[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 23



IRAN----execution

Iran regime hangs prisoner in southern port city


The mullahs' regime has hanged a prisoner in the port city of Bandar Abbas, 
southern Iran.

The 31-year-old prisoner, identified only by the initials H. M., was hanged on 
Wednesday, April 20, in Bandar Abbas Central Prison, according to the Iranian 
regime's judiciary in Bushehr Province.

The hanging bring to at least 35 the number of people executed in Iran since 
the start of last week, while European officials have been paying visits to 
Tehran. 3 of those executed were women.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement last week 
that the increasing trend of executions "aimed at intensifying the climate of 
terror to rein in expanding protests by various strata of the society, 
especially at a time of visits by high-ranking European officials, demonstrates 
that the claim of moderation is nothing but an illusion for this medieval 
regime."

Ms. Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for 
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was in Tehran last Saturday along with 
seven EU commissioners for discussions with the regime's officials on trade and 
other areas of cooperation.

Her trip was strongly criticized by Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the 
Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI who said: "This trip which takes place in 
the midst of mass executions, brutal human rights violations and the regime's 
unbridled warmongering in the region tramples on the values upon which the EU 
has been founded and which Ms. Mogherini should be defending and propagating."

Amnesty International in its April 6 annual Death Penalty report covering the 
2015 period wrote: "Iran put at least 977 people to death in 2015, compared to 
at least 743 the year before."

"Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions recorded" in the Middle East 
and North Africa, the human rights group said.

There have been more than 2,300 executions during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as 
President. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation 
in Iran in March announced that the number of executions in Iran in 2015 was 
greater than any year in the last 25 years. Rouhani has explicitly endorsed the 
executions as examples of "God's commandments" and "laws of the parliament that 
belong to the people."

(source: NCR-Iran)






NIGERIA:

Bus driver gets death penalty for stealing N68,000----He said that the convict 
and his gang had pretended to be passengers in the commercial vehicles in which 
they dispossessed the unsuspecting victims of cash.


An High Court in Makurdi, Benue State has sentenced a a bus driver, Tanko 
Inalegwu, who robbed passengers of N68,000, to death by hanging.

In his ruling, Justice Hwande held that the prosecution proved before the court 
that the convict conspired with others, now at large to rob their victims of 
various sums of money totalling N68,000, on October 10, 2013.

He said that the convict and his gang had pretended to be passengers in the 
commercial vehicles in which they dispossessed the unsuspecting victims of cash 
at the old Customs House, North Bank, Makurdi - after which they pushed out the 
three victims from the moving vehicle.

The Judge stated that contrary to the victim's claim, evidence tendered before 
the court showed clearly that the convict was a key player in the robbery.

Report said the convict had confessed to the police that he committed the 
offence, but later made a U-turn, claiming that he made the confessional 
statement after being tortured by the Police.

Justice Hwande said that the confessional statement provided enough ground for 
the verdict of the court and his conviction.

(source: pulse.ng)






SINGAPORE:

Heroin trafficker escapes the gallows----He gets life term after arguing drug 
addiction, mental illness impaired 'mental responsibility'


A 30-year-old heroin trafficker, who failed to escape the death sentence in 
three previous attempts, yesterday succeeded in getting the High Court to 
sentence him to life imprisonment instead.

Justice Choo Han Teck accepted the defence's argument that Jeffery Phua Han 
Chuan's ketamine addiction, coupled with a persistent depressive disorder, 
impaired his mental responsibility when he smuggled more than 100g of heroin 
into Singapore at Woodlands Checkpoint.

Phua was convicted in September 2011 by the same judge and given the death 
penalty, which was then mandatory for those convicted of importing more than 
15g of heroin. His appeal against the conviction was dismissed in July 2012.

After exhausting the avenues of appeal, Phua filed two criminal motions in a 
bid to get his convictions overturned. His applications were dismissed in March 
2014 and September last year.

In 2013, law amendments kicked in, giving judges the discretion to sentence 
drug couriers to life imprisonment instead of death, if certain conditions are 
met.

This gave death row inmates like Phua a chance to be re-sentenced.

