[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 21



IRAN----executions

10 Prisoners Executed at Rajai Shahr Prison in 1 Day----The execution spree of 
the Iranian authorities continues with 10 executions carried out on Wednesday 
July 20 at Rajai Shahr Prison. About 38 executions have been reported in Iran 
in the past week.

A group of ten prisoners were executed at Rajai Shahr Prison (Alborz province, 
northern Iran) on Wednesday July 20, according to sources close to Iran Human 
Rights (IHR). The prisoners were reportedly on death row on unrelated murder 
charges.

IHR calls on the international community to draw attention to the rising number 
of executions in Iran. "Although these prisoners were executed for criminal 
charges, the main goal of the executions is to spread fear in the society. The 
International community should not close its eyes to the arbitrary executions 
in Iran," says Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, spokesperson for Iran Human Rights.

The prisoners had been transferred to solitary confinement on Sunday July 17 in 
preparation for their executions scheduled for Wednesday. Iran Human Rights has 
identified 4 of the prisoners as Mohsen Babaie, Mehdi Keshavarz, Reza Teymouri 
and Mohsen Khanmohammadi.

Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and state media, have been 
silent about these 10 executions. About 38 executions have been reported in 
Iran in the past week.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

Brutal guards attack death row prisoners in Iran's Ghezel Hesar Prison


Prison guards at the notorious Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, north-west of 
Tehran, brutally attacked inmates in the death row ward earlier this week.

With black masks covering their faces the vicious guards attacked the prisoners 
on Monday (July 18) in order to create a climate of fear, according to reports 
from inside the prison.

The prisoners said that such brutal measures are meant to scare prisoners and 
stop them from revolting in prison.

(source: NCR-Iran)






KUWAIT:

Kuwait court upholds death penalty in terror case----In January, lower court 
found 23 of the 26 guilty of various crimes and 2 were sentenced to death


Kuwait's Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the death sentence of one of the 
two defendants who were awarded capital punishment by a lower court in the 
terrorist cell case No. 302/2016. The other, an Iranian, is at large and was 
sentenced by the lower court in absentia.

While 3 defendants were acquitted, the other 21 received sentences ranging from 
5 to 15 years in prison.

According to the Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, 1 of them was fined KD5,000 ($16,500 
approximately).

Kuwaiti security service officers raided farmhouses near the Iraqi border late 
last summer, slicing through carpets and smashing open concrete floors. Hidden 
in large plastic containers was a weapons cache, the largest discovered in 
Kuwait's history. State television showed Kuwait's Interior Minister, a senior 
ruling family member, solemnly viewing the seized weapons.

Kuwait charged 25 of its nationals and an Iranian with spying for Iran and 
Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

The case opened up sectarian divisions in Kuwait. While Kuwait's Sunni majority 
and Shiite minority get on better with each other than in neighbouring states, 
tensions still exist.

In January this year, a Kuwaiti court found 23 of the 26 guilty of various 
charges. 2 were sentenced to death, including the Iranian who is at large. The 
others were fined or received jail terms between 5 years and life.

The prosecution is appealing the sentences, saying some of the men should have 
received tougher punishments.

On September 1 last year, Kuwait's public prosecution said 26 defendants, 
including the Iranian, would stand trial for the possession of weapons, 
ammunition and explosives and espionage for Iran and Hezbollah.

It said that 24 defendants faced charges of engaging in acts likely to 
undermine the unity and safety of Kuwait and sharing of intelligence with Iran 
and Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Iran-Kuwait spat

However, the Iranian embassy on September 3 downplayed the significance of the 
terrorist cell and the charges of espionage, saying that the case was a 
domestic Kuwaiti issue pertaining mainly to the discovery of weapons and 
ammunition.

The embassy said it regretted the move to implicate Iran in the case and called 
upon the Kuwaiti authorities to communicate the identity and "alleged role" of 
the Iranian suspect.

The embassy blasted Kuwaiti media for its "negative incitement against the 
Kuwaiti-Iranian relations" and for "targeting Iran based on flimsy charges, so 
far unproven by the judicial authorities".

In September, Kuwait summoned Iran's ambassador to the country and handed him a 
reply to a statement issued earlier by the Iranian embassy on the busting of 
the terror cell.

The reply was handed over by Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Sulaiman Al 
Jarallah to Ambassador Ali Reza Enayati, the foreign ministry said.

"The reply included clarifications about Kuwait's stance on the issue," the 
ministry said in a brief statement carried by KUNA on Monday.

The ministry had earlier rejected the Iranian embassy's statement following the 
referral of suspects to a court over their espionage links with Iran and 
Hezbollah, saying that it was not consistent with basic diplomatic norms.

A spokesperson said the foreign ministry regretted and rejected the embassy 
statement for ignoring basic diplomatic norms that require resorting to 
official communication channels between governments when seeking information 
regarding a specific issue, and not going to the public media instead.

