[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 28



NIGERIA:

Help Save Moses Akatugba



https://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=39014&ea.tracking.id=Country_Nigeria~MessagingCategory_DeathPenalty

(source: Amnesty International USA)








BANGLADESH:

SC seeks summary on Quasem plea in 4 weeks



The Supreme Court Appellate Division has ordered both the prosecutor and 
defense counsels to submit the separate concise statements within 4 weeks on 
appeal hearing against the death penalty of war crimes convict Mir Quasem Ali.

The Supreme Court today gave 4 more weeks to both the defence and the state 
counsels for submitting separate concise statements on the appeal filed by 
convicted war criminal Mir Quasem Ali against his death sentence.

After passing the order, a 4-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by 
Chief Justice SK Sinha said the appeal will be considered as ready for hearing 
if the concise statements are not submitted before it within the given time.

A four-member bench led by Chief Justice SK Sinha made the order on the basis 
of the petition filed by defense counsel Jainal Abedin.

On April 22, the court ordered the defense counsel to submit the statement by 
May 20 and prosecutors May 27. Both failed to submit in the given time.

The defense counsel appealed against the death penalty of Mir Quasem Ali by the 
International Crimes Tribunal 2 on November 2.

The tribunal awarded death penalty to the top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem 
Ali, also known as a key financier of the anti-liberation party, finding him 
guilty in 10 of the 14 alleged crimes against humanity and other offences 
committed in Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)








PAKISTAN----executions

Pakistan Executes 8 Death Row Convicts



Pakistan on Thursday executed 8 death row convicts, including 3 men who 
hijacked an airplane in May 1998.

Shahsawar, Sabir and Shabbir Baloch hijacked a Pakistan International Airlines 
(PIA) flight from Balochistan province's Turbat town on May 25, 1998, Dunya 
News reported.

The PIA Flight 544 was carrying 33 passengers, including 5 crew members. The 
hijackers demanded the pilot to enter India. They were arrested when the flight 
finally landed at Hyderabad Airport.

The 3 men were sentenced to death on August 20, 1998. Shahsawar and Sabir were 
hanged in Hyderabad Central Jail, while Shabbir was executed in Karachi Central 
Jail.

Death row convict, Mahmood was also hanged in Karachi Central Jail. He was 
sentenced for killing a minor boy in 2003.

3 convicts were hanged in jails across Punjab province.

Akseer was found guilty of killing a man over a business dispute in 1998. 
Muhammad Ashraf was sentenced for a double murder in 2000. Amir Abdullah was 
found guilty of killing a man in 2002.

Khurram was executed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Haripur Central Jail. He was 
sentenced to death in 1999 for killing his friend.

Pakistan lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in all capital cases on 
March 10.

Initially, executions were resumed for terrorism offences only in the wake of a 
Taliban massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, which 
had killed more than 140 people, mostly students.

(source: focusnews.com)



INDIA:

Death-row convicts too have right to life, says SC

The Supreme Court today ruled that the convicts sentenced to death would 
continue to enjoy their fundamental right to life even after affirmation of the 
penalty by the apex court.

In other words, the death row convicts could be executed only after they had 
exhausted all the legal and administrative remedies available to them under 
law, a vacation Bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and UU Lalit explained.

The SC made the clarification while quashing the warrants of execution issued 
by a sessions court in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, for hanging a young couple 
sentenced to death for the gruesome murder of seven members of the girl's 
family. The convicts, Shabnam and Saleem, had committed the crime as her 
parents and other family members objected to their affair and marriage plan.

The Bench said that after the SC had upheld the death penalty awarded to 
convicts involved in ghastly crimes, they should be allowed to seek a review of 
the SC verdict within the stipulated 30 days, if necessary by providing legal 
assistance to them.

Review petitions stood on a higher pedestal as these were heard by a Bench of 
not less than 3 judges, while the regular appeals were decided by two judges, 
the court noted.

Such petitions had assumed greater significance after a recent Constitution 
Bench ruling that there should be oral hearings in the open court at least for 
half-an-hour, unlike in the past when these were decided through circulation 
within the judges' chambers.

Even after losing the case filed in the form of review petitions, they would be 
entitled to send mercy petitions to the Governor of the respective state and 
the President.

Only if they did not get any relief from the Governor or the President, the 
jail authorities could start the process for the execution by giving notice to 
them and their relatives should be given proper notice for the execution.

The Constitution had accorded great value of human beings and their right to 
life and this was evident from the legal provisions under which even the 
execution should be carried out through the least painful method, the Bench 
explained.

The Bench noted that the Amroha judge had issued the warrants of execution 
without even specifying the date and time for the hanging. Further, the 
warrants had been issued within a week of SC rejecting their appeals on May 15. 
They still had the right to seek a review of the SC verdict and appeal for 
mercy, if necessary at a later stage, it said.

(source: Tribune India)








VIETNAM:

Many Vietnamese legislators want to maintain death penalty for drug, corruption 
crimes



Many Vietnamese legislators have voiced discontent at the point of view that 
capital punishment should be canceled for drug and corruption convictions, and 
requested that the death penalty be maintained for both crimes.

