[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 5




PAKISTAN----executions

2 more murder convicts hanged in Punjab


Authorities on Tuesday sent 2 more death row prisoners to gallows in Sialkot 
and Gujrat cities of Punjab.

According to Samaa correspondent, a murderer Laghir Maseeh was hanged in 
Sialkot District Jail this morning. He was convicted for 2003 abduction and 
murder of a child.

Another death row prisoner, Ghulam Rasool, was executed in Gujrat district 
jail. He was awarded death penalty for a student's murder in 2000.

On the other hand, the scheduled execution of 2 more condemned prisoners was 
deferred in Multan and Sahiwal prisons following their agreements with victim 
families.

(source: samaa.tv)

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

Pakistan high court upholds military justice, death sentences for civilians 
---- The horrific 2014 slaying of more than 120 children in a Peshawar school 
created pressure for terrorist suspects to be tried in military court.


Pakistan's top court ruled Wednesday that civilians accused of terrorism can be 
tried in military courts, significantly expanding the jurisdiction of military 
tribunals and raising concerns among human rights activists about the balance 
of military and civilian power.

The decision upholds a parliamentary move earlier this year to allow civilians 
to be tried and given the death sentence by military courts over the next 2 
years. It is unclear when the secretive trials will begin again after being 
suspended by the Supreme Court's review.

The government has been under pressure to crack down on militants following a 
Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar last year. Some 147 people, almost all 
children or young teens, were killed in what appeared to be retribution for 
earlier military operations against the Taliban, according to The Christian 
Science Monitor.

The Monitor also pointed out that while the school was run by the military, 
most students were not from military families. It was the worst attack in 
Pakistan since 2007.

Soon after the attack, the government took action to crack down on militants, 
lifting a ban on executions that had been in place since 2008, The Associated 
Press reports.

Since then, some 200 people have been hanged, many of whom were not convicted 
on terrorism-related charges. Parliament also established that military courts 
could oversee terrorist cases following the Peshawar attack.

When the parliament established the military courts for terror cases, the 
prevailing argument was that civilian courts are not able to successfully try 
and convict terrorist suspects since such suspects are able to intimidate 
witnesses, prosecutors and judges.

In one example, judges would have tea and cookies brought to one of Pakistan's 
most feared Islamic militants, Malik Ishaq, during past court proceedings 
against him. Ishaq was gunned down and killed while being transported in a 
police van last month.

Also, scores of judges and prosecutors have pulled out of almost 200 cases, 
including some 70 trials over the killings of minority Shiite Muslims, against 
Ishaq apparently fearing for their own lives.

Today's ruling is seen as a victory for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his 
ruling party. Apparently referring to Taliban behavior, Mr. Sharif said that 
"Unusual situations warrant unusual measures." He said he believed the promise 
of a military trial could help deter future terrorist attacks.

Despite the argument that terrorists can manipulate or intimidate the civilian 
courts, serious concerns are being voiced over the potential for rights 
violations in military trials. Mr. Sharif said the courts would only target 
"hard-core terrorists," but evidence is already emerging that challenges that 
assertion, Reuters reports.

Former military legal adviser Muhammad Akram said the military sometimes 
prevented suspects from having lawyers, making convictions easier.

Before the January amendment, the 2 main charges the military could bring 
against civilians were sedition and spying, he added.

Akram said he knew of more than 100 cases where the military used the charges 
to bypass civilian courts and try a defendant suspected of a different 
crime....

In another case reviewed by Reuters, Nisar Javed Fakhri was convicted of the 
rape and murder of an officer's wife. Fakhri, a low-level soldier working as a 
cleaner, was tried 3 times until his life sentence was increased to the death 
penalty.

Forensic evidence was inconclusive, so his conviction rested mostly on evidence 
from a co-accused who contradicted himself three times about whether Fakhri was 
present.

Both men say they were tortured. The co-accused ate a shattered light bulb to 
try to kill himself in custody.

"I had accepted my involvement in the occurrence due to torture," Fakhri said 
at his 3rd trial. "I was innocent."

Pakistan's move toward implementing military trials for civilians could be a 
step back for a country that has struggled to establish independence from 
military influence, some analysts say. The first non-military handover of power 
in Islamabad took place only 1 years ago, for example.

A report by the International Crisis Group last month noted that, "The 
militarisation of counter-terrorism policy puts at risk Pakistan's evolution 
toward greater civilian rule, which is itself a necessary but not sufficient 
condition to stabilise the democratic transition."

The report acknowledged that having a "coercive" counterterrorism policy can 
make targeting militants more efficient, but stated that Pakistan won't make 
great inroads in curtailing terrorist activities without structural, democratic 
reforms.

