[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 23



UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Man accused of raping masseuse at hotel ---- Alleged victim says 44-year-old 
manager put towel over her face and she lost consciousness



Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a manager accused of raping a 
masseuse after drugging her in a landmark hotel's massage centre in Dubai.

The 44-year-old Syrian manager, M.R., was said to have put a towel over the 
33-year-old Burmese masseuse's face, she then lost consciousness for 30 minutes 
during which time he is believed to have raped her at the massage centre of one 
of Dubai's most famous hotels in October 2013.

Prosecutors are seeking the implementation of the toughest punishment (death 
sentence) applicable against M.R. as per article 354 of the Penal Law.

The defendant, who is out on bail, failed to appear before the Dubai Court of 
First Instance to enter a plea on Wednesday.

The masseuse told prosecutors the incident happened during the massage session.

"Once he arrived, I gave the defendant the required dress to put on. I massaged 
his back for 15 minutes before he asked for his legs to be massaged. Five 
minutes later, he told me that he needed to get something from his clothes. I 
waited for him and kept my eyes glues to the floor and did not watch or see 
what he took from his clothes. When he went back to the massage bench, I 
resumed massaging his legs. He asked me for a small towel, when I asked him 
what he needed it for, he did not answer ... I gave him the towel. 5 minutes 
later, he suddenly placed the towel on my face ... I lost consciousness and 
slept for nearly 30 minutes, during which I did not realise what had happened. 
Once I regained consciousness, the suspect was already dressed and was sitting 
on a chair. I had a bad and unprecedented pain in my uterus. When I asked him 
what he did to make me lose consciousness, he did not reply. He simply said 'I 
am done'. I did not understand what he meant. Surprisingly, he put Dh1,000 in 
my hand and left. I suspected that he might have raped me. When I rushed to the 
washroom where and saw blood in my undergarment, I recognised that he had raped 
me. I had severe pain. I washed quickly and didn't inform anybody about what 
happened. The next day I told my friend what happened, and she took me to the 
centre and we told our supervisor what happened. Then I reported it to the 
police," the Burmese testified to prosecutors.

The friend confirmed the masseuse's statement before prosecutors.

"She also told me that the suspect asked her not to tell anybody what happened. 
She cried while she spoke about the alleged rape to the police," said the 
friend. Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi will hand out a ruling in absentia 
against the suspect on April 29.

Records did not specify why the case was referred to court on Wednesday 
although the masseuse's complaint was lodged in October 2013.

(source: Gulf News)








CHINA:

European Parliament Wrestles With Accountability for Organ Harvesting in China



After passing a resolution that condemned organ transplant abuses in China in 
late 2013, the European Parliament returned to the issue recently, with a 
detailed examination of China's practices and promises for reform, and ideas 
for what member states can do to tackle the practice.

China is unique among countries for running an organ transplantation system 
built upon abuse. China's transplant authorities claim to primarily use organs 
from death row prisoners, which according to international standards is a grave 
violation. But many researchers challenge this claim, saying the main source of 
organs comes from prisoners of conscience who are expressly slaughtered for the 
purpose.

In other countries, transplant abuses typically happen on an individual scale, 
with the poor trading a kidney, for example, for a five figure sum.

Challenges

The Chinese state's involvement in the practice, and the difficulty of 
determining whether abuses have been thoroughly stopped or merely papered over, 
poses challenges for policymakers in Western countries who seek to prevent 
abuses and get accountability for what has passed.

"We need to remain fair, but critical, both in terms of the track record of 
China on the matter, and the allegations and evidence," said Miroslav 
Mikolasik, a Slovak member of the European Parliament and a member of the 
subcommittee on human rights.

"That means several thousands died from his research." - Huige Li, Doctors 
Against Forced Organ Harvesting

Mikolasik spoke at a workshop titled Organ Harvesting in China organized by the 
European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health, and Food 
Safety. Held in Brussels on April 21, it featured European officials, medical 
researchers, and outside doctors and experts.

