[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 16




CHINA:

Why Lawyers Are The Only Opposition To The Death Penalty In China----A murder 
case in which a Chinese student poisoned and killed his roommate has brought 
out the worst in the Chinese public, which is practically marching with 
pitchforks for his execution. Attorneys, meanwhile, are urging that he be 
spared.



2 years ago, Shanghai medical student Lin Senhao fatally poisoned his roommate. 
He was sentenced to death last year for intentional homicide, and his case is 
currently being reviewed. Though it's difficult to predict the final outcome, 
the public appears bloodthirsty, eager for him to pay the ultimate price for 
his crime.

Lin's case is reminiscent of another one a few years ago in which university 
music student Yao Jiaxin knocked over a pedestrian and then stabbed her to 
death because she was trying to write down his license plate number. He was 
executed in 2011.

In both cases, the accused were and are college students, but there is another 
significant similarity: Public opinion was and is surprisingly consistent in 
calling for the death penalty. Meanwhile, a weak voice of opposition to 
execution is coming from none other than the legal community.

Whether Yao deserved the death penalty in 2011 or whether Lin deserves it now 
is a matter of opinion. But the legal community, which is overwhelmingly 
against capital punishment in Lin's case, and the public, which is practically 
marching with pitchforks, couldn't be more divided.

Are people in the legal community simply more merciful, or is it because 
"lawyers are the devil's advocate"? Kindness and mercy aren't typically 
character traits associated with lawyers. While judges often enjoy the 
assumption of impartiality, attorneys have a much more complicated image. At 
best, they are deemed resourceful and courageous. At worst, they are cunning 
and greedy.

On the contrary, there are many people among the public at large who can't bear 
even the idea of killing a chicken or cutting a fish. So why is it that, in the 
face of young offenders such as Lin Senhao and Yao Jiaxin, they become more 
bloodthirsty than those whose work is in the law?

Explaining the divide

It may be at least partly explained by the proximity that the general public 
and the legal community have respectively to such cases. Many lawyers and 
judges deal with criminal cases daily, and are frequently exposed to the facts 
and circumstances of bloodshed and murder. They are familiar with the most 
brutal side of human nature, and consequently are both less prone to be shocked 
and more likely to understand any mitigating factors.

Meanwhile, a murder case can easily stir strong emotions in ordinary citizens. 
As the saying goes, everyone has a steelyard in their heart. While the legal 
community may feel there are extenuating circumstances in Lin's case, public 
opinion lacks nuance and regards the offense as absolutely unforgivable.

The phenomenon may also be explained by the degree of the murderer's 
"personification" in the minds of the two groups. To most people, Lin is a 
stranger and an abstract symbol. The public's understanding of him is limited 
to the rough outline of his case and probably a few lines of news summaries.

But someone familiar with the law regards the defendant in the context of his 
background and circumstance. Lin isn't seen as an abstraction but as a real 
young man whose circumstances and history help to define him.

This also explains why some Fufan University students want Lin to be spared. 
Though his crime has left them distraught, it's much more difficult to wish 
death for someone you know than for a stranger. The same is true for reporters 
who have delved deeply into Lin's case, who understand him as a person. They 
too are among the minority of people who reject the notion that executing Lin 
is the only way to achieve justice.

Finally, the public's alignment with victims may also help explain their 
pitchfork mentality. Empathy is a human instinct at the root of emotions such 
as mercy, compassion and anger. Faced with the knowledge of a vicious murder, 
the public's self-protection is triggered, and it identifies with the victim. 
By contrast, lawyers and judges are trained to consider the defendant's rights 
and to presume innocence.

Such empathy is often reflected in criminal trials. In rape cases, for 
instance, women judges generally give heavier sentences than male judges. But 
in juvenile delinquency cases, it's the other way around. In the first case, 
judges are perhaps swayed by their vulnerability as women, and in the second 
case by their protective instincts as mothers.

Though criminal law professors say that capital penalties are inevitable in 
China, they nevertheless advocate the progressive abolition of the death 
penalty. Meanwhile, the notion of "a life for a life" is an ingrained 
conviction among the Chinese public.

