[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 1



QATAR:

Qatar court vacates guilty verdict for Patterson murder; retrial planned


Qatar's highest court has thrown out a guilty verdict and death penalty 
sentence for a local man convicted of killing a British teacher in 2013.

This morning, the Court of Cassation accepted an appeal filed by Badr Hashim 
Khamis Abdallah Al-Jabar, who was convicted of stabbing and killing Lauren 
Patterson, and burning her remains in the desert 2 1/2 years ago.

Al-Jaber will remain in custody, but be given a new trial at the Court of 
Appeal.

Also today, the Court of Cassation denied an appeal request from Mohamed 
Abdallah Hassan Abdul Aziz, who was found guilty of helping Al-Jabar dispose of 
Patterson's body, as well as damaging and erasing evidence.

That means he has exhausted all chances to appeal his 3-year prison term.

Reacting to the development, Patterson's mother Alison told Doha News that she 
was "disgusted and devastated" by the court's decision:

"I am totally dumbfounded how anyone could think that someone who acted so 
callously deserves another chance and is given a retrial. The only ones who 
suffer because of this are the innocent ones.

Lauren who did nothing wrong but was brutally murdered for trusting someone and 
myself and family and friends, we are the ones being sentenced. We have to live 
with what they did to Lauren everyday and now we have to suffer further."

What's next

Both Al-Jaber and Abdul Aziz were convicted by a lower criminal court in March 
2014 on charges related to Patterson's death.

A year later, the Court of Appeal upheld those court sentences.

At the time, a judge said that there was consensus for the verdict to remain.

However, now a new panel of judges will hear the case against Al-Jabar, whose 
lawyer argued that the Court of Appeals' decision was "erroneous and not based 
on a sound legal foundation."

This doesn't mean new evidence will necessarily be introduced, but the panel 
will evaluate what was previously entered into the record to see if any errors 
were made, legal sources told Doha News.

The case

The 2 Qatari men had been the last to see Patterson alive after she had briefly 
gone missing in October 2014.

According to the prosecutor, the 24-year-old was taken to a home that Al-Jaber 
used for sexual trysts with women. He then "conquered her body" and killed her 
by stabbing her twice.

The defense had maintained that Patterson's death had been an accident, and 
said confessions obtained from the 2 men on trial were coerced.

Al-Jaber faced the death penalty either hanging or shooting.

However, while the death penalty is still being handed out in courts, this 
sentence has not been carried out in Qatar for over a decade.

According to court clerks, the paperwork for the new case will be filed within 
the next few weeks. A new court date has yet to be set.

(source: Doha News)






TAIWAN/INDONESIA:

Taiwan respects Indonesia's death sentences for 3 Taiwanese


The Ministry of Justice said Monday that it respects the Indonesian judiciary's 
death sentences on 3 Taiwanese drug traffickers, but will see if there are any 
steps that can be taken to ensure that their rights and interests are 
protected.

Vice Justice Minister Chen Ming-tang made the remarks after the Supreme Court 
of Indonesia last week sentenced Luo Chih-chen, Chen Jia-wei and Wang An-kang 
to death for attempting to bring in more than 2 kilograms of amphetamine 
through Jakarta International Airport in 2014, the 1st overseas capital 
sentences for Taiwanese in recent years.

The court's spokesman, Suhadi, told CNA that the sentences are a legal issue 
that is not related in any way to bilateral relations.

In November 2015, the Attorney General Office of Indonesia demanded the death 
penalty for 50 drug traffickers, including the three Taiwanese, a request that 
was granted by the local court but commuted to life imprisonment by the high 
court.

Chang Liang-jen, Taiwan's top representative in Indonesia, said his staff had 
informed the family members of the fate of the three convicts, promising to 
render any assistance to them.

Indonesia has stepped up its crackdown on criminal rings involved in drug 
trafficking and cross-border telecom fraud, Chang said, advising Taiwanese 
nationals not to try their luck when attempting to break Indonesian law.

