[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 13



IRAQ:

Saddam-era judge admits issuing death penalty for 148 Shiite villagers


The former judge of the special court of Saddam Hussein regime said on
Monday that he had personally sentenced 148 Shiite villagers of Dujail to
death, but insisted that the execution came after fair trials.

"They attacked the president of the republic and they admitted their
role," Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Saddam's Revolutionary Court
for seven years since 1983, told the court trying Saddam.

Bandar insisted that the executions of the 148 were conducted according to
law and under the circumstances of war with Iran after they admitted their
complicity with Iran in planning and implementing an assassination attack
against Saddam.

"During 2 weeks of trial, they admitted acting under supervision of Iran
so which could lead Iraq to be occupied by Iran," Bander told the court.

"All the accused were directly involved in the assassination attempt," he
said. "They did not just targeted a simple soldier,they aimed at killing
head of the state and the general commander of the whole Iraqi army during
the war."

Bandar was accusing Dujail's 148 executed villagers of being part of a
plot by the Iranian-backed Dawa party to kill Saddam during Iraq's war
with Iran.

After the U.S.-led occupation, the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled and
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leader of the al-Dawa Party, a Shiite Islamic party,
is the outgoing Prime Minister and the Shiite bloc nominee for the
full-term government.

Bandar also accused the investigation judge of fabricating charges against
him after the refused to testify against Saddam and his half brother
Barzan Ibrahim.

"The investigating judges asked me to testify against Saddam Hussein and
Barzan Ibrahim, but I refused, so they fabricated charges against me,"
Bandar added.

Earlier on Monday's session, chief judge Raouf Rashid Abdul Rahman
summoned the first defendant, Mohammed Azawi Ali, a former Baath official
in the Dujail region, to the court room to testify during Monday's
session.

Ali also denied any involvement in the Dujail killings."I didn't witness
against anyone, not even against a mosquito, "the 63-year-old man said in
the trial.

"Yes, it is true we are Baath members, but we don't dare to arrest
anybody. It was the job of security forces and Mukhabarat (Saddam
intelligence) who went to arrest suspected residents," Azawi said.

Saddam and his seven aides are charged with crimes against humanity in
connection with the killing of 148 Shiite men in the northern Shiite
village of Dujail after an assassination attempt on Saddam's life in 1982.

If convicted, they will face the death penalty. Defendants are to take the
stand in their own defense one by one and during Sunday's session, three
minor former Baath party officials had already testified, all denying role
in the Dujail case.

Saddam, who did not appear in court on Sunday, is expected to take his
turn of testimony later this week.

(source: Xinhua News)






SOUTH KOREA:

Catholic church petition against death penalty ----The episcopal Committee
for the Abolition of Capital Punishment has collected more than 110,000
signatures to halt executions in Korea. "It's the first step towards a
world in which all can have a better life."


The Committee for the Abolition of Capital Punishment of the Catholic
Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK) has announced that it will present the
government with a petition calling for the abolition of capital punishment
in the country. >{? The commissions campaign against the death penalty was
launched on "Human Rights Sunday:, 4 December 2005; over 110,000
signatures have been collected so far, including those of the elected
cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jinsuk, Archbishop of Seoul, all Korean bishops,
and many Korean Catholics.

In the press release announcing the submission of the petition - entitled
"Let's inspire respect for life in this land" - the commission said that
"It is an individual who commits a crime, but all members of society are
responsible for the criminal motives". The abolition of capital punishment
is the first step towards a world for living together. Capital punishment
should be replaced by life sentence."

In his homily during Mass for the abolition, Mgr Bonifacio Choi Ki-san,
Suwon bishop, said: "No one has the right to deprive people of life,
because human life belongs only to God." He also asked the faithful to
"pray for the abolition of the death penalty", so that Korea can become "a
developed country concerning human rights where God-given life can be
considered precious."

The Committee said it will continue to arrange meetings to increase public
awareness and will seek to involve national MPs "as much as possible" in
the struggle against the death penalty.

(source: Asia News)