[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 3




TURKEY:

Turkish Parliament Has No Immediate Plans to Reintroduce Death Penalty


Turkey's National Assembly, its unicameral parliament, has no immediate plans 
to reintroduce capital punishment, Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik 
said Saturday.

In July, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country would reinstate the 
death penalty if the nation demanded it after the failed coup of July 15.

"Remember what happened - tanks tried to roll over people, helicopters shot at 
them, 240 were killed, people took to the streets and this was their demand. We 
heard them. But the death penalty is not on the National Assembly's agenda and 
no decision to reintroduce it has been taken," Celik told reporters in 
Bratislava, Slovakia.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in July that the 
European Union's talks with Turkey on its admission would be stopped the moment 
Ankara returned the capital punishment.

(source: sputniknews.com)


IRAN:

The slaughter in Iran must end


An aspiring U.S. journalist urges the international community to help end the 
slaughter in Iran, where the government is at war with its own citizens, using 
death penalty even among minors, and breaching basic human rights.

In a recent article published on the Huffington Post's Contributor platform, 
Lily Stewart, an aspiring journalist, outlines the struggle between an 
oppressive Iranian government and the oppressed - its own citizens, suggesting 
that this war has been going on since the 1979 revolution.

Stewart draws attention to the shocking statistics of executions currently 
taking place in Iran. Right now, 4500 citizens await their death sentence in 
Iranian prisons, with 78 executions taking place since the start of August. 
These include the mass execution of 25 prisoners on the 2nd of August. Before 
they face their sentence, prisoners are forced to live in awful conditions, 
with no access to a lawyer or other basic human rights. Many are tortured for 
weeks on end, including this taxi driver who recently shared his story with 
Metro news.

Despite the promise of the P5+1 talks and the international relations that were 
regenerated between Iran and Western countries, including the U.S., Iran has 
done little to improve the situation for its citizens. Shortly after the 
successful 'nuclear talks' between the U.S. and Iran, which resulted in Iran 
being taken off the list of countries that pose a terror threat, more than 50 
activists were executed in Iran in the space of less than 3 short weeks. As 
reported by Amnesty International, Iran continues to occupy a leading spot in 
the list of countries with most executions in the world - it is currently 
number 2 on the list.

Children under the age of 18 are among those being executed, echoing the 1988 
mass executions in Iran, which saw more than 30,000 prisoners executed for 
their political views, children and pregnant women among them. Many of those 
who were in charge of the 1988 executions remain in power in the Iranian 
government today. This fact alone undermines hope that the regime may see an 
improvement and a better treatment for the Iranian citizens. The time is ripe 
for a change.

Earlier this year, 100,000 Iranian citizens in exile gathered at a rally in 
Paris, to express their support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran 
(NCRI) and its president-elect Maryam Rajavi. The NCRI continuously work 
towards exposing crimes that take place in Iran, such as executions without a 
fair trial or women being forced to wear the veil to receive public services.

NCRI, along with Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch are among 
those organisations which continuously plead with the international community 
to help bring about a change in Iran. They call on the global policy makers "to 
place the humanitarian crisis taking place on Iran's death row on the 
international agenda," to give those 4,500 inmates currently facing the death 
sentence a hope of escape.

Stewart urges the international community to join their cause. "It is important 
that we, as an international community, rally against this unfit regime as it 
continuously degrades and systematically kills its own citizens," she says.

(source: iranfocus.com)






INDIA:

Death row convict: SC seeks Centre's response on Chandigarh plea----It has said 
that just because there was a delay in deciding on his mercy petition, it 
cannot be a ground for the matter to fall in the jurisdiction of Delhi High 
Court.


The Supreme Court on September 2 sought response from the Centre on a plea of 
Chhattisgarh government challenging the jurisdiction of Delhi High Court to 
grant stay on the execution of a man held guilty for the murder of 5 persons, 
including 2 children, in 2004.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U U Lalit also stayed the proceedings in 
the case pending before the Delhi High Court and posted the matter for further 
hearing on October 5.

The state government has challenged the Delhi High Court order saying it had no 
jurisdiction to stay the execution as the offence had taken place in 
Chhattisgarh and even the apex court had upheld the death sentence of convict 
Sonu Sardar.