The disagreements were voiced on Tuesday when lawmakers further discussed the 
amendments to the current Penal Code in groups, about a week after Minister of 
Justice Ha Hung Cuong introduced them to the law-making National Assembly (NA) 
plenary meeting on May 20, the 1st day of its 9th session.

At that plenary meeting, deputies agreed to an amendment that the death penalty 
should be dropped for 7 crimes, which do not include corruption and drug 
charges.

At yesterday's meeting, the issue of whether capital punishment should be 
dropped for these 2 counts was debated among parlimentarians.

Among the many deputies who want the death penalty to be maintained as the 
highest punishment for those convicted of corruption is Major General Nguyen 
Xuan Ty, deputy director of the Vietnam National Defense Academy, an NA deputy 
from the southern province of Ben Tre.

"Corrupt officials are usually those who have high power and positions. They 
often squeeze the state funds and repress the public. Therefore, if we do not 
apply the highest penalty to convicted corrupt officials, this will not be in 
accordance with the people's aspirations," Major General Ty said.

There are people who have hundreds, even thousands, of billions of dong in 
hand, only after a few years of serving as government officials, Major General 
Ty told the meeting. (VND1 billion = US$46,100).

"From where else could that much money come if not from corrupt acts?" the 
official wondered.

"There are officials who get rich very fast," Major General Ty said, adding 
that these officials tread on the people's neck, acting more terribly than 
landlords and capitalists in the old days.

"We are determined to fight corruption but the situation has yet to improve 
much. I propose that capital punishment be kept for corruption charges," he 
said.

When discussing whether the death penalty should be maintained for drug 
charges, Police Major General Bui Mau Quan said, "It is not advisable to 
abolish the death penalty for drug-related crimes, as they are among the types 
of very dangerous counts."

Sharing Major General Quan's view, Major General Ty said that the drug 
trafficking situation has become complicated and dangerous.

Drug traffickers often gather in groups or rings to operate and are ready to 
decisively resist law enforcement officers who detect their illegal activities, 
Major General Ty said.

"I propose that capital punishment be maintained as the highest penalty for 
people convicted of drug trafficking," he said.

"The drug trafficking situation has not eased despite our great efforts. So 
what will it be like if we give drug traffickers lighter penalties?" he added.

In a seminar on March 24, Dr. Nguyen Tat Vien, a standing member of the Central 
Steering Committee for Justice Reform, said, "There are many opinions saying 
that the death penalty should be abolished for corruption or embezzlement 
convictions, but I think that such an abolition should not be approved given 
the current situation."

"Bribery and embezzlement are causing anger and displeasure in our society, 
undermining the prestige and efficiency of the state apparatus and threatening 
the survival of our regime. If we do not severely crack down on such 
wrongdoings, people will lose their trust in the ongoing fight against 
corruption," Dr. Vien said.

On May 20, the 1st working day of the 9th session of the 13th NA, most deputies 
agreed to an amendment that the death penalty should be waived for 7 crimes.

These crimes include 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)








IRAN----executions

3 prisoners hanged in public



3 young men were hanged in public in the city of Mashhad in northwestern Iran 
on Wednesday.

2 prisoners who were hanged in 1 of the city's main square were 23 years old 
while the 3rd one was in his 30s.

The public hanging in Mashhad follows a wave of secret execution inside the 
countries prisons.

The Iranian regime's henchmen have executed at least 22 prisoners in one of the 
many prisons in Iran during the 3 day period of May 23-25.

The Iranian regime's media has not published any information about the group 
executions that have been carried out.

Earlier this year, the United Nations described the number of executions in 
Iran as "deeply troubling".

>From May 19 to 21, the clerical regime in Iran executed 37 people in prisons or 
on the streets of various cities.

The executions are aimed at raising the atmosphere of terror in the society in 
order to prevent any public expression of dissent in the country.

(source: NCR-Iran)



INDONESIA:

Ex-Bali 9 lawyer questioned over bribary claims



A Bali lawyer who claims bribery and politics interfered in the death 
sentencing of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will be quizzed next week.

On the eve of the men's executions last month, Muhammad Rifan alleged judges 
who sentenced the men in 2006 asked for more than $130,000 for a lighter 
sentence.

Mr Rifan indicated he wished to withdraw the claims after the executions but 
the judicial commission had already launched a probe.

Commissioner Imam Anshori Saleh told AAP on Thursday the matter was still under 
investigation, with Mr Rifan to be questioned in Bali next week.

Mr Imam says because it is an ethical probe, witnesses don't have to be sworn 
in and commission staff will interview Mr Rifan in private.

"We would like to know why he said that in the first place and then why he 
withdrew it," he said.

"Because it's a public report, we can't reject it, we have to follow it up.

"Whether it's proven or not, that's another matter."

The complaint was lodged by lawyers fighting to save Chan and Sukumaran from 
the death penalty.

They argued the men shouldn't have been executed before the claims were 
investigated.

Mr Rifan was the pair's lawyer when they went on trial for their part in the 
2005 Bali 9 plot to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

He first made claims of "interference" in February, and as the men went to the 
firing squad last month, revealed judges had asked for $130,000 to give a 
prison term of less than 20 years but withdrew the offer on orders from Jakarta 
to impose a death penalty.

(source: tvnz.co.nz)