(source: Christian Science Monitor)

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

Frenetic Hangings


On July 29, 2015, 8 death row prisoners were executed in Pakistan's Punjab 
Province. 3 prisoners, identified as Muhammad Safdar, Aftab and his father, 
were hanged at Attock District Jail. Aftab and his father Usman had killed a 
man in 1998 over a monetary dispute. Muhammad Safdar had murdered 2 people over 
a 'petty issue' in 2003. Another convicted prisoner, Muhammad Tufail was hanged 
till death in Kasur District Jail. Tufail was hanged for killing a man and his 
son in 2001. Separately, another convict, Mohammad Nawaz was hanged till death 
in Sargodha District Jail for killing his relative over a land dispute in 2002. 
In Multan District Jail, death row prisoner Nayyar Abbas was hanged for killing 
a man in 1996. Another prisoner, Gulfam alias Gullu, was hanged till death in 
Gujrat District Jail for killing a man in 2001. Ahmed Din was hanged at the 
Jhang District Jail for killing Shireen Khan in a land dispute in April 2001.

Earlier, on July 27, 2015, 2 death row prisoners, Farooq Babar and Karim Nawaz, 
were hanged till death in Multan Central Jail. Babar had been found guilty of 
killing a man in 1998 after the deceased had failed to return an amount of 
borrowed money, while Nawaz, was convicted of murdering a man on 1999 over an 
old feud.

Prior to that, 8 more death row prisoners were hanged in different prisons of 
Punjab on June 16, 2015, in spite of Federal Governments 1 month moratorium on 
executions during Ramazan (Islamic month of fasting). A notification was issued 
on June 12, 2015, by the Federal Ministry of Interior and Provincial 
Governments had also been requested to comply with the order.

According to partial data compiled by The Express Tribune, at least 195 
convicts were hanged till death across Pakistan since December 17, 2014.

Ironically, the Pakistan Government had lifted a 7-year moratorium on 
executions on December 17, 2014, in response to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan 
(TTP) attack on Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar, the provincial capital of 
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), on December 16, 2014, in which 148 persons, including 
135 children were killed. The resumption of executions was justified as a 
necessary measure to deal with terrorism. While lifting the moratorium, the 
Federal Minister of Defence Khwaja Asif stated, on December 19, 2014, that the 
Government had consciously decided to lift the moratorium on capital punishment 
and that carrying out of death penalty against terrorists would begin soon. He 
asserted, further, There will be no discrimination in carrying out convictions 
of terrorists who have been sentenced to death and whose appeals have been 
rejected, and that the process of establishing military courts for the purpose 
of trying terror suspects was already underway.

Of the 195 persons hanged since December 17, 2014, just 23 were involved in 
acts of terrorism. Moreover, even between December 17 and March 9, 2015, when 
executions were limited to terrorism offences only, of the 24 persons hanged, 
only 8 were involved in acts of terror. Significantly, it was on March 10, 
2015, that the Government decided to implement the death penalty in all cases.

In the interim, and despite objections from the Judiciary, opposition political 
parties and civil society, the Government went ahead with the establishment of 
military courts. The Army set up nine courts - three each in KP and Punjab, two 
in Sindh and one in Balochistan. According to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs 
special assistant for law, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, about 100 cases have gone to 
military courts and 27 judgments have been pronounced. The case files are 
secret and it is not known how many of these judgments have awarded the death 
sentence, and to how many people. However, on April 2, 2015, military courts 
across the country on April 2, 2015, announced the award of the death sentences 
to six persons on terror charges. On April 15, 2015, the Supreme Court stayed 
the execution of these six terrorists, and the stay currently continues. 
According to Ministries of Interior and Law and Justice and Human Rights 
officials, as on December 17, 2014, there were around 8,261 prisoners on death 
row in more than five dozen jails of the country. Of these, more than 6,770 
were in various jails of Punjab. An unnamed senior official of Ministry of 
Interior disclosed that though it was difficult to put a precise number on how 
many prisoners were convicted for terrorism related offenses, estimates put 
roughly 30% in this category. During the hearing on the 21st Constitutional 
Amendment, which is intended to vest jurisdictional power in the Army for the 
establishment and operation of the military courts, Justice Asif Saeed Khan 
Khosa of the Supreme Court questioned, on June 23, 2015, whether the Army 
should be given a free hand to do everything in the name of defence of 
Pakistan. During the hearing he demanded, Tell the court how many challans have 
been submitted in the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) and the situation of trial 
and why the prosecution failed to proceed in terrorist cases. Replying to the 
query, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt informed the court 
that, in 2014, 85 per cent of cases were outstanding in regular anti-terrorism 
courts (ATCs), but didnt give the reasons as to why so many cases were pending. 
Parliament passed the 21st Constitutional Amendment and the Army Act to pave 
the way for the establishment of military courts for a period of 2 years.

