[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 28



SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi Executed for Murder



Saudi Arabia beheaded a citizen on Tuesday after convicting him of murdering a 
compatriot, the interior ministry said.

Faris al-Qahtani was found guilty of shooting dead Hadi al-Yami and stealing 
his money and car, the ministry said in a statement carried by official Saudi 
Press Agency.

His execution in the southwestern province of Abha was the 69th in the kingdom 
so far this year.

That compares with 87 in the whole of 2014 in what Amnesty International has 
called a "macabre spike" in the kingdom's use of the death penalty.

The London-based human rights group ranked Saudi Arabia among the top 3 
executioners in the world last year.

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable 
by death under the kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law.

(source: Naharnet.com)








SOUTH KOREA:

South Korean ferry captain's sentence revised to life in prison for homicide 
---- Revised sentence follows November verdict of 36 years for captain of 
Sewol, which sank last year with the deaths of more than 300 people



A South Korean appeals court has handed down a toughened sentence of life in 
prison to the captain of the Sewol ferry which sank last year with the deaths 
of more than 300 people.

The revised sentence follows a November verdict by a district court that 
sentenced Lee Joon-seok to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning 
passengers in need. Victims??? relatives criticised that sentence at the time, 
saying it was too lenient. Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Lee.

Lee's sentence was increased on Tuesday because the Gwangju high court 
convicted him on homicide charges, according to court spokesman Jeon Ilho. In 
the November ruling Lee was acquitted of homicide.

The appellate court sentenced 14 other navigation crew members to 18 months to 
12 years in prison, Jeon said. In November they had received sentences of 5 to 
30 years in prison.

Jeon said both prosecutors and the crew members would have one week to appeal 
the verdicts.

Most of the victims were teenagers traveling to a southern island for a school 
trip. A total of 295 bodies have been retrieved but 9 others are missing.

Many student survivors have said they were repeatedly ordered over a 
loudspeaker to stay on the sinking ship and that they didn't remember there any 
evacuation orders made by crewmembers before they helped each other to flee the 
ship. Lee has said he issued an evacuation order.

A year after the April 2014 sinking, the South Korean government is still 
reeling from lingering public criticism of its handling of the incident, the 
country's deadliest maritime disaster in decades. Violence occurred during a 
Seoul rally led by relatives and their supporters earlier this month, leaving 
dozens of people injured.

Last week South Korea formally announced it would salvage the ship from the 
ocean floor off the country's south-west coast, in an operation estimated by 
experts to cost US$91m-137m and take 12 to 18 months.

Authorities blame excessive cargo, improper storage, botched negligence and 
other negligence for the sinking, and have arrested about 140 people. Critics 
say higher-level officials have not been made accountable.

(source: The Guardian)








HUNGARY:

Hungary's Orban Revives Debate on Death Penalty After Murder



Hungary should have a debate about the introduction of the death penalty, Prime 
Minister Viktor Orban said, echoing the radical nationalist Jobbik party whose 
popularity has surged at the expense of Orban's Fidesz.

Hungary should "keep the death penalty on the agenda" as life sentences and the 
introduction of a "3-strikes" rule are proving to be insufficient deterrents, 
Orban told a news conference on Tuesday. He was responding to a question about 
the April 22 murder of a tobacco shop saleswoman, which local media covered 
extensively.

Orban's embrace of a debate about capital punishment, which is illegal in the 
28-member European Union, is the latest move embracing some of Jobbik's agenda 
to arrest its momentum, according to analyst Attila Juhasz of Political 
Capital. The premier has also advocated the use of the military to control 
immigration and denounced what he described as attempts by the EU's executive 
in Brussels to "colonize" Hungary.

"These sorts of moves are counter-productive because they only legitimize 
Jobbik's agenda for the mainstream," Juhasz, a Budapest-based analyst at the 
research institute, said by phone. "Orban is latching on to an issue most 
Hungarians may support and hoping that this will boost his party's popularity."

Support for Orban's party has declined since it won its 2nd 2/3 parliamentary 
majority in 4 years and triumphed in municipal and European Parliament 
elections last year. Fidesz has slid in polls as the government battled 
corruption allegations, faced street protests against a spate of new taxes and 
endured criticism over an energy deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Jobbik Surge

Jobbik, which is trying to shed its neo-Nazi image among voters, has been the 
main beneficiary from Fidesz's weaker poll results. Jobbik won a by-election 
for a parliamentary seat on April 12, the party's 1st outright win in a 
constituency.

