[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 15




PHILIPPINES/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Parents of Filipina on UAE death row hope for acquittal


Their dreams for a good life dashed, the parents of Jennifer Dalquez, the 
Filipina on death row in the United Arab Emirates, are just hoping their 
daughter returns alive and able to start life anew at their impoverished 
community in General Santos City, Philippines.

"All she really wants now is to go back home to be with her children and us her 
parents," Rajima, Dalquez's mother, told Asian Correspondent at their house, 
located just a stone's throw away from a mosque where family members and 
friends often offer prayers for her freedom.

Dalquez left her 2 children - Mohajid, 8, and Abdurahim, 5 - to seek greener 
pastures for her family in the Gulf country when they were just 2-years-old and 
7-months-old, respectively.

She hasn't come home since and the 2 children were left to the care of her 
parents. Her father drives a passenger tricycle (motorcycle with a cab) while 
her mother is a housewife. Her husband is also a tricycle driver.

Dalquez works as a helper at a clinic in Al Ain, an inland oasis city on the 
eastern border with Oman, her parents said.

In December 2014, a month before she was due home, she decided to find an extra 
job to earn some extra bucks. But fate changed things. At her new workplace, 
her male employer allegedly tried to rape her at knife-point. The 30-year-old 
woman managed to fight and kill him with a knife in what she claimed in court 
was an act of self-defence.

Dalquez was jailed and eventually sentenced to death by the United Arab 
Emirates Court of First Instance in April 2015.

"Save Jennifer Dalquez' Life," a social media group pushing for her acquittal, 
reported that the deceased employer's 2 sons did not attend court hearings to 
swear in the name of Allah that Dalquez murdered their father.

On May 31, Dalquez swore before the court in the name of Allah that she killed 
her employer in self-defence.

The UAE court will decide this June 19 on Dalquez???s appeal for an acquittal.

Dalquez's parents were able to see her twice in prison with the help of the 
Philippine government and non-government organisations, including Migrante 
International.

Her parents have also sought the help of President Rodrigo Duterte to appeal 
for her clemency.

She's being treated well inside the prison, her parents said, noting that 
Dalquez has become closer to Allah while serving time there. They showed Asian 
Correspondent prizes that Dalquez had won in Quran-reading competitions inside 
the jail.

"We are looking forward to see her. We have faith in Allah that she will be 
acquitted so that she can return home and take care of her children," 
Abdulhamid, Dalquez's father, told Asian Correspondent.

"It's no longer important if we will remain poor as long as we can be together 
again," he added.

Dalquez is the family's breadwinner. Before she was jailed, she regularly sent 
money to her parents for their needs as well as for her children's. She also 
extended financial assistance to her siblings, who are all mostly poor. Dalquez 
is the third in a brood of 7.

Rajima was almost in tears when she recounted what Dalquez's youngest son told 
her, which was:

"I hope to see my mother and for her to bring and fetch me at school like my 
classmates who have their mothers at their side."

Dalquez had many dreams for her children, including for her parents who had 
sacrificed a lot so she could go abroad, before she left the country 6 years 
ago. One of her dreams is to buy a house at a subdivision so they could live 
away from the slums.

"We had to sell our chickens and ducks in the farm so we can send money while 
she stayed in Manila while waiting to work abroad," her mother said.

Her parents, both 53, no longer till the farm in another province planted with 
various crops as it was pawned to somebody rich due to their financial 
necessities.

What awaits Dalquez, should she win the acquittal and gain passage home, is her 
parents' small pop-and-mom store in their poor neighborhood, which barely 
sustains their daily needs.

"We put everything to Allah's will," Abdulhamid said.

(source: asiancorrespondent.com)






IRAN:

Parliamentary Committee Blocks Security Agencies' Attempts to Significantly 
Delay Death Penalty Amendment


A Parliamentary committee in Iran has blocked an attempt by security agencies 
to delay for a year a parliamentary vote on an amendment that could drastically 
reduce death penalty sentences for drug-related crimes.

"Unfortunately, some security and government agencies wrote a letter requesting 
that the final vote be delayed for a year," Hassan Norouzi, a member of 
Parliament and spokesman for the Legal and Judicial Affairs Committee, told the 
Shargh newspaper on June 13, 2017.

"We explained to Parliament's secretariat that there was no reason to put this 
bill on hold," he said. "The committee worked on it with legal experts for 6 
months. It is a good, solid plan."

"If (opponents) have something to say, they should say it on the parliamentary 
floor as government representatives and we will give our replies," added 
Norouzi.