Sarah Belal, head of Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a human rights 
organisation that launched the report Terror on Death Row onDecember 18, 2015, 
lamented, Lifting the moratorium is a knee-jerk reaction. Our research shows 
that the government is clueless on who is an actual terrorist on death row and 
who isn't. Keeping that in mind, were going to see some gross violations of 
rights. According to the report, 80 per cent of those on death row have not 
committed acts of terror, but were wrongly convicted. They have the wrong 
people and terrorists roam free, Belal added.

The problem is compounded further by the fact that several terrorist 
organizations in Pakistan continue to enjoy state support, creating systemic 
biases against a non-discriminatory policy of executing terrorists on death 
row. In a recent assertion, the Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhary Nisar 
Ali Khan defended the terrorist Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) on the floor of the Senate 
(Upper House of Parliament), arguing that it was involved in charitable works. 
On July 7, 2015, he argued, Presently, JuD is engaged in charity and social 
work, operating hospitals, clinics, schools, ambulance service and religious 
institutions. He went on to add that that the United Nations High Commissioner 
for Refugees (UNHCR) had listed JuD as a resurrection of LeT, but no supporting 
evidence was shared with Pakistan to establish such a connection. The JuD, a 
front of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), is led by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the mastermind 
of the November 26, 2008 (26/11) Mumbai (India) terror attacks, and the US has 
declared a reward of USD 10 million against him.

Though the Government and the all powerful military in Pakistan remain in 
denial, the Supreme Court, on July 2, 2015, asked the Attorney General of 
Pakistan (AGP) why no action was being taken against terrorist organisations. 
Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja remarked,

You have an action plan [National Action Plan (NAP)], then why it is not being 
implemented? Why terrorist organisations are overlooked by them? Action should 
be taken against them as well. Governments should do their job. The Court will 
issue no directive. No one can heave a sigh of relief. Every day a terror 
incident is published in newspapers. This is the level of seriousness of 
governments that terror incidents are taking place every day. Tell us, what the 
government has done within 6 months and 6 days (sic).

A 20-point Plan on counter-terrorism was announced by Prime Minister Sharif in 
a televised address to the nation in the night of December 24, 2014. NAP was 
another element incorporated in the Constitution by the 21st Constitutional 
Amendment on January 7, 2015.

Expectedly, a handout has been issued by the Federal Ministry of Interior on 
July 4, 2015, to counter the Supreme Court. According to the handout, some 
54,376 combing operations have been carried out under NAP, which came into 
effect on January 7, 2015, resulting in 60,420 arrests. Under NAP 3,019 
intelligence-based operations were carried out while 1,388 pieces of 
intelligence were shared. Some 97.9 million mobile SIM cards have been verified 
using bio-metric technology, while 5.1 million SIM cards have been blocked. 
Further, Federal Minister of Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, on July 4, 2015, 
argued that it was wrong to say that not a single bit of work has been done 
under NAP, and that, had this been so, international think-tanks would not have 
included Pakistan in the list of countries where acts of terrorism declined 
over the past year. Nisar added that NAP is not the sole responsibility of a 
particular department, institution or Ministry, but that it is a national 
agenda for the success of which numerous Ministries of the Federal Government, 
intelligence agencies, armed forces and provincial Governments are striving.

Pakistan has long harnessed the issue of terrorism to actions and policies 
entirely unrelated to counter-terrorist objectives. The current frenzy of 
executions is a case in point, even as the collusion of the state establishment 
with externally directed terrorist groupings in particular, and some domestic 
groups as well, remains undiminished. Despite the great misfortunes this 
enduring strategy of complicity and support to terrorism has brought upon the 
people of Pakistan, the state, its agencies, and the elites that control these, 
still appear to believe that there are profiting from these processes.

(source: newkerala.com)

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

UN child rights committee and UN Special Representative on Violence against 
Children condemn Shafqat Hussein execution


The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Special Representative of 
the Secretary-General on Violence against Children have condemned the execution 
in Pakistan of Shafqat Hussein, who was reportedly 14 years old when he was 
convicted of murder.

"The execution of Shafqat Hussein is regrettable and in flagrant contravention 
of Pakistan's national and international obligations," said Committee Chair 
Benyam Dawit Mezmur.

