[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 29


KIRIBATI:

Public consultation on Kiribati death penalty bill


A public consultation on the proposed death penalty has begun in Kiribati.

President Anote Tong has set up a Commission of Inquiry to consult with the 
public before the 2nd reading of the Bill is heard in parliament in December.

Mr Tong has said the law would be a deterrent for deliberate killings in the 
country, after five women lost their lives at the hands of their husbands or 
former partners.

The consultation has started on several outer islands, and last week it was 
held in the capital Tarawa.

Members of the Commission are Catholic Bishop Paul Mea and Kiribati Uniting 
Church Moderator Reirei Kourabi, assisted by 2 other members also appointed by 
President Tong.

The 2 heads of churches earlier rejected the Bill.

(source: Radio New Zealand)






BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh Tribunal Gives Death Penalty to Islamist Leader for War Crimes


Bangladesh's war tribunal has sentenced the Islamist leader Motiur Rahman 
Nizami to death under charges of genocide, murder, torture and rape during the 
country's 1971 war of independence.

The 71-year-old leader of Jamaat-e-Islami - who is accused of having led 
Pakistani army's vigilante militia group known as al-Badr during Bangladesh's 
independence war four decades ago - was given the death sentence by a special 
court presided by a three-judge panel.

The judges announced the unanimous verdict in a packed courtroom in capital 
Dhaka after he was found guilty of eight of the 16 charges levelled against 
him.

"Considering the gravity of the crimes, the tribunal punished him with the 
death sentence," state prosecutor Mohammad Ali told reporters.

The charges include mass killing, execution of intellectuals and rape during 
the nine-month-long bloodshed in 1971.

The Jamaat has called for a nation-wide shutdown shortly after the tribunal's 
verdict.

"We are very unhappy with the judgment and the tribunal's observation," defence 
prosecutor Tajul Islam said of the outcome, adding that they would appeal 
against it.

The government has been accused of using the tribunal to settle scores with its 
political opponents.

Security was beefed up ahead of the verdict in Dhaka with scores of police 
personnel deployed to prevent clashes.

(source: International Business Times)






IRAN----executions

3 Kurds and an Iranian executed in Urmia

3 Kurds and an Iranian citizen have been executed in the Urmia city of East 
Kurdistan.

The 4 people who were accused of drug sale were hanged yesterday evening. The 2 
Kurds punished with death were identified as Resid Elizade (55) and Selahedin 
Melayi (37), while the name of another 44-year-old prisoner couldn't be 
learned. The other is reported to be an Iranian citizen from the town of 
Kerece.

Last Saturday, Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was hanged in a Tehran prison in Iran 
after being found guilty of murdering an older man in what she says was self 
defense. The man is said to have been trying to sexually abuse her.

An international campaign urging a reprieve has brought a temporary stay in 
execution, which was due to be carried out on 30 September but was postponed 
for 10 days, but failed to prevent the implementation of the death sentence for 
the young woman who -Human rights group Amnesty International said - was 
convicted after a deeply flawed investigation.

(source: Firat news)






PAKISTAN:

EU urges stay on executions


The European Union has once again urged Pakistan to abolish death penalty by 
retaining a moratorium on the capital punishment. It has also asked the country 
to review its blasphemy laws.

During a meeting with a group of Pakistani lawmakers at the Parliament House on 
Tuesday, an EU delegation expressed hope that Pakistan by continuing the 
moratorium on execution and reviewing blasphemy laws could get free access to 
European markets.

"The delegation said if Pakistan reviews its blasphemy laws and keeps the 
moratorium intact, the EU will consider Pakistan for duty-free access under its 
Generalized System for Preferences (GSP) Plus program," a senior lawmaker who 
attended the meeting told The Express Tribune. "We, however, said Pakistan 
cannot abolish the death penalty following its Islamic and constitutional 
rules," he added.

Continuing the ban on the capital punishment imposed by the previous government 
in 2008, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the interior ministry last year 
to halt executions till further orders.

Since 2008, Pakistan executed only a couple of prisoners while more than 8,000 
prisoners are on death row in more than 5 dozen jails of the country. The 
foreign affairs ministry has also recommended the government avail the GSP-Plus 
by extending the moratorium.

EU Special Representative to Pakistan for Human Rights Stavros Lambrinidis also 
expressed deep concerns over growing violence against minorities in Pakistan.

