[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 13


LIBYA:

Libya threatens death for unauthorised Thuraya use


The regime of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi threatened on Friday to execute 
anyone found to be using a Thuraya satellite telephone without official 
authorisation, saying they will be deemed to be communicating with the enemy.

"Any citizen in possession of a Thuraya must hold an authorisation to use it in 
accordance with the laws and regulations," the official JANA news agency said.

"Otherwise, he will be punished according to the law that criminalises 
communicating with the enemy in time of war, and stipulates penalties up to the 
death penalty," the agency added.

In explaining the measure, it said "spies among the traitors, (who are) agents 
of the Atlantic alliance (NATO), provided information on sites that were bombed 
by the Crusaders, leading to a large number of victims among innocent 
civilians."

Several regions of Libyan territory controlled by Moamer Kadhafi's regime have 
been deprived of mobile phone coverage, as in Zliten, 120 kilometres (75 miles) 
east of Tripoli.

On Tuesday, Kadhafi's regime accused NATO of killing 85 people, including women 
and children, in air raids on a village near Zliten, but the alliance has 
reported no evidence of civilian deaths.

(source: Agence France-Presse)






CHINA:

Death sentence upheld for China hit-and-run truck driver


A court in northwest China on Friday upheld the death penalty for a truck 
driver who was convicted of killing 4 teenage students in a hit-and-run 
accident in 2009.

The Shaanxi Provincial Higher People's Court rejected Wang Shuangwa's appeal 
against the verdict of the 1st trial handed down by the Intermediate People's 
Court of Xi'an, the provincial capital, in November last year.

Wang's overloaded truck hit 5 junior high school students on their way to 
school in Chang'an District in the suburbs of Xi'an early in the morning on 
February 10, 2009, killing 4 and seriously injuring one, according to the 
courts.

Wang had earlier stated that he did not notice the collision, but court judges 
rejected his defense and said that instead of checking on the victims, he fled 
the scene and destroyed all evidence by changing the tires and cleaning up the 
blood off the vehicle.

Shortly after the hit-and-run, Wang fled to Xinjiang in the far west, but he 
surrendered himself 5 days later in wake of massive police manhunt.

(source: Xinhua)






EGYPT:

Most Egyptians want death penalty for Mubarak


Most Egyptians want the death penalty for their former president, Hosni 
Mubarak, reports Russian news agency, Itar-Tass, citing a survey.

According to the survey, conducted online by the international polling 
organization YouGov, based in the UK, 67 % of the republic's residents favour 
the death penalty for Mubarak, and only 22 percent consider such a measure too 
harsh. The survey of 1,012 Egyptians was conducted on August 5-7.

The most negative attitude toward the former president is that of young people 
aged 18 to 24. In this age group the death penalty is the choice of 77 % of 
respondents, 48 % of respondents named Mubarak a "dictator" and 46 % stated he 
was "corrupt", 40 % believe that the former leader of the country was "an ally 
of the West", 61 % believe that he pretended to be sick win people's sympathy.

Almost half of the respondents said the army should continue to play an 
important role in the politics of the country even after the adoption of a new 
constitution.

Mubarak after his nearly 30-year reign resigned as president on Feb 11, 2011 as 
a result of powerful popular unrest. On Aug 3 he was put on trial in Cairo.

The ex-president, delivered to the courtroom on a stretcher then, was charged 
with involvement in premeditated murder and massacres of protesters during the 
days of popular uprising in late January - early February, as well as with 
contract killings in 2000 to 2010.

As the prosecution claims, Mubarak personally gave the order "to the use live 
ammunition against peaceful demonstrators in several provinces of the country 
in an attempt to preserve his regime." In addition, he and his sons are accused 
of corruption, abuse of office and embezzlement of state funds.

(source: Bernama)



SUDAN:

Sudan: Censorship, Prosecutions And Extended Detention Signal Steady Decline in 
Media Freedom


Reporters Without Borders condemns the steady deterioration in media freedom in 
Sudan where all the copies of an Arabic-language daily were seized 5 days ago 
in Khartoum, a group of journalists have been harassed for weeks because of 
their coverage of a serious human rights violation and others remain in 
detention.

Already ranked last year among the world's 10 worst countries as regards 
respect for journalists (172nd out of 178 countries in the Reporters Without 
Borders press freedom index), Sudan keeps sinking lower and lower. The first 
half of 2011 has been marked by censorship, arrests, prosecutions, arbitrary 
detention and closures of newspapers.