"This execution is deeply saddening and goes against Pakistan's commitments to 
children's rights. Pakistan was one of the main supporters of the World Summit 
for Children in 1990, and was amongst the first states to ratify the Convention 
on the Rights of the Child," said Special Representative Marta Santos Pais.

"The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights*, both of which Pakistan has ratified, are clear, as 
is Pakistani law: the death sentence should not be imposed on a defendant who 
was under 18 at the time of the crime," said Mr. Mezmur.

"This prohibition is binding regardless of a young person's subsequent age at 
the time of the trial, or sentencing or of the carrying out of the sanction," 
Ms. Santos Pais added. The Committee on the Rights of the Child's jurisprudence 
states that: "[if] there is no proof of age, the child is entitled to a 
reliable medical or social investigation that may establish his/her age and, in 
the case of conflict or inconclusive evidence, the child shall have the right 
to the rule of the benefit of the doubt".

"It is deplorable that Shafqat Hussein was executed following a trial that 
reportedly did not comply with the most stringent requirements of due process 
and that there was not a proper investigation into allegations he confessed 
under torture. It is also regrettable that the recommendations made in July 
2015 by the Sindh Human Rights Commission that the case be re-opened and all 
relevant evidence be properly considered were not taken into account," the 
Committee and the Special Representative said.

"While voicing our deep regret at Shafqat Hussein's execution, we once again 
urge the Pakistani authorities to reinstate the moratorium on the death 
penalty, conduct rigorous investigations into reported cases of children on 
death row, and adults on death row for offences committed while below the age 
of 18, and ensure a prompt and impartial investigation into all alleged acts of 
torture," Mr. Mezmur and Ms. Santos Pais said.

"We stand ready to support Pakistan in its efforts to strengthen the protection 
of the rights of the child across its justice system," they concluded. Their 
statement is endorsed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on 
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns.

*Convention on the Rights of the Child - Article 37 (a) No child shall be 
subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or 
punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without 
possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 
18 years of age;

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - Article 6: 5. Sentence 
of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of 
age and shall not be carried out on pregnant women.

(source: ohchr.org)






LIBYA:

Court verdicts in Libya complicate chances for peace


A court in Tripoli sentenced Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of late Libyan leader 
Moammar Gadhafi, and 8 former officials to death by firing squad. Saif al-Islam 
was not present at the court but appeared via video at the start of the 
proceedings. He is being held in the western mountain town of Zintan, having 
been captured by Zintan militias in November 2011 after the collapse of his 
father's regime under attack by local rebel fighters and a NATO air campaign. 
Among the former officials tried and convicted were intelligence chief Abdullah 
al-Senussi, Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, military commander Mansour Dao 
and external intelligence chief Abu Zeid Dorda.

All the defendants have the right to appeal. Their sentences must be confirmed 
or rejected by Libya's Supreme Court within 60 days. The legal proceedings and 
convictions have elicited condemnation from law experts and international 
rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Bar 
Association.

After sentencing, John Jones, Saif al-Islam's London-based attorney, called the 
proceedings a "show trial," questioning the legitimacy of the entire process. 
"The whole thing is illegitimate from start to finish," he charged, labeling 
the verdict a "judicially sanctioned execution." Jones had been leading efforts 
to have Gadhafi tried before the International Criminal Court, at The Hague, 
which had issued an arrest warrant for him in June 2011.

Jones is not alone in questioning the legality of the court. Even Al-Mabrouk 
Ghraira Omran, justice minister in Libya's internationally recognized 
government, condemned the sentences as illegal and called on the international 
community not to recognize them. The government in Tripoli lacks credibility 
among the international community, which recognizes the Tobruk-based elected 
government led by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni that controls the eastern 
part of the country.

Tripoli has been under the control of a coalition of Islamists and Misrata 
militias since August 2014, when they overran the capital, driving out the 
elected government and installing their own, headed by Prime Minister Khalifa 
al-Ghawil. All its departments are being run by officials loyal to the 
militias.

In a July 28 Associated Press interview, Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East 
and North Africa director, questioned the fairness of the trial. "This trial 
has been plagued by persistent, credible allegations of fair trial breaches 
that warrant independent and impartial judicial review," he said. HRW described 
the trial as "flawed," pointing to what it said are "serious questions about 
whether judges and prosecutors can be truly independent where utter lawlessness 
prevails," highlighting that certain groups are "unashamedly shielded from 
justice." The UN Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights cast doubt on the 
trial's fairness because of the failure to "establish individual criminal 
responsibility, lack of access to lawyers, claims of ill-treatment, and trials 
conducted in absentia."

