[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 8



ENGLAND:

'Fund me to fight the death penalty in US'


A young lawyer who dreams of abolishing the death penalty has secured a 
scholarship in the US - but needs strangers' help to get her there.

Samantha Chammings, who has been offered a rare chance to study a legal masters 
at the University of Texas, says she was inspired to fight against miscarriages 
of justice by her teachers at Walton High School in Walnut Tree.

But after years of studying, the now fully-qualified criminal paralegal could 
fall at the last hurdle if she can't raise 18,000 pounds by next August.

"I am in a lot of debt from my studies as it is, but this is such an incredible 
opportunity I can't miss out on.

"I will have to take out loans if I can't find anyone who will help."

It was during a recent internship when Samantha spent time working with 
attorneys in Atlanta, Georgia, that she became determined to fight to defend 
prisoners facing the death penalty.

If the 24-year-old can raise the cash in time, the human rights course will 
make that a reality.

She said: "Working with inspirational attorneys in Georgia was a life-changing 
experience."

(source: miltonkeynes.co.uk)






IRAQ:

Iraq sentences 24 to death over Tikrit massacre


An Iraqi court has sentenced 24 men to death by hanging in connection with the 
mass execution of hundreds of soldiers last year by the Takfiri ISIL terrorists 
in the northern city of Tikrit.

On Wednesday, the central criminal court in Baghdad handed down the death 
penalty to 24 militants over the massacre at a military base in Tikrit, located 
140 kilometers (about 87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

4 other defendants won acquittal due to lack of evidence.

Relatives of the carnage victims were holding up pictures of their loved ones 
in the courtroom during Wednesday's prosecution .

The ISIL terrorists captured over 1,560 Iraqi Air Force cadets, mostly Shia, in 
an attack on the Speicher camp in Tikrit on June 12, 2014, when they overran 
the hometown of slain Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi government blamed the slaughter on both the Takfiti ISIL militants 
and members of the defunct Ba'ath party.

Units of Iraqi government troops, backed by volunteer forces, managed to retake 
control of Tikrit in late March.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by violence ever since 
ISIL began their march through Iraqi territory in June 2014.

(source: PressTV)