Cheng, who pleaded guilty to the charges, was expelled by his university after the attack and was described by prosecutors as "anti-society, narcissistic, immature and pessimistic". Local media said he had been obsessed with gory online games and had written horror stories. Cheng's parents had asked for him to be sentenced to death, calling their son's actions "unforgivable". The incident shocked Taiwan, otherwise proud of its low levels of violent crime, and resulted in several minor injuries as edgy commuters fled trains over false alarms in the following week. There are currently 42 prisoners on death row in Taiwan, all of whom will face a firing squad when they are executed. Hundreds of Taiwanese rallied in April (2016) to show support for retaining the death penalty after the beheading of a four-year-old girl on March 28 near a Taipei metro station. The attack was carried out by 33-year-old man who had previously been arrested for drug-related crimes and had sought treatment for mental illness. Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year hiatus. But executions are reserved for the most serious crimes such as aggravated murder and kidnapping. Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various opinion surveys show majority support for the death penalty. In 2012 the murder of a 10-year-old boy in a playground reignited debate over the death penalty, after the suspect reportedly said he was anticipating free board and lodging in jail and would get a life sentence at most even if he were to kill 2 or 3 people. (source: straitstimes.com) PHILIPPINES: New President should break cycle of human rights violations, not compound them If President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is serious about introducing change in the Philippines, he must turn his back on the history of human rights violations and end the prevailing culture of impunity, Amnesty International said today. Rodrigo Duterte, the former Mayor of Davao city, is set to become the newly-elected President of the Philippines after leading the voting in the 9 May 2016 election. Duterte's principal rivals have conceded defeat. "If Rodrigo Duterte is serious about bringing change to the Philippines, he should address the dire human rights situation in the country and put an end to extrajudicial executions, unlawful arrests, secret detention as well as torture and other ill-treatment," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International???s Director for South East Asia and the Pacific. During the course of the presidential election campaign, Duterte has issued a series of inflammatory statements that, if enacted, would contravene the Philippines' international human rights obligations, including his promise to reduce crime rates by shooting suspected criminals. "As leader of the Philippines, the President-elect must protect and uphold human rights, not reject them. This includes the right to life, due process and fair trial," said Rafendi Djamin. "The way to bring about true and lasting change for the Philippines is by putting in place robust, transparent and accountable mechanisms to bring about an end to longstanding human rights violations. Threatening to introduce a culture of impunity, as Rodrigo Duterte has done in recent weeks, will only exacerbate the problems that he campaigned to resolve." Background: First 100 days In November 2015, Amnesty International published a human rights agenda for the Philippines' next President outlining 5 areas which should be top of their human rights agenda in their first 100 days.
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May 10 PAKSITANexecution Death row convict hanged in Sahiwal A death row prisoner involved in murder case was executed in the Central Jail Sahiwal on early Tuesday morning, Dunya News reported. According to details, prisoner Mansha had killed a man in 2001 during a robbery attempt. The dead body of the prisoner was handed over to his heirs after the execution. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted a 6-year moratorium on death penalty on December 17, 2014 for those convicted for terrorism a day after the deadly attack on Army Public School in Peshawar that left 150 persons including mostly children dead. There are more than 8,000 prisoners on death row in the country. (source: Dunya News) IRANexecutions 2 Prisoners Hanged in Northwestern Iran 2 prisoners with murder charges were reportedly hanged at Darya, Urmia's central prison (in the province of West Azerbaijan, northwestern Iran), on Monday May 9. According to a report by the human rights news agency, HRANA, these 2 prisoners are among 6 who were transferred to solitary confinement at this prison on Sunday May 8 in preparation for their executions. HRANA has identified the s executed prisoners as Nasser Saeedi and Mehdi Naboshi. s of the other prisoners, reportedly identified as Omid Behrouz and Khaled Zika, succeeded to postpone their executions for a brief period of time and were returned to their cells. Behrouz is scheduled to be executed one month from now and Zika in 5 days. The other 2 prisoners, reportedly identified as Behnam Hassanzadeh and Hesam Neez, were spared from execution after they succeeded to receive consent from the plaintiffs on their case files. They were also returned to their cells. Iranian official sources, including state-run media and the Judiciary, have been silent on these executions. Prisoner Hanged in Southern Iran on Drug Charges A prisoner with drug charges was reportedly hanged at Minab Prison (in the southern Hormozgan province) on Sunday May 8. The Baloch Activists Campaign has identified the prisoner as Mohsen Bahaoldini, a man who resided in Giran, a town located in the southern Sistan & Baluchestan province of Iran. Iranian official sources, including state run media and the Judiciary, have been silent about Bahaoldini's execution. (source for both: Iran Human Rights) INDONESIA: Govt Agrees on Death Penalty for Rapists The government has agreed to give maximum penalties to rapists and sexual offenders. The agreement is the result of a coordination meeting between ministries that was held at the office of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture Monday, May 10, 2016. Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yasonna H. Laoly said that the prison sentence for rapists and sexual offenders will be extended from 15 years to 20 years. Some rapists and offenders can also be given life sentences. "They may also be given the death penalty if the victim dies," Yasonna said. Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani said that the identity of sex offenders will also be revealed to the public. "So that the public knows that the offenders have committed an inhumane crime," said Puan. Yasona said that that only adult rapists and sex offenders will have their identities revealed to the public. The identities of offenders who are still minors when they committed the crime will be kept private. The government will also impose social sanctions to enhance the deterrent effect and provide shock therapy. "We are still discussing the technicalities of this social punishment," Puan said. During their sentences, the criminals will be guided and rehabilitated to prevent them from repeating their crimes. The coordination meeting this morning also discussed the possibility of castrating sexual offenders and rapists. No decisions have been made regarding this idea. Puan said the meeting was held in response to the rampant cases of rape and sexual assaults. The most recent case is one that took the life of a 14-year-old girl in Bengkulu, who was gang-raped and killed by her assaulters. The police have arrested 12 suspects. 2 others are still at large. 7 suspects are currently being tried in court. (source: tempo.co) * Preparations for Next Round of Death Penalty on Track: A-G Prasetyo Preparations ahead of the 3rd round of executions are on track with 14 death row inmates on the list, Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo said on Monday. "Preparations [of execution] have been conducted and the legal base as well. We just need to choose the time," Prasetyo told reporters. The Attorney General's Office, however, is still keeping the dates of executions and the names of inmates secret, although it is believed the round will take place this year. "We never said it would stop. The executions will be continued, but are yet to name the time," he
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May 10 IRELAND: 10 amazing Irish men and women who cheated the hangman Ireland had a bitter history of the death penalty under the British. Famous rebels like Henry Joy McCracken, Robert Emmet and Padraig Pearse were put to death as a warning to other Irish people considering rebellion against the Crown. Based on this, it's no surprise that when the Irish sat down after independence to write their own laws they initially planned to abolish capital punishmen. The Irish Civil War soon changed minds, however, and the ultimate deterrent was kept on the statute books. 29 ordinary Irish people would be hanged for murder before capital punishment was abolished in Ireland in 1964, but an even greater number would be sentenced to death before narrowly escaping the gallows. Here is a list of 10 men and women who nearly came face-to-face with the executioner. 1. Hannah Flynn Flynn was from Killorglin, Co Kerry and in 1922 was working as a domestic servant for the O'Sullivan family who lived nearby. She was sacked after just 2 months, however, for theft and disobedience. On Easter Sunday the following year Margaret O'Sullivan was found lying on the kitchen floor by her husband when he returned from Mass. She had been butchered with a hatchet. Flynn was immediately under suspicion and was swiftly found guilty of murder and given a date of execution. She was given a recommendation to mercy on account of her "low intellect" and received a reprieve after the sentence. She spent 18 years in prison before being released into a convent. 2. Patrick Aylward Aylward was involved in an agricultural feud with his neighbors, the Holdens, in Kilkenny in 1923. He was accused, and found guilty, of taking their 18-month-old son William and pushing him into the fire, causing him an agonizing death as revenge. Aylward came within days of execution for the crime, but was reprieved at the last minute. He served 10 years in jail instead. He went to his death insisting that he had been framed for the horrific crime. 3. Jane O'Brien O'Brien lived in Killinick, Co. Wexford, with her nephew John Cousins. In 1932 Cousins was engaged to be married and told his aunt that she would have to move out to make way for his new bride. The elderly woman instead took a shotgun from under his bed and shot him as he returned from the pub. She was found guilty but received a reprieve on account of her age and gender. 4. Mary Agnes Daly Daly was threatened with eviction in 1948 for being unable to pay her rent. She then attacked a stranger in a church in Glasnevin, Co. Dublin, using a hammer she had brought with her (apparently to break open church money boxes.) The stranger was 83 year-old Mary Gibbons. Daly was quickly found guilty and scheduled to meet Pierrepoint, the hangman. She was reprieved 2 weeks before the execution, spending 6 years in jail instead. 5. Shan Mohangi Mohangi was a South African medical student who came to Dublin to study in the early 60s. The 23-year-old started seeing a 14-year-old girl named Hazel Mullen shortly afterwards but proved to be insanely jealous. In August 1963 he strangled her after accusing her of kissing another boy and dismembered her body gruesomely. Mohangi was sentenced to death for the despicable crime, but in a retrial was found guilty of manslaughter only. He served just 4 years in prison and returned to South Africa on his release. In 2009 he was running for political office in South Africa when his murderous past caught up with him. He was forced to withdraw from the race. 6. Mary Somerville Mary Somerville's daughter gave birth to a child outside of wedlock in Co. Monaghan in 1938. Instead of living with the huge social shame that came with such an occurrence in 1930s Ireland, however, Mary took the baby girl and threw her into a pond outside her house. The body was discovered some weeks later and the grandmother was given a death sentence for 2 days before Christmas, 1938. It was commuted on the 9th of the same month. 7. Daniel Duff Garda James Byrne is amongst the unfortunate number of Irish policeman shot dead while on duty. Incredibly, however, it was a fellow Garda who fired the bullet that killed Byrne. Byrne fought with Garda Daniel Duff in 1945 when they were both stationed on armed night-duty in Co. Limerick. Duff, convinced that his colleague was drawing his gun, pulled out his own firearm and shot Byrne twice through the heart. Duff claimed self-defence but was found guilty and given the death sentence. He was reprieved and served just over 5 years in Mountjoy Prison. 8. Hannah O'Leary O'Leary was jointly charged with murder in 1924 along with her brother Con. The 2 were found guilty of killing their brother Patrick and dismembering his corpse before scattering it around a field adjoining their farmhouse in Kilkerran, Co. Cork. Both denied the charges but were sentenced to death nonetheless.
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May 9 BELARUSexecution Statement by the Spokesperson on the execution of Syarhey Iwanow and of the confirmation of the death sentence against Sergei Khmelevsky Despite the many calls made by the European Union, another execution has been carried out in Belarus. The case of Syarhey Iwanow, who had been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Belarus in March 2015, is particularly disturbing in light of the fact that his complaint was pending with the UN Human Rights Committee. The death sentence against Sergei Khmelevsky, which was upheld by the Belarus Supreme Court on 6 May, has also been confirmed. The European Union opposes capital punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity. Over the last decades, numerous countries have realised that the death penalty cannot be justified under any circumstances and have stopped applying it. We expect Belarus, the only country in Europe still applying capital punishment, to join a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards its abolition. (source: diplomaticintelligence.eu) BANGLADESH: Suspend Death Penalty for War Crimes ConvictRejection of Review Petition Paves Way for Execution Despite Fair Trial Concerns The death sentence against Motiur Rahman Nizami, the head of Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islaami party, should be suspended with immediate effect, Human Rights Watch said today. The Supreme Court's May 5 rejection of his review petition means that Nizami could be hanged in the coming days after the deadline to appeal for presidential clemency expires. Nizami was convicted for war crimes allegedly committed by forces under his command during Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence by the country's specially constituted International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in 2014. Several prominent international observers have expressed serious concerns over previous death penalty convictions handed down by the ICT due to concerns over fair trials. "Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an irreversible, degrading, and cruel punishment," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "It is particularly problematic when there are questions about whether proceedings meet fair trial standards." Nizami was charged with 16 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes allegedly committed by forces under his command, known as the Al-Badr, during Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. Nizami was allegedly the leader of Al-Badr, a paramilitary organization which supported the then West Pakistan army against the East Pakistan army and was responsible for some of the worst crimes which took place during the 1971 war of independence. In October 2014 Nizami was found guilty of eight of these charges. He was sentenced to death for being complicit in genocide and crimes against humanity on 4 charges of rape and killings of intellectuals. Nizami appealed the convictions in November 2014. In January 2016, the Supreme Court acquitted Nizami of 3 of the 8 charges, including a death penalty charge, but upheld 5, including 3 death penalty charges. In March 2016 Nizami filed a petition asking for a review of his case. That petition, his final chance for a rehearing, was denied last week. As in other cases before the ICT, the court put an arbitrary limit on the number of witnesses Nizami could call to defend himself against charges of war crimes. Nizami was ultimately allowed to call just 4 witnesses in his defense. He was not allowed to challenge prosecution witnesses who allegedly had offered prior inconsistent testimony. Conversations leaked to the Economist as part of the "Skypegate" scandal also revealed that the Nizami trial was unlawfully discussed by the presiding judge, the prosecution, and an external consultant, who were heard debating trial strategies. Human Rights Watch strongly supports the need for justice and accountability for war crimes committed during Bangladesh???s 1971 conflict but has pointed out numerous shortcomings in ICT proceedings leading to flawed judgments and, in some cases, hangings, despite well-documented fair trial concerns. Human Rights Watch reiterated its long-standing call for the government of Bangladesh to restore fundamental rights of protection to those accused of war crimes. Bangladesh's problematic article 47A(1) of the constitution specifically strips those accused of war crimes of their fundamental rights, including the right to an expeditious trial by an independent and impartial court or tribunal. This pernicious amendment to the constitution allows the ICT overly broad discretion to deny those charged with war crimes the same rights and procedures as other defendants. Human Rights Watch also called on the Bangladeshi government to impose a moratorium on the death penalty with a plan to abolish it
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May 9 INDONESIA: Bali 9 lawyer calls for death penalty discussion a year on from executions The Indonesian lawyer for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran says it is time for activists fighting to end the death penalty in the country to engage with the Islamic community about the cause. Indonesian lawyer Dr Todung Mulya Lubis and Australian barrister Julian McMahon led the long legal fight against the executions of the Bali 9 duo, who were shot by a firing squad on the prison island of Nusakambangan in April last year. Speaking just over a week after the 1-year anniversary of their deaths, Dr Mulya said it was time to start a dialogue with the Islamic community around executions. "It was taken for granted by those death penalty activists that you cannot converse with them, as they are extremists. But I think it's time for us to do that," he told the ASEAN Literary Festival yesterday in Jakarta. When he began campaigning against the death penalty in Indonesia in 1979 he said he was accused of being anti-Islamic and anti-Pancasila (the 5 moral principles said to make up Indonesian life and society). "Every label was put on me ... But I'm pleased to know there are more and more people now talking about the death penalty." Mr McMahon said while it was common for the 21st century to be described as something belonging to Asia, economic growth and leadership was not enough. "In that context you have to think of society as a whole, and that includes crime and punishment. "There is no evidence that shows that executions have any value in terms of being a deterrent," he added. The comments come after Indonesia's Attorney-General HM Prasetyo flagged that executions in the country were likely to resume this year. While there has been no announcement as to when this will happen, Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan has said he did not want to see a repeat of the "drama" like what occurred in the lead up to the Australians' executions, during which there was intense foreign media attention and diplomatic pressure on Indonesia, as well as strident international appeals and pleas from family members. He has said that the law stipulated Indonesia only needed to give three days' notice as to when an execution was going to take place. (source: tvnz.co.nz) *** Death-row convicts moved to Nusakambangan ahead of executions Several death-row inmates have reportedly been moved to Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, signaling that their executions will be held in the near future. 3 death-row convicts from Tembesi prison in Batam were quietly transferred to Nusakambangan prison on Sunday evening. They are inmates whose verdicts were final and binding. Using official prison authority vessel KM Pengayoman, the three inmates from Batam were taken across from the Wijayapura Quay in Cilacap to "execution island" at around 8 p.m. local time. They are Agus Hadi, 53; Pudjo, 42; and Suryanto, 53. "They are death-row inmates from the Batam Class II Penitentiary," Abdul Aris, warden of Batu prison in Nusakambangan, told journalists on Sunday. They were convicted for drug-trafficking charges, he went on. Abdul further explained that the 3 Batam inmates were put together with several other death-row convicts in Batu prison. There were 59 death-row convicts waiting for their executions in Nusakambangan, he added. Last port of call - Police and security officers secure areas around the Wijayapura Quay in Cilacap, Central Java, ahead of the 2nd round of executions of drug convicts in April 2015. Law and Human Rights Ministry Central Java chapter head of correctional institution division Molyanto confirmed the transfer of the 3 death row inmates from Batam to Nusakambangan. However, he could not yet confirm whether they would be executed in the upcoming round of executions, the third under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration. "Nusakambangan today received three drug inmates who have received the death penalty. Concerning whether they are on the list of convicts to be executed, we still don't know," Molyanto told journalists on Sunday. Earlier, Attorney General M Prasetyo confirmed the execution of drug-related death row inmates whose verdicts were final and binding would be carried out soon, saying that all preparations had been made and it was now just a matter of time, he said. Prasetyo further said that the 3rd round of executions would be conducted on Nusakambangan, the same location as the previous executions of 14 drug convicts in January and April 2015. (source: The Jakara Post) PAPUA NEW GUINEA: PNG appeal to stave off death penalty Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court has deferred a ruling until next month in a case in which a lawyer asked the court to convert a death penalty for his client to a 30-year jail sentence. The case follows the killing of a woman in Milne Bay 11 years ago when two
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May 9 IRANexecution 1 Prisoner Hanged Publicly In Western Iran 1 prisoner was hanged publicly in the "Azadi" (Liberty) Square of Kermanshah, western Iran. The public execution was carried out in front of hundreds of people Sunday morning May 8. According to the Iranian state-run news agencies Fars and YJC the prisoner who was identified as "Fardin R." was convicted of Moharebeh (waging war against God), through participation in an armed robbery. few people had been injured under the robbery but no one had been killed, said the report. The Azadi (Liberty) Square of Kermanshah has been the site of several public executions in the past. (source: Iran Human Rights) IRELAND: On this date in history: 1916: British execute insurgents involved in Dublin rising - archive; 9 May 1916: The work of rounding up the rebels proceeds vigorously. In county Wexford already 300 are in custody 23 more death sentences after trials by court-martial were announced in last night's official report issued from Headquarters in Ireland. Of these 4 have been carried out - the men who have been shot (says the announcement) were very prominent in the rising - and 19 commuted to various terms of penal servitude. Edmund Kent, a member of the "Provisional Government," is 1 of the 4 rebels who suffered the death penalty. Altogether 12 men have been executed and 66 persons sentenced to various terms of penal servitude. The work of "rounding up" the rebels proceeds vigorously. In county Wexford already 300 rebels are in custody, including 6 women, and in Galway exhausted and dejected prisoners are being brought in. In Ulster, as elsewhere, many persons connected with the Sinn Fein movement are also being arrested; 1/4 of the membership in Belfast are said to be custody. For the punishment of looters a special court has been set up in Dublin. Editorial: The Dublin executions The Dublin military executions are becoming an atrocity - 4 more men were shot yesterday - and there is no sign that they are about to stop. Mr. REDMOND raised a protest in the House of Commons yesterday, but apparently quite in vain. Mr. ASQUITH refused to give any pledge that a term should be placed to these proceedings, and, so far as appears, they may continue as long as seems good, to the military authorities in Dublin. What ground is there for these severities, and what purpose are they expected to serve? A dozen men have now been executed, and we do not know how many more condemned to long terms of penal servitude. We can understand that it may have been desired in the first instance that swift punishment should be seen to follow the offence and that an example should thus be set and a stern warning given. But this purpose has long since been served, and the effect of further severity inflicted by tribunals setting in secret and without any of the ordinary safeguards of justice can only be to cause a revulsion of feeling in favour of the criminal and to convert traitors into heroes. The thing is not only wrong, it is pre-eminently foolish. It neither is, nor will it be, mistaken for a proof of strength. It is, on the contrary, a sure sign of weakness. Nothing is easier than to shirk responsibility and leave the courts-martial to follow their own devices. But to do this is merely to show, in the punishment of the rising, the same shortsightedness and incapacity which are largely responsible for the failure to anticipate and provide against it. Persistence in these bloody punishments is, we are certain, condemned by instructed Irish opinion in all parties. An Act of Indemnity, if one is necessary in view of the Defence of the Realm Acts and Regulations, will in due course be passed by Parliament for the military agents in the Government. The Government itself may find it less easy to obtain one in the court of public opinion and of history. (source: The Guardian) JAMAICA: Disappearing death row The 1st dwindling of the death row population began in 1992 when the Offences Against the Person Act was amended. The amendment paved the way for 2 categories of murder: capital and non-capital. Capital murder attracted the mandatory death penalty, while for non-capital, the sentence was life imprisonment, but the judge must state how many years the prisoner must serve before he could be eligible for parole. The amendment applied retroactively and resulted in the commutation of sentences of life imprisonment for a large number of convicts. Parliament was compelled to amend the act in 2005 following the outcome of the Privy Council's landmark ruling in 2004 in the Jamaican case of Lambert Watson, who had challenged the mandatory death sentence. The Privy Council struck down the mandatory death sentence and ruled that it was unconstitutional. Sentencing in murder cases is now left solely to the discretion of judges, but there are relatively few cases in which the
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May 8 PAKISTAN: Capital punishment to 2 postponed for 10 Days The death penalty awarded to two persons in famous murder cases has been postponed in Central Jail Mirpur for 10 days on the appeal of the families of convicts forforgiveness. According to Jail authorities, the schedule followed byissuance of the death warrants after rejection of the mercypetitions of both of the culprits by the President of Azad Jammu , the murderers Muhammad Yaqoob s/o Raja Muhammad and Ghazenfer son of Ghazen, both residents of Kotli district of AJK, were to be put on gallows in the Mirpur Central Jail on Friday (May6, 2016) morning, Syed Yasir Hussain Kazmi, Deputy SuperintendentCentral Jail told APP on Saturday. The convict Mohammad Yaqoob had axed Imam of a mosque Muhammad Javed at Tattapani village to death few years ago. Similarly the other assassin Ghazenfer had shot dead his relative Raja Illayas, Naib Tehsildar at Gulpur few years back. Both the accused were awarded death penalty in the murder charges by a district criminal court of AJK and the capital punishment kept intact by the Supreme Court of AJK - as the appeals of both the culprits against the punishment were turned down by the apex court, the Deputy Jailer said. The award of capital punishment was postponed reportedly for 10 days after the families of the murderers moved to the victim's families for clemency for patch-up between the rival groups, he added. (source: APP) INDIA: Bara massacre: After 15 years on death row, families of accused say they've lost track of their cases 15 years after they were sentenced to death, families of those convicted for the Bara massacre here have lost track of their cases. A media visit draws curious villagers to the house of one accused, seeking to know if there is something new. Ajay Das alias Ajay Mochi is not among them. His mother was pregnant with him when father Krishna Das alias Krishna Mochi was given death along with 6 others, in the February 13, 1992, killings of 35 upper-caste Bhumihars. Sitting on a cot outside his mud-and-thatch house at Dhiwra village, 2 km from Bara, Ajay says he has grown tired of media visits. Admitting that he never goes to Bhagalpur jail to meet Krishna, now 58, Ajay says, "They tell me my father used to be an excellent clarinet player. I am living with the burden of not having seen him." The case of Krishna Mochi is reflective of the points raised in the Death Penalty Research Project. Ajay is the youngest of Krishna's 4 children, including a daughter. All the sons work as daily wagers. Krishna was not allowed to attend the wedding of any of the 4. Ironically, adds the family, Krishna used to be the member of a village wedding band. His father Chaitu Das, who died 5 years ago, was also a known band master. The Bara massacre, in which MCC (now CPI-Maoist) members killed 34 Bhumihars, was part of a string of caste clashes in the area. The 1992 massacre itself was believed to be the fallout of 6 previous killings in 1990-91 in which 59 Scheduled Caste men and agricultural labourers were killed. In 1997, the upper castes carried out a revenge attack for the Bara massacre, leaving 58 Dalits dead in Laxmanpur-Bathe. For the Bara massacre, the Gaya District and Sessions court gave death to Nanhelal Mochi, Krishna Mochi, Bir Kuer Paswan and Dharmendra Singh on June 8, 2001. The Supreme Court endorsed this in April 2002. In 2009, the designated TADA judge of Gaya sentenced Vyas Kahar, Naresh Paswan and Bugal Mochi to death. Of them, only Dharmendra was an upper caste, having turned against the dominant Bhumihars. Later, Naresh was acquitted on grounds of lack of evidence and shoddy investigation, while the sentence of Vyas and Bugal was commuted to life. Bhagalpur Central Jail authorities say the mercy pleas of the 4 other death row convicts, Nanhelal, Krishna, Bir and Dharmendra, were dispatched to the President on March 3, 2003. Says Vira Maharaj, a jail official, "Once a mercy petition is despatched, we get to know its status only when it is rejected." In the Laxmanpur-Bathe case, incidentally, all the 26 upper caste accused convicted by a lower court were acquitted by the Patna High Court on grounds of inadequate evidence. Says Krishna's wife Chandramani Devi, "My husband was framed just because we were not dependent on upper castes for a living. He earned good money playing at weddings." Son Vinay says they go to meet Krishna at Bhagalpur, 225 km away, only when they can save some money. Jitendra Das, who is married to Krishna's daughter Basanti, says, "Whenever we meet him, he requests us to plead his case. He has not lost hope yet." A few metres away from Krishna's house are razed structures that were once homes of Nanhelal and Bhugal. Their families shifted to Baddi Bigha village in Gaya after their Dhiwra houses were set on fire in 1994, allegedly by some upper caste men.
