[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 7



JAPAN:

Japan's death row executes inmates without any warning



7 members of a brainwashed doomsday cult were hanged yesterday in a sterile 
Japanese execution chamber for carrying out a deadly gas attack in 1995.

The Asian country is 1 of only 2 first world democracies in the world, along 
with the US, to kill their own citizens.

Unlike the US, where execution dates are set in advance, prisoners in Japan are 
executed with very little warning and are told they are going to die on the 
morning of their execution - usually about an hour before.

The UN Committee against Torture has criticized Japan for the psychological 
strain this places on inmates and their families.

Condemned inmates in the country are executed by hanging - where their neck is 
swiftly broken using a rope and a trap door.

A blindfold and black hood are placed over the prisoner's head before they are 
killed.

3 prison officers simultaneously press buttons to open the trap so it's not 
clear which one is responsible.

Only prison officials and a priest are present.

How many people does Japan execute every year?

Between 2012 and 2016, 24 people were executed, according to the most recent 
justice ministry data.

Hangings are announced afterward. Since 2007, the justice ministry has released 
the names and crimes of those executed.

The annual number of those executed in Japan normally does not exceed 10. For 
example, from 1977 until 2007, the country never executed more than 9 people in 
a 12-month period.

The 7 people were executed at several facilities, the largest number executed 
at one time since 1998, when the justice ministry started releasing information 
on executions, officials said.

Those killed included the leader and 6 members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult that 
carried out a deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, which killed 
13 people.

What rights do Japanese death row inmates have? Those sentenced to death can 
appeal up to the Supreme Court. The multiple Aum-related trials lasted more 
than 20 years.

Convicted inmates can seek a retrial even after a Supreme Court ruling, but 
this does not guarantee a stay of execution.

Several of those executed Friday may have had requests for retrials pending, 
Amnesty International said.

The law says an execution must take place within six months of the sentence 
being finalized by the courts, but in practice, it usually takes several years.

The justice minister decides the timing.

Does the Japanese public support the death penalty?

A 2015 government survey found that 80.3 % of people supported the death 
penalty. That compares with 54 % in the United States.

"I believe imposing a death penalty on those whose crimes are extremely grave 
and atrocious is inevitable," Yoko Kamikawa, the justice minister, said Friday.

Anti-death penalty activists say a lack of information and increased interest 
in victims' rights are partly behind the support.

In 2010, then-justice minister Keiko Chiba, who opposed the death penalty, 
signed off on 2 executions and opened an execution chamber to media for the 1st 
time, hoping to stimulate debate.

In 2016, a lawyers group called for the abolition of the death penalty by 2020, 
citing the possibility of wrongful convictions and international trends against 
capital punishment.

Before the recent executions, the last one in Japan was Teruhiko Seki, 44, in 
December 2017.

Seki was a minor when he killed 4 people - a 42-year-old corporate executive, 
the man's wife, 36, their 4-year-old daughter and the executive's 83-year-old 
mom.

(source: The Sun)

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

UN human rights agency regrets Japan's executions of AUM members----Cult's 
founder and 6 others involved in 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed regret 
Friday over Japan's executions of AUM Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara and 6 
other former members of the cult, calling for a national debate on the death 
penalty.

"We regret that 7 people were today executed in Japan," Ravina Shamdasani, 
spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights agency, told Kyodo News in a written 
statement, while extending its sympathy to the victims of crimes committed by 
AUM, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

"Undeniably, it is crucial to deliver justice to the victims of these heinous 
crimes. But the death penalty only compounds injustice and is no greater 
deterrent than other forms of punishment," Shamdasani said.

A fervent advocate of the full abolition of the death penalty, the Geneva-based 
human rights promotion agency has repeatedly asked the Japanese government to 
establish a moratorium as a 1st step toward the final abrogation of the 
punishment.

"This is essential to be able to hold an informed national debate on the use of 
the punishment," Shamdasani said, calling on Japanese authorities to increase 
transparency on the use of the death penalty to promote discussions.

"We will follow up for more information, including on the six other (AUM) 
inmates on death row in relation to this case," she added.

(source: Asia Nikkei)

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

German government says death penalty cruel



The German government has described the death penalty as "inhumane and cruel" 
after Japan hanged 7 members of the doomsday cult that poisoned commuters in a 
deadly subway attack in 1995.

