[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

September 23




BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh considers capital punishment for driving deaths



The cabinet on Monday will consider for traffic accident deaths, a official 
said, as thousands of students held for a 9th day over the deaths of 2 
teenagers by a speeding bus.

Tens of thousands of angry school and colleges students have been demanding 
changes to Bangladesh's transport laws, paralysing the crowded capital of 18 
million, after the 2 teenagers were killed when a privately operated bus ran 
over a group of students on July 29.

"In this amendment it has been proposed to award the highest level of 
punishment if it is killing by an accident," said the law ministry official, 
who has been briefed on the matter but declined to be named ahead of a 
decision.

The current punishment is a maximum jail term of 3 years. Using the death 
penalty for road accidents is rare anywhere in the world. Bangladesh's 
transport authority listed punishments given in different countries that ranged 
from 14 years in the UK in extreme cases to 2 years in India.

Sheikh Shafi, a student of a polytechnic institute in Dhaka who lost his 
brother in a road accident in 2015, said one of the problems was that bus 
drivers are not paid fixed monthly salaries instead only earn commissions based 
on the number of passengers, forcing them to work long hours.

"Our demand is that the owners must appoint them and they will work a maximum 
of 10 hours. The commission based system must be eliminated," said Shafi, who 
was injured while protesting on Saturday.

Amid the ongoing protests, an official vehicle carrying the US ambassador to 
Bangladesh was attacked by a group of armed men on Sunday, some on motorcycles, 
the embassy said in a statement. There were no injuries but 2 vehicles were 
damaged.

The embassy has condemned the "brutal attacks and violence" against the 
students protesters by security forces, a charge the government denies.

Police said they did not have an immediate explanation as to why the US 
ambassador came under attack.

(source: glenwoodguardian.com)








IRAN----executions

9 Prisoners Hanged at Shiraz Prison



9 prisoners were hanged at Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz on the charge of rape. 
According to the state-run news agency, Mizan, on the morning of Saturday, 
September 22, 9 prisoners were executed at Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz. The 
prisoners were sentenced to death on the charge of rape.

There is no information regarding the time of their arrest or the proceedings 
of their case, but according to the state-run media, the defendants were 
identified as Abdolkhaleq Safaiy, Ali Akbar Haqiqi, Ali Shah Alian, Hamidreza 
Safaiy, Behnam Roustaiy, Ehsan Safaiy, Mohammadreza Safaiy, Davoud Zareiy, and 
Mehdi Zamani.

According to the reports, the defendants sexually harass a woman in a villa, 
however, the reports mentioned that 3 women were harassed but the other 2 did 
not file a complaint.

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

A Brief Look at an Executed Political Prisoner's Case



Mohammad Abdollahi, a political prisoner, was hanged along with four other 
people at Urmia Central Prison in August 2016. After 3 years, Iran Human Rights 
has obtained some pieces of evidence indicating multiple violations in the 
judicial proceedings of his case. We interviewed one of Mohammad Abdollahi's 
relatives under the pseudonym Ali. It should be noted that the burial place of 
the defendant has not been announced to his family yet.

Mohammad Abdollahi was shot and arrested by the Revolutionary Guards in Mahabad 
in March 2010.

One of his relatives, aka Ali, told IHR, "We went to Almahdi Detention Center 
several times but they told us that Mohammad was not there and threatened us 
not to look for him."

He added, "The Revolutionary Guards beat him badly while he was already injured 
and bleeding. His right hand, left leg, and three of his teeth broke under 
torture. Mohammad was interrogated and tortured in the solitary confinement for 
three months until he had internal bleeding and was transferred to Mahabad 
Prison."

Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that 
Mohammad Abdollahi had entered Iran along with some members of Komalah and was 
involved in an armed conflict that led to the murder of 3 police officers. 
However, Ali says, "Mohammad never admitted to involvement in the armed 
conflict, possession of any weapons, and cooperation with Komalah, the only 
thing they found on him was a membership card of Komalah. Nonetheless, he was 
sentenced to death on the charge of "Moharebeh and membership of Komalah" in 
September 2013."

He added, "His lawyers believed that he would be saved from death. He didn't 
even make a false confession under torture. But Judge Javadi Kia told him that 
he would do everything in his power to have him executed."

Mohammad Abdollahi was finally transferred to Urmia Central Prison after his 
verdict was issued in April 2014. He protested against the verdict and his case 
was investigated at branch 27 of the Supreme Court.

Mostafa Ahmadian, his appointed lawyer, had told HRANA news agency, "There are 
many problems with the case. My client wasn';t treated with justice. He had 
never touched a gun."

Mr. Ahmadian explained, "We made an appeal and it was sent to the same court 
that had issued the death sentence while it should have been sent to a parallel 
court."

Finally, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death again and 
the Supreme Court accepted the verdict.

Mohammad Abdollahi was executed along with 4 other prisoners, named Kamran 
Pourfat, Tohid Pourmahdi, Amir Azizi, Jahangir Razavizadeh, and Jebraeel 
Kan’ani at Urmia Central Prison on August 9, 2016.

Ali stated, "Judge Javadi Kia finally did what he wanted to do and got him 
executed...they told him to write a repentance letter but he refused and said 
that he hadn’t done anything to repent of."

IHR has obtained some evidence that confirms there are no confessions or pieces 
of evidence in Mohammad Abdollahi's case proving the accusations - except for 
the claims of the security forces.

Now after 3 years, Mohammad Abdollahi's family don't know where his burial 
place is, although, they asked the authorities about it several times.

(source for both: Iran Human Rights)