[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 18



VIETNAM:

Vietnam court overturns death penalty for Nigerian drug mule


A court in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday reduced a death sentence previously 
handed to a Nigerian man for bringing methamphetamine into Vietnam to life 
imprisonment, local media report.

The indictment said Ejiogu Benjamin Ikechukwu had nearly 3.3 kilograms of the 
drug in metal tubes and a laptop charger in his luggage as he flew to Tan Son 
Nhat in June 2012.

He had transited in Qatar.

The 33-year-old said he only planned to go to Vietnam to buy clothes to resell 
them in Nigeria and had no idea about the drug in his luggage.

He said a man asked him to carry the tubes and the charger to Vietnam and 
someone would pick them up.

A Ho Chi Minh court in August 2013 sentenced him to death, but he appealed the 
verdict.

The People's Supreme Court then canceled the verdict, ordering a new 
investigation.

Investigators could not track down the people who had used him as a drug mule.

Those convicted of smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 
kilograms of methamphetamine in Vietnam face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal 
narcotics is also punishable by death.

(source: Thanh Nien News)






INDIA:

MHA recommends rejection of mercy pleas of 2 death row convicts


President Pranab Mukherjee has been reportedly recommended by the Ministry of 
Home Affairs to reject the petitions of 2 death row convicts.

The death sentence for the convicts, Mohan Anna Chavan and Jitendra Gehlot, 
currently lodged in Maharashtra jails, was upheld by the Supreme Court and 
their mercy petitions were rejected by the Maharashtra Governor.

Mohan Anna Chavan was awarded death sentence by the Bombay High Court in 2002 
for the rape and murder of two minor girls in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra 
and Supreme Court upheld it in 2008.

Jithendra Nayansingh Gehlot killed 7 persons (5 women and 2 children) in Pune, 
Maharashtra in 1994. Death penalty was awarded to him by a trial court and the 
same was upheld by Bombay High Court in 1999 and Supreme Court in 2000.

A senior ministry official was quoted as saying, "We have given our opinion to 
the President explaining our stand. The decision has been reached after going 
through all the relevant documents as well as the opinion given by the 
Maharashtra government on the subject."

Under Article 72 of the Constitution, the President can grant pardon, and 
suspend, remit or commute a sentence of death. The President is bound by the 
recommendation of the Council of Ministers in deciding the mercy petitions. 
President Mukherjee has rejected 22 mercy petitions so far and has commuted 
only 1 death sentence of Man Bahadur Dewan from Assam convicted for killing his 
wife, 2 sons and neighbor.

MHA data reportedly shows that Presidents, with the exceptions of Narayanan and 
Pratibha Patil, have dealt with mercy petitions largely without mercy. 
According to information released by the government under the RTI Act, of the 
77 mercy pleas decided by Presidents between 1991 and 2010, 69 were rejected. 
Only 8 - about 10% - of those who sought mercy were spared the gallows. R 
Venkataraman (1987-1992) rejected 44 mercy pleas, the most by any President.

(source: livelaw.in)

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

Yaqub Memon's 'strong role' paved way for 10 men in commutation of their death 
sentences


Every coin has 2 sides and visibly these sides will always remain completely 
contrasting to each other. Incidentally this standard applies to Yaqub Memon's 
'strong involvement' in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, upholding of his death 
sentence by Supreme Court and his subsequent hanging.

One side of his strong role played in the serial blasts is that he earned death 
penalty and was hanged in Nagpur prison on July 30 this year; the other 
contrasting side is that his same purported strong role helped other 10 men in 
the case who were also sentenced to death by TADA court in commutation of their 
sentences by Supreme Court.

The 1st side of Memon's strong role proved him a 'Terrorist' and became reason 
for his execution but the other side of his same role proved a pivotal 
criterion for Supreme Court to distinguish the quantity of punishment to the 
convicts and there by converting death sentence of remaining 10 into life 
imprisonment.

On March 12, 1993, the commercial hub of the country witnessed an unprecedented 
terrorist act sending shock waves throughout the world. In a span of about 2 
hours i.e., between 13:33 to 15:40 hours, a series of 12 bomb explosions took 
place one after the other at the following 12 places in Mumbai.