The government's human rights envoy, Baerbel Kofler, called the poison gas 
attack on rush-hour commuters in Tokyo's subway that killed 13 people and 
sickened more than 6,000 a "terrible deed."

But Kofler said "despite the seriousness of this crime the German government 
stands by its principled rejection of the death penalty as an inhumane and 
cruel form of punishment" that should be abolished worldwide.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin on Friday that 
Germany wants "the unconditional abolition of the death penalty and we convey 
this position toward friendly states as well."

(source: Associated Press)








INDIA:

Man sentenced to death in rape-murder case



The Kollam Additional District and Sessions Court on Thursday awarded capital 
punishment to 41-year-old Girish Kumar of Kolayil Puthenveedu in Paripally for 
the rape and murder of a woman.

He had killed Alice, 57, of M.V. Sadan at Mulavana in Kundara, by slitting her 
throat after robbery and rape in June 2013. The court decided to award capital 
punishment taking into account the brutality of the offence.

Girish Kumar was convicted for life term under Indian Penal Code Section 449 
(house trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death), 10 years' 
rigorous imprisonment and Rs. 1 lakh penalty under Section 394 (voluntarily 
causing hurt in committing robbery), 1-year rigorous imprisonment under Section 
461 (dishonestly breaking open receptacle containing property), and death 
penalty under Section 302 (punishment for murder). The court examined 23 
witnesses, 32 exhibits and 36 prosecution documents during the trial.

According to prosecution, Girish Kumar, a habitual offender who has been 
convicted in many criminal cases, came to know about Alice who lived alone from 
a co-prisoner while undergoing jail term for a theft case. When he was 
released, he started monitoring the house and its premises.

On June 13, 2013, Girish entered the house through the kitchen door and stole 
gold ornaments. When Alice spotted him, he raped her and later murdered her 
using a knife. Her body was found 3 days later when her husband, who was 
abroad, failed to reach her and asked the neighbours to check on her.

(source: The Hindu)








IRAN----executions

Iran executes 8 ISIS fighters over 2017 attack on parliament



Iran said Saturday it executed 8 people convicted in the 2017 Islamic State 
group attack on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 
Tehran.

The June 7, 2017 attack has so far been the only assault by the Sunni 
extremists inside of Shiite Iran, which has been deeply involved in the wars in 
Iraq and Syria where the militants once held vast territory.

The judiciary's official Mizan news agency and semi-official news agencies in 
Iran acknowledged the executions Saturday, but did not say when they took 
place. Executions in Iran are carried out by hangings.

While Iran is one of the world's top enforcers of the death penalty, such mass 
executions are rare. The last mass execution reported in August 2007 saw Iran 
hang 7 men convicted of rape in Mashhad at the same time.

The news agencies on Saturday named those executed as Soleiman Mozafari, Esmail 
Sufi, Rahman Behrouz, Majed Mortezai, Sirous Azizi, Ayoub Esmaili, Khosro 
Ramezani and Osman Behrouz. The Islamic State attack killed at least 18 people 
and wounded more than 50.

Over a dozen others remain on trial over the attack. Iran's paramilitary 
Revolutionary Guard responded to the attack by launching 6 missiles into 
eastern Syria targeting IS militants.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Implementation of the New Anti-Narcotics Law in Iran: 1700 Death Row Cases 
Reviewed



According to the Iranian state media, Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas 
Jafari-Dolatabadi, announced that cases of 1700 of the prisoners sentenced to 
death or life imprisonment for drug-related crimes in Tehran have been 
reviewed, while there are 1300 more requests which remain to be reviewed in the 
future.

According to ILNA, Jafari-Dolatabadi mentioned the impact of the new drug law 
on the aforementioned statistics and pointed out, "We received 3000 requests 
from death-row prisoners and those sentenced to life imprisonment. 1700 
requests have been reviewed in courts based on the new drug law so far and most 
sentences have been reduced to imprisonment. There are still 1300 more requests 
that will hopefully be reviewed in courts as soon as possible.

However, Tehran Prosecutor didn't reveal to the press the precise number of the 
defendants whose death sentences have been reapproved. On the other hand, it is 
not clear how many of those 1700 prisoners were sentenced to death and how many 
were sentenced to life imprisonment.

So far, there have been no official statistics on the process of reviewing the 
cases according to the new amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Law in other cities.