The verdicts will have serious repercussions on an already chaotic situation in 
Libya. Should the death sentences be carried out, although unlikely anytime 
soon, the ongoing reconciliation process will suffer further delays and 
possible collapse. The convicted men are leading figures in prominent tribes 
that were loyal supporters of the late leader, with their tribal members 
representing a large segment of Libyan society. Saif al-Islam and Senussi are 
from the Gadhafa and Magharha tribes, respectively, and surrounding them are at 
least another 4 major tribes, representing the core support of the former 
regime. They are already perceived as being opposed to the current regime 
because they refused to back the uprising in 2011.

After the verdicts were announced, demonstrations erupted in cities and towns 
across the country, including in Brak, Qirah, Sebha and Shuwairif, in the 
south, and in Sirte, Gadhafi's coastal hometown. The protesters, who consider 
the trials politically motivated and unfair, also voiced their opposition to 
the militia-Islamist coalition controlling Tripoli and large swaths of western 
Libya.

Worried about possible repercussions, the United Nations Support Mission in 
Libya (UNSMIL) expressed its "concerns" about the legal proceedings before as 
well as during the trials. In 1 statement, UNSMIL said that "the trial did not 
meet international standards of fair trial in a number of ways." Bernardino 
Leon, head of UNSMIL, already has more than enough problems to deal with trying 
to get the warring parties to reach some kind of settlement.

UNSMIL's proposed political settlement revolves around setting up an inclusive 
national unity government consisting of the 2 rival governments, building a 
national army and organizing new elections. The timing of the verdicts' 
announcement will make it harder for Leon to move forward on a political 
settlement, which he has been seeking for months.

Some of Libya's neighbors, in particular Tunisia, are already dealing with 
repercussions from the verdicts. Tunisian authorities had handed over Mahmoudi, 
the last prime minister under Gadhafi, despite the absence of any guarantee he 
would not face the death penalty if convicted. While in detention in Libya, he 
repeatedly complained of ill treatment to his lawyers and family. The Committee 
for the Respect of Freedom and Human Rights in Tunisia was quick to accuse its 
country's government of sending Mahmoudi to "his death."

(source: al-monitor.com)






UNITED KINGDOM----new book

'Much has been written about the 302 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were 
executed for military offences during the First World War, but there is usually 
only a passing reference to those who took part - the members of the firing 
squad, the officer in charge, the medical officer and the padre. What are their 
stories? Through extensive research, David Johnson explores the controversial 
story of the men forced to shoot their fellow Tommies, examining how they were 
selected, how they were treated before, during and after the executions and why 
there were so many procedural variations in the way that the executions were 
conducted.'

see: 
http://www.centenarynews.com/article/executed-at-dawn-british-firing-squads-on-the-western-front

(source: Centenary News)

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

Anti-death penalty campaigns ditched


The Tories are set to scrap Britain's support for projects working to end the 
death penalty across the world, human rights campaigners warned yesterday.

Many were left alarmed as a revision of the Foreign Office (FCO) human rights 
priorities seemed to leave out all reference to abolishing capital punishment.

According to legal charity Reprieve, verbal confirmation was given by the FCO 
that the government's Strategy for the Abolition of the Death Penalty will not 
be renewed in January 2016.

Reprieve's director of the death penalty team Maya Foa said: "At a time when 
executions in countries around the world are spiking, it is alarming that the 
government is ditching its strategy on the death penalty.

"With Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran all executing at a rate we haven't seen 
for years, Britain's move will send the wrong signal."

The policy, which has been in place since 2010, was once described the former 
foreign minister David Lidington as a "firm goal."

Campaigners raised further concerns as the FCO seemed to downgrade countries 
such as China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia from its list of "countries of 
concern" and renaming them "priority countries."

In a letter sent to Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond last week, Ms Foa said she 
feared changes meant "the government will end all ring-fenced funding for death 
penalty projects and significantly scale back the FCO's human rights 
department.

"Britain has a long and praise-worthy history of speaking out against the use 
of the death penalty.

"Reprieve respectfully requests that the government urgently reconsider its 
current course of action."

An FCO spokesman argued that "there is absolutely no change to our 
long-standing policy.

"We remain committed to advancing global abolition of the death penalty and it 
is wrong to suggest otherwise.

"The government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of 
principle and we would like to see the long-term trend towards abolition 
continue throughout this parliament."

He did, however, admit that the "budget and composition for FCO programmes" is 
under evaluation by the Treasury, the impact of which will only be known in the 
autumn.

Reprieve, which is not funded by the FCO human rights department, relies on its 
legal work on death penalty cases to survive.

