[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 17



ANTIGUA & BARBUDA:

EU official calls for A&B to repeal death penalty law


The European Union is again urging Antigua & Barbuda to remove the death 
penalty from its books.

Deputy Head of the EU mission for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Silvia 
Kofler said it's not good enough for governments to say that no one is being 
hanged even though the law allows it. She said the legislation should be 
repealed.

"We know the death penalty is not practiced for more than 10 years but to still 
have it on the law books is not what we think should be done. We think it 
should be eliminated," Kofler said.

The EU official said only Barbados has made some progress in doing away with 
the death penalty.

"Whenever I meet with the authorities I do raise the issue. It is not a plight, 
it is not the most pressing issue. I'd raise it, I remind people that we would 
like to see it coming off," she added.

In 2013, following the murder of Susan Powell in Heritage Quay, the then 
National Security Minister Dr Errol Cort said Antigua & Barbuda would enforce 
the death penalty after a 22-year lull.

The minister said the death penalty was still on the books and promised that 
all the necessary legal processes will be utilised to ensure it is enforced.

The diplomat says that unfortunately Caribbean governments don't see removing 
the death penalty as a priority.

"They say there are so many other pressing issues they have to deal with, they 
say if they have to abolish it they would have to explain it to the public and 
in country where you perhaps have crime increasing, then they think it is a 
very difficult undertaking,"Kofler said.

(source: antiguaobserver.com)






GUYANA:

Abolishing the death penalty should go to referendum


Dear Editor,

On an almost daily basis we are treated to reports of very violent crimes being 
committed in our country. Along with these heinous acts of criminality, there 
are also the very frequent reports of suicides and road-traffic related deaths. 
It leads one to wonder exactly how much value do Guyanese put on this most 
precious thing we call life.

But what about our sentencing policies? You may have a judge who hands down 
some lengthy sentences for heinous crimes, and while it is nice to have people 
like that around, as a poor nation, can we really afford to maintain vicious 
killers in jail for such lengthy periods - 40+ years? Even at a modest daily 
maintenance rate of $2,500 per prisoner (all related expenses considered) it 
would cost almost a million dollars a year to keep a prisoner behind bars. What 
is the trade-off with society in these cases; how does a poor society actually 
benefit?

The ordinary man will conclude that to spend $40 million at today's rates on a 
single prisoner for the remainder of his life in jail, is a complete loss to 
society. Why not go the other route? Even though our legal system provides for 
the imposition of the death penalty, and there is nothing preventing its 
imposition in such cases, no death sentence has been carried out for years.

A recent local report states that Guyana is set to join global efforts to 
abolish the death penalty (Guyana Times, November 24). Fine, you cannot pretend 
to be civilized yet have barbaric state-sanctioned tendencies at the same time, 
but what was the level of public consultation which elicited the kinds of 
responses that advised such a move?

Are the issues of crime, criminality and applicable punishment not 
significantly serious enough to warrant widespread public discourse, before 
such decisions are taken? The outcome of broad-based and participatory public 
consultations is likely to be very different from consultations had among just 
a few social organizations which often seem to be built around elitists in our 
society. At the same time, let us not so willingly bow to external public 
pressure and quickly acquiesce without fully ventilating the issue; after all 
it is one of utmost public concern.

The retention of the death-penalty has long been a contentious issue. So have 
been the independence, objectivity and effectiveness of our security, 
intelligence and judicial systems. As a truly democratic country, I suggest we 
put the issue of retaining the death penalty to a public test. The families 
that have had to deal with loss of loved ones have as much a stake in this 
issue as the ones championing human rights ideals. We will soon have a good 
opportunity to let John and Jane Public give their consent to the direction in 
which we want to go.

I humbly suggest that we include a referendum on the retention of the death 
penalty when we go to the polls for local government elections in March 2016.

Yours faithfully,

Khemraj Tulsie

(source: Letter to the Editor, Stabroek News)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Literary Group Asks Obama to Intercede for Condemned Writers in Saudi Arabia


A petition from dozens of authors was sent to President Obama on Wednesday 
asking him to press Saudi Arabia to pardon a prominent poet condemned to 
beheading and a blogger punished with prison and flogging.

The petition, organized by the PEN American Center, a group that promotes free 
expression, threw a spotlight on what critics call the Obama administration's 
reluctance to antagonize the religiously strict Saudi kingdom, a partner in the 
conflict in Syria and the broader struggle to combat violent Islamic extremism.

The administration has not overtly challenged the Saudis on a number of 
policies and judicial practices that are generally regarded as oppressive, like 
systematic discrimination against women, severe curbs on free expression and 
punishments that include decapitation.

In an image provided by Saudi Arabia's official news agency, Defense Minister 
Mohammed bin Salman stood next to Pakistan's flag as he announced a new 
military alliance late Monday.