"We also have need to be responsible, constructive, and come up with timely 
legislative measures that would stop European patients from being complicit in 
any way with this practice," Mikolasik said.

The "practice," such as it has been known to take place in China, has 2 
problematic components, according to Joelle Hivonnet, an official who deals 
with China at the European External Action Service, the diplomatic and 
communications department of the European Union.

One is "the policy of removing organs from executed prisoners without consent," 
she said. "Quite clearly someone who's about to be executed might not be in a 
position to give real consent."

Then there is the more grisly "extrajudicial killings and harvesting of 
prisoners not sentenced to the death penalty."

"The extrajudicial killings result from ill treatment and torture of prisoners. 
Prisoners can basically be disappeared, either in the regular prison system, 
without even the family members being aware," she said.

She added that practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice, "are clearly 
targeted as a group, and until the abolition of the re-education through labor 
system, they formed the major group in the system of re-education through 
labor. The system has been replaced by a system even less transparent: black 
jails."

Hivonnet said she once asked a Chinese delegation "What do you do with Falun 
Gong followers now that the system has been abolished?" She continued: 
"Needless to say we did not get an answer to this question."

Reforms Claimed

Chinese officials claim reforms are now taking place in the Chinese 
transplantation system.

These include, most prominently, the cessation of the use of organs from death 
row prisoners.

Huang Jiefu, the former vice minister of health and current head of the Organ 
Transplantation Committee, China's peak body for coordinating transplant 
policies, made clear in March that this was the intent behind the new reforms.

"Prisoners can basically be disappeared, either in the regular prison system, 
without even the family members being aware." - Joelle Hivonnet, European 
External Action Service

This was a distinct change in the official posture, which had previously 
allowed the continued use of prisoner organs, as long as the individuals were 
consenting. In March Huang closed even this avenue, ruling out prisoners as a 
source of organs entirely.

Some researchers are wary of this updated promise, saying that it is virtually 
impossible to independently verify these claims, given the lack of transparency 
of the Chinese transplantation system, the obfuscatory explanations of organ 
sourcing by officials like Huang, and a lack of clarity about whether military 
hospitals are also beholden to the new rules.

International engagement with China on transplant policy will nevertheless 
resume, according to Dr. Francis Delmonico, the former head of The 
Transplantation Society who led discussions with Huang Jiefu in previous years. 
Speaking at the workshop, he said that international medical organizations 
would hold a conference in China this summer, helping the authorities there 
with their establishment of an ethical transplantation system.

And yet there appear to be no plans by these groups to hold Chinese authorities 
accountable for what has been termed the "slaughter" of tens of thousands of 
prisoners of conscience for commercial reasons.

'Several Thousands Died'

Huige Li, a representative from Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, a 
medical advocacy group, spoke in detail at the workshop about how these 
transactions took place, providing a case study of the former police chief of a 
northern Chinese city.

Wang Lijun, the chief of police of Jinzhou in Liaoning Province, ran a research 
center attached to the city's Public Security Bureau. His research focused on 
organ transplants. One of his papers, for example, was titled "Research on 
organ transplantation from donors subjected to drug injection." In a 2004 award 
speech, Wang boasted of the research being done "on site" and involving 
"several thousand cases."

"That means several thousands died from his research," Dr. Li said.

He ran through the statistics: in all of China over the years of Wang's 
research, roughly 6,000 executions took place. Jinzhou, with a population of 
about 3 million people, would have executed about 14 criminals, Dr. Li said. 
But Wang said his organ transplantation experiments - almost certainly 
coincident with death of the donor - involved thousands of subjects.

Dr. Li said the population that made up this shortfall - people who were not 
death row prisoners, but were killed extrajudicially for their organs all the 
same - were most likely practitioners of Falun Gong. There is no conclusive 
proof of the identity of those killed in this fashion, or of Dr. Li's 
inference, though it is one that conforms with a mosaic of other known facts.