(source: World Crunch)








VIETNAM:

Cash-based death commutation unacceptable in Vietnam: judicial official



A Vietnamese judicial official has rejected a proposal that convicted criminals 
can give back part of the money or property they have gained from their 
wrongdoing to get away from capital punishment.

Nguyen Dinh Quyen, deputy chairman of the National Assembly Justice Committee, 
told the media about a draft amendment to the current Penal Code, whose 
revision is scheduled to be discussed on Tuesday.

Pursuant to the proposed amendment, the death penalty should be reduced to a 
life sentence if the convicted can submit to competent agencies at least half 
of the money or property they have earned from their crimes; actively work with 
investigators on detecting, investigating, and handling criminals; or achieve a 
great feat.

This amendment has recently triggered a heated debate among legal experts, 
before it and many other proposed amendments are to be considered today.

"The Justice Committee does not agree to a proposed regulation allowing the 
convicted to use money as a remedy to get rid of a death sentence," Quyen said.

Such a remedy can be considered by a court as a mitigating circumstance for 
defendants when the court decides on sentencing, but it cannot be used as a 
means to help them avoid capital punishment, the official said, adding this is 
a consistent criminal policy of the Party and State.

When asked if such a policy may cause difficulties for efforts to recover 
damages in corruption cases, Quyen said recovery of loss from such cases is 
very important, but it cannot be implemented when it is detrimental to the 
above criminal policy.

"Criminals must be punished strictly by law. In recent times, people have been 
upset about corruption. So my view is that we should not abolish the death 
penalty at any cost or only to show that we are implementing a policy to reduce 
capital punishment," Quyen said.

Regarding another suggested amendment that defendants over the age of 70 should 
be exempted from capital punishment, Quyen said the Ministry of Justice does 
not agree to it.

According to a recent summary of the criminal situation, the proportion of 
older people and adolescents committing serious crimes is on the rise, Quyen 
said, adding that there were cases in which people over 70 killed or raped 
children.

People at the age can have full civil capability to commit a crime, so the 
proposal that the death penalty be exempted for them is legally groundless, 
Quyen said.

Recently, a research group of the Justice Committee also said that the new 
amendment should be considered carefully in order to prevent occurrences in 
which murderers, drug offenders or violators of national security may use their 
money to escape death sentences.

Chairman of the committee Nguyen Van Hien said, "This draft amendment can give 
rise to a misunderstanding that any death row inmate can avoid their sentence 
if they have enough money as required. Therefore, I recommend that this 
proposition should be re-considered."

Vietnam is considering waiving capital punishment for 7 crimes: plundering 
property; destroying important national security works and/or facilities; 
disobeying orders in the military; surrendering to the enemy, which is 
applicable in the army; undermining peace, provoking aggressive wars; crimes 
against mankind; and war crimes.

(source; Tuoi Tre News)








PAKISTAN----executions

8 more death row prisoners sent to gallows



8 more death row prisoners were hanged in different prisons of Punjab on 
Tuesday.

2 murder convicts were executed in Faisalabad's Central jail. According to 
details, Younis was convicted of murdering 3 people including a woman in 2000 
while Allah Ditta was handed down death penalty after being proven guilty in 
the murder case of a woman in 1999.

Other convicts were executed in Gujranwala, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi 
Khan and Lahore.

Hangings of 3 more convicts were halted at the 11th hour as 2 of them were 
pardoned by the families of the victims while another got relief due to a stay 
order issued by the High Court.

(source: geo.tv)

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

Pakistan issues temporary stay of execution for 'mentally ill' man----Lahore 
court requests medical report from jail officials



A court in Lahore has issued a 3-day stay of execution for a death row inmate 
who family members and lawyers claim suffers from a mental illness, according 
to a legal rights group.

Authorities planned to execute Khizar Hayat early on Tuesday morning, despite 
efforts by his lawyers to order a medical board examination to investigate 
claims that Hayat suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

A spokesman for Justice Project Pakistan - a law firm that advocates for the 
rights of death row inmates - confirmed to ucanews.com on Monday night that the 
court had issued the temporary stay of execution.

The stay follows a petition filed by the condemned man's son, Bilala Hayat, and 
a petition for mercy submitted to the president of Pakistan, the son said.

The court further required prison officials to respond to claims that Hayat's 
mental state precludes him from execution.