Phua, represented by Mr Michael Chia, applied to be re-sentenced on the basis 
that he suffered an abnormality of mind that impaired his mental responsibility 
for his acts.

The prosecution accepted that Phua was a courier but disagreed that he had 
diminished responsibility. A hearing was held to hear psychiatric opinions from 
both sides.

Dr Munidasa Winslow, for the defence, and Dr Kenneth Koh, for the prosecution, 
both agreed that Phua had a persistent depressive disorder and ketamine 
addiction.

Dr Winslow said this "substantially impaired his judgment, impulse control and 
decision-making in agreeing to be a courier, without seriously thinking through 
the possible consequences of his actions".

Dr Koh disagreed. He said Phua was able to plan and perform complex, organised 
actions in committing the offence. Phua also agreed to import the drugs 2 weeks 
before the actual offence, so his decision to go ahead cannot be said to have 
been made on impulse, he added.

But Justice Choo said, given that Phua was a chronic ketamine abuser, his 
decision-making ability and impulse control would be impaired during the 2-week 
period. He concluded that Phua's mental illness and ketamine addiction did 
impair his mental responsibility for the act.

He said: "I am satisfied, from the facts and medical evidence... that the 
applicant was probably incapable of resisting any internal rationality that 
might have dissuaded him from committing the offence."

(source: straitstimes.com)






MALAYSIA:

Man to go on trial Aug 1-4 over murder of relative


A 31-year-old local man charged with murdering his 3 year-old relative in 
Beaufort will go on trial on Aug 1-4.

High Court Senior Assistant Registrar Herlina Muse fixed the date for Mohd 
Saifulrizan Sainan during further case management, Thursday.

Saifulrizan had on Oct 22, 2015 pleaded not guilty to murdering the boy at 7am 
on Nov 21, in a stream at Kampung Jempangan in Beaufort. The offence under 
Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the death sentence on conviction.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Gan Peng Kung prosecuted while Saifulrizan was 
represented by counsel Ram Singh.

Meanwhile, the prosecution in a drug trafficking case involving a 29-year-old 
salesman closed its case after calling 5 witnesses.

High Court Judge Datuk Nurchaya directed the defence and the prosecution to 
file their submissions on April 25 and May 3 via email respectively and set 
June 30 for oral clarification.

Leong Hon Choong, a West Malaysian is accused of trafficking 2,510.4gm of syabu 
at 10.30pm on Feb 12, 2015 at the office of the Narcotic Investigation 
Department in the Kepayan police headquarters here. He faces the death penalty 
if convicted under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

DPP Gan appeared for the prosecution while Leong was defended by Ram.

In the Magistrate's Court, 6 men were jailed and fined for taking syabu.

Bakrin Abdul, Rasdi Kandi, Anuar Akub, Marjun Abu, Webster Zaunuddin and Jago 
Dangin admitted to committing the offence at separate locations here last 
month.

Magistrate Stephanie Sherron Abbie ordered Bakrin and Rasdi to pay a fine of 
RM2,000 or 4 months' jail each while the rest were handed 6 months' jail.

Chief Inspector Lim Swee Beng prosecuted.

(source: Daily Express)






INDONESIA:

Indonesia affirms death penalty as a state's sovereignity


The Indonesian government has affirmed that having the death penalty on its 
statute is part of the sovereignty of a state, according to a press statement 
issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received by ANTARA 
here on Friday.

A joint statement regarding the death penalty was issued by the Ambassador of 
Indonesia to Austria, Slovenia, and the UN agencies in Vienna, Rachmat Budiman, 
after the ratification of the final document of the Special Session of the UN 
General Assembly on the Narcotics and Drug issues, in New York, USA.

The ambassador asserted that the death penalty and the mode of its execution is 
part of the implementation of criminal justice system decided by competent 
authorities of each country.

"There is no international law prohibiting the death penalty and its 
implementation. Every country has a sovereign right to determine its own 
political, legal, economic and social systems, corresponding to its interests 
and conditions," he said.

Besides Indonesia, several like minded states have the same stance on death 
penalty as part of the legal system of sovereign states, including China, 
Singapore, Yemen, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, 
Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iran and Sudan.

