[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 27



EGYPT:

Ibrahim Halawa's trial adjourned for a 6th time----Dublin teenager, Ibrahim 
Halawa, has had his trial adjourned for the sixth time after appearing in court 
In Cairo on Sunday; Ibrahim Halawa faces the death penalty if convicted.



The 19-year-old has been in an Egyptian prison since August 2013, when he was 
arrested along with hundreds of others at a protest at the Al-Fath mosque in 
Cairo.

Human rights activists expressed concern at the ongoing detention of the 
teenager, saying that the Dublin native is nothing more than a "prisoner of 
conscience".

Following a hearing in Cairo on Sunday, the trial was further adjourned until 6 
June. An application for bail was also refused.

This is a 6th time Mr Halawa has come before the courts, as his case was either 
postponed or adjourned on previous occasions. He faces the death penalty if 
convicted.

Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International has again called for 
the "immediate and inconditional" release of the teenager.

"Today marks Ibrahim's 616th day in an Egyptian prison on cut and paste charges 
despite the fact that there is no evidence connecting him to any crime. Amnesty 
International observers were on the ground during the violence that forced 
Ibrahim and his sisters to seek refuge in the back of the Al Fath mosque.

"We know that it is simply not possible for them to have committed many of the 
crimes that they have been charged with. We have also examined the case file. 
There is absolutely no evidence linking Ibrahim to any of these crimes. He 
faces 'cut and paste' charges, in a mass trial process that meets none of the 
standards of a fair trial," he said.

Minister Flanagan also expressed his disappointment that Ibrahim Halawa's 
application for bail, an application supported by the Irish government, has 
been refused along with all the other bail applications in the case.

"Our objectives in this case remain clear - to see this young Irish citizen 
released by the Egyptian authorities, and to provide consular support while he 
remains in detention.

"With the Taoiseach's full support, I remain committed to taking all 
appropriate action in pursuit of our 2 objectives towards achieving a positive 
outcome for this young Irishman and his family.

"While this is a case before the court in another jurisdiction to which foreign 
law applies, we keep all developments in this case, and our own approach to it, 
under constant review. We will continue to engage actively with the Egyptian 
authorities at the highest level to highlight our concerns, and to work in the 
best interests of this Irish citizen," he said.

(source: utv-ie)








PAKISTAN:

Pakistan Has Hanged 82 People, But Does This Include Any Terrorists?



82 hangings have taken place in Pakistan in the last 4 months, including 17 on 
the night of April 21, and earlier, a dozen on March 17. 2 hangings took place 
on April 22.

Although fighting militancy is the reason why capital punishment has been 
resumed since December 17, 2014, most of those hanged were convicted for 
domestic crimes such as murder and rape.

Pakistan has ignored an urgent appeal made last month by the United Nations. 
The European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on 
Pakistan to re-impose its moratorium on the death penalty.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on hanging after 6 years on 
December 17, a day after Pakistani Taliban gunmen attacked the Army Public 
School in Peshawar and killed 134 students and 19 adults.

The government, keen to be seen as strong after the school massacre, has 
resorted to carrying out hangings of those convicted of 'lesser' crimes, thus 
pandering to populist demands based on emotion and fear. Unsurprisingly, the 
executions are being welcomed by the public.

Initially, the government said only militants would be executed. But by 
mid-March, it emerged that officials had quietly widened the policy for all 
prisoners on death row whose appeals had been rejected. The hangings carried 
out are those of people convicted for crimes other than terrorism.

Militancy/terrorism has only been a ruse, critics and human rights bodies have 
noted. Actually, Mumtaz Qadri's conviction by an anti-terror court for killing 
former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was upheld by the high court, but he was 
cleared of the charge of being a terrorist.

In effect, he would remain on death row; but with the terrorism charge dropped, 
can appeal to the Supreme Court, to the president for mercy. He may not be 
hanged.

There are an estimated 8,000 Pakistanis on death row. The federal government 
has asked the provincial governments to update their data.

"The UN is concerned at the government's recent announcement that it has now 
withdrawn its moratorium on the death penalty for all cases, not only those 
related to terrorism," the world body said in a statement.

Urging the government to re-impose the moratorium on hanging, the UN expressed 
concern at the hanging spree and took note of the fact that those who were 
minors, below 18, at the time of their alleged crime, were being hanged.

One of those hanged included Mohammed Afzal who, according to Amnesty 
International, was only 16 when convicted. A vast majority of those in prison, 
whether under sentence of death or not, are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The hanging of Shafqat Hussain was stayed by the court after his mother, Makhni 
Begum, appealed to the president. He was 15 when he was convicted in 2004 for 
the kidnapping and murder of a 7-year-old boy in an apartment building of 
Karachi where he worked as a security guard.

Pakistan was 1 of only 8 countries in the world (China, Democratic Republic of 
Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United States and Yemen), that 
since 1990 executed prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of 
committing a crime. Pakistan along with the US and Yemen has since raised the 
minimum age to 18 in law to be eligible for execution.

