[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 20



EGYPT:

Death penalty divides Egyptians



Egyptian rights activists are demanding the abolition of the death penalty 
following what they described as "the expansion of death sentences in Egypt" - 
and as foreign countries and international human rights organizations such as 
Human Rights Watch leveled stinging criticism against the Egyptian judiciary.

Despite recent calls for Egypt to abolish capital punishment, getting rid of 
the death penalty is no simple matter.

It began when the military court in Egypt issued a final ruling in March, 
sentencing to death 6 persons charged with murder and belonging to Ansar Bayt 
al-Maqdis. This case became known in the media as the Arab Sharkas case.

In addition, the Cairo Criminal Court issued a decision May 16 to refer the 
case files of ousted President Mohammed Morsi and more than 100 other 
defendants to Grand Mufti Shawki Allam for consultation on whether they should 
be executed in a case known as the escape from Wadi Natrun Prison case. Morsi, 
along with other leaders and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, are accused of 
breaching Egyptian prisons and smuggling out some prisoners. While the court 
was expected to issue its final ruling June 2, it decided to postpone the 
ruling to give more time for the court to debate the matter. The court 
confirmed the death sentence for Morsi on June 16.

Against the backdrop of the aforementioned death sentences and the referral to 
the Grand Mufti, as well as previous death sentences - most notably the death 
sentences handed to 37 persons accused of murder and inciting riots in Minya - 
George Ishaq and Abdul Ghaffar Shukr, 2 members of the National Council for 
Human Rights, issued press statements calling for a halt to issuing death 
sentences in Egypt for at least 3 years to give time for the security and 
political situation to improve. They noted that they preferred permanent 
abolition.

Meanwhile, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a defected Brotherhood leader and the 
chairman of the Strong Egypt Party, issued a statement last month calling for 
the abolition of the death penalty as soon as possible.

The calls to suspend or abolish the death penalty were met with criticism from 
some of the families of victims of terrorist attacks. The National Council for 
Human Rights issued a statement in which it rejected the calls of members Ishaq 
and Shukr, announcing that it had not discussed suspending or abolishing the 
death penalty in Egypt, rather only demanded it be restricted to very serious 
crimes.

Following the numerous death sentences in Egypt, such as the Minya sentences 
and those from the Arab Sharkas case, some human rights organizations - most 
notably Human Rights Watch - said that they considered death sentences as a 
tool used by the Egypt regime to expand the oppression of its opponents. 
However, there are other reasons for maintaining the death penalty that are 
hard to ignore such as the Egyptian Constitution, Sharia, security concerns and 
the condemnation of criminals by those whose relatives have been murdered.

According to Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution of 2014, the principles of 
Sharia are the main source of legislation in Egypt. Speaking to Al-Monitor, 
Mahmoud Kabish, a law professor at Cairo University, said that abolishing the 
death penalty is incompatible with the principles of Sharia, which allows for 
the execution of murderers based on the religious rule saying "whoever kills 
shall be killed."

Abbas Shoman, a representative of Al-Azhar, told Al-Monitor that amending the 
Egyptian penal code to abolish the death penalty is a legal matter that 
concerns the state, and Al-Azhar will not interfere unless its Sharia-based 
opinion on the issue is requested, which in that case would only be a 
recommendation. Regarding the Sharia-based opinion and the extent to which 
abolishing the death penalty complies with the principles of Sharia, Shoman 
said that its abolition is incompatible with the principles of Sharia, as noted 
by Kabish.

It is worth noting that the National Council for Human Rights raised the issue 
of abolishing the death penalty in a 2010 report sent to the Egyptian 
government and parliament. However, a large number of Al-Azhar scholars 
rejected the Council's report, and it was likewise rejected by then-Minister of 
State for Legal Affairs Mufid Shehab and the Human Rights Commission of the 
Egyptian parliament.