Though temporary, the stay is likely to be extended because of a moratorium on 
executions for the holy month of Ramadan, which begins on Thursday.

A background brief submitted to the courts by the Justice Project Pakistan 
earlier this month said that Hayat was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 
2008, and that prison officials have since overseen the administration of 
anti-psychotic drugs.

Hayat, a former police officer, was convicted in 2003 of killing a fellow 
officer and has spent the last 12 years on death row.

The government lifted a 6-year moratorium on the death penalty in December last 
year following a deadly Taliban attack on a military-run school in Peshawar in 
which 132 children were killed.

Authorities have executed 150 people in the 6 months since the moratorium was 
lifted - the most in any similar period in the last decade.

Last week, authorities executed Aftab Bahadur Masih, a Christian man who 
lawyers say was a juvenile when the murder he was convicted of was committed.

(source: UCAnews)








SUDAN:

Sudan can't defend arrest of pastors



2 pastors on trial in Sudan, who could face the death penalty for their 
Christian faith, are facing another difficulty.

Tiffany Barrans, international legal director for the American Center for Law 
and Justice, has been in contact with advocates who are representing the 
families of Yat Michael and Peter Yan.

"The (families) went to visit the pastors and their husbands in the prison that 
they have been held in since March and they were not there," Barrans tells 
OneNewsNow.

The pastors have been moved to Kober Prison, a high-security prison.

The prison is controlled by the National Intelligence Security Service, which 
Barrans says has caused problems for Christians in Sudan.

"Obviously some deep concern here for violation of international law and 
Sudanese law," Barrans warns.

The pastors are on trial for trumped-up charges, she says, and the case has 
faced delays because the government and prosecution have failed to produce any 
credible evidence against the 2.

(source: onenewsnow.com)



ASIA:

The Unbearable Irreversibility of the Death Penalty



A global trend away from the use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses 
means countries that do carry out executions are on the extreme fringe, a 
minority on the world stage

Chen Chin-Hsien walked up on stage and introduced himself before the audience: 
a civil court judge in Taiwan for the past 4 1/2 years, and before that serving 
on the bench in juvenile and criminal courts.

"21 years ago," he declared, "I believed firmly in retribution and the death 
penalty."

But everything changed when, during a public discussion on judicial issues 
several years ago, a young woman asked him, "What if some day one of the 
defendants you have sentenced to death is found to be wrongfully convicted? 
What would you do?"

It was the 1st time anyone had brought up the possibility to him, Chen went on 
in his speech in Kuala Lumpur last week.

"I looked at her for a long time and I couldn't answer her. Eventually I said, 
'I don't really know. Maybe quit my job.'"

It was a possibility that, mercifully, Chen never had to face. One of the rare 
cases he heard in which the death penalty was prescribed involved a mentally 
ill young man on trial for slitting a child's throat in an arcade.

Given the defendant's mental condition, the panel of 3 judges, Chen among them, 
chose not to hand down the death penalty - and immediately drew condemnation 
from the press and society.

"This was no surprise. But the surprising thing was that we were also attacked 
so hard by our fellow judges. No judge supported our verdict. There are not 
many judges in Taiwan brave enough to resist such pressure," Chen said.

He acknowledged the long tradition of martial justice in Chinese society, but 
argued that in the modern age, the death penalty is primitive and cruel.

Tide is turning

Chen was speaking at a congress hosted last week by the organization Together 
Against the Death Penalty/Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM) and the 
Anti-Death Penalty Asian Network (ADPAN). The ECPM has organized similar 
congresses on the abolition of the death penalty, but the Kuala Lumpur event 
was the first to be held in Asia, and served to highlight the use of the death 
penalty in the region, mostly for drug-related offenses.

Indonesia was, until 2012, among a growing number of countries exercising a de 
factor moratorium on the use of the death penalty. All that changed this year 
with the execution of 14 people, 12 of them foreigners, for drug-related 
offenses, drawing widespread criticism and riling diplomatic ties.

But the more than 300 delegates at the ECPM congress also heard about how the 
problem was not limited just to Indonesia: Singapore maintains a mandatory 
death sentence for drug-trafficking.

Malaysia also prescribes death for trafficking, but the tide is turning in that 
country, says Steven Thiru, the president of the Malaysian Bar Association.