Currently, more than 30 Taiwanese involved in drug trafficking are incarcerated 
in Indonesia. The longest-serving three were given life sentences in 2013.

(source: focustaiwan.tw)

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

Australian student arrested for the murder of her study partner after she 
dropped dead from drinking iced coffee laced with CYANIDE 'arrived at the cafe 
an hour before her friends and ordered 3 drinks' ----Wayan Mirna Salihin died 
after drinking cyanide-spiked coffee in Jakarta

A former Australian university student who is accused of lacing a friend's iced 
coffee with the deadly substance cyanide has been charged with premeditated 
murder and could face the death penalty.

Indonesian police arrested Jessica Kumala Wongso on Saturday over the murder of 
her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, who died in Olivier restaurant in Central 
Jakarta on January 6.

Police said the 27-year-old arrived at the cafe around an hour before her 2 
friends and ordered 3 drinks, including the Vietnamese iced coffee that is 
believed to have killed Ms Salihin.

Jakarta Commissioner Edi Hasibuan said the accused was seen on CCTV footage 
sliding the drink towards the young newlywed before she fell to the ground, 
started foaming at the mouth and convulsing.

He alleges that security footage captured her looking back and forth to see if 
anyone was around while she handled the coffee before the encounter, Indonesian 
media reported.

Mr Hasibuan said the camera's vision was obstructed when Ms Wongso placed a 
paper bag on the table.

Yudi Wibowo, Ms Wongso's lawyer and uncle, challenged police to released the 
footage to the public as he believes it will clear his niece's name but 
authorities declined as it is evidence in an ongoing investigation.

He also denied that cyanide was involved in the murder and questioned an 
autopsy that allegedly confirmed that Ms Sahlihin had the poison in her system.

Head of the Jakarta Police forensic laboratory Brigadier General Alex Mandalika 
said results indicated that more than a deadly dose of cyanide was found in her 
stomach.

'Based on our investigation results, the concentration reached 15 grams per 
litre. Just imagine, 90 milligrams alone is already lethal,' he told the 
Jakarta Globe.

Ms Wongso has maintained her innocence since her former study partner's death, 
telling reporters that she 'does not know where the cyanide came from'.

'I just want to help police and Mirna's family reveal who was behind all of 
this,' she told the Jakarta Globe.

The 27-year-old has been charged under Article 340 of the Criminal Code on 
premeditated murder, which carries a jail sentence of 20 years to life or death 
by firing squad.

POLICE TIMELINE

The 3 young women agreed to meet at a coffee shop in the city on January 6.

Jessica was the 1st to arrive and ordered a cocktail for herself and a cold 
Vietnamese coffee.

Minutes later, Mirna and Hani arrived and Mirna proceeded to drink the coffee.

'It's awful - it's bad,' Mirna cried.

Shortly afterwards she collapsed with convulsions and began to foam at the 
mouth. She died as she was being rushed to hospital.

Indonesian authorities have searched Ms Kumala's home for the pants she was 
wearing that day to to test them for trace evidence but according to local 
media outlets she said her maid had discarded them.

She said she ripped the pants as she attempted to help carry Ms Sahlihin after 
she had fallen to the ground.

Chief Detective Krishna Murti said officers have collected about 20 witness 
statements, spoken to six experts and have conducted a re-enactment of the 
events.

He said Ms Wongso's recollection of events is 'highly inconsistent' with the 
information they have received.

Ms Kumala was named a suspect on Friday and arrested at a hotel at around 7am 
on Saturday.

Local authorities made inquires with the Australian Federal Police about the 
relationship between the 2 friends, who had studied together in Sydney and 
Melbourne before moving to Indonesia.

'We have contacted the Australian Federal Police because we need some 
information,' the head of Jakarta Police general crime division, Senior 
Commander Khrisna Murti, told the Jakarta Post.

According to the Jakarta Post, the pair had studied together at the Billy Blue 
College of Design in Sydney before moving on to the Swinburne University of 
Technology in Melbourne.

