[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 16



RUSSIA:

No plans to return death penalty for terrorism - Russian lawmaker


The State Duma is not considering overturning the death penalty moratorium, a 
member of the Lower House law committee has said in a television interview. "At 
the present moment the issue of introducing the death penalty, including the 
death penalty for terrorism, is not being considered in Russia," MP Raphael 
Mardanshin (United Russia) told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The lawmaker added that he agreed additional counter-terrorist measures were 
needed, but the death penalty was not the best choice for this. "For terrorists 
it is often an honor to die while carrying out an attack. Therefore they can 
actually consider execution as a good thing," Mardashin said.

"When we use the measures that exist today, like prison sentences for life, it 
is more difficult for terrorists to contemplate the consequences of their 
actions for many years," the MP noted.

The comment came soon after the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov 
again urged Russian authorities to introduce the death penalty for terrorism, 
claiming that keeping convicted extremists in prisons was too expensive and 
also that there was a threat that terrorists serving life sentences would 
recruit new supporters inside prisons.

Earlier this week a key member of the Communist caucus in the State Duma also 
proposed the death penalty for terrorists as an extraordinary measure and "a 
supreme measure of social protection," adding that it could help to bring down 
the threat of terrorism that could increase in connection with Russia???s 
active participation in the operation against Islamic State in Syria.

Russia introduced a moratorium on the death penalty in 1999 as it sought 
membership in the Council of Europe. The Constitution still allows it for 
especially grave crimes and after a guilty verdict by a jury court.

Several times top Russian law enforcement officials have suggested lifting the 
moratorium, and opinion polls show the majority of people would support it. In 
late 2013 an MP from the nationalist-populist LDPR party proposed to execute 
convicted terrorists, pedophiles and people who involve children in illegal 
drug use. The Lower House rejected the bill without considering it.

(source: rt.com)






MALAYSIA:

Couple's luxury lifestyle comes to an end after drug bust


A couple's luxury lifestyle came to an end when they were busted for 
trafficking in drugs in the district.

State Narcotics CID chief Supt Amran Ramli said police arrested a 26-year-old 
man in front of the Kuantan Municipal Council building here at about 1.40pm on 
Tuesday after receiving a tip-off.

"Upon checking his bag, we found 600 methamphetamine pills and 52.75g of syabu. 
He took us to a house in Perkampungan Pandan Jaya where we arrested his 
29-year-old wife.

"There, we seized another 121.02g of syabu, RM1,000 in cash, jewellery, 4 cars 
and 3 motorcycles," he said yesterday.

Supt Amran said the couple appeared to be wealthy and were believed to have 
been living off the profits of their drug trade that had been going on for 
about a year.

"They have 4 cars, and their jewellery alone is worth about RM75,021. The total 
seizure, including the drugs, totals RM379,176," he said, adding that the 
suspects had no prior criminal record and tested negative for drugs.

"They have been remanded for a week and are being investigated under Section 
39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act which carries the death penalty upon 
conviction," he said.

(source: The Star)






IRAN----executions

2 men hanged in north-west Iran


The fundamentalist regime in Iran on Wednesday hanged 2 prisoners in the city 
of Ardebil, north-west Iran.

The regime's local judiciary office announced that the 2 men were hanged in the 
central prison of Ardebil.

It did not provide their names.

The mullahs' regime in Iran continues to execute more of its citizens per 
capita than any other U.N. member state. Some 2000 people have been executed 
during Hassan Rouhani's presidency in the past 2 years.

A statement by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on August 5 said: "Iran has reportedly executed 
more than 600 individuals so far this year. Last year, at least 753 people were 
executed in the country."

Amnesty International said on September 7 that "the Iranian authorities must 
end their unprecedented killing spree - more than 700 people have been executed 
so far this year."

