[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 29



INDIA:

HC confirms death penalty to 25-yr-old girl, 2 others


The Madhya Pradesh High Court today confirmed the death sentence awarded to 3 
people, including a 25-year-old girl, in a triple murder case.

Public Prosecutor Raghvendra Singh Bais told reporters that the sessions court 
had awarded capital punishment to Neha Verma (25), Manoj Atod (32) and Rahul 
Chowdhary (22) on December 13, last year, terming their offence as rarest of 
the rare.

(source: PTI news)






IRAN----impending (female) executions

2 women are scheduled to be executed tomorrow morning


Reyhane Jabbari and Ashraf Nazari have been transferred to solitary 
confinements of Rajai Shahr Prison and will be executed tomorrow morning.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Reyhane 
Jabbari who is charged with murder has been transferred from Gharchak Prison in 
Varamin to solitary confinements of Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj today.

Her case had attracted the attention of Human Rights Organizations in recent 
months and her trial was recognized as an unfair one.

Along with her, Ashraf Nazari who is also charged with murder has been 
transferred from Gharchak prison to Rajai Shahr Prison and will be executed 
tomorrow morning.

Reyhane Jabbari has committed murder when she was 19 years old and was 
sentenced to death after serving 7 years in prison. She accepted the charge but 
stated that the man wanted to rape her and she has defended herself.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)

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

Iranian Woman Reyhaneh Jabbari Scheduled to be Executed Tomorrow----The 26 year 
old Iranian woman Reyhaneh Jabbari has been transferred to the Rajaishahr 
prison for implementation of her death sentence. She might be executed already 
tomorrow morning. Reyhaneh is sentenced to death for the alleged murder of a 
former ministry of intelligence officer whom she stubbed in self defense 7 
years ago. Iran Human Rights urges all countries with diplomatic relations with 
Iran to use all their channels to stop the execution.


Sholeh Pakravan (Reyhaneh Jabbari's mother) wrote an hour ago on her Facebook 
page that her daughter has told her that she is being transferred to Rajaishahr 
prison and scheduled for execution tomorrow morning. According to Shole 
Pakravan, the officials at Rajaishahr prison have confirmed that Reyhaneh's 
name is on the list of the executions for tomorrow, Tuesday September 30.

IHR urges the international community to act immediately in order to stop the 
execution of Reyhaneh. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR, said: 
"International reactions may be the only possibility to save Reyhaneh. We ask 
all the countries with diplomatic relations with Iran to use all their channels 
to stop Reyhaneh's execution".

Reyhaneh Jabbari, aged 26, was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza 
Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. 
Following her arrest, Reyhaneh Jabbari was held in solitary confinement for two 
months in Tehran's Evin Prison, where she did not have access to a lawyer or 
her family. Reyhaneh confessed that to the murder immediately after her arrest, 
though she did not have a lawyer present at the time she made her confession. 
She stated that the murder took place in self-defence.

Reyhaneh Jabbari was sentenced to death under qesas ("retribution-in-kind") by 
a criminal court in Tehran in 2009. The death sentence was upheld by the 
Supreme Court the same year. Her family was told in March 2014 that the 
sentence had gone for implementation and she was according to unofficial 
sources scheduled for execution on April 15. But the execution was postponed.

So far in 2014 at least 550 people have been executed in Iran.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

A political prisoner in danger of imminent execution----He has been arrested 
when he was 17 years old


Human rights organizations are concerned about the danger of imminent execution 
of Saman Nasim, who has arrested when he was 17, on charge of cooperation with 
a Kurdish party.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Saman 
Nasim, Kurdish political prisoner has arrested on July 15, 2011 at the age of 
17.

An informed source told HRANA's reporter, "Saman Nasim, had been arrested in an 
armed conflict with revolutionary forces. On this event one member of 
revolutionary guard was killed and Saman's fellow committed suicide. Weapon 
tests showed that the shot which killed the officer was not shot from Saman's 
weapon and the defendant himself rejected the allegation of shooting".

Saman Nasim is currently kept in ward number 12 (political prisoners' ward) in 
Uremia prison (Darya Prison) and his case has been sent to sentence enforcement 
bureau.

According to international conventions execution of criminals under 18 is 
forbidden.

Amnesty International announced in its statement that was released on Thursday 
September 18, Mr. Nasim has rejected the allegation of murder and said that he 
just had aerial shooting.

This organization also reported that Saman Nasim was tortured and during 
primary investigation he did not have access to attorney.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)

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

Iran must halt imminent execution of 26-year-old woman----Reyhaneh Jabbari was 
sentenced to death in 2009 after a deeply flawed investigation and trial.


Iranian authorities have today confirmed that a woman convicted of killing a 
man whom she said tried to sexually abuse her will be hanged tomorrow morning 
at a prison west of Tehran, Amnesty International said.

Reyhaneh Jabbari was sentenced to death in 2009 after a deeply flawed 
investigation and trial which failed to examine all of the evidence.

"This abhorrent execution must not be allowed to take place, particularly when 
there are serious doubts about the circumstances of the killing," said Hassiba 
Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty 
International.

"Instead of continuing to execute people, authorities in Iran should reform 
their judicial system, which dangerously relies on processes which fail to meet 
international law and standards for fair trial."