Delmonico appeared to acknowledge the overall veracity of the information Dr. 
Li presented. "It's not a debate," he said, shortly after Dr. Li's 
presentation. "Mr. Chair, there's no debate. We accept everything that has been 
said by Mr. Kilgour, Dr. Li, etcetera. It's not a debate. What we do from here 
forward is what becomes the central issue for us all."

And among those concerned with the matter, there is spirited disagreement about 
precisely what that ought to consist of.

(source: The Epoch Times)








INDONESIA:

Frenchman to face firing squad



The Supreme Court rejected on Wednesday a case review requested by convicted 
drug trafficker Serge Atlaoui, 51, confirming his death sentence issued in 
2007.

A panel of judges consisting of Artidjo Alkostar, Surya Jaya and Suhadi stated 
in its verdict that Atlaoui had "been found guilty of distributing, 
transferring, brokering drug transactions, with evidence including pure 
heroin".

Because of the court rejection of the review, Atlaoui's execution and that of 
other foreigners - including citizens of Australia, Brazil, the Philippines, 
Ghana and Nigeria - could occur very soon.

Attorney General M. Prasetyo said prosecutors had not yet set a date for the 
executions, but indicated that they would be carried out after the 
Asian-African Conference and before the holy month of Ramadhan, which will 
start in mid-June.

French Ambassador Corinne Breuze said last week that France, which abolished 
the death penalty in 1981, was opposed to capital punishment in all 
circumstances.

"If the execution is carried out, it will not be without consequence for our 
bilateral relationship," Breuze said.

Atlaoui was arrested near Jakarta in 2005 at a secret laboratory producing 
ecstasy and sentenced to death 2 years later. Imprisoned in Indonesia for a 
decade, the father-of-4 has always denied the charges, saying he was installing 
industrial machinery in what he thought was an acrylics factory.

(source: AsiaOne)

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

Indonesia's Jokowi Vows Strict Policy, Death Penalty for Drug Crimes



Indonesia's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the final appeals of 2 prisoners 
from France and Ghana currently on death row for drug smuggling. In an email 
interview, Gloria Lai, a senior policy officer at the International Drug Policy 
Consortium, discussed Indonesia's zero-tolerance approach to drugs.

WPR: What factors are pushing President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to continue 
Indonesia's strict anti-drug policies?

Gloria Lai: When Indonesia passed new drug laws in 2009, introducing measures 
to divert people who use drugs away from prison and toward drug treatment 
programs, the government showed signs of shifting toward a health-based 
approach to drug use. However, it continued to impose severely disproportionate 
penalties for other drug-related activities, culminating last December with 
Jokowi's announcement that people on death row for drug offences will be 
executed. He referred to a state of emergency on drugs in Indonesia, which he 
claimed were causing around 50 deaths each day. But such statistics have been 
seriously challenged, calling into question the extent and nature of 
drug-related problems in Indonesia.

As is often the case with such approaches to drug issues around the world, 
commentators have suggested that Jokowi is insisting on the executions as a 
political strategy to appear uncompromisingly tough on Indonesia's security and 
sovereignty to domestic audiences.

WPR: What is domestic opinion toward Indonesia's drug policies?

Lai: Media polling in Indonesia shows a clear majority of respondents in favor 
of Jokowi's stance on the death penalty for drug traffickers. Islamic religious 
leaders have also voiced their support for it. International criticism may have 
helped to mobilize nationalist sentiment in support of Jokowi's stance.

As with other parts of Asia, the prevailing approach toward drugs in Indonesia 
has long been one of zero tolerance, viewing the availability of drugs as a 
scourge and drug use as a moral failing. Despite decades of punitive, law 
enforcement-driven policies that have failed to achieve their objective of 
eradicating drug use and supply, there appears to be little appetite for open, 
honest and rational dialogue about effective policies for managing drug 
problems. Such dialogue is sorely needed to constructively deal with the 
challenges of drug use and supply that Jokowi identified as emergencies.

