[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 15


IRAN----executions

Ghezelhesar Prison: 8 prisoners hanged, 4 others committed suicide


During last week, 8 prisoners were executed by hanging in Ghezalhesar prison, 
in Karaj, and 4 other death row inmates committed suicide.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on 
Wednesday 10th September 8 prisoners with charges of possessing and carrying 
drugs were executed by hanging in Karaj, Ghezalhesar prison.

5 of these prisoners were from ward 1, Unit 2 and 3 others from other wards of 
the same Unit.

Also, during last week 4 prisoners who were sentenced to death, in Ghezalhesar 
prison, committed suicide. 2 of them lost their lives and 2 others were 
admitted in medical centers outside the prison.

Executions in drug related crimes has increased while the experts believe that 
drug problem in Iran cannot be solved by using death penalty.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)






AFGHANISTAN:

Court Confirms 5 Death Sentences in Afghan Rape Case


An Afghan appeals court confirmed death sentences on Monday against 5 of the 7 
defendants in a notorious robbery and rape case, despite their claims that 
their confessions were extracted through torture.

For the other 2 defendants, the court found insufficient evidence to justify 
the death penalty, so it reduced their sentences to 20 years' imprisonment.

The 7 men were accused of dressing in police uniforms and stopping a caravan of 
cars returning from a wedding in the Paghman district, less than half an hour's 
drive from Kabul; robbing the occupants and raping 4 of the women by the 
roadside.

The Kabul police department was under enormous public pressure to solve the 
case, which prompted national outrage and revulsion. But women's rights 
activists have noted that the outrage was less an expression of concern about 
the women's welfare than about the perceived dishonor to the victims' husbands.

That pervasive sense of male privilege - to the degree that Afghan women and 
girls are still commonly seen as marital property, and are frequently subject 
to so-called honor killings even when they are the victims of sexual attacks - 
has remained despite efforts to reform Afghanistan's legal code to enshrine 
more protections for women.

Qaisullah was one of the defendants sentenced to death in a rape case in 
Kabul.Credit Shah Marai/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images Almost from the 
beginning, questions have been raised about whether the suspects were being 
railroaded by the government. President Hamid Karzai promised to approve the 
death penalty against the men even before their hurried, 2-hour-long trial on 
Sept. 7.

The entire case against them rested on their confessions and on their 
identification by victims at a police lineup. But all seven men said that they 
were severely beaten by police officers until they confessed to the rapes, and 
that the victims were told by the police whom to identify in a lineup that 
included no one other than them.

"When the lady who picked me out first came in, she put her hand on the chief 
of the criminal investigation division, and then on the cook," Qaisullah, 1 of 
the 5 condemned men, said at the appeals court hearing Monday, referring to 2 
police employees who would have been in plain clothes. "Then they showed me to 
her, and she picked me." Like many Afghans and several of the other defendants, 
Mr. Qaisullah uses only 1 name.

Human Rights Watch said the police identification procedure was not a lineup 
but a "showup," in which the police indicated to the victims who the suspects 
were.

The 5 men whose death sentences were confirmed on Monday did not deny being 
part of the gang that carried out a robbery at the scene, but they said they 
had nothing to do with the rapes.

"After that beating, I would have confessed to adultery with my mother," said 
Azizullah, 1 of the 5 men, describing his interrogation by police at the 
hearing. Another, Mohammad Nazar, said he had only acted as a lookout and that 
the police beat him for 5 days until he confessed. "I never even saw the women 
taken from the cars," he said through sobs at the hearing.

Mr. Azizullah's wife and sister were in the audience at the hearing on Monday, 
wearing blue burqas. "Why are the victims not present here?" the sister, 
Habiba, asked the court. "Why are none of their relatives here? You should have 
strong proof when you are handing down death sentences."

The 2 men whose death sentences were reduced to prison terms testified that 
they were in the process of committing a separate burglary when the police 
arrested them, and then were beaten until they confessed to involvement in the 
rapes. One of them, Saifullah, said the police had forcibly put a uniform on 
him before photographing him to support their case against him. The other 5 
defendants confirmed to the appellate judge, Atiqullah Aqiq, that they did not 
know the 2 burglars.

