[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 7




TURKEY:

Minister: No talks on death penalty in Turkish parliament


Reinstating the death penalty in Turkey hasn't been put up for consideration by 
the country's parliament, the TRT Haber news channel quoted Turkey's Minister 
for the EU Affairs Omer Celik as saying Sept.7.

The minister noted that for the present, Turkish parliament doesn't plan to 
consider this issue.

Turkey cancelled the death penalty in 2001. Reinstating the death penalty was 
discussed after the military coup attempt in Turkey.

On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place 
in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of 
power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 
and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of 
the military coup attempt stood at 246, excluding the coup plotters, and over 
2,000 people were wounded.

Erdogan declared a 3-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20.

(source: Trend News Agency)






IRAN:

Iran regime Supreme leader and former President were directly linked to the 
executions.


Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National 
Council of Resistance of Iran exposed identities of dozens of officials 
responsible for 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran, according 
to intelligence obtained by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI 
or MEK), most of the institutions of the Iranian regime are run by the 
perpetrators of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.

About 59 of the most senior officials responsible for this massacre, whose 
names had remained secret for nearly three decades are currently holding key 
positions in the various institutions of the regime. These individuals were 
members of the "Death Commissions" in Tehran and 10 other Iranian provinces.

cnsnews.com in an article by Faycal Benhassain covers the main topics of this 
conference, here is the full text:

Iran Mass Execution Allegations: Khamenei, Rafsanjani Accused

Iran's supreme leader and a prominent former president - who is sometimes 
described as a 'moderate' in the Iranian context - are the latest senior 
Iranians to be accused of involvement in themass executions of imprisoned 
dissidents almost 3 decades ago.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran/People's Mujahedeen Organization of 
Iran (NCRI/MEK), an exiled opposition group, held a press conference in Paris 
Tuesday to make public the names of prominent Iranians allegedly involved in 
the killings.

It said supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former President Hashemi 
Rafsanjani were directly linked to the executions.

The unpunished killings returned to the public eye last month when the son of a 
senior ayatollah, who dies in 2009, released an audio recording of a meeting 
between his father and members of one of the "death commissions" that oversaw 
the executions.

In the recording released by Ahmad Montazeri, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali 
Montazeri expressed his strong opposition to the executions, carried out in the 
late 1980s during the tenure of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"Killing is the wrong way to resist against ideas," Montazeri said in the 1988 
clip. "It is in my opinion the greatest crime committed during the Islamic 
Revolution for which history will condemn us."

Montazeri had been nominated as Khomeini's successor until falling out with the 
clerical regime over his criticisms. After Khomeini's death the supreme leader 
post went to Khamenei, a former president, who holds it to this day.

During Tuesday's press conference Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the 
NCRI???s foreign affairs committee, said the executions of political prisoners 
occurred mostly in the weeks after a fatwa (religious edict) was issued by 
Khomeini in 1988.

"A death commission was created in Tehran and in 10 other Iranian provinces to 
conduct the fatwa," he said. "Until now only the names of the members of the 
death commission in Tehran had been exposed, since Khomeini himself appointed 
them."

"Now we have more names of members involved in the massacre and we are making 
them public."

Mohaddessin said they included Khamenei - president and a key regime 
decision-maker at the time - as well as Rafsanjani, who at the time was 
parliamentary speaker, but went on to serve 2 terms as president, from 
1989-1997. (Since then, Rafsanjani has headed 2 of the regime's most important 
institutions - the Assembly of Experts, a body of top religious scholars which 
nominates the supreme leader, and the Expediency Council, a body that advises 
the supreme leader. He still holds the latter post.)

Another prominent Iranian implicated in the executions was Ali Fallahian, who 
at the time was a deputy intelligence minister, then went on to become 
intelligence minister during the Rafsanjani presidency and later also served on 
the Assembly of Experts.

(Fallahian is 1 of half a dozen senior Iranians wanted by Argentina in 
connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires 
that cost 85 lives and wounded 300 more.)

President Hasan Rouhani's minister of justice, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, was also 
implicated in the "death commissions," according to information released 
earlier and corroborated by the Montazeri audio recording.

Most of those killed in the campaign were reported to have been imprisoned 
supporters of the NCRI/MEK.

Among the victims, said Mohaddessin, 62 pregnant women and 789 minors, as young 
as 14-15 years at the time of their arrest, were massacred and secretly buried 
in mass graves.

Mohaddessin expressed the NCRI/MEK's hope that the next U.S. president would 
have a different policy towards Tehran in the light of the revelations about 
the 1980s executions.

"We really hope that the U.S. attitude will change and that next administration 
will be more determined against Rouhani's regime," he said. "President Obama 
conducted a politic of moderation toward Iran but it did not work out."

"This regime is more brutal than the former ones," Mohaddessin charged. "Just 
have a look at its involvement in the Middle East. Look at what is happening in 
Iraq, Syria and other countries in the region where Tehran is deeply involved."

William Bourdon, the NCRI's French lawyer, voiced the hope that the publication 
of the new information would draw the attention of the international community.

"It is time that the United Nations, for instance starts, looking at the 1988 
massacre by the Iranian regime," he said. "And the truth about these crimes is 
now known worldwide."

"We are now calling upon the international community in order to take actions 
against the Tehran regime," Bourdon said. He argued that there was enough proof 
of the involvement of Iran's highest authorities to lead other countries act as 
well.

Khomeini's 1988 fatwa targeted members of the MEK, whom he described as 
"treacherous monafeqin [hypocrites] who do not believe in Islam."

Ahmad Montazeri has been interrogated and reportedly charged with national 
security offenses after publishing the explosive audio file last month on a 
website run by supporters of his late father.

