[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 15


BOTSWANA:

Govt to Reconsider Execution of Prisoners



Permanents Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security Ms 
Seagakweng Tsiane says she is not in a position to give details on whether the 
government would replace the current exercise of executing capital punishment 
on condemned prisoners.

Responding to questions raised by member of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Mr 
Dithapelo Keorapetse, recently while presenting before the committee, Ms Tsiane 
said government is currently assessing an array of issues concerning pre and 
post hanging of a prisoner sentenced to death.

Ms Tsiane told the committee that she was however not comfortable to speak 
about the issue because both local and international human rights organisations 
had in several occasions raised similar issues regarding the method of killing 
the condemned prisoner and role of prison officers in the death penalty.

However, the commander of Botswana Prison Service Col. Silas Motlalekgosi said 
there is both pre and post counselling on prison officers who carry out the 
execution of the prisoners. Another member of the committee Mr Guma Moyo had 
asked whether there is any counselling on officers who carry out the execution 
of the prisoners and whether that counselling is extended to the officer who 
signs the death warrant of the prisoners.

Mr Keorapetse had on the other hand asked Ms Tsiane whether it is not opportune 
enough to consider replacing administering death by hanging with the 
administration of a lethal injection as it seem to be more humane.

Mr Keorapetse had also wanted to know if the ministry does not consider making 
the whole process of executing a condemned prisoner transparent as much as 
possible just like in other countries where the sentenced prisoner and the 
victim's families as well as the media were informed of the execution day and 
were invited to attend the exercise.

Mr Keorapetse had further asked whether it is not time for prison authorities 
to hand over the lifeless body of the executed prisoner to his or her family 
for home.

Meanwhile Ms Tsiane said the provision of free ARV to deserving foreign prison 
inmates is an issue still before the court of law and as such she was not free 
to respond on it. She however said at the moment there are 21 foreign prisoners 
who are getting ARV from various sources. They are also 90 foreign inmates who 
have tested positive during voluntary testing for HIV.

On other issues Ms Tsiane said the ministry is working on National Security 
Policy and that the task is handled with other stakeholders.

She said, the ministry is currently engaging with Botswana Housing Corporation 
(BHC) to provide accommodation for Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Botswana 
Police Service (BPS) and Botswana prisons staff.

In the meantime she told the committee that she is not aware of any "Shot to 
kill policy" on poachers. She therefore said what she understands is that 
soldiers deployed in anti-poaching mission endeavor to apprehend poachers.

She therefore said there was no tension between the two countries of Botswana 
and Namibia regarding recent shootings of some supposedly Namibian poachers in 
the country more especially that the two countries have Joint Permanent 
Commission on Security and always discuss issues together.

MP Kostantinos Markus had warned that shooting on Namibian poachers without 
arresting them law could spark tensions between the 2 countries and that it 
could also spell doom for Batswana visiting Namibia especially in the forested 
areas, as they could be shot and killed.

(source: All Africa News)








BANGLADESH:

Mojaheed verdict tomorrow



All eyes are on the Supreme Court which is set to deliver its verdict tomorrow 
on an appeal filed by convicted war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed 
challenging the death penalty and other sentences handed down to him.

A 4-member SC bench, headed by Justice SK Sinha, is set to sit at 9:00am and 
pronounce the judgment at the beginning of tomorrow's court proceedings.

The delivery of the verdict is on the top of the court's cause list tomorrow.

This is the 4th time the Appellate Division of the SC is going to deliver a 
verdict on an appeal against a tribunal's judgment.

The same bench on May 27 fixed June 16 (tomorrow) for delivering the verdict 
after hearing the appeal for 9 days. 3 other judges of the bench are Justice 
Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foez 
Siddique.

Both the state and the defence counsels expressed hope that the verdict would 
go in their favours.

In July 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 sentenced the 67-year-old 
Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general to death, jailed him for life and sentenced 
him to 5 years in prison in 5 separate charges.

He filed the appeal with the SC on August 11 the same year, seeking acquittal 
from all the charges against him.

During the hearing of the appeal, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the 
Appellate Division to uphold the Tribunal-2's verdict, saying the tribunal had 
given the judgement rightly after examining documents, evidence and statements 
of witnesses properly.

Mojaheed, a leader of Al-Badr and Islami Chhatra Sangha, had killed 
intellectuals including noted journalist Serajuddin Hossain in 1971, he argued.

On the other side, Mojaheed's lawyer SM Shahjahan told the SC that the 
prosecution had miserably failed to produce credible and trustworthy evidence 
and witnesses before the court against his client. Mojaheed was likely to be 
acquitted of all the charges brought against him, he argued.