(source: NCR-Iran)

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

Paris Conference: Stop execution in Iran


In an international conference in Paris on the occasion of October 10th, the 
World Day against the Death Penalty, the main Iranian opposition Coalition 
(NCRI) declared: "Our plan is an Iran without the death penalty and 
obliterating the mullahs' religious decrees." The conference sponsored by the 
Committee Defending Human Rights in Iran, was entitled, "Iran, Human Rights, 
Stop Executions". A number of European and international personalities, elected 
representatives of the people of France, as well as human rights and women's 
rights advocates attended the meeting. From France, Gilbert Mitterrand, former 
member of the French National Assembly and President of France Libertes 
(Danielle Mitterrand) Foundation; prominent jurists and lawyers including Henry 
Leclerc, Francois Colcombet and Patrick Baudouin; Rama Yade, former Minister of 
Human Rights.

One of the speakers in the conference, Mr. Mark Williams, Member of Parliament 
from the United Kingdom declared in his speech: "I condemn the death penalty in 
Iran. The country which has the highest number of executions in the world per 
capita. Since Rouhani took office human rights have gotten worse in Iran."

Mr. Henri Leclerc, prominent French human rights lawyer, took the parole in 
defense of the rights of the Iranian people to resist against the mullahs' 
regime. He also condemned the human rights violations and death penalties in 
Iran.

Rama Yade, former French Minister for Human Rights": the flaw in the July 14 
nuclear deal between the major world powers and the Iranian regime is that it 
ignores the human rights abuses by the regime. Turning a blind eye to the human 
rights violations in Iran only encourages the regime to commit more such 
abuses" she said.

Mr. Farzad Madadzadeh, a political prisoner who has been recently released 
after five years of imprisonment in the clerical regime's torture chambers, and 
Pariya Kohandel, whose father is a political prisoner in the Gohardasht Prison 
of Karaj, both supporters of the PMOI in Iran who have recently left the 
country, spoke on the abysmal state of the Iranian people's lives and the 
horrible prison conditions. Their speeches were among the most interesting 
segments of the "Iran, Human Rights, Stop Executions" conference. They urged 
international organizations to go beyond words in condemning the regime's 
abuses and put on trial in international courts the Iranian regime leaders for 
their crimes, especially the 1988 massacre of 30,000 prisoners and the 
unrelenting, daily executions in Iran.

Elaborating on the Iranian Resistance's plan for tomorrow???s free Iran, Mrs. 
Rajavi declared: "Our plan for future is an Iran without the death penalty, 
obliterating the mullahs' religious decrees and establishing an independent 
judiciary, defending democratic values, freedom, equality and sanctity of every 
citizen's private life; no one will be arrested arbitrarily and torture is 
banned."

The conference featured an exhibition in memory of 120,000 political prisoners 
executed on the orders of the religious dictatorship's leaders in Iran, 
including the mass execution of 30,000 political prisoners massacred in 1988, 
an alleged sum of 30,000 prisoners. Also on display were sculptures and 
symbolic statues made by the Iranian Resistance's sculptors.

The message of the Conference in short was that while a single execution is 
enough to torment everyone's conscience, world powers have remained 
disgracefully silent over the situation in Iran, especially as they were 
engaged in the nuclear talks and were busy striking a deal that would open the 
path to doing business with the regime. Sacrificing human lives at the altar of 
commercial interests have never been a good investment for anyone. The world 
must stop its silence and inaction vis-a-vis executions and other atrocities in 
Iran. All forms of engagement with it must be conditioned on the halt to 
executions in Iran. As long as this sinister trend continues, there is no 
justification for reaching out to the mullahs. The world must respect the 
Iranian people's resistance for freedom.

(source: grouhdreport.com)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Fears grow that 3 young activists could soon be executed


There are rising fears about the impending executions of Ali Mohammed Baqir 
al-Nimr and 2 other young Shi'a activists in Saudi Arabia who were arrested as 
juveniles after participating in anti-government rallies, Amnesty International 
said today after learning that they had been moved to solitary confinement.