WPR: How has international pressure influenced Indonesia's drug policies, 
particularly with regard to the case of the Bali 9 - a group of 9 Australians 
arrested for smuggling heroin in Indonesia in 2005?

Lai: The past century of international drug control, firmly grounded in a 
zero-tolerance approach and aided by the United States' declaration of a war on 
drugs in 1971, has definitively shaped national policies around the world. 
Indonesia is no exception.

But the death penalty has become a divisive issue in global drug policy forums, 
and governments enforcing it are under increasing pressure to abolish capital 
punishment. In refusing to yield to such pressure, including for 2 members of 
the Bali 9, the Indonesian government may be capitalizing on populist, 
nationalistic fervor, but it is also staying the course for a policy that has 
proven a failure. In the lead up to the United Nations General Assembly Special 
Session on the World Drug Problem in April 2016, tensions will likely continue 
to build. Perhaps by 2016, governments can reach an agreement to abolish the 
death penalty.

(source: World Politics Review)

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

Mary Jane Veloso's lawyers to file petition for 2nd judicial review



The Indonesian lawyers of Mary Jane Veloso is set to file the 2nd petition for 
judicial review on Monday, April 27.

Edre Olalia, head of the Philippine private lawyers of the Veloso family, said 
the "newly-discovered evidence" will include Veloso's sworn statement, where 
she stated that she is a victim of drug trafficking.

The said affidavit, which is currently being translated to Bahasa Indonesia, 
was executed during the Mar. 29 visit of officials of the Philippine Drug 
Enforcement Agency.

Veloso has maintained that the bag, where the 2.6 kilograms of heroin was 
stitched in, was lent to her by her recruiter. She said in her account, 
furnished to Bulatlat.com by her lawyers, that Veloso repeatedly checked the 
bag and found nothing. She also asked her recruiter, her godsister Ma. Kristina 
Sergio, why the bag was unusually heavy but was told that it is because the bag 
was brand new.

Olalia, who is also secretary general of the National Union of Peoples' 
Lawyers, said the Indonesian lawyers are also "receptive" on grounds that 
Veloso is, primarily, a victim of human trafficking.

"In accordance with international and parallel local laws, (Veloso) must not be 
penalized for any alleged crime which was integral and in connection with such 
human trafficking scheme, and must instead be repatriated back to the 
Philippines," Olalia said in a statement.

Veloso was recruited upon the premise that she would work as a domestic helper 
in Malaysia. Upon arriving there, however, she was told that her employer has 
already hired someone else and that another job was waiting for her in 
Indonesia.

For the said second ground, the lawyers need a certificate from the 
Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking that it received their 
letter-complaint on the human trafficking issue, which the Veloso family, 
through the NUPL, filed last Apr. 16.

The filing of the 2nd petition for 2nd judicial review, however, does not 
translate to a stay or stop of the execution. He said the execution may push 
through as long as the mandatory 3-day notice to Veloso, her family, the 
prosecutors and the court is complied with unless a positive judicial decision 
is handed to the Filipina on death row in time, Olalia stressed.

This, he added, could be between this Sunday, Apr. 26, or as long as 6 months 
after the submission of the petition for review as carrying out of death 
sentence is a "political decision and not a judicial act."

The temporary reprieve for Veloso's execution would end tomorrow, Apr. 24.

Veloso's Indonesian lawyers, during their 1st petition for judicial review, 
cited the issue of the translator not being duly-accredited, but was denied by 
its Supreme Court last March.

Olalia, along with colleague Minerva Lopez, met with the Philippine 
embassy-retained Indonesian lawyers yesterday, Apr. 22, after Veloso's sister 
Maritess and Migrante Sectoral Party chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado 
arranged the said meeting. In an earlier interview, the lawyer said they have 
requested, among other things, the Department of Foreign Affairs to link them 
with the Indonesian lawyers so they could collaborate with them in a bid to 
save Veloso from execution.

The DFA, however, did not budge on the said request, forcing the lawyers, along 
with Veloso's father, to leave for Jakarta to meet the Indonesian lawyers.