The charge concerning the killing of intellectuals says the Pakistan army set 
up a camp at Mohammadpur Physical Training Institute, Dhaka, and members of 
Razakar and Al-Badr forces used to receive training there.

Mojaheed was also given death penalty for his involvement in the killing of the 
Hindus in Faridpur's Bakchar village in 1971.

The tribunal sentenced Mojaheed to life term imprisonment for killing composer 
Altaf Mahmud, Jahir Uddin Jalal, Badi, Rumi (son of Shaheed Janani Jahanara 
Imam), Jewel and Azad at Old MP Hostel at Nakhalpara in Dhaka and to 5 years' 
imprisonment for confining Ranjit Nath, a civilian, at a Bihari camp in 
Faridpur.

According to the verdict, Mojaheed led a "death squad" named Al-Badr that 
worked as an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army.

Mojaheed, who was made a technocrat minister during the BNP-Jamaat-led 4-party 
alliance rule in 2001-2006, came under huge criticism for his audacious comment 
in 2007 that there were no war criminals in the country.

(source: Daily Star)








PAKISTAN:

Pakistan set to execute severely mentally ill man



Pakistan is set to kill a former police officer diagnosed with paranoid 
schizophrenia, despite the execution of those with mental illnesses being 
illegal under both domestic and international law.

The execution of Khizar Hayat, who is on death row in Lahore, id scheduled for 
Tuesday 16 June. Hayat was sentenced to death in 2003. Until his arrest, he 
worked as a police officer in the village where he lived with his wife and 
their children. He has been described by those who knew him as 'very slow' and 
easily manipulated. At trial, Hayat's lawyer failed to present any evidence, or 
call a single witness in his client's defence.

The legal charity Reprieve says that while in prison, Hayat has suffered 
multiple attacks from fellow prisoners. In 2012 these attacks became so 
frequent and severe that he was moved to an isolated cell in the jail's 
hospital. Hayat's mother has made repeated requests for her son to be moved to 
an independent medical facility but these have so far been refused. Instead he 
is kept in effective solitary confinement.

Hayat suffers from delusions and has to be heavily medicated. According to his 
lawyers, Hayat has no idea how long he has been in jail, does not know why he 
is on death row, and believes that the medications he is taking are 
anti-malarial pills.

Pakistan lifted its longstanding moratorium on the death penalty in December of 
last year and has since executed 158 people. These include Aftab Bahadur who 
was convicted when he was under 18 and despite the only 2 eyewitnesses in his 
case recanting.

Maya Foa, director of Reprieve's death penalty team, said: "Khizar Hayat is an 
extremely unwell man who needs medical care, attention and treatment. Instead 
the Pakistan government, in its reckless and relentless execution exercise, is 
trying to kill him - flagrantly ignoring domestic and international law in the 
process.

"Khizar's mother is distraught over the imminent hanging of her son but there 
is still time to stop it. Khizar's execution must be stayed immediately and he 
must be given proper, independent medical care."

(source: ekklesia.co.uk)

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

Double-murderer in Multan sent to the gallows



Another death row convict was sent to the gallows on Monday morning, after a 
1-month moratorium had been imposed on executions in the fasting month of 
Ramadan.

Hangings resumed after the country's bloodiest-ever militant attack, in which 
the Taliban gunned down 154 people - mostly children - at a school in the 
northwest.

Khizar Hayat, who was convicted of a double murder in 1997, was hanged in the 
city of Multani in Punjab province, Central Jail authorities said.

"He was convicted for murdering his father-in-law (his wife's father) and 
brother-in-law (wife's brother) over a dispute," said he.

Ramadan Reprieve

Government imposed a 1-month moratorium on executions during Ramadan, officials 
said Sunday, giving a temporary reprieve to a death row prisoner whose lawyers 
say he was a juvenile at the time of the crime.

Shafqat Hussain was sentenced to hang for killing a 7-year-old boy in 2004, 
when his lawyers and family say he was under 18 and therefore not eligible for 
execution.

But last Wednesday the Supreme Court rejected an application by Hussain's 
lawyers to set up a judicial commission to determine his age.

On the same day, despite international condemnation, authorities hanged for 
murder another man who was said to have been a minor at the time of the crime 
and who was allegedly tortured into confessing.

"It is a tradition that nobody is executed in the (Islamic) fasting month of 
Ramadan and the authorities have ordered that this tradition continues this 
year too," said Nusrat Mangan, Inspector General of Prisons in the southern 
province of Sindh where Hussain has been held.