The investigation began and CBI arrested 123 accused including Yaqub Memon and 
tried them before a special TADA court in Mumbai.

On July 27, 2007 the TADA Court Judge P D Kode convicted 100 accused; 12 of 
them were sentenced death penalty. 1 of these 12 died in the prison before his 
appeal could be heard by Supreme Court.

The remaining 11 appealed before Supreme Court against their conviction by TADA 
court. These 11 were - Yaqub Memon, Kasam Ghansar, Asgar Yusuf Mukadam, Abdul 
Gani Ismail Turk , Parvez Nazir Ahmed Shaikh, Mohd. Farooq Mohammed Yusuf, 
Shahnawaz Abdul Kadar Qureshi, Zakir Hussain Noor Mohd. Shaikh, Abdul Khan @ 
Yakub Khan Akhtar, Firoz @ Akram Amani Malik and Mohammed Mushtaq Moosa Tarani.

All these had played active role in orchestrating blasts and the main charge 
due to which they were sentenced to death by TADA court was that all had 
planted bombs.

No one would have ever imagined that bomb planters of such a huge devastation 
would be shown leniency by the Supreme Court but it did so as it had to 
discriminate Yaqub Memon and other masterminds of the blasts from other 
convicts who merely acted without full knowledge of the conspiracy.

On March 21, 2013 Justice P Sathashivam and Justice B S Chauhan of Supreme 
Court found only Yaqub Memon as deserving to go to the gallows and commuted 
death penalty of 10 other into life imprisonment.

While providing reasoning in commuting death sentences of 10 convicts the 2 
judge bench said, "If we say it in a metaphoric style, Yaqub Memon and all the 
absconding accused were the archers whereas rest of the appellants were the 
arrows in their hands."

On the same line if one thinks of the case of 26/11 carnage where Ajmal Kasab 
was sentenced to death by Supreme Court one can imagine the gravity of crime 
committed by Kasab would have been lowered if his masters in Pakistan would 
have been tried along with him. He too was only one of the arrows but to see 
him as arrow detailed role of his archers was not before the Supreme Court.

Further, the reasoning of the Apex Court continued and it said, "They were the 
architects of the blasts, without whom the plan would have never seen the 
daylight", adding at another place, " ... it is not hyperbole to state that, 
Yaqub Memon was one of the 'driving spirit' behind the plan of the 1993 blasts, 
whereas the other appellants played a far lesser role and thus a lesser 
contribution to the crimes resulting from this plan."

One can easily make out from above reasoning of the Supreme Court that if it 
would not have been for Yaqub Memon's role in the mind of the Supreme Court, 
perhaps role of bomb planters would have appeared to the court as the chief 
reason for the deaths of scores of people in 1993 blasts, similar to what it 
perceived in Kasab's case.

Supreme Court judged Yaqub Memon and other absconding as the real conspirators 
and agreed that they were the men who hatched the plan and, "the other 10 
appellants were mere subservient subordinates whose knowledge and acquaintance 
might have been restricted to their counterparts".

Even if it was cautious in commuting their sentences, it specified clearly, 
"This may not help in complete exoneration of the liability of these 10 
appellants but the degree of punishment must necessarily reflect this 
difference. It is vital to remember that 'but for' the masterminds, this blast 
should have never seen the daylight."

After explaining interpretation minutely, Supreme Court declared," ...it can 
safely be concluded that no offence might have taken place at all but for the 
instigation by the absconding accused and Yaqub memon".

Accordingly, it proclaimed, "to differentiate the degree of punishment to Yaqub 
Memon and other 10 appellants, we contemplate that the ends of justice would be 
served if the death sentence of these 10 appellants be commuted to imprisonment 
for life".

There remains no doubt it was because of Yaqub Memon's strong role in the case 
which was before the eyes of Supreme Court that helped other 10 convicts to 
live even after hanging of him.

As said earlier, Yaqub Memon's involvement in the case and his joint trial with 
other accused proved life surviving, especially for the 10 who were in the same 
line of death penalty as that of him. If not publicly, but in private these 10 
men surely must have supplicated for Yaqub Memon "Rest In Peace ... RIP" when 
he was executed on the morning of July 30, 2015.