The Indonesian lawyers, meanwhile, have already filed a request before the 
prosecution to allow family members, the 2 lawyers and 3 migrant organization 
leaders to pay Veloso a visit.

(soure: bulatlat.com)

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

Death Penalty for Drug Crimes



This week Indonesia's police arrested a foreign national in Jakarta in 
connection to the discovery of 2.2 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (meth) 
in a boarding house in Srengseng (West Jakarta). Jakarta Police spokesman Budi 
Widjanarko said that police action was taken based on intelligence about a 
syndicate that smuggles crystal meth into Indonesia from Nigeria. Reportedly, 
this syndicate is led by a Jakarta prison inmate. Recent history shows that 
Indonesian authorities are very strict on drug-related crimes.

Indonesia is 1 of the countries that still upholds capital punishment (death 
penalty) for convicted drug traffickers. After having a moratorium on 
executions between 2008 and 2013 (supported by then President Susilo Bambang 
Yudhoyono who was against the use of capital punishment), Nigeria-born drug 
trafficker Adami Wilson was the 1st convicted person to be executed again by 
Indonesian authorities in March 2013.

New Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who took office in October 2014, takes a 
harder stance on drug abuse and drug trade as he wants to protect the health of 
the Indonesian people (each year between 40 and 50 people die from drug-related 
reasons in Indonesia). Therefore, foreign drug traffickers should not expect to 
get clemency. Joko Widodo, often referred to as Jokowi, proved his tough stance 
when - amid international pressure - he ignored pleas for clemency and allowed 
the execution of 5 foreigners (from Brazil, the Netherlands, Malawi, Nigeria, 
and Vietnam) and one Indonesian citizen in January 2015. These executions 
temporarily led to diplomatic tensions as the Netherlands and Brazil recalled 
their ambassadors back to their home countries for discussion.

1 month later, Jokowi ignored requests for clemency from the Australian 
government when Indonesian authorities started to prepare the executions of two 
Australian citizens: Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Although fierce foreign 
opposition to these executions (including Australian threats to boycott 
holidays to Bali) did succeed in delaying the executions, there seems to be 
little chance that Indonesia will cancel the executions. Chan and Sukumaran, 
who have been on death row in Indonesia since 2006, have been identified as 
leading the 'Bali 9', a group of 9 people (arrested on the island of Bali in 
2005) that were found guilty of attempting to smuggle 8 kilograms of heroin 
from Bali to Australia.

Indonesian Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo stated that Indonesia has postponed 
the executions of several foreign drugs convicts as the country is host of the 
60th Asian-African Conference (19-24 April 2015).

This month, it was French President Francois Hollande who warned Jokowi that 
diplomatic relations between Indonesia and France are to be damaged if 
Indonesia goes ahead with the execution of Serge Atlaoui. Earlier this month, 
Indonesia's Supreme Court rejected an appeal implying that preparations for 
Atlaoui's execution can be made. Atlaoui has been imprisoned for over a decade 
for his role in an ecstasy lab in Jakarta. However, Atlaoui has always denied 
these charges.

International appeals are unlikely to change Jokowi's mind. In Indonesia 
capital punishment enjoys considerable support among the elite and population 
at large. Moreover, Jokowi understands that Indonesians want a strong leader 
who can resist foreign influences. As such, it is in the interest of Jokowi 
himself to go-ahead with the executions and refuse presidential clemency. 
Moreover, the disturbance of international relations is only a temporary 
matter. For instance, the Dutch and Brazilian diplomats that were recalled back 
to the home countries after their citizens had been executed in January 2015, 
returned back to Indonesia after a few weeks and there have been no permanent 
consequences. After all, is it worth jeopardizing billions worth of trade for 
the life of one drug trafficker?

In January 2015 it was reported that 138 people are currently on death row in 
Indonesia, most of them - 64 - on drug-related crimes.