It has said that just because there was a delay in deciding on his mercy 
petition, it cannot be a ground for the matter to fall in the jurisdiction of 
Delhi High Court.

The state government has sought transfer of the matter from the Delhi High 
Court to Chhattisgarh High Court.

The Delhi High Court has on March 2, 2015, stayed the execution of Sardar 
convicted for the murder of 5 persons, including 2 children, in Chhattisgarh in 
2004.

The convict's "black warrant" (death warrant) was scheduled to be signed on 
March 4, 2015.

Sardar in his plea before the Delhi High Court had contended that there was 
delay of 2 years and 2 months by the President in deciding on his mercy plea.

Sonu Sardar, along with his brother and accomplices, had killed 5 persons of a 
family, including a woman and 2 children, during a dacoity bid in 
Chhattisgarh's Cher village in November 2004. The trial court had slapped death 
penalty on him and the Chhattisgarh High Court had upheld it.

The Supreme Court in February 2012 had concurred with the findings of 2 courts 
and affirmed the punishment. In February 2015, the apex court also rejected his 
review plea.

Sardar, in his petition, has also sought commuting of his death sentence to 
life imprisonment on account of delay in deciding his mercy plea as well as for 
allegedly keeping him in "solitary confinement illegally".

(source: The Indian Express)






BANGLADESH:

Death-row Islamist tycoon refuses to seek clemency----Bangladesh's top court 
upholds Islamist leader's death sentence


A wealthy tycoon who was a chief financier for Bangladesh's largest Islamist 
party refused yesterday to seek presidential clemency against his death 
sentence, an official said, paving the way for his imminent execution by 
hanging.

Mir Quasem Ali, a key leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was sentenced to 
death by a controversial war crimes tribunal for offences committed during the 
1971 independence conflict with Pakistan.

After the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal on Tuesday against the 
penalty, Ali declined to seek a presidential pardon, which requires an 
admission of guilt.

"Today (Friday) he announced his decision he won't seek mercy from the 
president," Prasanta Kumar Bonik, a senior official at the Kashimpur high 
security jail where Ali is imprisoned, said.

"The authorities will now decide when and where he will be executed," he said.

The Supreme Court's decision was a major blow for the Jamaat-e-Islami party, 
which the 63-year-old Ali had helped to revive in recent decades.

Security has been stepped up at the prison, located some 40kms (25 miles) north 
of Dhaka, after Ali announced his decision, local police chief Harun-or-Rashid 
said.

5 opposition leaders including four leading Islamists have been executed for 
war crimes since 2013, all of them hanged just days after their appeals were 
rejected by the Supreme Court.

Their families said they had refused to seek a presidential pardon as they did 
not want to legitimise the whole trials process.

The war crimes tribunal set up by the government has divided the country, with 
supporters of Jamaat and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) 
branding it a sham aimed at eliminating their leaders.

Ali, who after the war became a shipping and real estate tycoon, was convicted 
in November 2014 of a series of crimes during Bangladesh's war of separation 
from Pakistan, including the abduction and murder of a young independence 
fighter.

His son Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, who was part of his legal defence team, was 
allegedly abducted by security forces earlier in August, which critics say was 
an attempt to sow fear and prevent protests against the imminent execution.

The executions and convictions of Jamaat officials plunged Bangladesh into one 
of its worst crises in 2013 when tens of thousands of Islamist activists 
clashed with police in protests that left some 500 people dead.

The Islamist party, which is banned from contesting elections, called a 
nationwide strike on Wednesday, labelling the charges against Ali "false" and 
"baseless" and accusing the government of exacting "political vengeance".

A group of United Nations human rights experts last week urged Bangladesh to 
annul Ali's death sentence and to retry him in compliance with international 
standards.

(source: Gulf Times)



UNITED KINGDOM/ETHIOPIA:

Johnson refuses to act on Briton unlawfully detained in Ethiopia


The Foreign Secretary has refused to request the release of a British father 
who Thursday spent his 800th day in unlawful detention in Ethiopia, after being 
kidnapped and rendered to the country by Ethiopian forces in 2014.

