[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 14




AUSTRALIA:

Brother speaks out against death penalty at world premiere of Bali 9 member 
Myuran Sukumaran's art show


The brother of executed Bail Nine member Myuran Sukumaran joined community 
leaders to speak out against the death penalty at the emotional world premiere 
of an art exhibition featuring his paintings in Campbelltown last night.

Chintu Sukumaran choked back tears as he told the hundreds of people who 
attended the opening night of the Myuran Sukumaran: Another Day in Paradise 
exhibition that he and his family felt a cross between pride and anger to see 
his brother's emotive and thought-provoking artworks on display.

"We are proud that Myru???s work is being shown to the world but we are angry 
that he is no longer with us," he said.

"Our family feel great sadness that his life was cut short so violently. We 
miss him all the time.

"It's important to stand up against the death penalty."

Mr Sukumaran, who attended the opening night with mum Raji and sister Brintha, 
said art gave his brother an outlet and the paintings showed the power of 
redemption.

Myuran Sukumaran found a passion for art and painted hundreds of portraits, 
including a series featuring each Bali 9 member, while incarcerated in Bali's 
Kerokoban Jail and from his final incarceration on Nusa Kunbangan Island.

Sukumaran and fellow Bali 9 member Andrew Chan were executed by Indonesian 
authorities on Nusa Kumbagan Island in April 215.

Chan's brother Michael also attended the opening night of the exhibition, which 
is on display at Campbelltown Arts Centre as part of the Sydney Festival.

Mr Chan said the paintings were excellent and showcased what Sukumaran tried to 
do.

"He made mistakes but he rehabilitated and this is what you see," he said.

Mr Chan said he and his family had their good days and bad days and he hoped 
something good would come out of the situation.

Sukumaran's lawyer Julian McMahon also attended the launch and described how he 
watched his client mature from a naive and angry young man to a person who 
reformed and found a passion for art and tried to make life better for the 
other prisoners in the jail.

Campbelltown Mayor George Brticevic offiically opened the exhibition and became 
emotional as he commended the bravery of the Sukumaran family for attending the 
event.

He said he had served as a police officer for 22 years and the attendance of 
the family at the opening night was the bravest thing he had seen.

Macarthur Federal Labor MP Mike Freelander and Fowler Federal Labor MP Chris 
Hayes, who served on the group Australian Parliamentarians against the Death 
Penalty, also attended the event and spoke out against capital punishment.

The exhibition was co-curated by Sukumaran's mentor, Archibald Prize winning 
artist, Ben Quilty, and Campbelltown Arts Centre director Michael Dagostino.

The series of self portraits are on display at Campbelltown Arts Centre as part 
of the Sydney Festival.

One of the paintings featured in the series, The Final 72 Hours.

Quilty became emotional at the launch and thanked the arts centre and 
Campbelltown Council for being brave enough to stage the exhibition.

He said he hoped the exhibition blew the "haters" out of the water.

Dagostino said he was keen for the arts centre to show thought-provoking works 
and become a vessel to discuss issues.

"This exhibition is proof that art can change lives," he said.

Alongside Sukumaran's paintings, the arts centre commissioned works by 6 
leading Australian artists which also explore the exhibition's themes and are 
displayed alongside his work.

The exhibition is free to enter and will be on show at Campbelltown Arts Centre 
until March 26.

(source: Daily Telegraph)






IRAN:

Watchdogs Urge Iran to Halt Rushed Executions of 12 Alleged Drug 
Offenders----Human rights watchdogs said that Iran should immediately halt the 
execution of 12 convicted drug offenders, as the decision to give the death 
penalty to drug offenders does not comply with international legal standards, 
and is not effective at resolving the nation's drug problem.


Iran should immediately halt the execution of 12 convicted drug offenders, as 
the decision to give the death penalty to drug offenders does not comply with 
international legal standards, and is not effective at resolving the nation's 
drug problem, 2 human rights watchdogs said in a joint statement Friday.