A day after, Gabor Vona, Jobbik's leader, said the result vindicated his 
attempt to move the party toward the mainstream. The shift, trying to distance 
the group from earlier anti-Semitic and anti-Roma remarks by its lawmakers, 
placed it on track to be the main challenger of Orban's Fidesz in 2018 
elections, according to Vona.

Orban, who's argued that he's the best bulwark against Jobbik gaining power, 
has chosen to integrate Jobbik's proposals in his rhetoric, including most 
recently by launching a "national consultation" to promote the government's 
campaign against economic migrants who "abuse" European asylum rules.

Since 2010, Jobbik proposals that became policy under Orban have included the 
nationalization of mandatory private pension funds, forcing losses on the 
banking industry to pay for the costs of foreign-currency lending and drawing 
the country closer to eastern governments such as Russia and Turkey. Orban also 
openly challenged the EU's embrace of liberal democracy.

"Soon the roles between Fidesz and Jobbik will be interchangeable," Juhasz 
said. "Jobbik is heading toward the center while Fidesz is going toward the 
fringe."

(source: Bloomberg News)



INDIA:

SC stays death for killer ST driver Santosh Mane



In a significant twist in the tale, a 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court of 
India last week put a stay on the execution of death penalty against State 
Transport driver Santosh Mane, who had mowed down 9 people and injured 37 
others near Swargate, in the morning of January 25, 2012.

The SC surprisingly allowed the Condonation of Delay (allowing the delay in 
filing the appeal), affidavit filed by Mane's lawyer, Dhananjay Mane, and 
allowed the appeal, claiming that since the driver was 'insane' his death 
sentence needed to be revoked.

In September last year, the Bombay High Court upheld the death punishment and 
the state was under the process to execute the punishment. With this stay now, 
the execution is postponed for an indefinite period.

Mane, through his lawyers Jaydeep Mane, Amol Chitale and advocate Dhananjay 
Mane, had filed the appeal before the bench of Chief Justice of India H L 
Dattu, Justice R K Agarwal and Justice Arun Mishra.

The bench has stated that till any further order, there should be no execution 
of death sentences, further asking the government to furnish details of the 
case and evidences. Time is also allowed for translation of documents in 
English, since most of the evidences of the case are written in Marathi. The 
next hearing is scheduled in May.

Speaking to Pune Mirror, advocate Dhananjay Mane said, "The bench of SC has 
considered the appeal plea, stating that the police and investigating agencies 
had issued wrong evidences against Mane and neglected to focus on vital medical 
evidences of Mane's psychiatric treatment. Besides this, the role of MSRTC 
authorities were also ignored while the hearing was on at both the Pune 
sessions court as well as Bombay HC."

Mane said the delay of completion of formalities was caused by 
"miscommunication while sourcing a certificate from Yerwada jail confirming his 
formal presence there for 3 years. The delay was caused despite filing the 
application well within the time frame".

This, said the advocate, has been conveyed to the SC bench, and extra time 
sought to translate voluminous documents from Marathi to English.

Regarding this development, an official from the district government pleader's 
office, said, on condition of anonymity, "The applicant has the responsibility 
to prove his innocence by describing the loopholes in the case. Subsequently, 
the state will submit its side since this was an exceptional case where the 
crime was so cruel, diabolical and revolting, that it shook the collective 
conscience of the society."

Janak Mane, Santosh Mane's older brother, refused to comment on this 
development, choosing to hold his words till the final judgment.

On that fateful day of January 2012, Mane was denied a change from night duty 
to day duty by his superiors at Maharashtra State Transport Corporation. 
Heckled, he hijacked the bus from the Swargate depot and drove wildly on the 
wrong side of the road and on one-way routes for 16 kms, killing and injuring 
many.

WHAT WAS SUBMITTED BEFORE SC

Advocate Mane said, "There is no doubt that Santosh Mane was insane and we are 
going to submit the same thing before the SC, as the prosecution has failed to 
prove that Santosh had any intention of going on a killing spree."

Quoting Section 84 (acts of a person of an unsound mind) of the IPC, the lawyer 
claimed that his client should get the benefit of insanity. Since he had no 
enmity with the deceased and others injured in the mishap, a case of murder 
cannot be established.

The bench of SC has considered the appeal plea, stating that the police and 
investigating agencies had issued wrong evidences against Mane and neglected to 
focus on vital medical evidences of his psychiatric treatment.

(source: punemirror.in)








PAKISTAN----execution

Pakistan reaches dubious milestone of 100 executions since lifting moratorium



Pakistan has today reached the mark of 100th execution since a moratorium on 
executions was lifted in December 2014, human rights group Amnesty 
International said in a statement on Tuesday.

Pakistan lifted the moratorium on 17 December 2014 in the wake of the Taliban 
attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, which claimed around 150 lives, most 
of them schoolchildren.

