[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 8



IRAQ----executions

Isis has executed 5 Sunni tribesman and beheaded 6 of their own militants for 
spying----The extremists are becoming increasingly paranoid as the borders of 
their self-proclaimed caliphate shrinks.


The Islamic State (Isis) militant group has executed 6 of their own fighters 
and 5 Sunni tribesmen in Iraq for allegedly spying for their enemies. The 
jihadists are losing ground in their self-proclaimed caliphate which bridges 
Syria and Iraq and are becoming increasingly paranoid.

Reports have emerged from several news agencies in Iraq that Daesh (Isis) 
beheaded 6 of their own fighters in Mosul on Wednesday 6 July on charges of 
'treason' after accusing them of leaking crucial security information to the 
US-led coalition operating in northern Iraq.

They were said to have been interrogated by senior IS commanders before being 
handed their sentences by the Mosul Sharia Court. The brutal killings come just 
3 days after the US-led coalition renewed airstrikes on IS headquarters in 
Mosul killing dozens of militants, including top jihadi commanders. Then on 7 
July in a new photo report purportedly released by IS militants in Azim, around 
80 miles north of Baghdad, 5 Sunni tribesmen were executed. They were accused 
of assisting the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which is an Iraqi 
state-sponsored organisation comprising some 40 militias including Shiite, 
Yazidi, Christian and some Sunni brigades.

The report has not been independently verified by the IBTimes UK but the ARA 
News network have quoted a media activist named Abdullah al-Malla who cited an 
IS official saying: "The ISIS leadership suspected that the al-Hisba members 
were leaking confidential information to the western coalition - whose 
airstrikes have recently killed top jihadi officials.

"After interrogation, the Mosul Sharia Court issued a decision to publicly 
execute the 6 suspects. The 6 jihadis were beheaded in front of dozens of IS 
officials in central Mosul," al-Malla added.

Amongst the IS leaders who have been reportedly killed in recent US-led 
coalition bombing was Muhammad Ahmed al-Bajjari, head of IS military operations 
in northwestern Iraq. He was said to have played a main role in planning 
attacks against Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army near Mosul.

Another air strike reportedly killed the head of the feared al-Hisba police 
known as Hatim Taleb al-Hamdouni.

(source: ibtimes.co.uk)






SOMALIA----executions

Al Shabaab Publicly Executes 2 Men in Central Somalia


The Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Shabaab fighters in central Somalia have publicly 
executes 2 men by firing squad on Thursday afternoon, for killing unarmed 
civilians in the past.

Sources say a firing squad from Al Shabaab carried out the execution against 
the men at a square in the coastal city of Harardhere in Mudug province which 
is controlled by militants.

A local court belonging to Al Shabaab has sentenced 2 men whose names have been 
identified as Abdirahman Dhuhul Abdulle, 22, and Abdi Muse Hayle, 25, to death 
penalty in vengeance for previous 2 civilian killing.

The sources who spoke to Radio Shabelle on condition of anonymity by phone, 
said hundreds of residents, including women and children have watched to 
execution of the 2 men.

Somalia's central town of Haradhere, formerly a pirate hub is currently serving 
as the biggest operations and financial core for Al Shabaab fighters in Mudug 
region situated in the autonomous Galmudug regional state.

(source: All Africa News)






UGANDA:

Gen Sejusa Aides Convicted of Treason


6 aides to Gen David Sejusa, the former coordinator of intelligence services, 
were yesterday afternoon found guilty of offenses related to plotting to 
overthrow President Museveni's government.

The 6 who were found guilty by the General Court Martial sitting in Makindye 
include Corporal Grace Nasasira, Corporal Geoffrey Karuhanga, Private Frank 
Ninsiima, James Karuhanga Nayebare, Moses Kakarugahi Nuwagaba and Abel 
Twinamtsiko

Treason, a charge which they have been found guilty of attracts a maximum 
penalty of death. The 7-member panel led by chairman of the General Court 
Martial Lt. Gen Andrew Gutti deferred the sentencing of the convicts until July 
18.

The court in its verdict relied on evidence showing that the convicts conducted 
meetings at Sekanyonyi trading centre in Mityana district and asked several 
soldiers to join their team on the instructions of Gen Sejusa and former 
presidential candidate Gen Benon Biraaro.

The evidence showed that the recruited forces were to contrive a plot to 
overthrow the government on grounds that they had gathered intelligence 
information that President Yoweri Museveni had intentions of making his son 
Maj. Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba the next president of Uganda.

Prosecution further alleged that the convicts, in or around the months of March 
to May 2014 and while in the areas of Mityana and Kampala, consciously failed 
to disclose to proper authorities vital information about the recruitment of 
people to engage into activities intended to overthrow the legitimate 
government of Uganda.