"Packing prisons with drug offenders and rushing to send them to death row 
without due process in highly flawed trials will just worsen Iran's justice 
problem while doing nothing to solve Iran's drug problem,"

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Middle East Director Sarah Leah Whitson said in the 
statement. The HRW and Amnesty International noted in their statement that some 
of the convicted offenders were not even guilty of their crime, but were 
nevertheless convicted due to improper court proceedings, refusal of courts to 
grant legal counsel, or fear to appeal.

The Rights groups called on Iran to condemn the execution of these 12 people, 
and establish an "official moratorium on executions", and focus on abolishing 
the death penalty in Iran.

"[The use of the death penalty] is abhorrent in any circumstance, but carrying 
out these executions would be particularly tragic given ongoing discussions in 
the Iranian parliament that could lead to the abolition of the death penalty 
for nonviolent drug offenses," Amnesty International research and advocacy 
director Philip Luther noted in the statement. In Iran, the death penalty may 
be given in the case of trafficking, possession, or trade of as little as 30 
grams of drugs like heroin, morphine, or cocaine.

Between January and July 2015, Amnesty International said that some 694 people 
were executed in Iran, compared to 743 executions in the previous year.

In 2016, the majority of executed Iranians were drug offenders. There are 
currently 5,000 people in death row for drug related offenses in Iran, the 
statement added, citing member of Iranian parliament Nassan Noroozi.

(source: sputniknews.com)






BELARUS:

4th Death Sentence Issued Before New Year (Belarus: UA 16/17)

Urgent Action

Kiryl Kazachok was sentenced to death by the Gomel Regional Court, in southeast 
Belarus, on 28 December. His was the 4th death sentence to be issued in Belarus 
in 2016.

Kiryl Kazachok was sentenced to death by the Gomel Regional Court, in southeast 
Belarus, on 28 December. He was found guilty of killing his two children on 31 
January 2016. He called the police following the incident, before trying to 
kill himself.

His lawyer will appeal the death sentence. If the sentence is upheld by the 
Supreme Court, Kiryl Kazachok will appeal directly to the President for 
clemency. It is highly probable that the sentence will be upheld and his 
clemency denied, leaving him at risk of execution shortly afterwards.

No warning is given of the date or time of execution and no final meeting with 
relatives is granted. Death row inmates are executed with a shot to the back of 
the head. In accordance with Belarusian law, their bodies are not returned to 
their families for burial, nor is the location of the burial site disclosed.

Belarus is the only country in Europe and Central Asia which continues to use 
the death penalty.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception. 
It violates the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

TAKE ACTION

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

-- Urging President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to commute the death sentence of 
Kiryl Kazachok and all those on death row in Belarus;

-- Calling on the President to establish an immediate moratorium on executions 
with a view to abolishing the death penalty;

-- Stress that whilst we are not seeking to downplay the seriousness of the 
crime, research shows that the death penalty does not deter crime more than 
other forms of imprisonment and is the ultimate denial of human rights.

Contact these 2 officials by 24 February, 2017:

President

Alyaksandr Lukashenka

Vul. Karla Marksa 38

220016 Minsk, Belarus

Fax: +375 17 226 06 10
+375 17 222 38 72
Email: contact at president.gov.by

Salutation: Dear President Lukashenka

Charge d'Affaires Mr. Pavel Shidlovsky

Embassy of Belarus

1619 New Hampshire Ave NW

Washington DC 20009

Fax: 1 202 986 1805 -- Phone: 1 202 986 1606 -OR- 1 202 986 9420

Email: usa at mfa.gov.by

Salutation: Dear Mr. Shidlovsky

(source: Amnesty International USA)






PHILIPPINES:

VACC sees IS-style executions If death penalty not passed


Anti-crime advocates on Friday warned that without the death penalty, heinous 
crimes would continue and get worse, to the point that criminals would start 
Islamic State-style executions.