The paper said that Ms Wongso continued to work in Australia following her 
graduation in 2008 before finding a job in Indonesia last month.

(source: Daily Mail)






KENYA:

Death row inmates criticize new policy guidelines that recommend hanging


Prisoners on death row across the country have criticized Chief Justice Willy 
Mutunga over the new policy guidelines that recommend among other things 
hanging prisoners on death row.

Inmates at the Naivasha Prison noted that the move was ill informed saying that 
it would affect the ongoing reforms in all penal institutions and interrupt 
ordinary life in prisons across the country.

Jackson Wafula, an inmate on death row, told Citizen Digital that Naivasha 
Prison officials had given inmates serving long sentences a chance to reform by 
engaging them in activities that develop their skills in various areas.

"Some of us are in school while others are in the workshop learning carpentry 
and other related courses," he said.

The 50-year-old inmate who was convicted in 2009 says he has since learnt the 
skill of artistry and has been drawing images of popular figures in the 
country.

Wafula opined that if fellow inmates on death row were to face the hangman's 
noose, most of them would not see the need to reform.

"We have made numerous strides under the reforms that are currently being 
implemented and we do not know who advised these new measures," he added.

Peter Mwangi, a prisoner serving a life sentence at the institution, said he 
has learned skills that could help him if he is pardoned, adding that the 
implementation of the directive by the CJ would affect prisoners 
psychologically.

Mwangi was sentenced to death in 1991 but the sentence was commuted to life 
imprisonment by President Mwai Kibaki.

"Some of these prisoners never committed the crimes they have been jailed for 
and others have their appeals pending in court," Mwangi said.

"You can imagine working with a prisoner who is waiting to be hanged, it 
demoralises others and this could take back the gains made in reforming 
prisons," he opined.

Another inmate, Samuel Kagiri, urged CJ Mutunga to allow prisoners to continue 
with normal programmes regardless of their sentences.

He noted that more than 1,000 inmates at Naivasha Prison have been convicted to 
hang but they have since mingled with others and are working together.

"We were given an opportunity to go to school and learn several courses that 
have impacted positively in our lives while our families are also given a 
chance to visit us," he said.

On Monday last week, Mutunga launched the new policy guidelines that recommends 
among other things hanging inmates sentenced to death.

The policy was prepared by a team of Judges at the Judicial Training Institute 
led by Justice Msagha Mbogholi.

"Since the death penalty has not been abolished, judges must impose the death 
sentence with respect to capital offences. To curb their stay in prison, the 
court should recommend to the president to have a fixed time for a review of 
the cases, after which they should face death," say the guidelines.

The new policy further makes it possible for a convict to be sentenced to death 
in more than 1 case, although the individual will be hanged as per the 1st 
sentence, with the others being held in abeyance.

(source: citizentv.co.ke)

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

Death penalty a barbaric sentence


Inmates at the Naivasha Prison have criticised a proposal by the judiciary that 
death row prisoners should be hanged.

In July 2010, the Court of Appeal found the mandatory death sentence to be 
unconstitutional and Kenyan judges have been imposing custodial sentences for 
death penalty offences.

In 2013, the Court of Appeal held that the courts have no discretion in respect 
to offences that attract a mandatory death sentence.

These conflicting signals on matters of life and death are cruel and inhuman.

The dangers of fatal miscarriages of justice are real and totally unacceptable.

In the countries where the death penalty is still law, the state kills human 
beings with premeditation and elaborate ritual - but not in Kenya.

In this country, the death penalty is still in the books but it has not been 
implemented for 26 years now.

Kenya's last hangman, Kamiti Maximum Security Prison's Michael Wanjuki, was 
succeeded by an electric chair that has never been used.

And therefore to a brutal and barbaric law is added the bizarre prospect of 
condemned prisoners rotting on Death Row in large numbers for life.

It is high time the death penalty law was reformed.