"Is President Omar Al-Bashir trying to base his behaviour towards the media on 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's in Iran?" Reporters Without Borders asked. "The street 
protests in February in the wake of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and 
Sudan's partition, consummated when South Sudan became independent on 9 July, 
seem to have convinced the authorities in Khartoum to clamp down much harder on 
freedom of expression.

"News is controlled, the media are under surveillance and journalists are 
harassed by the security forces. The international community must condemn this 
disturbing trend with much more force and must press for a commitment from the 
government to respect media freedom."

Increase in intimidation and censorship by the security forces

Without offering any explanation, the National Intelligence and Security 
Services (NISS) confiscated all the copies of the next two issues of the 
Arabic-language daily Al-Ahdath from the printers on 7 August. The newspaper 
had been publishing a series of articles entitled "The days of Carlos in 
Khartoum" about a Venezuelan terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal" who was 
captured in Sudan in 1994.

The newspapers Ajras Al-Hurriya and Al-Midan suffered the same kind of prior 
censorship last April.

Khalid Ibrahim Ewaiss, a writer and political activist who works as a 
journalist for Al-Arabiya, was detained on 8 July after participating in a 
political protest. He was questioned and handed over to the police, who warned 
him that the security forces had filed complaints against him. He was released 
on bail and told he could not leave the country but has not so far been 
formally charged.

As previously reported, 7 journalists and media contributors are due to be 
tried or are still the subject of judicial investigations for reporting human 
rights activist Safia Ishag's torture and rape by security personnel. They are 
Faisal Mohamed Salih, Babikir Omer Al-Garrai, Abdalla Al-Shaik, Mohamed Latif, 
Faiz Al-Selaik, Mohamed Osman and Dr. Nahid Al-Hassan.

2 women journalists, Amal Habani and Fatima Ghazali, were already given 1-month 
jail sentences for the same reason. Both were released after 48 hours after 
bail was paid. This campaign of harassment and prosecutions is aimed at 
deterring journalists from reporting human rights violations by the security 
forces.

Licences withdrawn from newspapers with South Sudan links

The National Press and Publication Council announced on 8 July, the eve of 
South Sudan's independence, that it was withdrawing the licences of 6 
newspapers owned partially by South Sudan citizens (even if they had only a 
minority share). These newspapers are now closed for good. Article 28 of 
Sudan's 2009 press law says only Sudanese citizens may own newspapers. People 
of southern origin living in the north are effectively stripped of their 
citizenship.

Ajras Al-Hurriya, an Arabic-language daily affiliated to the SPLM and five 
English-language dailies - Khartoum Monitor, Juba Post, Sudan Tribune, Advocate 
and Democrat - are affected by the measure. Most of them had links with South 
Sudan or were critical of the government in Khartoum. Despite the facade of 
legality, the decision is an act of direct censorship aimed at banning media 
that criticized the authorities.

Journalists facing possibly death penalty

Arrested in May 2010 and tortured, Abuzar Ali Al-Amin, the deputy editor of the 
now defunct opposition daily Rai Al-Shaab, was given a five-year jail sentence 
in July 2010 that was later reduced to 1 year. He should have been released on 
3 July but the security forces demanded a new judicial investigation of 
articles he published in the paper, which was affiliated to the opposition 
Popular Congress Party and supported (South Sudan's) Sudan People's Liberation 
Movement (SPLM).

But the newspaper no longer has any legal existence as it was suspended on 16 
May 2010 and its licence was rescinded on 8 July 2011, so the new proceedings 
against Al-Amin are baseless, arbitrary and illegal, and are designed solely to 
keep him in detention. He is facing the possibility of life imprisonment or 
even the death penalty under article 50 of the criminal code for allegedly 
trying to undermine the constitutional system. Reporters Without Borders is 
outraged by his continuing detention and calls for his immediate release.

A short-wave radio station based in the Netherlands that is the only station 
specializing in covering the situation in Darfur, Radio Dabanga has never been 
legally recognized by the Sudanese authorities. Abdelrahman Adam, a journalist 
who works for the station in Khartoum, and six other local employees have been 
held since 30 October 2010 as a result of a complaint filed by a NISS official.

Gafar Alsabki Ibrahim, a journalist with the independent Arabic-language daily 
Al-Sahafa, was arrested on 3 November 2010 for allegedly also working with 
Radio Dabanga. All of the station's employees are accused of divulging state 
secrets, undermining the constitutional system, calling for resistance and 
inciting sedition under articles 24, 25, 26, 53 and 50 of the 1991 criminal 
code and articles 18, 42 and 44 of the 2001 communications law. The article 50 
violation carries the death penalty.

