[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 8




SOUTH AFRICA/BOTSWANA:

Deported Botswana national 'in danger'


The life of a Botswana national is hanging in the balance after the Home 
Affairs Department deported him to his home country were he is facing capital 
punishment.

Lawyers for Human Rights have now taken up Edwin Samotse's cause and is taking 
the department to the high court following the deportation. Lawyers for Human 
Right's David Cote said Samotse was deported to Botswana despite an order from 
the Justice Department that he may not be extradited.

Cote said it was unclear, but Samotse might be accused of murder. "He fled 
Botswana and was intercepted in Polokwane. There was an extradition hearing in 
the magistrate's court and the justice minister asked the Botswana government 
to give an assurance he will not be killed if deported and found guilty," Cote 
said.

Botswana refused to give any assurances and the Justice Department refused to 
allow the extradition.

"He was then to apply to be let out of jail but that was when immigration 
deported him," Cote said.

Samotse was deported from the Polokwane prison in August.

Cote said since then they have not been able to locate him.

"We are not sure where in the system he is. We do not know if he's had his 
trial or if he is still awaiting trial. If he has been tried and found guilty, 
the government can execute him without notifying the family," he said.

Now, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid SA want Home Affairs to look for 
Samotse and engage with the Botswana government so that he will not face the 
death penalty if convicted. They are going to be in the North Gauteng High 
Court next Monday.

They also want the department to report back on efforts to investigate how he 
was deported and what steps it had taken to stop these kinds of deportations as 
per Constitutional Court judgments from 2001 and 2011.

In 2012, the Constitutional court ruled that Jerry Phale and Emmanuel Tsebe 
could not be deported to Botswana without prior assurances that the death 
penalty would not be applied.

Phale and Tsebe were wanted in Botswana for the murder of their partners when 
they fled to South Africa.

The death penalty can be imposed in Botswana for murder, treason, an attempt on 
the life of the head of state and military offences guilty of mutiny and 
desertion in the face of the enemy.

Cote said: "This matter demonstrates Home Affairs' utter failure to practically 
implement its minimum constitutional obligations to all levels of staff to 
ensure adherence to its obligations. This is a concern for everyone who cares 
about the rule of law - where the government's non-compliance with court orders 
undermines our constitutional democracy."

(source: Pretoria News)



UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Sharjah killer offers Dh1.3 million to escape death----Victim's family demands 
much bigger 'diya' to pardon killer


A Kuwaiti university student convicted of killing his colleague with the help 
of a friend in Sharjah has offered KD100,000 (Dh1.3 million) to the victim's 
relatives to escape execution, but they demanded a much higher 'diya' (blood 
money).

The Arabic language daily Emarat Al Youm said the student and his friend, who 
are both studying at Sharjah University, were found guilty of beating their 
colleague, also a Kuwaiti, to death at a cafe in the emirate following a heated 
argument.

Court hearings have been adjourned to September 29 to hear more witnesses and 
to allow the families of the convicts and victim to reach an out-of-court 
settlement, the paper said.

Defence lawyer said his client had offered KD100,000 'diya' to the victim's 
relatives so they will pardon the defendants, but they have not replied yet.

The paper quoted the convict's family as saying the victim's relatives are 
demanding a much bigger 'diya' in return for pardoning the defendants.

"We have offered to pay KD100,000 'diya' and will not pay more than this sum," 
the paper said, quoting a defendant family member.

The victim, 19, died just after he was rushed to hospital in Sharjah early last 
year following a fight with his 2 colleagues, who were immediately arrested 
after the crime at the cafe in Muwaileh area.

(source: emirates247.com)






INDIA:

End death penalty


The Supreme Court's decision that reviews of death sentences should be heard in 
open court is an acknowledgement of the value of life. It is another safeguard 
against depriving a person of his life through judicial hurry or inadequate 
communication of the case of the convict on death row to the judge. It is to be 
noted that the court has mandated such procedure under Article 21 of the 
Constitution which guarantees the right to life and liberty to citizens. It has 
also rightly declared that this right is the most important of all 
constitutional rights. The issues sought to be raised by a convict in his 
review plea will get greater clarity in oral arguments advanced by a lawyer in 
an open court. It is much better than the court deciding the merit of the 
petition on the basis of a cold written document.

Hearing in an open court will also make the proceedings transparent. The court 
has limited it to half an hour, in view of the pressure on its time. But the 
fact that it has gone beyond a 60-year-old rule in order to provide for open 
hearing underlines the importance it attaches to the need for a fair and 
reasonable opportunity to a convict to challenge the sentence awarded to him. 
It has justified its departure from tradition with the observation that a 
person's life cannot be restored if it is found, after execution, that he or 
she was wrongly awarded the death sentence. The court's decision, based both on 
compassion and law, provides another chance for convicts to be heard and judged 
by the highest judiciary in a final attempt to escape from the gallows.

