[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 18


EGYPT:

Anti-death penalty group pleas to halt execution of 7 citizens



The "Against the Death Penalty" group met with the National Council for Human 
Rights (NCHR) after urgently appealing the council to stop the execution of 
seven citizens in the "Arab Sharkas" case, the group said in a statement on 
Thursday.

The group also requested NCHR's support in its plea for a halt in the issuance 
and implementation of the death penalty "until a stable justice mechanism is 
achieved".

In the Wednesday meeting, Mohamed Fayek, head of the NCHR, told the group that 
"the death penalty should not be used in political cases, and promised to study 
the Arab Sharkas case and consider how to proceed, since the execution of 7 
persons is, in any case, a serious matter", the statement read.

The 7 civilians were convicted by a military court on 21 October 2014 of 
killing a military officer and belonging to Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis militant 
group, and given the death penalty. After the military court rejected an 
appeal, the ruling was confirmed on 24 March 2015.

The case initially included 9 defendants who were accused of planning and 
executing what is known in the media as the "Arab Sharkas" cell case.

Security forces had allegedly been carrying out operations against a "terrorist 
cell" in a village in the Qaliubiya governorate, north of Cairo on 19 March 
2014. A gunfight allegedly took place and the Interior Ministry later reported 
six militants dead, and 8 arrested. However, 2 defendants in the case had 
already been in prison and 2 others were arrested 3 days before the incident 
took place.

Sara Said, one of the defendants' sister, previously told Daily News Egypt that 
her brother and the remaining defendants had been "kidnapped" or forcibly 
disappeared. Last May her family and "6 or 7 more families filed a report with 
the Prosecutor General after they had seen their children's names in an Ansar 
Beit Al-Maqdis membership list that the Ministry of Interior had released".

According to Amnesty International, enforced disappearances had increased as a 
method of arrest last year in Egypt. Likewise, military trials for civilians 
have been on the rise as hundreds of civilians have been standing trials in 
front of military courts.

According to the anti-death penalty group, "the trial lacked the minimum 
standards of a fair and just trial, to the extent that 2 of the convicted were 
in detention during the time of the crime of which they are charged".

The anti-death penalty group had called on the NCHR to "urgently intervene" and 
"to bear the political and moral responsibility in preventing the death of 
possibly innocent citizens" earlier on 8 April.

Fayek told the group that he was concerned with lowering the amount of crimes, 
which are over 80, that are punishable by death. He added that "the death 
penalty should not be used in political cases".

International human rights organisations, such as Human Rights Watch and Human 
Rights Monitor, as well as local rights organisations, condemned the military 
court death sentences. The family of one of the jailed civilians previously 
told Daily News Egypt that the charges and sentences were "ridiculous".

A campaign, dubbed the "Execution of a Homeland" was also launched in March in 
which groups gathered petitions to be sent to the High Commissioner for Human 
Rights of the United Nations (UNHCR). The campaign stated that more than 500 
people have been handed death sentences in unfair trails in Egypt.

(source: Daily News Egypt)








PAKISTAN----execution

Death house inmate executed in Vehari



A convicted prisoner on death row has been hanged till death in Vehari's 
District Jail early this morning, SAMAA reported on Saturday.

Convict, Manzoor Wasli, slew a policeman during a robbery attempt in 2001.

A local anti-terrorism court (ATC) convicted him and awarded him double death 
penalty. Lahore High Court's Multan bench dismissed the convict's appeal 
against the ruling in 2008.

Death warrant for his punishment was issued on April 13. He was sent to gallows 
this morrning.

(source: Samaa)