Iran Human Rights had previously mentioned the use of bribery and arbitrary 
prioritization in different cities in an earlier report addressing the 
situation 6 months after the implementation of the new anti-Narcotics Law.

Of note, the new amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Law doesn't address the issue 
of unfair trials and inaccessibility of many defendants to the lawyers during 
the investigation phase. This phenomenon may lead to the reapproval of some of 
the death sentences which were issued based on forced confessions.

Commenting the new report, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson for IHR, 
had said, "We demand more clarity in the review process of the death row drug 
offenders' cases. At the present moment, the judges who have issued the death 
sentence are also responsible for reviewing the cases. We call for an 
independent committee to monitor this process." He continued, "We also demand 
that the process of the trials be reviewed and for those defendants who did not 
have a lawyer or were forced to make a confession a retrial should be held."

(source: Iran Human Rights)








BARBADOS:

Catholic Church backs CCJ death penalty decision



Archbishop of Port of Spain and Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic 
Diocese of Bridgetown, Reverend Charles Jason Gordon, has welcomed the 
Caribbean Court of Justice's (CCJ) recent decision which declared as 
unconstitutional and a violation of the right to life the mandatory death 
sentence for a conviction of murder in Barbados.

"The CCJ's decision is a step in the right direction but does not remove the 
death penalty from the laws in Barbados, so there is still some work to be 
done," he said.

"Every life is a precious gift from God. We are all created in the image and 
likeness of God and thus have inherent dignity. The taking of one life does not 
therefore justify the taking of another."

In 2016, Archbishop Gordon and the other Bishops of the Antilles Episcopal 
Conference (AEC) appealed to "politicians and citizens in our region to abolish 
capital punishment or the death penalty and embrace a restorative justice 
approach to crime and violence . . . . A restorative justice approach focuses 
on holding the offender accountable in a more meaningful way and helping to 
achieve a sense of healing for both victims and the community. It embraces 
socialization, rehabilitation and reconciliation, rather than retribution and 
vengeance".

In that 2016 statement, the Bishops underscored that, "to reject capital 
punishment is not to make light of the loss of loved ones and the violation of 
human dignity and rights experienced by victims of crime. The pastoral care of 
the Church is directed first towards the comfort and assistance of these 
victims".

Archbishop Gordon added: "The compassion and love shown by the Church and 
society to victims and the support given to their families to help them cope 
with a tragic loss continues to be vital. Prayer, love and counselling can help 
grieving families reach a place of peace and, hopefully, healing."

Successive popes, including Saint Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, 
called for the abolition of the death penalty, encouraging nations to work 
instead towards a just means of punishment and public order. Pope Francis has 
contended that the death penalty "is in itself contrary to the Gospel because 
it voluntarily decided to suppress a human life, which is always sacred in the 
eyes of the Creator and of which God only, in the final analysis, is the true 
judge and guarantor."

Archbishop Gordon commented that the death penalty did not provide justice but 
was a barbaric form of revenge.

"It does not act as a deterrent for violent crimes in society - in fact it 
supports the very act which took a life. We cannot teach respect for life by 
taking life. The mandatory death penalty left no room for a judge to consider 
mitigating circumstances. It did not allow for conversion, mercy or 
forgiveness. As Pope Francis said, 'For the rule of law, the death penalty 
represents a failure, as it obliges the State to kill in the name of justice'," 
he said.

There is a growing movement worldwide to abolish the death penalty, with many 
countries taking into consideration moral and social implications as well as 
alternatives such as restorative justice, which seeks to give the perpetrator 
an opportunity to take responsibility for his/her actions, to show remorse and 
to be rehabilitated. In the region, the charge is being led by the group known 
as The Greater Caribbean for Life.

"There has been increasing concern about the level of violence in society, 
especially incidents ending in death. These demonstrate the diminishing respect 
for life and the need for all societies to promote integral development of 
their citizens so they can become the best version of themselves," Archbishop 
Gordon said.

"The application of sound traditions and values, including love and respect for 
our neighbour, can help to rebuild a just and peaceful society, where conflict 
does not end with the taking of a life and where disagreement does not destroy 
but can strengthen relationships. This is not a lofty ideal. Every person, 
every family, every faith leader and every policymaker has a role to play to 
promote the value and dignity of life, this wonderful gift from God."

(source: stluciatimes.com)