(source: morningstaronline.co.uk)






EGYPT:

Activists hit out at Egyptian justice system over Halawa trial


Amnesty International say the Egyptian justice system is "spiraling out of 
control" following the announcement that Ibrahim Halawa's trial has been 
adjourned for the 8th time.

Dublin teenager Ibrahim Halawa has been in an Egyptian prison since August 
2013, when he was arrested along with hundreds of others at a protest at the 
Al-Fath mosque in Cairo.

Human rights activists expressed concern at the ongoing detention of the 
teenager, saying that the 19-year-old is nothing more than a "prisoner of 
conscience".

Following a hearing in Cairo on Sunday, the trial was further adjourned until 4 
October. An application for bail was also refused.

This is the 8th time Mr Halawa has come before the courts, as his case was 
either postponed or adjourned on previous occasions. He could face the death 
penalty if convicted.

Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International has again called for 
the "immediate and unconditional" release of the teenager.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that there is no due process in Egypt as it 
continues to flout international human rights law with mass life and death 
sentences after trials including hundreds of defendants, with continual delays 
to even those deeply flawed trials and with the detention of thousands of those 
who dare to peacefully dissent.

"In this system, there is no justice - there are no human rights. The 
international community cannot allow the rule of law to be so abused as Egypt 
has now become an all-out repressive state engaged in a systemic crackdown of 
any opposition. This cannot be allowed to continue.

"Amnesty International has declared Ibrahim Halawa a Prisoner of Conscience 
based on eye-witness evidence that he could not have carried out the acts he is 
accused of. He is being detained solely for peacefully expressing his right to 
freedom of expression and assembly," said Mr O'Gorman.

Ibrahim will complete 2 years in pre-trial detention on 17 August, which is the 
maximum for pre-trial detention under Egyptian law.

"The court adjournment of today's trial until 4 October while continuing to 
hold the defendants in pre-detention beyond 2 years is a blow to the rule of 
law in the country and shows that Egypt's criminal justice system is spiraling 
out of control.

"Ireland and our European Union partners must do all within their power to 
fight for human rights and the rule of law," said Mr O'Gorman.

Officials from the Irish Embassy in Cairo have attended the court and the 
Department of Foreign Affairs continues to provide consular assistance to Mr 
Halawa.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been called upon to personally intervene on behalf of 
the Irish State in Ibrahim Halawa's case.

Sinn Fein's Lynn Boylan visited the jailed 19-year-old along with one of his 
sisters on Monday.

The meeting was the 1st time in months that the Dubliner had been allowed to 
see his family.

Visits at the facility are normally restricted to 3 minutes, with inmates 
separated from loved-ones by iron bars.

Ms Boylan has described the heart-breaking moment he was able to hug his older 
sister.

"It was especially crucial to hear from him directly that he firmly believes 
that the publicity from the public support he is getting back home is helping 
to keep him safe.

"While I know the visit and being able to hug his sister has lifted his 
spirits, I would however have concerns about his health and I would echo his 
lawyer's calls for the need for him to see a specialist doctor as soon as 
possible," she said.

(source: utv.ie)






IRAN----executions

A man hanged in public, 10 more inmates hanged in Qum


The regime in Iran has hanged 1 men in public in the city of Eghlid, in Fars 
Province, southern Iran. The man whose identity has not been revealed was 
hanged on Sunday.

Reports received reveals that the Iran regime's henchmen in the central prison 
in the city of Qum had secretly hanged a group of 10 prisoners last Tuesday.

Immediately after the nuclear deal was clinched, the clerical regime embarked 
on a new wave of executions, including several cases of group hangings.

At least 57 prisoners, including 2 women, have been executed in Iran, in some 
cases in public squares, in the past 11 days.

The Iranian regime on Monday amputated the hand and foot of an inmate in a 
prison in Mashhad, northeast Iran.

The prisoner, only identified as Rahman K. had his right hand and left foot 
severed by the authorities.

He was accused by the regime of committing a bank heist along with an 
associate, identified as Mehdi R. Both were pronounced by the authorities to be 
"moharebeh," or "waging war on God."

Both men received the same sentence. It is not known when Mehdi's sentence will 
be implemented or if it has already been done so.

According to the state-run daily Khorasan both men will continue to serve an 
extended prison sentence as well.

Faced with escalating popular discontent and unable to respond to the rightful 
demands of the majority of the Iranian people who are living under the poverty 
line, the religious fascism ruling Iran - dubbed the 'godfather of ISIS' by the 
Iranian people - is ramping up suppression.