The association has repeatedly passed resolutions at its annual meetings 
calling for the abolition of the death penalty, and while the government has 
never acquiesced, the public is increasingly in support of ending capital 
punishment. An opinion poll conducted in 2013 by the bar association and the 
Death Penalty Project, a leading human rights organization based in the 
Britain, found that the majority of the Malaysian public surveyed did not 
support the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking, murder or firearm 
offenses.

Thiru said there were no more barriers to abolishing the death penalty in the 
country. "It is up to the government and the legislators to drive the 
conversation forward. If they lead, the public will follow," he said.

Debunking the myth

In the wider context, the position maintained by law enforcement in Indonesia, 
Singapore and Malaysia is increasingly a marginal one. 6 Asian countries - 
Nepal, Bhutan, Philippines, Cambodia, Timor Leste and Mongolia - have already 
abolished the death penalty from their statutes.

Brunei, Myanmar and South Korea are abolitionists in practice, meaning they 
still retain the death penalty in their legislation but have not carried out 
any executions for some time.

Only 25 countries in Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands and the Middle East 
routinely carry out executions, said Raphael Chenuil Hazan, the executive 
director of the ECPM.

"This trend debunks the myth that abolishing the death sentence is a Western 
value," Hazan said.

Britain-based Harm Reduction International goes deeper in its report "The Death 
Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2012."

The report identifies 49 countries in the Asia and MENA (Middle East and North 
Africa) region as "retentionist," or having the death penalty on their 
statutes; of these, only 13 carry out executions, and only 5 do so regularly.

Of the 92 retentionist countries and territories worldwide, a third prescribe 
the death penalty for drug-related offenses; only one in seven actively execute 
drug offenders, and only one in 18 do so with any regularity or in any great 
number.

That means that countries that do carry out death sentences are on the extreme 
fringe, a minority on the global stage.

Avoiding the real issues

Rick Lines, the executive director of HRI, said the decision to carry out death 
sentences was not a cultural, social or regional trend, but instead a mere 
political choice, which is what he saw happen in Indonesia, which went from 2 
executions in the last 5 years to 13 in the last 5 months.

The fact that most of those executed were foreigners played to the narrative of 
drugs as a foreign threat, which Lines said was merely a way for the 
authorities to avoid dealing with developing health or harm reduction policies 
and therapies to treat people living with drug abuse domestically.

Julian McMahon, a lawyer for the late Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the two 
Australians executed in Indonesia on April 29, refuted the Indonesian 
government's insistence that the death penalty served as an effective deterrent 
against the drug trade.

"The drug kingpins move drugs by the tons. It's laughable to think that by 
executing these 2 boys, it will deter consumption or distribution of drugs in 
Indonesia. Nobody is talking about the distribution or the making of drugs 
already happening inside Indonesia," he said.

McMahon, who usually avoids giving out personal stories to the media because 
they tend to divert attention from the actual legal work being done by his 
office, made a rare exception at the congress in Kuala Lumpur.

"When I first met those boys in 2006, they were ordinary punk criminals," he 
said.

"But they became poster boys for what the prison reform system could be. They 
turned the prison around into a safe learning space."

He also shared his story of spending time with Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina 
drug mule who was also slated to be executed with the others, and her 2 sons, 
all of them believing that it was the end.

"She held her 2 boys, thinking it would be for the last time. She sang to them, 
the boys sang to me, I gave them chocolate," McMahon said.

When the shots rang out on the Central Java prison island of Nusakambangan, the 
grief of the Veloso family was immense. They were convinced she had been shot, 
only to be notified later that she had been granted a last-minute reprieve.

"And to think she's going to face all of this again is just inhumane," McMahon 
said.

He said what upset him the most about the Indonesian government???s approach to 
the issue was that there was no pretense whatsoever that President Joko Widodo 
had read the pleas for clemency: It was simply decided that 64 people must die, 
even though many of them, Chan and Sukumaran among them, still had appeals 
pending.

The Australians' appeal hearing was scheduled for May 12; they were shot dead 
less than 2 weeks before their court date.

"There is no country in the world that deployed more energy, money and 
diplomats to get their citizens out of death row than Indonesia. And they do so 
in the most praiseworthy way," McMahon said.

