[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 15





EGYPT:

Judge, lawyers rule out death sentence against Morsi----Verdicts are due on 
Saturday in the espionage and jailbreak cases brought against of the ousted 
Muslim Brotherhood president----Egypt's ex-president Morsi sentenced to 20 
years in prison



A Cairo criminal court set to rule on Saturday in the espionage and jailbreak 
trials of deposed president Mohamed Morsi will likely hand out jail terms to 
some defendants and exonerate others, a judge has said, ruling out death 
sentences against the accused.

Judge Moataz Khafagy, head of a Cairo criminal appeals court, said that the 
court is not expected to adjourn the cases either, as it has had months for 
deliberation.

Khafagy as well as lawyers, including those of the defendants, said death 
sentences were not very likely since the bench had not referred the cases to 
the Grand Mufti, the country's top religious authority who reviews all death 
penalty cases but whose rulings are not binding.

"Normally a court refers sentences to the [Grand] Mufti then sets a date for 
the verdict, which did not happen in these 2 cases," he said.

Morsi and 35 others are charged with conspiring with foreign powers - including 
the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran's 
Revolutionary Guards - to destabilise Egypt.

In another case, the ex-president, along with 130 co-defendants, is accused of 
breaking out of jail. The case is rooted in the escape of more than 20,000 
inmates from Egyptian prisons during the 2011 uprising, including Morsi and 
other Muslim Brotherhood members.

Verdicts in both cases are due on Saturday, May 16.

Presiding judge over both the espionage and jailbreak cases, Shaaban El-Shamy, 
said on Thursday that the court had looked at over 30,000 papers as evidence 
over the span of 26 months since the trials began.

Shaheen said that the defendants have since received fair treatment, with the 
court enforcing international trial regulations, despite some of them - namely 
Morsi - refusing to acknowledge its legitimacy.

In the 1st verdict against him in a 3rd case, Morsi was sentenced in April to 
20 years in prison, as he was convicted of inciting violence, and ordering the 
arrest and torture of demonstrators during 2012 clashes while he was in office. 
The ruling was denounced by Amnesty International as "travesty of justice".

Morsi, who came to power following the 2011 ouster of longtime autocrat Hosni 
Mubarak, was himself toppled after a year in office on the back of massive 
street protests.

His Muslim Brotherhood group has been banned as a terrorist organisation and 
targeted in a sustained police crackdown that has seen thousands landed in 
jail.

(source: Ahram Online)








UNITED NATIONS:

Ban Ki-moon's troubling leadership



Recently, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Indonesia to stop the planned 
executions of 9 convicted drug-related criminals, but to no avail. It was the 
3rd time he had called on Indonesia to halt the execution plans. 8 of the 
convicts were eventually executed.

In a press statement, he urged Jakarta to "urgently consider declaring a 
moratorium on capital punishment with a view toward abolition".

In so doing, Ban was acting like other global politicians who call for a 
respect of human dignity without a correct understanding of the matter. There 
was a very clear misunderstanding implied in Ban's definition of what he called 
the "most serious crimes" in his statement.

His rejection of drug-related offenses as being among these "most serious 
crimes" is a grave inaccuracy. The imposition of death sentences for only the 
"most serious crimes" - as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 
calls it - has not been defined to date. Article 6 (2) of the covenant has made 
no further stipulation regarding the criteria of such gross criminal acts.

The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva has failed to provide any clarifying 
indication, and the world remains in a debate over the issue. Without 
well-defined criteria, any criminal act can fall in this category, including 
drug-related offenses that have critically hurt society. It is a fact, one 
hardly denied, that drug use and drug trafficking is destroying Indonesia's 
future generation.

That's why the decision to enforce harsh punishments for drug crimes resonates 
powerfully in the Indonesian public.

The UN may oppose the death penalty in all circumstances. But to continue to 
intervene in the Indonesian legal system is something that is hardly 
respectable coming from the highest international institutions, such as the 
office of the UN secretary-general.

Ban's critique cemented his hypocrisy on that particular matter, since he 
didn't have the same condemnation of the death penalty in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi 
Arabia and China or a few states in the US. Thomas Weiss of New York 
University, an eminent author of several books on the UN, ranks Ban as the 
least effective secretary-general, tied with formal heads Trgyve Lie and Kurt 
Waldheim. The 8th since the UN's establishment in 1945, Ban is considered among 
the 2 UN top officials in terms of diplomatic failures.

