[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 17



IRAN----executions

5 prisoners including 3 Afghans hanged



At least 5 men, including 3 citizens of Afghanistan, were hanged in 2 prisons 
in Iran over the past weekend.

Farshid Jaafari was hanged on Sunday in Adelabad Prison in the city of Shiraz. 
He had been sentenced to death for drug-related offences.

A group of 4 prisoners, including 3 citizens of Afghanistan, were hanged on 
Saturday in the central prison in the city of Zahedan in southeastern Iran.

The Afghans - Seyed Alam Ozbak, 26, Nasimollah Ozbak, 25, and Soltan Ozbak, 30, 
- were hanged along with a 60-year-old Iranian man.

Some 1,400 individuals have been executed in Iran under Hassan Rouhani. The 
victims included political prisoners, women, juvenile offenders and citizens of 
Afghanistan.

The U.N.'s special investigator on Iran said on Monday that the human rights 
situation and repression of Iranian women and activists has worsened since 
Hassan Rouhani became president in 2013.

Dr. Ahmed Shaheed said in Geneva on Monday: "in my view the overall situation 
has worsened, as indicated by the surge in executions."

He lamented that Iran executes more people per capita than any other country in 
the world.

"There is a lot of concern amongst the Iranian society that the nuclear file 
may be casting a shadow over the human rights discussion," Shaheed told the 
news briefing.

Mr. Shaheed, a Muslim and former foreign minister of the Maldives, has not been 
allowed to visit Iran since taking up the independent post.

(source: NCR-Iran)








SOMALIA----executions

3 alleged Al Shabaab members executed in Puntland



Authorities in Somalia's semi-autonomous region on Monday executed 3 convicted 
al-Shabaab suspects for alleged membership in the armed extremist group 
al-Shabaab and plotting attacks in the stable region, officials said.

3 men were executed by firing squad after a military tribunal found them guilty 
of carrying out attacks in the region blamed on al-Shabaab extremists.

"All of them have been found guilty of being members of the terrorists," said 
the Minister of Security Hassan Osman Alore.

The alleged members were sentenced to death by the court last month.

In recent years, Puntland authorities have launched a massive crackdown on the 
network and its military has sentenced members and other individuals linked to 
the terror group tough punishments such as death penalty.

(source: horseedmedia.net)








INDONESIA:

De Malmanche may face the death penalty



Bali prosecutors have rejected claims their indictment for a New Zealander 
charged with drug smuggling should be annulled before his trial begins.

Lawyers for Antony de Malmanche have found various faults with the indictment 
for the 52-year-old, who was arrested on arrival in Bali on December 1 with 
1.7kg of crystal meth.

They say he wasn't told his rights to a lawyer via a translator, as is the law, 
making the basis of the prosecution case invalid.

De Malmanche could face the death penalty for smuggling the drugs, which he 
says he was unaware he was carrying.

However, prosecutors say the trial must go on.

The chief judge has retired to consider both sides and would make a decision on 
whether the trial would proceed next Tuesday.

(source: New Zealand Herald)








PAKISTAN----executions

Pakistan hangs 12 death row prisoners



Pakistan executed 12 death row prisoners early Tuesday morning, the latest 
executions since the government lifted a moratorium on the death penalty for 
all capital crimes.

The executions were among 14 death sentences scheduled to be carried out on 
Tuesday at different jails in Karachi, Multan, Jhang, Gujranwala, Mianwali, 
Faisalad and Rawalpindi.

2 execution orders were stayed in Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan.

Among the orders stayed was that of robbery and murder convict Waqar Nazir, who 
was pardoned by the victims family shortly before the execution was about to 
take place. Waqar had killed Taufeeq in Multan in 1996.

Another death sentence was halted at the central jail in Dera Ghazi Khan after 
the victim's family pardoned the murder convict.

A total of 39 people have now been executed in Pakistan since the government 
restarted executions in December.

Murder convicts Malik Nadeem and Mohammad Javed were hanged at the Adiyala Jail 
in Rawalpindi.

2 death row prisoners were executed at the Central Jail in Karachi. Both men, 
Mohammad Afzal and Mohammad Faisal, had had committed a murder while carrying 
out a robbery in Karachi's Korangi area.

Death sentences of three prisoners were carried out at the District Jail Jhang.

Convict Riaz had committed a murder in 1995 during a domestic dispute. The 
other 2 prisoners, Mubashir and Sharif, had kidnapped and murdered a 
taxi-driver in 2012.

Zafar Iqbal was hanged at the Multan Central Jail for sexually abusing and 
killing a 6-year-old girl.

Prison authorities at the District Jail Mianwali hanged murder convicts Zafar 
Iqbal and Rab Nawaz. Iqbal had killed his father in 2003, while Nawaz had 
murdered a woman in the year 2000.

2 death row prisoners were also hanged at the Faisalabad and Gujranwala central 
jails.

Reintroducing the death penalty was part of the Pakistani government's move to 
step up its fight against militants and criminals after Taliban attackers 
killed over 130 children at Peshawar???s Army Public School in December.

The death penalty moratorium, in force since 2008, was initially lifted only in 
terrorism cases, but the government extended it to all capital crimes earlier 
this week.

(source: geo.tv)

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

SHC dismisses plea to halt Shafqat's execution



Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday has dismissed the petition filed to halt the 
execution of murder convict Shafqat Hussain, Dunya News reported.

As per details, Justice Ahmed Ali and Justice Hassan Feroz heard the case in 
which they remarked that SHC cannot entertain any plea filed against 
Anti-Terrorism Court's (ATC) decision.

Earlier, ATC has issued a death warrant for suspect Shafqat Hussain for being 
involved in a murder case of 7-year old minor Umair.

Underage convict Shafqat abducted Umair for ransom and killed him.

The suspect, 14-year old, Shafqat Hussain would be executed on March 19 as per 
court's order.

(source: Dunya News)








EGYPT:

Muslim Brotherhood leader Badie sentenced to death in Egypt



An Egyptian court has handed down death sentences to the leader of the Muslim 
Brotherhood movement and 13 others, state media has reported.

Mohammed Badie and the other key members of the group were found guilty of 
planning attacks against the state.

Badie is embroiled in several trials and has been sentenced to death before, 
although the sentences were later reduced to life imprisonment.

Egypt's government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group in 2013.

The court referred the case to Egypt's Grand Mufti, the country's senior Sunni 
authority, the first step in ratifying the death sentences.

A final verdict is due on 11 April, although the defendants can appeal.

The 14 were accused of setting up a control room to direct the movements of 
Brotherhood supporters across the country.

Defence lawyer Ahmad Helmi branded the verdicts "farcical", in a telephone 
interview with AFP.

He said the verdicts were handed down even though the defence had not finished 
its closing arguments concerning five of the defendants.

Meanwhile, a court in the northern city of Mansura also sentenced to death 
eight Brotherhood members accused of setting up a "terror cell" and murdering 
opponents of the Islamist organisation, state news agency MENA said.

Their verdicts were also referred to the country's top Sunni Muslim authority.

The court is due to give a final verdict in that case on 22 June.

Hundreds of people have been sentenced to death in a crackdown on Islamists 
following the removal of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Earlier this month, Egypt carried out its first execution over the violence 
that followed Mr Morsi's overthrow.

Mr Morsi is facing several trials, some of which could result in the death 
sentence.

Badie is a veterinary pathologist by training and assumed the leadership of the 
Muslim Brotherhood in 2010.

(source: BBC news)