"So imagine my disappointment when all my legal efforts were met with the 
simple argument of trying to interfere with the sovereignty of another 
country."

For the lawyer, the bitter experience of the Chan and Sukumaran case is the 
exact scenario that Chen, the Taiwanese judge, has always dreaded.

"Criminal judgment is not just about retribution, but also about a settlement 
between society and the defendant. In the rehabilitation process, society can 
embrace this defendant, or the defendant can embrace society again," Chen said.

"But death is the ultimate retribution that leaves no chance for this 
settlement process to happen."

(source: Isyana Artharini,The Jakarta Globe)








AUSTRALIA:

Jacqui Lambie calls for death penalty for terrorists



Senator Jacqui Lambie has called for the death penalty to be introduced for 
people found guilty of terrorism on Australian soil.

The Tasmanian Senator made the comments during a critique of the Abbott 
Government's plans to strip terror-suspect dual nationals of their Australian 
citizenship.

Senator Lambie slammed the plans as "bungled" when addressing the Senate on 
Tuesday, stating that current treason and sedition laws should instead be 
amended to allow the removal by a court decision.

She then called for further amendments to allow the death penalty for terror 
suspects.

"While we're strengthening the laws of sedition and treason, let's also 
increase the maximum penalty from 7 years to life in jail," she said.

"In addition, those Islamic terrorists found guilty of treason and have killed 
during their attacks on Australian soil should also qualify for the death 
sentence."

The independent senator has previously spoken on a Private Member's Bill to 
reintroduce the death penalty for citizens who leave Australia to become 
foreign fighters.

Bring back death penalty, Lambie says

Jacqui Lambie has called for Australia to reintroduce the death penalty, amid 
negotiations to save an Australian duo from an Indonesian firing squad.

The federal government is still working on the details of the citizenship law 
changes.

The coalition party room meeting on Tuesday did not consider the bill, 
following a decision not to bring the bill to cabinet on Monday.

Some cabinet ministers, the federal opposition and civil liberties lawyers have 
raised questions about handing the immigration minister the power to strip dual 
national terror suspects of their Australian citizenship.

(source: sbs.com.au)








BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh upholds death sentence for top Islamist for war crimes



Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death penalty for a top 
Islamist party leader over atrocities committed during the war of independence 
more than 4 decades ago, paving the way for his execution.

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, 67, secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami 
party, was convicted in 2013 on charges of genocide, killing intellectuals, 
torture and abduction during the 1971 war to break away from Pakistan, a ruling 
that triggered violent protests by supporters.

Mojaheed, a minister during former premier Khaleda Zia???s rule from 2001-2006, 
could be hanged within months, lawyers said.

"Everyone in Bangladesh is pleased over this verdict," Attorney General 
Mahbubey Alam told reporters. "There's no bigger crime than to eliminate the 
nation's intellectuals."

Defense lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said he would seek a review of the 
judgment and the Jamaat called for a 24-hour nationwide strike on Wednesday in 
protest.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened an inquiry into crimes committed during the 
war in 2010, paving the way for prosecutions by a war crimes tribunal that 
Islamists have denounced as part of a politically motivated campaign aimed at 
weakening Jamaat-e-Islami's leadership.

2 Jamaat leaders have been executed, 1 in December 2013 and another in April. 
International human rights groups say the tribunal's procedures fall short of 
international standards. The government denies the accusation.

East Pakistan broke away to become independent Bangladesh after the war between 
India and Pakistan. About 3 million people were killed.

Some factions in Bangladesh, including the Jamaat, opposed the break with 
Pakistan, but the party denies accusations that its leaders committed 
atrocities.

(source: Reuters)

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

Supreme Court confirms pro-Pakistan militia commander Mujahid???s death penalty 
for Bangladesh war crimes



Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha's four-member bench on Tuesday confirmed the 
death penalty for the 67-year old former commander of Al-Badr, the militia 
raised by Pakistan to crush the Bengali struggle for independence.

The top court's judgment was greeted with celebratory embraces and handshakes 
outside the courtroom and enlivened by full-throated slogans in the streets.

It elicited jubilation and relief among war veterans and supporters of war 
crimes trial who had pushed for maximum penalty for Mujahid who unleashed his 
'angels of death' on his own people in 1971.