"We have to seek death warrants 2 weeks prior to hang any convict, so his 
hanging will take place after at least 1 month," Mangan told AFP.

An official in the federal interior ministry confirmed that a notification had 
been issued to halt executions during Ramadan, which starts this week in 
Pakistan.

But Nazeer Farooq, Inspector General of Prisons in the country's most populous 
province of Punjab, said his department had not received such a notification 
yet.

"We have to execute around 2 dozen convicts before Ramadan in any case," he 
told AFP.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says the country has hanged 
over 150 convicts since restarting executions in December following a Taliban 
school massacre - more than Saudi Arabia over the same period.

A moratorium on the death penalty had been in force since 2008, and its end 
angered rights activists and alarmed some foreign countries.

Amnesty International estimates that Pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on 
death row, many of whom have exhausted all avenues of appeal.

Critics say the country's criminal justice system is marred by police torture 
and poor legal representation, meaning many of those now facing the gallows 
have not had a fair trial.

(source: Pakistan Today)

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

1 more convict hanged in Punjab



A double murder convict was executed in Central Jail on Monday morning, Aaj 
News reported.

The convict Khizar Hayat had murdered his father-in-law and brother-in-law in 
1997, reports claimed.

A local court issued his death warrants after which, he was executed by the 
jail authorities.

The government has decided to put a moratorium on executions during the month 
of Ramzan that will start this month.

A day after Taliban gunmen attacked a school and killed 134 students and 19 
adults on December 16, 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium 
on the death penalty. The innocent children's killings put pressure the 
government to do more to tackle the insurgency.

(source: Pakistan Ki Awaz)



HUNGARY:

European Socialists Slam Hungarian Right-Wing At Congress Held In Budapest



Addressing the 10th congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES), the 
Hungarian Socialist Party's leader, Jozsef Tobias, called the "politics of 
hate" a dead end. A migration policy based on "internal solidarity" and "shared 
responsibility" in the EU would lead to a good outcome, he insisted. The 
Socialists have a common belief that all men are created equal, and no one 
should be excluded on the basis of their origin, religion, or political 
opinion, TObiAs said, adding that whoever counters these principles excludes 
himself from Europe.

The Hungarian left-wing leader noted that Prime Minister Viktor OrbAn had faced 
criticism from people in his own political grouping in Europe, the European 
People's Party, because they found it awkward to stand by a "pro-death penalty, 
hateful, anti-refugee, radical politician". The Hungarian government has chosen 
to go down a path of segregation and labelling instead of embracing open, 
inclusive and tolerant policies, he said. The government's fostered work 
schemes and "hateful billboard campaigns" are not suitable for fighting poverty 
today, he said, adding that a country with a large income gap, vulnerability 
and "no hope for a future" cannot be successful. There is no doubt that radical 
nationalist Jobbik would pursue the same policies were it in government, he 
added. The Socialist leader insisted that his party would be the only one 
capable of replacing the government in the 2018 general election.

Lajos Korozs, the Socialist deputy head of parliament's welfare committee, said 
the government makes "inhumane" decisions, hurting the poor and singling out 
the homeless. This is unacceptable on the left, he said. Istvan Ujhelyi, the 
party's deputy leader, said it is "worrying" that Hungary and the EU has 
"started off on the wrong foot" regarding youth unemployment, which has now 
reached 5.5 million for the under-25 age group in Europe. He added that since 
2010 the number of Hungarians working abroad has risen manifold and Orban had 
made Hungary a "country of emigrants".

The 3-day congress began on Friday afternoon with some 800 delegates in 
attendance. PES reelected Sergei Stanishev as president. After the vote, 
Stanishev told a press conference that problems could not be resolved through 
declaring immigrants scapegoats or mulling reintroduction of the death penalty. 
He added that the tendency of Hungary's ruling Fidesz banning European values 
in the country is unacceptable. Martin Schulz, (Socialist) president of the 
European Parliament, said whereas European countries may be on a democratic 
path, more and more questions are being raised concerning fundamental 
democratic values.

(source: Hungary Today)








THAILAND:

Thai official may face death penalty for lese majeste; Montri Sotangkur - who 
worked for disgraced former princess Srirasmi - believed to have used royal 
standing to gain favors, positions



A royal court official in Thailand - charged with abusing his ties to the 
palace - could face the death penalty, police confirmed Monday.

Former Grand Chamberlain of the Royal Household Bureau Montri Sotangkur has 
been charged with les majeste and malfeasance for using his position in the 
Royal Household to gain favours, bribes and positions from various government 
bodies.