(source: Editorial, The Star)






CHINA:

Chinese man jailed for 23 years freed after verdict overturned


A Chinese man walked free on Monday having spent the last 23 years in jail 
after a court overturned a murder and arson conviction, state media said, the 
latest wrongful verdict to be overturned in the country.

Chen Man was arrested in 1992, accused of burning down a house in which a man 
died. He was later given a suspended death penalty.

But after numerous appeals, a court found there was insufficient evidence to 
sustain the verdict and ordered him freed, the official China Daily reported on 
its website.

The government has tried to improve the way courts handle cases of miscarriages 
of justice under efforts by President Xi Jinping to bolster the rule of law and 
increase public confidence in the legal system.

Wrongful executions have stirred particular outrage, though the death penalty 
itself remains widely popular.

In 2014, a court posthumously acquitted an ethnic Mongol called Huugjilt who 
had been executed for raping and killing a woman in a public restroom. Another 
man was later sentenced to death for the crime.

State news agency Xinhua said late on Sunday that 27 people had been penalised 
over Huugjilt's wrongful conviction, mostly being given administrative 
punishments.

But one of them, a former deputy police chief, may face criminal charges, it 
said.

(source: Khaleej Times)

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

China to execute pair for stabbing British monk to death, state media says


China has sentenced 2 men to death for killing a British monk, who founded 
Europe's 1st Tibetan monastery, over a financial dispute, state media said.

Akong Tulku Rinpoche, co-founder of Scotland's Samye Ling monastery, was found 
dead with multiple stab wounds at his home in the southwestern city of Chengdu 
in 2013.

A court in the city sentenced 2 men, named in Chinese as Tudeng Gusang and 
Tsering Banjue, to death for the murders of Mr Akong and 2 other men, while an 
accomplice was sentenced to 3 years in jail, the state-run China News Service 
reported Sunday.

It cited authorities as saying that Mr Gusang, who had worked at the Scottish 
monastery, and Mr Banjue had stabbed Mr Akong, his nephew and a driver to death 
in a dispute over a 2.7 million yuan (Dh1.5 million) payment.

The verdict, posted by the court on social media, said the murders were 
"brutal" and that the suspects would be "treated severely in accordance with 
the law".

Britain said in a statement that it communicated its opposition to the death 
penalty to Beijing.

Mr Akong, who was in his early 70s, took British citizenship after fleeing 
Tibet in 1959, and founded the facility in Scotland in 1967.

He had the title of Rinpoche, an honorific given to the most respected teachers 
in Tibetan Buddhism, and his monastery said at the time of his killing that he 
had been "assassinated".

The institution was a pilgrimage site for artists and musicians, including 
Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, as well as senior Tibetan monks, including the 
Dalai Lama.

Despite fleeing China, Mr Akong had maintained a relationship with authorities 
in Beijing, regularly returning to Tibetan regions.

Many Tibetans say China represses their religious freedom and culture. Beijing 
says it has brought massive investment to the relatively undeveloped region.

Rights groups say China executes more people than the rest of the world 
combined, though the annual number has declined significantly over the past 
decade. Beijing regards the figure as a state secret and does not release it.

The British embassy in Beijing said it was aware of the trial, adding: "The 
British government maintains its long-standing opposition to the death penalty, 
and has formally communicated this to the Chinese government."

(source: Agence France-Presse)






SYRIA:

ISIS executed 2,114 civilians in 19 months, human rights group says


ISIS has executed 3,895 people, more than half of them civilians, since 
announcing the establishment of a "caliphate state" in June 2014, the UK-based 
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday.

Of the 2,114 civilians killed, 78 were children and 116 were women, the SORH 
said in a press release. Civilians were killed by firing squad, beheaded, 
stoned, thrown off high buildings or burned, SOHR said.

The other people executed included fighters for the Syrian regime, militiamen 
loyal to the regime and rebel groups like al-Qaeda in Levant, SOHR said.

