[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 2



BAHAMAS:

Attorney General: Removing Privy Council A Major Task


ATTORNEY General Allyson Maynard-Gibson yesterday said while The Bahamas is 
"obliged" to enforce the death penalty in accordance to law, the removal of the 
London-based Privy Council would require "serious consideration" and "extensive 
consultation" with the Bahamian people.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson, speaking with students at the Eugene Dupuch Law School, 
suggested that while the country has an unfettered obligation to execute 
capital punishment as per the laws "on the books", the abandonment of the Privy 
Council - whose views have made it harder for hangings to be carried out in 
this country, is a decision that "no politician, no member of parliament should 
take on their own".

She also said it is "challenging" to define "the worst of the worst" as related 
to criminal matters, citing the Privy Council's previous stance on whether 
convicted persons should receive the death penalty.

The enforcement of capital punishment and the abandonment of the Privy Council 
as this country's highest court would seemingly go hand in hand, as it is the 
Privy Council that has served as an obstacle to The Bahamas carrying out the 
death penalty after declaring in 2006 that the country's mandatory death 
penalty upon a murder conviction was unconstitutional.

In June 2011, the high court overturned Maxo Tido's death sentence in 
connection with the killing of 16-year-old Donnell Connover, whose body was 
found off Cowpen Road, battered and bruised and her skull crushed. There was 
additional evidence that parts of her body were burned after her death.

But the Privy Council concluded that the murder was not an example of the 
"worst of the worst".

Last week, retired Justice Neville Smith, QC called for the country to abandon 
the London-based Privy Council and establish its own final court of appeal.

Justice Smith said the country should not allow itself to become a "hostage" to 
the Privy Council, arguing that the country would be much better served 
utilising a 2-tiered court system minus the Privy Council, with the Court of 
Appeal serving in its place. Justice Smith suggested that a 5-judge panel could 
be utilised for "more complex appeals".

"I think that is something that cannot be done lightly; it's something that 
requires serious consideration and most importantly extensive consultation with 
the Bahamian people," Mrs Maynard-Gibson said yesterday. "The system of justice 
is here to serve our people, and that's a decision that no politician, no 
member of parliament, should take on their own."

"Regarding capital punishment, Chief Justice Sir Hartman Longley said last 
month it would take a massacre similar to the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris for 
the death penalty to be imposed in The Bahamas. The attacks Sir Hartman 
referred to, which took place a year ago, resulted in the death of 12 people at 
the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo when gunmen burst in and 
opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles.

That prompted some, like Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller, to label Sir Hartman's 
line of thinking as "utterly ridiculous and stupid"; the firebrand MP also 
questioned "what world" Sir Hartman lives in. Democratic National Alliance 
leader Branville McCartney also asked "how many more must die" through violence 
before lawmakers do what is necessary to protect the public and carry out 
capital punishment.

"Undoubtedly this is a real challenge," Mrs Maynard-Gibson said. "What I want 
to say is capital punishment is on the books of our country; it is a law of the 
land. When I had to go and defend our human rights record in Geneva in 2012, 
and I was under severe attack for us still having capital punishment on our 
books, I pointed out to those countries that were attacking the Bahamas, that 
every single one of those countries, bar none, has capital punishment on their 
books.

"Think about the United States of America. Acts of terrorism, what's the 
punishment? Do I need to go on? It's on our books. Now it is challenging to 
define the worst of the worst. What we have to do, in my view, is keep pushing, 
keep pushing. Because it's easy for things to collapse when after a conviction 
or an appeal has been filed, it gets thrown back some place."

She added: "We define law by making sure it gets before the courts and we give 
the courts an opportunity to make decisions and we respond to those decisions."

In November 2011, parliament passed legislation to define the types of murder 
constituting the "worst of the worst" guidelines set out by the High Court.

Despite this, Sean McWeeney, QC, chairman of the Constitutional Reform 
Commission, doubted whether the changes will matter to the Privy Council.

Speaking on the matter in April 2013 in response to a question raised at the 
commission's 1st town hall meeting, Mr McWeeney said that "as long as the Privy 
Council remains your final court of appeal, it is extremely doubtful that you 
will ever be able to hang anyone".