The 53-year-old - who worked for former princess Srirasmi - could face the 
death penalty for the 1st charge and up to 15 years in prison for the 2nd, a 
national police headquarters spokesperson confirmed to Anadolu Agency on 
Monday.

Police General Prawuth Thawornsiri added that the Anti Money Laundering Office 
(AMLO) had seized more than 10 million baht ($296,500) belong to Sotangkur and 
that the case against him would be finalized by the end of the month.

Sotangkur has been detained at an army training camp in Thawi Watthana district 
since June 10 when Crime Suppression Division police arrested him.

The Bangkok Post reported Saturday that he has since confessed to 4 charges, 
including demanding bribes and abuse of authority, after allegedly using his 
royal connection to demand a seat on the boards of PTT Plc and CAT Telecom Plc 
in 2011.

He is also suspected of involvement with a criminal gang led by disgraced, 
convicted and jailed former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen 
Pongpat Chayapan - an uncle of the former princess.

Princess Srirasmi's family figured at the center of a corruption scandal last 
November, after which Thailand's Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn - her husband - 
was forced to strip several members of their royal family name.

Srirasmi - the crown prince's 3rd wife - was then "authorized" to resign from 
the family a few days later.

Her parents - Apiruj Suwadee, 72, and Wanthanee Suwadee, 66 - were also jailed 
in March, having been found guilty of using their royal status to pressure 
police into imprisoning a young woman that the mother suspected of having an 
affair with her husband.

Thailand has some of the harshest lese majeste laws in the world; designed to 
protect the country's highly revered monarch and his family, which the ruling 
junta views as above politics.

Due to the strict laws, local media were forced to report with extreme caution 
on the scandal. Initially they were unable to even mention the connection 
between Chayapan and Srirasmi.

The law punishes offenders with jail terms of between 3 to 15 years.

On Monday, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand said that it had been 
forced to cancel a planned discussion on lese majeste - article 112 of the 
country's Criminal Code - scheduled for Wednesday after the military had 
threatened to seal off the building where the club is located.?

On asking the country's ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) for 
a writtem demand, the club said in a statement that the NCPO had said it would 
not issue such a letter "because they fear it would be used in the media to 
damage their image."

The statement added that a previous letter from the police had asked for 
"cooperation in cancelling the event," stating that it would "sow disunity in 
Thai society, and encourage people to break the law and stir up unrest."

"We told them these fears were groundless, and declined their request," the 
statement added.

(source: aa.com.tr)








INDONESIA:

Indonesian court to rule next week on death row Frenchman's appeal



An Indonesian court will rule next week on a French drug convict's attempt to 
avoid execution by challenging the president's refusal to grant him clemency.

Serge Atlaoui will learn next Monday, June 22, whether the Jakarta State 
Administrative Court will allow his appeal to proceed, chief judge Ujang 
Abdullah told a brief hearing on Monday. Atlaoui, 51, had been due to face the 
firing squad with 7 other foreign drug convicts in April. But he won a 
temporary reprieve after authorities agreed to let an outstanding legal appeal 
run its course.

He is challenging President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's decision to reject his 
request for clemency, typically a death row convict's final hope of avoiding 
execution -- claiming the leader did not properly consider his case.

The administrative court had already decided in April that it did not have the 
jurisdiction to hear the appeal because granting clemency is the prerogative of 
the president.

Atlaoui's lawyers are now challenging that decision. If the latest appeal 
fails, his lawyers have said they may pursue other legal avenues.

He was arrested in a 2005 raid on a secret drug laboratory outside Jakarta, 
with authorities accusing him of being a "chemist" at the site. He has 
maintained his innocence, claiming that he was installing machinery in what he 
thought was an acrylics plant.

France has mounted a diplomatic campaign to save him, warning Indonesia of 
unspecified consequences if he is put to death.

Indonesia's execution in April of foreign drug convicts -- 2 from Australia, 1 
from Brazil, and 4 Nigerians -- sparked international anger, with Canberra 
temporarily recalling its ambassador. However Jokowi has insisted he will not 
change course on the death penalty, saying Indonesia faces an emergency due to 
rising drug use.

(source: Jakarta Post)








SINGAPORE:

2 caught with drugs at checkpoint



2 people were arrested on Friday morning after they were caught with more than 
1.4kg of drugs at Woodlands Checkpoint, according to a joint media release from 
the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Central Narcotics Bureau 
(CNB).

A 52-year-old male Singaporean, driving a Singapore-registered taxi was stopped 
by ICA officers for a routine check upon arrival. There was a female Malaysian 
passenger, 37, in the taxi with him.