The organization has been able to confirm that Ali al-Nimr, Dawood Hussein 
al-Marhoon and Abdullah Hasan al-Zaher were moved to solitary confinement in 
al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh on 5 October. They were arrested at different times 
in 2012, when they were all under the age of 18, and sentenced to death in 
2014. All 3 death sentences were upheld by Saudi Arabia's appeal court and the 
Supreme Court earlier this year.

Pro-government media reports that Ali al-Nimr could face crucifixion after his 
beheading have sparked a global outcry. On 14 October, his mother appealed to 
US President Barack Obama to step in to save her son.

"The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and there is no 
convincing evidence that it is a particular deterrent against crime. Its use to 
punish someone for a crime they allegedly committed when they were under 18 
years old is a flagrant violation of international law," said James Lynch, 
Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty 
International.

"The fact that all t3 state that they were tortured and denied access to a 
lawyer during their interrogations raises further grave concerns about the 
legal proceedings in their cases. It is abundantly clear that they have had 
nothing that resembles a fair trial."

Ali al-Nimr was arrested in February 2012, when he was 17 years old, and held 
in a juvenile rehabilitation centre and then an adult prison. He was sentenced 
to death in May 2014 by the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Jeddah, a 
security and counter-terrorism court, for 12 offences that included taking part 
in anti-government protests, attacking security forces, possessing a 
machine-gun and carrying out an armed robbery. Ali al-Nimr has said that his 
"confessions" were extracted under torture but the court has refused to order 
an investigation into his allegations.

Dawood Hussein al-Marhoon and Abdullah Hasan al-Zaher were arrested on 22 May 
and 3 March 2012, when they were aged 17 and 16 respectively. They were 
sentenced to death by the SCC in Riyadh in October 2014 on similar charges, 
which included taking part in anti-government protests, carrying out an armed 
robbery, and "participating in killing of police officers by making and using 
Molotov cocktails to attack them." They too claimed to have been tortured and 
forced to "confess".

"Saudi Arabia's record when it comes to sentencing people to death after deeply 
flawed legal proceedings is utterly shameful. The death penalty is often 
arbitrarily applied after blatantly unfair trials," said James Lynch.

"This is compounded in this case by imposing death sentences on juvenile 
offenders, which is an egregious violation of international law. It is 
absolutely outrageous that the court dismissed all 3 activists' allegations of 
torture to make them 'confess' and simply sentenced them to death."

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is legally binding on Saudi 
Arabia, makes clear that no death sentences may be imposed for offences 
committed by individuals under the age of 18.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most prolific executioners in the world. The kingdom 
has executed 137 people so far this year, compared to 90 in the whole of 2014. 
Death sentences are often imposed after unfair trials, with juvenile offenders 
and people with mental disabilities not spared, Amnesty International 
documented in a recent report.

Ali al-Nimr is the nephew of Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, a prominent Shi'a 
cleric from eastern Saudi Arabia who was sentenced to death in October 2014. 
Tensions between the Saudi Arabian authorities and the country's Shi'a Muslim 
minority have increased since 2011 when, inspired in part by popular protests 
across the Middle East and North Africa, some citizens in the predominantly 
Shi'a Eastern Province stepped up calls for reforms.

Background

Since 2012, the Saudi Arabian authorities have been persecuting human rights 
defenders and dissidents with complete impunity, using both the courts and 
extrajudicial means such as the imposition of arbitrary travel bans.

In February 2014, the authorities put into force a new counter-terror law that 
has since then been used against human rights defenders and activists to 
sentence them to long prison terms and even to death.

Most trials of these activists have taken place at the SCC, whose jurisdiction 
is vague and proceedings shrouded in secrecy.

In addition to the above Shi'a activists, the SCC had also sentenced human 
rights defender and lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair under the new counter-terror 
law. It also recently sentenced Abdulrahman al-Hamed, one of the founding 
members of the independent human rights organizations, the Saudi Civil and 
Political Rights Association (ACPRA), to nine years in prison on 13 October.

(source: Amnesty International)






INDONESIA:

Issue of the day: Abolition could help RI migrant workers


More groups have pressed the government to abolish capital punishment in the 
country, arguing that such a move could help ease the process of saving migrant 
workers from facing execution overseas.