(source: All Africa News)






INDIA:

Vaiko urges Jaya: Try to cancel death sentences in Rajiv case


Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko on Saturday requested Tamil 
Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to take efforts for cancelling the death 
sentence awarded to 3 convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

President Prathibha Patil had rejected the clemency petitions of Murugan, 
Santhan and Perarivalan, recently.

They were 3 of the 4 persons awarded death penalty with the sentence of another 
convict Nalini, being commuted to life.

Vaiko, who recently took up the case of Perarivalan with Prime Minister 
Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram, said there were provisions 
allowing the Centre to still cancel the death sentence of the three "and there 
are precedences."

"Even after the President rejected the clemency petitions, the Centre can still 
cancel the death sentence. It has the right to do that and there are 
precedences.

"As a humane gesture, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (Jayalalithaa) should take all 
steps to cancel the death sentence for these 3 young Tamils," he said.

Vaiko said in the last 17 years, none had been hanged in Tamil Nadu and that 
the last person to be executed in the country was in 2004.

Meanwhile, VCK founder and Lok Sabha MP, Thol.Thirumalavan said that he would 
take up the issue in Parliament next week.

(source: Press Trust of India)

**********************************

Gallows being spruced up for executions


Preparations are quietly on to oil the creaky rusting gallows and identify a 
hangman. With the President rejecting the mercy pleas of the Rajiv Gandhi 
assassins, Murugan, Chinna Santhan and Perarivalan, the Tamil Nadu police is 
gearing up for the execution of the three men, presently lodged in the Vellore 
prison.

The last hanging in the state took place nearly 17 years ago, on April 27, 
1995, when `auto` Shankar, the notorious serial killer, was executed in the 
Salem Central Prison. The last hanging in the country took place in 2004 with 
the hanging of Dhananjoy Chatterjee on August 14 at the Alipore Central prison 
in Kolkata. Dhananjoy was hanged after he was convicted for rape and murder of 
a 14-year-old on March 5,1990 at Bhowanipur in West Bengal.

ADGP prisons, S K Dogra told TOI that no special ground work was needed for 
carrying out the executions of the three men, whose death sentence was 
confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1999. Dogra said he was yet to receive the 
official communication from the Union home ministry.

"I had an informal chat with the deputy inspector general (prisons) who 
oversees the preparations for such executions. I believe not much groundwork is 
needed," he said, indicating that things were more or less ready.

According to a Vellore prison official, seven working days are required to 
carry out the execution after the receipt of the order. "After we receive the 
order, the prison superintendent will fix the date for execution of the 
convicts and convey it to the government," the official said.

A senior grade warden of the prison will carry out the execution and the 
department does not hire personnel especially for the post of hangman. "We will 
ascertain the health condition of the convicts well before the date of 
execution and then inform the relatives of the convicts. The prison officials 
will communicate to the relatives if the convicts request to meet them," said 
the prison official.

Interestingly, the Vellore prison also has three convicts sentenced to death in 
the Dharmapuri bus burning case. The Supreme Court on January 2011 stayed the 
execution of the death penalty against C Muniappan, Nedu Nedunchezhian and 
Madhu Ravindran accused of setting fire to a bus killing three Tamil Nadu 
Agricultural University girl students travelling in it in the year 2000. Though 
the apex court upheld the death sentence, it stayed the execution after a writ 
petition filed by the 3 pleaded for stay of the sentence on the ground that a 
petition seeking review of the August 30, 2010 judgment was still pending 
disposal. The students were burnt alive in Dharmapuri after AIADMK sympathizers 
went on the rampage after a special court convicted party chief Jayalalithaa in 
the Kodaikanal Pleasant Stay hotel case.

(source: The Timse of India)






PAKISTAN:

Official: Military court convicts 7 in Pakistan army headquarters raid; 1 gets 
death penalty


A Pakistani official says a military court has found 7 men guilty of 
involvement in an attack on army headquarters and sentenced 1 of them, a 
retired soldier, to death.

The October 2009 siege in Rawalpindi lasted 22 hours, left 9 militants and 14 
others dead, and deeply embarrassed Pakistan’s security establishment.

One former soldier — identified only as “Aqeel” alias “Dr. Usman” — was handed 
the death penalty. He is believed to have led the attack.

A military official said Saturday 4 other defendants — another ex-soldier and 3 
civilians — received life imprisonment. 2 civilians were handed 7-year prison 
terms.

The official requested anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. He didn’t 
say when the verdicts were rendered.

(source: Associated Press)