(source: Indonesia-Investments.com)








IRAN----executions

3 Prisoners Executed For drug-Related Charges



3 prisoners were hanged in the prison of Ardebil (Northwestern Iran), reported 
the Iranian state media. The 3 prisoners who were not identified by name, were 
convicted of drug-related charges in 3 different cases. The charges were: 
buying and possession of 231 grams of heroin, participation in possession and 
trafficking of 1400 grams of heroin and possession of about 1 kilogram of 
heroin, said the report.

The executions were carried out on Tuesday April 21.

(source: Iran Human Rights)



ITALY:

City of Maddaloni with Hands Off Cain



On Friday, April 17, the Conference "Death penalty and death by penalty" with 
the presentation of the Report by Hands Off Cain was held in Maddaloni (CE) at 
the Centro Polifunzionale ex Macello - Via Napoli. The event was organized by 
Hands Off Cain in cooperation with the city's Cultural Council, and obtained 
the official support of the city of Maddaloni.

Participants included: Rosa De Lucia (Mayor of Maddaloni), Daniele Napolitano 
(President Maddaloni Cultural Council), Vincenzo Farina (Italian League for 
Human Rights), Elisabetta Zamparutti (Treasurer of Hands Off Cain), Antonio 
Stango (Italian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights), Arturo Diaconale 
(Director of "L'Opinione" and "Tribunale Dreyfus"), Giuseppe Ferraro (activist 
of Hands Off Cain). I myself introduced and moderated the event.

The City Council and its current administration decided to strongly commit 
itself strongly to the enhancement of human and civil rights. An important fact 
therefore is that Mayor Rosa De Lucia and Councillor for Culture Cecilia D'Anna 
decided to become members during the debate.

The entire event is available (in Italian) on: Radio Radicale [see: 
http://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/439041]

(source: radicalparty.org)








MALAYSIA:

Court upholds death sentences for Malaysian, Singaporean for drug trafficking



Malaysia's highest court on Thursday upheld the conviction and death penalty of 
three Mexican brothers, a Singaporean and a Malaysian in a high-profile drugs 
case.

The Gonzalez Villarreal brothers - Luis Alfonso, 47, Simon, 40, and Jose 
Regino, 37 - were arrested in March 2008 at a factory in southern Malaysia 
where police found 30kg of methamphetamine and equipment to make drugs. The 
siblings insist that they were merely working as a cleanup crew and that they 
were unaware drugs were being made in the factory.

Drug trafficking carries a mandatory sentence of death by hanging upon 
conviction in Malaysia. They were sentenced in May 2012 and the ruling was 
affirmed a year later.

"Our decision is unanimous. Appeal dismissed against all 5 defendants," Federal 
Court judge Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin told the court in Putrajaya.

The Mexican foreign ministry has said it had "repeatedly expressed (to 
Malaysian authorities) Mexico's position against capital punishment".

The brothers are from Culiacan, capital of the northwestern state of Sinaloa, 
which is known as the bastion of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.

The defendants included Singaporean citizen Lim Hung Wang, 56, and Lee Boon 
Siah, 51, of Malaysia.

Lawyers for the Mexican brothers said they would seek a judicial review of the 
case by the Federal Court. Failing that, they may consider seeking a royal 
pardon from Malaysia's monarchy. Success in both cases is extremely rare.

(source: themalaysianinsider.com)








PAKISTAN----executions

Pakistan hangs 2 more death row convicts



Pakistan on Thursday sent 2 more death row convicts to the gallows, taking the 
number of executions in 3 days to 23, a report said.

The 2 convicts were executed in Sargodha and Sahiwal jails early on Thursday, 
IANS reported citing Geo News.

A total of 17 death row convicts were hanged by Pakistan on Tuesday, marking 
the highest number of executions in a single day since the moratorium on death 
penalty was lifted on March 10.

The moratorium was lifted in the wake of a Taliban massacre at an army-run 
school in Peshawar in which more than 140 people, mostly children, were killed.

The UN, the European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have 
called on Pakistan to re-impose the moratorium on the capital punishment.

(source: India Today)