[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 4



INDIA:

Shakti Mills gangrape: SC to hear death sentence petition today


The Bombay High Court on Friday is likely to hear the death sentence 
confirmation petition of 3 convicts in the 2013 Shakti Mills gangrape case, 
CNN-IBN reported.

In April, the sessions court had convicted Vijay Jadhav, Salim Ansari and Kasim 
Bengali, along with Siraj Khan, for the rape of a photo journalist in August 
2013.

3 accused were given death sentence as they had earlier been convicted of 
raping a telephone operator in the same premises earlier.

The 3 were held guilty under section 376 (E) of the Indian Penal Code which 
stipulates a maximum punishment of death penalty, and this is considered a 
landmark judgement since it is the 1st conviction under the amended section.

(source: firstpost.com)






CHINA:

Is China Really Going to Stop Using Organs From Executed Prisoners?


China's top transplant official seems to have announced - once again - that the 
country will stop using the organs harvested from executed prisoners, and will 
from Jan. 1, 2015, onward, only use organs freely donated from regular 
citizens. At least, that's what the headlines state.

If the promise has indeed been made, it would be the second time that Huang 
Jiefu, a surgeon with a seat on the Chinese People's Political Consultative 
Conference, an advisory body to the Communist Party, and director of China's 
Organ Donation Committee, has made the statement.

The 1st time was in 2012, though no hard deadline was set. That claim was also 
reported enthusiastically by major international media at the time - though 
there was no follow-up when, earlier this year, Huang backtracked and said 
that, actually, organs from executed prisoners would still be used, as long as 
permission is properly obtained.

It seems that similar chicanery is being employed in the present case.

Parsing the Remarks

Huang Jiefu's remarks were made in a medical forum at a conference in Kunming, 
the capital of the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. There is no official 
transcript or recording of what he said - only reports in the Chinese media, 
some of them vague on key questions, all of them requiring some parsing.

For starters, the manner in which it was announced contained some ambiguity - 
and perhaps enough wiggle room to again renege on the promise if necessary. For 
example, Southern Metropolis Daily, a relatively liberal newspaper based in the 
southern city of Guangzhou, wrote that it had received the news "from an 
authoritative channel," making it unclear whether a journalist with the 
newspaper was personally there when Huang made the statements.

Also, Huang was never actually quoted saying that organs from death row 
prisoners would not be used after Jan. 1, 2015, in any of the media reports on 
the topic. Southern Metropolis Daily quotes him saying, "It cannot be denied 
that currently in China, apart from traditional ideas leading to unenthusiasm 
for organ donation, people are worried about the fairness, justness, and 
transparency of organ donations."

He added that these concerns have been a significant part of the obstacles for 
China to establish a legitimate voluntary donation system from members of the 
public, as opposed to reliance on prisoners on death row (or preponderantly on 
prisoners of conscience, as has been extensively argued and documented by 
several researchers.)

The part about "completely ceasing use of death row prisoner organs as a 
transplant donor source" was paraphrased, and attributed to the "authoritative 
channel."

In all other Chinese reports on the topic, reference to death row prisoners was 
similarly paraphrased - so precisely what Huang Jiefu said is unclear.

An article in Yunnan Online contained a background section, which parsed the 
organ trade question in a way that would undermine the claim that China intends 
to eliminate reliance on prisoner organs.

In a section called "A Look Back," the publication revisited Huang's comments 
from earlier this year, which noted that death row prisoners are also Chinese 
citizens, and if they wish to donate their organs after death, they should be 
allowed to do so.

The key point, he said, is that such transactions should not be made privately, 
but be filtered through the formally established organ procurement and 
distribution system that he has worked to establish. This system is supposed to 
award organs based on need and time spent waiting, rather than how much one is 
able to pay, or willing to bribe doctors and other officials.

The Guardian made a similar concession. After a headline announcing, "China to 
stop using executed prisoners as source of transplant organ," another line 
clarified that "death row prisoners have provided the overwhelming majority of 
transplanted organs for years, owing to high demand and low donation rates. But 
in future their organs will only be used if they volunteer to donate and their 
families approve the decision."

Implicit Admission

This qualification changes the entire story.

It becomes no longer an announcement that China intends to stop using prisoner 
organs, so much as a clarification that, as researcher Ethan Gutmann put it in 
an interview earlier this year, "They're basically saying that they need to get 
their forms in order."

Gutmann's book, The Slaughter, published in August, deals with what he calls 
the mass killing of practitioners of Falun Gong and other prisoners of 
conscience for their organs. Gutmann estimates that over 60,000 have been 
killed since 2000 in this practice. Chinese officials have never given a 
substantive response to these concerns.

If Huang Jiefu is merely saying that now, Chinese authorities will ensure that 
organs from death row prisoners are obtained only with proper permission, then 
this recent bout of news would amount to nothing more than a reiteration of 
remarks he made in March.

It would, moreover, be a remarkable, implicit admission of gross human rights 
abuses and violation of international medical covenants -because if China is 
only now announcing that it will use prisoner organs with permission, Huang 
seems to have indicated that prior to that, organs were removed from executed 
prisoners without their permission.