The last person executed in The Bahamas was David Mitchell in January 2000.

(source: tribune242.com)






ZIMBABWE:

Zimbabwe top prosecutor charged with obstruction of justice in Mugabe bomb plot

+++++++++++

Zimbabwe's Prosecutor General was on Tuesday charged with abuse of office and 
obstructing justice after he dropped a case against two men accused of plotting 
to bomb President Robert Mugabe's dairy farm, only for the 2 to turn state 
witness.

Johannes Tomana, an avowed supporter of Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party, is 
unpopular with the opposition for his zealous prosecution of anti-Mugabe 
activists when he was Attorney General from 2008 to 2013.

Tomana, who was not asked to plead, faces up to 15 years in prison if 
convicted. He was freed on $1,000 bail and ordered to surrender his passport.

State prosecutor Timothy Makoni told a magistrates court that 1 army corporals, 
a retired soldier and a 4th man were arrested on Jan. 22 outside Mugabe's dairy 
farm north of the capital Harare and were found carrying ammonia and petrol 
bombs.

The men were initially charged with possession of weaponry for sabotage and 
with money laundering for terrorism purposes.

But Tomana freed 2 of them, who then turned state witnesses, in a decision the 
state said amounted to criminal abuse of office.

On Tuesday, new treason charges were levelled against the 4. Makoni said the 
accused, who face the death penalty or life in prison, hatched a plan to set up 
a militia base to the west of Harare from where they planned to unseat Mugabe's 
government.

Lawyer Thabani Mpofu said the new constitution passed in 2013, which created 
the post of prosecutor general, gave Tomana power over whom to prosecute. He 
said the court had no authority to try Tomana.

Several political activists, including the main opposition leader Morgan 
Tsvangirai, have in the past been tried for terrorism and treason but have been 
acquitted.

(source: The Star)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh's death sentence quashed by Saudi court----Panel 
of judges downgrades punishment for apostasy conviction to 8 years in prison 
and 800 lashes


A Saudi court has overturned the death sentence of a Palestinian poet accused 
of renouncing Islam, imposing an 8-year prison term and 800 lashes instead. He 
must also repent through an announcement in official media.

The decision by a panel of judges came after Ashraf Fayadh's lawyer argued his 
conviction was seriously flawed because he was denied a fair trial. In a 
briefing on the verdict, Abdulrahman al-Lahem said the judgment revoked the 
death sentence but upheld that the poet was guilty of apostasy.

In a memo posted on Twitter, Lahem details Fayadh's new punishment. He is 
sentenced to 8 years in prison and 800 lashes, to be carried out on 16 
occasions, and must renounce his poetry on Saudi state media.

Lahem welcomed the overturning of the death sentence but reaffirmed Fayadh's 
innocence and announced they would launch an appeal and ask for bail.

Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: "Instead of 
beheading Ashraf Fayadh, a Saudi court has ordered a lengthy imprisonment and 
flogging. No one should face arrest for peacefully expressing opinions, much 
less corporal punishment and prison. Saudi justice officials must urgently 
intervene to vacate this unjust sentence."

The author Irvine Welsh said: "When this twisted barbarism is thought of as a 
compromise, it's way past time western governments stopped dealing with this 
pervert regime."

The death sentence imposed in November provoked a worldwide outcry.

Hundreds of leading authors, artists and actors, including the director of Tate 
Modern, Chris Dercon, the British poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, and actor 
Helen Mirren, have appealed for his release. More than 60 international arts 
and human rights groups, including Amnesty International and the writers' 
association PEN International, have launched a campaign calling on the Saudi 
authorities and western governments to save him. Readings of his poetry in 
support of his case took place in 44 countries last week.

Jo Glanville, the director of English PEN, which appealed for Fayadh's release, 
said: "It is a relief that Ashraf Fayadh no longer faces execution, but this is 
a wholly disproportionate and shocking sentence. It will cause dismay around 
the world for all Ashraf's many supporters. The charges against him should have 
been dropped and he should be a free man today. We will continue to campaign 
for his release."