As Weiss puts it, the 3 have tarnished the UN in different ways.

Despite his preference of handling things in private - what he calls "quiet 
diplomacy", his repetitive appeals on the death penalty in Indonesia 
demonstrates inconsistency. He is not nurturing private and intense 
conversation with President Joko 'Jokowi" Widodo in discussing his concerns.

Instead, Ban has picked his own fight by humiliating and lecturing the 
Indonesian government on the issue. Ban's style is not just disrupting the 
independence and sovereignty of UN member states: He has made interference a 
tradition of his own making inside and outside the UN office.

If Ban Ki-moon tried but struggled to make an impact in international affairs 
amid the situation of his own "redemption", there is not much we can rely upon.

For several reasons, he has failed to show credibility in his leadership, which 
jeopardizes the effectiveness of the UN system as a whole.

First, he is arbitrarily targeting countries that lack the ability to fire 
back.

Second, he latches onto the death penalty issue because it's an easy sell to 
media that allows him to portray himself as a tough UN top official.

Third, the bias of his policy judgement obscures the true reality of the death 
penalty debate, on which no authoritative intergovernmental consensus on the 
categories of offenses considered serious crimes punishable by death has 
formed.

Fourth, Ban shows no confidence in Indonesia's legal system and ignores 
Indonesia's meaningful contribution to the UN.

Lastly, Ban's actions overshadow the implementation of legal sovereignty among 
UN members; it can be used to justify reforms of the world body. For the 
record, this call was also echoed by President Jokowi during the commemoration 
of the recent Asian African Conference.

He has failed to show credibility in his leadership, which jeopardizes the 
effectiveness of the UN system as a whole.

(source: Opinion; Muhammad Takdir, Geneva, Switzerland; The writer is a policy 
analyst, based in Geneva----The Jakarta Post)








SINGAPORE:

Drug trafficker gets reprieve one day before execution----Ghanaian to apply for 
re-sentencing after more than 6 years on death row



Just a day before he was set to be hanged for trafficking 2.6kg of cannabis, 
Ghanaian Chijioke Stephen Obioha agreed to a last-minute reprieve which may 
save his life.

The 38-year-old, who was set to be executed today after being on death row for 
more than 6 years, finally said yes to being considered for re-sentencing.

After legislative changes to the mandatory death penalty came into effect in 
2013, judges can impose a life sentence for drug couriers who satisfy certain 
criteria.

The Court of Appeal yesterday gave him a month to file the application. "I 
changed my mind because I want to live," said the burly man, who was flanked by 
guards in bulletproof vests.

In the past, he had repeatedly rejected the re-sentencing option which was 
given to more than 30 prisoners on death row, claiming it amounted to accepting 
that his conviction was correct.

Obioha, who said he came here in 2005 to try out for a football club, was 
arrested in April 2007 by anti-narcotics officers who found 14 blocks of 
vegetable matter in the bag he had with him.

The officers escorted him to his rental flat and found another 14 blocks in 
various bags.

In December 2008, after a 21-day trial, he was convicted of trafficking in 
2.6kg of cannabis and given the then-mandatory death penalty.

In August 2010, his appeal was dismissed. His petition for clemency was 
rejected last month.

On Monday, his lawyers, who were discharged in February, were notified that he 
was seeking a stay of execution to allow further evidence to be introduced.

On Tuesday, Mr Manoj Nandwani and Mr Peter Ong were re-appointed as his 
lawyers. The next day, they filed the motion.

Obioha contended that the cannabis blocks were not checked for DNA, which would 
establish whether he had handled them.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Cheng Thiam argued that this was a red herring as 
Obioha was raising this for the 1st time and the trial judge had found 
sufficient evidence the drugs were in his possession. During yesterday's 
hearing, Obioha changed his mind about the re-sentencing option.

This earned him a reprieve, while his request to introduce new evidence was 
rejected.

(source: straitstimes.com)



MALAYSIA:

30-year-old Nigerian woman gets death penalty for drug trafficking----The court 
said all evidence brought against her, which she failed to convincingly 
counter, proved that she is guilty of trafficking the banned substance.



The Malaysian High Court has sentenced to death a 30-year-old Nigerian, Mary 
George Unazi for drug trafficking.

