[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 11



MALAYSIA:

Pakistani, Nigerian Nationals Charged With Trafficking In 1.6KG Heroin



A Pakistani and his Nigerian friend were charged at the magistrate's court here 
today, with trafficking in 1.66kg of heroin last month.

No plea was recorded from Emanuel (Emanuel) from Islamabad, Pakistan and 
Osyprme Innocent from Ogidi, Nigera.

They were alleged to have commited the offence at a security guard post in 
Tropicana Condominium, Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park here at 10.50am on March 29.

The duo were charged under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which 
carries the death penalty upon conviction.

Magistrate Erry Shahriman Nor Aripin set June 10 for mention of the case.

In the same court, Liban Ahmed Abdille, from Somalia pleaded not guilty to a 
charge of abusing his 12-year-old daughter at their rented residence in Wangsa 
Maju here between April last year and February this year.

(source: BERNAMA)








BANGLADESH:

Magistrates meet Bangla war criminal in jail



2 magistrates on Friday met condemned Bangladeshi war criminal Muhammad 
Quamaruzzaman in a jail here to know whether he will seek presidential 
clemency, 2 days after the death warrant for his execution was conveyed to the 
radical Jamaat-e-Islami leader.

"2 executive magistrates came and met him (Quamaruzzaman) at his cell," an 
official of the high-security Dhaka Central Jail briefly told reporters. 
Witnesses said they stayed inside for over one and half hours.

The 2 declined to talk after they came out after meeting the 63-year old 
death-row convict. The development came after State Minister for Home 
Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the magistrates would be sent to the jail to know 
the decision of Quamaruzzaman, who is an assistant secretary general of 
fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami.

"If he files a mercy petition then it will be forwarded to the president, 
otherwise, the verdict will be carried out in soonest possible time," he said 
on Thursday.

According to jail officials, Quamaruzzaman had earlier said that he would take 
some time to decide on seeking the clemency.

The apex court on April 6 rejected Quamaruzzaman's review petition after a 
hearing but the four judges signed the order earlier on Friday, prompting jail 
officials to prepare for the execution of the convict.

The ICT has handed him the death penalty for committing crimes against humanity 
while siding with Pakistani troops during the 1971 liberation war while the 
apex court headed by chief justice upheld the verdict on initial appeal.

Quamaruzzaman was found guilty of mass killing, murder, abduction, torture, 
rape, persecution and abetment of torture in central Mymensingh region during 
the 1971.

The Supreme Court on November 3 last year upheld his death penalty 18 months 
after the special tribunal handed him the capital punishment for crimes against 
humanity.

Bangladesh is trying high-profile suspects and alleged top 1971 war criminals 
under a special law which also allowed the convicts to seek presidential mercy 
in a last ditch effort to evade capital punishment.

If the execution is carried out, Quamaruzzaman would become the 2nd Islamist 
hanged so far for war crimes, even though several others have been handed death 
sentence.

(source: theshillongtimes.com)

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

Bangladesh moves to hang Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Quamaruzzaman



Bangladesh authorities on Saturday moved to hang a top Islamist leader for 
overseeing a massacre during the nation's 1971 independence war, after he 
refused to seek clemency from the country's president.

Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, the 3rd most senior figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami party, 
was originally expected to be hanged in the early hours of Saturday morning, 
but the execution was postponed at the last minute.

No official reason was given for the delay, but junior home minister 
Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters the 62-year-old was now set to be hanged in the 
capital's main jail on Saturday.

"The hanging of Kamaruzzaman... will take place today (Saturday)," Khan said in 
remarks published by the mass circulation Bengali daily Prothom Alo.

On Friday, security was stepped up outside the jail where Kamaruzzaman was 
being held, police said.

2 magistrates visited him in prison to find out whether he would seek clemency 
from President Abdul Hamid, but the pair made no comment following the visit.

Khan, however, said the authorities had decided Kamaruzzaman would not be 
granted any more time to seek mercy.

"No, he won't be given anymore time," the minister told reporters.

The move to execute him comes after the country's highest court rejected 
Kamaruzzaman's final legal appeal on Monday, upholding the original death 
sentence handed down to him by a controversial domestic war crimes court in May 
2013.

Kamaruzzaman was convicted of abduction, torture and mass murder including a 
slaughter in a remote northern hamlet that has since become known as the 
"Village of Widows".

The conviction confirmed allegations that Kamaruzzaman was one of the chief 
organisers of a pro-Pakistan militia that killed thousands of people.

The conflict led to the creation of an independent Bangladesh from what was 
then East Pakistan.

If the execution is carried out, Kamaruzzaman would become the 2nd Islamist so 
far hanged for war crimes, though several others have been handed death 
sentences.

The UN on Wednesday urged Bangladesh against carrying out the sentence, saying 
his trial did not meet "fair international" standards.

(source: Zee News)








EGYPT:

Egypt court confirms death sentence for Brotherhood head, 11 others



A Cairo court confirmed death sentences for Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed 
Badie and 11 other defendants on Saturday, and a US-Egyptian citizen was jailed 
for life over Islamist protest violence.

Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata also sentenced to death two Islamists who have fled 
the country, and he handed life terms to 23 detained defendants.