(source: Gulf News)






GAZA:

Palestinian organization blasts latest Hamas death sentences----Palestinian 
Center for Human Rights condemns death sentences handed down to alleged Israeli 
spies in Gaza.


A Palestinian Authority-based human rights organization on Wednesday condemned 
the latest death sentences handed down by tribunals in the Hamas-ruled Gaza 
Strip, AFP reports.

On Tuesday, a military court in Gaza sentenced three local residents to death 
after they were convicted of providing information to Israel's security 
services.

The trial of the alleged "spies" was held behind closed doors and without the 
presence of the media.

The Gaza Military Court announced a sentence of death by hanging for a man 
identified as M.S., aged 59, from the Tuffah area east of Gaza city on charges 
of "collaborating with the Israeli occupation."

The Higher Military Court said it had confirmed execution orders against 2 
other men, one a 49-year-old man from Khan Yunis, by hanging and a Gaza City 
man aged 38 by firing squad.

In response, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemned in a 
statement the "excessive" punishment and said that "civilians should not appear 
before military courts."

The authorities in Gaza executed 3 men behind closed doors in May, the 1st time 
the death penalty had been carried out since 2014.

13 death sentences have been pronounced this year, 12 of which were issued by 
military courts, according to PCHR.

Hamas regularly claims to have captured "Israeli spies", and many times it 
tries them and sentences them to death.

In one such example, the group claimed to have exposed "the most dangerous 
intelligence agent" who allegedly worked for the Israel Security Agency (Shin 
Bet).

Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel is punishable by death. All 
death sentences, however, require the approval of Palestinian Authority (PA) 
chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who issued a moratorium on death sentences in 2005.

Hamas ignores the moratorium and carries out the executions anyway, as it no 
longer recognizes the legitimacy of Abbas, whose 4-year term expired in 2009.

Amnesty International has previously called on Hamas to stop the executions of 
suspected collaborators, saying that the group "must immediately and totally 
cease its use of the death penalty."

(source: Israel National News)

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

Palestinian NGO condemns latest Gaza death sentence


A Palestinian human rights organisation condemned on Wednesday the latest death 
sentences handed down by tribunals in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

A military court in the coastal Palestinian enclave condemned a local man to 
death on Tuesday on charges of collaborating with Israel, while death sentences 
issued previously against 2 others were confirmed by a higher military 
tribunal.

The Gaza Military Court announced a sentence of death by hanging for the man 
identified as M.S., aged 59, from the Tuffah area east of Gaza city on charges 
of "collaborating with the Israeli occupation."

The Higher Military Court said it had confirmed execution orders against 2 
other men, one a 49-year-old man from Khan Yunis, by hanging and a Gaza City 
man aged 38 by firing squad.

Both men were convicted of aiding Israeli security forces.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights condemned in a statement the 
"excessive" punishment and said that "civilians should not appear before 
military courts."

The authorities in Gaza executed 3 men behind closed doors in May, the 1st time 
the death penalty had been carried out since 2014.

13 death sentences have been pronounced this year, 12 of which were issued by 
military courts, according to PCHR.

In total, 177 death sentences have been handed out since the creation of the 
Palestinian Authority in 1994, 30 in the West Bank and 147 in Gaza.

Of these, 35 were carried out, all but 2 in the Gaza Strip.

(source: Agence France-Presse)






BANGLADESH:

High Court verdict on death references, appeals of 2005 Gazipur Bar bombing 
convicts July 28


The bench of Justice M Enayetur and Justice JBM Hassan fixed the date after the 
hearing of the death references, appeals against death sentences, and jail 
appeals ended on Wednesday.

Deputy Attorney General Sheikh AKM Moniruzzaman Kabir and Assistant Attorney 
General Shahidul Islam Khan represented the State.

Kabir later told bdnews24.com that 10 Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) 
operatives, sentenced to death for the killings, had pleaded guilty.

"We have sought to uphold the death sentences," he said.

Md Helal Uddin, one of the defence lawyers, said the defence sought reduction 
of the death sentences to life imprisonment, considering the age of the 
convicts.

The 10 convicts, all behind bars, are Enayet Ullah, Arifur Rahman, Masidul 
Islam Masud, Saidur Rahman Munsi, Abdullah Al Sohain, Nizam Uddin Reza, Taibur 
Rahman Hassan, Md Ashraful Islam, Md Shafiullah Tarek and Adnan Sami Jahangir.

After the verdict in 2013, the death references of the convicts were sent to 
the High Court for approval the same year.

4 of the convicts had challenged the death penalty, while all 10 filed jail 
appeals.

According to the case details, JMB activist Azad - also known by many aliases 
such as Zia, Nazir and Nahid - had exploded 2 bombs in a suicide attack at 
Hall-2 of Gazipur District Bar Association office on Nov 29, 2005, after 
entering the building in a lawyer's gown.

The blasts had killed the association's General Secretary Amzad Hossain, 
lawyers Golam Faruque, Nurul Huda and Anwarul Azim and four of their clients.