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May 8 AFGHANISTANexecutions 6 Taliban inmates on death row hanged: Afghan govt 6 Afghan Taliban inmates on death row were hanged on Sunday, government sources said, in the first set of executions approved by President Ashraf Ghani since he came to power in 2014. "In accordance with the Afghan constitution... Ghani approved the execution of 6 terrorists who perpetrated grave crimes against civilians and public security," the presidential palace said in a statement. A government source told AFP that all 6 were Taliban inmates, but did not release further details about their offences. In 2012, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Afghan government to "end its sudden surge of executions and institute a moratorium on further executions" after the Afghan government executed eight people, ending a four-year virtual moratorium on the use of the death penalty, during which only 2 people were reportedly executed, according to the HRW. The NGO cited the "weakness of the Afghan legal system and the routine failure of courts to meet international fair trial standards", which make Afghanistan's "use of the death penalty especially troubling". (source: Daily Times) * Taliban Publicly Execute 2 Women in Northern Afghanistan Taliban insurgents publicly executed 2 women, 1 of them in an apparent honor killing, in northern Afghanistan recently, according to Afghan officials, members of the victims' families and a video posted online. The killings, which were thought to be unrelated, took place in recent months in northern Jowzjan Province, in predominantly Uzbek areas where Taliban presence has traditionally been weak except among ethnic Pashtuns. The killings came to light after a video was circulated of one of them and officials discovered evidence of the other. In 1 of the cases, a pregnant 22-year-old woman named Rabia, a mother of 2 young children, was accused by her husband of adultery, tried and convicted by the Taliban on the spot, and then publicly shot 3 times. Members of her family said that her husband had concocted the adultery charge because of a land dispute between their families, and that he had wanted to inherit his wife's interests in the land. "They buried her without even allowing her family to participate in her funeral," said Shakera, her aunt, who like many Afghans has only 1 name. "I know she was a very innocent woman," Shakera said, speaking by telephone from her home in the provincial capital, Shibarghan. "She did not have the heart to be unfaithful." Another motive for the Taliban to kill her, Shakera said, was that 2 of Rabia's uncles were militia commanders loyal to the Uzbek leader, Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is also first vice president of Afghanistan. According to the deputy police chief of Jowzjan Province, Col. Abdul Hafeez, the apparent honor killing took place in Memlek village in the district of Faizabad. The district governor of Faizabad, Saira Shekib, who is one of Afghanistan's few female governors, said it had been personally carried out by the Taliban's shadow governor in the district, whom she identified as Qari Rasool. The killings were reminiscent of similar executions carried out frequently from 1996 to 2001, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan and killed many women convicted of so-called moral crimes by shooting them in the head at the National Stadium before large crowds. In rural areas, where the group holds sway, they have often stoned women to death for suspected moral offenses. The 2nd Jowzjan execution is believed to have taken place four months ago, though the video surfaced only in the past couple days. The victim is seen in a blue burqa, sitting on the ground. A Taliban court convicted her of killing her husband, whose family crowded around the execution site and loudly voted to execute her. The victim's identity was not known, but Colonel Hafeez said that the authorities believed that the video was genuine and that the execution had taken place in the Khanaqa district. The executioner's face is covered, but he was believed to be the district's Taliban commander. The children of Rabia, the victim in the suspected honor killing, were not present when the Taliban official summarily executed her in the yard of her home. But according to Shakera, Rabia's 3-year-old daughter found her mother's bloodied sandals after the killing and recognized them. "She ran to her grandma asking where is her mother," Shakera said. "The grandma did not have an answer for her." Rabia's 6-month-old son had still been breast-feeding at the time his mother was killed, Shakera said, and members of the family say they have been unable to afford enough powdered baby formula for the infant. Both children remained with the father's family. (source: New York Times) * Horrific video shows Taliban publicly killing woman over adultery The woman is forced
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May 7 JAMAICA: Human rights groups urge Jamaica to shelve idea to resume hanging Forget the death penalty and instead focus on fast tracking critical reforms in the justice and law enforcement systems. That's the advice 2 human rights groups - Stand Up for Jamaica (SUFJ) and Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) - have given to National Security Minister Robert Montague following his announcement that government is exploring the possibility of bringing back the death penalty. Montague said the state minister in his ministry, Senator Pearnel Charles Jr, has been instructed to consult with several stakeholders, including the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General's Office, to determine if there are any "legal impediments" to be addressed in resuming hangings. But the groups say there's an abundance of evidence that shows capital punishment is not an effective deterrent to crime, with several countries who continue to impose capital punishment still seeing high rates of violent crime. "Instead of reviving an inhumane and ineffective practice, Government should focus on fast-tracking the critical reforms needed in the justice and law enforcement systems," they said in a joint statement. "Capital punishment does not address the root causes of crime and this is where we feel Minister Montague should focus his attention." SUFJ and JFJ also suggested that if Jamaica is to be a part of the global village then it must accept international norms in order to avoid the consequences of losing critical support and funding from donors and international partners who have clearly expressed their opposition to the death penalty. They added that while they understood the minister's need to send a strong message, "he could have been more prudent in making his comments about the resumption of hanging". "Minister Montague's comments about a resumption of the death penalty has fed into the frustrations of many Jamaicans and has served to ignite passions about what is a very widely debated issue," said SUFJ Executive Director Carla Gullotta. "If we are not careful, this frustration could lead to citizens taking matters into their own hands once they come to appreciate the well-established legal impediments which make the resumption of hanging highly unlikely in Jamaica," Gullotta added. (source: caribbean360.com) AUSTRALIA: Bali 9: Turnbull government considers plan to gag AFP in death penalty cases Australia's federal police would be forbidden from sharing information about drug crimes if it could result in the death penalty under major changes being considered by the Turnbull government. Just after the 1-year anniversary of the executions in Indonesia of Australian drug smuggling ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, a parliamentary review led by retiring Liberal MP Philip Ruddock has called for new guidelines to prevent such cases ever occurring again. The bipartisan report recommends the Australian Federal Police obtain guarantees that prosecutors in partner countries will not seek to apply the death penalty in drug cases before sharing information. In situations where such guarantees cannot be obtained, the AFP should withhold the information. "The need to combat transnational crime cannot override the need to uphold Australia's human rights obligations and avoid exposing people to the death penalty," the report says. The AFP - widely condemned for tipping off Indonesian authorities about Chan and Sukumaran's Bali 9 heroin plot - would have to take a much more careful approach under the plan. In "high risk" cases it would defer to the Attorney-General to make the final decision about how to proceed. Crucially, the new AFP guidelines would apply to foreign nationals as well as Australian citizens. The AFP has defended its role in the Bali 9 case, saying it did not have enough evidence to arrest the Australians before they left for Indonesia. The AFP has not responded to requests for comment to the new report. Official police figures released under Freedom of Information laws last year showed the AFP puts hundreds of people at risk of the death penalty every year - 95 % of them for drug offences - with its information sharing. The report also calls on the government to redouble its efforts to have the death penalty abolished worldwide, particularly in Australia's region and in the United States. Mr Ruddock, who has long been a leading advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, delivered the report as his final act in parliament before calling time on his 43-year political career. "There is no place for the death penalty in the modern world," Mr Ruddock said. Amnesty International said the report was commendable and urged the government to adopt all the recommendations. The Human Rights Law Centre's director of advocacy and research, Emily Howie, echoed that sentiment. "Under current laws and guidelines,
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May 6 UGANDA: Murder Cases Dominate Supreme Court Session Murder cases have dominated the list of cases listed for criminal session before the Supreme Court starting May 9. According to the cause list dated April 28, the court deputy registrar has listed 12 murder cases involving 17 people whose sentences were upheld by the Court of Appeal. Other cases listed include manslaughter, rape and defilement. The cases The murder cases include that of a UPDF soldier, Lt William Obote, who is challenging a conviction and life imprisonment sentence for murdering his wife Grace Katherine Acan, in 2005. Lt Obote was sentenced by the High Court in Lira. A one James Mulindwa is also challenging a life imprisonment sentence for the murder of a friend in 2009. He was sentenced by the court in Mbarara. In another appeal, 3 murder convicts Lawrence Okello, Dennis Mujuni and Alyenyo Marks are challenging a death penalty while Henry Kazarwa is challenging a life sentence for the murder of a bar owner in Mbarara District in 2009. Also on the list is Lt Jonas Ainomugisha who is fighting a death sentence over a 2001 murder of Tibarabihire John at Nyakahita village in Bushenyi District, Gad Magezi who is challenging a life imprisonment sentence as well as Julius Mumbere who was convicted in regard to the Kasese attacks in which many civilians, police officers and Uganda People's Defence Forces soldiers were killed. Meanwhile, the court has directed prison authorities to produce the appellants in court for hearing of their cases. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial organ in the country and it is mainly an appellate court. (source: The Monitor) JAMAICA: Human rights groups come out against reviving hanging 2 human rights groups have come out against a proposal by Minister of National Security, Robert Montague, to revive hanging in Jamaica. In a joint statement, Stand Up for Jamaica and Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) said re-instituting the death penalty is not the answer for curbing the country's crime problem. Stand Up for Jamaica's Executive Director, Maria Carla Gullotta, has taken issue with the national security minister's comments arguing that they could have serious implications. Gullotta contends that the state should protect and preserve life at all cost. JFJ Chairman, Horace Levy, argues that there should be a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty given the state of the justice system. Levy stresses that the lobby group is strongly committed to the abolition of the death penalty. Both groups argue that capital punishment is not an effective deterrent to crime and does not address the root causes of crime. They say instead of reviving what they say is an inhumane and ineffective practice, the Government should focus on fast tracking the critical reforms needed in the justice and law enforcement systems. (source: Jamaica Gleaner) IRAN: The Case of 100 Death Row Prisoners to be "Clarified" within 3 Months; Authorities It was announced to at least 100 death row prisoners, in prison of Urmia that in the next 3 months their "case" will become clear. This rare action has created a wave of concern among prisoners and their families. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), recently, the authorities of Urmia Prison called at least a hundred prisoners who have been sentenced to death on charges of "murder" and have served more than 5 years, to the prison's Pray Hall (Hosseinieh) and took the address and details of the plaintiffs. An informed source in a conversation with HRANA, by announcing this news, also said: "The authorities of Urmia prison called these prisoners in Husseinieh and asked the address and details of their accusers. At least about 100 prisoners were called." The source said: "They were told that during the next three months their case would become clear. The authorities said: 'We will say to plaintiffs to ask for execution or we will release you on the bail. Because, the prison does not have enough space.'" It should be mentioned that, the unusual procedure of calling a large number of death row prisoners caused a wave of concern among prisoners in Urmia prison and their families. (source: HRA News Agency) PAKISTAN: Abbottabad jirga members are deserving of death: Mufti Naeem Prominent religious scholar Mufti Mohammad Naeem has called for death penalty for all members of a jirga that is allegedly involved in ordering murder of a woman in Abbottabad area, Samaa reported. "It's highly deplorable that a lady is burnt alive on behest of a jirga only because she helped in someone's love marriage ... This (the act of ordering murder) is totally un-Islamic since our religion allows adult couple to marry. Therefore, all members part of the jirga are 'wajib-ul-qatl' (deserving of death), they should be murdered in Qisas (retribution)," he said
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May 5 PAKISTAN: Convicted kidnapper: Man sentenced to death An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday handed down death sentence to a man for kidnapping a jeweller, and taking ransom before releasing him. Special Judge ATC-II Asif Majeed Awan convicted Amir alias "Teddy" for kidnapping Saleem Iqbal and obtaining Rs100,000 as ransom for his safe release. The court also ordered confiscation of moveable and immovable assets of the convict. Iqbal said that Amir kidnapped him at gunpoint and asked his brother for Rs100,000 as ransom. He said his brother paid the ransom for his release. The court handed down the death penalty on counts of kidnapping for ransom and terrorism. (source: The Express Tribune) INDONESIA: Fate of foreign death row inmates unknown as Indonesia prepares for new round of executions Despite having drawn heavy condemnation from governments and human rights groups, Indonesia is gearing up for another round of executions, but the fate of the foreign death row inmates remains uncertain. A police official said Indonesian authorities were preparing the location of the sentencing and the firing squad at Nusakambangan Island. This was taking place a year after foreign nationals were executed for drug-related offences. "We have had a warning since last month to prepare the place," Central Java provincial police spokesman Aloysius Lilik Darmanto told Reuters on Wednesday. "We carried out some rehabilitation of the location like painting and repairs because there will probably be more people who will be executed." Darmanto also said members of the firing squad were currently receiving training and counselling. However, it was still uncertain how many would receive the death sentence in the impending round of executions and whether it involved any foreign nationals. On April 29 last year, Indonesia executed 7 foreigners and one Indonesian for drug crimes amid intense international pressure to stop the executions. Filipina mother-of-2 Mary Jane Voloso, who was part of the group, was given a late reprieve. Among the 8 were Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The other foreigners were 3 Nigerian men, 1 Ghanian and 1 Brazilian. Last year, 14 executions were carried out, inciting protests from the international community. Veloso is also reported to be spared from the coming round of executions pending her testimony in a Filipino court against against Maria Kristina Sergio, who is accused of duping her into smuggling 2.6 kilogrammes of heroin into Indonesia, Coconuts Jakarta reported. A British grandmother convicted of smuggling $2.5 million worth of cocaine into the resort island of Bali in 2012 is also among those currently on death row. 57-year-old Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced by a district court to face a firing squad after she was found guilty of the charges. During the trial, she said she was forced to carry the drugs by a gang that threatened to hurt her children. She lost an appeal 3 months later after the Bali High Court upheld the lower court???s ruling. Last month, Indonesian president Joko Widodo said his administration was firm on use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses, calling drug trafficking a "national emergency". According to a report published by Amenesty International last month, at least 367 executions were carried out in 12 Asia-Pacific countries. The figure was a huge increase on the 32 executions in nine countries recorded in 2014, almost exclusively due to the rise in Pakistan. Meanwhile in Singapore, the family of a Malaysian man on death-row for killing a construction worker in a botched robbery attempt has launched a petition urging for clemency. The petition comes after the 31-year-old Kho Jabing exhausted all legal avenues following an appeal by prosecutors to overturn the 2013 sentence to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane last year. Last month, the appeals court in Singapore threw out his 11th-hour bid to quash the death sentence. Kho and his friend reportedly killed Chinese national Cao Ruyin during a robbery attempt in Geylang Drive in 2010. (source: asiancorrespondent.com) Police: Indonesia set to resume executionsIndonesian President Joko Widodo has repeatedly insisted that drug traffickers must face the firing squad to stem rising narcotics use. Indonesia is preparing for a new round of executions, police said Wednesday, around a year after Jakarta sparked global outrage by putting seven foreign drug convicts to death by firing squad. Officials recently started getting ready after an order from the attorney-general's office, which oversees executions, said Central Java police spokesman Aloysius Lilik Darmanto. He said no date had been set for the executions, which will take place on the prison island of Nusakambangan in Central Java, and he did not know who would face the firing squad.
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May 4 INDONESIA: Indonesia is preparing to execute prisoners, police official confirms Spokesman says firing squad has been in training, risking backlash from foreign governments with citizens on death row Indonesia is preparing to execute several prisoners, a police official has said, confirming reports that a year-long pause in the death penalty could be nearing an end. Authorities have not said how many prisoners will face the firing squad or if foreigners will be among them. 2 Britons, Lindsay Sandiford and Gareth Cashmore, are on death row in the south-east Asian nation, which has a notoriously hardline attitude towards drug offences. "We have had a warning since last month to prepare the place," said the Central Java provincial police spokesman Aloysius Lilik Darmanto. "We carried out some rehabilitation of the location, like painting and repairs, because there will probably be more people who will be executed," he said, adding that the firing squad had been training and receiving counselling. He declined to say how many prisoners would be executed, or when, or if there would be foreigners among them. After 14 prisoners were executed in January and April 2015, drawing widespread international condemnation, scheduled executions were postponed, with officials saying the government preferred to focus on reviving the economy. But President Joko Widodo's administration has pledged to resume executions by firing squad at an island prison on Nusa Kambangan, claiming they are a necessary response to the country's "drug emergency". The most recent round of executions, in which eight men, including seven foreigners, were shot dead in April last year, sparked condemnation from Australia and Brazil, which had pleaded for their nationals to be spared. 2 Australian men, the Bali 9 pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed, prompting the temporary withdrawal from Jakarta of Canberra's ambassador. Authorities have not given a breakdown of the numbers of people sentenced to death, but according to Amnesty International, there were at least 165 people on death row at the end of 2015, and more than 40% of those were sentenced for drug-related crimes. Many of them are foreigners, and citizens of France, Britain and the Philippines are known to be among them. Sandiford, from the UK, was sentenced to death after being convicted in 2013 of trying to smuggle almost 4kg of cocaine into Bali. Cashmore was sentenced to life imprisonment - later raised to death by firing squad - after he was caught with 6.5kg of crystal meth in his luggage at Jakarta airport in 2011. A Philippine maid, Mary Jane Veloso, got a last-minute reprieve in April last year in response to a request from Manila after a woman whom Veloso had accused of planting drugs in her luggage gave herself up to police in the Philippines. Her lawyer said he hoped she would not be in the next batch of prisoners to be executed. "The execution of Mary Jane should be delayed because we are waiting for the legal process in the Philippines," said the lawyer, Agus Salim. A lawyer for Serge Atlaoui, a French national, said authorities had not contacted the French embassy on whether his client would be executed in the next batch. Atlaoui, who denies being the "chemist" for an ecstasy factory outside Jakarta, exhausted all legal appeals in mid-2015. The government typically informs the embassies of foreign convicts only days before their executions. Indonesia imposed a moratorium on executions for 5 years before resuming them in 2013. It has executed 14 people, most of them foreigners, under Widodo. Indonesia's representative at a UN narcotics conference was jeered last month when he defended the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a penalty that is contrary to international law. (source: The Guardian) ** Death penalty calls for schoolgirl's rapists The mother of an Indonesian schoolgirl killed following an alleged gang rape has called for the death penalty for the youths accused of the attack. Prosecutors have called for sentences of 10 years for the 7 youths, but the girl's parents and activists say tougher penalties need to apply and parliament must address violence against women. Yuyun, 14, left school at around lunchtime on April 2 when she was allegedly set upon by a group of 14 males in her village in Bengkulu, Sumatra. The gang had drunk palm liquor or 'tuak' before snatching her, raping her and strangling her, Bengkulu Provincial Police spokesman Sudarno told AAP on Wednesday. The schoolgirl's bound body was found 2 days later, dumped near the crime scene. Some of the alleged perpetrators are believed to have taken part in the search. Sudarno said prosecutors have called for the 7 youth - aged 16 and 17 - who are currently facing trial, to be jailed for 10 years for the offences of 'forced' sex and violence causing
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May 4 JAMAICA: An eye for an eye? The majority of nations that execute citizens do so based upon the premise that death is the most powerful deterrent, deserved retribution, and that no mercy should be shown to the merciless. It is against this background that advocates of capital punishment argue that murder is the most callous of all crimes and only the strongest punishment available will serve as a deterrent. They further assert that if murderers are put to death, potential murderers will contemplate their predisposition to engage in violence and criminality based on the trepidation of likewise losing their life. Therefore, with our nation's growing reputation as one of the most barbarous places on the planet, it is understandable that Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora will always muse about the resumption of hanging and the effect it may have on the heartless among us. So last week when the Hon Robert Montague, minister of national security, signalled his intention to explore the possibility of reopening the gallows for business, it was music to the ears of many. However, both the minister and the public must be made aware that it is not the severity of the punishment that deters crime; it is the certainty of being apprehended. Yes, the fear of being caught is an immensely more powerful deterrent than the punishment itself. It is therefore imperative that the police and the criminal justice system in general buttress the perception that criminals will be caught quickly and by any means necessary. The most important aim of punishment is considered to be deterrence and this is based on the theoretical premise that less crime within the society makes it a better place to live for all its citizens. Interestingly, after many decades of empirical research across the world, the validity of the death penalty as a deterrent cannot be unequivocally substantiated. The 1st of the studies that examined the deterrent effect of the death penalty was Thorsten Sellin's (1959) pioneering research which concluded that the death penalty had no distinguishable effect on America's homicide rates. Sellin's research reviewed data on the murder in each state and found that the states without the death penalty had lower homicide rates. In fact, for many years an abundance of research proved that the occurrence of homicides is generally higher in states and countries with the death penalty. To further review the validity of Sellin's findings one needs to look at the state of Texas, the mecca of executions in America. Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report (2013) showed that Texas had the highest number of executions since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstituted in the USA, and as of July 24, 2014, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reports that Texas performed 515 executions during the period. This was 404 more executions than Oklahoma, which has the second highest execution rate. Yet, Texas recorded a higher homicide rate than 27 other states in the year 2012. Texas's murder rate was higher than 12 of the 18 states which do not have the death penalty. Additionally, the FBI (2013) data show that the state with the highest overall murder rate in 2012 was Louisiana, which has the death penalty. Even some unrepentant proponents of the death penalty conceded that in 87 % of states, capital punishment had no effect on the homicide rate or actually caused murders to increase. The vast majority of criminologists worldwide consistently cull the credibility of the death penalty's deterrent effect and found that it was no more significant a preventive sanction than life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Most Jamaican citizens will argue that we should not, under any circumstances, use taxpayers' money to 'feed' the murderous monsters. However, a little known fact is that it costs the taxpayers significantly more from conviction to execution within a 15-year period than to feed a prisoner for 30 years. The reality is that adjudicating death penalty cases takes more time and resources compared to murder cases where the death penalty sentence is not pursued as an option. These cases are more costly because there are procedural safeguards in place to ensure the sentence is just and free from error. One measure of death-penalty costs was reflected in the time spent on costly appeals. Then, when all is said and done, much of the bill for the various appeals is paid by taxpayers. What we need is comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system and not archaic rhetoric, because it is clear that beyond its retributive value, resuming the death penalty will not be beneficial to Jamaica and will in no way, shape or form quench our bloodthirstiness. (source: Column, Richie Lindo, Jamaica Observer) CHIINA: New Legal Guidelines Set Clearer Criteria for Punishments in Graft CasesThe rules issued
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May 3 PAKISTAN: Pak army courts sentence 11 Taliban militants to death The 11 belonged to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan which is waging a bloody insurgency against the military and the government. Pakistan military courts have sentenced 11 Taliban militants to death for terrorism-related offences, the army said on Tuesday. The nation has hanged hundreds of people -- 326 last year alone -- since lifting a moratorium on the death penalty in December 2014. The "hardcore terrorists" had been convicted of offences including killing and kidnapping civilians, attacks on the armed forces and police, and destruction of schools and communications infrastructure, an army statement said. The 11 belonged to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan which is waging a bloody insurgency against the military and the government. Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for over a decade following its decision to side with the US-led coalition which toppled the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. Since June 2014 its troops have been engaged in a full-scale offensive against Taliban and other militants in the North Waziristan and Khyber tribal districts in the northwest. The fight gained renewed impetus following a Taliban massacre at a Peshawar army school in December 2014 in which 134 children were killed. The attack sparked widespread outrage and led to a series of measures aimed at combating terror. Among other measures the government ended a six-year moratorium on executions -- initially only for people convicted of terrorism but later for all capital offences. Pakistan also amended its constitution to allow military courts to try terror suspects for a 2-year period. Supporters of the courts say cases previously dragged on for years and many suspects escaped punishment due to legal loopholes or intimidation of witnesses. But the country's growing use of the death penalty has come in for international criticism. * COAS confirms death sentence of 11 militants General Raheel Sharif, Chief of Army Staff, Tuesday confirmed death sentences awarded to another 11 hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences. According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the convicts were involved in killings and kidnappings civilians, attacks on Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies, destruction of schools and communication infrastructure. The convicts were tried by military courts. Details of each case is attached. 1. Muhammad Umar S/O Daleel Khan. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in attacking Armed Forces of Pakistan and Law Enforcement Agencies which resulted in death of soldiers and injuries to police officials. He was also involved in fabrication of explosives. He admitted his offences before the Magistrate and the trial court. He was tried on 3 charges and awarded death sentence. 2. Hameedullah S/O Muhammad Ghazi (Convict Number 1), Rehmatullah S/O Umar Din (Convict Number 2), Muhammad Nabi S/O Dilawar Shah (Convict Number 3) and Moulvi Dilbar Khan S/O Kashkar (Convict Number 4). These four convicts were active members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. They were involved in attacking Law Enforcement Agency which resulted in death of Senior Superintendent of Police Muhammad Hilal Khan, Colonel Mustafa Jamal and Captain Ishfaq. They were also in possession of fire arms and explosives. The convicts admitted their offences before the Magistrate and the trial court. Convict numbers 1 and 2 were tried on 3 charges, convict number 3 was tried on 2 charges and convict number 4 was tried on 1 charge and all were awarded death sentence. 3. Rizwan Ullah S/O Taj Mir Khan. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in killing of a civilian, kidnapping WAPDA employee and attacking Armed Forces which resulted in injuries to an officer and a soldier. He was also in possession of fire arms and explosives. He admitted his offences before the Magistrate and the trial court. He was tried on 5 charges and awarded death sentence. 4.Gul Rehman S/O Zareen. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in attacking Armed Forces which resulted in death of a civilian and a soldier. He was also in possession of explosives. The convict admitted his offences before the Magistrate and the trial court. He was tried on 2 charges and awarded death sentence. 5. Muhammad Ibrahim S/O Maseen. The convict was an active member of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. He was involved in attacking Armed Forces and destruction of Babu Chamtalai Bridge which resulted in death of civilians and a soldier. He was also in possession of explosives. The convict admitted his offences before the Magistrate and the trial court. He was tried on 4 charges and awarded death sentence. 6. Sardar Ali S/O Muhammad Akram
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May 3 IRELAND: 1916 court martials and executions: Sean MacDiarmadaProclamation likely a factor in death sentence Sean MacDiarmada's court martial was one of the lengthiest of those carried out involving the leaders of the Rising. In addition to the charge of staging an armed rebellion with the intention of assisting the enemy, MacDiarmada faced an additional charge of causing "disaffection among the civilian population of His Majesty". He was found guilty of the former charge, but not guilty of the latter. His court martial took place on May 9th, 1916, and was presided over by Lieut Col Douglas Sapte assisted by Lieut Col Philip Bent and Maj Francis Woodward. More time was taken over MacDiarmada's trial presumably because of pressure on Gen John Maxwell from London to ensure that proper procedure was followed. The 1st witness for the prosecution was Det Constable Daniel Hoey of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, who was later assassinated by Michael Collins's "squad" during the War of Independence. Hoey said he had observed John McDermott (as he was known to the police) for 3 1/2 years and saw him associate with the leaders of the Irish Volunteers including Thomas Clarke, Patrick Pearse and Joseph Mary Plunkett. Hoey said the Irish Volunteer newspaper was MacDiarmada's chief source of income. A copy of the newspaper was produced as evidence. Second Lieut WH Ruxton of the 3rd Royal Irish Rifles said he encountered MacDiarmada on the last day of the Rising when they were gathering surrendered rebels at the top of Parnell Street. MacDiarmada, who was struck down by polio in 1911 and lost the use of one leg, told him that he could not walk to custody. Ruxton continued: "One of the others told me his leg was paralysed. I asked the accused, 'how did you get into this affair?' The accused replied to the effect that he had his place in the organisation." It would appear from MacDiarmada's file that the court martial members wished to establish that the man known to the authorities as John McDermott was actually Sean MacDiarmada. Edward Gannon, a clerk at Mountjoy Jail, recounted that the accused had spent time there in June 1915 and had signed his name Sean MacDiarmada. The bottom half of the Proclamation with MacDiarmada's signature also appears in his court martial file, but there is no account of the sequence of events that led it to it being produced as evidence. Maxwell was under a lot of political pressure to stay the executions so the production of the Proclamation as evidence may have been significant in his decision to approve the death penalty for MacDiarmada and Connolly. Also there is a note written by MacDiarmada on Easter Monday which was produced in evidence. It states: "I want all you men to report to me at Liberty Hall by 11am, today Monday with full equipment - Sean MacDiarmada." He was the penultimate leader of the rebellion to be executed. He was shot by firing squad on May 12th just before James Connolly's execution. In his last letter he wrote to his brothers and sisters, "I die that Ireland might live." ** 1916 courts martial and executions: Willie PearseWas he executed because of his name? Willie Pearse, the brother of Patrick, was the only one of those who were executed to have pleaded guilty at his court martial. Willie Pearse was tried on May 3rd, 1916, the same day his brother was executed. The court martial members were Brig Gen Ernest Maconchy, Lieut Coll Arthur Bent and Maj Francis Willoughby Woodward. 3 other volunteers, John Dougherty, John McGarry and JJ Walsh, were tried with Willie Pearse and each received the death penalty, but their sentences were commuted, Dougherty and Walsh to 10 years' penal servitude; McGarry to 8 years. Evidence against them was given by Lieut SL King, of the 12th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who was taken prisoner by the rebels outside Clerys and held in the GPO for the week. King claimed Dougherty pointed a rifle at him and told him that he would shoot him if he did not put his hands up. Dougherty denied the claim. McGarry protested that he had "no intention of assisting the enemy. I had no position or rank of any sort". Walsh went further, stating that he was only a private in the volunteers, was completely immersed in his business and never fired a shot in the GPO. Instead he claimed to have been on "water and sand duty" in the event of fire. King reported seeing Willie Pearse and surmised that he was an officer, but did not know his rank. Though Willie Pearse pleaded guilty, he denied any involvement in the planning of the Rising. "I had no authority or say in the arrangements for the starting of the rebellion. I was throughout only a personal attache to my brother PH Pearse. I had no direct command." Many historians believe that Willie Pearse was only executed because he was Patrick Pearse's brother. His execution took