The defendants were accused of plotting unrest from their headquarters in a 
sprawling Cairo protest camp in the months after the military overthrew 
Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Among those sentenced to life in prison was Mohamed Soltan, a US-Egyptian 
citizen who is on hunger strike.

His father Salah Soltan was among the 11 detainees sentenced to death.

Soltan's family called for Mohamed's immediate release in a statement after the 
verdict, charging that there was no evidence against him.

The US embassy, in a statement, said it was "gravely concerned" about Mohamed 
Soltan and would "continue to monitor his case closely and to provide him with 
all possible support."

The rulings can be appealed before the Court of Cassation, which has overturned 
dozens of othe r death sentences, including against Badie.

So far Egypt has executed 1 Islamist sentenced to death after Morsi's 
overthrow, following his conviction of involvement in the murder of a youth 
during violent protests in July 2013.

Shehata, who has sentenced dozens of Islamists to death in other cases, read 
out a Koranic verse that stipulates amputation and crucifixion for outlaws, 
before rendering his verdict on Saturday.

At a previous session, he had sought the opinion of the country's mufti, the 
Islamic legal authority, on the death sentences.

The mufti has an advisory role under Egyptian law.

Known as the "Rabaa Operations Room" case, the prosecution accused the 
defendants of organising months of unrest and protests against the ouster of 
Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure himself now on trial.

Rabaa protest camp

The Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp in Cairo was dispersed by police on August 
14, 2013 in a 12-hour operation that left hundreds of protesters and about 10 
policemen dead.

Mohamed Soltan was shot in the arm during the dispersal, and he was arrested 
days later as police hunted down Islamist activists who had fled the protest 
camp.

Police moved in to disperse the camp after weeks of failed European and 
US-brokered negotiations with the Brotherhood, who publicly insisted on Morsi's 
return.

The Islamist was the country's 1st freely elected president and he ruled only 
for a year before the army toppled him, spurred by massive protests demanding 
his resignation.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who toppled Morsi and 
then won an election, has pledged to eradicate the Brotherhood.

The government has blacklisted the movement as a terrorist organisation amid a 
spike in militant attacks that have killed dozens of policemen and soldiers.

The deadliest attacks have been claimed by jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula and 
in Cairo, and the Brotherhood insists it is committed to non-violence.

But decapitated and driven underground, the Islamist movement is believed to 
have radicalised with members adopting militant tactics against policemen.

(source: al-monitor.com)

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

http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/uaa08415.pdf

(source: Amnesty International)








INDONESIA:

Bali 9 pair's death row fight moves to Indonesia's constitutional court ---- 
Lawyers for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran say new legal challenge is aimed 
at clarifying prisoners' rights



Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran's fight to be rescued from death row has moved 
to Indonesia's constitutional court, a challenge their lawyers argue is more 
than a delaying tactic.

On Monday the Bali 9 pair lost a bid to challenge their clemency rejections in 
the state administrative court, which upheld its earlier decision that 
presidential decrees were outside its jurisdiction.

The Indonesian government is now waiting on the legal efforts of a few other 
prisoners before setting an execution date.

Chan's and Sukumaran's lawyers on Thursday sought a constitutional court review 
to make clear the president's obligations on considering clemency. They also 
wish to challenge the barrier preventing foreign citizens from constitutional 
court appeals.

The Indonesian attorney general, HM Prasetyo, has dismissed the challenge as 
delaying tactics and says he will not recognise it.

The Indonesian lawyer for the death row pair, Inneke Kusuma, told reporters the 
effort was not aimed at delaying the executions, but at clarifying a prisoner's 
rights. She argued the president???s obligations when assessing a prisoner's 
life were unclear, for example, the weight that should be given to 
rehabilitation.

"This judicial review won't delay the executions but we will tell the 
government, 'Please hold on until this process is done,' because if the 
constitutional court accepts what we lodge, the documents, maybe there will be 
a new mechanism to consider their clemency," she said.

The challenge was lodged on Thursday and could take several months.

The lawyers' argument is that the president, Joko Widodo, breached his 
responsibilities to treat the applications for mercy on their merits, instead 
rejecting them because he wishes to deny clemency to all death row drug 
offenders.

Prasetyo says the pair have had their appeals, and any constitutional court 
decision would apply only to future cases anyway.

His spokesman says they are considering setting the executions for a date in 
April that avoids the Asia-Africa conference, when Indonesia hosts various 
heads of state.

The Sydney men are imprisoned on central Java's Nusa Kambangan island, where 
Indonesia would execute them by firing squad. 2 of the other 8 prisoners in 
line for execution with the Australians have applied for supreme court judicial 
reviews, and another is also pursuing an administrative court case.

(source: The Guardian)

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

NZer facing death penalty struggles with health



The lawyer for a New Zealander facing the death penalty in Indonesia says his 
client is not in good shape to continue his trial.

Antony de Malmanche is charged with smuggling 1.7 kilograms of crystal 
methamphetamine into Bali.

He collapsed in court on Tuesday with an angina attack.

His lawyer Craig Tuck said the 52-year-old needed at least 2 weeks to recover.

"He's crying, he's distressed, he's scared this his health on top of all the 
trial stress is going to take him out.

"So he's not, in my view at the moment, today, in great shape to be facing a 
firing squad if it doesn't all work out."

Mr Tuck said the prosecutor wanted de Malmanche back in court on Tuesday.

(source: RadioNZ)