Dante Jimenez, founding chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption 
(VACC), claimed criminals have become ruthless - beheading, mutilating and 
burning their victims.

"Criminals eliminate victims through beheading or burning the bodies to use the 
legal principle of 'corpus delicti' or no crime, no case," Jimenez said in an 
interview.

Jimenez again called on Congress to prioritize the passage of the death penalty 
bill to deter heinous crimes.

Congress, particularly the Senate, appears to be not interested in expediting 
the passage of the bill, one of the priority legislative measures of the 
President, Jimenez said.

The House Committee on Justice passed House Bill 1 restoring the death penalty 
last month. The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, headed by Sen. 
Richard Gordon, has yet to start discussions on the measure.

In the Senate, there are at least seven proposals calling for the revival of 
the death penalty for heinous crimes and drug-related crimes, filed by Majority 
Leader Vicente Sotto 3rd and Senators Joseph Victor Ejercito, Sherwin 
Gatchalian, Panfilo Lacson and Emmanuel Pacquiao.

"Why is the Senate taking so long to begin discussion on the bill? Do they want 
vigilantism to continue instead of having a state-sanctioned penalty of death 
for heinous crime cases?" Jimenez said.

Jimenez pointed out that Duterte got 16 million votes after promising to 
eliminate illegal drugs, crime and corruption as well as restore the death 
penalty.

Several senators including those from the Liberal Party (LP) are against the 
revival of the death penalty, unconvinced that it would deter heinous crimes.

Jimenez pointed out that death penalty failed to deter crimes in the past 
because of the failure of previous administrations to implement it properly and 
continuously.

Previous presidents gave in to pressure from the Church and other groups who 
are against capital punishment, he claimed.

Not a priority

Sotto, in a separate interview, said the passage of the death penalty bill was 
not among the measures expected to pass the Senate by March.

The majority leader said senators, during a caucus Wednesday night, agreed to 
focus on the passage of their pet bills during the 2-month legislative session 
and tackle the remaining bills in May. "But we will also tackle [the death 
penalty]. We expect a long debate on the bill, that is why we are not 
optimistic that we can pass it by March," he explained.

(source: Manila Times)






SINGAPORE:

Urgent Action: Malaysian National Faces Imminent Execution (Singapore:UA 12/17)


Urgent Action

MALAYSIAN NATIONAL FACES IMMINENT EXECUTION

Prabagaran Srivijayan, a Malaysian national, was convicted and sentenced to the 
mandatory death penalty on 22 July 2012 in Singapore. The execution could take 
place as early as next week.

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

* Urging the President to immediately halt any plans to carry out Prabagaran 
Srivijayan's execution and grant him clemency;

* Calling on the authorities to immediately re-impose an official moratorium on 
all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, and commute all 
existing death sentences;

* Reminding the authorities that drug-related offences do not meet the 
threshold of the "most serious crimes" to which the use of the death penalty 
must be restricted under international law, and that the imposition of the 
death penalty as a mandatory punishment is also prohibited.

Contact these 2 officials by 24 February, 2017:

Important note: Please do not forward this Urgent Action email directly to 
these officials. Instead of forwarding this email that you have received, 
please open up a new email message in which to write your appeals to each 
official. This will help ensure that your emails are not rejected. Thank you 
for your deeply valued activism!

President of Singapore

His Excellency Tony Tan Keng Yam

Office of the President of the Republic of Singapore

Orchard Road,

238823 Singapore

Fax: +65 6735 3135
Email: istana_feedback at istana.gov.sg

Twitter: @govsingapore

Salutation: Your Excellency

Ambassador HE Ashok Kumar Mirpuri

Embassy of Singapore

3501 International Place NW

Washington DC 20008

Fax: 1 202 537 0876 -- Phone: 1 202 537 3100

Email: singemb_was at mfa.sg

Salutation: Dear Ambassador

(source: Amnesty International)