[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 20


PAKISTAN:

Pakistani gets death sentence for murder


The Southern Bangkok Criminal Court yesterday sentenced a Pakistani man to
death and another to life in prison after they were found guilty of the
murder of an Indian businessman more than 3 years ago.

A third defendant was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Mohammed Yusuf, 49, received the death sentence on charges of murder and
attempted murder.

A second defendant, Moham-med Salim, 41, was also sentenced to death but
his punishment was commuted to life imprisonment after he pleaded guilty
and agreed to cooperate with the court.

Sher Khan, 40, the 3rd defendant, was acquitted because of lack of
evidence.

The killing of Michael de Souza, an Indian jeweller, in September 2000 was
linked to a gang war with roots in the Bombay underworld.

The defendants were accused of storming into de Souza's Bangkok apartment
and shooting him in an attack aimed at his guest, notorious Bombay
gangster Chota Rajan. De Souza's wife, Sangeeta Sharma, was also injured
in the shooting.

Rajan was seriously injured in the shooting, and later escaped from a
Bangkok hospital. He is wanted by Thai police for illegal entry into the
country and the use of a false passport.

He is also wanted in India for a range of crimes including extortion and
murder.

Rajan's associates blamed the attack on a rival Indian gangster, Dawood
Ibrahim, who directs his Bombay gang from Karachi, Pakistan, and Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, according to AP.

Rajan once was the right-hand man of Ibrahim, but later broke away and set
up his gang.

(source: The Nation)






BANGLADESH:

Man cashes in on in-law's death sentence


Abdus Sattar's death sentence in the Yasmin rape and murder case has put
in tatters the life of his 18-year-old daughter Salma Akhter who is facing
a divorce threat from her in-laws.

Constable Abdus Sattar, Sub-Inspector (SI) Mominul Islam and police-van
driver Amrita Lal Day await execution at Rangpur Central Jail next month.

Yasmin, 14, was raped and murdered in Dinajpur in 1995, an incident that
sparked violent mass protest in the district and elsewhere.

Taking advantage of the precarious condition of Sattar's family, Salma's
husband is now demanding Tk 1 lakh in dowry and threatening her with
divorce for non-compliance.

"What is my fault?" Salma sobbed to newspersons during their visit to her
parents' home in Chandkhana Hazipara village in Domar upazila. She is now
with her mother there.

"They are now trying to cash in on our distressed mental and social
condition," she said.

Salma was married to Abdur Rouf, son of Mofizuddin of Dhakkhin Balapara
village in Dimla upazila in June last year. Her grandfather and relatives
arranged the marriage.

She said her in-laws knew about her father's death sentence during the
marriage.

Her octogenarian grandfather Kofibur Rahman and uncle Abdul Hamid said
some of Abdur Rouf's relatives led by Tabibur Rahman, former chairman of
Balapara Union Parishad, visited them several times in recent days for
negotiation. They are demanding Tk 1 lakh in dowry or to get divorced.

"We are now penniless after running Sattar's case for long by selling
land, cattle and trees", Kofibur said.

(source: The Daily Star)






LIBYA/BULGARIA:

Medics' Verdicts "Due to Mistranslation"


Libyan Court has neglected scientific facts on the account of
mistranslated evidence when ruling the death sentences of HIV-infection
charged medics, according to the Nature magazine.

The science magazine cites Prof Luc Montagnier, who claimed that the
verdicts are based on evidence mistranslating "recombinant" from English
into Arabic.

Alongside his colleague Prof Vittorio Colizzi, the "AIDS discoveror" has
prepared a report as part of the evidence in the AIDS trial. Prof
Montagnier has used the term "recombinant" to describe natural matching of
natural viruses, but Arabic translation said they were "genetically
modified", thus suggesting human intervention.

Earlier in July the Benghazi HIV case was presented at the largest ever
International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok. The forum's 17,000
delegates were introduced in detail into the trial, which has so far
resulted in death sentences for 5 Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian
doctor.

The verdicts are being appealed by boosted defense team.

(source: Novinite)