CNN could not independently verify the information from SOHR. Its website says 
SOHR is a nonprofit group not connected to any political body or nation.

ISIS even executed 422 of its own members for offenses such as trying to 
defect, spying for foreign counties and acts of "extremism" against Islam, such 
as ascribing divine characteristics to Islamic figures or another person, SOHR 
said.

SOHR said people were killed for apostasy, cursing Allah, adultery, espionage, 
being a member of the national defense, contacting the Al-Nusra Front and 
homosexuality. A woman was killed for escaping from her husband.

Civilians were massacred in several places: 939 Arab Sunni civilians were 
killed in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor; 223 Kurdish civilians were 
killed in Kobani and the nearby village of Barkh Botan; and 46 were killed in 
the village of Al-Mab'oujeh.

During the period of December 29 to January 29, ISIS killed 188 people, 
including 113 civilians, the release said. 64 were Syrian regime forces or 
militiamen loyal to the regime, the release said.

The extremist group announced the establishment of a "caliphate," an Islamic 
state stretching across the western and northern Iraq, in June 2014.

The leader of the caliphate is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al Samarrai, 
more commonly known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

(source: CNN)


GLOBAL:

No one should be executed for drug offenses----Even as some countries 
liberalize their drug laws, others like Indonesia are brutally cracking down


The use of society's ultimate sanction, the death penalty, has been declining 
around the world for decades. In 1977, only 16 countries had abolished the 
death penalty; by 2015, 140 had either abolished it or for all practical 
purposes abandoned it. 19 American states and the District of Columbia have no 
death penalty, and in 2014, executions were carried out in only 7 states.

However, over the same period, the number of countries applying the death 
penalty for drugs offenses has increased. In 1979 there were 10 countries that 
executed drug offenders. By 1985, that number had increased to 22; by 2000, to 
36 (although it declined to 33 in 2012). Some years have seen as many as 1,000 
drug-related executions, many of them in Iran, Singapore and China, where 
precise figures are unavailable. Thousands of individuals are on death row in 
Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa for drug offenses.

Indonesia offers a particularly gruesome example. In 2015, 14 prisoners there, 
mostly foreign nationals, were killed by firing squad.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo took office in October 2014. He immediately 
declared that the country was facing a "drug emergency situation," thus 
justifying the decision to carry out the executions in the face of concerted 
international pressure - notably from Australia, 2 of whose citizens were 
executed last year. He zealously pursued the death sentences, saying he would 
reject any appeal for clemency. According to Amnesty International, Indonesia 
held at least 121 people on death row in 2015, 54 of them for drug offenses.

As part of its intensified war on drugs, Indonesia has targeted drug users. The 
National Narcotics Agency recently revived compulsory treatment, pledging to 
place 100,000 drug users in treatment or rehabilitation centers last year. This 
month the new narcotics board chief, Budi Waseso, created an international 
furor by calling for a prison island for drug smugglers, surrounded by 
crocodiles and piranhas. He also called for the reinstatement of the late 
Indonesian dictator Suharto's infamous program in which elite military 
personnel were authorized to conduct extrajudicial public killings of anyone 
the regime considered criminal. A week ago, police raids on drug-use hotspots 
in Jakarta and Medan left at least 4 people dead - 2 of them police officers.

One person executed in Indonesia last year was Brazilian citizen Rodrigo 
Gularte, who was caught with 2 friends trying to take cocaine hidden in 
surfboards into the country in 2004. He took responsibility for the seized 
drugs, allowing his companions to be released. He accepted a state-appointed 
lawyer and never received competent legal representation at trial. His first 
lawyer acknowledged that he used drugs. Today that might be accepted as a 
mitigating factor, but at the time, it merely helped the prosecution make its 
case and secure the death sentence.

"In Malaysia in 2010, the majority of those sentenced to death for drug-related 
crimes were convicted of marijuana or hashish offenses."

