[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 23



IRAN:

Iran Hangs 16 Convicted CriminalsIran hanged 12 men convicted for various
offences including rape and kidnapping.


Iran hanged 12 men convicted for various offences including rape and
kidnapping on Sunday, a few days after executing 4 men for similar crimes,
the semi-official Fars news agency quoted a judiciary official.

Tehran public prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi said dozens of bandits, robbers
and rapists had been arrested in recent weeks.

"12 of these bandits were hanged on Sunday morning inside Tehran's Evin
prison," he said.

"4 other convicts were also executed last week."

Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, according to
Amnesty International. Since the beginning of 2007, at least 124 people
have been put to death.

State television aired footage of the handcuffed convicts just before
being hanged.

It showed the execution chamber with at least 3 blue ropes that would be
used.

"Those who carry out such crimes will eventually face the same fate as I
do," said Ebrahim Eskandari, a convicted murderer, who was hanged on
Sunday.

Police have arrested dozens of drug addicts, smugglers, rapists and
murderers during an annual summer crackdown on "immoral behaviour". A
number of women have also been arrested for flouting Islamic dress code,
imposed since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Amnesty says while it recognised Iran's right to bring to justice those
suspected of serious crimes, the death penalty was a violation of the
right to life and the "ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment".

(source: Javno)






SOUTH AFRICA:

Death penalty: '85% of SA want it back'


About 85 % of the population are probably now in favour of reviving the
death penalty because of the rise in the number of murders since it was
repealed.

Have your say

This was the message Judge Dennis Davis had for members of the German,
Italian, French and Netherlands Chambers of commerce and industry at the
weekend.

But he said calls for its restoration were misplaced - there should,
instead, be calls for greater efficiency by police and prosecutors so that
their evidence against those accused of murder will stand up in court.

At present, Davis said, their work is often so sloppy that those accused
of income tax fraud stand a greater chance of being found guilty and
sentenced than murder suspects.

(source: IOL)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Sri Lanka minister hopeful over plea for maid's life in Saudi


A Sri Lankan minister in Saudi Arabia to plead for the life of a teenage
housemaid condemned to death for murdering a four-month-old baby said on
Monday he was hopeful of a positive outcome.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Bhaila arrived in the kingdom on Friday
with the parents of Rizana Nafeek. The 19-year-old was convicted of
strangling her employer's baby in 2005.

The minister told AFP he had held a meeting with the leaders of the
murdered baby's tribe to plead for clemency.

"This meeting was very positive. They were very receptive to our plea,"
the minister told AFP by telephone.

Nafeek's parents also met their daughter for the 1st time in 2 years at
the prison where she is being held.

"The parents were very broken down after the meeting. They are under a
tremendous amount of emotional strain," Bhaila said.

The parents, he added, had travelled to the holy city of Mecca to perform
the umra -- a minor version of the Hajj pilgrimage which all able Muslims
must perform at least once in their life.

"This will hopefully provide some spiritual comfort for them," the
minister said.

More than 1/3 of the 550,000 Sri Lankans living in the oil-rich kingdom
work as domestic help and as drivers.

The minister said he was due to hold a meeting with Nafeek's lawyers to
help prepare her appeal, before his delegation heads back to Sri Lanka on
July 27.

Executions are usually carried out in public in Saudi Arabia, which
applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law. Rape, murder, armed
robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty.

In February, New York-based Human Rights Watch asked Saudi Arabia to stay
executions after it beheaded four Sri Lankans and ordered the public
display of their bodies.

The Sri Lankan government said it had made unsuccessful clemency appeals
on behalf of the 4 men.

So far this year there have been 108 executions in Saudi Arabia.

(source: Agence France Presse)




LIBYA:

Libya Asks EU For Full Ties In Medics Talks


Libya has asked for normalized relations with the European Union in talks
over releasing 6 foreign medics jailed for infecting hundreds of children
with HIV, an official source in Libya said on Monday.

France's first lady and a top European Commission official flew to Libya
on Sunday to try to secure the release to Bulgaria of the 5 Bulgarian
nurses and a Palestinian doctor held in Libya for eight years on charges
of infecting over 400 children with HIV.

Libya requested a complete normalization of the North African country's
ties with EU states in the talks, the official said, without giving
further details.

But a French diplomat familiar with the discussions said the main obstacle
was still money, not diplomatic recognition, with the Libyans holding out
for more foreign cash and the EU refusing to pay compensation that might
suggest an admission the medics are guilty.

Other officials in Tripoli said the Libyans were asking the EU to
contribute more money to modernize a health centre in Benghazi where the
infected children can be treated and help pay for their treatment abroad
if necessary.

Bulgaria and its allies in the 27-member bloc say the nurses are innocent
but they have provided long-term medical assistance to the victims and aid
for the Benghazi hospital.

(source: Reuters)