(source: NCR-Iran)

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

Iran and the Death Penalty


A recent brief from Amnesty International examines how many prisoners were 
executed by Iran in the 1st half of 2015. From this data, it appears that there 
has been an unprecedented increase in the nation's use of the death penalty. To 
help you put these statistics into perspective, Iran's population was 77.8 
million in 2014.

Let's look at some background information first. According toIran Human Rights, 
in 2014, Iran executed at least 753 people, the highest reported level of 
executions in more than 15 years and a 10 % increase over 2013 as shown on this 
bar graph noting that only confirmed executions are included:

Here is a graphic showing the number of official and unofficial executions that 
took place each month during 2014:

The number of executions is low in July because it is the holy month of 
Ramadan. During 2014, most of the executions took place in Fars province 
located in the south of the country near the Persian Gulf.

Note that Hassan Rouhani, Iran's latest president and who is considered to be a 
"reformist/political moderate", took office on August 4, 2013. It is also 
important to note that the IHR report distinguishes between executions that 
have been announced by the official Iranian media, websites of the Iranian 
justice system, Iranian police forces, the National Iranian Broadcasting 
Network, state-run news agencies and national or local newspapers. t appears 
that there are a significant number of executions that have not been reported 
through official channels; the sources for the information about these 
executions comes from family members, the legal profession and other human 
rights NGOs.

All reported executions during 2014 were carried out by hanging and most public 
executions were carried out using cranes as shown on 1 video from the FARS News 
Agency:

The prisoner is executed either by having an object that they are standing on 
removed after the noose is put into place or they are pulled up by the crane. 
In both cases, the fall is unlikely to kill the prisoner, rather, they die 
slowly by strangulation over a period of several minutes. As well, at least 
some of the executions take place in public: during 2014, 53 executions took 
place in public and these are often witnessed by children.

Let's go back to Mr. Rouhani, Iran's latest President and a man who is 
considered to be a "moderate". In the 18 months before he was elected, 827 
prisoners were executed. In the 18 months since he was elected, 1193 executions 
took place, 31 % higher than before he took office. As well, the number of 
juvenile offenders executed in 2014 is at the highest rate since 1990.

Let's close this section looking at why 753 people were executed in 2014:

For the 1st time in 5 years, the official number of executions for murder 
charges is almost equal to the number of executions for drug-related charges. 
In the case of drug-related charges, Iran's Anti-Narcotic Law requires the 
death penalty on the 4th conviction for drug-related offences which include 
trafficking of more than 5 kilograms of opium-derived narcotics or more than 30 
grams of heroin, morphine and cocaine. The vast majority of these drugs are 
sourced in Afghanistan which produced a near-record crop in 2014. Iran's 
anti-narcotic laws have led to the execution of 367 people during 2014, down 
from a high of 509 in 2011. At least 2052 people have been executed for 
drug-related charges in Iran since 2010.

Now, let's look at what has happened to the number of executions in Iran during 
the 1st half of 2015. According to Amnesty International, 694 people have been 
executed between the beginning of January and the 15th of July, 2015, 
equivalent to 3 people daily. If this rate continues, Amnesty suggests that 
Iran could execute more than 1000 people by the end of 2015. There is 1 
additional change in 2015; this year, at least 4 people were executed over 
Ramadan.

As in the case of Saudi Arabia, it will be interesting to see if Washington and 
the rest of the developed world is able to ignore possible human rights 
violations simply because both nations have an abundance of the greasy black 
stuff than keeps the wheels of the world's economy turning. Despite the fact 
that international law states that the death penalty is to be used only for the 
most serious crimes, governments have an interesting ability to turn a blind 
eye when there are profits to be made, particularly when those profits involve 
oil.

(source: oyetimes.com)

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

Funding the Mullahs' Execution Spree----How the Obama administration is 
facilitating Iran's unprecedented killing binge.


President Obama is determined to defend the Islamic Republic as a legitimate 
government that should receive sanctions relief. He has even overstepped his 
constitutional authority by signing the nuclear deal (a treaty) in the United 
Nations Security Council without getting the 2/3 vote of the Senate. He did not 
give Congress time to review the nuclear deal as he previously promised.

The Obama administration is advocating for a regime that has been on an 
execution spree on an unprecedented level, according to Amnesty International's 
latest report. Since the beginning of this year, the Islamic Republic has 
executed approximately 700 people.

People being executed are usually not told about their death sentence until the 
noose is put around their neck and until they reach the gallows. Family members 
of the victims often do not know about the execution until weeks after.

As Said Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa 
program said, "Iran's staggering execution toll for the first half of this year 
paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out 
premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale." He added, "The 
use of the death penalty is always abhorrent, but it raises additional concerns 
in a country like Iran where trials are blatantly unfair."