The joint statement is very important to show that there are differences among 
countries on death penalty issue.

Drug abuse is a serious problem in many countries. "In view of that, the death 
penalty is an important component in the criminal justice system that can be 
applied in case of a very serious drug related crime. The execution has to be 
in compliance with the principles of law and justice," Rachmat said.

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem 
is one of the main UN forums on narcotics and drugs issues, which was attended 
by 193 of the UN member states. The last special session on narcotics and drugs 
was held in 1998.

According to the Indonesian Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, 
Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, the Special Session is very important for 
Indonesia.

The forum can be used by the Indonesian government to deliver information about 
and explain to the international community the national policies and 
achievements in combating drug abuse.

"The Indonesian government is very serious in addressing drug abuse. We are 
protecting our people from narcotics," Ambassador Djani said.(*)

(source: antaranews.com)




MAURITANIA:

RSF urges supreme court to overturn blogger's death sentence


Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Mauritania's supreme court to overturn 
the death sentence that was imposed on the blogger Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed 
Mkhaitir in December 2014 on a charge of apostasy. The sentence was upheld on 
appeal yesterday.

Under Mauritanian law, this 31-year-old non-professional journalist has the 
right to request the supreme court's clemency on the grounds of repentance. "We 
are dismayed by the Nouadhibou appeal court's decision to confirm this young 
blogger's death sentence," said Constance Desloire of RSF's Africa desk. 
"Mkhaitir's life must at all costs be spared. We urge the supreme court to take 
account of the sincerity of the regret he has been expressing since the day he 
was jailed in January 2014."

Article 306 of Mauritania???s criminal code says: "Any Muslim guilty of the 
crime of apostasy will be sentenced to death unless he first repents (...) If 
he repents before the sentence is carried out, the prosecution will refer the 
case to the supreme court with a view to restoration of all his rights." 
Mkhaitir has repeatedly expressed regret ever since his arrest in connection 
with an article on the Aqlame website in which he criticized the manipulation 
of religion by those who want to maintain the caste system. The court said the 
article contained "flippant comments about the Prophet" but Mkhaitir has always 
denied wanting to attack Islam.

Mkhaitir is the 1st person to be sentenced to death for apostasy in Mauritania 
since independence in 1960. An Islamic republic since 1991, Mauritania is 
ranked 48th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.

(source: rsf.org)






TAIWAN:

Taiwan supreme court upholds death sentence for subway slasher


Taiwan's supreme court on Friday upheld the death sentence given to a 
university student over a random May 2014 knife attack in a subway car in the 
capital Taipei that left 4 people dead and 22 injured.

The denial of Cheng Chieh's 3rd and final appeal draws a line under one of the 
most shocking crimes to strike the island's prosperous and generally 
non-violent society in years.

Before the attack, Cheng posted a message on his Facebook page saying he 
"wanted to do something big." During sentencing by a lower court, he was quoted 
as saying that he would not mind receiving a death sentence.

Memories of the case were revived last month with an apparently random knife 
attack and decapitation of a 3-year-old girl in front of her mother in Taipei. 
A 33-year-old man with a history of drug use and mental illness has been 
arrested in that case.

Some social scientists have questioned whether social alienation, joblessness 
and a loss of hope in the future were fueling such actions among young men.

Despite a legal push to abolish the death penalty, it continues to receive 
strong support among the public. Executions are carried out by a single gunshot 
to the head.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Victims' families hail MRT killer death penalty verdict


Families of the victims killed by Cheng Chieh in the Taipei MRT stabbing spree 
said justice was done after the Supreme Court returned a final verdict 
upholding the death penalty for the convicted murderer Friday.

"The death penalty for Cheng Chieh should have long been finalized," said the 
father of Chang Cheng-han, 1 of the 4 victims who died in the shocking attacks. 
"Justice has finally been done."

The father said the Supreme Court message will correct the misconception that 
killers will not be given the death penalty in Taiwan - a claim made by a man 
who has been on trial for allegedly killing a child he randomly came across in 
the streets.