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May 2 PHILIPPINES: Miriam wants death penalty re-imposed Presidential candidate Miriam Defensor-Santiago now wants the death penalty re-imposed following rampant criminality in the streets and thievery in government. She bared her change of mind on capital punishment during a no-holds barred interview with STAR editors and reporters at the newspaper's offices in Port Area, Manila last Saturday. Santiago said she voted against re-imposing the death penalty when it was discussed in the Senate. "But today, yung mga ginagawa ng mga kababayan natin, eh makakapatay ka talaga eh (With what our countrymen are doing, you would really want to kill). Yes, I'm seriously reconsidering my previous decision." Santiago said the influence of the Catholic Church had also swayed her previous decision. "Before the arguments were very clear-cut," she said. "And I felt I had no choice because of the lobby of the Catholic Church perhaps." Santiago said she also wants death penalty for plunderers. "The moment (one) flunks an ... investigation, off you go," she said. Santiago remains optimistic on her chances in the presidential race despite the "commercial survey firms," which she said were in a conspiracy with her rivals to force her to withdraw. Santiago said she was still "enthusiastic," although the campaign had taxed her physically. "I could have rested but instead I went stumping all over the country and they (grabbed) me all around," she said. "But I'm very enthusiastic because the crowds are so big, you can see them on TV." (source: Philippine Star) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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May 2 SAUDI ARABIA: Women more resistant to beheading: Saudi ExecutionerMost of those going to execution appear to be in trance; The executioner denied reports that those sentenced to death are drugged just before their execution. Convicted women sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia have been more resistant to beheading than men, prompting authorities to change the execution method to shooting, a well-known Saudi executioner has said. Abu Bandar Al Bishi, a massive man who has beheaded scores of convicted criminals in public places in the Gulf Kingdom, said most of those brought to the execution area appear to be in "trance" ahead of their death. Quoted by the Saudi daily Sabq, he denied social media reports that those sentenced to death are drugged just before their execution. "Those brought for execution are not drugged...there is no medical intervention in their execution...they just appear to be in trance or half dead," Bishi said. "As for women, they are more resistant to execution than men...we used to behead them but the verdict has been changed to executing them by shooting. He said many convicts make requests just before their execution, adding that one asked for a cigarette. "Of course we did not give him a cigarette...if he had asked to pray before his death, then it would have been much better." Bishi said he uses a gun to execute women by shooting them in the head, adding that he does not stick to doctor's instructions to shoot them in the heart. "The doctor draws a mark towards the heart on the convict's back...but I shoot them in the head because the bullet may miss the heart target if the convict moves. (source: emirates247.com) PHILIPPINES: Filipino Catholic groups endorse opposition candidates Son of late dictator Marcos picks up support from key pro-life, charismatic groups The Philippine's largest Catholic charismatic movement and other pro-life groups have endorsed candidates identified with the country's political opposition for the May 9 presidential and vice presidential race. On May 1, the influential El Shaddai Charismatic Renewal Movement distributed "sample ballots" that carry the names of Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who are running for president and vice president, respectively. The group, which claims a following of 3 to 8 million Filipinos, earlier called on its members not to vote for presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, who has come under fire for joking about the rape and murder of an Australian missionary. Binay, meanwhile, has figured in several money-laundering investigations of alleged ghost accounts in a series of corruption charges, while support for Marcos could pave the return to power of the Marcos family, who ruled the country in a dictatorial grip for 2 decades until 1986. El Shaddai leader Mariano "Mike" Zuniega Velarde, better known as Brother Mike Velarde, said he will make the official announcement of candidates that his group will support on May 3, when the result of an informal survey of members comes out. "On Tuesday, I will make it known to you," said Velarde. "I have distributed something like a survey form. We will know the sentiments of everyone," added the charismatic leader. Velarde said candidates for president, vice president, and senators were invited to address an overnight prayer vigil and celebration over the weekend, but only Binay, Sen. Grace Poe, and administration candidate Manuel Roxas attended the event. Among the vice presidential candidates only Marcos and Sen. Francis Escudero attended. "We did not forget them. We invited them here. But it seems they forgot us. So if they forgot us, we can also forget them," said Velarde. 'One step away from presidency' Velarde allowed candidates who were present at the overnight vigil to speak before the crowd after the celebration of the Eucharist. Poe, who comes second in most poll surveys among presidential candidates vowed a "fair government" if ever elected. "Like what God wants us to do, I will do my best to fight poverty," she said. "As a mother, I will look into the welfare of the family ..., a family with enough income, a family that can provide education to the children, a family with enough food on the table," Poe said. Binay promised a leadership that "recognizes, respects, and follows the Word of God ..., a leadership the respects women, a leadership that shows good example to children." Roxas, who arrived late during the celebration, reminded the people of their responsibility during the coming elections. "Shall we continue with a path that has already brought us this far, or are we going to turn around?" said Roxas. "May the Lord guide us in our decision," he added. Marcos, meanwhile, called for unity for the country to "experience change, development, and a good life." He called on Filipinos to join him to face a "beautiful
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May 1 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Alarm over requests for blood money Lawyers and legal advocates are appalled by families who exploit the killing of a relative to demand huge sums of blood money from the perpetrator's family. Although blood money, or diyya, is set at Dh200,000, some bereaved families have asked for millions of dirhams to overturn a death sentence for the killer. "When a person has committed a murder and is sentenced to death, the victim's family is called in and asked 3 questions: Will you pardon the person? Will you accept Dh200,000 in exchange for a pardon? Do you insist that they be executed?" said a judge at the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department. According to judicial officials, any amount above Dh200,000 in blood money that a family asks for is agreed to outside of court. "Blood money is strictly set at Dh200,000, anything additional is considered compensation or reconciliation money so that the death penalty is not enforced," a judge said. "It is a personal agreement between the 2 families, so they do not insist on the death penalty and are encouraged to pardon instead. It does not fall under the court's jurisdiction." Lawyer Rashed Al Hajri said it was unacceptable for families to ask for huge sums of blood money, decrying that as a clear sign of greed. "You cannot put a price on an individual or use his life as a bargaining tool to get as much money as possible. [But] it is understandable if the victim left behind young children and the family calculated the amount they would need to support these children." Mr Al Hajri said the civil courts would determine the amount of compensation to the bereaved familes, "but to use something as big as pardoning a death sentence is not acceptable". Lawyer Huda Al Falamarzy said she did not encourage families to ask for millions of dirhams in exchange for a pardon."Those who pardon will be rewarded by God and if they do pardon they should follow the legal course and not abuse the system by asking for millions," she said. The law should place a limit on the amount of money that families can ask for, Ms Al???Falamarzy said. (source: The National) PAKISTAN: SHC rejects appeals of 3 death row convicts 3 death convicts who had sought commutation of their sentence into life imprisonment for being 'young offenders' lost their appeals before the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Saturday. An anti-terrorism appellate bench, comprising justices Naimatullah Phulpoto and Aftab Ahmed Gorar, dismissed their appeals and maintained capital punishment awarded to them by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in a kidnapping case. The bench passed its judgment after re-hearing appeals filed by convicts Qasim alias Umair, Farhan Khan and Raheel. An ATC had awarded death sentences 'twice' to them after finding them guilty of kidnapping a 12-year-old boy for ransom and later murdering him in the limits of Landhi police station. In April, 2013, the SHC had commuted the capital punishment handed down to them on the count of murder 'as the appellants were young boys at the time of incident' and the 'murder was not caused due to sectarian rivalry'. However, the high court had maintained the death sentence awarded on the second count of kidnapping for ransom under the anti-terrorism law. Later, the state challenged the commutation of their sentences from death to life imprisonment in the murder case before the Supreme Court (SC), which set aside the high court's judgment and directed the SHC bench to decide the 'quantum of sentence' of the appellants. Advocate Abdul Rasheed Nizamani argued that the young age of the appellants constituted extenuating circumstances for lesser penalty for them. He claimed that Qasim was 21, Raheel 18 and Farhan 25 at the time they recorded their statements before the court. The state prosecutor opposed the argument, saying 'the young age of the accused is not mitigating circumstance to convert the death to life imprisonment'. "There is no iota of reliable piece of evidence available on record of exact ages of the appellants," he added. During the re-hearing, the appellants' lawyer did not press the merits of the appeals after the SC had already maintained conviction of the appellants, but pleaded that the court commute their capital punishment into life imprisonment, considering their young age. Re-hearing the case on the apex court's directives, the SHC judges observed that the appellants had failed to produce any documentary evidence regarding their exact age. The judges observed that the young age of Raheel and Qasim was not mitigating circumstance, while Farhan had himself mentioned his age in his statement as 25 years. "We have given our anxious consideration for the determination of quantum of sentence to be awarded to the appellant in [the] present case, in which a boy of 12 year[s] has been murdered for ransom," the judges wrote in the 11-page
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April 30 INDONESIA: Indonesia prepares to execute up to 13 prisoners, including many foreigners Exactly a year after Indonesia sent the 'Bali 9' drug convicts to the firing squad inviting harsh censure from the world for the mass killing, Jakarta has said it's preparing to execute up to 13 prisoners in the next few days. Indonesian Attorney General M. Prasetyo said on Friday preparations are underway to carry out the execution of several death row prisoners. The executions could take place as early as next week and the attorney general's office is coordinating with the appropriate institutions, Prasetyo said, according to the Jakarta Globe newspaper. The executions are likely to take place at the same Nusakambangan prison island where 8 drug convicts belonging to the so-called Bali 9 trafficking ring, including 2 Australians, were shot dead on April 29 last year. The report says up to 13 convicts will be executed and this includes between 7 and 10 foreign nationals. The identities of the death row inmates to be executed imminently were, however, not released as yet. The date for the executions is not deiced yet, Prasetyo said, but local reports claimed the chatter in the administrative circles hinted that the executions will take place on May 7. The official added that Nusakambangan prison off the coast of Cilacap, Central Java, would be "the ideal place." "We will see later, when [the executions] will take place," Prasetyo was quoted as saying by Tempo.co, the Post said. Indonesia has harsh laws in place that make it easy to award death penalty for an array of crimes, especially drug related crimes. President Joko Widodo declared a "drug emergency" in the country after coming to power, speeding up a process to carry out a large number of pending executions in mainly drug offences. Before the execution of 8 convicts on the same day on April 29 last year, including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Jakarta sent to death 6 prisoners in January. At a recent UN conference on narcotics, Indonesia defended its wide use of the death penalty in drug trafficking cases. "Indonesia and like-minded countries ... face diverse challenges in handling drugs and the death penalty is 1 of the options based on sovereignty of the law in each country," a foreign ministry statement said. (source: IB Times) CHINA: China's 'Valentine's Day' killer acquitted of 1998 murder A Chinese man sentenced to death for the Valentine's Day murder of his girlfriend 18 years ago has been acquitted, a court said, the latest wrongful conviction overturned in the country. Liu Jiqiang, 52, was found guilty of strangling and stabbing his lover on February 14, 1998, earning him the notorious nickname "Valentine's Day killer" in the Chinese press. But after spending nearly 2 decades on death row, the Higher People's Court of Jilin province in northeast China dismissed his conviction citing insufficient evidence, the court said Friday on its official Sina Weibo microblog. Liu initially admitted to the killing, but his lawyers said his confession was obtained as a result of torture and illegal questioning, according to Xinhua news agency. He was handed the death penalty in December 1999 with a 2-year reprieve which in China often means life in prison. He unsuccessfully appealed his guilty verdict twice, in 2002 and 2003, according to Xinhua. China's courts are tightly controlled by the ruling Communist party, which has vowed to overturn mistaken verdicts in the face of widespread public anger. Liu's case is the latest to highlight miscarriages of justice in the country, where forced confessions are widespread and more than 99 % of criminal defendants are found guilty. \ In February, the high court in eastern Zheijiang ordered the release of Chen Man who had been jailed for more than two decades on murder charges. Of those exonerated in recent years, Chen had spent the longest time in prison, 23 years, state media said. In 2014, a court in the Inner Mongolia region cleared a man who was convicted, sentenced and executed for rape and murder in 1996 at the age of 18. The reversal of the verdict came 9 years after another man confessed to the crime. (source: Agence France-Presse) TAIWAN: Chang Ho-ling escapes execution The High Court yesterday commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence handed down to Chang Ho-ling, who was convicted of the murder of his wife and 2 daughters in a case that has wound through the courts for 10 years. The ruling has sparked controversy and protests from the victims' relatives and the judiciary, along with members of the public, who believe life imprisonment is too lenient. Chang, now 49, was found guilty of using ether to asphyxiate his wife, Tsai Ting-yu, and their 2 young daughters at their home in New Taipei City in 2006, then tampering with the crime scene to make it look like
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April 29 IRANexecutions At Least 4 Prisoners Were Executed For Drug Offences 2 of the 4 prisoners who were transferred to solitary confinement on Wednesday 27. April were hanged yesterday morning in the Central Prison of Karaj (west of Tehran). According to close sources these prisoners were identified as "Mehdi Bagherzadeh" and "Esmaeil Tanabi". Iran Human Rights (IHR) had reported about the transfer of 4 prisoners (2 brothers) to solitary confinement in preparation for execution on April 27. All the 4 prisoners were sentenced to death for possession and trafficking of 8 kilograms of heroin in one case. Mehdi Bagherzadeh and his younger brother Abbas Bagherzadeh were the 2 brothers who were scheduled to be executed. Mehdi was executed while Abbas was together with another prisoner identified as "Farhad Esmaeili" were returned to their wards. Sources have reported that they remain under imminent danger of execution. Another member of the Bagherzadeh family (Isa Bagherzadeh, another brother) was hanged 5 months ago. (source: iranhumanrights.net) INDONESIA: Pacquiao's effort to save Mary Jane Veloso hampered by slow trial About year ago today, Manny Pacquiao visited Filipino death row convict Mary Jane Velasco in Indonesia and made an appeal to the country's president Joko Widodo to spare spare the life of the suspected drug mule from execution by firing squad. It its 2nd appeal to the Indonesian government, the Philippine authorities argue that Veloso is a victim of human trafficking and does not deserve the death penalty. Veloso, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), was arrested in 2010 by Indonesian authorities after they found 2.6 kilos of heroin in her suitcase. Veloso denied owning the package containing the illegal drug saying she wasn't aware of its contents as she was just asked to carry it by her recruiter. Veloso, who only made it to her 1st year high school, did not fully understand the questions being asked during the proceedings as she was provided only with a student translator. In his appeal, Pacquiao said: "His Excellency, President Joko Widodo, I am Manny Pacquiao. On behalf of my countryman, Mary Jane Veloso, and the entire Filipino people, I am begging and knocking on your kind heart that Your Excellency will grant executive clemency to her by sparing her life and saving her life from execution." In July 2010, Pacquiao flew to Indonesia along with wife Jinkee to fulfill his promise to meet Veloso at the Wirogunan prison in Yogyakarta. Together, they prayed with Veloso breaking down in tears as she tightly embraced Manny and Jinkee. "We're hoping to help save Mary Jane's life. I think Mary Jane is a victim of human-trafficking," Pacquiao said after visiting the single mother of two young children. Veloso is surviving on a reprieve granted by the Indonesian president on appeal from the Philippine government. As far as Indonesia is concerned, Veloso is still a death convict and execution by firing squad can take place anytime soon. "Mary Jane is still facing the threat of execution," Migrante International vice-chair Rina Anastacio told the Guardian. "Unfortunately the trial is going very slowly," she said. Indonesia has some of the toughest laws in the world for drug offenders and if the ongoing trial in the Philippines drags on for years, there is no assurance Indonesia will hold on to the temporary reprieve accorded to Veloso. (source: digitaljournal.com) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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April 28 AUSTRALIA: 17 Australians on or facing death row a year after Bali 9 deaths Figures show Australian federal police provided information for 'potential death penalty situations' 74 times in past year In the year since Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran faced an Indonesian firing squad, their wishes appear to have been posthumously granted, at least in part - no more Australians have been added to the list of those potentially facing the death penalty. But of at least 17 Australians still thought to be at risk of execution overseas, life on death row has become a grim reality for at least 1 man and the fate of another could be known within days. On the anniversary of the execution of Chan and Sukumaran over a thwarted plan to smuggle heroin out of Bali, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not respond when asked how many Australians in jail could face capital punishment. It is understood there has been no change to the number Dfat confirmed last year, with groups including the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties not aware of any new cases. But, in the past year, the prospect of execution drew closer for a former Adelaide jockey given a suspended death sentence in China for smuggling ice. And a verdict on another ice smuggling case in China, which will decide the fate of a young dual Australian and New Zealand citizen, could be just days away. The 2 men are among as many as 11 Australians thought to be held over drug prosecutions in a single southern Chinese city, Guangzhou. The possibility of execution by lethal injection or firing squad looms for all of them. In Malaysia, an Australian woman could be hanged if found guilty of drug smuggling. In Vietnam, a Sydney man faces the prospect of secret execution by lethal injection of locally manufactured chemicals of "unknown efficacy", according to Amnesty International. While the number of Australians on or facing death row held steady, the level of involvement by the Australian federal police in transnational investigations that could result in death penalties declined - but was still significant. Figures provided to Guardian Australia show the AFP provided information for investigations known as "potential death penalty situations" 74 times in the past year. This was down from 100 times in 2014 and 89 times in 2012 but more than the 50 times in 2013. Of those 74 information exchanges in 2015, 11 of them were with the approval of Michael Keenan, the minister for justice, as required in cases where suspects are already charged or convicted. It is not known how many of these related to Australian citizens. Guardian Australia was told that information provided by the AFP could include criminal history or lack thereof in Australia, which may be used by the accused to bolster their defences. The AFP has faced prolonged criticism for its role in tipping off Indonesian authorities about the plot of the "Bali 9", which led to Chan and Sukumaran's executions. A Guangzhou customs official in 2014 cited growing cooperation with the AFP in recent years after a surge in drug arrests in the city involving Australians. In China, possession of more than 100g of an illicit drug automatically results in a trafficking charge and a possible death sentence. Andrew Chan's brother Michael recently told Reprieve Australia that while the anniversary of his death was "a rollercoaster ride for the family to come to terms with the loss", it was important to maintain public discussion of capital punishment. "Countries need to look at ways to rehabilitate prisoners instead of executing them," he said. "We need to keep talking about this issue so we can abolish the death penalty for good. "I know this was what Andrew wanted and also need to speak up for the rest of the people that are on death row so they can be heard." Chan's widow, Febyanti Herewila, said his legacy was a renewed push for the death penalty to be abolished and the principle of "a 2nd chance". "Also Andrew wants the young people from around the world to learn from his life," she said. "Whatever decisions you make today it will determine your future." Countries that apply the death penalty on those convicted of using, dealing or trafficking drugs include Indonesia, Thailand, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates. Anthony Roger Bannister, 43 (China) Australian jockey Bannister was handed a suspended death sentence last June after his March 2014 arrest for drug smuggling in Guangzhou. More than 3kg of crystal methamphetamine was found in envelopes stuffed into 8 handbags in his luggage. Bannister claimed to have been set up after being promised a lucrative divorce settlement. Bannister, whose death sentence could be commuted to life in prison after 2 years of good behaviour, vowed to appeal the ruling, Fairfax Media reported. Peter Gardner, 25 (China) A
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April 28 PAKISTANexecutions 2 death row convicts hanged in HaripurThe dead bodies of the prisoners were handed to their heirs after execution. 2 death row convicts were hanged in the Central Jail Haripur on early Thursday morning, Dunya News reported. The dead bodies of the prisoners were handed over to their families after the execution. According to details, death row convict Ali Raza was hanged for killing a man in 2004 while prisoner Farhad was executed for murdering a man in 1997. 6-year moratorium on death penalty was lifted on December 17, 2014 for those convicted for terrorism a day after the deadly attack on Army Public School in Peshawar that left 150 persons including mostly children dead. There are more than 8,000 prisoners on death row in the country. (source: Dunya News) INDONESIA: A year after the Bali 9 executions, Indonesia prepares firing squads again Deaths of 8 prisoners, including 2 Australians, prompted a huge outcry - and a pause in executions. But now foreigners on death row fear their own sentences could be just weeks away There's chatter that it's on. Talk that the death squad is at the ready; that a new, bigger execution ground is in the making. Officials say it could be just weeks away. And after the circus last year, the security minister Luhut Panjaitan hopes there will be less "drama" this time around. 1 year after the international uproar and the diplomatic fallout over the execution of 8 drug traffickers - including 2 Australian men, Bali 9 pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran - it appears more executions could be on Indonesia's horizon this year. Among the foreigners on death row in Indonesia are 2 Britons, convicted drug smugglers Lindsay Sandiford and Gareth Cashmore. "I still don't want to believe it," says lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, who this time last year was fighting to save the lives of Chan and Sukumaran. "Yes, there will probably be a statement, but in the end I don't think there will be any executions. I refuse to believe it." After 14 prisoners were executed at dawn in 2 separate rounds in early 2015, a 3rd round has been on hold for the past year, ostensibly for economic reasons, but perhaps, in part, for political ones, too. Yet after whatever fallout there might have been, Australia's recalled ambassador has returned (after a 5-week protest), and executions are back on the agenda. This month, even as Indonesia was being booed at the United Nations for reiterating its support for the death penalty for drug offenders - a punitive action that runs counter to international law - the attorney general Muhammad Prasetyo indicated that another round would go ahead. British prime minister David Cameron said he had raised the case of Sandiford - the English woman sentenced to death for smuggling almost 4kg of cocaine into Bali - during an official visit to Jakarta last year. But on Jokowi's return visit to London earlier this month, there were no indications that her case - or that of fellow death row Briton Gareth Cashmore - was revisited. When questioned on the matter by German chancellor Angela Merkel on a recent visit to Berlin, Indonesian president Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, defended capital punishment as a justified approach to the country's "drug emergency". There is nothing definitive yet, no date, and no official list of the next prisoners to face the firing squad: the Indonesian government is keeping its cards close to the chest. But some are still operating on the assumption that it is probably just a matter of time. "The last information we received is that the attorney general has asked the parliament for the budget for the 3rd round," says Putri Kanesia, from the Jakarta-based human rights organisation Kontras. "But they should stop and evaluate the 1st and 2nd batch. There were a lot of unfair trials." According to Amnesty International, there were at least 165 people on death row in Indonesia at the end of 2015, and more than 40% of those were sentenced for drug-related crimes. Indonesia has some of the harshest drug laws in the world, and Jokowi has stated that no drug prisoner will receive a pardon from him. But the Kontras team is currently pushing to get the case details of one death row prisoner on to the president's desk. Allegedly tortured in detention, and told by his lawyer that he did not have the right to appeal, Yusman Telaumbanua was, Kontras claims, a minor when the crime for which he was convicted was committed. This would make it illegal to execute him under Indonesian law. "We learned from the experience of Mary Jane Veloso," explains Kanesia, referring to the last-minute - albeit temporary - reprieve granted by the president to the Filipino woman slated to be killed alongside Chan and Sukumaran a year ago. "We have to give Jokowi information about unfair trials that led to the death penalty," she says. "Maybe we can
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April 27 PERU: Peruvian bishops: death penalty 'unacceptable' The Catholic bishops of Peru have released a statement in opposition to the death penalty, urging all Christians to work for its abolition. "Today the death penalty is unacceptable," the bishops argue. They go on to state that "all Christians and people of good will are obliged not only to fight for the abolition of the death penalty-- legal or not-- but to try to improve prison conditions, in respect for the human dignity of prisoners." (source: catholicculture.org) EGYPT: Ibrahim Halawa: UN intervenes in case of Irish man imprisoned in Egypt The Egyptian government has rejected UN allegations about the treatment of an Irish man imprisoned without trial for more than 2 1/2 years. Ibrahim Halawa was 17 when he was arrested during a siege on the Al-Fath mosque in Cairo in 2013. The 20-year-old could face the death penalty. 3 of his sisters were also arrested at the Al-Fath mosque, but were later released on bail. The family say they were on holiday at the time and had sought refuge in the mosque to escape the violence outside. They deny claims that Ibrahim is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is Egypt's oldest and largest Islamist organisation. The current Egyptian government has declared it a terrorist group, a claim it rejects. Ibrahim Halawa and 492 others have been charged with murder and a range of other serious offences. Their trial has been adjourned 13 times. 1 of his sisters travelled from Dublin to Belfast on Wednesday to meet the family's lawyer. Somaia Halawa said she is deeply concerned about the way her brother has been treated. "He was electrocuted, he was beaten, he was tortured. He never attended a trial, he has no access to a lawyer," she said. Those concerns are shared by the United Nations. It has emerged that officials from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote to the Egyptian government last year. They described Ibrahim Halawa's case as "a matter warranting immediate attention". The letter said he had been shot in the hand during his arrest and did not receive proper medical treatment. It said he was being held in "deplorable conditions", and that prison officers had subjected him to physical and psychological abuse. The UN team also said it was "in contravention of basic guarantees of fair trial and due process of law" that he had not had adequate access to a lawyer. In response, the Egyptian government denied that Ibrahim Halawa was shot in the hand during his arrest, or had been beaten while in prison. It said a medical examination had found "traces of old wounds" but no recent injuries, and described his general health as "sound and stable". The response did not directly address the concerns raised about lack of adequate access to a lawyer. The Halawa family has welcomed the UN intervention. "It is very, very important to our campaign because this just proves what we have been saying for almost 2 1/2 years, and people have been denying that this is actually happening to Ibrahim," said Somaia Halawa. But the family and their legal team said the Irish government should do more. 'Gloves off' "It's got to a stage now where the family believe that it's time for the gloves to come off," said solicitor Darragh Mackin. "It's time to put pressure on the Egyptian government directly and that diplomacy may not work in circumstances whereby it's a grave breach of international law and a grave breach of Ibrahim's human rights as an Irish citizen." The Halawa family saidy they are alarmed by reports from Egypt in recent days that all of those charged may have been declared guilty without a trial taking place. Their legal team said it will be asking the Irish government to seek clarification of the situation. (source: BBC news) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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April 27 INDONESIA: Bali 9 member Michael Czugaj moved to remote jail after found with traces of drugWe speak to 2 prisoners inside Bali's Kerobokan jail about the legacy of executed Australian Myuran Sukumaran. Bali 9 member Michael Czugaj is among 66 prisoners who have been transferred to a remote jail in East Java after prison authorities said they caught him with traces of the drug ice in Bali's Kerobokan jail. The shock move comes two days before the 1st anniversary of the execution of 8 drug offenders in Indonesia, including Bali nine co-ordinators Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan. The future of rehabilitation projects Sukumaran helped establish in Kerobokan jail, including art classes and a T-shirt printing business, are in doubt after the 2 Iranian prisoners he entrusted to take over after his death were also moved. The transfer of 66 prisoners to Madiun Prison in East Java at 4am on Wednesday morning was so sudden that prisoners did not have time to collect clothes or even cigarettes. 7 foreigners were moved, including Czugaj and 6 Iranians. The head of Bali's prison division, Nyoman Putra Surya Atmaja, said prison officers had found traces of used sabu sabu (ice) when they searched Czugaj's cell. "He was heavily addicted to drugs. He admitted to using drugs, but we only found a trace of used drugs," Mr Nyoman said. "Legally we can't charge him with evidence. He said he got it from a visitor. But he never said who. That's why we moved him. So he is kept away from his Bali drug network." Mr Nyoman said the 66 prisoners who had been transferred were those who were "emotionally easy to provoke and who caused disturbances". The transfer comes a week after a riot broke out at Kerobokan jail, with fires lit and prison bars broken after 11 members of the notorious Laskar Bali gang were admitted to the prison. Those involved in the jail rehabilitation projects expressed shock, sadness and anger at the transfer of Iranians Ali Reza Safar Khanloo and Rouhallah Series Abadi, whom Sukumaran had asked to continue running Kerobokan jail's T-shirt printing business and the art room. "In the short term I don't see anyway for the BengKer (prison workshop) to remain viable. I feel really sad," one insider told Fairfax Media. "For them to destroy the BengKer is just mean. What a mess. What a waste of years of effort." The insider said Rahol and Ali, as they are known, had been a calming influence on the jail. Rahol, who helped organise supplies and weekly classes in the art room, recently spoke of how much he missed Sukumaran and still felt his presence in Kerobokan. "His body is dead but still his soul is here," he said. Ali had been experimenting with producing skateboards and bags, as well as T-shirts, in the prison workshop. He had recently designed a T-shirt featuring a striking image of Sukumaran releasing doves of peace from a map of Australia, which he wanted to send to Sukumaran's family to commemorate Sukumaran's birthday on April 17. "They are saying they are transferring the troublemakers - it's just revenge from the warden and chief of security," one prisoner said. "With the workshop I have no idea what is going to happen. What they are doing is totally making me confused. It's like they don't care about the rehabilitation programs." "This is the saddest day. Like we are fighting a losing battle," said another prisoner. However Mr Nyoman, the head of Bali's prison division, said Rahol and Ali were not the leaders of the art room and T-shirt printing businesses. "The leaders are prison guards. Not prisoners.The guards are still there," he said. And Dadang Iskandar, the prison officer in charge of the BengKer, said the programs would continue "just with different members". He said Indonesia always made decisions in the best interests of prisoners: "All the prisoners were transferred with good intentions." April 29 marks the 1st anniversary of the execution of eight drug offenders, including Chan and Sukumaran, on Nusakambangan island, known as Indonesia's Alcatraz. The 2 Australians had been sentenced to death in 2006 for their role in the foiled attempt to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia. Czugaj is serving life imprisonment. Indonesian President Joko Widodo had refused to grant Chan and Sukumaran clemency, despite claims the Australians had reformed in prison. Their legal team argued that Chan had become a pastor in prison and both men helped establish rehabilitation programs behind bars, including art, yoga, computer and cooking classes. (source: smh.com.au) PAKISTANexecutions 2 murder convicts hanged 2 murder convicts were hanged at the Faisalabad Central Jail on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Prisons Department said Imran alias Hayat Ali, son of Nawaz, and Tahir, son of Rafiq, residents of Chak 55, had killed 4 of their rivals on February 5,
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April 26 PAKISTAN: Grant Clemency to Abdul Basit (UA 96/16) A Pakistani man convicted and sentenced to death for murder in 2009, Abdul Basit, is at risk of execution. His execution has been stayed 3 times, all at the last minute, in July, September and November 2015. He became paralysed in 2010 due to the inhumane conditions in which he was kept in Central Jail Faisalabad. see: http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/pakistan-grant-clemency-to-abdul-basit-ua-9616 (source: Amnesty International USA) SUDAN: Darfur rebel group warns against executing one of its commanders The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has warned the Sudanese government against the consequences of carrying out the death sentence issued against its leading figure El-Tom Hamid Tutu since 5 years ago. Tutu was held captive by the Sudanese army during a joint attack launched by the JEM and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) against army position in Al-Tayes area in South Kordofan. On 28 August 2011, the Kadougli general court sentenced Tutu to death by hanging and the ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court in March 2012. In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Wednesday, JEM spokesperson Gibril Adam Bilal said the proceedings of the execution of the death penalty have already begun on Tuesday morning at the maximum-security Kober prison in Khartoum. "The Kober prison administration transferred on Tuesday morning JEM's leading figure and prisoner of war El-Tom Hamid Tutu from the death cells to the death arena following the recitation of the death sentence in preparation for its implementation" read the statement. Bilal called on the rights groups to urgently intervene to prevent the execution of the death sentence against Tutu and the rest of the movement's hostages and to seek to secure their release. He denounced the government move and described it as an arbitrary ruling against a prisoner of war. The statement further expressed JEM's full readiness to defend its prisoners by all possible and not possible means. "JEM reminds the government that the execution of the prisoners of war wouldn't be tolerated as other kinds of crimes [committed by the government] and we won't respond at a later time [but immediately]" Bilal said. Tutu was handed the death sentence after he was found guilty under articles (50), (51), (60) and (62) of the 1991 Criminal Code relating to waging war against the state, undermining the constitutional order and wearing military uniform. (source: Sudan Tribune) SAUDI ARABIAexecution Saudi officials admit - executed prisoner was a juvenile In interviews with Al Arabiya, unearthed and translated by Vice News, several Saudi security officials speak of arresting a group of people they knew to be juveniles. The group appears to include Mustafa Abkar, who was killed as part of a mass execution in January this year despite having been 13, it's thought, at the time of his arrest. In the interviews, the officials describe the young people they have arrested as 'vulnerable'; General Said al-Qahtani, Director of Police for Mecca, says 'one of them hadn't reached 14 years old', while Special Forces General Major Sultan al-Maliki says 'some we arrested thought the matter was over and they would return to their families.' The comments have emerged amid concerns over the use of the death penalty against juveniles in Saudi Arabia. After January's mass execution of 47 people, it emerged that several juveniles were among those killed - including Mustafa, and Ali al-Ribh, who was in school when he was arrested in 2012, in relation to political protests. There are also fears that 3 more juveniles could soon be executed for an alleged role in political protests. Ali al-Nimr, Abdullah al-Zaher and Dawood al-Marhoon were all children when they were arrested in 2012; all 3 were tortured into 'confessions' that were used to sentence them to death. (source: publicnow.com) MALAYSIA: Lorry driver charged with murder of wife, daughterCourt fixes May 30 for mention of Rawang murder case A lorry driver was charged at the Selayang Magistrate Court here today with the murder of his wife and baby daughter 2 weeks ago. No plea was recorded from the accused who only nodded his head when the charge was read separately in front of Magistrate Iriane Isabelo. Satvender Singh Pirthpar Singh, 30, was charged with the murder of his wife D Kamaljit, 34 and 7 month old Ishlyn Kaur Sandhu at No 31, Jalan RP 10/9, Taman Rawang Perdana 2, Rawang, at 3.55am and 4.15am last April 14. The court fixed May 30 for mention following submission of the chemistry report and the post-mortem results. Earlier, lawyer Y Sheelan, who appeared on behalf of Satvender Singh, requested for his client to be allowed access to treatment and to lodge a police report as he alleged he had been injured in