But those who suffered Mujahid's brutality were certain no punishment was good 
enough for the Jamaat leader.

This is the 1st time a politician who served as a minister is going to be 
executed for war crimes in Bangladesh.

Mujahid, the social welfare minister in Khaleda Zia's BNP-Jamaat coalition 
cabinet, planned and executed mass murders including those of intellectuals, 
scientists, academics and journalists during the war to abort Bangladesh's 
birth.

The war crimes tribunal ordered him - in his mid-20s in 1971 - to walk the 
gallows on July 17, 2013 for the massacre of the intellectuals and involvement 
in the murder and torture of Hindus.

Out of the 7 charges levelled against him, the tribunal had found him guilty on 
5 counts. He was given the death penalty in the 1st, 6th and 7th charges.

The Jamaat secretary general got death for the 1st of the 7 charges - abduction 
and murder of journalist Sirajuddin Hossain - which was "merged" with the 6th 
charge related to the murder of intellectuals.

The Appellate Division took into account the 1st and 6th charge separately. 
Tuesday???s verdict acquitted Mujahid from the abduction and murder of Hossain 
but upheld the death penalty for the murder of intellectuals.

The tribunal also had sentenced him to death for the 7th charge - murder and 
torture of Hindus - as well. The Appellate Division verdict commuted it to life 
in prison.

He got life in prison for the 5th charge - confinement and torture of composer 
Altaf Mahmud, Jahir Uddin Jalal alias 'Bichchhu Jalal', Shafi Imam Rumi, 
Badiuzzaman, Abdul Halim Chowdhury Jewel and Magfar Ahmed Chowdhury Azad at an 
old MP Hostel in Dhaka's Nakhalpara area.

Everyone, except Jalal, was killed. The Supreme Court upheld the war crimes 
tribunal's verdict on this charge.

Mujahid was handed down a 5-year prison term for the third charge ??? abduction 
and torture of Ranjit Nath alias Babu Nath of Faridpur's Khabashpur. The final 
verdict upheld it.

He was acquitted of the 2nd and 4th charges that accused him of genocide in the 
Charvodrason Hindu village, and confinement and torture of one Abu Yusuf alias 
Pakhi.

The appeals judges did not take the 2 charges into account for this reason.

Mujahid is the 4th war crimes convict whose case has been resolved by the top 
court after the trials were started in 2010.

He was brought to Dhaka from Narayanganj on Monday for a hearing on the Aug 21 
grenade attack case. The Jamaat leader was kept in the Dhaka Central jail.

People in his hometown Faridpur marched out on the streets in sheer jubilation 
to celebrate the verdict.

An exuberant crowd of people and freedom fighters came out on Dhaka's streets 
at the call of Ganajagaran Mancha, the movement pressing for maximum penalty of 
war criminals.

The defence said it would file petition seeking a review of the verdict.

"We will file a review petition within 15 days of the publication of the full 
verdict," counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain told reporters.

Replying a query, he said: "We are not disappointed by the verdict. This is the 
judiciary. There's no reason to be dissatisfied over the judicial process."

But Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said that the people of the country are 
pleased that the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence.

"There's no bigger crime than to eliminate the nation's intellectuals. I do not 
find any difference between the cruelties of Hitler and them (Al-Badr)," said 
Alam.

The verdict copy will be sent to the tribunal which will issue a death warrant. 
Jail authorities will read out the warrant to the convict when they get it.

The defence can ask for a review 15 days within the publication of the Supreme 
Court verdict. However, the court will only accept it if it feels there is a 
possib ility of 'denial of justice'.

In no way will the review be equal to appeal - a point made clear in the full 
verdict rejecting the review of another Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla, the 
first to hang for war crimes.

If the death sentence is upheld in the review, the convict will be informed of 
it formally. He will have the option to seek mercy from the president and also 
be allowed to meet his family.

The government will decide on executing the death verdict through the jail 
authorities once the issue of presidential pardon is settled.

In this case, the procedures followed in the execution of Molla and another 
Jamaat leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman will be observed in Mujahid's case as well.

4th verdict

13 of the 19 verdicts delivered by 2 tribunals have been challenged in court.