Dawn newspaper said in an editorial: "It seems, the bloodlust of the terrorist 
has met its match in the bloodlust of a wounded nation.

"No one with a modicum of awareness can deny that the criminal justice system 
in Pakistan is deeply flawed, and hence profoundly weighted against the poor 
and marginalised segments of society.

"From the filing of an FIR, the investigation of a crime, the trial and appeals 
process, to the conditions of incarceration - the outcome of every step is 
often directly co-related to the financial and/or political clout of the 
parties involved. While one result of this broken justice machinery is that 
some crimes go unpunished, the other side of the coin is that many accused do 
not get a fair trial.

"Their defence is often in the hands of state-appointed counsel, who are 
overburdened, underpaid and usually not the brightest stars in the legal 
fraternity," the newspaper said.

Human rights groups say convictions in Pakistan are highly unreliable because 
its antiquated criminal justice system barely functions, torture is common and 
police are mostly untrained.

Convicts with no connection with terrorism are being hanged even as militant 
groups defy the state and target the religious minorities and smaller Muslim 
groups.

Citing Qadri's case, Najam Sethi writes in his editorial in The Friday Times: 
"The definition of a 'terrorist' in the Anti-Terrorist Act is focused squarely 
on 'religious' cause and effect: 'Terrorism means the use or threat of action 
where the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a religious, 
sectarian or ethnic case ... involves serious violence against ... a public 
servant."

(source: Eurasiareviews.com)








IRAN:

115 executions in 2 weeks



The murderous mullahs fascism has sharply increased executions to delay its 
fall

Following the wave of executions in different cities in Iran, the anti-human 
clerical regime sent another 30 prisoners to the gallows from April 22 to April 
26. 9 prisoners were collectively hanged on April 22 in Vakil Abad prison in 
Shiraz. On April 23, 16 other prisoners in Bandar Abbas, Kerman and Jiroft were 
executed. On April 25 and 26, 3 prisoners in Rasht prison and 2 other prisoners 
were executed in the cities of Zanjan and Abhar.

As such, the number of executions over 2 weeks, April 13 to April 26, reaches 
115. The real number of those executed is much more than this. According to 
some reports in recent weeks, a large number of prisoners have been executed 
secretly in Arak.

Criminals ruling Iran, surrounded by growing political, social and economic 
crises, and worried about the consequences of the nuclear negotiations, have 
resorted to execution, torture and killing of the Iranian people more than any 
other time in order to create an atmosphere of fear and repression and to 
prevent the spread of social protests by abusing the silence and inaction of 
the international community against the brutal and systematic violation of 
human rights in Iran.

(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)








ASIA:

ASEAN governments urged to abolish death penalty



Civil society organisations from ASEAN countries are urging the grouping's 
governments to impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty 
with a view of completely abolishing the form of penalty, said civil society 
groups at the ASEAN People's Forum in a statement issued last Friday, 24 April.

The "Death Penalty In Southeast Asia: Towards A Regional Abolition" workshop, 
held in conjunction with the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ ASEAN People's 
Forum (ACSC/ APF) 2015 in Kuala Lumpur this week, saw anti-death penalty 
advocates in the region calling for a cease in using the death penalty. The 
workshop was jointly organised by FORUM-ASIA, Amnesty International Malaysia, 
KontraS, Think Centre, and Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN).

The workshop also allowed anti-death penalty advocates in ASEAN countries to 
exchange knowledge and best practices to move forward possible policy dialogues 
member states.

Mr Ted Tan, executive secretary of Singapore's human rights group Think Centre, 
gave an overview of the use of the death penalty in Singapore, and said that 
the latest statistics recorded 21 executions since 2007.

He shared that the moratorium on executions (2011-2014) did not occur because 
of Singapore undergoing the United Nation's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 
2011, but more likely due to the negotiations with the European Union over a 
free trade agreement. Indeed, there were 4 executions in 2011, prior to the UPR 
session.

"We can expect executions to still continue in Singapore, since the government 
tightened the definition of capital punishment's usage and the amended laws 
were enacted in 2013," he said. "Additionally the negotiations on the FTA were 
mostly completed by then. So to the Singapore administration's mind, it was 
probably business as usual."

He concluded that the death penalty is now likely to be imposed on cases of 
heinous crimes like murder, and the number of executions for convicted drug 
traffickers should be smaller in the future.

"At the ASEAN level, a strict application of the non-interference principle, 
which emphasises on the respect for state sovereignty, in the context of the 
death penalty is no longer relevant as the death penalty is an issue of all 
countries," said Rafendi Djamin, the Representative of Indonesia to the ASEAN 
Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

He noted that a regional trend towards a moratorium had begun. Singapore had 
taken a step towards a moratorium and Malaysia had expressed intentions to 
consider it. He added that the AICHR would continue its thematic study of the 
right to life which will be accompanied by awareness-raising activities within 
ASEAN countries, including organising a workshop with the judiciary in ASEAN.

Within Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Viet Nam 
are retentionist countries that actively use the death penalty. Philippines and 
Cambodia abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2006 and 1989, 
respectively, while Brunei, Laos, and Myanmar have had de facto moratoriums on 
the death penalty for decades.