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April 26 MAURITANIA: UN rights office deplores death sentence against Mauritanian blogger The United Nations human rights office today deplored the confirmation of the death sentence for apostasy against a Mauritanian blogger, Mohammad Ould M'Kaitir, by the appellate court on 21 April. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), Mr. Ould M'Kaitir was convicted in the first instance by the criminal court in Nouadhibou in December 2014 for an article he had published online. He had expressed repentance on several occasions since, including during the appeals hearing, OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told the regular bi-weekly news briefing Geneva. "We should like to stress that under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Mauritania became a State party in 2004, the death penalty, if not abolished, can only be applied for the most serious crimes," the spokesperson said. "We hope that the Supreme Court, which has now been seized with the case, will overturn the death sentence against Mr. Ould M'Kaitir," he added. (source: UN News Centre) TAIWAN Taiwan 'not thinking of' putting end to death penalty, Ma says President Ma Ying-jeou said Monday that although some countries in the world have replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, Taiwan is not thinking of following suit. The president was responding to a question on the death penalty issue, during a news conference on the release of the 2nd national report on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. According to Ma, replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment without possibility of parole has given rise to many problems. For example, the public might find it hard to accept the idea of the country providing lifelong support for people convicted of serious crimes, he said, adding that prison population management can be another problem. Furthermore, putting criminals in prison for the rest of their lives is no less harmful to human rights than executing them, Ma said. Based on these reasons, the Ministry of Justice is not considering replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, he added. He said the government's current policy is to keep the death penalty but use it judiciously. Over the past 20 years, Taiwan has abolished all the laws that prescribed the death sentence as the sole penalty and has been reviewing those laws that maintain it as an optional penalty, Ma noted. Judges and prosecutors have also been very cautious in handling cases in which the death penalty is applicable, he said. As a result, Ma said, the number of people sentenced to death has dropped to six per year on average from a high of 18 per year in the past. People in Taiwan cannot yet accept the idea of removing the death penalty from the law books, the president said, adding that abolition of capital punishment is not yet a global trend either. Although the United Nations has adopted several resolutions calling on states that maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on its use, the countries that retain capital punishment still account for 60 % of the world's population, Ma said. (source: China Post) SRI LANKA: Lankan President commutes death sentences of 83 inmates Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena has decided to commute the death sentences of 83 prisoners who are either on death row or serving life. imprisonments. President Sirisena has taken the decision to spare the lives of the prisoners based on the recommendations made by a committee appointed following a request by the joint committee of the Ministries of Law and Order and Prisons Reforms and Justice to review the death sentences, reports Lanka Page. The Commissioner General of Prisons Nishan Danasinghe said they expect more death row inmates to receive the same concession in future. Although Sri Lankan courts give death penalty in serious crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out since 1976. All death penalty cases have been commuted to life in prison. Sri Lanka last year decided to vote in favor of a UN resolution for moratorium on death penalty. (source: Business Standard) PHILIPPINES: Philippines Presidential Frontrunner Says He'd Kill His Drug-Using ChildAdmits he probably agrees with people who call him a killer. Voters in the Philippines are choosing a new president in a couple of weeks and Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of Davao, has opened up a 12 point lead over Sen. Grace Poe. Duterte has made international headlines a number of times over some of the outlandish things he's said - most recently that he felt he should have been allowed to rape a woman who was gangraped during a prison riot first, since he was the mayor of the town
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April 25 IRANexecutions 3 Prisoners Hanged in Northern Iran According to a report by the press department of the Judiciary in Gilan, 3 prisoners were hanged at Lakan Rasht Prison on Saturday April 16. 2 of the prisoners, identified as D.A (51 years old) and F.V. (31 years old), were reportedly executed on murder charges and the other, identified as A.M. (29 years old), reportedly on drug charges. ** Prisoner Hanged in Southern Iran A prisoner was reportedly hanged at Bandar Abbas's central prison on murder charges. According to a report by the Judiciary in Hormozgan, a prisoner, identified as H.M. (31 years old), was hanged on murder charges on the morning of Wednesday April 20. (source for both: Iran Human Rights) * Call to save 10 prisoners about to be executed The Iranian Resistance calls on international human rights organizations to take urgent action to save the lives of 10 prisoners transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their antihuman execution in prisons in Karaj (Ghezel-Hessar) and Zahedan. On April 24, the regime's henchmen transferred 7 prisoners on death row to solitary confinement in Ghezel-Hessar prison in preparation for their execution. Three other prisoners on death row in Zahedan's central prison were transferred to solitary confinement one more time. Transfer of prisoners to the quarantined ward, special to the prisoners about to be executed, or taking them to the hanging poles to see the execution of other prisoners, are ordinary methods employed to pressure and psychologically torture prisoners in the prisons of the velayat-e faqih regime. On April 18, Mullah Sadeq Larijani, head of the regime's judiciary, defended the death sentence by saying: "By the laws of the Islamic Republic, we don't have execution for the sake of killing people; rather, this is Qisas which is a sort of right." Mullah Rouhani, the so-called moderate President of this regime, has similarly described death sentences as "divine command" and "laws of a parliament that belong to the people." The wave of executions, especially of young people, demonstrates the regime's fear of popular discontent and increasing protests by the disgruntled Iranian people and in particular millions of youths who are tired of poverty, corruption, addiction, unemployment and other social problems, which are the product of the mullahs' rule, and demand the overthrow of the religious fascism ruling Iran. (source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran) PAKISTAN: Death-row paraplegic in Pakistan pleads for mercy as stay of execution expires A severely disabled prisoner on Pakistan's death row has called on the country's President to spare his life, as a stay of execution granted to him in January expired. Abdul Basit, who is paralyzed from the waist down, has had his execution halted at the last minute 3 separate times in the past year, after his lawyers raised concerns that his execution could be illegal. Pakistan's Supreme Court has said Basit's execution must comply with the country's Prison Rules, which set Pakistan's execution procedure - however, the rules contain no provisions for the hanging of prisoners in wheelchairs. The Pakistani government has said it is carrying out an 'inquiry' into Basit's medical condition, but has sought to block his lawyers from accessing the results of its tests on him. This weekend, the most recent stay of execution granted to Basit, in January this year, was due to expire. In comments to the Telegraph that were published today, Basit said that he still hoped that the President of Pakistan, Mamnoon Hussain, would grant a petition for mercy submitted by his lawyers. He said: "The last 2 stays [of execution] have given me a hint of hope that Mr. President acknowledges that I am a helpless paralyzed man who cannot even stand on my feet. I don't know what will happen when my stay expires. I don't know if they will hang me or let me live." The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Juan Mendez, has said that Basit's execution would be illegal under international law, and has called on Pakistan to permanently commute Basit's death sentence in line with the petition for mercy submitted to the country's President. Pakistan is thought to have the largest death row in the world, at over 8,000 people. The government resumed executions in December 2014, and has claimed to be executing only 'terrorists.' However, an investigation this year by international human rights organization Reprieve and the Justice Project Pakistan found that, of 351 prisoners executed since 2014, only 1 in 10 involved people who could be linked to militancy. Commenting, Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: "It's deeply worrying that the Pakistani authorities may now be gearing up to try
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April 25 TAIWAN: Taiwan not about to replace death penalty with life imprisonment: Ma President Ma Ying-jeou said Monday that although some countries in the world have replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, Taiwan is not thinking of following suit. The president was responding to a question on the death penalty issue, during a news conference on the release of the second national report on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. According to Ma, replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment without possibility of parole has given rise to many problems. For example, the public might find it hard to accept the idea of the country providing lifelong support for people convicted of serious crimes, he said, adding that prison population management can be another problem. Furthermore, putting criminals in prison for the rest of their lives is no less harmful to human rights than executing them, Ma said. Based on these reasons, the Ministry of Justice is not considering replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, he added. He said the government's current policy is to keep the death penalty but use it judiciously. Over the past 20 years, Taiwan has abolished all the laws that prescribed the death sentence as the sole penalty and has been reviewing those laws that maintain it as an optional penalty, Ma noted. Judges and prosecutors have also been very cautious in handling cases in which the death penalty is applicable, he said. As a result, Ma said, the number of people sentenced to death has dropped to 6 per year on average from a high of 18 per year in the past. People in Taiwan cannot yet accept the idea of removing the death penalty from the law books, the president said, adding that abolition of capital punishment is not yet a global trend either. Although the United Nations has adopted several resolutions calling on states that maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on its use, the countries that retain capital punishment still account for 60 % of the world's population, Ma said. (source: focustaiwan.tw) PAKISTAN: Pakistan jail 'withheld medical records' which could stop execution of paralysed man A Pakistan jail which plans to hang a paralysed man on death row has been accused of withholding crucial medical documents which could be used to stop his execution, the Telegraph has learned. Abdul Basit, who faces the grisly prospect of being hanged in his wheelchair, was granted a temporary stay of execution in November when the country's President ordered a full medical examination to determine whether he was too ill to face the gallows. "If you can't pardon somebody who's been paralysed because of your jail's negligence, who is going to be eligible for a pardon?"Sarah Bilal, Justice Project Pakistan The reprieve was granted amid fears that Basit would be decapitated or suffer prolonged strangulation during his execution, as the prison has no guidelines on how to hang prisoners who are unable to mount the scaffold. With his latest stay of execution set to expire on Monday, Basit's legal team have urgently appealed for access to an MRI scan confirming he has suffered irreversible damage to his spine, which they claim was caused by botched treatment for tubercular meningitis infection he contracted in prison in 2010. The scans could prove that Basit's condition is so severe that he cannot be executed humanely and would offer him a chance of clemency, his lawyers say. Prison officials refused to grant them access to the scans, prompting Basit's lawyers to file contempt of court proceedings against the superintendent of Faisalabad's Central Jail. A Lahore judge on Thursday night ordered Faisalabad prison authorities to make the MRI scan available to Basit's lawyers, but dismissed the contempt claims. "As his legal counsel we have a right to access medical records of our client," said Sarah Bilal, of Justice Project Pakistan, a non-profit law firm. "The judge directed them to give us the MRI scans. That's where the spine scan will show what damage has been done to his spine." "If you can't pardon somebody who's been paralysed because of your jail's negligence, who is going to be eligible for a pardon?" Faisalabad prison officials insist they have shared all available documents with Basit's counsel, but initially said they could not provide copies of the original MRI scans. The Pakistani government has not confirmed whether it will extend Basit's reprieve, meaning a new death warrant could be issued by the Faisalabad district court as soon as next Monday. Its plan to execute a paralysed prisoner has been condemned by the United Nations, which says the procedure is illegal and has demanded that Basit's death sentence is commuted. Meanwhile,
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april 24 EGYPT: Egypt military court postpones verdict on 28 Morsi supporters for 3rd time In February, the court sentenced eight of the 28 defendants to a preliminary death sentence but did not issue sentences for the remaining 20 defendants An Egyptian military court postponed on Sunday the issuing of a verdict in the trial of 28 alleged supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi who were accused of planning attacks on military and police personnel to 29 May. In February, the court sentenced 8 of the 28 defendants to death. The court did not issue sentences for the remaining 20 defendants. 15 of the defendants are detained, while the rest are on the run and being tried in absentia. The court referred its initial death penalty verdicts to the Grand Mufti of Egypt -- the country's leading authority on religious edicts - for a non-binding consultation as per Egyptian law. In March, the court postponed issuing a verdict in the case until 3 April without stating reasons. The verdict was further postponed on 3 April to 24 April. The court is set to confirm or reverse the death sentences and rule on 1st-degree sentences for the 20 remaining defendants. The awaited verdicts will be subject to appeal in the military cassation court. (source: ahramonline.com) SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi court approves death sentence for activist Saudi Arabia's Court of Cassation endorsed Saturday a death sentence handed down to an activist from the Shia community, 4 months after the execution of a respected cleric by Riyadh sparked international outrage. The court approved the sentence handed down to Yusof al-Mosheykhas, a citizen of the Shia-dominated city of Awwamiyah in the eastern region of Qatif, Naba' TV reported. According to the report, Mosheykhas was arrested 2 years ago after he attended several anti-government protests in his hometown. He was convicted of attempted terrorist act in an initial trial and was incarcerated in January 2014. Rights campaigners expressed concern about the imminent execution of Mosheykhas, saying the activist could be put to death in an unknown location without prior notice. That has been the case for other Saudis and foreigners convicted of involvement in terror activities. Back in January, Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a highly respected Shia cleric and an outspoken critic of Riyadh from Qatif, only to trigger massive condemnations around the world. Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, an oil-rich region which includes Qatif and Awwamiyah, was the scene of clashes between people and police since an uprising began there in early 2011. Riyadh has faced criticism by human rights groups and governments in the West over its imposition of numerous restrictions on freedom of speech and the harsh way the courts deal with dissent. Notable activists, including Raif Badawi, a 31-year-old blogger who has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for his writings on the internet, has been behind bars in Saudi Arabia since 2012. On Friday, the United Nations torture committee called on the Saudi government to stop physical punishment, including flogging and amputations, carried out against the convicts in the kingdom while it expressed concern about the abuse of bloggers, activists and human rights lawyers in prisons. (source: presstv.ir) AUSTRALIA: Australia should do more to stamp out capital punishment The Bali 9 ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by firing squad on the Indonesian island of Nusa Kambangan a year ago next Friday. Even a year on, it stands as yet another case of barbarism in the cause of political expediency, lives cut short and the potential for good extinguished for no reason. The 9-year legal wrangle that surrounded their conviction and incarceration, further complicated by the murky behaviour of authorities, not least the Australian Federal Police, ended with the execution of the pair. Naturally, they had support from those against the death penalty, but their long residency on death row garnered such widespread sympathy and support from Australia and elsewhere that for a while it seemed some good could come from such a groundswell of opposition. The Bali 9 pair faced execution along with criminals from the Philippines, France, Nigeria, Ghana, Indonesia and, potentially, a mentally ill Brazilian. The 2 Australians' lives were not worth more or less than the fellow condemned or the thousands executed in Indonesia and other countries each year. But when the pair were hurriedly taken to Nusa Kambangan, the barbarity of capital punishment was brutally underscored, hopes for reform were replaced by impotent outrage. Australia recalled its ambassador Paul Grigson in protest. It was unprecedented, but he was back in Jakarta by the following June. Indonesia's justification for killing offenders in the name of deterrence was exposed as a fraud.
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April 23 IRANexecution Iran regime hangs prisoner in southern port city The mullahs' regime has hanged a prisoner in the port city of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran. The 31-year-old prisoner, identified only by the initials H. M., was hanged on Wednesday, April 20, in Bandar Abbas Central Prison, according to the Iranian regime's judiciary in Bushehr Province. The hanging bring to at least 35 the number of people executed in Iran since the start of last week, while European officials have been paying visits to Tehran. 3 of those executed were women. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement last week that the increasing trend of executions "aimed at intensifying the climate of terror to rein in expanding protests by various strata of the society, especially at a time of visits by high-ranking European officials, demonstrates that the claim of moderation is nothing but an illusion for this medieval regime." Ms. Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was in Tehran last Saturday along with seven EU commissioners for discussions with the regime's officials on trade and other areas of cooperation. Her trip was strongly criticized by Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI who said: "This trip which takes place in the midst of mass executions, brutal human rights violations and the regime's unbridled warmongering in the region tramples on the values upon which the EU has been founded and which Ms. Mogherini should be defending and propagating." Amnesty International in its April 6 annual Death Penalty report covering the 2015 period wrote: "Iran put at least 977 people to death in 2015, compared to at least 743 the year before." "Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions recorded" in the Middle East and North Africa, the human rights group said. There have been more than 2,300 executions during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as President. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran in March announced that the number of executions in Iran in 2015 was greater than any year in the last 25 years. Rouhani has explicitly endorsed the executions as examples of "God's commandments" and "laws of the parliament that belong to the people." (source: NCR-Iran) NIGERIA: Bus driver gets death penalty for stealing N68,000He said that the convict and his gang had pretended to be passengers in the commercial vehicles in which they dispossessed the unsuspecting victims of cash. An High Court in Makurdi, Benue State has sentenced a a bus driver, Tanko Inalegwu, who robbed passengers of N68,000, to death by hanging. In his ruling, Justice Hwande held that the prosecution proved before the court that the convict conspired with others, now at large to rob their victims of various sums of money totalling N68,000, on October 10, 2013. He said that the convict and his gang had pretended to be passengers in the commercial vehicles in which they dispossessed the unsuspecting victims of cash at the old Customs House, North Bank, Makurdi - after which they pushed out the three victims from the moving vehicle. The Judge stated that contrary to the victim's claim, evidence tendered before the court showed clearly that the convict was a key player in the robbery. Report said the convict had confessed to the police that he committed the offence, but later made a U-turn, claiming that he made the confessional statement after being tortured by the Police. Justice Hwande said that the confessional statement provided enough ground for the verdict of the court and his conviction. (source: pulse.ng) SINGAPORE: Heroin trafficker escapes the gallowsHe gets life term after arguing drug addiction, mental illness impaired 'mental responsibility' A 30-year-old heroin trafficker, who failed to escape the death sentence in three previous attempts, yesterday succeeded in getting the High Court to sentence him to life imprisonment instead. Justice Choo Han Teck accepted the defence's argument that Jeffery Phua Han Chuan's ketamine addiction, coupled with a persistent depressive disorder, impaired his mental responsibility when he smuggled more than 100g of heroin into Singapore at Woodlands Checkpoint. Phua was convicted in September 2011 by the same judge and given the death penalty, which was then mandatory for those convicted of importing more than 15g of heroin. His appeal against the conviction was dismissed in July 2012. After exhausting the avenues of appeal, Phua filed two criminal motions in a bid to get his convictions overturned. His applications were dismissed in March 2014 and September last year. In 2013, law amendments kicked in, giving judges the discretion to sentence drug couriers to life imprisonment instead of death, if certain conditions are met. This
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April 22 SOUTH AFRICA: Death penalty bunk Glen Henick makes a strange case for reintroducing the death penalty (SA needs deterrent to rein in shockingly high murder rate, April 19). While he does not actually appear to accept the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent, despite your heading, he makes a spurious suggestion that it should be supported in part because it is popular - in other words because some other people may support it. Not a good reason to support anything! He makes an "economic" argument - that it could be cheaper than imprisonment if we do away with appeal processes. Apart from the fact that appeals could help in ensuring that innocent people are not hanged by mistake (which has often happened in the US), this smacks of some kind of summary justice. He also makes a "historical" argument - essentially because many people are poor and illiterate, we cannot afford the "luxury" of not having the death penalty. Henick suggests that if the death penalty is in place, we might have less "mob justice". My sense is this is more to do with a lack of confidence in the police in dealing with crime, rather than perceived inadequate sentences imposed by the courts and absence of the death penalty. Mark Turpin, via email) (source: Letter to the Editor, belive.co.za) INDONESIA: Suspect Could Face Death in Tangerang Mutilation Murder Case The suspected murderer of a 34-year-old pregnant woman whose body was found mutilated in Tangerang, Banten, could face the death penalty as he stands accused of premeditated murder, a police official said on Friday (22/04). Agus, 31-years-old, was arrested on Wednesday in Surabaya, East Java, after being on the run since the murder of Nur Atikah on Sunday. He has been brought to Jakarta. Police said the suspect, a married father of 1, claimed during interrogations that he had killed his girlfriend Atikah in the heat of the moment during an altercation. But witnesses dispute the claim. "The suspect once asked the witnesses if committing murder is a sin," Jakarta Police general crimes director, Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti, told reporters. "Thus, the plan to kill has come across his mind beforehand." Investigators said Atikah was a 7 months pregnant widow mother of 2 and had repeatedly asked the suspect to marry her. He is alleged to have strangled her and mutilated her body. "The mutilation was indeed planned as he needed a tool to do that," Krishna added. "The suspect took a machete from his rented house and also bought a saw from a nearby market." Atikah's body was discovered 3 days later at a rented house in Cikupa. Her arms were found the following day in a nearby river, but her legs are yet to be located. Investigations revealed that Agus and Atikah had been living together for the past 2 months, while his wife and children lived in Bogor, West Java. The 2 had once worked at the same restaurant in Cikupa, but at different times, police said. (source: Jakarta Globe) * Indonesia defends death penalty for drugs Indonesia has defended its use of the death penalty for drug traffickers.It comes just days after its representative was jeered at a UN narcotics conference, citing a steep rise in demand and consumption in Southeast Asia's most populous country. Indonesia has faced widespread international criticism for its use of capital punishment, most recently for the high-profile executions of foreign drug traffickers, despite repeated pleas for mercy from governments and international activists. 'Indonesia and like-minded countries ... face diverse challenges in handling drugs and the death penalty is one of the options based on sovereignty of the law in each country,' the foreign ministry said in a statement. Indonesia's representative at the UN conference drew criticism when he defended the use of capital punishment for drug offences, saying it was for individual countries to decide for themselves. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has declared a 'drug emergency' in the country of 250 million, calling the rising flow of narcotics as serious a security threat as militancy. Indonesia's attorney-general announced earlier this month executions would resume this year following a brief hiatus after last year's executions of 14 mainly foreign drug traffickers. (source: skynews.com.au) TAIWAN: Taiwan Supreme Court Upholds Subway Killer Death Sentence Taiwan's supreme court on Friday upheld the death sentence given to a university student over a random May 2014 knife attack in a subway car in the capital Taipei that left 4 people dead and 22 injured. The denial of Cheng Chieh's third and final appeal draws a line under one of the most shocking crimes to strike the island's prosperous and generally non-violent society in years. Before the attack, Cheng posted a message on his Facebook page saying he "wanted to do something big." During
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April 21 BANGLADESH: Youth gets death penalty for friend's murder A court on Thursday convicted and sentenced a young man to death for the 2011 murder of his friend in the Lalkhan Bazar area of the port city. Jahed Mahmud, 26, a resident of Baghmoniram area of the city, is said to had taken his friend Kafil Uddin, then a 2nd year student at the International Islamic University, to a hill on the south side of Jamiatul Falah Mosque in Lalkhan Bazar following dinner at a local restaurant on December 18, 2011. There he later strangulated Kafil, before snatching his laptop and cash. Police recovered Kafil's body from the hill on December 19. The same day, Kafil's father Mohammad Rafiq filed a case with the Kotowali Model Police Station. Jahed was put under arrest in connection with the murder same days later, and the Police submitted the chargesheet accusing him on May 3, 2012. After examining the records and 11 witnesses, Additional Session's Judge Mohammad Shah-e Nur handed down the verdict. (source: prothom-alo.com) PAKISTAN: Pakistan and the Death PenaltySince lifting its moratorium on the death penalty in 2014, Pakistan has become one of the world's leading executioners. In its "Death Sentences and Executions Report 2015," Amnesty International ranked Pakistan as the 3rd most prolific executioner in the world, right after China and Iran. Taken together, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia accounted for almost 90 % of all recorded global executions (excluding China's figures, as the number of executions is considered a state secret by Beijing). While Amnesty's report only covered the year 2015, since 2014 Pakistan has hanged at least 389 death row inmates. After a brutal terrorist attack on schoolchildren in Peshawar, Pakistan lifted a 6-year de facto moratorium on use of the death penalty - 1st for terror-related cases and then, in March 2015, in all capital cases. In making its decision, government seemed quite convinced that capital punishment was the only effective way to deal with the scourge of terrorism. When the moratorium was lifted, it was viewed in the broader context of Pakistan's fight against terrorists and militancy. But after following this policy for almost a year and a half now, a quick glance at the data of executions carried out in Pakistan calls this narrative into question. As per the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), 389 death row convicts have been hanged through mid-April 2016. Out of these, 49 were tried by the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) and 12 by the military courts. Based on the HRCP data, only around 10 % of those executed in Pakistan were associated with terrorism, while 73 % are ordinary murderers. The others were convicted of murder after rape, murder after robbery, or murder after kidnapping. The Pakistani government's assertion that the moratorium on death penalty was lifted to tackle terrorism loses ground here. Furthermore, Pakistan employs a broad definition of "terrorism." Subsection (b) of Section 6(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, as amended in 2013, spells out terrorism as "the use or threat of action" intended "to coerce and intimidate or overawe the Government or the public" or "create a sense of fear or insecurity in society." Any murder can be deemed to "intimidate" the public and "create a sense of fear" in the neighborhood. No wonder more than one in 10 of all death row prisoners in Pakistan is tried as a "terrorist." It's also a very unfortunate reality that juveniles and people with disabilities were also among those executed in Pakistan. Several such controversies have come to the fore during the trials of non-terrorism related case in ATCs, which resulted in condemning juveniles to death. Shafqat Hussain, for example, was allegedly sentenced to death when he was 14 years old; he was hanged in August 2015. Likewise, Aftab Bahadur was hanged in June 2015 despite pleas from international human rights groups that he was a juvenile when convicted of murder. Amnesty International reports that 5 men who were juveniles at the time of their crimes were among those executed by Pakistan in 2015. Meanwhile, a paraplegic death row prisoner received a last-minute stay of execution in November 2015 to the relief of many human rights activists in the country. However, the news that the officials were simply uncertain of how to hang a man incapable of standing up unsupported was both sickening and painful. There are also questions about the fairness of the judicial process. There have been cases where the court-appointed lawyer does not ever meet the suspect outside of court, present evidence in his defense, or properly challenge witness statements. Poorer families cannot hire afford to private lawyers and very often lose the battle of life against poverty. Despite these issues, there seems to be strong public support for the death penalty. According to a
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April 21 SAUDI ARABIA: President Obama Can Help Save Saudi Youth Facing BeheadingHe can save lives and help ease religious tensions in the region. One concrete outcome that President Obama could pursue on his visit to Saudi Arabia is saving the lives of three Shia youth sentenced to be executed, most likely by beheading, for participating in nonviolent protests. Sparing their lives could also help ease the Shia/Sunni tensions that have engulfed the region. Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher are members of the minority Shia community that has, for decades, been demanding equality and full civil rights. The Shia represent 10-15 percent of the Saudi population and live mainly in the oil-rich Eastern province. Ever since the Saudi state was founded in 1932 by forming a pact with the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam, the Shia in Saudi Arabia have endured state-sponsored discrimination, social marginalization, and campaigns of violence waged by anti-Shiite hardliners. According to Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, "All the Saudi Shia want is for their government to respect their identity and treat them equally. Yet Saudi authorities routinely treat these people with scorn and suspicion." The persecution of the three youth is deeply sectarian, and reflects the long history of oppression the Shia have faced in Saudi Arabia. Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables in 2008 reported a campaign to close Shia mosques and prevent Shia celebrations, as well as ongoing arrests of people trying to take part in these celebrations. There is also discrimination in the education system. Shia cannot teach religion in public schools and Shia pupils are told by Sunni teachers that they are infidels. Saudi textbooks traditionally characterize Shiism as a form of heresy worse than Christianity and Judaism. Shia cannot become school principals and there are unofficial restrictions on the number of Shia admitted to universities. The discovery of oil in the Eastern Province brought the Shia jobs as skilled and semi-skilled workers, but they receive little of the contracting wealth the industry generates and they complain that the region does not get its fair share of the oil revenue. Shia are also discriminated against in government employment, especially in positions that relate to national security, such as the military, police, or the security services. There has been only 1 Shia minister, appointed by King Abdullah in 2014 as the Minister of State, and only a handful of Shia members have been appointed to the 150-seat Shura Council that advises the king. The Sunni-Shia divide, and the resulting persecution of Shia, becomes more open and dangerous in times of regional upheaval and heightened tensions with Iran. The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the subsequent rise of Iranian influence in the region intensified the hostilities. The Saudi government began to view dissent among the Shia as part of an Iranian conspiracy to destabilize the kingdom. This was the climate during which the 2011 Shia protests took place, inspired by the Arab Spring. The protests began with calls for Shia rights and the release of political prisoners, but in the summer of 2012, after at least 16 people died at the hands of government forces, the demands turned into far-reaching calls for a constitutional government and an end to the monarchy. Ali, Dawood, and Abdullah were among the hundreds arrested during those protests. Their grossly unfair trials were based on "confessions," extracted under torture, that they attacked police. Dawood was so badly beaten that he signed a blank piece of paper; his tormentors later filled in the "crime" without even bothering to show it to him. These young men were sentenced to death for activities that, in the United States, are guaranteed by the First Amendment of our Constitution. The fact that they were sentenced to death for actions committed as juveniles is all the more shocking. Saudi Arabia is one of the only countries in the world that executes people arrested as minors. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Saudi government is a party, prohibits capital punishment for individuals who were under 18 at the time of the alleged crime. So do the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights. While the United States itself still uses the death penalty, in 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty for juveniles was cruel and unusual punishment and therefore prohibited by the Constitution. Aside from the issue of minors, Saudi Arabia is one of the top three executioners worldwide, surpassed only by China and Iran. In 2015, Saudi Arabia broke its own previous records, executing 158 people. This year, if the current rate is maintained, Saudi Arabia will execute about 320 prisoners, almost one a day.