(source: twocircles.net)






BANGLADESH:

Man to die for killing wife


A court here yesterday sentenced a man to death for killing his wife in 
Kalmakanda upazila of the district in 2005.

The death penalty awardee is Bashar Ali, 55, son of late Shamsher Ali of 
Gobindapur village in the upazila.

According to the prosecution, Bashar Ali and his wife Halima Khatun locked in 
an altercation over a family feud on November 2, 2005.

At one stage, Bashar hit Halima with an axe, leaving her dead on the spot.

On the day, Moti Mia, son of the deceased, filed a case with Kalmakanda Police 
Station against his father.

Police submitted charge sheet against Bashar on December 31, 2005.

After examining 11 witnesses and all the records, Additional District and 
Sessions Judge Abdul Hamid handed down the verdict.

(source: The Daily Star)

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

State gets 2 weeks to submit Mir Kashem appeal summary


The top appeals court has given the state 2 weeks to submit the summary of its 
appeal in the case of death-row war crimes convict Mir Kashem Ali.

A 4-strong Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha 
set the deadline on Tuesday accepting an appeal from Attorney General Mahbubey 
Alam for more time.

Last year, on Nov 2, the International Crimes Tribunal found the 
Jamaat-e-Islami executive council member guilty of war crimes and sentenced him 
to death.

Mir Kashem appealed against the verdict on Nov 30 with a 150-page application 
and 1,750-pages of relevant documents. The appeal calls for his release and 
scrapping of the death penalty.

On May 28, the Appellate Division had set the deadline for submitting appeal 
summaries.

(source: bdnews24.com)



IRAN----executions

11 Inmates Hanged by Gallows


11 prisoners who were accused of drug-related and felony crimes executed in 
Bandar Abbas and Minab prisons.

The offenders who had been reportedly sentenced to the death penalty on the 
charge of posing 398 K.G drugs including more than 70 K.G Heroin, 200 K.G 
opium, 105 K.G Crack Cocaine (the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked), 
4 K.G Hashish (Marijuana), 19 K.G Morphine, hanged by gallows in the prisons of 
Bandar Abbas and Minab on 17 Aug 2015.

The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Bandar Abbass, Branch 2, had held its 
charges against 6 offenders, and the other 4 of the criminals had received 
their sentence as the death penalty by the Revolutionary Court of Minab County 
that the verdicts finally confirmed and validated by Iran's regime prosecutor, 
rights groups said.

The inmates were taken to isolation in Bandar Abbas prison to execution on 15 
Aug 2015.

The prisoners name who were hanged in Bandar Abbas prison are as follows;

1. Hussain Karimi, 25, from Bandar Abbas city, accused of drug-related crimes.

2. Siyamak Fadai, 24, from Ahwaz city, accused of drug-related crimes.

3. Zaher Omredin, 24, son of Abdul-Nazer, from Afghanistan, who is kept about 6 
years in prison.

4. Vazir Ahmad Omredin, 22, son of Abdul-Nazer from Afghanistan, who is kept 
about 6 years in prison.

5. Amir-Hussain Abdul-Khalegh, 22, son of Haj Mohammad Khan, who is kept about 
5 years in prison.

6. Mansour Mehdizadeh, 68, son of Ali Mohammad, from Miyaneh County, who is 
kept about 4 years in prison.

7. Gholam Fayezi, 28, from Tabriz city, who is kept about 4 years in prison.

HRANA also reported that Sa'adat Shah-Karam Zehi (Rigi), Eisa Omar Zehi, 
Shahnavazi and Jadgal were hanged in Minab prison.

(source: iranian.com)

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

10 prisoners hanged in Iran


Iran's fundamentalist regime hanged 10 prisoners, including at least 2 Afghan 
citizens, on Monday in the south of the country.

6 prisoners were hanged on Monday in Bandar Abbas Prison, southern Iran. They 
were identified as Siamak Fadaii, 24; Zaher Amroddin, 24 (an Afghan citizen); 
Vazirahmad Amroddin, 22 (Afghan); Amir-Hossein Abdol-Khaleq, 22; Mansour 
Mehdizadeh, 68; and Gholam Fayezi, 28.