The mitigating factor that should have protected him from the firing squad is 
that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager. He was often 
impulsive, which likely explains how he came to be smuggling drugs. In prison, 
his condition worsened, and he attempted suicide. Eventually he was further 
diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia accompanied by delusions and 
hallucinations. It was widely reported that he understood he was going to be 
killed only as he was being led to the site of the execution.

After Indonesia denied requests for Gularte to be transferred to a mental 
health facility in 2014, his cousin Angelita Muxfedlt went to Jakarta and 
appointed my office as his legal representative, together with other prominent 
legal and human rights groups. He was convicted despite the suspicious release 
of his co-defendants, despite his incompetent counsel and despite international 
outrage, especially from Brazil, where the last state execution took place in 
1876. Even the diagnosis of his severe mental illness was not enough to earn 
him a reprieve.

Indonesia clearly violated international law by executing a prisoner with 
mental health issues. He should have received treatment for his multiple 
illnesses. Instead, in a stunning act of retribution, the state put him to 
death.

He can be considered a victim of the global war on drugs. But the punitive drug 
control regime that was built on international agreements like the 1961 Single 
Convention on Narcotic Drugs is coming under increasing pressure. In 2014, for 
example, the International Narcotics Control Board urged governments to abolish 
the death penalty.

There is growing recognition that sentencing someone to death for a drug 
offense is a violation of basic human rights. Around the world, the vast 
majority of death row prisoners are poor and often poorly educated or incapable 
of comprehending what they were getting involved in, like Gularte. They are 
often badly advised, living or dying on the whim of a capricious legal system.

As some countries relax their regulations against the recreational use of drugs 
like marijuana, the inconsistency across international jurisdictions is thrown 
into sharp focus. In at least 12 countries, some offenses related to marijuana 
and hashish are punishable by death. In Malaysia in 2010, the majority of those 
sentenced to death for drug-related crimes were convicted of marijuana or 
hashish offenses. While some countries look to alternative methods of managing 
drugs, including decriminalization, others continue to punish similar 
activities by execution.

There is no evidence that the death penalty works as a deterrent, which is the 
reason most often cited for its continued use. People are still taking drugs 
into Indonesia, and heroin seizures have not stopped in Iran.

This year's United Nations special session on drugs should include discussion 
of the death penalty. The world must consign the death penalty to history, 
where it belongs.

(source: Ricky Gunawan is a human rights lawyer in Indonesia. He is the 
director of LBH Masyarakat (Community Legal Aid Institute), which is based in 
Jakarta and provides free legal services for poor people, marginalized groups 
and victims of human rights abuses, including people who use drugs and people 
facing the death penalty; Claudia Stoicescu is a doctoral researcher at the 
University of Oxford's department of social policy and 
intervention----Aljazeera)






BANGLADESH:

2 to die for killing schoolgirl after rape


A tribunal here yesterday sentenced 2 youths to death for killing a schoolgirl 
after rape in Mathbaria upazila of the district in 2014.

The death penalty awardees are Mehedi Hasan Swapan, 23, and Sumon Jamadder, 19, 
of Bandhabpara-Bukhaitala village in the upazila.

Judge Md Golam Kibria of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribual-1 
delivered the verdict around 12.30pm.

The court also fined the duo Tk 1 lakh each. The money will be given to the 
victim's family, court sources said.

According to the prosecution, Fatima Akhter, 9, a Class III student at Hatem 
Ali Government Primary School, and daughter of Ful Miah Hawlader of Jhatibunia 
village in the upazila, used to live at her maternal grandfather's house at 
Bandhabpara-Bukhaitala village.

When the girl went to nearby school field to bring a cow back home on October 
5, 2014, Swapan and Sumon forcibly took her to an orchard and raped her. As she 
cried for help, the rapists strangled her. Relatives found Fatima's body from 
the orchard the following day.

Following a case filed by Fatima's father with Mathbaria Police Station, police 
arrested Swapan, a cousin of Fatima, and Sumon, After interrogation, they 
confessed to killing Fatima after rape.