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April 20 INDIA: 6-yr-old's rapist, killer sentenced to death The Lucknow bench of high court awarded death penalty to a 25-year-old man for raping a 6-year-old girl and strangulating her to death in a sugarcane field. "In such a case, leniency by court will send out wrong message. The offender's age is no mitigating circumstance and with his deviant behavior he has forfeited his right to live so death sentence is the only punishment for him. Dismissing the appeal of the convict challenging the judgment of trial court and accepting the reference made by the Shravasti district judge, a bench of justice S V S Rathore and justice Pratyush Kumar observed that since the case is rarest of rare, it deserves exemplary punishment so that persons of deviant behavior may think better than committing such an act. The incident occurred in Semgarha village under Ikauna police station, Shravasti on March 8, 2012 on the occasion of Holi. The convict Chhotkau took the of 6-year-old away with him and when the girl did not return for long, the villagers went searching and found her body in a sugarcane field. Many villagers had seen the youth taking her away. After the incident, the youth fled from his house. Later, he was nabbed and put to trial. The district judge conducted his trial and awarded him capital sentence on March 29, 2014 and the district judge sent the reference of capital sentence to the high court under section 366 of the Cr P C. Meanwhile, the convict also filed appeal against the verdict from jail. Advocate Atul Verma argued that the case was based on circumstantial evidence and that the convict was implicated falsely at the instance of the village pradhan over a property dispute. Finally, he demanded leniency to award life term considering his age. Strongly opposing the plea, government attorneys argued that the convict deserved only death penalty. (source: The Times of India) CHINA: Chinese crypto techie sentenced to death for leaking state secrets31 others caught up in spying row A computer technician at a Chinese state encryption lab has been sentenced to death for selling government secrets to foreign intelligence agencies. For nine years Huang Yu, 48, sold 150,000 state documents for "a foreign spy organization" and earned over $700,000, Shanghai Daily reports. These included ciphers for the Communist Party, government, military and financial communications. "He had offered a great deal of classified information in 10 years, which caused serious threats to our core government and military departments," the state safety bureau of Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, said in a statement. According to state media, Yu contacted the unnamed foreign intelligence agency offering documents for sale after becoming unsatisfied with his job. His contact offered $10,000 for the first tranche of files and a monthly salary of $5,000 to get more, and also trained Yu in espionage techniques. For a while all went well, but then Yu was fired from his job for poor performance. In order to keep the documents - and paychecks - coming, Yu reportedly pressured his wife - who also worked at the center - for more information. He also stole state documents from his brother-in-law's computer while repairing it. However, Yu's wealth and his frequent visits to Hong Kong and other Asian countries, caught the eye of the authorities. After an investigation he was arrested and charged in 2011, but this is the 1st time the news has been made public. While Yu now faces the death penalty, his wife was sentenced to 5 years in prison, and his brother-in-law to 3 years, for "negligence," and 29 of his former colleagues have also been punished. (source: theregister.co.uk) NIGERIA: Delta legislature prescribes death penalty for kidnappers The Delta House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the Anti-kidnap Bill, prescribing death sentence for kidnappers and life imprisonment for accomplices. The passage of the bill by a unanimous vote of the members present followed a report presented by the house's Committee on Rules, Business, Legal and Judicial Matters at plenary in Asaba. Presenting the report, Chairman of the committee, Mr Rueben Izezi, said that the bill, when signed into law, would also give life imprisonment and forfeiture of all property within the state for anyone whose property was used for kidnapping. The bill, which was initiated by the Executive, also provides life imprisonment for persons who initiated a compromise, settlement or refused to give testimony in court in respect of charges for kidnapping. In his remarks, Speaker of the assembly, Chief Monday Igbuya, said that at the committee of the whole, the bill was considered clause by clause and section by section. "I must also commend members for giving considerable attention to this bill, which is to the benefit of the people of the state," he said. Igbuya, therefore,
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April 20 ISRAEL/GAZA: EU Condemns Death Sentences in Gaza for Suspected Collaborators With Israel The European Union released a statement earlier today in which it condemned the military courts in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for sentencing to death 5 convicts accused of collaborating with Israel. "The EU Missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah condemn the 5 death sentences issued by military courts in the Gaza Strip on 18 April," said the EU statement. "These include 3 new death sentences and the confirmation of 2 previous ones, all on the grounds of collaboration with enemy forces." "This brings to ten the total number of death sentences to be issued in Gaza this year," the EU added. Death sentences for convicted informants and collaborators with Israel are nothing new for the Hamas regime as the terror organization has executed many such individuals over the years. However, the EU focused less on opposition to the punishment of suspected collaborators with Israel and more on the use of the death penalty in general. "As in their most recent statement on 13 April, the EU Missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah recall the EU's firm opposition under all circumstances to the use of capital punishment," the EU stressed in its statement. "It considers capital punishment to be cruel and inhuman, that it fails to provide deterrence to criminal behavior, and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity," the statement continued. The EU expressed its belief that the removal of the death penalty would help to serve as a step forward in the advancement of human rights under the Hamas terror regime in Gaza. The EU also asked that the Hamas authorities in Gaza abide by the decision of the Palestinian Authority, which only governs over Palestinian communities in Judea and Samaria and not in Gaza, to implement a moratorium on the death penalty. "The authorities in Gaza must refrain from carrying out any executions of prisoners and comply with the moratorium on executions put in place by the Palestinian Authority, pending abolition of the death penalty in line with the global trend," insisted the EU. (sources: Tazpit News Agency/Jewish Press) EGYPT: Kafr El-Sheikh Death Row Political Detainees in Day 6 of Hunger StrikeProtesting severe abuse for themselves in detention, as well as for their families in visits, prisoners of conscience refuse all food for 6th day running. Death penalty detainees, in the case known as "the bombing of Kafr El-Sheikh stadium", started a full hunger-strike which is now in its 6th day running, because of the brutal treatment of some prison officers, who threw 1 of them in solitary confinement to punish him, and took away all their personal belongings: food, blankets and medicine. Notably, orders were never signed by the military governor in Alexandria. Thus, locking detainees in solitary confinement is certainly in violation of the law. Moreover, detainees' families are subjected to the worst and most humiliating treatment, and the most savage insults during visits. Relatives of the detainees exhort all human rights organizations to intervene to stop the abuses practiced by the prison administration and guards against their loved ones. (source: ikhwanweb.com) MAURITANIA: Mauritania must quash the death sentence against blogger Mauritania must quash the death sentence handed down to a blogger for apostasy and release him unconditionally, Amnesty International said today, ahead of his appeal court hearing in the south-western city of Nouadhibou tomorrow. Mohamed Mkhaitir, 33, was sentenced to death in December 2014, after a year in pre-trial detention, for writing a blog that criticized those who use Islam to discriminate against certain groups in the society. It is the 1st time the death sentence has been imposed for apostasy in Mauritania since the country gained independence in 1960. "The death penalty should not be used in any circumstances, the sentencing of Mohamed Mkhaitir to death for writing a blog that criticized those who use religion to discriminate is unjust and it shows how far the Mauritanian authorities will go to try and stamp out dissent", said Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty International West Africa researcher. "The Mauritanian authorities must quash the death sentence and immediately and unconditionally release him." Mohamed Mkhaitir is a prisoner of conscience, jailed solely for the peaceful expression of his right to freedom of expression. Amnesty International considers the use of penal sanctions to compel religious belief is a violation of international human rights law, particularly the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to which Mauritania is state party. The organization opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime. The death penalty violates the right to life as
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April 19 IRAN: If All Cultures Are Equally Valid, Can Iran Kill Gay People? Gay Air France attendants want to be excused from working flights to Iran, because Iran applies the death penalty to gay people. It's yet another exposure of multiculturalism's contradictions. Air France is about to resume flights to Iran after an 8-year hiatus, and in an internal memo told their female flight attendants that when they deboard in Iran they must wear a headscarf to comply with Iranian laws. Not surprisingly, the French flight attendants revolted. They claimed this would seriously violate their right to the secularism that is so fundamental to the French state. In response, Air France agreed to allow them to opt out of working Iran-bound flights. Now, another group of Air France employees is protesting the requirement that they work this new route. Gay male flight attendants have started a petition that would give themselves a similar option as their female colleagues. But their cause goes beyond a violation of their secular rights. In Iran, homosexuality is illegal, and not just in name only. The punishments range from several dozen lashes to the death penalty. If these flight attendants deboard in Iran, they risk arrest and death. Would Iran jeopardize the recent diplomatic thaw by arresting a French citizen under these charges? Probably not, although after Iran seized 10 U.S. sailors in January it's hard to say. But that isn't the point. The point is, while the West congratulates itself on the Obama administration's diplomatic "achievement" vis-a-vis Iran, we are reminded that the Islamic theocracy has serious problems with human rights, especially regarding the gay community. Multiculturalism's Contradictions Although there has been some outcry over Iran's human rights record since the Iran nuclear deal, media organizations have, for the most part, downplayed it. They're more engrossed in human interest stories that conform to their narrative that life in the Middle East is not so different from life in the West. This is, of course, an important message for us to hear, and we should encourage awareness of our similarities where they exist. But not at the expense of hiding our differences or dismissing systematic violations of human rights, and not to promote a progressive, utopic vision of multicultural bliss. The fact is, there's a persistent problem with multicultural ideology that sees evidence of injustice and discrimination everywhere at home, but turns a blind eye abroad. Take, for example, women's rights. In the United States, the Left sees bias, sexual harassment, and micro-aggressions against women around every corner. They have convinced themselves that men and women are paid radically different salaries, culminating in last Tuesday's "equal pay day," even though when looking only at earners who are not primary care-givers that difference all but disappears. Meanwhile, in many Muslim countries, a woman must get a man's permission before being allowed to work at all. This is because women are largely restricted to the "home sphere" as opposed to the "public" one. But a progressive will more or less give you the old "separate but equal" line to justify what they claim merely boils down to "cultural differences." There's also a backlash against those who speak out on the issue. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was disinvited from Brandeis University for her views on women and Islam, and Mona Eltahawy's article "Why Do They Hate Us?" sparked outrage from the Left. How Multiculturalism Contradicts Freedom The same hypocrisy is on display regarding gay rights in Muslim countries. While the hardships of being homosexual in these countries are sometimes reported in Western media, there is usually very little discussion of why countries that adhere to Islam persecute homosexuality. That Western media seems to have so little interest in this is surprising, given that more than 75 % of people in Lebanon, Turkey, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia don't think society should accept homosexuality. If all cultures are equal, no culture can be criticized. The West is skittish about criticizing any aspect of Islamic culture, regardless of how much it might fly in the face of progressive values, because the multicultural framework forbids it. If all cultures are equal, no culture can be criticized. In academia, it's pedestrian to see posters for talks on hyper-specific aspects of homosexuality in America and their attendant discriminations. Campus activism for LGBT rights is a hallmark of the academy. So is the promotion and defense of Muslim culture. But it's rare to see any acknowledgement of how these two causes sometimes clash. The Left Sacrifices Gay People to Islamists As is the case with women's rights, multiculturalism ends up winning out over the human rights of homosexuals in the Middle East. Progressives
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April 18 INDONESIA: Indonesian President Defends Death Penalty for Drug Crimes Indonesia's president is defending his country's use of the death penalty for drug offenses, arguing that drug abuse constitutes an emergency. Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and more than 130 people on death row, mostly for drug crimes. Authorities recently said Indonesia is preparing to execute more foreigners convicted of drug offenses. Executions last year caused an international outcry. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Monday that "Indonesia currently has an emergency, above all in drug abuse." He said 30-50 people a day die in Indonesia because of drugs. Jokowi said through an interpreter: "Implementation of the death penalty is carried out very cautiously." He spoke after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who underlined Germany's opposition to capital punishment and its wish for Indonesia "not to implement it if possible." (source: Associated Press) * German president urges abolition of Indonesia's death penalty German President Joachim Gauck urged his Indonesian counterpart to abolish the country's death penalty during a meeting in Berlin on Monday, telling Joko Widodo that, especially when it comes to human rights, government heads must sometimes take the 1st step, according to attendees. Reassuring Joko that Germany supports Indonesia's path towards more democracy, Gauck said that it's especially in times of transformation that wise social policy is needed to bring a society forward. Gauck and Joko got into an intense discussion on the topic, with the Indonesian president arguing that the death penalty was still necessary to fight against drug-related crimes. He added that with 85 % of the population supporting capital punishment, it was not up to him to go against the will of the majority. Gauck said that Germany's relationship with Indonesia was especially important in the fight against radical Islamism, and that the archipelago showed that Islam and democracy are far from incompatible. (source: DPA) CHINA: 5 Hongkongers could face death penalty over one of China's biggest cocaine seizuresPolice seized 400.5kg of cocaine hidden in flats occupied by Hong Kong suspects in Shenzhen 5 Hongkongers could face the death penalty along with 4 others arrested on the mainland and in Vietnam in connection with China's biggest seizure of cocaine in recent years. Announcing details of the operation yesterday, mainland police said they seized 400.5kg of the drug hidden in 2 flats occupied by the Hong Kong suspects in Shenzhen last month. The haul had an estimated street value of HK$600 million on the mainland. Chinese woman, 67, accused of acting as drugs mule, travelling over 30 times across China with narcotics strapped on her. Mainland police said they had smashed the drug-trafficking syndicate responsible, which was controlled by a Hong Kong drug kingpin and arranged a 1-stop service - cross-border delivery, storage and distribution, according to the state-owned China News Service.' Details were made public about a week before the International Drug Enforcement Conference is held in Lima, Peru. It is understood mainland public security officials will also attend to exchange intelligence with their counterparts from South American countries that are sources of cocaine. The latest seizure was based on a tip-off received by Shenzhen police last month, with the Ministry of Public Security's narcotics division and the Guangdong Public Security Bureau playing coordinating roles. Chinese man growing poppies on his roof to make drugs caught by police after posting videos of flowers online. After identifying the key figures of the syndicate, Shenzhen police picked up 2 of the Hongkongers in the mainland city's Futian district on March 24. They seized 140.2kg of cocaine from the flat the suspects were occupying.' The next day, police arrested another Hong Kong man on the Shenzhen side at about 1am when he tried to return to Hong Kong through the Huanggang border checkpoint. In his rented flat, officers confiscated 260.3kg of cocaine. With the help of Vietnamese police, another suspect was nabbed in Ho Chi Minh City on April 10 and handed over later to the mainland authorities. On the same day, another 2 suspects were arrested in Taishan, Guangdong. Another Hongkonger was arrested along with an 8th suspect on April 11 in Quanzhou, Fujian, and the last suspect was nabbed 2 days later in Taishan. Some of the Hongkongers were said to have strong triad backgrounds. Among the biggest seizures in the past, the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau in June 2008 seized 530kg of cocaine with an estimated value of 500 million yuan, the biggest haul since the establishment of modern China in 1949. 9 people were arrested in the bust, with the authorities believing they had cut off a supply chain
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April 18 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: Wishful AG thinking about prison security So long as hanging remains the ultimate penalty provided for murder, "Death Row" must retain for convicts a chilling association with incarceration without end. For long, however, no convicted Trinidad and Tobago killers have suffered the death penalty. Given today's criminal justice procedures, nearly no one expects the hanging of a convicted killer on just any fateful morning in Port of Spain. Still, the "Death Row" title for the housing of murderers should imply, if nothing else, giving effect to the last word in lock-up arrangements. Prisoners, entitled to no expectation of release, and committed to death at the end of a rope, likely see themselves as having nothing to lose. It must be such considerations that had moved Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, presumably possessed of troubling intelligence about do-or-die escape plans, to undertake a personal tour of "Death Row". The Attorney General's walkabout, with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, accompanied a search by prison officers, newly equipped with an all-disclosing scanner. Efforts at searching and scanning led officials to thousands of "contraband" items. The searchers uncovered items of which prisoners had been debarred possession and use. Seizures included cocaine and marijuana; razors; ammunition; cellphones; and Wi-Fi devices. In that top-security setting, however, Attorney General Al-Rawi had also been privileged to witness finding of a 22-inch flat-screen television set. Who is in charge here? This question ministers must have asked, as they put their fingers into the multiple wounds of prison security. That a 22-inch flat-screen TV found its way into "Death Row" must be understood eloquently to speak volumes. Immediately called into question are the disciplines of watchful regard expected of prison officers. Moreover, those officers are presumed to be subject to rigorous oversight by others at progressively senior levels. As escapes, even with deadly consequences, have shown, T prison security appears shot full of holes. Such a conclusion, however, Mr Al-Rawi sees himself not allowed to draw. Rather, he emphasises the positive, presumably entailed in the electronic frustration of 1.5 million illegal calls and text messages into and out of just 1 detention centre. The equipment to accomplish all this and more, so the Attorney General suggested, had somehow not been turned on during the People???s Partnership time in office. As yet, the T public awaits the endorsement by prison officers of Mr Al-Rawi's upbeat assessment of the potential of the new equipment. The interception of nearly 2 million calls and texts, the officers will have noted, did not serve to forestall murders of their colleagues, "hits" presumably inspired from behind bars thought to be safe. (source: Trinidad Express) UGANDA: Army rejects move to abolish death penalty The Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) has appealed to parliament not to adopt the abolition of mandatory death penalty as provided for by the UPDF Act. Section 128 of the UPDF Act 2005, provides for mandatory death penalty of Army officers who disobey lawful orders, spread harmful information and propaganda, those who disclose vital information to the enemies of the state and indiscipline among other unlawful acts. However clause 3 of the Law Revision (Penalties in Criminal Matters) Miscellaneous Amendments Bill, 2015 which is currently before the parliament's committee on legal and parliamentary affairs, for scrutiny, seeks to entirely eliminate the death penalty from the UPDF Act. The Bill instead proposes imprisonment for life as the maximum punishment that may be imposed by the military courts in respect of the service offenses. Appearing before the committee on Friday, Gen. Katumba Wamala, the chief of defense forces, however opposed the abolition of death penalty saying the proposal to entirely eliminate death penalty in the UPDF Act, shows lack of appreciation on the part of the proponent of the Bill of the gravity of the offences provided for in the provisions of the UPDF Act. "We cannot run the Army, on the same platform as a labour Union. The Army commands come with responsibility, if you fail to execute your duty there is no reason as to why you shouldn't face maximum sentence," said Gen. Katumba . Gen. Katumba noted that there is need for the Army to maintain death penalty in the UPDF Act, to deal with indiscipline officers who indulge in offences which relate to operations, security of the government installations and military discipline. The committee chaired by Kajara County MP Stephen Tashobya however differed with Gen. Katumba saying death penalty denies people a chance to reform. "Don't you think if somebody has committed a wrong and is not given a chance to reform , it has an impact on their lives and
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April 17 INDIA: Lawyer appointed for Yug killer Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Saturday appointed Rajnish Vyas as counsel for defending Rajesh Dhanalal Daware (19), prime accused in Yug Chandak murder case. The court has kept the final hearing of the sensational murder case from April 25. According to Chandak family's counsel Rajendra Daga, the accused had refused to have a lawyer and therefore, the court made arrangement for him through legal aid. Daware's accomplice, Arvind Abhilash Singh (23), had already challenged death sentence awarded to him while praying for leniency. The court had already directed its registry to complete formalities like preparing paperbook of case related to the cold-blooded murder of an innocent child, which had sparked off outrage and candle light protests in the city. On February 4, both convicts were awarded a rare double death penalty for diabolical murder of 8-year-old Yug on September 1, 2014. This was 2nd such verdict after a Yavatmal sessions court sentenced labourer Shatrughan Masram to gallows for brutally raping and murdering a 2-year-old girl on August 14 last year. It was 2nd such diabolic killing in the city within 3 years after another 8-year-old child Kush Katariya was killed by Ayush Naresh Pugalia on October 11, 2011, for extracting Rs2 crore ransom from his parents. He was awarded a rare double lifer by the court, which was enhanced to triple lifer by the Nagpur bench. (source: The Times of India) SAUDI ARABIA: 3 Alleged Child Offenders Await ExecutionTorture Allegations Ignored in Unfair Trials 3 Saudi men are awaiting execution for alleged, protest-related crimes committed while they were children. Saudi judges based the capital convictions primarily on confessions that the 3 defendants retracted in court and said had been coerced. The courts did not investigate the allegations that the confessions were obtained by torture. Saudi Arabia's announcement on March 11, 2016 that it will execute another 4 men for terrorism offenses raises fears that 1 or all 3 of the sentences could be carried out. Human Rights Watch has obtained and analyzed the trial judgments that the Specialized Criminal Court, Saudi Arabia's terrorism tribunal, handed down in 2014 against 1 of the men, Ali al-Nimr, and in a separate case, against Dawoud al-Marhoun and Abdullah al-Zaher. The judgments reveal flagrant due process violations, including denial of access to lawyers promptly after arrest or during lengthy pretrial detention, when investigators obtained the confessions. "Sentencing alleged child offenders to death is an appalling example of the Saudi court system's injustice," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director. "Not only are these 3 young men sentenced to death for alleged crimes they committed as children, but the courts didn't even bother to investigate when they said they were coerced to confess." "Sentencing alleged child offenders to death is an appalling example of the Saudi court system's injustice."Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East Director The 3 were arrested for their alleged participation in demonstrations by members of the Shia minority in 2011 and 2012. Local activists told Human Rights Watch that more than 200 people from Shia-majority towns and villages in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province have gone on trial for alleged protest-related crimes since 2011. Mostly Shia residents of Eastern Province towns such as Qatif, Awamiya, and Hufuf have repeatedly held protests over discrimination by the government since 2011. Saudi Arabia's Shia citizens face systematic discrimination in public education, government employment, and permission to build houses of worship in the majority-Sunni country. Al-Nimr was tried individually and sentenced in May 2014. The other 2 were tried as part of a group and sentenced in October 2014. Al-Nimr and al-Marhoun were 17 at the time of their arrests, while al-Zaher was 15. Local media reported that Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upheld al-Nimr's death sentence in September 2015, and that the Supreme Court informed a relative of al-Marhoun that it had upheld death sentences for al-Marhoun and al-Zaher in October 2015. On January 2, 2016, Saudi Arabia carried out a mass execution of 47 men convicted on terrorism-related charges, four of whom were Shia, including a prominent cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, Ali al-Nimr's uncle. The trial judgement for Ali Sa'eed Al Ribh, 1 of the other Shia men executed on January 2, indicates that he was under 18 when he allegedly committed some of the protest-related crimes for which he was sentenced to death in 2014. In 2015, only Iran and Pakistan executed people for crimes committed when they were under 18, according to Amnesty International. Both countries, as well as Bangladesh and Maldives, also sentenced child offenders to death last year, while previously convicted child offenders remained on
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April 16 VIETNAM: Pinay meted death in Vietnam A court in Vietnam has sentenced another Filipino to death after she was found guilty of smuggling nearly 1.5 kilograms of cocaine into the communist country in 2013. The state newspaper Thanh Nien News reported that Donna Buena Mazon, 41, was meted the death sentence by a Ho Chi Minh City court on Friday. Mazon was arrested on December 31, 2013 after security officials in Tan Son Nhat International Airport found 2 bags of cocaine in her luggage. She arrived on a Qatar Airways flight from Brazil. The Filipino woman admitted that she was hired by a certain Precious Rudica as a drug mule for a fee of $3,000 with flight tickets and visas. The authorities failed to locate Rudica. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) refused to comment on the incident saying it is still verifying the report. "I have nothing to say at this time. We are still trying to verify and get more information about the case," Assistant Secretary and DFA spokesman Charles Jose told The Manila Times on Saturday. In 2014, Emmanuel Sillo Camacho, 39, was also sentenced to death by a Hanoi court for transporting 3.4 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil into Noi Bai International Airport, also in December 2013. Thanh Nien News quoted Camacho as saying that he smuggled the illicit drugs for a Filipina, named Jessica who was living in Brazil. Jessica promised to find him a job with a monthly salary of $1,000 to $1,500 in the South American country. Vietnam has some of the world's toughest anti-drug laws. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600 grams of heroin, or more than 20 kilos of opium, can face the death penalty. Dozens of foreigners, including Filipinos, have been sentenced to death for drug offenses. (source: manilatimes.net) IRAN: NCRI Women's Committee calls for annulment of death penalty in Iran Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran calls for annulment of death penalty, especially against women and youth The misogynic mullahs' regime hanged Amene Rezaian, a female prisoner in Kashmar Prison, on April 14, on the verge of a visit by the EU High Representative Ms. Federica Mogherini to Iran. Rezaian, 43, had been in prison for 2 years. Thus, the number of prisoners executed in the past 6 days stands at 14. At this time, at least 1 other woman in the women's ward of this prison awaits execution. These executions stand in the face of calls by the international community for the annulment of the death penalty. Mr. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged the Iranian regime on April 14 to annul the death penalty for crimes related to narcotics saying: "Last year, at least 966 people were executed in Iran - the highest rate in more than 2 decades - the majority for drug offences." Speaking on the matter, the NCRI Women's Committee Chair Ms. Sarvnaz Chitsaz stated that the increasing number of executions by the religious fascism ruling Iran proves the fact that ignoring the tragic situation of human rights in Iran, especially the execution of the youth and women, has no end but to encourage this regime to continue on this criminal path. She stressed that all relations with Iran must be preconditioned to the annulment of the death penalty in the country, especially against women and juveniles. (source: Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran PAKISTAN: President turned down 513 mercy petitions over last 5 years: Interior Ministry The Pakistani president rejected as many as 513 mercy petitions of condemned prisoners over the last 5 years, an Interior Ministry document revealed on Friday. The Interior Ministry, in a written response to a question raised by Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Sirajul Haq, said that all mercy petitions sent to the president during the time period were rejected. Only 38 mercy petitions of condemned prisoners who were awarded a death sentence are pending with the Interior Ministry, of which 13 cases are under submission to the President Secretariat for decision, the document said. "Appeals of these condemned prisoners have already been rejected by higher courts," the Interior Ministry said. Earlier this month, an Amnesty International report said Pakistan carried out 326 executions last year - the highest ever recorded by the organisation for the country. In 2015, Pakistan completely removed a 7-year moratorium on the death penalty after a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan attack on Peshawar's Army Public School in which at least 144 people, most of them children, were killed. Amnesty said it received information that Pakistan was 1 of 2 countries that had executed people in 2015 who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed, and it said juveniles face the death sentence in several other countries. Champa Patel, Amnesty International's Director of South Asia
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April 14 INDONESIA: 3rd round of executions to go ahead despite delays: AGO The government has not yet finalized the date for the impending execution of death-row convicts despite the attorney general's plan to conduct a third round of executions at the beginning of 2016. The Attorney General's Office (AGO) would still follow through with the executions, but the exact time and location had not yet been confirmed, AGO spokesman Agung Amir Yanto said on Thursday. "Until now, neither the place nor which convicts [will be executed] have been finalized," Amir said as quoted by Kompas.com. Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said previously that a third round of executions would be conducted in January following the deaths of 2 groups of death-row convicts last year. Amir said executing a person was a complicated matter. "The death penalty is related to the loss of someone's life. It must be done carefully so as not to violate human rights," he said. Preparations for executions must be thorough, he continued, adding that it was a complicated process especially when it involved foreign citizens. The AGO must coordinate with the country of origin of foreign convicts, including on the legal rights of the convicts in regards to their defense. "The issue of the death penalty involves other things, including clemency, judicial review, as well as health. And not only that, but also facilities," said Amir. According to AGO data, there were 64 drug convicts sentenced to death as of 2015. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration executed 2 groups of death row convicts, comprising 14 people, on Jan. 18 and April 29 last year. 2 of the convicts were Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, whose executions in April caused tension between the 2 countries, leading to Australia recalling its ambassador from Indonesia. The government continues to enforce the death sentence on big players in drug trafficking cases despite mounting criticism from other countries and human rights activists, arguing that the death penalty would not have a deterrent effect on drug traffickers and that consistency in law enforcement was the key to curbing the distribution of drugs. (sourice: The Jakarta Post) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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April 14 PAKISTANexecution Murder convict hanged in Haripur jail A death row prisoner, convicted of murder, was executed in Haripur central jail on Thursday morning, ARY News reported. The execution of Imtiaz took place in Haripur jail for committing murder of a man over a dispute in year 2005. The execution of another death row prisoner Humayun was stopped after the 2 sides struck a compromise, the jail superintendent said. Humayun had killed his father in year 2006. The executions of 2 more convicts were also deferred in Gujrat and Faisalabad prisons, jail officials said. In Gujrat death row prisoner Arshad reached to a compromise deal with the family of the victim, after which his execution was stopped. In Faisalabad Central Jail, death row prisoner Nadeem alias Deema and the aggrieved family were agreed over a compromise, after which his execution was stopped. The convict had killed a man over a dispute 11 years ago. Human rights group Amnesty International last week described Pakistan, with 326 hangings last year, as the world's 3rd most prolific country conducting executions after China and Iran. Pakistan had ended a moratorium on the death penalty after Taliban attackers gunned down more than 150 people, most of them children, at Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. The country had initially reinstated hangings only for those convicted of terrorism, but later the decision was extended to all capital offences. (source: Ary News) IRANexecution Prisoner Hanged in Northwestern Iran On Monday April 11 a prisoner was reportedly hanged at Tabriz's central prison (located in the East Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran) on rape charges. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network has identified the prisoner as a man named Ghader Mazaheri. Iranian official sources, including state media and the Judiciary, have been silent about this execution. (source: iranhr.net) UNITED KINGDOM: The UK needs to condemn executions in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran The rise in capital punishments worldwide should bring action from the UK???s foreign office, but it has been criticised for deprioritising human rights Driven by unprecedented execution sprees in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, the use of the death penalty has reached an all-time high, according to figures published by Amnesty International. An alarming proportion of those executed were carried out for non-violent crimes, including drug offences and attendance at political protests. UK human rights minister Baroness Anelay said the government was "deeply troubled" by this resurgence in the use of the death penalty. But her words rang hollow just hours after parliament's foreign affairs committee (FAC) warned that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's (FCO) recent approach "raises questions about how energetically the government is raising human rights issues". Indeed, though the UK has historically been a leading voice in opposition to the death penalty, the last year has seen a shift, with trade apparently given precedence over human rights. In October 2015 the FCO's permanent under-secretary, Sir Simon McDonald confirmed to the FAC that human rights were "not one of our top priorities" and that "the prosperity agenda is further up the list". Baroness Anelay has repeatedly stressed that "we make our opposition well known at the highest levels to countries which continue to apply [the death penalty]". But as the MPs' report pointed out, ministers have all too often dodged the issue in diplomatic settings, even in one case failing to remember whether or not human rights had been discussed during a business delegation to Egypt. The countries driving a global surge in executions are among the UK's closest allies. This gives us a voice. It is easy for ministers to condemn the death penalty in principle from Foreign Office briefing rooms. But if these words are to mean anything, the UK must be willing to engage in targeted ways on specific cases, including making its concerns public where appropriate. The countries driving a global surge in executions are among the UK's closest allies. This gives us a voice and we should use it in service of our values. In Pakistan, for example, 400 people have been executed since December 2014, when the Pakistani government began a brutal execution campaign waged under the pretext of fighting terrorists. The vast majority of people hanged were charged with crimes bearing no resemblance to terrorism and a number have been proved to be juveniles. Despite this, the UK continues to cooperate with Pakistani police forces which actively boast about the death sentences they secure. In Saudi Arabia, the government has executed more than 80 prisoners this year alone - a rate that has it on course to double its executions total for 2015. The cause of the spree appears to be a simple attempt to crush dissent