The father said if Cheng had been executed sooner, the random killings that 
Taiwan has seen since the MRT tragedy would not have occurred.

The Supreme Court, handing down its final verdict condemning the convicted 
murderer to death, said Cheng had shown no remorse for the attacks and there is 
no indication that he was mentally ill when committing the crime.

Cheng went on a killing spree on a MRT train running on Line 5 in May 2014. 
Four passengers were killed and 22 others injured.

The mother of Hsieh Ching-yun, who was also killed in the MRT attacks, said the 
Supreme Court "answered the call of the public" by upholding the death penalty 
for Cheng.

But she demanded that Cheng be executed within five years. "We have to see it 
(death penalty) done. I don't want to go (die) without seeing it done," she 
said.

Chiu Mu-sen, whose wife Pan Pi-chu was killed by Cheng, said after learning of 
the verdict that "there is still justice in Taiwan."

The Ministry of Justice said it does not have a schedule for Cheng's execution, 
in response to speculation that the convicted murderer would soon be executed.

"The Ministry of Justice does not have a timetable for execution," said Deputy 
Justice Minister Cheng Ming-tang. "The Ministry of Justice carefully handles 
executions."

Currently, there are 43 death-row inmates. But the ministry has been slow in 
executing them amid mounting calls for the abolition of death penalty.

But the Supreme Court justices presiding over Cheng's trial said capital 
punishment is part of Taiwan's criminal code, and it remains the judges' 
responsibility to mete out the death penalty when necessary before it is 
abolished.

Cheng defense attorney argued that the procedure of diagnosing Cheng's mental 
state was flawed, but the justices said even if there had been a flaw, it would 
not have swayed the court's judgment in a case where the defendant clearly knew 
what he was doing when committing the murders.

Meanwhile, the Taipei MRT company said it is working to further improve the 
security of the metro system.

Yen Pang-chieh, general manager of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp. (TRTC), told 
city councilors during a meeting that more security cameras have been installed 
and police patrols have been stepped up on the MRT system since Cheng's killing 
spree.

(source: China Post)






UNITED KINGDOM:

Swindon lawyer heads to America to fight for justice on death row


A lawyer from Swindon will head to Florida next month, not for a holiday, but 
to work with lawyers fighting for inmates on death row.

Catherine Dunmore, 27, who grew up in Chiseldon, is currently volunteering with 
two organisations in London after shifting the focus of her successful legal 
career from international arbitration to human rights law.

The former Ridgeway School student will be spending three months in the United 
States working on a voluntary basis with an organisation called Amicus.

They provide legal representation for the most vulnerable death row inmates in 
the US penal system - she will be based in the Fort Lauderdale area of Florida, 
just north of Miami.

"I'm a qualified lawyer but at the moment I'm spending some time switching my 
area of focus towards human rights issues," said Catherine.

"This is something I've been keen to do for quite a few years, ever since I was 
at secondary school and volunteered with Amnesty International - since then 
I've always been against the death penalty.

"I always believed it would be a great experience to be able to go out to 
America to make a difference on these cases.

"Obviously there is work that can be done from the UK but in terms of actually 
meeting with people and getting to grips with the situation on the ground it 
makes all the difference to be able to go out there - I feel now is the right 
time to go out and do this."

Florida is 1 of 31 American states to still have the death penalty and as of 
January this year 389 people were awaiting execution there - over 40 have legal 
appeals pending.

Catherine's work will mainly focus on cases that are at a pre-trial stage 
rather than those going through the lengthy appeals process.

She will spend her time preparing legal arguments and meeting with defendants 
in prison as well as their families to prepare mitigation evidence in an effort 
to avoid the death penalty in the first place.

Catherine added: 'I'm hoping I can draw on my experience and the legal 
abilities that I've got.

"Although it is a different legal jurisdiction there are a number of 
transferable skills such as meeting with clients and families as well as legal 
research which are very similar.

"I also hope to do a Masters in September and this will allow me to be better 
informed on a number of the issues involved."

Catherine is self-funding her trip which she estimates will cost around 4,000 
pounds once she includes travel, accommodation and living costs.