"Under international human rights standards people charged with crimes 
punishable by death are entitled to the strictest observance of all fair trial 
guarantees."

Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali 
Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. She was placed 
in solitary confinement for 2 months, where she did not have access to a lawyer 
or her family. Reyhaneh Jabbari was sentenced to death under qesas 
("retribution-in-kind") by a criminal court in Tehran in 2009.

Amnesty International understands that although Reyhaneh Jabbari admitted to 
stabbing the man once from the back, she said another man who was also in the 
house killed Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi. Her claim is believed to have never 
been properly investigated.

"Authorities in Iran must immediately halt Reyhaneh Jabbari's execution. It is 
unacceptable that she was not provided with a lawyer during questioning and the 
failure to investigate the presence of another man in the house leaves too many 
questions unanswered," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Reyhaneh Jabbari's mother said today in a Facebook post that authorities in 
Evin prison told her she would have to go to the facility to "collect the body" 
tomorrow.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, 
regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or 
other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to 
carry out the execution, because the death penalty violates the right to life 
as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate 
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Background Information

On 14 September 2014, the judicial authorities reportedly pressured Reyhaneh 
Jabbari to remove her lawyer Mohammad Ali Jedari Foroughi from her case and 
retain an inexperienced lawyer in his place. This was done in an apparent bid 
to disrupt the lawyer???s efforts to guarantee an investigation into the 
presence of another man in the house.

Amnesty International understands that before being removed from her case, 
Mohammad Ali Jedari Foroughi's repeated requests to meet with his client, and 
access her court file had been denied.

(source: Amnesty International)






CHINA:

Chinese Court Sentences Teenagers to Death in Killing of Jume Tahir, Islamic 
Cleric


A Chinese court has sentenced 2 teenagers to death for what the authorities 
said was their role in the murder of a prominent Islamic cleric in the western 
region of Xinjiang, the state news media reported Monday.

Prosecutors said the defendants played key roles in the assassination this 
summer of Jume Tahir, a government-backed imam who presided over China's 
largest mosque, Id Kah, a 15th-century landmark in the oasis city of Kashgar.

The verdict, issued Sunday and just two months after Mr. Tahir's killing, 
underscores the authorities' determination to display a firm resolve in the 
face of spiraling violence in the region.

The news reports did not disclose the ethnicity of the defendants, but their 
names made it clear they are members of China's Uighur minority, a largely 
Muslim people who have long resented Beijing's governance of the region and 
have become increasingly bold in their resistance to what many say are 
heavy-handed policies.

Despite an overwhelming show of force across southern Xinjiang, a wave of 
violence has claimed at least 400 lives in the past year, and hundreds of 
people have been detained. Most of the dead have been Uighurs shot by the 
police, although scores of Han, members of China's dominant group, have been 
killed in ethnic bloodletting.

Mr. Tahir, 74, was an official with the state-run Xinjiang Islamic Association 
and an especially divisive figure among China's 10 million Uighurs. Frequently 
quoted in the state news media, he was a reliable supporter of government 
restrictions on so-called unlawful religious practices. Those restrictions 
include rules barring adolescents from mosques and prohibitions on underground 
madrassas, as well as on veils for women and long beards on men.

The imam was reportedly stabbed to death as he left sunrise services on July 
30; the police later shot and killed 2 suspects and arrested a 3rd, Nurmemet 
Abidilimit, 19, who was among those sentenced to death on Sunday, according to 
the official Xinhua news agency.

The other man who received the death penalty, Gheni Hasan, 18, was accused of 
training the assailants and, more broadly, of "forming and leading terrorist 
groups," Xinhua said. A 3rd defendant, Atawulla Tursun, was given a life 
sentence.

People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party, said that the 
men had been influenced by religious extremist videos from abroad and that 
their decision to kill the imam was motivated by a desire to "do something big 
to raise their reputations as terrorists." Previous official news accounts said 
that Mr. Abidilimit had confessed his role in the attack and implicated the 
others.

Xinhua said the three were represented by government-appointed lawyers, but it 
did not provide their names or say whether the defendants intended to appeal. 
Asked about the case, a man who picked up the phone at the People's 
Intermediate Court in Kashgar, where the trial took place, declined to comment 
and hung up.

China's criminal justice system is notoriously opaque, and court proceedings in 
Xinjiang are especially sensitive and off limits to foreign journalists. 
Security restrictions in the region make it difficult to confirm the 
government's version of events.

The killing of Mr. Tahir in Kashgar came 2 days after a bloody clash between 
the police and Uighurs in the nearby city of Yarkand that left nearly 100 
people dead. The Chinese news media said the violence in Yarkand was caused by 
"terrorists" who attacked government buildings and ethnic Han passers-by. Exile 
groups have described the Yarkand incident as a massacre.

Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group based 
in Germany, condemned the harsh sentences for the defendants in the imam's 
murder, saying they would do little to stem the rising tide of Uighur 
discontent.

"The Chinese government should examine the roots of the problems, which are 
caused by coercive policies that Uighurs find unbearable," he wrote. "It should 
respect the Uighur religion and traditional way of life, and stop provocations 
to avoid triggering new turmoil."

(source: New York Times)