Anis Hidayah, director of the NGO Migrant Care, said on Saturday that Indonesia 
was among only 37 countries worldwide that continued to use capital punishment. 
At the same time, the country had hundreds of migrant workers facing the threat 
of being executed abroad.

"Apart from showing how weak our commitment is to enforcing human rights, the 
practice also weakens our diplomatic position in negotiating for the freedom of 
migrant workers who are facing the death penalty," Anis told reporters.

Your comments:

We need to strictly regulate conditions where workers go overseas. It is 
painfully clear that once there, some fall victim to drug, human trafficking 
and prostitution mafias. The victims are mostly undereducated, gullible, 
vulnerable and desperate people who could not refuse the offer, and very real 
threats from the poisonous gangs. When they are caught, it is their poor necks 
on the sword, not the mafia.

Deedee S

Do you appreciate that the very same things applies to foreign people caught 
trafficking in Indonesia - most have a drug addiction which makes them 
vulnerable to being targeted by drug syndicates, or are very young and 
unworldly?

Attorney General M. Prasetyo has said early next year [for the government's 
next round of executions] but won't reveal who is in "the next batch" - wonder 
if this time they will keep names quiet until latest they can. Nothing about 
Mary Jane Veloso!

Lisebuckeridge

The problem with law enforcement is always whether the suspect actually 
understands the law or not. It's not a defense that you didn't know about the 
law you broke. When it comes to drug trafficking, it's hard to believe that 
somebody would not understand that it's illegal to carry something strapped on 
to their body over a border and receive a few thousand dollars for it. The best 
way to get "innocent" criminals is to educate them. It should be a part of 
primary school students' basic education to understand basic laws as well as 
basic punishments.

Orang Biasa

The EU outlaws use of the death penalty; no country that practices the death 
penalty can become a member state. So I find it hard to believe that there is 
an Indonesian on death row in the EU.

Jacen

We should respect the laws of the host country. If the government wants to 
help, it should be done by providing a legal service, or at least insurance, 
and making sure migrant workers are well instructed on legal matters before 
they depart or are employed.

Sudarshana

It is not the task of thinking citizens to respect any law of any country. Laws 
are supposed to be challenged, refuted, changed, adapted and rebuked. Most of 
us must often succumb to the laws of host countries, but we need not respect 
them. Saudi Arabia may justify the use of beheading or crucifixion, but we are 
under no obligation to respect it.

We are a nation whose judiciary and laws hardly warrant much respect at all. 
The powerful circumvent the law with money or power and the poorer are all too 
often victimized by it. Human rights and human dignity are ideas we should 
strive toward, and laws should serve and protect these ideals.

Wayang

What the article does not say is that most of the Indonesians facing the death 
penalty abroad are there because of drug trafficking.

Jakartad

What makes it very sad is that clearly everyone knows (or believes) that only 
God can give and take human lives. All believers from all religions pray about 
that in their funeral ceremonies, but factually, in many countries that have 
religion as their core political principle, their people often pose as God by 
taking human lives and sometimes without proper trial.

Gregdaru

Anyone who believes in God should believe that only He has the right to take 
life. If we do so, it is murder, whether by the state or by an individual. A 
big NO to the death penalty.

DS

It doesn't matter what these people have done or what nationality they are. The 
death penalty does not have a place in our modern times. With this said, 
Indonesia can't save anyone from the death penalty as long as it is practiced 
here. Unfortunately this is again used as a political ploy instead of having a 
firm direction on the issue at hand.

OB

It still remains if courts can be manipulated by the government, which is the 
case with what we have seen in 2015. Former Bali Nine lawyer Muhammad Rifan 
expects to be questioned by Indonesian police over bribery claims he made 
against the judges who sent his clients to their deaths.

On Monday, Mr. Rifan went public with explosive allegations against the 
presiding judges, accusing them of asking for a 1 billion rupiah bribe for a 
sentence of less than 20 years for convicted drug smugglers Andrew Chan and 
Myuran Sukumaran.