She has been grateful for the help of friends and family but she hopes that 
others who are passionate, as she is, about challenging the death penalty, will 
be able to support her efforts.

To get behind Catherine you can visit 
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-catherine-fight-for-justice-on-death-row

(source: swindonadvertiser.co.uk)





**********

Convenient truths? UK govt lambasts Egypt, Iran over death penalty but 
virtually silent on US


Britain's Foreign Office (FCO) has lambasted Bahrain, China, Egypt, Iran and 
Saudi Arabia over their draconian use of the death penalty, but has failed to 
extend the same level of scathing scrutiny to the United States.

The government department made the criticisms in its annual human rights 
report, published Friday.

The study spanned key areas relating to human rights, including 
non-discrimination, counter-terrorism, migration and the refugee crisis, 
conflict, the United Nations (UN), the international criminal justice system, 
torture prevention, the death penalty and countries deemed to be "a priority" 
with respect to human rights.

The report highlights grave injustices and human rights abuses concerning the 
death penalty, including the execution of teenagers sentenced to death for 
supposed criminal offenses they carried out as children. It criticizes Saudi 
Arabia, Pakistan and Iran for this practice in particular.

Juveniles on death row

The human rights report also draws attention to the plights of Dawood 
al-Marhoon, Ali al-Nimr and Abdullah al-Zaher, all of whom were handed death 
sentences as under-age minors for alleged offenses relating to political 
protests.

In addition to this, it casts light on the significant rise of executions in 
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, warning that the majority of those killed in 
Iran had been convicted of drug-related crimes.

Human rights charity Reprieve has previously criticized Western complicity in 
these executions, connected to counter-narcotics operations. However, the UK 
report fails to draw attention to its own glaring complicity.

Director of Reprieve's death penalty team Maya Foa welcomed the report's 
denunciation of what she described as "the dire human rights situation" in 
states such as Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, but said the government must 
act on its rhetoric.

"These 3 countries have presided over an unprecedented wave of executions this 
year - including of non-violent drug offenders, political protesters and those 
arrested as children," she said.

"We welcome the FCO's commitment to avoid British involvement in such abuses 
through cooperation with these countries' law enforcement bodies. We now need 
to see real action and specific targeted interventions to back up these words - 
human rights must not be deprioritized in favor of other interests."

Convenient truths? Neither Egypt nor Bahrain were noted in the FCO's 2014 
report as states "of concern" where human rights are concerned. However, both 
were included in the 2015 report. Reprieve notes, however, the FCO's language 
has been softened in this context, flagging "priority countries" rather than 
"countries of concern."

While the FCO's report listed Britain's allies Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as 
countries whose human rights records require scrutiny, the US did not feature 
on the list. A spokesperson for the FCO told RT its opposition to the death 
penalty applies to all states, including allies.

While its 2015 human rights report acknowledges that the draconian punishment 
was abolished in Nebraska in 2015 - and Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington 
State have put in place moratoria - criticism of the US criminal justice 
system???s use of the penalty is almost non-existent in the report.

According to Reprieve, there are currently 525 people on death row in the US. 
While the group welcomes the fact citizens will no longer be executed in 
Nebraska, it is calling for an end to all executions across the US and beyond.

US drone warfare

The Obama administration has also been sharply criticized by human rights 
campaigners for its covert drone warfare, which inflicts untold misery and 
human suffering in some of the world's most crisis-ridden states.

These drone strikes are shrouded in secrecy, carried out in remote or volatile 
regions, and are conducted generally in the absence of judicial oversight 
against presumed terrorists. However, little is heard in the West of the 
innocent civilians' lives that are shattered in their wake.

As 2015 came to a close, 12 British nationals faced the death penalty in states 
across the globe. The FCO states in its report that it unequivocally opposes 
the measure and intervenes in an appropriate fashion to stop the execution of 
British nationals where possible.

This intervention includes high-level political lobbying and formal 
representations on behalf of UK citizens in multiple states, including 
Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt and the US. The government body also works 
intimately with lawyers hired by UK citizens on death row, and is supported in 
this respect by Reprieve and the Death Penalty Project (DPP).

(source: rt.com)