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April 14 MALAYSIA: Morais' autopsy findings a 'certainty' The pathologist that performed the autopsy on deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais defended her findings, telling the High Court that it was beyond reasonable doubt. Forensic expert Nurliza Abdullah, 51, said the findings that Morais' cause of death was due to asphyxiation was a reasonable medical certainty. Defence lawyer Datuk N. Sivananthan questioned its conclusiveness, saying the coroner had used broad phrases and was non-definitive in her report. "Does the use of the phrase 'most probably attributable' raise a question mark whether the cause of death was asphyxiation?" asked Sivananthan. He also questioned why 2 forensic experts conducted the autopsy, when the procedure was usually handled by one. "2 doctors put their heads together and the best they could come up with is 'probable'?" he asked. Nurliza rebutted that there was medical evidence that supported the findings that the cause of death was asphyxiation, though she used the broad phrasing as the moderate degree of decomposition of the corpse made it impossible to make an absolute call. "When I say there there's a high probability, that means there is reasonable medical probability ... in my view reasonable medical certainty is beyond reasonable doubt," she said Asked what she would need for absolute surety, she replied "a fresher body". The veteran forensic expert delivered more zingers when questioned during cross examination by the defence team. Asked what was the difference between "medical certainty" and "reasonable medical certainty", she replied "the word 'certainty'". Nurliza also ruled out other causes of death, from sharp force injury, projectile injury, heat related injuries; adding there were no signs of skeleton fractures and internal bleeding. She said asphyxiation was likely due to the deceased being smothered with a plastic bag. She added that the contusion injuries to the deceased's chest and ribcage showed his body had been compressed, restricting the ribcage from expanding and drawing breath, which would also have contributed to the death. One of the accused, Col Dr R. Kunaseegaran, a pathologist himself, was seen taking notes on the neon-green clipboard given to him. On Jan 27, the 6 men - G. Gunasekaran, 48, R. Dinishwaran, 24, A.K. Thinesh Kumar, 23, M. Vishwanath, 26, Nimalan, 23, and Ravi Chandaran, 35, claimed trial to charges of murdering Morais. They are accused of committing the offence between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015, between Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul and No. 1 Jalan USJ1/6D, Subang Jaya. Dr Kunaseegaran, 53, pleaded not guilty to abetting the 6 in the murder. They face the mandatory death penalty if convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code. Counsel Sivananthan and Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent acted for Dr Kunaseegaran. Counsel V. Rajehgopal defended Gunasekaran, Vishwanath, Nimalan and Ravi Chandaran while lawyer M. Manoharan acted for Dinishwaran and Thinesh Kumar. The trial before Justice Azman Abdullah continues today. (source: The Star) INDONESIA: Rights activists demand Indonesia end use of death penalty Calls made as country prepares next round of executions Anti-death penalty activists are urging the Indonesian government to stop killing prisoners after reports emerged that the government is preparing its next round of executions. The Indonesia Coalition on the Abolition of Death Penalty said in an April 13 statement that Indonesia should move with other countries toward a world that bans "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The statement noted that Indonesia ratified the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1998. The coalition, representing organizations and institutions including the Indonesian bishops' human rights advocacy, referred to Amnesty International's recently released report on capital punishment "Death Sentences and Executions 2015" that said there was a 54.5 increase in executions globally. Amnesty's report said at least 1,634 people were executed during 2015, 573 more than in 2014. The coalition noted that 4 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. "Such tendency of the states to abolish the death penalty remains high as they believe that the death penalty is against human logic," the report said. On April 8, Indonesian Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo told the Jakarta Globe that executions of drug traffickers would resume following the completion of his office's inventory of death-row inmates. In 2015, 14 people were executed in Indonesia. All the executions were carried out for drug trafficking. Marzuki Darusman of the Foundation for International Human Rights Reporting Standards said the government's assertion that the death penalty serves as a deterrent to drug abuse and
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April 14 NIGERIA: Amnesty International says Nigeria had zero executions in 2015 but Kaduna state begs to differ Last week, Amnesty International released its annual report on death sentences and executions in 2015. The report takes a look at countries all over the world that still use the death sentence, looking at the number of executions carried out in these countries. Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States of America and Pakistan currently have the highest numbers of executions. Saudi Arabia killed at least 158 people, while Iran had 977 executions, most of them for drug-related offences. Nigeria, in contrast, had 171 death sentences with no execution while still retaining its death penalty laws. However, new reports concerning the clash between the Nigerian Army and the Shiite followers in Kaduna state Nigeria last year, suggest that Nigeria deserves to be a top executioner like Saudi Arabia and Iran. One of the worst attacks on civilians by the Nigerian Army occurred last year when it attacked a procession of a Muslim sect in Nigeria. After the dust settled, officials of the Kaduna state government, where the incident occurred, finally released their findings about what went down. On their way to a military ceremony late last year, members of the Nigerian Army and their Chief of Staff, Tukur Buratai, were stopped by a procession of a Shiite Islamic group in Nigeria, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) who people claim have been radicalised. In a video circulated after the incident, after a few minutes, Nigerian Army leaders were seen begging the procession to allow them pass through, while young members of the procession were seen bearing sticks and knives like they were going for a fight. The Nigerian army then attacked the sect using live ammunition, baffling especially when their counterparts in other nations have learnt to use rubber bullets and such to quell violence. Reports after this became blurry and controversial as the head of the movement El Zakzaky was arrested by the Army while the group's headquarters was destroyed. Many reports of human rights abuse by the Nigerian Army and the senseless killing of children and women emerged, but this latest report has put a definite number on the number of Shiite followers killed by the Nigerian Army: 347 civilians, including women and children. The Kaduna state government said all 347 people were "given a mass burial in a cemetery in Kaduna state" a few hours after they had been slaughtered by the army, according to Muslim rites. This latest report confirms that the Nigerian army is lawless, especially since the fight against Boko Haram started. Different Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused the Nigerian Army of human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings since the fight against Boko haram started. And just like every panel set up by the Army to allegedly investigate these killings, the panel set up to investigate the Shiite killings is heading for a dead end. This is an indictment on former Military General and current Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari who has called himself a "reformed democrat" but his media silence about the Army killings suggests the reformation happened to his doppelganger in a parallel universe. Tukur Buratai could only have authorised such disregard for human lives, especially the ones he swore to protect, if he knew he was not receiving any censure from the Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria's Armed Forces, Buhari. Nigerians would surely be looking up to Amnesty International and the International Criminal Court to bring the Nigerian Army to justice, since the Federal Government seems reluctant to do so. Amnesty International's report that Nigeria had no court-ordered execution in 2015 is true, but the number of indirect executions due to government negligence and a glaring 'i-don't-care' attitude seems to suggest that we deserve a higher position in the "Death sentence and Execution 2015 report." (source: venturesafrica.com) UGANDA: Government Insists on Keeping Death Penalty Attorney General Fred Ruhindi says since the Supreme Court ruling in the Susan Kigula case ruled that the various provisions of the laws, which provide for the mandatory death are inconsistent with the Constitution, courts are best placed to make judgment. (source: ugandaradionetwork.com) EGYPT: Diplomats attacked for accepting Egyptian authorities' word over Ibrahim Halawa Diplomats have been criticised by a leading human rights body for accepting the word of Egyptian authorities over the incarceration of an Irish teenager. Ibrahim Halawa was transferred between prisons in recent days without the knowledge of embassy staff in Cairo, Department of Foreign Affairs chiefs in Dublin or his family. He has been held without trial for almost three years and could face the death penalty if convicted of involvement in
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April 13 IRAN: Iran regime is world record holder on execution of juveniles - NCRI The mullahs' regime in Iran is the "world record holder" on execution of juveniles, Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has told the International Business Times. The Iranian regime's "alarmingly high" rate of juvenile executions is attracting growing criticism from international charities and has now started to gather increasing disapproval from within its own borders, the IBT wrote on Wednesday. Iran's regime has executed more than 70 juvenile offenders in the past decade, according to several reports by Amnesty International this year, also showing the number of juveniles on death row was increasing. "This [Amnesty] report sheds light on Iran's shameful disregard for the rights of children," said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme on the release of the report on juveniles. "Iran is one of the few countries that continues to execute juvenile offenders in blatant violation of the absolute legal prohibition on the use of the death penalty against people under the age of 18 years at the time of the crime." Mr. Boumedouha pointed out that under the Iranian regime's laws girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15 can be sentenced to death. Since the release of Amnesty's report on the alleged rise in executions, there has been a social media backlash at home against the use of capital punishment against minors, IBT reported. Shahin Gobadi of the NCRI told the IBT: "The Iranian regime is not only the world record holder on executions per capita; it is the world record holder on execution of juveniles." "Hundreds of juveniles, including activists of the opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), as young as 13 years old, were executed in the 1980s for their political activities." "The regime's current gambit is to sentence the juveniles to execution, keep them in prison until they turn 18, and then execute them. There are scores of juveniles currently on death row." "The stark reality is that there has been no respite under [the Iranian regime's President Hassan] Rouhani who some try to prop up as a 'moderate'. In reality the pace of executions has increased dramatically during his tenure, and that includes the execution of juveniles and women," he added. (source: NCR-Iran) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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April 13 CHINA: Communist Party Honcho Turns Godfather of Meth Gets Death SentenceHe was a Chinese Communist Party branch secretary with a dark side - and he's been sentenced to death. But the country???s drug problem is still widespread. Cai Dongjia appeared before a judge in a courtroom in southeast China last month to hear the court condemn him to death. 2 of his partners are due to be executed as well, although not for another 2 years. Cai was no common thug. He was a Chinese Communist Party branch secretary in Guangdong Province. Those who join the party and receive the CCP???s political indoctrination are told the position is a bit like a class prefect, a figure meant to set an example for new members of the party as he presides over its daily affairs. But Cai had a very dark side. Aside from his official title, he was also known as "The Godfather of Meth." The saga apparently began in 2011, when Cai decided that his salary as local party boss was not enough and, a la Breaking Bad, chemistry could yield a second income. He located a source for ephedrine and periodically purchased clusters of the stuff at around US$300,000 per barrel. His partners cooked meth from it. When they had a stockpile of a few dozen or even a couple of hundred kilos, quick sales turned their product into a few million yuan. As the operation expanded, Cai transformed the rural community of Boshe village, population 14,000, into a meth production hub, much like factory towns that specialize in assembling a single type of product. Adults were mules, dealers, or cooks. Children split open cold medicine capsules and earned a monthly wage of up to US$1,600. Homes in Boshe were traditional houses built generations ago, and wouldn't look out of place in Cantonese period films, but the cars parked in dirt lots were imported European vehicles, well beyond the means of countryside peasants. Eventually, old houses were knocked down and luxurious villas took their place. Outsiders were not welcome, and lookouts blanketed the territory. Locals called Boshe "The Fortress." At around 4:00 a.m. on Dec. 29, 2013, Chinese police mounted an incredible assault on what the authorities called "Guangdong's Number One Drug Village." 3000 police officers were mobilized for the operation, supported by canine units, speedboats, and helicopters. The reported results were staggering. 18 separate drug gangs were arrested. 77 drug production sites were shut down. A bomb maker's lab was raided. In total, 3,000 kilos (over 3 tons) of methamphetamine were seized, as well as 260 kilos of ketamine and 23 tons of chemicals used in the production processes. In some houses, all areas except the bedroom were converted into meth labs. The raid was a massive success for the police, with 182 men and women taken into custody, including 14 CCP officials. In the center of it all was Cai Dongjia, whose ascent to kingpin status made him one of China's most wanted men. A senior narcotics officer claimed Cai's network in Boshe produced 1/3 of all the meth sold in the country. Even though Cai was arrested and now faces the death penalty, his intimidating presence lingers in Boshe. Villagers claim they know nothing about the drug trade or their former party chief's arrest. Is it omerta? Amnesia? Fear? Cai's meth empire could not have blossomed without police and other officials looking the other way. In his heyday, Cai wielded incredible influence over Boshe. When unwelcome police officers tried to enter the village, townsfolk blocked them under the direction of Cai. If drug lords were arrested, the party chief would use his influence to secure their release. Bribes and threats were part of everyday business, and even the former head of the region's Public Security Bureau was in Cai's pocket. All this was possible, not least, because China has a serious drug problem. Last year, the Xinhua news agency reported the country had three million registered drug addicts. Synthetic drugs, like methamphetamine, are more popular than other narcotics, likely because land use is strictly controlled by the government, which means drugs that require agricultural cultivation, like opium, simply cannot be grown. Even though meth labs have been found in various parts of the country, a report published by the Brookings Institute suggests narcotics produced in Burma make up a much larger share of the drugs available in China. More meth is coming in from North Korea as well. All this has triggered what might be called China's own war on drugs, but with some particular historical twists. Imagery from the 19th century Opium Wars is still vividly present in the collective awareness in China. The British, who were selling opium grown in their Indian colonies to the Chinese, went to war to preserve their market and imposed demeaning treaties on the ruling dynasties. Nationalists see the wars as the
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April 12 PAKISTANexecutions 2 murder convicts hanged A murder convict was hanged at the Faisalabad Central Jail on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Prisons Department said Adeel Shahzad, a resident of Raza Abad, had killed his aunt Zahida Naseem and her 3 children on February 18, 2001, in a Pir Mehal police precinct. ATC Judge Raja Akhtar had issued black warrants for Shehzad. Muhammad Ashraf, alias Achoo, who had killed a man in 2000, was hanged in Sahiwal District Jail on Tuesday. (source: Express Tribune) FRANCE/IRAN: Air France's gay flight attendants protest Iran route, cite death penalty A gay flight attendant working for Air France launched an online petition against homosexual staff being forced to fly to Iran. It comes after female cabin crew members refused to fly on the route because they didn't want to be forced to wear headscarves. "Sure, our sexuality isn't written on our passports and it doesn't change the way we work as a crew," the flight attendant, identified only as 'Laurent M,' wrote in an open letter to the French government and Air France CEO Frederic Gagey. "But it is inconceivable to force someone to go to a country where his kind are condemned for who they are," he continued. The online appeal, titled 'Gay stewards from Air France don't want to fly to the death penalty in Iran', points out that homosexuality is punishable by death for adults in Iran. It also notes that gay minors face a punishment of 74 lashes in the Islamic Republic. The petition has so far received over 2,000 signatures. It comes just 1 week after Air France flight attendants and female pilots refused to fly the Paris to Tehran route because they didn't want to be forced to wear headscarves and loose trousers. 2 organizations representing the female cabin crew, the SNPNC and Unsa PNC, said that forcing women to fly to Tehran would have been "an attack on freedom of conscience and individual freedoms," as well as the "freedom of women." The female staff members eventually achieved victory, with the airline accepting that they could refuse to work on the route without facing punishment. Air France suspended flights to Tehran in 2008, but is resuming the route next week after international sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program were lifted. (source: rt.com) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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April 12 TAIWAN: Death row inmate asks for release ahead of his retrial Relatives and supporters of Cheng Hsing-tse yesterday rally outside the Taichung Branch of the Taiwan High Court during a pre-trial hearing for retrial of the death row inmate. After new evidence cast doubt on his conviction, death row inmate Cheng Hsing-tse yesterday told a pre-trial hearing that he did not kill a police officer in 2002 and asked a judge to release him from prison as he awaits his retrial at the Taichung Branch of the Taiwan High Court. To his disappointment, as well as that of his relatives and supporters, the judge did not rule on Cheng's release request and so he was returned to prison at the end of the hearing. Cheng was convicted of killing police officer Su Hsien-pi during an exchange of gunfire at a Taichung KTV on Jan. 2, 2002. Police had been called to the KTV after a drunk patron, Lo Wu-hsiung, fired 2 shots from a pistol in one of the rooms, hitting the ceiling and a liquor bottle. More shots rang out when the police entered the room and Su and Lo were killed, while Cheng and several others were wounded. The Supreme Court upheld his death sentence 10 years ago, but last month prosecutors announced they would seek a retrial after as new evidence came to light. "I did not hold and fire the handgun. My confession was forced from me after I was tortured. My defense lawyer will present the argument for granting a retrial," the 49-year-old Cheng said yesterday in his opening statement. "It has been more than 10 years since the court sentenced me to death and today is the 1st time since then that I have been able to walk out of prison to appear in court and defend myself," Cheng said. "It has been 5,210 days since I lost my freedom. I very much wish that number will end right here." Citing several questions about judicial process in the case, Cheng's lawyer, Lo Ping-cheng, told the hearing that a retrial was necessary and urged that his client be released pending the new trial. "Prosecutors have presented new evidence that could change the ruling. If prosecutors believe it is likely the conviction will be overturned, then Cheng should be released. If the judiciary has other considerations, we ask the judge to release Cheng during the retrial," Lo said. Prosecutors told the hearing that there was enough new evidence to alter the original conviction and possibly overturn the final verdict, and they asked the judge to grant a retrial. Cheng's case has gone through seven trials and several appeals. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence. Supporters have cited what they said were several flaws in the investigation and the use of questionable evidence to win a conviction. The prosecutors' application last month for a retrial was the 1st time in the nation's history that a retrial has been sought in a case where the Supreme Court's final ruling upheld the original death sentence. Members of the Taiwan Association for Innocence, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty and human rights group members joined Cheng's relatives outside the court building, holding up banners and slogans calling for Cheng's release and asking the court to overturn his conviction. Cheng's mother said that she knew that her son is innocent and she was ready to take him home. "We have suffered for more than 10 years, but he is still not free to come back and be reunited with our family," she said. She said she was devastated when she heard the judge had decided not to rule on the release request and that Cheng would be returned to prison. (source: Taipei Times) NIGERIA: Ajimobi okays death penalty for kidnappers Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has signed into law a kidnapping prohibition bill, which makes kidnapping a capital offence in the state. The new law states that kidnapping attracts the death sentence in the event of the death of a kidnap victim while in the custody of the abductors. The bill had earlier been passed by the state House of Assembly, following the submission of a report by the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary and Justice, Olukayode Akande. The Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Michael Adeyemo, and Permanent Secretary/Clerk of the House, Mr. Paul Bankole, had earlier signed the bill before the governor gave it his assent. The law states that a convicted offender will be liable to life imprisonment if the victim is released or rescued unhurt upon the payment of a ransom, while the kidnapper will be made to pay back the ransom. Under the new law, which was signed on Friday by the governor, similar punishment will be given to any person who procures, engages or gives information culminating in the kidnapping of a victim. The law also prescribes life imprisonment for any person who kidnaps or threatens to kill, maim or cause bodily harm in order to compel another person, corporate body or
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April 11 UNITED NATIONS: Rights groups set 'priorities' for next UN chiefRights groups say the next leader must strike a new deal for refugees and end the death penalty. This week, 8 candidates for the top job will outline their vision for the role at the UN General Assembly. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and 4 other rights groups have listed 8 priorities for the next UN secretary-general, who will be elected later this year to replace Ban Ki-moon. Their unofficial job description was released on Monday as United Nations member states were due to begin week-long question and answer sessions with each of the eight candidates currently running for the position. Other candidates are expected to emerge. The priorities include forging a new deal for refugees and migrants that is based on "sustained international cooperation with an equitable sharing of responsibilities for resettlement." They also called for a full review of the bodies that manage international migration. The rights groups said the next UN chief should be prepared to invoke the UN charter to prevent and end mass atrocities such as the deliberate targeting of civilians in wars. Current UN chief Ban Ki-moon steps down in December Candidates were also urged to promise to work towards abolishing the death penalty during their term, after a recent Amnesty report showed that executions worldwide rose by more than 1/2 in 2015, compared to the previous year. The surge was largely due to Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia carrying out more killings, but China and the United States also regularly resort to the death penalty. Minority rights, gender equality The NGOs also called on the next UN leader to champion the rights of marginalized people, ensure gender equality and work to combat impunity for crimes under international law. The new secretary-general must also be willing to stand up to big powers at the Security Council to discourage them from using their veto power to block action to end atrocities, they said. In 2014, the Security Council failed to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court for war crimes prosecutions after Russia and China blocked the measure. UN officials said the two-hour public interviews of candidates, which will begin on Tuesday, were part of broader plans to make the selection process for the position of UN chief more transparent. 8 candidates so far So far, 8 candidates have declared their interest. They include Irina Bokova, the chief of UN children's body UNESCO, Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, and Antonio Guterres, the former UN high commissioner for refugees. The Associated Press cited unnamed UN officials as suggesting that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission budget chief Kristalina Georgieva may also make strong candidates for the role, although Merkel is reportedly not keen on the job. The new UN secretary-general is formally picked by the 193-member General Assembly. But the 15-member Security Council recommends the successful candidate, and in practice the five permanent Security Council members - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - have veto power over the nominees. The successful candidate will take over the position on January 1, 2017, when incumbent Ban's 2nd 5-year term ends. The human rights 'priorities' agenda was also endorsed by Civicus, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the World Federalist Movement - Institute for Global Policy. (source: Deutsche Welle) INDIA: CSWO demands death penalty for rape & murder accused The Irene Hujon faction of the Civil Society Women Organisation (CSWO) has demanded death sentence for a rape accused even as it asked the State government to appoint a special prosecutor to expedite trial in the case. In a shocking incident, one Vicky Syiemlieh allegedly raped and murdered a 19-year-old-girl at 41/2 Mile in Upper Shillong on March 17. "Crimes like these can no longer be tolerated and should be dealt with a firm hand," Hujon said in a memorandum to the Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma. Hujon suggested the name of Additional Advocate General, WHD Syngkon to handle the case. Meanwhile, in a letter to Home Minister Roshan Warjri, the Seng Teilang Kynthei said that the incident has shamed the state. "We feel ashamed that even little children are not spared from being raped and murdered in this once beautiful and peaceful state of ours. It is the bounden duty of our public representatives whom we have elected, to strengthen the judicial system and put in place tough laws to protect women and children," the Seng Teilang Kynthei said. "We also demand that others who were involved along with Vicky Syiemlieh in this gruesome act be awarded the same punishment," the organisation said. (source: sentinelassam.com) SOMALIAexecution
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April 11 BANGLADESH: Nizami's review plea hearing defers till May 3 The Supreme Court today deferred till May 3 the hearing on the review petition filed by condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami. The four-member bench of Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the deferment order following a time petition moved by Nizami's lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain. He prayed to the court to shift the date for hearing citing his personal difficulties. On March 29, Nizami filed the petition praying to the apex court to acquit him of all the charges on which he was found guilty and awarded death penalty. Nizami mentioned 46 grounds in the 70-page petition. On October 29, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 handed down the death penalty to Nizami on four charges of war crimes, including murdering intellectuals during the Liberation War in 1971. The 71-year-old was also awarded life imprisonment on the four other charges. The SC on January 6 this year upheld his death sentence on three charges and life term imprisonment on 2 other charges. On March 15, the apex court released the full verdict. The ICT issued death warrant for him hours after the SC had released its full verdict. The following day, the jail authorities read out the judgment before the convict. (source: The Dialy Star) TAIWAN: Taiwanese rally for death penalty after child's beheading Hundreds of Taiwanese rallied Sunday to show support for retaining the death penalty, after the beheading of a child in a street attack shocked the island. Demonstrators dressed in black and held white roses in mourning for the four-year-old girl murdered on March 28 near a Taipei metro station. Many wore stickers reading "Death penalty is necessary." The girl's mother tried to stop the attacker but was pushed away. Several bystanders were also unable to stop the man, who decapitated the child with a kitchen knife. Police said the 33-year-old had previously been arrested for drug-related crimes and had sought treatment for mental illness. He was attacked by an angry mob while in custody. The killing came less than a year after the throat of an 8-year-old girl was slit in her school restroom in Taipei. It sparked widespread public anger and fresh debate about capital punishment. Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a 5-year hiatus. But executions are reserved for the most serious crimes such as aggravated murder and kidnapping. Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various opinion surveys show majority support for the death penalty. "Taiwan is not safe, so death sentences are needed to deter crimes and they should be carried out. I hope this will make our society safer for all children," said office worker Chen Pei-chi, who took her sons aged three and six to the Taipei rally. "I am really sad and angry that these random murders of children keep happening. All child-killers should be sentenced to death for hurting defenceless children and destroying their families, as losing a child is unbearable," said housewife Wu Chiu-mei, who has a 3-year-old grandson. In 2012 the murder of a 10-year-old boy in a playground reignited debate over the death penalty, after the suspect reportedly said he was anticipating free board and lodging in jail and would get a life sentence at most even if he were to kill two or 3 people. (source: The Daily Star) PAKISTAN: Pakistan court issues arrest warrant for former president Musharraf Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Court issued a nonbailable arrest warrant on Friday against former president and military leader Pervez Musharraf for detaining more than 60 judges after declaring a state of emergency in 2007. The proceedings were held without Musharraf, who left the country for Dubai after a court removed him from the exit control list last month to seek medical treatment. However, the judge told his lawyers that Musharraf should have obtained specific permission from the court before departing the country. He is ordered to appear in court in Pakistan on April 22. The case against Musharraf has been ongoing since 2014. Pakistan's Sindh High Court (SHC) in June 2014 lifted a travel ban that had prevented Musharraf from leaving the country. Musharraf was indicted in March of that year on charges of high treason. If convicted, Musharraf could face the death penalty. Musharraf pleaded not guilty to each of the charges against him, including unlawfully suspending the constitution, firing Pakistan's chief justice, and instituting emergency rule in 2007. Musharraf called the charges politically motivated and maintained that the country had prospered under his 2001-2008 rule and that his declaration of a state of emergency was not unconstitutional. (source: Jurist.org) IRANexecutions 5 Prisoners Hanged in Northern Iran on Drug Charges On the morning of
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April 9 IRAN: Stop the execution of Amanj Veisee - a juvenile offender in Iran At his retrial in December Juvenile offender Amanj Veisee was resentenced to death for the murder of his cousin - despite an official forensic report concluding that he had not attained 'mental growth and maturity' at the time of the crime. Amanj had originally been sentenced in 2008, following the fatal stabbing of us cousin during a fight. He was just 15 at the time of the stabbing and has always said he did not intend to kill his cousin. He says they had grown up together and he loved him deeply. He claims to have stabbed him only in a frightened reaction to his 23-year-old cousin strangling him. Demand that the Iranian authorities commute Amnaj's death sentence Questionable 'mental growth and maturity' Amanj was originally sentenced to death in 2008 but was granted a retrial due to concerns that he did not understand the nature of the crime or its consequences. The retrial was granted in 2015 on the basis of a then new Islamic Penal Code which allowed courts to replace the death penalty with an alternative sentence for juvenile offenders under these circumstances, or if there were doubts about his or her ???mental growth and maturity' at the time of the crime. Despite a state forensic institution, the Legal Medicine Organisation, concluding that Amanj had not attained "mental growth and maturity" at the time of the crime, the court has resentenced him to death. The verdict is less than one page long. It dismisses the forensic report as 'non-binding' and concludes: 'there is no doubt about his mental maturity at the time of the crime.' Juvenile offender in Iran Iran's use of the death penalty on juvenile offenders has been criticised by bodies including the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, who in only January of this year noted their serious concern that the exemption of juvenile offenders from the death penalty is 'under full discretion of judges who are allowed, but not mandated to seek forensic expert opinion and that several persons have been resentenced to death following such retrials' Act now! We're urging you to write to the Iranian authorities demanding that they immediately commute Amanj's death sentence and commit to not carrying out executions upon any person who was below aged 18 at the time of the crime. Please write immediately in Persian, Arabic, English or your own language: -- Urging the Iranian authorities to immediately commute Amanj Veisee's death sentence and not carry out the execution of any person who was below the age of 18 at the time of the crime; and -- Urging them to take legislative measures to completely abolish, without any discretion for the courts or other exceptions, the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by people below the age of 18, in line with Iran???s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Please send appeals to: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei Islamic Republic Sreeet - End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street Tehran Islamic Republic of Iran Emaill via website Twitter: @khamenei_ir (English) Salutation: Your Excellency Also send copies to: Head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani c/o Public Relations Office Number 4, Deadend of 1 Azizi Above Pasteur Intersection Vali Asr Street Tehran Islamic Republic of Iran Email: i...@humanrights-iran.ir Salutation: Your Excellency And to: Prosecutor General of Tehran Abbas Ja'fari Dolat Abadi Tehran General and Revolutionary Prosecution Office Corner (Nabsh-e) of 15 Khordad Square Tehran Islamic Republic of Iran (source: Amnesty International UK) TURKEY: Survey: 93 pct favor reintroducing of death penalty Apublic survey conducted with 4,176 people found that 92.6 % of respondents supported reintroducing the death penalty for crimes such as rape, terror and treason. The survey was conducted from March 2 to March 6 in 36 provinces using the method of computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). The survey also asked participants who they would vote for if an election were held, and 54 percent said they would vote for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). The closest rival to the AK Party in the results of the poll was the Republican People's Party (CHP) with the support of 21.7 % of participants while the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had support from 11.6 %. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) received the support of 7.8 % of survey participants, below the nation electoral threshold. The survey further found that 57 % of respondents support a presidential system while 43 % thought it was not necessary to abandon Turkey's current parliamentary system. (source: Daily Sabah) PAKISTANexecutions Pakistan hangs brothers for murdering 6 peopleThe execution comes just days after Amnesty
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April 8 BANGLADESH: UN rights office expresses concern about death sentences in Bangladesh The United Nations human rights office today expressed concern about the latest death sentences handed down against 2 leaders of an opposition party by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal, noting the court's practices have not met international standards of fair trial and due process. Since its inception in 2010, the tribunal has delivered at least 17 verdicts, the majority of which have resulted in the imposition of the death penalty. So far, 4 men have been executed, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). "The UN opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, no matter the gravity of the crime committed and even if the most stringent fair trial standards were respected," said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. While recognising Bangladesh's determination to tackle past crimes, the trials conducted before the Tribunal have unfortunately not met international standards of fair trial and due process as stipulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), she said. Serious due process problems, which have been repeatedly raised by various UN independent experts, include lack of adequate access to legal assistance and a lack of equality of arms between the prosecution and the defence, among other issues, she added. OHCHR called on Bangladesh to respect its obligations under the ICCPR, to which it acceded in 2000. Article 14 of the ICCPR details the right to a fair trial. The imposition of a death sentence following a trial in which these provisions have not been respected constitutes a violation of the right to life. The 2 leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami opposition party who were given death sentences are Mir Quasem Ali and Motiur Rahman Nizami. The former was sentenced to death in November 2014 by the Tribunal, and the Supreme Court also upheld the verdict on 8 March. Nizami was sentenced to death on charges of planning, ordering and committing murders and rapes, among other serious crimes during the 1971 war of independence. He filed a review petition against his death warrant, due to be heard on Sunday, 10 April, following a 1-week deferral. This is the last stage of the legal process in appealing against his execution, other than to seek a presidential pardon. "We hope it will be considered thoroughly by the court," the spokesperson said. Bangladesh reportedly has more than 1,200 prisoners on death row. In the month of March this year alone, at least 13 people were reportedly sentenced to death in separate murder cases in 4 districts in Bangladesh. "We renew our call to the Government of Bangladesh, as a 1st step forward, to halt all executions and institute a moratorium on the use of the death penalty," the spokesperson said. (source: UN News Centre) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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April 8 NIGERIA: Nigeria plans stoppage of execution of criminals Nigeria is to work with Amnesty International to stop the execution of convicted criminals. The Attorney General of Nigeria, Mr. Abubakar Malami, said the country would be pleased to support any bill from Amnesty International on the abolition of death sentence. "Studies have shown that death penalty has not stopped people from committing crimes," he said. Malami explained that because of the country's respect for human rights, members of the Boko Haram sect arrested were tried under Terrorism Prevention Act, which does not carry death penalty. In spite of their heinous crime, he said, convicted Boko Haram members could not be executed because the maximum sentence prescribed by the law is life sentence, he said. At the launch of Amnesty's report on Global Death Sentences and Executions 2015, in Abuja, he said government was working towards ensuring that the prison system was corrective and not punitive, as it is currently. Earlier, the Country Director of Amnesty International, Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim, said: "There is dramatic global rise in the number of executions recorded in 2015, which saw more people put to death than at any point in the last quarter-century." The surge was largely fuelled by Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which brought the number of people executed worldwide to 1,634 people, a rise of more than 50 % on the year before and the highest number Amnesty International had recorded since 1989. (source: Star Africa) UGANDA: The death penalty: On whose hands is the blood of the innocent? On March 25, as Christians worldwide commemorated the most important event in Christianity - The death of Jesus Christ, some families were grieving for their relatives who were executed on the same day. In Japan Yasutoshi Kamata (a 75 year old) and Ms. Junko Yoshida (whose request for a retrial was rejected) were executed. Although I have not read all the details about their cases, as I attended the way of the cross and passion of Christ service, I thought about these 2 cases as well as those who have previously faced the death penalty and those currently facing it in the 92 out of 195 Independent states that have not yet fully abolished the death penalty. (So far 103 countries including 18 in Africa have fully abolished, 6 have abolished for ordinary crimes, 50 have abolished in practice i.e. not executed persons for over 10 years including Uganda while 36 are executing). An important event in the run up to Jesus' crucifixion particularly stood out for me; Jesus' betrayal by Judas as written in all gospels (Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22 and John 18) at a price of 30 silver pieces. It is possible that for Judas this was a money making scheme with the expectation that Jesus whom he had seen performing miracles including raising the dead would find a way of escaping because when he found out that Jesus had been condemned, he took the 30 silver pieces back to the chief priests and confessed to betraying innocent blood. This however could not reverse the events. Judas ended up hanging himself and the chief priests knowing that it was blood money that could not even be put it into the treasury for worthy causes, used it to buy a graveyard for foreigners. Jesus Christ an innocent man thus faced what in modern day would have been the hangman's rope, firing squad, lethal injection or any other mode of execution for those found deserving of the death penalty, because of a close friend's wrongful act. Although it is true that many of those sentenced to death are guilty of the crimes for which they are condemned, it is also an undisputed fact that some are condemned unjustly leading to innocent persons being put to death. This is because of various reasons including; poor investigations, prosecutorial misconduct and lack of effective legal representation. This explains why it is usually the poor who end up at the gallows. In America alone, the use of DNA evidence on the already condemned prisoners has so far led to the exoneration of 337 people who had been wrongfully condemned to suffer death. Back home in Uganda, we have testimonies of former death row inmates like Patrick Zizinga condemned for the murder of his wife who was later found alive leading to his release. On whose hands is the blood of the innocent already executed and those among the 208 currently on death row in Uganda? Is it the witnesses who give false witness, the police that do poor investigations, the advocates who offer poor legal representation, the judge who hands down the sentence, the public whose opinions influence some case outcomes, the public who sits in watch and do nothing, the President who signs the death e warrant, the executioners? On whose hands? (source: Opinion; The writer, Lucy Nantume, is a human rights lawyernewvision.co.ug) PHILIPPINES: Lorna Kapunan