But what came up before the court was only a question of right procedure, which 
might avert or minimise the chance of a judicial error in the award of the 
death sentence. But putting an end to capital punishment should be a matter of 
principle, not of procedure. As long as the provision exists on the statute 
book, the courts cannot wish it way, in spite of the rarest of rare doctrine. 
The idea of death sentence is wrong and bad for very valid reasons: it is 
primitive, its practice is barbaric and it is not a deterrent against crime. 
Most countries have abandoned it and many others have suspended it. It is only 
being human to abolish it. Even an open hearing may not always avert a mistake.

(source: Editorial, Deccan Herald)






IRAN:

3 Iranian Christians face death penalty for 'spreading corruption on earth'


3 Iranian Christians have been charged with 'Mofsed-e-filarz', or 'spreading 
corruption on earth', which carries the death sentence.

Pastor Haghnejad was originally charged with 'Moharebeh', meaning 'enmity 
against God' following his arrest on July 5, but has now charged with the more 
serious crime.

While both crimes carry the death sentence 'Mofsed-e-filarz' is thought to be 
the more dangerous charge, resulting in more executions.

Pastor Irani has been was given the charge along with 18 new charges against 
him. In 2011 he was sentenced to 6 years in prison for his faith. He had been 
leading a 300-strong evangelical church in Karaj, a city near the capital, 
Tehran.

Irani is now being held in solitary confinement and is suffering numerous 
health problems which have been exacerbated by his time in prison.

All 3 men all being held separately at Ghezal Hesar Prison in Karaj where they 
have been pressured into confessing they are spies.

Iranian Christians are forbidden from praying in public churches, and 
converting to Christianity from Islam can carry the death penalty.

"Under international laws, being a religious minority is not a crime, but under 
certain stipulations in Sharia law they can work their way around that. A lot 
are converts, and apostasy is a crime, they see that a threat to the Islamic 
state, and so it becomes a political crime," a spokesperson for CSW said.

American pastor Saeed Abedini is serving an 8-year prison sentence for 
'threatening the security of the state', having worked to develop home church 
communities.

In January, the UN said it was alarmed by the increase in executions under 
President Hassan Rouhani, who came to power in August 2013. Between January and 
June there were 411 executions recorded, and 8 men have already been executed 
for 'Moharebeh' this year.

"The new charges are tantamount to an indictment of Christianity itself and CSW 
is growing increasingly alarmed by what is a clear escalation in Iran's 
campaign against Persian Christians under the Rouhani presidency and by what is 
effectively an attempt to gain an apostasy conviction by other means," said CSW 
chief executive Mervyn Thomas in a statement.

(source: Christian Today)






AFGHANISTAN:

Afghans sentenced to death over gang-rape ---- 7 men get death penalty for 
gang-rape of 4 women in August in case that sparked outrage across Afghanistan.


An Afghan judge has sentenced 7 men to death for the gang-rape of 4 women in a 
case that has sparked nationwide outrage, with angry protests outside the court 
and proceedings broadcast live on television.

The men were all found guilty on Sunday of kidnapping and attacking the female 
members of a group that was driving into Kabul, the capital, from a wedding.

In a trial that lasted only a few hours, the death sentences were technically 
handed down for the crime of armed robbery.

President Hamid Karzai had earlier called for the men to be hanged.

The court heard the men, wearing police uniforms and armed with guns, had 
stopped a convoy of cars in the early hours of August 23.

They dragged the 4 women out of the vehicles, robbed them, beat them up and 
then raped them. One of the victims was reported to be pregnant.

"We went to Paghman with our families. On the way back, they took us, one of 
them put his gun on my head, the other one took all our jewellery, and the rest 
started what you already know," one victim told the court.

Death calls

As noisy demonstrators outside the court demanded the death penalty, applause 
erupted inside after Kabul police chief Zahir Zahir also called for the men to 
be hanged.

"We want them to be hanged in public, so that it will be a lesson for others," 
he said. "We arrested them with police uniforms. They confessed to their crime 
within 2 hours of their arrest."

The judge said the 7 had the right to appeal against their sentences.

Al Jazeera's Jennifer Glasse, reporting from Kabul, said: "It [Afghanistan] is 
such a conservative society. Normally any kind of cases like this are kept very 
quiet. It was a local hospital that notified the police.

"The men do have the right to appeal. But the public opinion is, very much 
against them.

"Demonstrations across four provinces in the last couple of days have called 
for swift and open justice in this case that has outraged Afghans.

"3 other men are at still large and police is promising to bring them to trial 
as well."

(source: Al Jazeera)