[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 25



PAKISTAN:

Pakistani court rules that Christian woman will be put to death; Charge of 
blasphemy will cause Asia Bibi to hang

A high court in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore has confirmed the death 
sentence of a Christian woman who was convicted of blasphemy, destroying the 
hopes of her family that the conviction would be overturned or lessened to jail 
time.

Asia Bibi has been on death row since November of 2010, after she was convicted 
of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed during an argument with several 
Muslim women when she drank from the same bowl of water as they.

"On behalf of Asia Bibi I have today filed an appeal in the Supreme Court," 
said Saifu Malook, a defense attorney. "We expect an early hearing of the 
appeal and hope that the proceedings will be over in 1 year."

Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who has been sentenced to death for an unproven 
allegation of blasphemy.

Malook claims that the court should look at allegedly manipulated evidence and 
a significant delay between the time of the incident and its investigation by 
Pakistani police.

He also said that the blasphemy charge was concocted by enemies of Bibi, and it 
has no basis in fact.

Bibi's husband has also written to Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, asking 
that she be pardoned and allowed to move to France.

"We are convinced that Asia will only be saved from being hanged if the 
venerable President Hussain grants her a pardon. No one should be killed for 
drinking a glass of water," said Ashiq Masih-Bibi's husband-in an open letter 
published in the New York Times.

Blasphemy is a major crime in Pakistan, and even an unproven allegation can 
cause mob violence by Muslims mad for blood. Earlier this month, a Christian 
couple were murdered by a mob of dozens for apparently mocking the Quran, they 
were beaten to death and had their bodies burned in a brick kiln where they 
worked.

While Pakistan does have the death penalty on the books for blasphemy, it has 
never executed anyone for this crime.

(source: Catholic Online)






CHINA:

Is China Rethinking the Death Penalty? Proposed reforms could continue the 
trend of decreasing executions in China.

In October, the long-awaited Fourth Plenum in China dedicated itself to 
fostering the "rule of law." Since then, there's been a wealth of analysis on 
the topic, including here at The Diplomat. But one area for potential reform 
went largely overlooked. Signs at the Fourth Plenum (and since) indicate that 
Chinese leaders are serious about combating something human rights activists 
have long decried: heavy use of the death penalty.

According to the Dui Hua Foundation, China executed 2,400 people in 2013 - more 
than the rest of the world combined. However, according to Dui Hua's estimates, 
that figure also represents a 20 % decline in executions since 2012 and a 75 % 
drop since 2002. The Chinese government does not issue official statistics on 
the number of executions, so ironically the massive drop-off in execution rates 
has been kept fairly quiet.

China reserves the death penalty for "extremely serious crimes," but as Gady 
Epstein of The Economist notes, China has historically had a fairly broad 
interpretation of what this means. Drug trafficking, financial crimes, and 
corruption can all be subject to capital punishment, particularly if the 
central government is encouraging a crackdown on crime. This led to massive 
amounts of executions through the 1980s and 1990s, with roughly 15,000 
executions per year in the '90s.

Epstein notes that the trend began reversing under the leadership of Xiao Yang, 
president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) from 1998 to 2008. Xiao 
recognized that China's unbridled use of the death penalty was a black mark on 
the country's international reputation. He began a quiet campaign to cut down 
on the number of executions, championing an attitude of "kill fewer, kill 
cautiously."

It was under Xiao that the SPC gained the power to review all death sentences. 
Dui Hua attributes a large part of the recent decline in executions to this 
change; according to their estimate, 39 % of death sentences are sent back to 
lower courts for reinvestigation and resentencing. The SPC's power to review 
death penalty cases provides a rare check on the authority of lower courts and 
helps prevent egregious abuses of capital sentencing.

But there's always more to be done, and Chinese leaders are still working on 
reforming the death penalty review system. An October 2014 Southern Weekend 
report revealed that the SPC may institutionalize legal representation in its 
review of death penalty cases. Analysis by Susan Finder of the Supreme People's 
Court Monitor says the idea is related to the general legal reforms mentioned 
at the Fourth Plenum, including the promise to "complete effective guards 
against unjust, false, and wrongfully decided cases." Currently, Finder notes, 
the death penalty review process is administrative; the proposed reforms would 
make such reviews a "hearing-centered procedure" where defense lawyers review 
cases and argue on behalf of their clients. The reforms even include some 
movement to provide legal aid to those who do not have their own defense 
lawyer, a crucial change as many people sentenced to be executed cannot afford 
legal representation.

Changing the review process is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to 
death penalty reform. The Supreme People's Court Monitor also noted the China's 
death penalty came under discussion at a recent conference hosted by the 
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and attended by SPC officials. Hu Yunteng, 
head of the SPC Research Office, said that reform is needed to the number of 
capital crimes as well as reducing judicial use of the death penalty. At the 
Third Plenum in 2013, the CCP promised to reduce the number of capital crimes 
"step by step." Currently the government is considering removing the death 
penalty as an option for nine crimes, including counterfeiting, certain kinds 
of smuggling, and "fraudulent fund-raising."

As noted above, one factor driving these reforms may be China's desire to 
remove a black mark from its international reputation. However, domestic 
opposition to the death penalty has also grown increasingly vocal. In April 
2012, the SPC overturned the death sentence of Wu Ying, who had been convicted 
of fraud, after her sentence sparked outrage on Chinese social media outlets. 
Netizens were particularly upset about the harsh verdict against Wu given the 
perceived leniency shown to politically well-connected defendants accused of 
financial crimes. It should be noted, however, that Chinese netizens can be 
equally vocal about certain criminals not being sentenced to death, 
particularly when the accused are rich and politically well-connected.

Another source for popular outrage are stories of cases where the falsely 
accused were executed after questionable investigations. In a sign of progress 
on this front, Caixin reports that a 1996 murder case in Inner Mongolia will be 
reheard. The case in question ended in the conviction and execution of an 
18-year-old man named Qoysiletu for rape and murder. In 2005, however, another 
man confessed to a series of rapes and murder, including the 1996 case. 
Official reviews suggested that the original trial of Qoysiletu was based on 
sparse evidence, with most of the evidence centering on a transcribed 
confession that may have been doctored. After nearly a decade of pleading from 
Qoysiletu's family, a new trial will be held. The court is expected to 
officially overturn the guilty verdict against Qoysiletu - cold comfort to a 
family who lost their son.

Given the finality of the death penalty, it's of the utmost importance that 
China institute reforms to ensure all convictions are solid and all sentences 
are justified. The use of capital punishment in China isn't going anywhere (in 
fact, it's being put to new purpose to punish convicted terrorists), making it 
all the more crucial for China's justice system to reform how the death penalty 
is applied and reviewed.

(source: The Diplomat)






IRAN:

3 Prisoners Scheduled to be Publicly Executed in 48 Hours in North-Eastern Iran


3 men are scheduled to be hanged in public in the Iranian province of 
Khorasan-Razavi (Northeastern Iran) said the Prosecutor of the "Public and 
Revolution Court" of Mashhad to the reporters today. Quoting Gholamali Sadeghi, 
the state run Iranian news agency Fars reported that 3 prisoners convicted of 
murder will be hanged publicly on Thursday 27. November. 2 of the prisoners 
will be hanged in Mashhad while the 3rd prisoner will be hanged in the town of 
Joghanai (near Mashhad). The report didn't identify the prisoners.

Iran is the country with the highest number of public executions. Iran's 
practice of public executions has been criticized both by the international 
community and the civil society inside Iran.

(source: Iran Human Rights)