Senator Farhatullah Babar informed the observers that Pakistan was a signatory 
to different human rights conventions. "We may not be a champion of human 
rights but, yes we have made extraordinary progress by introducing forcing 
fresh legislation into practice in Pakistan," he added.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed urged the EU to extend its maximum support to 
Pakistan for acquiring status of the GSP Plus. Issues of human rights are high 
on our agenda and the government is making all-out efforts to address them, he 
added.

"Pakistan is the freest Muslim democracy in the Muslim world," Mushahid 
remarked, adding that smooth transition of power from one elected government to 
the other was a manifestation of the fact that Pakistan strongly believes in 
democracy and rule of law. Pakistani lawmakers also urged the EU to take notice 
of human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir. Senator Mushahid, 
who chaired the meeting, also asked the visiting guests to take strong notice 
of the gross violations of human rights and atrocities of the Indian forces in 
Indian-administered Kashmir.

Senator Babar pointed out that violation of rights by Indian forces in the 
disputed Himalayan state needed to be looked into immediately.

Senator Mushahid said negative narrative against Islam and racism in the West 
was creating inconvenience for Muslims in Pakistan. However, he expressed his 
satisfaction over collaboration between Pakistan and the EU on different issues 
and expressed hope that bilateral relations between the 2 would grow further in 
future.

Stavros Lambrinidis also conveyed his felicitations to the government and 
people of Pakistan for Malala Yousafzai on wining the Nobel Peace Prize. The EU 
delegation also included Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European 
Union to Pakistan Lars-Gunnar Wigemark.

(source: The Express Tribune)

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

World church body troubled at death sentence against Pakistan's Asia Bibi


World Council of Churches secretary Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit is deeply concerned 
over the rejection of an appeal against the death sentence for Asia Bibi, 
convicted under Pakistan's blasphemy law.

To promote tolerance, religious harmony and protection of the rights of 
religious minorities, Tveit said it is important that justice is ensured in 
cases like that of Asia Bibi.

"The alleged circumstances of the incident which led to the blasphemy charges 
against Ms Bibi are highly questionable, and the imposition of the death 
penalty in this case is totally inappropriate," said Tveit.

"Apart from the issues of religious freedom, the charges, on-going imprisonment 
and threat of execution seem to have infringed Ms Bibi's basic human rights," 
Tveit said in a statement issued from the WCC headquarters in Geneva, 
Switzerland on 27 October.

The American Center for Law and Justice has started a petition asking the U.S. 
government to stop sending foreign aid to Pakistan, the country that recently 
upheld the death sentence for Christian mother Asia Bibi for blasphemy.

Figures have shown that the United States sent close to $8 billion to Pakistan 
in the past 5 years while Bibi has been imprisoned, Christian Post reported.

Calling the blasphemy law prone to abuse, Tveit expressed his hope that the 
Pakistan Supreme Court will reverse the decision from the lower court in Bibi's 
case.

"I look forward to encouraging people of good will, both in Pakistan and in the 
wider world, to work together to encourage the amendment in the blasphemy law 
under which such charges have been made The Asia Bibi," Tveit said.

The WCC head noted, "The protection of the rights of all citizens regardless of 
their religious affiliation is a responsibility of the Pakistani government, as 
is putting an end to human rights violations and extra-judicial killings 
associated with the blasphemy law."

The WCC over a number of years has expressed concern on the abuse of Pakistan's 
blasphemy law along with its member churches in the country.

In 2009, the Central Committee, the main governing body of the WCC, issued a 
statement on the misuse of the blasphemy law and the security of religious 
minorities in Pakistan.

(source: Ecumenical News)






CHINA:

China's death penalty reform


The death penalty has long been a feature of China's justice system, but recent 
news suggests it might become less common in the future. On Monday, Chinese 
State media reported that a draft amendment to the Criminal Law had been 
submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC). 
The proposal would abolish capital punishment for nine categories of crime, 
including smuggling weapons, ammunition, nuclear materials and counterfeit 
currency; counterfeiting currency; raising funds by means of fraud; arranging 
for or forcing another person to engage in prostitution; obstructing a 
commander or a person on duty from performing his duties and fabricating rumors 
to mislead others during wartime.

The last time that China amended the Criminal Law to restrict the use of 
capital punishment was in 2011, when the government scrapped 13 cases in which 
such a measure could be adopted.