Andargachew 'Andy' Tsege, a father of three from London, disappeared in June 
2014 while transiting though an international airport. Weeks later, Ethiopian 
officials admitted to the UK Foreign Office that they had illegally 'rendered' 
him to a secret prison in Ethiopia, in a process the UK Foreign Office has 
described in internal emails as "completely unacceptable".

Mr Tsege appears to be being held under an illegal death sentence imposed in 
absentia in 2009 by the Ethiopian authorities when he was living in Islington 
with his family. There is no evidence that Ethiopia sought Mr Tsege's 
extradition to Ethiopia when he was living in the UK. In June 2016, 
then-Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond announced that he had raised the case 
during a visit to Ethiopia and "received a commitment from the Prime Minister 
that Mr Tsege will be allowed access to independent legal advice". 
(http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/23121)

However, the international human rights charity Reprieve, which is assisting Mr 
Tsege, has informed the new Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that, three months 
later, legal access has still not taken place and that prison authorities have 
not yet provided him with a pen and paper he needs to write to a lawyer.

Last week, Mr Johnson published an open letter in response to the large number 
of people contacting the FCO about Mr Tsege's case. He indicated that he would 
follow his predecessor's approach to the case and said, "We will continue to 
press the Ethiopian Government as necessary to ensure that Mr Tsege has access 
to the promised legal representation." He refused to call for Mr Tsege's 
release, claiming that "Britain does not interfere in the legal systems of 
other countries by challenging convictions."

Since Mr Tsege's kidnap, the UK Foreign Office has given various reasons for 
refusing to request his release, despite having done so in comparable consular 
cases and in cases of non-British nationals. In September 2014, Philip Hammond 
claimed he was "not entitled" to demand Mr Tsege's release, and in December 
2014 that "seeking Mr Tsege's release would be counterproductive".

Mr Tsege's in absentia death sentence was imposed following a trial which was 
widely criticised and described by attending US diplomats as "lacking in basic 
elements of due process" and a form of "political retaliation". The Ethiopian 
Government has previously stated that "there is no appeal process" available 
for Mr Tsege, and it is "not possible" for him to challenge his death sentence.

UN experts have said that he was sentenced to death "without due process' and 
in violation of his rights under the Convention Against Torture. Experts from 
the UN's Human Rights Council and the European Parliament have both called for 
Mr Tsege to be released.

Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: "Boris Johnson 
has missed a golden opportunity to make a fresh start on Andy Tsege's case. His 
approach, and Philip Hammond's before him, ignores the fact that Andy is a 
victim of a series of crimes, not a criminal. Andy has been subjected to a 
catalogue of illegal acts - from an in absentia death sentence to kidnap, 
rendition, torture, televised interrogation and continued arbitrary detention - 
all without access to a lawyer, proper consular visits or contact with his 
family in London. 800 days after his kidnap, enough is enough - the FCO must 
get him back home to his children."

* Reprieve http://www.reprieve.org.uk/

(source: ekklesia.co.uk)






SUDAN:

Drop death charges against 6 human rights activists, UN urges Sudan leader


Human rights experts at the United Nations yesterday urged the Sudanese 
government to drop charges with death penalty against 6 human rights activists.

Maina Kiai, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful 
assembly and of association, said: "The charges brought against them appear to 
be directly linked to their work in the defence of human rights, while 
exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association.

"This sentence is likely to have a chilling effect among activists and human 
rights defenders in Sudan."

The 6 individuals were affiliated with a Khartoum-based human rights 
organisation, Training and Human Development (TRACKS). They were detained for 3 
months without facing trial. After that, the State Security Prosecution Office 
charged them with criminal conspiracy, undermining the constitutional system, 
waging war against the State, espionage, and terrorism.

All the charges carry the death penalty.

"The death penalty is an extreme form of punishment. lf used at all, it should 
only be imposed after a fair trial that respects the most stringent due process 
guarantees as stipulated in international human rights law," said Agnes 
Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary 
executions. "I am seriously concerned that any trial of these 6 people would 
not uphold such principles."

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has noted 
that for the past 2 years, the Sudan's Intelligence and Security Service 
constantly targeted activists. They raid offices, confiscating documents, 
equipment, and passports.

On several occasions, they also allegedly detained and tortured activists at 
the intelligence services office.

(source: The Nation)