Another four prisoners were hanged on Monday in Minab, 80 kilometers east of 
Bandar Abbas. They were identified as Saadat Shah Karam Zahi (Rigi), Issa Omar 
Zehi and two others identified only by their last names Shahnavazi and Jedgal.

They were accused of drug related charges.

Following the executions, Ms. Farideh Karimi, a member of the National Council 
of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and a human rights activist, on Tuesday said: "The 
fundamentalist regime in Iran is increasingly resorting to group executions to 
terrorize the population and prevent any popular protests demanding change. The 
international community should not tolerate such mass killings and should make 
its ties to Iran conditional upon an end to executions and torture."

A statement by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on August 5 said: "Iran has reportedly executed 
more than 600 individuals so far this year. Last year, at least 753 people were 
executed in the country."

(source: NCR-Iran)

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

Escalating rate of executions in Iran


Human rights violations are escalating in Iran and the regime is pursuing a 
"policy of death" despite a nuclear deal with the major world powers, Hamid 
Yazdan Panah, an Iranian-American attorney, writer and human rights activist, 
wrote on Monday in Reuters' The Great Debate.

"The nuclear deal between Iran, the United States and other major world players 
has garnered significant praise and fanfare. The agreement has been hailed as a 
victory for peace and a turning point for Iran. Some have even claimed that the 
agreement will usher in a new era of moderation and the development of Iranian 
civil society."

"The facts on the ground paint a very different picture, especially as they 
relate to human rights. Currently, the Iranian regime leads the world in per 
capita executions and it continues to escalate the rate of executions and mass 
repression."

"Since the election of President Hassan Rouhani in 2013, all talk of the 
opposition movement and human rights has been swept under the rug while human 
rights reports from inside the country confirm the true nature of this regime. 
Earlier this year a report by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Ahmad 
Shaheed noted that 'the overall situation has worsened' with respect to human 
rights."

"Just weeks after signing the 'historic' deal and more than 8 months after 
signing an interim agreement, Iran is in the midst of what Amnesty 
International has referred to as an 'unprecedented spike' in executions. 
Currently, Iran's new 'moderate' administration is on pace to hit a new 12-year 
high in executions. And Amnesty International has noted that while the regime 
officially claims that only 246 executions have taken place in 2015, this 
number is closer to 700 in reality."

"Said Boumedouha, Deputy Middle East Director at Amnesty International, has 
decried Iran's 'theatre of cruelty,' stating; 'Iran's staggering execution toll 
for the 1st half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the 
State carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass 
scale.'"

"Dissidents and human rights groups have noted that many executions in Iran 
occur with little or no due process. Trials that do take place are often deeply 
politicized and flawed, prisoners are often not allowed access to legal 
counsel, and denied the procedural remedies of appeal. Political prisoners who 
are sentenced to death usually see their fates sealed in court proceedings that 
occur in a matter of minutes."

"The mass killings not only take human lives, but they have also traumatized 
and terrorized a population. Public executions are commonplace in Iran and the 
horrific spectacle is a constant reminder to those who dare defy this regime."

"Those executed are often individuals who are marginalized in Iranian society. 
This includes undocumented migrants and refugees from neighboring Afghanistan, 
as well as ethnic and religious minorities who face disenfranchisement in Iran. 
In 2014, Iran hanged an Afghan juvenile, 17-year-old Jannat Mir for an alleged 
drug offense, despite the fact that he was a minor. Iran remains one of the 
only countries in the world to execute juvenile offenders."

"The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has given more than $15 million 
to Iran since 1998 in order to fight the 'war on drugs' and most of this money 
comes from European nations, despite their own opposition to the death penalty. 
Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team for the human rights NGO Reprieve 
has called for a change to this policy, stating, 'Even as Iran's execution rate 
skyrockets, European nations like France and Germany continue to fund brutal 
raids by the Iranian police which routinely send people to death row for 
non-violent offenses.'"

"Those who claim that a nuclear deal with Iran presents hope for human rights 
never identify a mechanism through which this supposed change will occur," he 
added.

(source: NCR-Iran)