"Consent has been demanded by transplant rules since 1984, and by transplant 
law since 2007," said Arne Schwarz, a Swiss researcher of transplant practices 
in China who has won an award for his work.

"Now, Huang admitted what everybody knew: That rules and the law have been 
ignored in the past. Why should we believe that they will not be ignored in the 
future?"

Schwarz continued: "But even if written consent can be presented, it is 
meaningless because international medical societies as The Transplantation 
Society and the World Medical Association, and even the Chinese Medical 
Association, agree that prisoners and other people in custody are not in a 
position to give consent freely."

There is the added danger, Schwarz said, that processing organs from executed 
prisoners through the organ donation and allocation system, used for the organs 
donated by free citizens, will simply obscure and entrench the practice. And it 
will impede rather than enhance transparency and traceability, as the World 
Health Organization demands, he said.

Schwarz added, "All this shows that this announcement is not a reform, but 
propaganda."

(source: Epoch Times)






BANGLADESH:

Islami Andolon announces fresh programme----Enact law with provision of capital 
punishment for atheist, it says


Islami Andolon Bangladesh today announced a 3-month programme demanding 
enactment of a law with a provision of death penalty as the highest punishment 
for atheists.

As part of it, the Islamic party will hold rallies and other demonstration 
programmes between December 9 and March 18. They will also submit a memorandum 
to the president in this regard during the period.

Mufti Syed Rezaul Karim, pir of Charmonai and also the chief of the party, 
declared the programme from a rally that began in front of the north gate of 
Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka around 2:30pm.

They also demanded that the government will have to pass the bill in the 
upcoming parliament session.

Around 5,000 activists took part at the rally in protest against the anti-hajj 
remarks made by sacked minister Abdul Latif Siddique.

Vehicular movement stretching from the mosque's north gate to the Dainik Bangla 
intersection remains suspended following their programme.

The demonstrators were cordoned off by the law enforcers, who also kept a water 
canon vehicle ready to face any anarchic situation.

The law enforcers also put barricades at Paltan intersection to avert any 
untoward incident.

Islami Andolon announced the grand rally on November 24, a day after Latif 
returned home from India.

On the same day, the former minister was sent to jail on his surrender before a 
police station in a case filed for hurting Muslims' religious sentiment through 
his comments demeaning hajj.

The ex-minister faces 22 cases in 18 districts for hurting religious 
sentiments. Of those, 8 were filed in Dhaka. Arrest warrants were issued on him 
in 4 cases.

He was sacked from the cabinet on October 12 following his comments against 
hajj and Tabligh Jamaat at a programme in New York on September 28.

Later, he was expelled from the AL presidium, and also lost primary membership 
of the ruling party.

WHAT LATIF ACTUALLY SAID

At the September 28 programme in the USA, Latif said, "During Hajj, so much 
manpower is wasted. More than 20 lakh people have gone to Saudi Arabia to 
perform Hajj. They have no work, no production and are offering only 
deduction."

He added some 20 lakh Tablighi Jamaat people get together annually. They do not 
do any work, except for halting traffic movement in the whole country.

(source: The Daily Star)






IRAN:

Iran to execute blogger for insulting Prophet Mohammed on Facebook


Iran will go ahead with the execution of a blogger whose death sentence was 
upheld by the country's Supreme Court after he was convicted of insulting the 
Prophet Mohammed in several Facebook posts.

Soheil Arabi was found guilty in August and the decision was upheld by Iran's 
Supreme Court last month.

The 30-year-old is said to have insulted the prophet and the 12 holy Imams of 
Shiite Islam -- both punishable by death in Iran.

However, New-York based Human Rights Watch in a statement condemned the 
judgment, saying Iran should "urgently revise its penal code to eliminate 
provisions that criminalise peaceful free expression".

"It is simply shocking that anyone should face the gallows simply because of 
Internet postings that are deemed to be crude, offensive or insulting," said 
Eric Goldstein, the group's Middle East director.

Arabi's lawyer told Human Rights Watch that the court did not accept that he 
had not written many of the Facebook posts and that he was merely sharing other 
people's views on the popular social network.

In a separate statement, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty 
denounced Arabi's imminent execution as "a clear violation" of Iran's 
obligations under the international covenant on civil and political rights.

Iran's judiciary spokesman on Monday said Arabi by his actions was convicted of 
a 2nd charge of "sowing corruption on earth", a crime that carries no 
possibility of a pardon in the Islamic republic.

Iran is one of the world's biggest users of the death penalty. Last month the 
United Nations condemned a surge in the country's use of capital punishment, 
citing at least 850 executions in the past 15 months.

(source: firstpost.com)

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

Hunger strikers defy threats of execution


27 political prisoners in Ward 12 of Urumieh Central Prison are continuing 
their hunger strike to protest their mistreatment by prison authorities. One of 
the prisoners, Alireza Rasouli, is reportedly in grave health. His hunger 
strike has now reached 25 days.