Police started the case against a number of JMB leaders including Shaykh Abdur 
Rahman and Ataur Rahman Sani, the suicide attacker and his accomplices.

2 years later, police submitted the chargesheet accusing 15 JMB leaders and 
operatives.

But the names of Azad and his accomplice Molla Omar Shakil, Rahman, Sani and 
another top JMB leader, Khaled Saifullah, were dropped as they were all dead by 
the time formal charges were brought against them.

6 JMB leaders, including Rahman, Sani and Saifullah, accused of abetment in the 
bombing, were hanged on Mar29, 2007 for murdering 2 judges in Jhalakathi.

A Gazipur court framed charges against the 10 remaining JMB members accused in 
the case on Apr 24, 2011.

On Oct 3, the case was transferred to Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 that 
sentenced them to death in June 2013.

The 10 convicts were arrested between 2005 and 2006.

(source: bdnews24.com)



GUYANA:

Guyana should abolish death penalty instead of enacting new laws with such 
punishment


Guyana and other countries that have enacted laws to sentence convicted 
terrorists to death should take steps to repeal them and also abolish the death 
penalty altogether, top international advocates against the death penalty said 
Wednesday.

Commissioner with the International Commission against the Death Penalty, 
Justice Navi Pillay told a news conference ahead of a judicial colloquium with 
Guyanese judges and magistrates that she hoped that Guyana would review its 
Terrorism Act that has 12 provisions for the death penalty.

"You don't pass a law just because something terrible has happened. Law is not 
done emotionally. The rule of law follows international standards and Guyana is 
very much a part of the international community, has passed many international 
treaties and so they are bound to pass laws that are certain and definite and 
not responding each time to terrorism acts committed here, France or wherever," 
she told a news conference at the Marriott Hotel.

Although Guyana has amended its law to provide for the death penalty only if 
joint service members or members of the judiciary are killed in the line of 
duty, quite recently a High Court Judge sentenced a man to death for the murder 
of 2 brothers at Victoria, East Coast Demerara.

Pillay stressed the importance of complying with international law by not 
merely having a 20-year moratorium on the death penalty but legally abolishing 
it. "We will lend our voice to ask Guyana to advance forward and not go 
backward," she said, adding that Guyana should be proud that no one has been 
executed in 1997.

United Nations Assistant Secretary General in the Office of the High 
Commissioner for Human Rights, Ivan Simonovic added that "there is no 
conclusive evidence that the death penalty deters any crime including 
terrorism."

The panel, which was due to deliver presentations to the judges and 
magistrates, has already met with Attorney General and Minister of Legal 
Affairs, Basil Williams and was scheduled to hold talks with Public Security 
Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan.

Pillay noted President David Granger's outspoken commitment to deal with the 
protection of women and children and addressing inter-personal violence.

Guyana is the only South American country with the death penalty on its law 
books.

(source: demerarewaves.com)






UNITED KINGDOM:

UKIP leadership election: Bill Etheridge MEP calls for cheap beer and death 
penalty vote


West Midlands MEP Bill Etheridge is standing to replace Nigel Farage as UKIP 
leader - with proposals including cheaper beer, justice for fathers and a 
referendum on bringing back the death penalty.

Mr Etheridge, who is also a Dudley councillor, launched his campaign at the 
Seven Stars pub in Sedgley, saying: "I want us to represent the view of the 
people against the establishment."

It follows the resignation of UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who quit after the 
country voted to leave the European Union in last month's referendum.

And the MEP has set out a series of radical policies.

They include holding a referendum on bringing back the death penalty for the 
most serious crimes.

He said: "For my part I believe that the very worst crimes deserve the ultimate 
penalty and I propose that those who murder and rape children, those that 
commit sadistic acts of murder and torture and those that commit acts of murder 
through terrorism against our country or our people should be subject to the 
death penalty at the discretion of the presiding judge."

Other proposals include changing family law so that the default judgment when 
families break up is that both partners should be involved in parenting.

In practice this would usually benefit fathers.

Campaigners say 200 children a day lose contact with their fathers due to 
judgments made in family courts, and Mr Etheridge says this helps explain why 
suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50.

He said: "If elected leader I shall be making this a key policy for UKIP, 
showing that we are so much more than a 1 issue party."

The MEP has also called for a drastic reduction in the price of a pint as one 
way of reinvigorating the British pub.

Mr Etheridge said he believed that slashing the duty on beer would rapidly pay 
for itself, with reductions in smuggling alcohol and growth in the licensed 
trade.

And he also said there may be a case for bringing back smoking in pubs.

He said: "When I visit Brussels, I see people legally smoking indoors, in a 
well ventilated smoking booth. Perhaps we should investigate whether they would 
work in pubs?"

Other candidates in the contest include North East MEP Jonathan Arnott, North 
West MEP Steven Woolfe and Cambridgeshire councillor Lisa Duffy.

(source: birminghammail.co.uk)