There was little sympathy in the crowded courtroom for any of the accused. 
Asadullah Wahdat, head of the legal aid office that provided 3 lawyers to 
defend the men, said that all 3 had received death threats and 1 had withdrawn 
from the case as a result. Mr. Wahdat said the lawyers were not given the 
legally required 7 days to prepare their defense.

The appeal hearing, like the trial, was televised, a highly unusual practice in 
Afghanistan. The appeals court heard testimony from two policemen and from 2 
women who said they had recognized some of the accused when their trial was 
televised, and accused them of having previously robbed their homes at gunpoint 
in four other episodes.

"The Paghman case shows how abusive and dysfunctional the Afghan legal system 
remains, not only for suspects but for women who are survivors of sexual 
violence," said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, in a 
statement condemning the trial.

Though the men had confessed to raping the women, they were not originally 
charged with rape, but with adultery, a capital offense under Shariah religious 
law. The appeals court added rape charges against the men on Monday after an 
outcry from women's rights activists.

Afghan courts frequently charge both the rapist and the victim with adultery 
and prosecute both, although that has not happened in the Paghman case.

"The public reaction was very much because of the men's honor," said Wazhma 
Frogh, executive director of the Research Institute for Women, Peace and 
Security. "The arrests were to save the honor of the men, not the women. The 
men of the country felt dishonored."

(source: New York Times)






SINGAPORE:

Woman accused of causing 7-year-old boy's death charged with murder

A 42-year-old woman was charged on Monday (Sep 15) with murder at the State 
Courts, over the death of a 7-year-old boy. The woman is accused of causing the 
death of the boy on Saturday in a flat in Tampines around 12.53pm.

The boy, whose body was found at the foot of a block of flats in Tampines on 
Saturday, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. Police arrested the 
woman on Sunday.

She has been remanded for psychiatric assessment, and her case will be next 
heard on Oct 7.

If convicted of murder, she faces the death penalty. A gag order has been 
imposed on the victim's identity.

(source: Channel News Asia)






CHINA:

3 sentenced to death for Kunming Train Station attack


The Intermediate Court of Kunming has found 4 defendants guilty of carrying out 
a deadly knife attack that claimed the lives of 31 civilians and injured 141 in 
March of this year. 3 of the defendants, all men, received the death penalty, 
while the lone female suspect was sentenced to life in prison.

The 1-day trail, held on September 12, lasted only a few hours. Video shows the 
3 men, Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad seated in court with 
shaved heads, wearing matching blue prison uniforms. They were all found guilty 
of "premeditated murder and leading and organizing a terrorist group". The 4th 
defendant, Patigul Tohti, will spend the rest of her life behind bars after 
being found guilty of "intentional homicide and joining a terrorist group".

None of the men on trial participated directly in the train station attack, 
according to a BBC report. Instead, they coordinated the assault from afar 3 
making plans beforehand and then directing 5 of their associates. Court 
documents made public following the trial say the 3 men were all captured by 
police 2 days before the attacks occurred.

This narrative directly contradicts previous official accounts claiming the 
suspects were apprehended March 4 following a 36-hour manhunt in Kunming and 
beyond. It remains unclear when or where the men were actually captured, as no 
details of their arrests have ever been made public. Conversely, the story 
surrounding female assailant Tohti has remained consistent since March.

She was arrested following a bloody rampage wherein she and 4 others 
indiscriminately stabbed dozens of people who were queueing to buy tickets at 
the Kunming Train Station. Tohti was eventually subdued by police and arrested, 
while her 4 co-conspirators were all reportedly shot dead in a span of 15 
seconds by a SWAT team sniper.

The trial in Kunming was uncharacteristically open to the public, and 300 
people, including victims and their families, attended the proceedings. 
Security at the courthouse was increased noticeably, with armed guards posted 
both inside and outside the courtroom.

China has significantly ramped up law enforcement and 'anti-terror' efforts 
following the bloodshed in Kunming. In many cities around the country, police 
officers are now permitted to carry sidearms for the 1st time in decades. 
Trials involving suspected militants have also increased, and hundreds of 
people have been jailed for terrorism-related crimes by Xinjiang police as 
violence escalated over the summer.

(source: gokunming.com)






SOUTH AFRICA:

Widow wants death sentence for farm murderers


A woman whose husband was killed in a farm attack 2 1/2 years ago called for 
the reinstatement of the death penalty at public hearings on Monday.