When asked where the letter originated from, Norouzi said it was written by 
authorities "involved in (fighting) drugs."

Legislators were scheduled to deliberate an amendment to the Law Against Drug 
Trafficking on June 7, but the letter by the security authorities resulted in 
the final vote being delayed until mid-July, when members of Parliament (MPs) 
return from their summer break.

If approved by Parliament and the Guardian Council, the amendment could spare 
the lives of 4,000 out of the 5,000 prisoners currently on death row in Iran 
for drug-trafficking related crimes by making the death penalty only applicable 
for "organized drug lords," "armed traffickers," "repeat offenders" and "bulk 
drug distributors."

"Those who wanted the vote to be postponed for a year argued that the committee 
had not worked hard enough on the amendment," Norouzi told Shargh on June 7.

He continued: "In fact, we drafted it after discussions with the prosecutor's 
office, with authorities fighting against illicit drugs, the police and the 
Interior Ministry. If they have something to say, they should join the 
deliberations and tell legislators why they oppose the proposal. Then it will 
be up to the people's representatives to decide. It was wrong to stop the 
proposal from being voted on, but we held some talks and it was decided to put 
it back on the voting track."

Norouzi refused to identify any agencies by name, but the Iran Drug Control 
Headquarters (IDCH) has been a strong opponent of removing the death penalty as 
a punishment for low-level drug crimes.

Earlier this year, the IDCH's Legal Affairs director Ali Alizadeh said stopping 
the amendment from being ratified was a "top priority" and called on the 
judiciary to intervene.

"Organized crime and drug enforcement experts believe if these unbalanced and 
unscientific reforms are implemented under the guise of human rights, society 
will be struck by a great wave of drug and other related crimes," said Alizadeh 
on February 5, 2017.

Proponents of limiting the death penalty have pointed out the political and 
social costs of maintaining one of the highest per-capita execution rates in 
the world.

At least 567 people were executed in Iran in 2016, down 42 % from the 977 who 
were in executed in 2015.

"The majority of executions are for drug-trafficking crimes and the Western 
countries and international organizations are taking political advantage of 
(the situation)," said MP Ezatollah Yousefian, in a parliamentary debate on 
November 23, 2016.

"This is extremely costly for our country," he added. "Those who are being 
condemned to death are not traffickers in the true sense. The real traffickers 
are those who are managing the drug trade from hotels rooms in Ankara and 
Istanbul."

In September 2016, the deputy director of the judiciary's Human Rights 
Headquarters, Kazem Gharibabadi, said "About 93 % of the executions in Iran are 
related to drugs."

A staunch opponent of limiting executions, Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani has 
advocated for the death penalty to be carried out at a faster pace.

"We don't think that the laws concerning drug trafficking are revelations from 
God. They are man-made laws that have not had perfect results. But it's wrong 
to say that executions have had no effect," said Larijani on September 29, 
2016. "If the Judiciary had not been strict, we would have been in a far worse 
situation."

However, some hardliners have begun admitting that the death penalty has failed 
as a preventative measure against drug trafficking.

"We are looking to see what punishments can replace executions with greater 
effectiveness for certain criminals," said Justice Minister Mostafa 
Pourmohammadi on October 29, 2016.

"Of course, the death penalty will still be enforced, but not to the extent we 
have today," he added.

(source: iranhumanrights.org)






EGYPT:

pproves death penalty for human organ traffickers


Health Minister Ahmed Emad al-Din said on Tuesday that the Parliament has 
approved the draft law introduced from his ministry that aims to stricken 
punitive measures against human organ traffickers.

The new law will enforce strict punitive measures against human organ 
traffickers, including aggravated imprisonment and the death penalty.

In his speech at a press conference, Emad al-Din clarified that Egypt's Prime 
Minister Sherif Esmail approved to reestablish a specialized committee that 
will be assigned to activate the new law.

"We have changed 6 articles in the law," al-Din said. "The doctor's assistant 
who is supervising the transplantation of stolen human organs will be 
imprisoned and fined LE2 million."

In 2016, the Egyptian Administrative Control Authority (EACA) detected the 
largest international network for human organ trafficking, which consists of 
university professors, doctors, nurses and workers at medical centers and 
hospitals, as well as intermediaries and brokers.

The network takes advantage of the poor economic conditions of some Egyptians 
by 'buying' organs for a small price, while profiting exorbitantly.

The EACA stated that millions of dollars and Egyptian pounds have been seized 
from defendants generated from their trafficking of human organs.

(source: Egypt Independent)