After examining the witnesses and case record, the judge handed down the 
verdict.

(sorue: The Daily Star)

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

Mir Quasem appeal hearing in SC cause list


Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali's appeal hearing has been enlisted in 
Tuesday's cause list of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

A 4-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha of the Appellate 
Division is set to begin the hearing of death row Jamaat-e-Islami's key 
financier Mir Quasem Ali for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 
Liberation War, according to the SC website.

On the 3rd November of 2014, a commander of para militia force al-Badr during 
the war, Mir Quasem was awarded capital punishment by the International Crimes 
Tribunal 2.

The tribunal handed down death penalty in 2 charges for killing 7 people, 
including one Jasim Uddin, after abduction. He was awarded a total of 72-year 
imprisonment on other charges of abduction, conspiracy and planning. 4 charges 
were not proved.

On November 30, 2014, Quasem Ali appealed to the Supreme Court against the 
death sentence.

Mir Quasem joined Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat, in 1967 
while studying at Chittagong Collegiate School. He later became its Chittagong 
City unit general secretary.

He played an important role in forming al-Badr Bahini that orchestrated 
systematic killing of freedom fighters and intellectuals.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)






PHILIPPINES:

Zapanta's parents: 'Where's the P23-M blood money'


The parents of Joselito Zapanta, the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was 
executed in Saudi Arabia in December, are looking for the P23-million bloody 
money the government raised to save him from death penalty.

"Where did the blood money go? If they (the government) really collected the 
money for my son, I hope they could give that to me so we could start all over 
again," Ramona Zapanta, mother of the OFW, said in an interview with Senate 
reporters on Monday.

Zapanta, 35, was executed in Saudi Arabia on December 29, 2015 for the murder 
of his Sudanese landlord over a rental dispute after to the P23-million blood 
money was rejected by the Sudanese widow.

The victim's family was asking P43 million blood money to save Zapanta from the 
death row.

Jesus Zapanta, the OFW's father, said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) 
has yet to update them about the status of the bloody money.

He added that they have yet to receive any assistance from the DFA.

The government earlier said that the money was kept in a bank account being 
managed by the Philippine embassy in Saudi Arabia.

Senator Cynthia Villar, who granted some livelihood assistance to Zapanta's 
kin, said that many OFWs experience misfortune abroad.

"It is a sad reality that many of our OFWs experience misfortune abroad. When 
subjected to abuse, there are those who chose to suffer in silence. Some OFWs 
chose to fight back and ended up in jail," Villar said.

"We hope this livelihood assistance will go a long way in helping the family 
cope with the loss of their breadwinner," she added.

The senator said she hoped that Zapanta's execution would serve as reminder to 
Filipino migrant workers that foreign lands have harsher penalties for crimes 
and to always follow the laws of their host countries.

Several groups earlier appealed to the government to donate a portion of the 
P23 million to Zapanta's grieving family and to help other OFWs on the death 
row.

(source: Sun Star)






IRAQ:

Iraqi president signs execution orders for convicted terrorists


Iraqi President Fouad Massoum on Sunday execution orders for offenders 
convicted of terrorist offenses, his spokesman announced.

Khalid Shwani, the official spokesman of Iraqi president, explained that this 
was the 3rd batch of executions that Massoum had signed for terrorist offenses, 
but did not disclose how many were endorsed.

"Fouad Massoum, President of Iraq, signed the 3rd waves of capital punishment," 
Shwani said.

He added that the orders are for "all offenders who have been convicted of 
terror-related offenses."

Shwani said that signing the orders mean that the death sentences imposed on 
the offenders now moves into the implementation stage.

He assured the Iraqi nation that the decisions came after a special committee 
had investigated the cases.

Last year, Shwani told Rudaw that from 2006 to 2015, Iraqi courts issued 
execution orders for 667 individuals, of whom 170 were convicted of 
terror-related offenses.

(source: Rudaw.net)