A report by the Campaign for the Rights of Political and Civil Prisoners says 
the strike began with Rasouli protesting the failure of the authorities to 
provide him with adequate medical treatment for cancer; his defiance attracted 
more prisoners who are challenging the behaviour of prison guards and 
personnel.

Prison authorities reportedly met with the prisoners on Tuesday and threatened 
that if they do not end their strike, a number of prisoners on death row will 
be executed. 10 of the hunger strikers are sentenced to death. Despite the 
threats, prisoners continue to refuse food.

(source: Radio Zamaneh)






INDONESIA:

New Zealand man faces death penalty for Bali drug smuggling after 1.7kg of 
crystal meth is found in his backpack at airport

A New Zealand man who was paid 'shopping money' to smuggle Ice into Bali may 
now have to pay the ultimate price after being arrested by Indonesian 
authorities.

Anthony Glen de Malmanche is facing the death penalty after allegedly smuggling 
1.7kg of crystal methamphetamine into the popular holiday destination.

The investigation turned up limited information about the drug smuggling plan, 
but it appears De Malmanche was not going to make a killing out of the crime.

'It was controlled from the outside. He hasn't said how much he's paid. He only 
admitted to be given shopping money,' Joni Lai, the deputy of Bali Provincial 
Police Drugs Squad, said.

De Malmanche had initially travelled to Hong Kong to see a woman he'd met 
online. From here he flew into Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport from 
Hong Kong with a suspicious-looking package.

The 52-year-old was due to meet the woman in Bali where they were planning to 
get married, according to media reports.

However, customs officers at the airport were alerted after De Malmanche began 
acting suspiciously while collecting his luggage on Monday morning.

'From X-ray examination, we found something suspicious in his green backpack,' 
the airport's head of customs office Budi Harjanto told reporters in Bali on 
Friday.

"After checking, we found a package with clear plastic wrapping, wrapped again 
with red plastic and brown duct tape. Inside, there's clear crystal weighed 
1,709 gram total.'

A narcotics test found the crystal was methamphetamine, he said.

De Malmanche was charged under a section of Indonesia's narcotics law that 
carries a maximum penalty of death and a 1 billion rupiah ($A97,037) fine.

The NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it's aware of the reports 
from Bali but hasn't been contacted for consular assistance or advice.

(source: Daily Mail)

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

Indonesian president authorises 5 executions----Activists concerned over Joko 
Widodo's human rights stance as government presses ahead with death penalties


The Indonesian president Joko Widodo's commitment to human rights is under 
question after he signed off the execution of 5 inmates on death row.

Rejecting their pleas for clemency, Widodo - popularly known as Jokowi - 
ordered the prisoners' deaths by firing squad by the end of this month.

Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, the coordinating minister for political, legal and 
security affairs, said, after he met the president on Thursday, that the 
inmates would be "executed as soon as possible".

The 5 are reportedly all Indonesian nationals and are among more than 100 
Indonesian and foreign nationals on death row.

Describing the move as a "wrong" decision when the president could have opted 
to commute the sentences to life, Sidney Jones, political analyst and director 
of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, in Jakarta, said the 
president could have commuted the sentences to life imprisonment, adding that 
his choice did not reflect well on the Jokowi administration.

"It seems as though some of the law and human rights and justice questions have 
been turned over to the hardliners of his [Jokowi's] administration while he 
focuses on some of the economic and social and maritime issues, but he has got 
to realise that, as president, it is all going to come back to him."

A pragmatic entrepreneur who rose from small-town politics to be elected 
president in July, Jokowi has been criticised for courting former generals with 
questionable rights backgrounds and later appointing one as his defence 
minister.

Haris Azhar, coordinator of the rights group Kontras, said, during the first 
few months in office ,the Jokowi government had failed to prioritise human 
rights concerns.

"Jokowi and his government have not shown good intentions to deal with human 
rights abuses, including his plan to execute prisoners on death row," Azhar 
said. "His government does not have a framework to address rights abuses, in 
the past and now."

Over recent weeks, the Jokowi government has been forced to defend its decision 
to release Pollycarpus Budihari Prijanto, the convicted murderer of Munir 
Thalib, a human rights campaigner.

Prijanto was sentenced to 14 years in jail after he was charged with poisoning 
Thalib with arsenic in 2004, but served only 6 years after receiving several 
remissions.

Before the decision to execute the 5 inmates, there had been hope that Jokowi 
might abolish the death penalty, or decide to extend a moratorium on 
executions.

However, recent statements from HM Prasetyo, the attorney general, suggest that 
20 more inmates on death row will face the firing squad in 2015.

"We will carry out the executions after we complete their paperwork," Prasetyo 
told the Jakarta Post last week. "There is no mercy for drug dealers."

Most of the inmates on death row in Indonesia were sentenced for drug-related 
offences.

According to the national narcotics agency, 77 drug traffickers have been on 
death row since 2004 and 9 have been executed. Data shows that 47 are foreign 
nationals.

Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran - part of the Bali 9 smuggling 
ring - were sentenced to death after they were caught planning to smuggle 8.3kg 
(18lbs) of heroin into Indonesia. The pair appealed for clemency 2 years ago.

(source: The Guardian)