[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 1




IRELAND:

30 years ago most Irish people wanted garda killers to be executed----The death 
penalty wasn't abolished in Ireland until 1990.


Back in the mid-1980s, a debate was underway around the death penalty, sparked 
by international pressure to abolish the outdated and no longer used 
punishment.

The debate was framed by 2 particularly high-profile murders at the time - that 
of detective garda Frank Hand outside a post office in Drumree, Co Meath, and 
garda sergeant Patrick Morrissey, who's convicted killer was spared the gallows 
in favour of a 40-year sentence in April 1986.

Despite the last Irish state execution being over 30 years before, new papers 
released under the 30-year rule by the National Archives show that "60% of the 
Irish adult population [were] in favour of hanging those who murder a member of 
the garda???".

The poll, published in the Irish Independent, said that this reflected the 
public's belief that there should be a "strong deterrent against a member of 
the force being murdered".

The murder of a garda, prison officer or 'diplomat' was punishable by execution 
up until 1990 in Ireland - although the last execution was in 1954, when the 
death penalty was handed down for all convicted murderers.

Capital punishment was swapped for a life sentence, approved by the President, 
in the intervening years.

It was a political hotpoint at the time, with politicians fearing the decision 
to abolish the death penalty would damage their reputation among security 
personnel. But the government were also coming under increasing pressure from 
human rights group Amnesty International to abolish executions.

A number of members of Amnesty International wrote to various politicians 
pleading with them to support a change of law, as the death penalty "is a 
violation of the right to life".

The poll also showed that there was a "popular belief" that it should be kept 
for the killings of judges and prison officers. A separate newspaper article 
shows that prison officers wanted to keep the death penalty for similar 
reasons.

PJ McEvoy, general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association at the time is 
quoted as saying that prison officers were concerned that convicted killers 
would feel they had "little to lose by murdering a prison officer", and was 
hesitant to accept a 40-year sentence as an adequate replacement.

Currently, Ireland's lifetime sentence is a maximum of 14 years in prison.

A garda representative at the time said that if capital punishment was 
abolished, then gardai would have to be armed - turning them into "summary 
executioners".

A newspaper article from the Irish Independent quotes the general secretary of 
the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors Derek Nally as saying there 
would be more "summary executions" by garda??? than "judicial" executions under 
the capital punishment system.

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

Ireland's death penalty was a 'quaint throwback' but not everyone wanted to get 
rid of it ---- 30 years ago, there were some political considerations.


15 years before the death penalty was abolished by the Irish people in a 
referendum, the country was coming under increased international pressure to 
end the practice.

Despite this, there was division within official circles about whether doing 
anything could be politically risky.

Details of these discussions have been revealed in newly released files from 
the Department of Foreign Affairs.

A briefing note from a civil servant to the then-First Secretary outlined these 
concerns even though, as it points out, Ireland didn't even have an executioner 
to carry out such punishments.

The briefing note reads:

The death penalty in this country is largely a quaint throwback to the days 
when everyone else had one. As we no longer have a hangman, and almost the only 
country in the world in a position to train one is South Africa. There is no 
immediate prospect of execution in this jurisdiction.

That being said, the abolition of the death penalty would represent a strong 
political minus in the eyes of certain right-wing groupings, including the 
gardai, the RUC and the DUP. While the step would be practically meaningless, 
it could be used in a politically damaging way.

"I imagine the moral dimension interests you not a whit," the note adds.

Ireland carried out its last execution in 1954 and by 1986 the sentence was 
only available for a number of serious offences including treason and the 
murder of gardai.

In the intervening period the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the 
President.

Then-Senator and current Minister Shane Ross introduced a private member's 
motion seeking to abolish in 1984 but that bill stalled during Garret 
FitzGerald's administration.

Lobbying from human rights organisations sought to bring Ireland into line with 
many other European countries and correspondence sent to TDs from members of 
Amnesty International kept the pressure on.

Template letter sent to the representatives ended with the plea:

Since the death penalty is a violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in 
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I want to stress Amnesty 
International's opposition to this kind of punishment in all circumstances and 
without reservation.

(source for both: thejournal.ie)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Arabia executed more than 150 prisoners in 2016 for breaking kingdom's 
strict Islamic laws


Saudi Arabia executed more than 150 prisoners under their strict Islamic laws, 
new figures have shown.

The ultra-conservative kingdom, one of the world's most prolific executioners, 
punishes crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and 
apostasy with the death penalty.