The ICA officers found a bag under the front passenger seat which contained 7 
bundles. The bundles were found to contain a total of about 1.4kg of heroin, 
about 149g of 'Ice', 140 tablets of Ecstasy and 100 Erimin 5 pills.

The total estimated street value of the drugs is about S$129,500 (RM361,185). 
Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, drug traffickers face the death penalty if the 
amount of pure heroin trafficked exceeds 15g.

(source: The Straits Times)



SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi Arabia executes 100th prisoner in 6 months



Saudi Arabia has beheaded a Syrian drug trafficker, rocketing the number of 
this year's executions in the Kingdom to 100. This figure is already more than 
the 87 sentenced and put to death in the country during the whole of last year.

The execution took place on Monday in the northern region of Jawf. Syrian 
Ismael al-Tawm smuggled "a large amount of banned amphetamine pills into the 
kingdom," the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement, as cited by AFP.

The man was sentenced to death according to the nation's strict version of 
Sharia law, under which such crimes as murder, rape, armed robbery and drug 
trafficking are punishable by death. Public executions are mostly conducted by 
decapitating the accused with a sword.

The 100th execution has surpassed the 87 recorded by AFP in 2014, but is still 
some way below the highest figure of 192, recorded by the human rights group 
Amnesty International in 1995. The watchdog has been scathing of the Kingdom's 
human rights record, saying they "fall far short" of global norms.

"Almost 1/2 of the executions carried out so far this year have been for 
drug-related offences, which don't fall into a recognized international 
category of 'most serious crimes,' and the use of the death penalty for such 
offences violates international law," a statement on Amnesty International's 
website read.

The "fast pace" of executions in Saudi Arabia was deemed "very disturbing" by a 
UN special rapporteur.

"If it continues at this pace we will have double the number of executions, or 
more than double the number of executions, that we had last year," Christof 
Heyns, who submits annual reports to the UN Human Rights Council and General 
Assembly, told AFP on May 27.

In a country of approximately 29 million, the number of people sentenced to 
death and executed is "very high," Heyns said, adding that Saudi Arabia "is 
going against the stream." Execution figures are decreasing in other countries.

Saudi Arabia is 1 of the top 3 executioners in the world and is only surpassed 
by China and Iran. The most common way of executing prisoners is through 
beheading, which often takes place in public squares. Occasionally, some 
prisoners are shot by firing squad in some southern provinces.

(source: rt.com)








IRAN----executions

2 Prisoners Hanged to Death in Rasht on Saturday



According to official reports from the Department of Justice in Gilan, 2 
prisoners with drug related charges were hanged to death in Lakan Prison (I.e. 
Rasht Central Prison) on Saturday morning. The report identifies the prisoners 
as E.M., 54 years old and Q.P., 44 years old.

The report claims that E.M. was charged with possession of 994 Kilograms of 
heroin and Q.P. was charged with selling, buying, and possessing 24 Kilograms 
of opium.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

Victim's family forgives young killer at gallows



On Sunday, the execution of a 22-year old man who had been sentenced to death 
for killing his aunt and her husband was halted at the very last minute in 
Arak, the capital of Markazi Province, the IRNA reported.

The unidentified convict had killed his aunt and her husband in 2013 when 
stealing from their home.

The victim's family forgave the convict early in the morning when he was 
brought to the site of his execution.

Over the last year, the prison authorities in Markazi Province have been 
successful in giving new life to 8 other convicts by persuading victim's 
families to forgive them.

Iranian calendar year ended on March 20, 2015.

(source: Tehran Times)








MALAYSIA:

Pakistan National Sent To The Gallows For Drug Trafficking



The High Court here today handed the death penalty to a Pakistan national for 
trafficking 1,482.5 grammes of Methamphetamine at the Kuala Lumpur 
International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, 2 years ago.

Judge Datuk Ahmad Nasfy Yasin sent Muhammad Asad, 26, to the gallows after the 
prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Ahmad Nasfy said the claim by the accused that he was forced to tie the drugs 
to his leg after being threatened by a passenger whom he had met at the toilet 
of the KLIA arrival hall, had no basis.

Asad was alleged to have committed the offence in front of the toilet, behind 
the baggage claim area B of the International arrival hall, Level 3, MTB 
Building, KLIA, at 10pm on May 14, 2013.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution called up 5 witnesses while the defence 
produced 1 witness.

The prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Faten Hadni Khairuddin 
while Asad was represented by Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali.

(source: Bernama)