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April 8 IRAN: Iranian man facing imminent execution denied the right to appeal The scheduled execution of a 36-year-old man convicted on drug offences tomorrow, Saturday 9 April, demonstrates the Iranian authorities' utter disregard for the right to life and their determination to continue with a staggering execution spree that saw nearly 1000 people put to death last year, said Amnesty International. Family members of Rashid Kouhi received a call from prison authorities yesterday informing them that they should go to Rasht's Lakan Prison in Gilan Province, Northern Iran, to have a final meeting with him today before his execution on Saturday 9 April. Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, Said Boumedouha said: "The imminent execution of Rashid Kouhi days after Iran was revealed to be the world's 2nd highest executioner in 2015 in Amnesty International's annual death penalty report, highlights the authorities' determination to maintain their horrifying rate of executions. "The Iranian authorities must halt the execution of Rashid Kouhi immediately. The use of the death penalty for drug-related offences is a blatant violation of international human rights law. Instead of stepping up their rampant execution spree the Iranian authorities must take steps to abolish this ultimate cruel and inhuman punishment." At least 977 people were executed in Iran in 2015 - the vast majority of which were for drug-related offences. These offences do not meet the threshold of "most serious crimes", interpreted by international human rights bodies, as crimes involving international killing, for which the death penalty is permitted under international human rights law. Rashid Kouhi was arrested at a checkpoint in Roudbar, Gilan province on 24 August 2011. The officers who stopped him conducted a search of his bag where they found 800 grams of crystal meth. He was a student at the time. He was tried and sentenced to death following a grossly unfair trial by a Revolutionary Court in Roudbar in February 2012. The court's verdict, which has been reviewed by Amnesty International, is less than a page long and does not contain adequate reasoning. He did not have access to a lawyer during questioning and met a state appointed lawyer for the 1st time during his trial. He was held in Roudbar for 2 years before being taken to Lakan Prison in Rasht. Rashid Kouhi was denied the right to appeal his death sentence. This was because under Article 32 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, all death sentences passed for drug related offences were subject to confirmation either by the Head of the Supreme Court or the Prosecutor General, who were entitled to revise or quash the sentence if they found it contravened Islamic law or that the judge was not competent. However, a new Code of Criminal Procedure entered into force in June 2015, revoking this article and restoring the right to appeal for individuals sentenced to death for drug-related offences. Despite this, Amnesty International understands that Rashid Kouhi has not received adequate legal assistance in order to submit an Application for Retrial (E'ade dadresi) to Iran's Supreme Court on this basis. Rashid Kouhi requests for clemency have been rejected. "It is appalling that Rashid Kouhi has been denied the right to an appeal which is a fundamental element of the right to a fair trial. The Iranian authorities must urgently halt his execution and give him a chance to appeal his death sentence in a fair trial without recourse to the death penalty. Failing to do so will be an irreversible injustice," said Said Boumedouha. Background The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that a death sentence passed after an unfair proceeding violates both the right to life and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Iran's Anti-Narcotics Law stipulates mandatory death sentences for a range of drug-related offences, including trafficking more than 5kg of narcotics derived from opium or more than 30g of heroin, morphine, cocaine or their chemical derivatives. (source: Amnesty International UK) PAKISTAN: DAK demands death penalty for food adulterators Amid deepening public concerns over food safety following a wave of recent food adulteration, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) Friday demanded capital punishment for those involved in contamination of eatables. Describing food adulteration as a crime against humanity, President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan said that death penality will act as a powerful deterrent and will curb the menace of food adulteration. This provision of exemplary punishment should be inserted into the food act to discourage those who are responsible for food adulteration which is causing loss of precious human lives, he said. The current food safety and standards act has provisions for a maximum punishment of life imprisonment for
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April 7 NORTH KOREA: N. Korea is one of 11 nations with record of executions for past 5 yrs The nongovernmental human rights group, Amnesty International (AI), has listed North Korea as 1 of 11 countries that have carried out executions for the past 5 years, a U.S. media report said Thursday. AI said in its annual report released a day earlier that information on North Korea cannot be verified on its own, but reports have shown that North Korea has carried out capital punishment on various crimes, according to the Washington-based Voice of America (VOA). The report said the purging of North Korea's former defense chief Hyon Yong-chol and ex-vice premier Choe Yong-gun are examples of the country executing its people, the report said. The North Korean government's use of execution is excessive, especially over crimes that do not deserve capital punishment under the international law, one AI official was quoted as telling the VOA. The court process leading to a death penalty is also very unfair, the official said, calling on the communist country to stop the practice of executions. The official added that North Korea's executions are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of other serious human rights violations perpetuated by the government. (source: Yonhap News) INDIA: Perarivalan planning book against death penaltySays last 25 years in prison have been horrible and painful After penning his experiences as a death row convict in a book, An Appeal from the Death Row (Rajiv Murder Case - The Truth Speaks) in 2008, A.G. Perarivalan alias Arivu, is looking forward to document his views against the death penalty. In his written reply to questions posed by The Hindu through his lawyers, Perarivalan, now a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, said, "I have a definite idea to write a book on my experience about how death penalty is wrong. The book may be in documentation form or novel form." Whatever be the form of the book, the 44-year-old prisoner is certain that it would "shake the conscience of persons" who think death penalty is the only solution to tackle most of the crimes. Describing the last 25 years in prison as "horrible and painful," he said, "It is not a prisoner's or a convict's pain. It is more than that - the pain of an innocent." For quite sometime now, Perarivalan, who is lodged in the Vellore Central Prison for Men, has been undergoing treatment including for high blood pressure, orthopaedic and urological problems. Mental stress "Now, I am taking medicines for health reasons. But I do not know what medicine I have to take other than freedom to cure my mental stress," he added. Perarivalan has completed BCA and MCA from Indira Gandhi National Open University and a number of certificate courses from the prison. He disagreed that the State government's letter to the Centre on March 2 seeking its views on the release of the 7 convicts was with the elections in mind. "There is no 2nd opinion that seeking the view of the Union government before our release is the best possible solution," he noted. (source: The Hindu) CHINA: Beijing Says AI Death Penalty Report Is Biased against China The Chinese government said Amnesty International has "biased opinions" on China and refused to comment on its death penalty report released on Wednesday, which estimates that "thousands" were executed in China last year. Asked at a press conference about the AI report, spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry Lu Kang refused to comment and said AI tends to have biased opinions on China. According to the human rights organization, the number of death penalty executions in 2015 at 1,634 were the highest in 25 years. The global rise in the figure was attributed to 3 countries - Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan - who were responsible for 89 % of all the executions carried out in 2015, excluding China. Data from the world's 2nd largest economy were not included as China considers this information to be a "State secret," although the AI report notes that "thousands of executions" were carried out in the Chinese territory. AI Hong Kong's William Nee told EFE, AI asks governments across the world for information on capital punishment to prepare the report, and a "majority" responds to the request in "a professional manner." "It is not a complicated task. It is completely hypocritical that China calls our report biased when it refuses to give us information and continues treating capital punishment figures as a State secret," he denounced. Despite the lack of transparency, he said AI has "no doubt" that China is in top spot as the country with the highest number of executions in the world. (source: Latin American Herald Tribune) BANGLADESH: 197 got death penalty in BD last year: AI Bangladesh ranked the 3rd after China and Egypt among countries of the world in awarding death
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April 7 NIGERIA: AI Calls for Abolition of Death Sentence in Nigeria Amnesty International (AI) has called for the abolition of death sentence in Nigeria and all over the world, saying that there has been a 50 % increase in the number of executions globally. The Director of AI in Nigeria, Amb. Mohammed Ibrahim, made this call on Wednesday in Abuja during a media briefing on their latest report titled: "Death Penalty 2015: Facts and Figures". He said that Nigeria is among the 58 retentionist countries, whose constitution still upheld death penalty for ordinary crimes. He said that the AI has been leading the campaign against death penalty in Nigeria and all over the world, advocating it that it be expunged from the constitution. He however clarified that even though Nigeria has not publicly executed any criminal for the last 10 years, there are many Nigerians are being hurled up in congested prisons on deathrow waiting endlessly for execution. But Mr. Thankgod Ebose, a victims who was in deathrow for 27 years and was lucky to escape alive, gave account of secret killings in the Nigerian Prisons. Ebose recounted how he was imprisoned at the age of 19 over firearms incident and was to be executed by firing squad. He noted how an argument over the mode of his execution saved his life, having been in line after 4 of his deathrow inmates have been executed by hanging. He also disclosed that he was among the lucky few to have escaped the pangs of death and to air of freedom, saying, "there are many innocent Nigerians in jail". "The Sherrif argued that I was to be executed by firing squad and not by hanging and that was how Amnesty International took up my case to the governor who later ordered that I be freed," he narrated. "I don't have much to say but support the Amnesty International so that death sentence will be cancelled. Do you know that there are people who did not commit offence have been executed. They convicted innocent persons. "I still think I am dreaming, but I pray if its a dream let us then remain in the night. My execution, which suppose to take place in 2013 was a miracle because then I appealed to Amnesty International to help me and they took up my case and I was freed. After releasing me, they also helped me in business and life," he said. Against this backdrop, the AIN Director has called on the Federal government to not just abolish the death penalty but to also revamp the criminal laws, which seems to protect the rich but easily punish the poor. Ibrahim also warned against killings of Nigerians engaged in peaceful protest, saying that it is against the law. "If anybody is killed in the time of peaceful process or peaceful assembly is unlawful and we are investigating the issues across the country," he said. (source: This Day) *** Why we can't execute Boko Haram convicts The Attorney General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami, said yesterday that convicted members of the Boko Haram sect in the country could not be executed because the laws under which they were tried did not prescribe death sentence. He disclosed this at the launch of Amnesty's report on Global Death Sentences and Executions 2015, in Abuja, yesterday. The attorney-general, who was represented by Sylvester Imahanobe, also promised to work with Amnesty International to stop executition of convicted criminals in the country, if the international human rights body proposed a bill to that effect. He said: "Terrorists in Nigeria are tried under the Terrorism Prevention Act which does not carry death penalty. That is why even those Boko Haram members, who have been convicted cannot be executed because the maximum sentence prescribed by the law is life sentence." The AGF said he would be pleased to support any bill that came from Amnesty International on the abolition of death sentence in the country, pointing out that "studies have shown that death penalty has not stopped people from committing crimes." Malami revealed that the country was working towards ensuring that the prison system was corrective and not punitive, as it is currently. Earlier in his remarks, the Country Director of Amnesty International, Mohammed Ibrahim, said there was a "dramatic global rise in the number of executions recorded in 2015 which saw more people put to death than at any point in the last quarter-century." He said the surge was largely fuelled by Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which brought the number of people executed worldwide to 1,634 people, a rise of more than 50 % on the year before and the highest number Amnesty International had recorded since 1989. (source: vanguardngr.com) EGYPT: Mubarak trial adjourned again, Egyptians impatient The much awaited trial of Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak scheduled for Thursday was for the fourth time adjourned due to security concerns. The retrial was adjourned
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April 6 IRAN: Amnesty: Iran regime executed nearly 1000 people in 2015 Iran's regime executed close to a thousand people, including juvenile offenders, in 2015 and largely fueled the "dramatic global rise" in the number of executions recorded last year which saw more people put to death than at any point in the last quarter-century, Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday. "Iran put at least 977 people to death in 2015, compared to at least 743 the year before," Amnesty International wrote in its annual Death penalty 2015 report. "Iran is also one of the world's last executioners of juvenile offenders, in flagrant breach of international law," the report said. The Iranian regime put to death at least four people who were under 18 at the time of the crime for which they were convicted in 2015, the human rights group said. "Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions recorded" in the Middle East and North Africa, Amnesty said, adding that the regime continued to sentence people to death for crimes - including drug trafficking, corruption, "adultery" and "blasphemy." According to Amnesty's figures, the Iranian regime was responsible last year for nearly 60 % of all executions in the world with the exception of those in China. Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's Secretary General, said that the Iranian regime put people to death at "unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials." "This slaughter must end," he said. (soruce: NCR-Iran) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
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April 6 GLOBAL: Countries that execute on wrong side of history Aftab Bahadur was 15 years old when a Pakistani court found him guilty of killing 3 people and sentenced him to death. His sentence followed a farcical trial. Bahadur had always maintained his innocence and said he was tortured into a "confession." His co-accused Ghulam Mustafa, who falsely implicated him during the trial, later retracted his statement, admitting that police had beaten him. On June 10 of last year, after almost 24 agonizing years on death row, Bahadur drew his last breath as he was hanged in a jail in Lahore. He had been dragged to the gallows a handful of times before and saved at the last minute, but not this time. "We start to count down (to our execution), which itself is painful and nerve-racking. In fact, we die many times before our death. In my personal experience, nothing is more dreadful than waiting to die," he told media just months before his killing. Bahadur was 1 of 326 people executed in Pakistan last year. The country lifted a moratorium on civilian executions in December 2014 after the horrific Taliban-led massacre at a school in Peshawar. The move was ostensibly to "tackle terrorism," even though there is no evidence that the death penalty is more of a deterrent to crime than other forms of punishment. The sheer number of people executed in Pakistan is staggering: 326 is the highest figure Amnesty International has ever recorded in the country in a single year since beginning to monitor executions there in 1980. Sadly, as we release our annual report on the death penalty worldwide on Wednesday, Pakistan is not the only source of troubling developments. Both Iran and Saudi Arabia also saw huge surges in the number of people put to death by the state. In Iran, at least 977 people were executed -- an increase of more than 200 on the year before. The vast majority had been convicted of drug-related crimes. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, put at least 158 people to death. This is an incredible 76% rise on the year before, and the highest number we have recorded for the country since the early 1990s. These 3 countries -- Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia -- were the main culprits behind an alarming and staggering rise in global executions last year. In total, at least 1,634 people were put to death around the world, the highest judicial death toll we have recorded in more than a quarter-century. This global total, however, does not even include China, where Amnesty International believes thousands of people are put to death every year. But Chinese authorities treat death penalty statistics as state secrets, meaning that the true figure is impossible to determine. As an organization that for decades has campaigned for an end to the death penalty, last year's setbacks were as disturbing as they were dismaying. Apart from the number of lives taken, the use of the death penalty is in many countries riddled with serious problems: unfair trials, the use of torture to extract "confessions," death sentences for juvenile offenders and a lack of transparency, to name a few. But thankfully, 2015 was not all bad news. It was, in fact, in many ways a year of extremes, with stark developments on both ends of the spectrum. The 25 countries around the world that carried out executions belong to an isolated minority. In fact, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia accounted for almost 90% of all global executions (excluding China). Last year, we also saw a record number of countries fully remove the death penalty from their legal books. Four states in total -- Fiji, Madagascar, Republic of Congo and Suriname -- abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2015, and a new penal code in Mongolia means it will also join the abolitionist ranks in 2016. For the 1st time ever, the majority of the world's countries now have legal frameworks that make no mention of the death penalty at all. In total, 140 of the world's countries have fully abolished capital punishment in law or practice. A historical perspective makes the long-term global trend away from the death penalty even starker. Although 25 countries executed last year, two decades ago, in 1996, that figure stood at 39. In 1945, when the United Nations was established, only eight countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Today, this number stands at 102 countries, with more on the cusp of doing so. Countries that still execute need to realize that they are on the wrong side of history and immediately impose moratoriums on the death penalty with a view to its eventual repeal. The hundreds of people put to death in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in 2015 will never come back, but authorities in those countries can at least ensure that no more lives are lost in the name of "justice." (source: Opinion; Salil Shetty is secretary general of Amnesty InternationalCNN)
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April 6 GLOBAL: The Use of the Death Penalty Is at Its Highest in 25 Years, a New Report Says More people were executed worldwide in 2015 than at any point in the last 25 years, according to a new report by global human rights group Amnesty International released on Wednesday. At least 1,634 people were put to death across 25 different countries, a 54% increase from the number of executions recorded the previous year. Even without the figure for China (Beijing treats its executions as a state secret), Amnesty said last year's total represented the highest it has recorded since 1989. The report also showed that nearly 90% of all recorded use of the death penalty was accounted for by just 3 countries - Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, with the latter reinstating capital punishment in December 2014 following a 7-year moratorium. The 3 nations fall between China, which Amnesty estimates executes thousands annually, and the U.S., which rounds out the top 5 with 28 people put to death in 2015. Amnesty added that the report includes only the executions they were able to verify, with the actual number in countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Somalia, and Egypt likely higher than their respective confirmed totals of 977, 158, 26, 25, and 22. At the same time, the report observed that most of the world is renouncing the death penalty. Madagascar, Fiji, the Republic of Congo and Suriname abolished the death penalty for all crimes last year, bringing the total number of countries that have done so to 102. As of Dec. 31, 2015, Amnesty said, the number of countries that have abolished the death penalty "in law or practice" stood at 140. "Thankfully, countries that execute belong to a small and increasingly isolated minority," Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's Secretary General, said in a statement. "The majority of states have turned their back on the death penalty." (source: TIME.com) ** Death penalty 2015: Facts and figures Global figures At least 1,634 people were executed in 25 countries in 2015. This represents a stark increase on the number of executions recorded I 2014 of more than 50%; in 2014 Amnesty International recorded 1,061 executions in 22 countries worldwide. This is the highest number of executions recorded in more than 25 years (since 1989). Most executions took place in China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA - in that order. China remained the world's top executioner - but the true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unknown as this data is considered a state secret; the figure of 1,634 excludes the thousands of executions believed to have been carried out in China. Excluding China, almost 90% of all executions took place in just three countries - Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. During 2015, 25 countries, about 1 in 10 of all countries worldwide, are known to have carried out executions - a rise from 22 in 2014. This number has decreased significantly from 2 decades ago (39 countries carried out executions in 1996). 140 countries worldwide, more than 2/3, are abolitionist in law or practice. In 2015, 4 countries - Fiji, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo and Suriname - abolished the death penalty for all crimes. In total, 102 countries have done so - a majority of the world's states. In 2015, Mongolia also passed a new criminal code abolishing the death penalty which will come into effect later in 2016. Commutations or pardons of death sentences were recorded in 34 countries in 2015. At least 71 people who had been sentenced to death were exonerated in 6 countries in 2015: China (1), Egypt (1), Nigeria (41), Pakistan (at least 21), Taiwan (1) and USA (6). At least 1,998 death sentences were recorded in 61 countries in 2015, a decline from 2014 (at least 2,466 death sentences in 55 countries). At least 20,292 people were on death row at the end of 2015. The following methods of execution were used across the world: beheading, hanging, lethal injection and shooting. Reports indicated that at least 9 people who were under 18 at the time of the crime for which they were sentenced to death were executed in 2015 - 4 in Iran and 5 in Pakistan. In many countries where people were sentenced to death or executed, the proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards. In some cases this included the extraction of 'confessions' through torture or other ill-treatment, including in Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. People continued to be sentenced to death and executed for offences that do not meet the "most serious crimes" threshold of "intentional killing" as set out in international law and standards. These offences included drug-related crimes in at least 12 countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as committing "adultery" (Maldives, Saudi Arabia), economic crimes (China, North Korea, Viet Nam), "apostasy" (Saudi Arabia)
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April 5 INDONESIA: 2 charged with trafficking in dangerous drugs A woman and a man were jointly charged in a magistrates' court here yesterday for trafficking in dangerous drugs last month. No plea was taken from the Cynthia Chin, 26, and Taing Haw Kwong, 47, who appeared before Magistrate Zubaidah Sharkawi. Zubaidah ordered both accused to be further remanded in jail as the offence is non-bailable. They face 2 charges under Section 39B (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which provides for a mandatory death penalty. Under the 1st charge, the duo are accused of trafficking 5.784kg (gross weight) of ecstasy, while under the 2nd charge they are accused of trafficking 1.028kg of syabu. The offences were allegedly committed at an apartment along Jalan Lapangan Terbang here around noon on March 23. Counsel Lim Lian Kee represented both accused. (source: Borneo Post) BELARUS: see: http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/belarus-halt-execution-of-ivan-kulesh-ua-26615 (source: Amnesty International USA) IRAN: Over 1000 executions in Iran in 2015 Richard Ashworth, a Member of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom, has reiterated that the Iranian regime's president Hassan Rouhani is not a 'moderate' as he claims to be. Mr. Ashworth, who is a strong supporter of freedom and democracy in Iran, pointed to over 1000 executions carried out in Iran in 2015 under Rouhani's watch. Text of remarks by Richard Ashworth MEP: "We were very happy to host Mrs. Maryam Rajavi in the European Parliament last week. She received great support from many members of the parliament, who came from all of the different political groups. And we were all there to demonstrate our support for her vision for a free and democratic Iran, an Iran that is free from nuclear ambitions, an Iran which is free from the death penalty and an Iran that can once again be a valued partner in a peaceful world; not a threat. We have to remind our governments that Iranian President Rouhani is not a moderate. Over 1000 people were hanged last year in Iran which has made it the number one executioner state in the world. And with a human rights record like that, no state could ever claim to be moderate. The recent elections in Iran were not real. How can they be when the opposition candidates are not allowed to run? That's not an election, that's a selection within the ruling power itself. And therefore we in the European Parliament will continue our efforts and continue to support the democratic opposition until the day we get a truly free democratic election being held in Iran. Thank you." Members of the European Parliament have spoken out in support of human rights and democracy in Iran through support for the democratic opposition led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. (source: NCR-Iran) SAUDI ARABIA: Pressure Saudi Arabia to halt executions of protesters, Keith Ellison asks John Kerry, as 2016 beheadings break records Congressman voices concerns about Saudi death sentences in letter, after monarchy has executed 82 people this year Rep. Keith Ellison is calling on the federal government to pressure its close ally Saudi Arabia to pardon 3 young activists who were sentenced to death for attending protests. Rep. Ellison (D-Minnesota) wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on April 1. In the letter, which was obtained by Salon, Ellison requested Kerry's "direct intervention to ensure the protection of 3 juveniles sentenced to death for protesting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher were arrested for attending peaceful political protests while they were aged 17, 17 and 15, respectively. The Saudi youths were subsequently tortured, and forced to sign confessions, a common practice in the Saudi criminal justice system. Eventually, all 3 were sentenced to death. Al-Nimr was sentenced to not just beheading, but also to crucifixion. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, along with numerous human rights organizations, has criticized the Saudi regime for the death sentences. Saudi is also party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which bans the use of the death penalty for people who committed crimes when younger than age 18. News reports indicate that Saudi Arabia may execute the young men at any time. Their families are not able to stay in contact with them, and only hear updates on their cases through media reports. "Many of the individuals sentenced to death alongside Ali, Dawood and Abdullah have already been executed, including a number of juveniles aged between 13 and 17 at the time of their arrest," Rep. Ellison noted in his letter. "This includes one of the boys" co-defendants, Mi al-Ribh, who was just 17 at the time of his arrest," he continued. "His family was only notified of their son's execution when the Saudi Ministry of
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April 5 MALAYSIA: Kevin Morais murder trial to commence tomorrow The trial of 7 men, including a doctor, charged with murdering and abetting in the murder of deputy public prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais will begin tomorrow. Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Razak Musa when contacted said the High Court had fixed 16 days for hearing, before justice Azman Abdullah. The trial dates are as follows: April 6 until April 15; May 3 until May 6; June 6 until June 8; and June 27 until June 28. The prosecution would be calling 60 witnesses. Counsel N Sivananthan who is representing the doctor and army pathologist, Colonel Dr K Kunaseegaran said he was ready for the trial. "As far as I am concerned my client has absolutely nothing to do with the death of Kevin and he did not aid or abet it in any manner whatsoever," he said when asked on his client's case. Last Jan 27, the 6 men - G Gunasekaran, 43; R Dinishwaran, 23; A Thinesh Kumar, 22; M Vishwanath, 25; S Nimalan, 22; and S Ravichandaran, 34, had pleaded not guilty when charged. They allegedly committed the offence between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015, between Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul and No. 1 Jalan USJ1/6D, Subang Jaya. They face the mandatory death penalty if convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code, while Kunaseegaran, 52, had pleaded not guilty to abetting the 6 men in Kevin's murder at the same place, date and time. He is charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 302 of the same act. Pleaded not guilty to alternative charges On March 28, Nimalan and Thinesh Kumar pleaded not guilty to alternative charges of helping to hide the body and causing Kevin Morais??? death. Nimalan, a college student, allegedly helped in hiding the body and destroying a vehicle with the intention of preventing six others from facing legal action. The charge under Section 201 of the Penal Code provides for a maximum jail term of 7 years and fine upon conviction. Thinesh Kumar, an unemployed, allegedly with six other individuals caused Kevin's death on the way between Jalan Dutamas 1 in Kuala Lumpur and No 20, Desa Mentari, Petaling Jaya on Sept 4, 2015, between 7am and 11.30am. He allegedly committed culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum imprisonment of 30 years and a fine upon conviction. By rejecting the alternative charges offered, both Nimalan and Thinesh Kumar are still jointly charged under Section 302 of Penal Code. Kevin Morais was reported missing on Sept 4 last year. He was last seen leaving his apartment at Menara Duta in Kuala Lumpur in a Proton Perdana car bearing registration number WA6264Q. His remains were found in a cemented drum at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur on Sept 16 last year. Gunasekaran, Vishwanath, Nimalan and Ravichandaran will be defended by counsel V Rajehgopal while Dinishwaran and Thinesh Kumar, by M Manoharan. (source: malaysiakini.com) INDONESIA: Death row Sarawakian to know fate today A Sarawakian in death row will know his fate today when the Singapore Court of Appeal decides on whether he will be executed or have his sentence reduced. Kho Jabing, 31, from Ulu Baram was granted a stay of execution in November last year after his lawyer filed a motion, raising doubts over the handling of the case. He was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murder of a Chinese construction worker with a piece of wood in 2008 during a robbery attempt in Singapore. However following revisions to Singapore's mandatory death penalty laws in August 2013, a Singapore High Court sentenced him to life imprisonment and to be given 24 strokes of the cane instead. The prosecution subsequently appealed against the decision before the Court of Appeal which reinstated Jabing's death sentence. In October last year, Singapore president Tony Tan rejected a clemency petition before a stay of execution by the Court of Appeal. (source: theborneopost.com) SINGAPORE: Convicted murderer Jabing Kho to hang after failing in bid to commute death sentence Convicted murderer Jabing Kho's 11th-hour bid to quash his death sentence, which he made last year less than 24 hours before he was due to be hanged, has failed. A 5-judge Court of Appeal - the same panel that gave a 3-2 split decision in favour of sending him to the gallows last year - on Tuesday (April 5) unanimously threw out the Malaysian's bid to escape the hangman's noose. Kho's mother and sister, who were present in court, sobbed loudly upon hearing the verdict. In 2008, Kho, 31, who is from Sarawak, bludgeoned Chinese national Cao Ruyin, 40, with a tree branch while robbing him, together with an accomplice. Mr Cao died of head injuries 6 days later. Kho has gone through many twists and turns since he and his accomplice were given the death penalty - then mandatory for murder - in
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April 4 INDIA: Nirbhaya case: SC begins hearing on death convicts' plea Almost 2 years after staying execution of death sentence of 4 convicts in the December, 2012 Nirbhaya rape and murder case, the Supreme Court on Monday began final hearing on their appeal challenging their conviction and sentence in the case. The convicts -- Vinay Sharma (23), Akshay Thakur (31), Mukesh (29) and Pawan Gupta (22) -- were awarded the death sentence by a trial court in September 2013 and 6 moths later, the Delhi high court upheld their conviction and sentence. All the convicts approached the Supreme Court in 2014, which stayed their execution. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra, V Gopala Gowda and Kurian Joseph said it would examine all evidences in the case to dispel allegations made by the convicts that they were not given enough opportunity to defend themselves in the lower court and HC. "Our approach would be to hear the case as original trial. We would go through all evidences in the case and analyse them. We would appreciate evidences as trial court so that there remains no grievances," the bench said. The bench said the testimony of Nirbhaya's male friend, who was with her on that fateful night, was the most crucial evidence in the case. It asked the counsel for the convicts to first argue on the testimony of her friend who was the sole eyewitness in the case. Advocate M L Sharma, appearing for Mukesh and Pawan, told the bench that the order passed by the trial court and Delhi HC in the case was wrong and the extreme punishment was meted out to them under media and political pressure. He contended that the judgement be set aside as there was no "substance or material piece of evidence" and there were contradictions in the depositions of the victim and her friend about the offence and the offenders. Disputing the veracity of the dying declaration of the victim, he contended that she was not fit enough to record her statement and hence, the statement made through gestures cannot be relied upon. The hearing remained inconclusive and would resume on April 8. The Delhi High Court had on March 13, 2014 upheld their conviction and award of death penalty by terming the offence as "extremely fiendish" and "unparallelled in the history of criminal jurisprudence" and had said the "exemplary punishment" was the need of the hour. The 23-year-old paramedic was brutally assaulted and gangraped by 6 people in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012 and thrown out of the vehicle with her male friend. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29. Prime accused in the case, Ram Singh, was found dead in Tihar Jail and the trial against him was abated. The 6th accused, a juvenile, was sentenced to a maximum of 3 years in a reformation home by the juvenile justice board on August 31, 2013. (source: The Times of India) ** Is It Time To Do Away With Death Penalty In India? In 1967, the Law Commission of India had reported: "Having regard, however, to the conditions in India, to the variety of social upbringing of its inhabitants, to the disparity in the level of morality and education in the country, to the vastness of its area, to the diversity of its population and to the paramount need for maintaining law and order in the country at the present juncture, India cannot risk the experiment of abolition of capital punishment." However, due to the recent support in favour of abolishing this punishment from the Indian legal system and the trend being observed in most of the countries around the world, the Law Commission of India in 2013 decided to review the issue once again. This issue, however, is not a new one. One of the most controversial and heatedly debated topics during the Constituent Assembly debates was whether or not the death penalty should be retained in the constitution of Independent India? One of the main voices for abolishing the death penalty was the man who is often referred to as the architect of the Constitution - DR. B. R. Ambedkar. Ambedkar pointed out the inherent violence that is attached to a punishment like the death penalty and stated that "people may not follow non-violence in practice but they certainly adhere to the principle of non-violence as a moral mandate and thus the state ought to observe it as far as it possibly can," implying that a state must practice non-violence if it wants its citizens to condone violence. However, Ambedkar's views and suggestions were ignored by the Assembly and the death penalty was retained as a legal form of punishment in the penal code. Although the death penalty was retained in the legal system it has not been a common form of punishment. In Mithu vs. State of Punjab (1983) the Supreme Court observed that "in the whole of IPC there is only 1 section (Section 303) where death is described as the only punishment for murder by person under a sentence for