Fayadh, who has mental health problems, has spent almost 2 years in prison in 
Abha, a city in the south-west of the ultra-conservative kingdom.

The 35-year-old Palestinian refugee rose to prominence as an artist and curator 
for the British-Saudi art group Edge of Arabia. He went on to curate shows in 
Jeddah and at the 2013 Venice Biennale, which showcased an emerging generation 
of Saudi artists.

But in August 2013, he was detained by the mutaween (religious police) 
following a complaint that he was cursing against Allah and the prophet 
Muhammad, insulting Saudi Arabia and distributing a book of his poems that 
promoted atheism. Fayadh said the complaint arose from a personal dispute 
during a discussion in a cafe in Abha.

Although he was released after one day he was arrested again on 1 January 2014 
and detained at a police station before being transferred to the local prison 
27 days later. At his trial in May 2014, he was sentenced to 4 years in prison 
and 800 lashes by the general court in Abha.

He was also found guilty of storing images of women on his phone, which friends 
and colleagues said were artists appearing in his show at the Jeddah art fair.

After his appeal was dismissed Fayadh was retried on 17 November 2015 and 
sentenced to death by a new panel of judges, who ruled that his repentance did 
not prevent his execution.

But appeal documents submitted by his lawyer last month argued that Fayadh's 
conviction was based on uncorroborated allegations and ignored evidence that he 
had a mental illness.

Fayadh's father had a stroke after hearing his son was to be beheaded. Fayadh 
was unable to visit him before he died last month, nor was he allowed to attend 
his funeral.

In documents considered by the panel of judges on Tuesday, Lahem argued that 
Fayadh's initial arrest in 2013 was unlawful as it was not ordered by the state 
prosecution service. The allegation of apostasy made by Shaheen bin Ali Abu 
Mismar, who is alleged to have had a personal dispute with the poet, was not 
corroborated by other evidence, which goes against the principles of sharia 
law, he argued.

The appeal document also stated that the November ruling ignored testimony by 
defence witnesses in Fayadh's 2014 trial who said Abu Mismar was lying, and 
from the accuser's uncle, who indicated he was not truthful. It contended that 
the "judiciary cannot rely on [his evidence] due to the possibility that it is 
malicious".

(source: The Guardian)

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

Saudi overturns Palestinian poet's death sentence


Saudi Arabia overturned the death sentence of Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh on 
Tuesday, although he will still face 8 years in jail and 800 lashes.

A panel of judges came to the decision after Fayadh's lawyer argued that his 
client had been denied a fair trial.

Fayadh's lawyer posted a document on Twitter on Tuesday showing the new 
sentence reached by the judges:

Though campaigners welcomed the decision, many protested the still harsh 
punishment, despite the fact that Fayadh's lawyer maintains his client's 
innocence.

"No one should face arrest for peacefully expressing opinions, much less 
corporal punishment and prison. Saudi justice officials must urgently intervene 
to vacate this unjust sentence."

Fayadh had been sentenced to be executed on the charge of apostasy and 
"spreading atheism" in 2014 by Saudi Arabia's General Court after the court of 
appeal overturned an initial dismissal of the case.

He was also charged with violating the country's Anti-Cyber Crime Law for 
allegedly taking and storing photos of women on his phone.

However, some of his supporters have argued that he was punished for posting a 
video online showing police in the south-western city of Abha lashing a man in 
public.

Campaigners had long protested that Fayadh had not received a fair hearing 
under the Saudi justice system.

"For 1 1/2 years, they promised him an appeal and kept intimidating him that 
there's new evidence," said Mona Kareem, a migrant rights activist from Kuwait.

"He was unable to assign a lawyer because his ID was confiscated when he was 
arrested. Then they said you must have a retrial and we'll change the 
prosecutor and the judges. The new judge didn't even talk to him, he just made 
the verdict."

As a poet and artist, Fayadh - who was born in Saudi Arabia - has played a 
major role in bringing Saudi art to a wider audience, including as part of the 
Saudi-British collaborative project Edge of Arabia.

(source: middleeasteye.net)