Khaled Okasha, a retired Egyptian military general and chairman of the National 
Center for Security Studies, said that the death penalty is the only punishment 
deterring murderers, and replacing it with life imprisonment could bring about 
security unrest in Egypt. "Someone who has been sentenced to life in prison 
could commit crimes from inside prison, because he is transformed into a 
hopeless person, and life imprisonment is the maximum penalty he could face 
regardless of the crimes he commits," he added.

Khaled al-Badr, professor of social psychology at Cairo University, told 
Al-Monitor that those sentenced to life in prison become desperate people with 
nothing to deter them. "This could be a reason for them committing more crimes 
from within prison, because they will not be seeking to improve their behavior 
to shorten the sentence, as other prisoners do. They also will not seek to 
avoid committing new crimes, because they realize that they will not leave 
prison anyway," he said.

Eid Salama, the father of a victim of a November 2013 terrorist attack in 
Egypt, told Al-Monitor that he rejects his son's killer being given any 
sentence other than the death penalty. Meanwhile, Hossam Abdel Azim, the 
brother of a victim, told Al-Monitor that crimes of terrorism can only be 
stopped through death sentences, and that no other punishment can appease the 
families of victims of terrorist attacks.

"Egypt is not expanding its use of the death penalty," Kabish said. "Moreover, 
there are controls on the death penalty, most notably that it requires the 
consensus of all members of the court. Those sentenced [to death] have the 
right to appeal twice, not to mention that the presidency pardons some of them, 
which the president has the authority to do. Most of the death sentences issued 
in the recent period, like those in Minya, were in absentia. In such cases, the 
accused is given the maximum sentence so he can come back and be 
re-investigated."

It could be argued that abolishing the death penalty is a difficult matter - 
not because it is a tool of the state to intimidate opposition, as claimed by 
human rights organizations, but rather because its abolition could be met with 
rejection. The latter could use constitutional, religious or humane arguments 
to reinforce their rejection.

(source: al-monitor.com)

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

Death sentences upheld amidst unfair trials



FIDH strongly condemns the confirmation of death sentences against more than 
100 defendants, including former president Mohamed Morsi and other prominent 
Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

"Handing down mass death sentences in trials that have failed to uphold due 
process and establish individual guilt not only demonstrates the global 
deterioration of the judicial system in Egypt. It also participate of a broader 
wave of attacks led by the authorities to terrorize the political opposition as 
well as the whole Egyptian civil society," declared Karim Lahidji, FIDH 
President.

On June 16th, the Cairo Criminal Court upheld the death sentences against 
Mohamed Morsi, Mohamed Badie, Saad al-Katatny, Essam al-Erian, Rashad Bayoumi, 
Mohie Hamed, and 94 defendants who were sentenced in absentia. The court also 
upheld life sentences against 20 Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The case relates 
to the prison break in 2011 where the defendants were charged with accomplice 
to murder, and collaborating with foreign militants to break out of prison. In 
another case that was tried before the same court, Mohamed Morsi and 16 others 
were also sentenced to life imprisonment, and Mohamed al-Beltagy, Khairat 
al-Shater, Ahmed Abdel Aty and 13 others tried in absentia were sentence to 
death on charges of espionage. Among those sentenced in absentia is university 
professor Emad Shahin.

Those sentences were pronounced following unfair mass trials and, regarding the 
case of former president Mohamed Morsi and his aids, after they were initially 
submitted to forced disappearance and illegally maintained in unknown detention 
centers right after their arrest,

The FIDH expresses high concern at the outcome of those condamnations. The 
death sentences in both cases were already referred to the Grand Mufti for 
approval on May 16. The sentences can be appealed before the Court of Cassation 
which examines the application of law, but not evidence. In May 2015, the State 
Council was due to consider an appeal to halt the execution of six defendants 
who were tried before a military court on charges of planning armed attacks 
against military targets in 2014. The African Commission for Human and People's 
Rights requested provisional measures from the Egyptian authorities to halt the 
execution of the 6. However, they were executed days ahead of the appeal.