While convicting the 6, Lt. Gen Gutti faulted them for having withheld such 
critical information from relevant government authorities. During mitigation 
sessions, Lt. Ambrose Baguma, on behalf of prosecution; asked court to hand the 
convicts a maximum penalty of death by hanging given the grave charges that 
they are facing.

On the contrary, the convict's lawyer David Mushabe asked court to hand his 
clients a lenient sentence on grounds that they have since their arrest three 
years ago been remorseful.

(source: The Observer)






TANZANIA:

Tanzania Told to Halt Executions


Tanzania government has once again been ordered by the African Court of Human 
and People's Rights (AfCHPR) to halt the execution of 2 murder convicts facing 
death the penalty.

In its ruling after 2 applications by the convicts, 11 judges of the judicial 
organ based in Arusha unanimously orders the government to refrain from 
executing the death penalty against Amini Juma and Deogratius Nicholas Jeshi.

The 2 were convicted of murder charges at different dates and different 
locations by the High Court of Tanzania and had their convictions upheld by the 
Court of Appeal of Tanzania, which is the highest Court in the country.

"The Court unanimously orders the Respondent (Tanzania) to refrain from 
executing the death penalty against the Applicants (Mr Juma and Jeshi) pending 
the determination of the Application," they ruled last week during the Court 
session.

The Respondent was also ordered to report to the Court (AfCHPR) within 60 days 
from the date of receipt of the Order (June 3rd) on measures taken to implement 
the Order. Both applicants are currently detained in prisons awaiting execution 
of the death penalty.

Juma, currently detained at Maweni prison in Tanga, was convicted for murder by 
the High Court of Tanzania at Arusha on September 18, 2008 and sentenced to 
life imprisonment. His appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed on October 
17, 2011.


(source: The Citizen)






IRELAND:

Saved from the gallows: story of the reprieved----Judy Murphy talks to author 
Colm Wallace whose new book tells the story of those who survived death 
sentences


When it came to reporting murder trials in the early days of the Irish State, 
newspapers didn't hold back on gory details.

Plenty of these grisly contemporary reports are contained in a new book, 
Sentenced to Death: Saved from the Gallows, written by Renvyle man Colm 
Wallace. It charts the stories of people who were sentenced to hang in Ireland 
between 1922 and 1990, only to have their sentences commuted by the government.

Out of the book's 30 cases, 2 are from Galway. One relates to a murder in 
Rosmuc in 1928, and the other deals with a 1943 murder in Bushypark in the 
city.

Colm got the idea of writing Sentenced to Death a few years ago when he read an 
article on the death penalty in Ireland - most people aren't aware that it 
wasn't abolished until 1990, he says, explaining that by then, it was reserved 
for those guilty of capital murder, such as killing a Garda or soldier. For 
other kinds of 'common' murder, it had been abolished in 1964. The last death 
sentence was passed in 1985, before Colm was born and was for the murder of 
Garda Sergeant, Patrick Morrissey in Co Louth.

Colm, a 28-year-old primary teacher, has always loved history. When he studied 
for his BA in Education at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, his 1st-year 
subjects included history and German. He did Irish alongside education for his 
degree, because he loves Irish too, he adds. That came from his mother, Anne, 
who is originally from Baile na nGall in the Kerry Gaeltacht. Colm's dad, Mark 
Wallace is from Renvyle where he's very involved in GAA.

29 people were hanged in Ireland before the death penalty was abolished in 1964 
for 'common' murder, with the last hanging being carried out in 1954, says 
Colm.

He was fascinated by the stories surrounding these executions but a good deal 
had been written about them, so he turned his gaze elsewhere.

"I wondered what it would have been like to be sentenced to death and then told 
you had been reprieved," he explains. "And there was very little information 
about that."

So Colm, who had long been determined to write a book, decided to tackle that 
subject.

He began writing Sentenced to Death last July, treating the project like a 9-5 
job and working every weekday through July and August, then every Saturday once 
he resumed teaching duties in Athenry.

The trial that really inspired him to explore the stories of commuted death 
sentences was that of Patrick Aylward from Kilkenny, who was sentenced to hang 
in 1923 for murdering a neighbouring infant, William Holden.

There was bad blood between Aylward and the Holdens and Aylward was accused of 
visiting the Holden house while their parents were away from home, and 
murdering the toddler by putting him in the fire. He strenuously denied any 
involvement in the child's dreadful death, but the other Holden children gave 
graphic evidence to the contrary.

(source: Connacht Tribune)