Death-row convicts Abul Kalam Azad, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuz Zaman 
Khan, Faridpur's Jahid Hossain alias Khokon Razakar, former Jatiya Party vice 
chairman Abdul Jabbar have not challenged the verdict because they are fugitive 
from justice.

Mujahid's case is the 4th to be resolved in the highest court.

Jamaat's assistant secretary general Kamaruzzaman was hanged on Apr 11 after 
the apex court delivered its final verdict on Nov 3 last year.

On Sept 17, 2014, the Appellate Division reduced Jamaat's number 2 Delwar 
Hossain Sayedee's sentence to life in prison.

A year before that, another Jamaat leader Molla was given the death penalty. He 
was executed on Dec 12, 2013.

Former Jamaat chief Gholam Azam and former BNP minister Abdul Alim died during 
hearing on their appeal.

Hearing of the appeal by BNP Standing Committee Member Salauddin Quader 
Chowdhury's appeal has started on Tuesday.

(source: bdnews224.com)



IRAN----executions

Kurdish Political Prisoner Executed Amid Allegations of Unfair Trial



According to unofficial reports, Mansour Arvand, a Kurdish political prisoner 
was hanged to death on Sunday in Miandoab Prison. Arvand's brother, Esmaeil, 
confirmed the reports to Iran Human Rights and added, "My brother was not 
accused of any acts of violence in his case file."

Iranian authorities arrested Arvand on June 14, 2010 and sentenced him to death 
for "Working with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran", "Propaganda against 
the regime", and "Moharebeh."

Authorities reportedly did not allow Arvand a visit with his family prior to 
executing him. Confirmed sources say the authorities had previously 
communicated to Arvand that his death sentence was commuted to life in prison.

Iran Human Rights condemns the execution of Mansour Arvand and calls on the 
Iranian authorities to try individuals who have been arrested and imprisoned 
for politically motivated offenses fairly and openly in the presence of 
reporters and a jury.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

6 Prisoners Hanged in Uremia



6 prisoners have been hanged on charge of drug trafficking in the prison of 
Uremia.

According to the reort of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Ali and 
Osman Amini, 2 brothers and Mansur Fatehi Rad have been hanged along with 3 
other prisoners in the Central Prison of Uremia on June 11th.

The identities of the 3 other prisoners are still unknown for HRANA.

One of HRANA's sources said that the number of executed prisoners in the 
Central Prison of Uremia since the beginning of Iranian New Year (March 22, 
2015) is 28 which is more than the whole number of the last year.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)








EGYPT:

Egypt court sentences Morsi to life in jail for spying



An Egyptian court sentenced ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to life in 
prison on Tuesday on charges of spying for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, 
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and Iran.

The court also confirmed death sentences against 16 other defendants on charges 
of delivering secret documents abroad between 2005 and 2013.

The court still has to decide whether to confirm or commute death sentences it 
handed down against Morsi and more than 100 others in a separate trial on 
charges related to their escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that 
ousted veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.

In Egypt, a life sentence is 25 years in jail. Tuesday's verdict can be 
appealed.

The army ousted Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, in July 
2013 after mass protests calling for an end to his divisive 1-year rule.

He has already been sentenced to 20 years in jail in a separate trial on 
charges of inciting violence against protesters in 2012 when he was president.

Of the 16 defendants sentenced to death, only 3 are in custody, including 
Muslim Brotherhood financier Khairat al-Shater.

Along with Morsi, the court also sentenced the Brotherhood's spiritual guide 
Mohamed Badie and 15 others to life in prison. 3 other defendants, including a 
senior presidential aide were sentenced to 7 years in prison.

All 35 defendants were convicted of spying on behalf of the international 
Muslim Brotherhood organisation and Hamas from 2005 to August 2013 "with the 
aim of perpetrating terror attacks in the country in order to spread chaos and 
topple the state".

Since Morsi's ouster, the authorities have cracked down heavily on his 
supporters, le aving at least 1,400 people dead and more than 40,000 in 
custody, according to Human Rights Watch.

Hundreds have been sentenced to death in speedy mass trials, described by the 
United Nations as "unprecedented in recent history".

The crackdown has also extended to secular and leftwing activists, who 
spearheaded the 2011 revolt against Mubarak. Dozens have been jailed under a 
law that bans all but police-sanctioned demonstrations.

(source: al-monitor.com)