Munir Hussain, sentenced to death for murder, was hanged in Vehari district 
jail of Punjab early morning today. He was convicted of killing his nephew and 
niece over a property dispute back in Year 2000.

The moratorium, in force since 2008, was initially lifted only in terrorism 
cases. But the government extended the order in March, directing the provincial 
governments to proceed with hangings for all death row prisoners who have 
exhausted their appeals and clemency petitions.

The government of Pakistan believes that the lifting of ban on executions will 
help the country in its counter terrorism drive against militants of various 
hues including the Taliban insurgency in the South Asian country.

Pakistan has suffered the brunt of terrorism attacks and militancy in various 
parts of the country resulting in thousand civilian and military deaths in the 
country.

The country's military has launched an offensive against militants in North 
Waziristan tribal region and Khyber Agency, which deemed as the bastions of 
militancy in Pakistan.

Amnestry International campaigning against executions in the world has 
criticized the rapidly soaring number of executions in Pakistan.

".... reaching the mark of 100 executions in just over 4 months, the Pakistani 
authorities are showing total disregard for human life. Our concerns are 
heightened by manifestly unfair trials in many cases that fall well below 
minimum standards set by international law. This conveyor belt of killing will 
do nothing to address the root causes of crime and terrorism, and must end 
immediately," said David Griffiths, Amnesty International's Deputy Asia Pacific 
Director.

"Executions in Pakistan have picked up pace alarmingly in recent weeks, and are 
now an almost daily occurrence. If the government does not immediately 
re-impose a moratorium on executions, there is no telling how many more lives 
will be lost this year," the statement said.

"Serious crimes like murder and acts of terrorism are utterly reprehensible but 
killing people in the name of justice is not a particular deterrent. Those who 
carry out crimes must be prosecuted in fair trials, but without resort to the 
death penalty," the rights group demanded.

Amongst thousands at risk is Shafqat Hussain, whose lawyers say he was a 
juvenile at the time of his trial during which evidence obtained as a result of 
torture was used against him.

In the world today, 140 countries have abolished executions in law or practice.

Amnesty International is campaigning to abolish the death penalty throughout 
the world.

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

Pakistan executes death row convict in Punjab



A convicted prisoner on death row has been hanged to death in Vehari district 
of Punjab early Tuesday morning, ARY News reported.

Muneer Hussain, a death row convict was executed in Vehari District Jail. He 
was convicted of killing his nephew and niece over a property dispute back in 
2000.

Pakistan lifted the moratorium on death penalty on Dec. 17, a day after 
Pakistani Taliban gunmen attacked Army Public School in Peshawar and killed 134 
students and 19 adults.

The moratorium, in force since 2008, was initially lifted only in terrorism 
cases. But the government extended the order in March, directing provincial 
governments to proceed with hangings for all death row prisoners who have 
exhausted their appeals and clemency petitions.

(source for both: arynews.tv)








VIETNAM:

Vietnam might let rich convicts buy their way off death row



Here's some good news for death row inmates in Vietnam. Give back half of your 
ill-gotten gains and the government might not kill you.

Vietnam's communist party is fairly unabashed about its steely treatment of 
those convicted of crimes. Even non-violent offenders - from heroin traffickers 
to corrupt bankers - have found themselves tied to a post in front of a firing 
squad.

But soon there might be a way out - at least for the rich. If a proposed law 
passes, convicts could reduce their death sentences to life imprisonment if 
they give back "half the money or property they gained from their offenses," 
according to Vietnam's Thanh Nien newspaper.

This isn't a done deal. So far, it???s just a proposal within Vietnam's 
powerful National Assembly, which is looking at ways to "express the Vietnamese 
government's humanity."

Some judges and lawyers, however are already resisting the idea. According to 
Transparency International, Vietnam is somewhere between Russia and Mexico on 
the corruption scale - which means it's an entrenched and debilitating problem.

Some warn of a twisted scenario where hyper-corrupt officials, having robbed 
taxpayers, could then use that same cash to evade the ultimate penalty. As one 
lawyer told the outlet Tuoi Tre, it's using "money in exchange for life ... 
many death row inmates have a lot of cash and they will try to duck the death 
penalty at any cost."

In recent years, Vietnam has seen high-profile trials in which corrupt bankers 
are sentenced to death. This can be interpreted as a not-so-subtle message to 
citizens: we know you're fed up with corruption and this is what we're doing 
about it.

But will giving them an out, one that is potentially lucrative for the 
government, sit well with a Vietnamese public that is already weary of seeing 
wealthy elites behave with impunity?

(source: Global Post)