[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 7



PHILIPPINES:

FACT CHECK: A new death penalty law won't apply to De Lima's case----The 1987 
Constitution of the Philippines also prohibits the passing of any retroactive 
law



Claim: Jailed senator Leila de Lima may get the death penalty once the Senate 
decides to reimpose capital punishment in the Philippines.

A post by trendingph.altervista.org ran the headline: (Leila de Lima will get 
the death penalty as soon as it's passed in the Senate. The link leads only to 
a YouTube video posted by 'Pro Duterte Ka Ba?' which features pro-Duterte 
blogger Trixie Cruz-Angeles who comments on the Napoles case, as well as the 
death penalty bill.

Four Facebook groups and pages have shared the link.

RATING: FALSE

The facts: Even if De Lima is found guilty, a new death penalty law passed by 
the Senate cannot be applied to her.

"That would constitute an ex post facto law. That would be unconstitutional," 
University of the Philippines constitutional law professor Dan Gatmaytan said 
when asked by Rappler.

The Philippine Constitution prohibits the passing of any retroactive law. 
Article III of the Bill of Rights, Section 22 says: "No ex post facto law or 
bill of attainder shall be enacted."

The embedded video also did not mention the death penalty for De Lima, contrary 
to what is stated in the post's headline.

The video is a trimmed version of a video blog by Cruz-Angelez that was 
originally posted on her Facebook page. In the trimmed video, Cruz-Angeles 
shared her thoughts about the Napoles case and the death penalty bill. On the 
topic of the death penalty, Cruz-Angeles only talked about her reservations 
about the bill being discussed in the Senate, such as the non-inclusion of 
plunder for crimes punishable by death.

This blog post joins other false articles that embed just an opinion video, 
then make a misleading claim in the headline, even if it isn't mentioned in the 
video.

(source: rappler.com)








TAIWAN:

Taiwan court sentences arsonist to death for fire which killed 9----Appeals 
against the district court verdict are still possible



A man who set fire in his apartment building in New Taipei City last year with 
the deaths of 9 people as a result received the death sentence Thursday, though 
he can still appeal.

Li Kuo-hui, an ethnic Chinese man from Myanmar, claimed he heard the sound of 
neighbors making fun of him at his apartment in Zhonghe, New Taipei City, the 
Central News Agency reported. Early in the morning of November 22 last year, he 
went out with an empty bottle to buy gasoline, and that day in the evening, he 
lighted the fuel on the staircase of his apartment building and fled, 
prosecutors said.

9 residents on the 4th and illegally added 5th floor lost their lives in the 
resulting blaze, with Li returning to the site to take a look and stealing 
clothes to change his appearance, reports said.

The New Taipei District Court said Thursday he was guilty of extreme evil, 
taking out his revenge on innocent people in the most brutal way possible. 
Appeals against the sentence are possible, and while capital punishment is 
still on the books, no executions have taken place since 2016.

Before last year's fatal arson, Li reportedly posted insults on the Facebook 
page of a woman after she broke up with him. As she apologized, Li asked a 
friend from Myanmar to remove his post, but instead, the man used it to mock 
him, enraging him to the point he used oil to light a fire outside the man???s 
apartment and under his motorcycle in May and June last year, according to CNA.

(source: Taiwan News)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Condemns 4 To Death For Forming 'Iran Cell'



A Saudi court has sentenced 4 people to death for links to regional rival Iran, 
alleging that they were plotting the assassination of "prominent figures", 
state media said Thursday.

"The criminal court has sentenced four terrorists to death for forming a cell 
for Iran," the state-owned Al-Ekhbariya TV reported.

"The terrorists were trained in camps in Iran" and "planned to assassinate 
prominent figures," Al-Ekhbariya said, without giving any more details on those 
convicted.

Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Iran, the predominant Shiite power, have a 
long history of rivalry. They today stand on opposing sides of conflicts in the 
Middle East, from Syria to Yemen.

In December 2016, a Saudi court sentenced 15 people to death for spying for 
Iran, according to local media. A source told AFP then that most of them were 
members of the kingdom's Shiite minority.

Earlier in 2016, regional tensions spiked when Riyadh executed prominent Sasudi 
Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests, 
for "terrorism".

The ultra-conservative kingdom has one of the world's highest rates of 
execution, with suspects convicted of terrorism, homicide, rape, armed robbery 
and drug trafficking facing the death penalty.

Rights experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the fairness of trials in 
the kingdom, governed under a strict form of Islamic law. The government says 
the death penalty is a deterrent for further crime.

(source: radiofarda.com)








MAURITANIA:

Mauritania cracking down on apostasy with mandatory death sentence



There will no longer be mercy for those convicted of apostasy in Mauritania.

Previously, any Mauritanian who committed blasphemy or left the Muslim faith 
had 3 days to repent before they were punished. Penalties included prison terms 
or a death sentence.

However, a new law was passed on April 27th by the Mauritanian National 
Assembly. Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs explains, "This new law 
sort of becomes more stringent - that 3 days to repent disappears. Everyone is 
going to be punished. Even if you do repent, you are still going to be 
punished. And in the case of blasphemous remarks or sacrilegious acts, 
according to the law, the death penalty is now mandatory.

"The other thing that was very fascinating to me is, in explaining this change 
in the law, the Minister of Defense said that 'what we had before was actually 
in contradiction with official Sharia code, the official Sharia law. We want to 
be as close to the real Sharia law as possible, so we needed to eliminate that 
discrepancy between the 2.'"

Mauritania is a Muslim nation and while no Christian has been given a death 
sentence yet, this law is especially concerning for new converts. A mandatory 
death sentence for apostasy could cause someone who is considering following 
Jesus to think twice.

Even though the CIA World Factbook reports that Mauritania is officially 100 % 
Muslim, there is an underground Church presence. The Holy Spirit cannot be 
stopped at the Mauritania borders, and Mauritanian believers are living out 
their faith in secret. One of their biggest needs is fellowship.

"What often happens to someone who comes to faith in Christ is they are cut 
off. They are cut off from their Muslim friends. They are cut off even from 
their families. So having fellowship with other believers, having a way to be 
encouraged and to be discipled, those are challenging things in a country where 
there are so few Christians."

There are a few things you can do to stand with our Christian brothers and 
sisters in Mauritania today.

First, Nettleton says, "People can call the Mauritania representatives in their 
home country and say, 'We would like you to consider not having this apostasy 
law.' The chances of that being effective are probably pretty slim, but it does 
send a message that the rest of the world is paying attention."

And especially, you can pray. "Let's pray that God's Spirit will move. The 
Bible talks about God directing the hearts of kings, God directing governments, 
and so let's pray that there is a change of heart and that Mauritanians would 
be free to choose their own religious path."

(source: mnnonline.org)