I regularly speak with Iranian people living in various cities in Iran 
including Esfahan, Tehran, Tabriz, and Khorasan in order to obtain a better 
understanding on the ground. My family lives there too. The words of every one 
of them (about the current situation in Iran after the nuclear deal was 
reached) echoes what Zahra, an English teacher in the province of Esfahan, told 
me. She said, "Any cash given to the these Sheikhs in the government (the 
clerics) by the powers because of the nuclear deal, will not be distributed to 
the people. The money will not be used to improve people's economic standards. 
The people on top will steal the money, saving it in their bank accounts, or 
send it to their Arab allies, Bashar Al Assad, Hezbollah, and the Iraqi 
government. They [Iranian leaders] are also going to increase domestic 
suppression if they begin seeing the flow of cash."

If we look at the history of the Islamic Republic closely, we see that when a 
"reformist" president (Mohammad Khatami) was in power in Iran, the nation 
witnessed the same increase in executions and suppression. It was one of the 
worst periods of oppression and crackdowns on civil liberties. In addition, the 
number of executions normally rises under the so-called "moderates" and 
"reformists" rules.

When Iranian people feel that they might finally have a better relationships 
with the West, the ruling establishments ratchets up their imprisonment, 
torture, suppression and killings in order to show the people who is in charge 
and in order to impose fear. By using these tactics, they send a clear message 
that the Islamists are in charge, not the youth.

This staggering number of executions suggests that, as the ruling clerics of 
the Islamic Republic were gaining global legitimacy due to the nuclear 
negotiations and "normalizing" relationships with the Obama administration, 
they have also increased their mass scale killings of their own citizens. At 
the same time, several American citizens are still spending time in Iran's 
prison.

Unfortunately, although President Obama is very vocal about defending the 
nuclear deal, the lifting of economic sanctions on the Ayatollah, the release 
of over a hundred of billion dollars to the ruling clerics of Iran, he has not 
issued any serious criticism against the leaders of the Islamic Republic with 
regards to the execution spree.

In the Islamic Republic, one can be executed for actions which might not even 
be a crime or it might be a misdemeanor in other democratic countries. For 
example, one can be executed for "enmity against Allah" or "corruption on 
earth." In addition, a non-Muslim man can be executed for having sex with a 
Muslim women, but not vice versa. One can be executed or stoned if he/she is 
married and has sex with an unmarried person. One can also be executed for 
cursing or using bad words against the prophet.

As the report by Amnesty International described, "They [death sentences] are 
imposed either for vaguely worded or overly broad offenses, or acts that should 
not be criminalized at all, let alone attract the death penalty ... Trials in 
Iran are deeply flawed, detainees are often denied access to lawyers, and there 
are inadequate procedures for appeal, pardon and commutation."

Boumedouha observed, "For years, Iranian authorities have used the death 
penalty to spread a climate of fear in a misguided effort to combat drug 
trafficking, yet there is not a shred of evidence to show that this is an 
effective method of tackling crime ..."

The more the Iranian leaders are empowered and emboldened financially, 
economically and politically, the more they tighten the noose on all freedoms 
(including speech, assembly, press, etc.), as well as basic inalienable human 
rights.

There are currently thousands of innocent people on death row waiting to be 
unfairly executed in the Islamic Republic. While President Obama finds it 
urgent to overstep his constitutional authority to quickly sign the nuclear 
deal with Iran and push for sanctions relief against the ruling clerics, he 
needs to pay close attention to how the empowerment of the ruling Islamists in 
Iran is adversely affecting the lives of millions of innocent people.

(source: Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, an Iranian-American political scientist and 
scholar, is president of the International American Council and serves on the 
board of the Harvard International Review at Harvard 
University----frontpagemag.com)

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

UN human rights chief alarmed by death sentence in Iran for alternative 
therapist


The U.N.'s top human rights official has expressed alarm at the death sentence 
imposed on an alternative health practitioner in Iran.

The U.N. human rights office says Mohammad Ali Taheri was sentenced to death 
Saturday after being found guilty of "corruption on Earth."

Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a 
statement Wednesday that the death sentence against Taheri illustrates Iran's 
"problematic" application of the death sentence for lesser crimes and for 
crimes committed by minors.

Zeid said he calls on Iranian authorities to "immediately withdraw the charges 
against Taheri and ensure his unconditional release."

Zeid's office says Taheri is the founder of a spiritual movement, practicing 
alternative medicine theories used in Iran and elsewhere.

(source: Associated Press)