In closing, Atnike Nova Sigiro, ASEAN Programme Manager of FORUM-ASIA, 
emphasised "the importance of institutional and legal reform as well as a 
change of culture and values that encourage retaliation and vengeance, for 
which regional solidarity is indispensable".

"The ASEAN People's Forum is one important venue to bring solidarity in 
abolishing death penalty in this region," she added. "Now in Indonesia, a 
Philippines citizen, Mary Jane Veloso is one among the list of persons to be 
executed soon. The conference calls for solidarity from the people of ASEAN to 
call on the government of Indonesia to stop the execution of Mary Jane and also 
for other inmates on the list" Atnike concluded.

Death penalty in other countries

The Deputy Secretary of Policy, Law and Complaints of SUHAKAM, Nurul Hasanah 
Ahamed Hassain Malim, said that the belief of some government officials that 
death penalty is a deterrent to crime and that abolishing the death penalty 
would be going against Syariah law are the 2 main challenges to abolishing the 
death penalty in Malaysia. A positive development, she added, was that the 
Attorney-General's Chambers was conducting a study on the use of the mandatory 
death penalty for drugs.

On abolition, the Philippines' Human Rights Information Centre's Executive 
Director, Dr Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan, said that a crucial strategy which led 
the Philippines to abolish the death penalty - making it the 1st country in 
Asia to do so - was active mobilisation of stakeholders. This, she said 
included civil society organisations, the Catholic church, members of the 
diplomatic community including the European Union, anti-death penalty champions 
in the Philippine Congress, families of death row inmates and victims' families 
against the death penalty.

"Another key strategy that resulted in abolition was comprehensive research on 
crime statistics and the history of the death penalty's use that made up a 
legislative kit used during debates in Congress," she said. "Public awareness 
and education campaigns as well as case studies of women on death row were 
among other effective strategies which led to abolition", she added.

The workshop's speakers presented various practices and trends in the region's 
use of the death penalty and discussed the possibility of bringing the agenda 
of abolishing death penalty to the ASEAN level, especially via the AICHR as the 
body with the mandate to promote and protect human rights in the ASEAN region.

Puri Kencana Putri of the Commission for the Disappearances and Victims of 
Violence (KontraS) briefed the workshop participants of its 6-month 
fact-finding mission on recent executions in Indonesia, where serious loopholes 
were found with how the death sentence was meted out. "Elements of torture, 
mistaken identity, and delay in deaths for up to 15 minutes during an execution 
were recorded," she said.

Puri noted Indonesia's strong policy on how the government interprets "most 
serious crimes", where the definition encompasses drug trafficking, adding that 
"anti-death penalty activists cannot rely on rhetoric to win the battle against 
the death penalty in Indonesia." The way forward, she said, should include an 
evaluation of anti-drug agencies in relation to their donors, as well as an 
increase in public education programmes. "6 individuals were executed within 
his first 100 days in office. Another 10 individuals currently housed in the 
Nusa Kambangan Island prison are expected to be executed in the near future. If 
plans move forward with the next round of executions, which include French 
nationals, there would be a bigger hit back to the Jokowi policy."

(source: The Online Citizen)



PHILIPPINES:

Aside from Mary Jane Veloso, 77 other Pinoys facing death penalty abroad



Aside from Mary Jane Veloso, the 30-year-old Filipina facing execution in 
Indonesia for drug smuggling, over 70 other Filipinos are on death row in other 
countries for various crimes, most of them involving illegal drugs.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), there are 77 Filipinos on 
death row abroad, most of them in Saudi Arabia.

In a text message to GMA News Online, DFA spokesperson Charles Jose enumerated 
the Filipinos facing executions abroad as follows:

Saudi Arabia: 27 (26 for murder and 1 for drugs)

Malasyia: 24 (18 for drugs, 4 for murder, and 2 for murder with rape)

China: 19 (all for drugs)

USA: 2 (both for murder)

Vietnam: 2 (both for drugs)

Kuwait: 1 (for murder)

Indonesia: 1 (for drugs)

Thailand: 1 (for murder, rape, and theft)

Executed Pinoys

Since 2010, 7 Filipinos were executed, most of them in China.

In 2011, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, Ramon Credo, Elizabeth Batain were 
executed by lethal injection in China for drug smuggling. Ordinario-Villanueva 
and Credo were executed in Xiamen, while Batain was executed in Shenzhen.

In the same year, a 35-year-old unnamed Filipino male was also executed China, 
specifically in Liuzhou County, Guangzi, also for drug trafficking.

In 2013, a 35-year-old Filipina who was convicted in China for carrying 6 kilos 
of heroin in January 2011 was executed.

The following year, Carlito Lana was executed in Saudi Arabia for killing his 
Saudi employer in 2010. He was beheaded.

Earlier this year, Joven Esteva, 39, convicted for killing his employer and 
injuring his employer's son in 2007, was executed in Saudi Arabia.

(source: GMA News)