Bernadette Hall, who was speaking at the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) 
public hearings on farm attacks, was asked what kind of sentence she thought 
would be appropriate for those found guilty of farm killings.

She hesitated for a few moments before replying: "It's impossible... I 
personally feel the death sentence, or a really lengthy prison sentence."

Hall said the problem with long imprisonment was that taxpayers had to pay for 
criminals to be fed and clothed.

"Our tax money is paying for that. I still end up looking after the man that 
killed my husband."

The SAHRC hearings are chaired by commissioner Danny Titus and are being held 
in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

AfriForum previously complained to the SAHRC that the police were not doing 
enough to protect farming communities.

According to AfriForum, 91 attacks on farms and 42 murders on farms have been 
reported in South Africa since January.

Hall called for police to be better trained in dealing with victims of farm 
attacks, and in collecting evidence.

Arrest made

Almost a year after her husband's murder the police arrested someone in 
connection with the crime. The matter was eventually thrown out of court due to 
a technicality, Hall said.

She said the police questioning and court process was traumatic.

"Every day in court I felt like a criminal."

Hall still lives on her farm, even though there having been 5 attacks on farms 
and 3 murders in her immediate farming community in the past 2 1/2 years.

She has stopped farming maize, because the attackers who killed her husband hid 
in their mealie field to watch the family before the attack.

She said the police needed to beef up security in rural areas as the country 
was rapidly losing productive farmers.

Hall said her farming community had organised a patrol to bolster security in 
their area, but this had been problematic.

"When a farmer leaves his wife and children at home they are sitting targets."

The police are expected to make submissions at the hearings later this month.

(source: news24.com)






GLOBAL:

98 countries have abolished death penalty


Written history has several mentions of capital punishment. The legal principle 
lex talionis - an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life - was 
mentioned in the 18th century BCE code of Babylonian king Hammurabi. Many 
ancient societies had similar codes to justify judicial executions. The 7th 
century BCE's Draconian Code of Athens, the 5th century BCE Roman Law and 
Kautilya's Arthasastra, all had provisions of death sentence. These executions 
were done by several methods like crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, 
stoning, burning alive, impalement, hanging and so on.

How many countries carry out judicial executions?

According to Amnesty International's 2014 report on death penalties, in 2013, 
at least 778 executions were reported in 22 countries, 96 more than in 2012. 
With at least 369 executions in the year, Iran leads the list. It is followed 
by Iraq (169+), Saudi Arabia (79+), USA (39) and Somalia, where at least 34 
judicial executions took place. Other countries that reported more than 10 
executions were Sudan and Yemen. The global executions figure does not include 
China which is believed to have been executed thousands of convicts. China 
classifies death penalty as a state secret. The report also shows that at least 
1,925 people were sentenced to death in 57 countries in 2013. As of 2013, there 
are 23,392 death row inmates globally. The methods of execution range from 
beheading, hanging, lethal injection to shooting.

How many countries have abolished the death sentence?

Amnesty International reports that as of the end of 2013, more than two-thirds 
of all countries have abolished death penalty in law or in practice. There are 
98 countries which have abolished it for all crimes. Most of these are in 
Western Europe and the Americas. Seven countries, including Brazil, Chile and 
Kazakhstan have abolished it for ordinary crimes. In these countries, death 
penalty can only be given for exceptional crimes such as crime committed under 
military law or under exceptional circumstances. Another 35 countries are 
categorized as abolitionist in practice. These retain the death penalty for 
ordinary crimes, but there have been no executions in the past 10 years. The 
death sentence is retained by the legal system of 58 countries. More than half 
of the world's population lives in these countries.

What do opponents of capital punishment say?

They say that it is possible for innocent people to get executed because of 
unfair and discriminatory application of the death penalty. Studies across the 
world have shown that in most cases the person sentenced to death is from an 
economically and socially backward section of society, indicating the inability 
to hire good lawyers to contest their cases. Many studies have suggested that 
there is no evidence to show that capital punishment has any effect on murder 
rates. It is also argued that the sentence is a denial of human rights and 
sends a wrong message - that killing is acceptable under certain circumstances.

(source: The Times of India)