FIDH recalls that since July 2013 more than 670 death sentences have been 
handed down after mass unfair trials.

FIDH, member for the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, condemns the 
application of the death penalty and calls for itsimmediate cancellation . The 
accused should have the right to another trial respecting fair trial guarantees 
in accordance with international standards. FIDH calls on the African 
Commission on Human and People's Rights to pronounce itself on the illegality 
of the procedures of the mass death sentences according to international and 
African human rights instruments.

"The Egyptian authorities must abolish the death penalty for all crimes, impose 
an immediate moratorium on death sentence and execution, and ratify the Second 
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," 
declared Lahidji.

FIDH reiterates its firm opposition to the death penalty for all crimes and in 
all circumstances, as it considers it an inhumane treatment and in some cases a 
form of torture. FIDH recalls that there is now a general trend towards 
abolition of the death penalty among states, and accordingly calls on Egypt to 
follow the same path.

(source: FIDH)








KENYA:

MP proposes Bill to abolish death penalty



The death penalty could be abolished if a Bill proposed by an MP becomes law.

An MP has drafted a Bill whose enactment would result in the repeal of the 
death sentence from Kenya's laws and stop the accumulation of death-row 
prisoners.

This would be by removing death as a kind of punishment from the Penal Code via 
the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill and the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) 
Bill.

The Bill is by Oljororok MP John Waiganjo and is at the stage where the Justice 
and Legal Affairs Committee is supposed to scrutinise it prior to publication 
and formal introduction in the House.

Mr Waiganjo argues that having the death sentence in the law, contrary to the 
Bill of Rights in the Constitution, is not proper.

"Article 26 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life for all citizens 
and provides that this right may only be qualified by the Constitution or an 
Act of Parliament," said the MP in the Bill.

"The punishment is immoral, ineffective as a deterrent and has failed to 
adequately restore victims of crimes for which it is prescribed," he added.

Kenya has not executed a single death row convict since the hanging of Hezekiah 
Ochuka, the junior officer in the Kenya Air Force who headed the coup attempt 
in August 1982.

The number of death row convicts has however continued to accumulate since the 
provision is still in the statutes.

You can be subjected to the death sentence for robbery with violence or murder.

Robbery with violence can be as simple as using a knife to threaten someone 
before robbing them to shooting and injuring them before taking away their 
possessions.

INTENSE DEBATE

The 2 draft Bills are understood to have caused intense debate at the 
committee's meeting last Tuesday, which was closed to the public, as a number 
of MPs in the team support the death sentence.

Kiharu MP Irungu Kang'ata, who is an advocate of the High Court, said the 
penalty acts as a deterrent and that "some offences are too grave and only the 
death sentence can assuage the loss."

He gave defilers and mass murderers as among the people who should be put to 
death for their crimes.

He argued that it is too expensive to keep prisoners serving life sentences and 
a poor state such as Kenya would be better off using that money to support 
orphans rather than murderers and robbers.

"Some offences should not attract death: such as robbery with violence where a 
victim doesn't die, treason, which is a political offence," he added.

Some members of the committee were also reported to be of the view that there 
needs to be mitigation allowed before the death sentence is imposed so that if 
a policeman kills in the line of duty, he can be imprisoned for life rather 
than be killed.

"WAITING TO DIE"

In prison, death row convicts do not work because "they are waiting to die" but 
because there have been no executions for 28 years, that wait is considered 
meaningless.

In 2009, then President Mwai Kibaki commuted the death sentences of more than 
4,000 death row inmates to life sentences.

He said he was following the advice of a constitutional committee and asked 
Kenyans to engage in a national debate on the issue, implying therefore that 
the death penalty could be repealed.

In July 2010, the Court of Appeal declared unconstitutional the mandatory death 
sentence for murder.

(source: gbooza.com)