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April 4 BANGLADESH: Nizami's hearing not this week Condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami's petition seeking review of his death penalty has been lined up for hearing at the Appellate Division next week following a time petition by the defence. A 3-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha set the new date yesterday morning. Defence lawyer SM Shahjahan said they had sought six-week time for the hearing due to some personal difficulties of Nizami's principal lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain. But the apex court said it would hold the hearing next week, Shahjahan said. However, the court did not fix any specific day for the hearing. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Nizami filed the petition on March 29 seeking acquittal from all the proven charges. The death penalty of Nizami was upheld by the apex court on January 6 on charges of masterminding the killing of intellectuals and for his involvement in two incidents of mass murders of over 500 people in Pabna in 1971. (source: dhakatribune.com) SINGAPORE: Malaysian convicted of murder in Singapore to know his fate Tuesday The family of Kho Jabing are anxiously waiting to see if the Singapore Court of Appeal will decide if he will be executed or have his sentence commuted for a murder he committed 8 years ago. His mother Lenduk Baling and his sister Jumai Kho arrived in Singapore on Sunday from Sarawak for the judgement, which is likely to be delivered on Tuesday. "We are very anxious. We can only hope for the best," Jumai told The Star Online in a phone interview on Monday. Kho Jabing, 31, who is from Ulu Baram, Sarawak faces the gallows for killing a Chinese construction worker with a tree branch back in 2008 during a robbery attempt. He was scheduled to be executed on Nov 6 last year, but received a stay after his lawyer filed a motion raising points of law about the way the case was handled. Jumai said she and her mother had met Jabing earlier on Monday, who also hoped for his death sentence to be commuted. Jabing was sentenced to death in 2010, but following revisions to Singapore's mandatory death penalty laws in August 2013, Singpore's high court sentenced him to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane instead. The prosecution challenged the decision before the court of appeal, which reinstated Jabing death sentence in a 3-2 majority decision earlier last year. On Oct 19, Singapore president Tony Tan rejected a clemency petition before a stay of execution by the court of appeal. In 2013, the Singapore government abolished the mandatory death penalty and gave judges discretion to choose between a death sentence or life imprisonment with caning in murder and certain drug trafficking cases. (source: The Star) VIETNAM: 14 face charges in Vietnam for trafficking 280 kg of heroin to China Vietnamese police are urging charges be filed against 14 people for allegedly trafficking 280 kg of heroin to China on 22 different occasions, earning more than VND10 billion (US$450,000). Investigators from the Ministry of Public Security submitted a report to the prosecutor's office Sunday, naming the suspects led by Chu Van Vien, 33. The ring members, aged between 25 and 40, carried the drugs from Son La Province on the Laos border. Police caught 2 members of the gang in Hanoi and the neighboring Hoa Binh Province in December 2014 with around 15 kg of heroin. They told the police they were carrying the drugs for a Chinese woman and Chu Dinh Tuyen, Vien's brother who acted as his assistant after quitting his job as a vendor selling agriculture produce across the border. Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty. (source: Thanh Nien News) INDIA: Need political rights, Indira Jaisingh at JNU The right to hold a political opinion different from that of a ruling party is "more endangered" than the right to free speech, said lawyer Indira Jaisingh. She was addressing students in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), during their 'Azadi' lecture series, on Saturday. The 1st woman Additional Solicitor General of India gave a lecture on the topic 'What does fidelity to the Constitution mean'. After the nationalism classes in the university, the JNU Students' Union is organising 'Azadi' lecture series where noted lawyers, academicians and activists have been addressing students on a range of topics. "While I believe that the right to free speech is endangered in today's context, I feel that the right to hold a political opinion which is different from that of the ruling party is even more endangered. I reject the interpretation of the Constitution placed by
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April 3 IRAN: Another Juvenile Offender in Sanandaj Prison Sentenced to Death With issuing of another death sentence for a juvenile offender in Sanandaj Prison, the number of prisoners who are sentenced to death for an offence they have committed while being a juvenile, has rose to 5. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a juvenile offender (K.N) imprisoned at Sanandaj Prison, who at the time of crime was 17 years and 9 months old, was sentenced to death by retaliation in kind (Qisas) for murder. 1 of K.N's relatives has told HRANA's reporter: "He was born in May 1997. In a group brawl, he has killed a person he didn't know at all. He was only 17 years and 9 months old when he committed the crime." He added: "A public lawyer was assigned for him, and was not even sent to forensics to be tested for cognitive and psychosocial developments. In October 2015, after the 1st trial presided by judge Hamed Soltan-Bakhsh at branch number 1 of the criminal court of Sanandaj, he has been sentenced to Qisas (retaliation in kind), however this sentence was disclosed to him with a delay just recently." It is worth mentioning that there are currently 4 more juvenile offenders imprisoned in Sanandaj Prison, who have been arrested and sentenced to death. All of these 4 juvenile prisoners have been charged with murder. Below is the previously gathered reports of HRANA on the identity and age at the time of murder or arrest of these prisoners: Yousef Mohammadi, born in 1995, age at the time of arrest: 14, sentenced to death Himan Orami-Nejhad, born in 1997, age at the time of arrest: 17 years and 9 months, year in which the crime was committed: 2011, sentenced to death Siavash Mahmoudi, born in 1995, age at the time of arrest: 17, sentence to death, Note: he has claimed that the murder was the result of a self-defense against sexual assault. Amanj Hosseini (Oveisi), age at the time of arrest: 17, sentenced to death It should be noted, offenders under 18 are considered as juveniles according to human right treaties, and the legal punishment of a juvenile in Iran including death penalty for crimes such as brawl, murder, drug trafficking etc., has always been a major challenge and violation of human rights In Iran. Iran???s action is in contrast with its obligation to the international covenant on civil and political rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Iran along with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Sudan are the only countries that still continue to execute minors. In recent years Iran's judicial system detains the juvenile offenders that are sentenced to death at correctional centers and executes them only after they reach the age of 18. In 2013, after the reforms to the Islamic penal code, the death penalty for juvenile offenders is subjected to the offender's ability to understand and realize the nature of the committed crime. However recently Fatemeh Salbehi who had been sentenced to death for committing murder under the age of 18, was reconvicted for murder after the retrial on the grounds that at the time of the murder she has been aware of the nature of the crime, and her sentence was executed. The execution of Fatemeh Salbehi has once again raised the concerns regarding the execution of juvenile offenders in Iran. (source: HRA News Agency) AUSTRALIA: Ben Quilty says he would rather live on Indonesian execution island than with kowtowing politicians Ben Quilty will leave Australia if politicians do not campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in countries like China and the United States. The Archibald Prize-winning artist and Art Gallery of NSW trustee said, with a dose of black humour, he would rather live on Indonesia's execution island than witness Australian politicians kowtow to countries that kill their citizens. "Next year is the 50th anniversary of the last person executed in Australia and if some politicians don't get up and use a soap box to proclaim that to the world, I'm leaving," he said. Ronald Ryan was hanged in Melbourne in February 1967 for the murder of a prison officer during an escape from Pentridge prison in 1965. Asked where he would settle, Quilty said: "I don't care. I'd rather live on Nusa Kambangan than have no politicians stand up for the great parts of what we've achieved." "We haven't executed anyone for 50 years. We have things to be proud of but politicians like to kowtow to countries that still execute people, namely China and America and no one f***ing says anything." Quilty was speaking at last month's Art Basel Hong Kong art fair where his large-scale autobiographical painting, After Afghanistan, Over the Hills and Far Away, priced at $130,000, was sold by Melbourne's Tolarno Galleries to an undisclosed buyer. Quilty said the painting started as a self-portrait "and I guess in a way it maps out the last few
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April 2 SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia 'on course to double number of beheadings this year' This would be more than double the 158 executions carried out by the Kingdom last year.This would be more than double the 158 executions carried out by the Kingdom last year. Saudi Arabia has already executed 82 people this year and is on course to behead twice as many prisoners as it did in 2015, according to new statistics compiled by a leading human rights organisation likely to raise fresh concerns about the UK's close ties to the Kingdom. The British government has been urged to do more to put pressure on its Gulf allies to halt the bloodshed in light of the figures, which would see the total death toll in Saudi Arabia reach a record high of more than 320 by the end of the year if the current rate is maintained. This would be more than double the 158 executions carried out by the Kingdom last year, which was in itself a dramatic rise on the 88 people it beheaded in 2014. The figures were compiled by the UK organisation Reprieve using a combination of official statements from the Saudi government and reliable local media reports. Earlier this week, the defence secretary Michael Fallon paid a low-key visit to Saudi Arabia to "help strengthen the UK-Saudi defence relationship", meeting Crown Prince Muhammad bin Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the minister of interior who is in charge of ordering executions. Days later, at least two more prisoners were beheaded. During his trip Fallon also met Saudi defence minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz and other members of the Saudi Royal family. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said he had "reiterated the importance of working together to deal with global threats, including countering the poisonous ideology of Daesh and regional instability". However, it did not say whether Mr Fallon had raised the subject of executions with the interior minister. Human rights groups are increasingly concerned about the fates of Ali al Nimr, Dawoud al Marhoon and Abdullah al Zaher, who have all been sentenced to death by the Saudis despite being children at the time of their alleged crimes. All three were convicted for alleged offences connected to protests calling for reform in the Kingdom and could be executed at any time without warning. "As Saudi Arabia looks set for yet another record breaking year of beheadings, it is more important than ever that its allies in the UK, Europe and the US call for it to stop," said Harriet McCulloch, deputy director of the death penalty team at Reprieve. "The deep injustices of the Saudi system mean that those being sent to the swordsman's blade are in many cases tortured into 'confessing', guilty of nothing more than calling peacefully for reform, or even sentenced to death as children. The UK and US must immediately call for Ali, Dawoud and Abdullah's sentences to be commuted before it is too late - given the rising tide of beheadings, vague reassurances are not enough." A government spokesperson said: "The Defence Secretary visited Saudi Arabia to discuss a range of regional issues. The UK is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances and we make our views well known to Saudi Arabia. We have raised these particular cases at the highest levels and will continue to do so. Our expectation remains that the 3 individuals will not be executed." (source: The Times of India) SINGAPORE: Standoff in Ang Mo Kio amid CNB operation; A 48-year-old chopper-wielding man refused to open the door to authorities and threatened to burn himself. Heroin and "Ice", with an estimated street value of S$57,000, have been seized by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). 3 suspects have also been arrested. According to a press release on Friday (Apr 1), CNB said it mounted the operation to dismantle the activities of a suspected drug trafficking syndicate. The syndicate was suspected of trafficking in different types of controlled drugs. The operation started on Thursday after CNB officers were deployed to observe a suspected drug trafficker in the vicinity of Ang Mo Kio. The 39-year-old Singaporean woman, who was believed to be receiving a fresh consignment of drugs, was seen meeting up with a 62-year-old Singaporean man near Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10. Both were subsequently arrested. About 48g of heroin was seized from the woman, while about 160g of heroin was recovered from the man. A search of the woman's hideout at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 uncovered about 480g of heroin and 25g of "Ice". About 40g of heroin was seized from the 62-year-old's hideout. Investigations also led officers to a unit in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8, belonging to a suspected drug associate of the woman. At the scene, the suspected drug offender, a 48-year-old Singaporean man, refused to open the door and threatened to burn himself. He was also seen holding a chopper. CNB said that for safety reasons, the police
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April 1 TAIWAN: Murder of child fuels death penalty debate in Taiwan Executing criminals is not the answer, says Holy See representative The apparent random beheading of a 4-year-old girl in Taipei by a stranger has reignited the debate over Taiwan's use of the death penalty. The young girl nicknamed "Little Light Bulb" was with her mother Claire Wang who was cycling toward a metro station March 28 when a 33-year-old unemployed man attacked her with a meat cleaver. The suspect, Wang Ching-yu, has been taken into custody; police say he has a history of drug abuse and mental illness. The attack and widespread public outrage reignited the death penalty debate in Taiwan, which has executed 32 criminals since 2010. Much of the discussion has occurred online with many netizens endorsing the country's use of the death penalty. A digital image that included the words: "Support the death sentence for use against killers who murder kids," received more than 230,000 shares on Facebook in less than 24 hours. A Facebook page dedicated to the same theme received more than 240,000 "likes" within a similar time period. Many Taiwanese netizens also have accused death penalty opponents of ignoring the security and safety of Taiwanese society. The Facebook page Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty has been inundated by messages from death sentence supporters upset over the child's horrific murder. The group even came under fire from a Kuomintang lawmaker, Yan Kuanheng, who posted on Facebook: "Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty don't cover up for all death penalty prisoners, especially child murderers!" The group's chief executive Lin Hsinyi responded to death penalty supporters on Facebook. "I know everyone is sad and angry. But simply shouting at death penalty opponents cannot solve the real problem," wrote Lin. David Chiu, a Catholic in Taipei and death penalty opponent, said supporters of capital punishment are reacting emotionally. "People are now using the death penalty debate as a way to express their emotions," Chiu told ucanews.com. The outgoing Holy See representative in Taiwan, Msgr. Paul Russell, said he regretted that he was not able to influence an anti-death penalty movement during his term in office, which began in 2008. "We have not succeeded in building a greater consensus for the abolishment of the death penalty," Msgr. Russell said March 30. "People will continue to commit very terrible crimes. We saw it couple of days ago at the MRT in Taipei," he said. "But executing criminals is not the answer. Pope Francis is very clear on this point." As part of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis in February called for a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Claire Wang, the mother of the young victim said on her Facebook account that she does not want people to use her daughter's death to argue over the death penalty. "For me, it just my beloved one gone accidentally. I really want to peacefully manage the things left behind," Wang wrote. Talking to media, Wang also cautioned against using her daughter's murder as fuel for political arguments, AFP reported. Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's president-elect, has said that if the death penalty is to be abolished there needs to be a public consensus on the issue and a well-thought-out and implemented policy. Taiwan had a moratorium on the death penalty from 2006 to 2010. (source: ucanews.com) NIGERIA: Death penalty on Boko Haram suspects could boomerang A series of death sentences Boko Haram insurgents for their roles in the deadly attacks that have claimed thousands of civilians have been hailed in Cameroon as a breakthrough. However, experts warn this could rebound badly in the wake of suggestions the Nigerian Islamic militant sect could carry out reprisal attacks. Recently, Cameroon sentenced to death more than 80 Boko Haram insurgents for carrying out attacks in the country's Far North Region. A military court in this region worst hit by the insurgency by the sect imposed capital punishment on the 89 terrorists after finding them guilty of crimes against humanity. The judgment handed down on March 18 marked the most extreme implementation of a controversial anti-terrorism law President Paul Biya promulgated in December 2014 in reaction to the merciless attacks the Boko Haram carried out in the central African country. The law specifies terrorist crimes as "actions likely to cause death, endanger or damage the physical integrity of another, damage to the nation's natural resources, environment or cultural heritage with the intent of intimidating the population, provoking a situation of terror or forcing the victim, the government and/or an organisation, national or international to accomplish or abstain from accomplishing any act whatsoever, to adopt or renounce a particular position, or to act according to certain principles."
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April 1 IRAN: Arjang Davoudi's Death Sentence Reduced to 5 Years Imprisonment Arjang Davoudi, political prisoner in Rajai Shahr prison says; his death sentence has been reduced to 5 years imprisonment in exile. He should be ready by 14th June to be exiled to Zabul prison. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), the death penalty for the old political prisoner in Rajai Shahr prison, in Karaj, Arjang Davoudi, was reduced to 5 years imprisonment and exile to Zabol prison. Mr. Davoudi in this regard told HRANA's reporter: "A few days before the new year I was informed in prison that the appeals court has broken my execution sentence and turned it to five years imprisonment in exile and I should wait until June 14, 2016, to be transferred to Zabol prison." He continued: "I have been told, as Zabul prison was a detention center, probably I would be transferred to the prison of Zahedan." It should be noted that, the aged political prisoner, Arjang Davoudi, who has served his first 10-year-sentence, during this period of imprisonment and due to another verdict, has been sentenced to 20 years and 8 months imprisonment, and then by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Karaj, he was charged with supporting and working effectively in advocating the goals of the People's Mojahedin Organization in prison, and sentenced to death." (source: HRA News Agency) YEMEN: Baha'i Adherent Faces Death PenaltyEnd Persecution of Religious Minority Yemeni authorities should drop all charges against a member of the Baha'i faith detained since December 2013, apparently for his religious beliefs. Prosecutors are expected to seek the death penalty for Hamed Kamal Muhammad bin Haydara in a court hearing scheduled for April 3, 2016. Yemeni authorities should stop the persecution of the country's Baha'i community, Human Rights Watch said. "The Yemeni authorities have committed an injustice by prosecuting Haydara for his religious beliefs and compounding that injustice by seeking to execute him," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. "The charges should be dropped and Haydara should be released." Haydara was detained on December 3, 2013, by officers from Yemen's National Security Bureau (NSB), an intelligence agency. He was held in an NSB detention center in the capital, Sanaa, for almost a year, as officers beat him and subjected him to electric shocks and other mistreatment. On January 8, 2015, the Specialized Criminal Court prosecutor issued an indictment claiming that Haydara was an Iranian citizen, using a false name, who arrived in Yemen only in 1991. Yet photocopies of his Yemini ID and passport provided by his wife show he was born in Yemen in 1964. The prosecutor also charged him with collaborating with Israel by working for the Universal House of Justice, the Baha'i supreme governing institution, which is based in Haifa, Israel. The prosecutor also alleged that Haydara lured potential Muslim converts to the Baha'i faith through charitable giving and tried to "establish a homeland for the followers of the Baha'i faith" in Yemen. In the indictment, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, the prosecutor charges Haydara under Yemen's penal code with committing, among other crimes, "an act that violates the independence of the republic, its unity, or the integrity of its lands," "working for a foreign state's interests," "insulting Islam," and "apostasy." The prosecutor is seeking "the maximum possible penalty," which for some of these charges is death, as well as confiscation of his property. 4 members of the Baha'i community who have been monitoring the court proceedings told Human Rights Watch that since Haydara's 2013 arrest, his case has had 13 court hearings, but he has only been allowed to attend 3. The local human rights group Mwatana monitored the most recent hearing, on February 28, 2016, for which Haydara was absent. The director of Mwatana, Radhiya al-Mutawakil, who was at the session, said the judge asked the prosecutor, Rajeh Zayyed, about Haydara's absence, but received no explanation. Zayyed claims to have had 14 interrogation sessions with Haydara, but according to Haydara's lawyer, Abdulkarim al-Hamadi, the prosecution only interrogated Haydara twice, and brought him to the prosecutor's office twice more but then did not question him. Al-Hamadi has only been allowed to communicate with his client by phone. At the February 28 hearing, Zayyed reiterated that the prosecution is seeking the death penalty. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an inherently cruel form of punishment. Haydara's wife, Elham Muhammad Hossain Zara'i, told Human Rights Watch that in a September 4 meeting with one of the judges presiding over the case, he threatened her with prison because of her faith and told her that all Baha'is should be in prison. Since the Houthis,
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March 31 PAKISTANexecutions 2 convicted by military courts hanged in Kohat 2 'terrorists' convicted by military courts for involvement in attacks on security officials and civilians were executed at a jail in Kohat on Wednesday, a military sourced confirmed. Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif had signed the death warrants for Mehmood and Rab Nawaz last year. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in September last year issued the names of 9 'hardcore terrorists' whose death sentences had been approved by the army chief. The convicts executed today were among them. The ISPR had shared the following details at the time about conviction of the militants hanged on Wednesday: Mehmood s/o Khawaza Khan, an active member of the TTP, was found involved in attacking security personnel in KP, killing 2 soldiers and injuring 13 others. He admitted his offences before the magistrate and trial court and was awarded death sentence. Rab Nawaz s/o Shahi Room, an active member of the TTP, was involved in killing of 2 civilians, processing firearms and abetting attack on military in Peshawar which resulted in death of 2 soldiers and caused severe injuries to another. In the wake of the APS carnage, military courts were set up for trying terrorists under amendments made to the Constitution and the Army Act. Political parties had unanimously agreed to setting up military courts to tackle terrorism cases in the country following the gruesome attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014, following which the Parliament passed the 21st constitutional amendment in Jan 2015 to set up the said courts. President Mamnoon Hussain had also promulgated an ordinance further revising the recently amended Army Act to ostensibly aid the functioning of military courts by allowing for trials in camera, i.e. without the presence of the public or the media, and over video link if necessary. The Supreme Court in a majority ruling upheld the establishment of military courts in Pakistan. Petitions challenging the 21st amendment were dismissed in August this year in a majority 11-6 vote of the 17-member SC bench. Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Dost Muhammad announced the verdict. (source: Daily Times) MALAYSIA: Who decides who's next to hang? Opposition MPs ask after Taiping executions Opposition lawmakers today questioned the execution selection process of inmates on death row following three controversial hangings at the Taiping prison last week. DAP MPs M Kulasegaran and Kasthuri Patto, along with Amanah's Kota Raja MP Siti Mariah Mahmud, pointed out that the families of the 3 inmates at the Taiping prison were only given one day to visit the inmates and that their execution will carried out in the "soonest time". "Who selects who will be up next (for execution)? No one really knows for sure," Kashturi said during a press conference at the Parliament lobby. The MPs also called for the government to hold off conducting further executions until the mandatory death penalty is reviewed. The 3 men executed in the Taiping prison were sentenced to death over a 2005 murder in Sungai Petani. Kashturi alleged that the nature of the executions were "shady, secretive and hasty." "It is apparent that the prison was bent on executing them come hell or high water," she said. Kulasegaran said the call by the MPs was to merely give judges the option on whether to hand out death penalty, rather than making the sentence mandatory. "The judge is also a human being. All we are saying is give the judge discretion," he said. Putrajaya last year announced that it was considering dropping the death penalty, but only for drug-related offences. Under Malaysia's current laws, convictions for firearms, drugs, treason and murder-related offences must result in the death sentence. (source: themalaymailonline.com) INDIA: Internship opportunity at Centre on the Death Penalty, NLU Delhi The Centre on the Death Penalty is keen to develop a robust and rewarding internship programme that will provide meaningful exposure to the complexities and nuances, in particular, of the administration of the death penalty and the criminal justice system in India more generally, therefore the centre introduces internship program where they accept interns on rolling basis. Eligibility: The internship is open to students in India and other countries, enrolled in a recognized undergraduate or post-graduate programme in the law, humanities, social sciences, management or media and communications. Duration: Internships are full-time and for a period of a minimum 4 weeks to a maximum of 12 weeks. Candidates must indicate the exact dates in their application. Interns shall be based out of our offices on the NLU Delhi campus in Sector 14. Dwarka, New Delhi 100078. Remuneration: Interns will be paid a stipend of Rs 10,000 (Rupees Ten Thousand
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March 31 GLOBAL: The 13 countries where being an atheist is punishable by death Around the world, a number of countries continue to criminalize atheists and humanists, with 13 having laws which enable them to impose the death penalty. It's often said that the world is becoming an increasingly secular place. Just last week David Cameron sparked backlash when he used his Easter message to describe the UK as "a Christian country". Critics pointed out that just 30 per cent of people in the UK describe themselves as religious, making Britain one of the least religious countries in the world. 53 per cent of people say they have no faith, while 13 per cent claim they are committed atheists. However, despite the prevalance of atheism and humanism in the UK, many may be surprised to know that having no faith can be a life or death matter around the world. In thirteen countries, you can be sentenced to death for not having a faith: 1. Afghanistan. 2. Iran. 3. Malaysia. 4. Maldives. 5. Mauritania. 6. Nigeria. 7. Pakistan. 8. Qatar. 9. Saudi Arabia. 10. Somalia. 11. Sudan 12. United Arab Emirates 13. Yemen In a number of other countries, the death penalty is not a formal punishment on statute books but atheists and humanists have been murdered by religious extremists on account of their beliefs. In countries including India and Bangladesh, police have been accused of condoning these murders by failing to investigate them properly. At least 3 atheist bloggers have been hacked to death in Bangladesh after penning posts advocating that scientific proof should inform opinion above religious beliefs. (source: The Times of India) IRAN: Iranian group gets help from Islam to save juveniles from execution As 160 under-18s wait on death row in the Islamic Republic, an NGO is raising blood money and public awareness to halt executions of juvenile offenders On the night of 22 March 2009, 17-year-old Hamid was in his dad's mini-bus when their neighbour's son, Ayyoub, 16, got in. Hamid was in the business of selling mobile phones, and Ayyoub had been in dispute with him for days over a cellphone he'd bought from him. As their argument became heated, Hamid grabbed part of a seat cover and strangled Ayyoub. Hamid was sentenced to death by hanging. Murder in Iran carries capital punishment even for minors who are incarcerated until the sentence is carried out when they turn 18. The execution can be halted only if the victim's family pardons the offender, usually in return for blood money. Ayyoub's father, Ali Kouravand, considered a pardon but this was in Izeh, a city in the south-western province of Khuzestan with strong tribal networks. As Hamid and Ayyoub were from different tribes, the father could not decide on his own. His tribe set stringent conditions for a pardon. They demanded that the killer's family pay the victim's a large sum, and then to leave Izeh. It took the NGO Imam Ali's Popular Students Relief Society much negotiation before Ayyoub's family agreed to a pardon. In December 2015 Kouravand took his family to Ahvaz prison to meet his son's killer - knowing that by pardoning Hamid, his family would be boycotted by their tribe, at least for a while. Hamid had been prepared by Farzad Hosseini from Imam Ali Society. "His mind was frozen, he didn't know how to react," says Hosseini. "Before he entered the room where Ayyoub's family were waiting, I told him: 'Kiss their hands and apologise. Keep your head down'." Hamid did as he was asked. He bowed and kissed Kouravand's hand, and in response Kouravand kissed his cheek, pardoned him and gave him his blessing. The family received around $35,000 in blood money, partly gathered by Imam Ali society through public fundraising. Imam Ali's Popular Students Relief Society was founded in 1999 by a group of students at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology led by Sharmin Meymandi-Nejad, originally to combat poverty. Today 15,000 volunteers are involved in projects to help the vulnerable in 12 provinces including Tehran, Fars, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Hormozgan and Qom. A playwright and university teacher, Meymandi-Nejad had been intrigued in 1997 by the case of Gholam Reza Khoshrou, known as khoffash-e shab (the night bat), who was tried and executed for the murder of nine women, some of whom he had raped. Meymandi-Nejad followed the story of Khoshrou in prison with the aim of making a documentary but was struck by the hardships Khoshrou had faced as a child, growing up with a step-mother in a poor and violent neighbourhood before being sent to a juvenile detention centre and at 18 to prison, where, he told his phycologist, he was raped many times by other prisoners. When Khoshrou was executed, Meymandi-Nejad promised himself he would do his best to help kids in violent neighbourhoods to keep them from becoming another Khoshrou. This led by 2006 to Meymandi-Nejad's
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March 30 PAKISTAN: Muslim mob demands death penalty for blasphemy This report from Al-Jazeera is clear as a bell as to what millions of Muslims in Pakistan want: Death to blasphemers of Islam. Note what the Islamic religious leader interviewed made clear. No one who will not support killing those who criticize Islam or its iconic figures can live without fear of being killed, even by their own guards or state security. That they want the man who murdered the state governor who acted on behalf of a Christian woman to at least commute her death sentence for blasphemy, be declared a national hero. The killer of the Governor was hanged by Pakistan on February 29th this year. They want the woman to be re-arrested and executed. Not retried, but executed after arrest. (No due process for those accused of blasphemy of Islam, and certainly not for Christians.) All people currently in jail for blasphemy of Islam charges to be executed. "People from within your ranks will kill you. Your bodyguard will kill you.Your servants will kill you..." And this is how sharia works. Not by legislation, but by terror, intimidation, murder and subversion of the process of law and order. (source: therebel.media) INDIA: Mumbai blast verdict: Muzammil, Nachan plead for leniency A day after a special court convicted 10 out of 13 on trial but only 1 Muzammil Ansari for an active role in the conspiracy for causing 3 blasts between December 2002 and March 2003 at Mumbai Central, Vile Parle and Mulund, he and all the others on Wednesday pleaded for leniency on the quantum of sentence, which the court has to now decide. The court had held four others guilty for abetting the blasts conspiracy and acts of terror, three only for terrorist act by virtue of possessing unauthorised weapons in prohibited areas under Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) and also under Arms Act while holding 3 others guilty only for arms possession as a lesser offence under the Arms Act and completely acquitted 3 others of all charges. Between all 13, the court had framed 166 charges, most against Muzzammil. He had 43 charges framed against him for offences under various for having caused all the three blasts, as a planter. There were 29 charges common to almost all for having conspired in May 2001, prepared and committed terrorist acts "with an intention to threaten the unity, integrity and sovereignity of Indi and strike terror'' among people, by eventually executing the blasts, that killed 12 persons and left over 130 injured, most with hearing losses. Saquib Nachan, a 56 year old resident of Borivli Village, Padgah in Thane district near Mumbai, was the first to start and most articulate. He along with Ateef Mulla and Haseeb Mulla was held guilty of possession of arms under Pota and Arms Act, attracting maximum life sentence. But he deftly pointed out to an attentive special judge P R Deshmukh that the law allows the court a "power to impose even a sentence of a few hours or a day, or even just fine and no imprisonment, as it sets no minimum term''. The reason he said was because the earlier, repealed anti terror act of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (Tada) had a similar but a draconian provision that laid down a minimum 5 year sentence, which was misused by authorities. He started at 12.30 pm and said "I had myself surrendered on April 10, 2003 pursuant to moving the Bombay high court. I also sought a CBI probe. Which foolish accused would seek a CBI probe against himself?'' "I have completed 7 years 9 months in jail in this case before getting bail in 2011. My father, a well regarded man had asked me to surrender after asking me if I had done anything wrong. I said I Hadnt. He had immense faith in the judiciary. He died last month. My sons were called sons of a terrorist. My daughter was one year old when I was arrested, my sons in school. Now I am a grandfather.'' "My father was a prominent leader not only among Muslims but for all the communities in Padgah. He ran institutions for uplifting the people. But the terror tag caused his prominence to suffer too." Nachan also said that his sons' education took a hit. "The emotional loss is irreversible." Nachan said, "I have not been found guilty of any other charge including the charge of causing terror, for which I am grateful to this court. I advised other accused to view this judgment in positive angle.'' Ateef Mulla, a fair 40 year old MBA from Padgah spoke next. He spoke softly of how he has "no criminal antecedants'' and never once violated any of the strict bail conditions in the last ten years after being released in 2005, the first to be given bail in this case. But even the judge's voice softened later when Ateef spoke of how his "youngest, 2 year old son is suffering from a Beta Thallesemia syndrome and underwent a bone marrow transplant in a Pune hospital which has cautioned extreme
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----PAK., MALAY., IRAQ, S. ARAB., TAN.
March 30 PAKISTAN: PHC stays execution of 'terrorist' The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday stayed the execution of a convicted terrorist that was scheduled to take place in Kohat prison today (Wednesday). A military court had awarded death sentence to Fateh Khan after terrorism charges were proved against him. A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Muhammad Younas Thaheem stayed the execution of Fateh Khan till April 5 and issued notice to the ministries of Interior and Defence to submit replies in the petition before the next date of hearing. Zarba Khela, mother of the convicted person and resident of Khyber Agency had filed the judicial review petition and requested the court to stay her son's execution. She had earlier received a notice from the Kohat prison that her son would be executed on Wednesday. In the petition, she stated that her son was picked up by the security forces on November 20, 2014 from Sarband area of Peshawar. She submitted that her son remained missing since then. She said the Peshawar High Court on March 3, 2016 in her habeas corpus petition issued notices to the ministries of Defence and Interior and the intelligence agencies with a directive to submit replies about the whereabouts of her son. The woman claimed in the petition that on March 25, 2016 she received a notice from the office of assistant political agent, Bara, Khyber Agency, through the Kohat prison that her son had been awarded death sentence by a military court in cases related to terrorism. In the notice, she said her family was asked to have a last meeting with Fateh Khan on March 29 as he was being executed in Kohat prison on Wednesday. In the petition, she prayed the court to stay the execution as she did not know why her son is being executed and for which crime. Earlier, the high court had also stayed execution of 2 other alleged terrorist, who were awarded death sentence by military courts. Meanwhile, a citizen from Upper Dir district on Tuesday challenged in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) the award of death sentence to his brother by a military court. Ajab Gul, brother of the convicted terrorist Taj Gul, son of Sultan Zareen, challenged the sentence through his lawyer Arif Jan. It was stated in the judicial review petition that some five years ago the family members had handed over Taj Gul to the security forces. The petition said the family members had met the detainee several times at the internment centre in Swat. Later, they came to know through the media on March 15 about his death penalty. The brother of the convict prayed the court to suspend the execution as no charges were conveyed to the detainee and he was denied the right to defence during the trial. As per the army-run Inter-Services Public Relations statement, the convict was involved in attacking the law-enforcement agencies, which resulted in the deaths of police constables and levies personnel. The ISPR said a cache of arms and explosives were recovered from him. It said the convict had confessed to the offences before the magistrate for which he was awarded the death sentence. He was among the 13 convicts whose death sentences were confirmed by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif. According to the ISPR, the condemned terrorists were tried by the military courts for involvement in the Nanga Parbat attack, Saidu Sharif Airport, destruction of schools, attacks on the armed forces, law-enforcement agencies and civilians. (source: The International News) ** Executions Have Skyrocketed In Pakistan As The Country Targets TerrorThe nation is now among the world's top executioners. Activists from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan carry placards during a demonstration to mark International Day Against the Death Penalty in Islamabad on Oct. 10, 2015. Pakistan has executed at least 332 people since bringing back its death penalty in 2014. Authorities in Pakistan have detained over 5,000 people since Sunday, when a deadly bombing killed at least 70 people, including many children, at a public park in Lahore. The arrests are part of a renewed crackdown on Islamist militant groups, which Pakistan's government has increasingly targeted after a terror attack on a school in Peshawar killed over 140 students and staff in December 2014. While Pakistan's military touted its more than yearlong offensive against the Pakistani Taliban as a success late last year, bombings and attacks in the country have remained constant. The campaign has also been controversial for its erosion of human rights in Pakistan, as the government ended a 6-year moratorium on the death penalty in 2014 and began carrying out hundreds of executions. The Pakistani government's renewal of the death penalty initially only brought back executions for terror-related charges. However, in March of last year, the government expanded