(source: NCR-Iran)






CYPRUS:

House to delete the death penalty from the constitution


The scrapping of a constitutional provision allowing for legislation to impose 
the death penalty for certain crimes will be put to a plenary vote on Friday, 
House legal affairs committee chairman Yiorgos Georgiou announced on Wednesday.

Article 7.2 of the constitution of Cyprus states that "no person shall be 
deprived of his life except in the execution of a sentence of a competent court 
following his conviction of an offence for which this penalty is provided by 
law".

Under the article, the death penalty covered premeditated murder, high treason, 
piracy pure gentium and capital offences under military law.

Although Cyprus officially abolished the death penalty for murder in 1983 and 
for all other offences in 2002, and despite Cyprus being a signatory to the 
second optional protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights, which provides for the full abolition of capital punishment, House 
Speaker Demetris Syllouris tabled a proposal to abolish the clause, arguing 
that its existence leaves the window open for future legislation re-introducing 
it.

The proposal, which will be put to a plenary vote on Friday, requires a 2/3 
majority.

Speaking after a committee session, Georgiou said the clause would be abolished 
so that Cyprus could be fully harmonised with European legislation and 
international treaties.

Akel deputy Aristos Damianou said the death penalty was forbidden by article 2 
of the European Union's Fundamental Rights Charter and by the Convention on 
Human Rights.

Damianou said Syllouris' proposal was right, adding that this inactive clause - 
Cyprus saw its last executions in 1962 - had not been invoked in several 
decades.

"About 10 other constitutional articles cite the death sentence, and therefore 
this amendment will strictly refer to capital punishment but touch on about 10 
other constitutional provisions," he said.

(source: cyprus-mail.com)






INDIA:

Tribal youth awarded death penalty for rape and murder of 5-year-old girl


A tribal youth was awarded capital punishment by a court here today for raping 
and killing a 5-year-old girl 10 months ago.

Sukal Tudu (20) was awarded death penalty by the second additional and sessions 
judge of Suri court, Mahananda Das, for the heinous crime. The girl went 
missing on December 11 last year. She was last seen with her neighbour Sukal 
when she was playing near her house at Moldanga village under Bolpur 
sub-division.

As the girl did not return home, her mother went looking for her at Sukal's 
house but he denied any knowledge of her whereabouts. Subsequently, when other 
villagers started interrogating Sukal, he broke down and confessed to his 
crime. He also led them to an abandoned rice mill where the girl was found 
lying unconscious in a pool of blood.

The girl was rushed to Bolpur hospital and later, shifted to Burdwan where she 
died 2 days later.

(source: The Echo of India)



THAILAND:

Former Songkhla PAO chief gets death for murder of mayor


The Supreme Court on Wednesday sentenced to death Uthis Chuchuay, former 
president of the Songkhla Provincial Administrative Organisation (PAO), and 2 
others, for the murder of a former Songkhla mayor 4 years ago.

The ruling was read at the Songkhla provincial court.

Mastermind Uthis, 59, and gunmen Paisal Nupan, 51, and Chuan Muatmi, 54, 
received the death penalty for the murder of Songkhla mayor Peera Tantiseranee, 
who was killed at the age of 53 in a blaze of assault rifle fire on Nakhon Nai 
Road in Songkhla municipality on Nov 7, 2012.

The Supreme Court also sentenced Uthis's younger brother Kitti Chuchuay, 51, 
and Sudkeed Jankhiao, 34, to life imprisonment for their roles in the murder.

The court upheld the judgement of the Appeals Court last October. The court of 
first instance had acquitted the defendants in 2014. 2 other defendants, 
including a suspected gunman, were shot dead during the trial process.

Uthis and the slain mayor were former friends and classmates at Mahavajiravudh 
Changwatsongkhla School in Songkhla.

Uthis was the Songkhla municipality mayor and later ran successfully for 
election as president of the Songkhla PAO.

Peera served as a vice-president of the Songkhla PAO, but decided to run for 
the mayor's seat and to succeed Uthis.

Kitti, however, decided to compete for the mayor's job and forced his brother, 
Uthis, to break the agreement he made to help Peera win the election, sparking 
a conflict.

Their quarrel escalated over a cable car project worth nearly 500 million baht. 
The cable car was to cross Songkhla Lake from Laem Son On cape to Khao Daeng 
mountain. Peera opposed the project and said it would harm a local pine forest.

Uthis said Peera had supervised a feasibility study of the cable car, and 
opposed it to prevent him from claiming credit for the project.

(source: Bangkok Post)






PHILIPPINES/SINGAPORE:

Philippines, Singapore leaders talk on death penalty


President Rodrigo Duterte met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore on 
the sidelines of the 1st day of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, 
Laos. During the President's 1st bilateral meeting with PM Lee, the 2 leaders 
discussed the illegal drug trade and its nefarious effects.

President Duterte explained the drug problem in the Philippines and how it 
could compromise the next generation. Prime Minister agreed saying that 1 drug 
trafficker destroys 10,000 lives.

Mr. Lee mentioned, on one hand, cited the need to implement stringent rules in 
relation to illegal drugs. He particularly asked President Duterte on the 
subject of death penalty.

President Duterte is a known advocate of capital punishment to fight crime.

The 2 Southeast Asian leaders likewise touched on the issue of the West 
Philippine Sea, including the freedom of navigation operations in the South 
China Sea, the need for a peaceful settlement of disputes, and role of former 
President Fidel Ramos as special envoy to China.

Also discussed in the 1-on-1 talks is the Philippines' relationship with its 
treaty ally United States.

The meeting ended with the Prime Minister extending his invitation to President 
Duterte to visit his island nation of Singapore.

(source: update.ph)