According to Amnesty International a total of 153 executions were carried out 
in 2016, slightly down in the 158 carried out the previous year.

Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, 
although 47 people were put to death for 'terrorism' offences on a single day 
last January.

They included prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution prompted 
Iranian protesters to torch Saudi diplomatic missions, leading Riyadh to sever 
relations.

Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword and the 
grisly event can often draw a small crowd.

Human rights group Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi 
Arabia last year was the highest for 2 decades.

And the level of executions was criticised today by Allan Hogarth, Amnesty 
International UK's head of policy and government affairs, who said the kingdom 
is 'making a mockery of justice'.

Mr Hogarth told the Independent: 'The death penalty is always cruel and 
unnecessary, but the Saudi justice system lacks evens the basics of a fair 
trial system.

'It's truly frightening that its courts are sentencing so many people to 
death... Saudi Arabia is making a mockery of justice and dozens of people are 
paying with their lives.

'It's time that 'strategic allies' like the UK started speaking out about this 
shocking state of affairs. For too long Downing Street has bent over backwards 
to avoid 'offending' the Saudi royals.'

. (source: dailymail.co.uk)

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

Saudi executes 153 in 2016


Saudi Arabia carried out 153 executions in 2016, according to an AFP tally 
based on official announcements, slightly down from the year before.

The ultra-conservative kingdom is one of the world's most prolific executioners 
and has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed 
robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Rights group Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia carried out at least 158 
death sentences in 2015, coming third after Iran and Pakistan.

Amnesty's figures do not include secretive China.

Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, 
although 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" offences on a single day 
in January.

They included prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution prompted 
Iranian protesters to torch Saudi diplomatic missions, leading Riyadh to sever 
relations.

(source: Agence France-Presse)






JAPAN:

29 inmates on death row in Japan at end of 2016


The number of death row inmates in Japan in 2016 was 129 on Saturday, a rise of 
two people from 2015, while continuing to surpass the threshold of 100 since 
2007.

3 inmates were executed during the year, while seven people were given the 
death penalty, the Ministry of Justice told Kyodo News.

Of the total figure, 128 people are officially registered as inmates at 
detention centers. Iwao Hakamada, 80, a former professional boxer convicted in 
the murder of 4 people in 1966, was released in 2014 after a court decided to 
open a retrial.

Yasutoshi Kamata, 75, who was convicted of murdering a 9-year-old girl in Osaka 
and 4 women between 1985 and 1994, was put to death in March. Junko Yoshida, 
56, a former nurse who masterminded 2 murders for insurance money in 1998 and 
1999 in Fukuoka Prefecture, was also executed in March.

In November, Kenichi Tajiri, 45, who killed 2 women in 2 murder-robbery cases 
in 2004 and 2011 in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, was hanged, according to the 
ministry.

The s7 people newly sentenced to death last year include 25-year-old Yutaro 
Chiba, who in July became the 1st to be given capital punishment under the lay 
judge trial system for a crime committed by a teenager. Chiba was convicted of 
murdering 2 women in 2010 when he was 18 years old.

(source: Japan Today)






VIETNAM:

Drug ring gets life, death in northern Vietnam


The ring was accused of smuggling around 1,871 kg of heroin in total.

A court in the northern province of Quang Ninh sentenced 6 drug traffickers to 
death on Friday and handed down jail terms ranging from 2 years to life 
imprisonment to 20 members of a ring caught smuggling nearly 1,871kg (4,124lbs) 
of heroin.

Drug kingpin Hoang Van Tien, 30, and his 5 henchmen face death, but 6 of his 
accomplices face life in prison; the rest received jail terms of up to 22 
years.

Tien's ring is 1 of the 5 which smuggled drugs from Laos to Vietnam - where 
they were trafficked on to China.

Tuoi Tre reported that Tien bought drugs in the mountainous district of Moc 
Chau and started selling them in Hanoi and points north starting in February 
2011.

Tien was arrested in December 2012, when he told police he and his men had 
moved more than 1,871kg of heroin and 35,200 tablets of methamphetamine.

2 years ago, a Quang Ninh court condemned 30 people to death and jailed 69 
others for trafficking more than 12 tons of heroin in a what was the country's 
largest-ever drugs trial - so big that it had to be held outdoors.

Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. Those convicted of 
possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 
kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal 
narcotics is also punishable by death.

Although the laws are strictly enforced, drug running continues in border 
areas.

(source: vnexpress.net)