He claims their agreement fell through after senior legal and government 
officials in Jakarta ordered the judge to impose the death penalty.

Chiko Zu

A due process that is openly known to be corrupt and easily swayed by state 
intervention is not due process; it is murder.

Kampung Black

(source: The Jakarta Post)

Death-row prisoners in Indonesia tortured - AI


Suspects facing the death penalty in Indonesia were often subjected to torture 
and sometimes denied access to lawyers and interpreters, Amnesty International 
said in a report on Thursday.

Some of those who have been sentenced to death said police had beaten them in 
detention to make them confess, and judges accepted the confession as evidence, 
said Amnesty in the report titled Flawed Justice: Unfair Trials and the Death 
Penalty in Indonesia.

In some cases, defendants were denied interpretation during or before trial and 
were made to sign documents in a language they did not understand, the report 
said.

"The death penalty is always a human rights violation, but the numerous and 
serious issues with regards to how it is being applied in Indonesia makes its 
use all the more tragic," Amnesty said.

"Authorities must end this senseless killing once and for all and immediately 
review all death penalty cases with a view to their commutation," it said.

Amnesty said its investigation into 12 individual death penalty cases revealed 
"emblematic flaws in Indonesia's justice system", with half of the prisoners 
claiming that they had been coerced into confessing to their crimes.

Indonesia executed 14 convicted drug traffickers, including 12 foreigners, this 
year, despite international appeals for mercy.

The government said no dates have been set for further executions, saying that 
it was focusing on tackling an economic slowdown.

Poengky Indarti, executive director of the human rights group Imparsial, 
described the Amnesty report as "accurate".

"Indonesia's legal system is prone to corruption and collusion and under such a 
system innocent people could be easily victimised," she said.

She said the death penalty served as a "cover to make the government look 
decisive and strong".

"Most of those executed were just drug mules because the kingpins are protected 
by corrupt members of law enforcement."

The national police strongly denied the allegations that investigators tortured 
suspects and denied them interpreters or lawyers.

"We do things according to the proper procedures," national police spokesperson 
Agus Rianto said.

"Don't just believe what people outside say," he said, adding that police could 
be sued if they engaged in torture or other forms of ill treatment.

"The fact that they were convicted showed that there were no legal violations 
were committed in the investigation process," he said.

At least 121 people are currently on death row in Indonesia, including 35 
foreigners mostly convicted of drug-related crimes, according to the Justice 
Ministry.

(source: news24.com)



FRANCE/NIGERIA:

ASF France urges FG to declare moratorium on executions


Avocats Sans Frontieres France (ASF France) has urged the Federal Government of 
Nigeria to officially declare a moratorium on the death penalty.

Head of Nigeria Office, Avocats Sans Frontieres France, Angela Uwandu, in a 
statement to commemorate the 13th World Day Against Death Penalty, said a 
re-instatement of this moratorium will only re-enforce Nigeria's position on 
respect for human rights and will also give the country a stronger voice in the 
international community.

She lamented that Nigeria had in the past successfully implemented a defacto 
moratorium prior to the last executions in 2013.

ASF France also used the occasion to commend the governor of Kaduna State, 
Mallam El-Rufai for his gesture towards detainees on death row in Kaduna 
prisons.

"The governor signed the commutal order for 8 detainees on death row in Kaduna 
prisons in exercise of his power of Prerogative of Mercy as outlined under 
Section 212 of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria."

"The detainees had their death sentences reduced to between 10 and 15 years 
except 1 detainee who had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment," 
she said. The organization, therefore, urged other state governors to follow 
suit in the case of detainees on death row in their states and beyond.

"ASF France reiterates that the death penalty does not deter crime more than 
other forms of punishment and execution is irreversible."

"ASF France as a matter of principle remains opposed to the use of the death 
penalty in all situations and circumstances because it is a violation of the 
fundamental right to life," Uwandu added.

(source: ngrguardiannews.com)