On Tuesday, China Daily reported the opinion of Zhao Bingzhi, a Professor of 
Criminal Law at Beijing Normal University. Bingzhi said that the aim of the 
amendment is to protect human rights, something that, as the paper remarked, is 
also "the requirement of ongoing judicial reform."

Currently, it is possible to incur capital punishment for 55 crimes, but the 
actual number of people executed is not public. It is, in fact, considered a 
state secret. Estimates are left to the care of independent organizations, 
which regularly point out that the Chinese justice system is the biggest 
executioner in the world.

An article published this year by Amnesty International stated that, in 2013, 
executions were recorded in 22 countries and that the overall number of 
reported executions worldwide had increased by almost 15% since 2012. However, 
the organization cautioned that "As in previous years, this figure does not 
include the thousands of people executed in China; with the death penalty 
treated as a state secret, the lack of reliable data does not allow Amnesty 
International to publish credible minimum figures for China."

The reform would fit a recent trend which has seen a steady decrease in the 
number of people executed by Chinese authorities. According to the Dui Hua 
Foundation, a US-based human rights organization, China executed about 2,400 
people in 2013: a gigantic figure, accounting for more than the rest of the 
world put together, but much lower than the numbers reported in previous years. 
To make a comparison, according to Dui Hua, China executed 12,000 people in 
2002 and another 3,000 in 2013.

The organization, whose data are extrapolated partly from China's Southern 
Weekly and partly from confidential sources, pointed out that a major turning 
point was reached in 2007, when authorities decided that all death penalty 
sentences have to be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court (SPC). Dui Hua 
stated on its website that according to the Southern Weekly, "the number of 
executions nationwide may have dropped by more than 1/3 with declines of nearly 
50 % in some locales."

The case of Wu Ying, a wealthy businesswoman arrested for illegally raising 
funds, spotlighted the importance of the 2007 decision. She was condemned to 
death in 2009 by a court in Zhejiang Province, but the verdict was rejected by 
the Supreme Court in 2012 after anger spread among the public. (source: Asian 
Correspondent)






INDIA:

Decks cleared for Nithari killer's execution


The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the decks for the execution of Nithari 
serial killer Surinder Koli after it dismissed his plea seeking review of the 
judgment upholding death penalty.

A Bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justices Madan B. Lokur and A.K. Sikri 
dismissed the review petition after hearing Ram Jethmalani, who argued that 
there was gross miscarriage of justice as Koli had been falsely implicated in 
the case.

Mr. Jethmalani argued that Koli was convicted only on the basis of his own 
confession, which could not be relied upon.

"1 innocent life is more important than anything else. I am shocked that such a 
thing can happen in the judiciary as the prosecution had completely suppressed 
a vital document, viz. the autopsy report of a surgeon, which is a piece of 
evidence to prove Koli's innocence," he said.

Counsel pointed out that the surgeon, who performed the autopsy, was not 
examined during the trial.

He said it could be a case of organ trade and handiwork of a doctor, but an 
innocent person was being sent to the gallows.

The Chief Justice made it clear to counsel, "You are introducing new facts for 
the 1st time which is not permissible under the rules. We can't entertain this 
review petition and we dismiss it."

On September 8, the apex court stayed Koli's execution pending disposal of the 
review petition in an open court. On September 12, the stay was extended till 
Tuesday. With the dismissal of the petition, it is now open to the jail 
authorities to execute the death sentence.

(source: The Hindu)

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

India Court Refuses To Review Death Penalty For Serial Killer


India's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea by a serial killer seeking 
review of the death sentence handed over to him.

Surender Koli, 42, was convicted of rapes and murders of young women and 
children at his employer's house in Delhi's Noida suburb in 2005 to 2006.

A 3-judge bench led by Chief Justice HL Dattu upheld Koli's death sentence 
saying they were "fully satisfied" that the supreme court had not committed any 
error that might persuade it to re-examine its order.

Report says Koli's last legal recourse is that of filing a curative petition, 
seeking a review by a larger judicial panel.

"Unless the court puts a fresh stay on his execution following the plea, Koli 
is likely to be hanged," it said.

Meanwhile, Koli has been sentenced to death in 5 of the 16 cases lodged against 
him so far.

It added that the Supreme Court, had in February, confirmed death sentence, 
saying "no mercy" should be shown to Koli.

President Pranab Mukherjee had also rejected his mercy plea.

(source: Leadership Nigeria)