The presiding judge, Datuk Ghazali Cha, gave Mary a death penalty on Thursday, 
May 14 for trafficking 765.9gm of metamphetamine at the KL International 
Airport (KLIA) on May 10th 2011.

In his judgement, Justice Cha said all evidence brought against her, which she 
failed to convincingly counter, proved that she is guilty of trafficking the 
banned substance.

Unazi was arrested at the baggage claim area at the international arrival hall 
of KLIA. She was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 
1952 of Malaysia which carries a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

(source: pulse.ng)








IRAN----executions

7 prisoners hanged in Shiraz



In a prison in the southern city of Shiraz, Iranian regime's henchmen secretly 
hanged seven prisoners on Sunday and Tuesday. The executions took place in 
Adelabad Prison of Shiraz in 2 groups of 3 and 4 prisoners. The identity of 
none of the prisoners is known and no source or official of the Iranian regime 
has announced the executions.

In the past several days, several executions have been carried out in a number 
of cities, including Qazvin where 1 man was executed and in the central prison 
of Mashhad where a young man was hanged. Moreover, 6 inmates were hanged in the 
Orumiyeh prison on May 6.

To confront mounting protests by the Iranian people, the Iranian regime has 
resorted to executing people on illusionary pretexts in order to create terror 
and horror.

Under the rule of mullahs, Iran is the foremost country in the number of 
executions per capita.

In many cases executions have gone unreported by official sources and the names 
of those being executed have not been disclosed to the public.

Since Hassan Rouhani has become the president, the number of executions has 
continuously escalated which has drawn condemnations from international 
agencies.

UN human rights experts condemned the recent surge in executions in Iran, the 
majority of which are unreported.

Last week, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights 
Situation in Iran, and Christof Heyns, the UN Special Rapporteur on Summary or 
Arbitrary Executions, condemned the drastic increase in executions since the 
past few weeks.

"When the Iranian government refuses to even acknowledge the full extent of 
executions which have occurred, it shows a callous disregard for both human 
dignity and international human rights law," Mr. Shaheed stressed.

Between the 9th and the 26th of April as many as 98 prisoners are reported to 
have been executed at an average of 6 per day.

"We are alarmed by the recent surge in the number of executions, which has 
occurred despite serious questions about fair trial standards," Mr. Heyns 
noted.

(source: NCR-Iran)








SUDAN:

South Sudanese Church Leaders Jailed



Sudanese authorities have arrested 2 South Sudanese pastors who are now facing 
the death penalty.

According to Morning Star News, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security 
Services have charged Reverends Yat Michael and Peter Yein Reith with 
undermining the country's constitutional system and waging war against the 
state; both charges carry a death sentence. However, the charges appear to be 
based solely on the pastors' nationality, race and faith, which are not well 
respected in a nation that President Omar al-Bashir has pledged will eventually 
become fully Arabic and Islamic.

Violating international human rights agreements, the whereabouts of the 
detained pastors were unknown for months until they were transferred from 
Khartoum's police station to a clandestine NISS detention facility and then 
finally to Omdurman Prison.

Both pastors have begun a hunger strike to protest their incarcerations.

According to Amnesty International, holding the pastors incommunicado violated 
the Interim Constitution of Sudan, the African Charter on Human and People's 
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all of 
which are binding on Sudan.

In general, arrests of Christians in Sudan have increased since the secession 
of South Sudan in July 2011 when Bashir vowed to adopt a stricter version of 
sharia.

Since 2012, Sudan has expelled foreign Christians and bulldozed churches on the 
pretext that the buildings belonged to South Sudanese. NISS agents have 
threatened South Sudanese Christians who do not leave Sudan, or who fail to 
cooperate with NISS in its efforts to ferret out other South Sudanese 
Christians.

Sudan has been designated a "Country of Particular Concern" by the U.S. State 
Department since 1999 and the U.S. Commission on International Religious 
Freedom recently recommended that Sudan retain that designation.

Sudan ranked sixth on Open Doors' 2015 World Watch List of countries where 
Christians face the most persecution.

(source: Worthy News)








SURINAME:

Suriname abolishes the death penalty


On 13 April 2015 the criminal code in Suriname came into effect, which 
effectively abolishes the death penalty in that country. According to reports 
that ICDP received, the penal code was published in the National Gazette 
(Staatsblad) on 13 April after President Desi Bouterse signed it on 30 March. 
The new criminal code does not include provisions for the capital punishment.

(source: icomdp.org)