"The United States has been hesitant to call out the Saudis on human rights 
issues," Suzanne Nossel, executive director of the PEN American Center, said in 
a telephone interview about the petition. "You can see all the reasons for 
hesitation," she said, but they are outweighed by "the gravity of these 2 
cases."

There was no immediate reaction from the White House to the petition, which Ms. 
Nossel said had been emailed.

Signers included more than 60 prominent artists in the literary world, 
including Michael Chabon, Ha Jin, Jessica Hagedorn, Paul Muldoon, Zia Haider 
Rahman and Elissa Schappell.

The petition concerns the fate of Ashraf Fayadh, 35, a Palestinian poet who has 
always lived in Saudi Arabia, and Raif Badawi, 31, a Saudi writer and activist 
who managed an online forum called Free Saudi Liberals.

Mr. Fayadh was sentenced on Nov. 17 to death by beheading for apostasy, based 
on poems he published years earlier that the Saudi authorities deemed atheistic 
and blasphemous.

Mr. Badawi was arrested three years ago and convicted of insulting Islam and 
promoting unacceptable thoughts electronically. He was sentenced to 10 years in 
prison and 1,000 lashes to be delivered in 50-lash installments, but that part 
of the punishment was suspended in January after the first lashing, which 
provoked an international outcry and, according to his wife, Ensaf Haidar, 
nearly killed him.

Ms. Haidar, who now lives in Canada with their three children, has said Mr. 
Badawi was recently moved to an isolated prison intended for convicted felons 
whose appeal remedies have been exhausted. The PEN petition called the 
relocation "a troubling sign that any hope he would be pardoned has been 
dashed."

The petition coincided with a ceremony honoring Mr. Badawi by the European 
Parliament in Strasbourg, France, which bestowed on him its Sakharov human 
rights prize this year. Ms. Haidar accepted the award there on his behalf.

Saudi Arabia has faced a torrent of increasingly negative outside publicity 
over its heavy use of the death penalty and its harsh treatment of advocates of 
a more open and tolerant society. The 2 cases cited by the PEN petition are 
regarded by advocates as especially egregious.

The petition said the severity of the sentences against Mr. Fayadh and Mr. 
Badawi, "rendered for crimes that are not crimes, cannot go unremarked upon any 
longer by the president of the United States."

It asked Mr. Obama to urge King Salman, the Saudi ruler, to "grant them 
unconditional and immediate release."

(source: New York Times)

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

Family of teenage Saudi protester sentenced to death appeal for his life ---- 
Abdullah al-Zaher, who was arrested when he was 15, faces beheading and 
crucifixion for participating in protest rally


The family of a teenage protester who faces beheading in Saudi Arabia have come 
forward in public for the 1st time to plead for his life.

The father of Abdullah al-Zaher, 19, called on the world to help before it is 
too late and his son is executed in the kingdom along with a reported 51 other 
people.

"Please help me save my son from the imminent threat of death. He doesn't 
deserve to die just because he participated in a protest rally," Hassan 
al-Zaher told the Guardian.

Arrested in March 2012, just shy of his 16th birthday, after participating in 
protests in Saudi Arabia's eastern Shia-dominated province, Zaher was charged 
with "harbouring" protesters, participating in demonstrations and chanting 
slogans, setting fire to a car and throwing Molotov cocktails.

His family and the death penalty campaign group Reprieve allege that Zaher was 
tortured, saying that after his arrest Saudi security forces beat him with wire 
iron rods, forced a confession from him and did not allow him to speak to his 
family or a lawyer.

"He was forced to sign a paper that the police fabricated and that he was not 
able to read under a threat of corporal punishment. He told me that he did not 
throw Molotov [cocktails] or anything similar," his father told the Guardian.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world's heaviest users of the death sentence. 
According to Amnesty International, it executed 102 people in the first 6 
months of this year - more than in all of 2014.

In late November a flurry of Arabic-language media reports said 52 prisoners 
would be executed across 9 different cities in a single day. The prisoners have 
been described as members of al-Qaida whose aim was to overthrow the ruling 
elite.

Zaher was sentenced to death in October last year by the secretive specialised 
criminal court in Riyadh. As with other juveniles tried at the same time, the 
government prosecutor asked for Zaher to be crucified after his beheading.

Judges are understood to have reserved that punishment for 1 other youth 
protester, Ali al Nimr, as well as his uncle, Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, a 
prominent Shia cleric in the oil rich Kingdom.

Reprieve said Zaher was the youngest person at the time of their arrest that 
they were aware of in Saudi Arabia who had been given a death sentence. Zaher, 
Nimr and a 3rd minor at the time of his arrest, Dawood al-Marhoon are all 
currently being held in isolation following failed appeals, the group said.

Zaher's and his fellow juveniles' cases represent an ever-growing list of those 
being corporally punished for mainly non-violent offences. They include the 
blogger Raif Badawi, who is expected to receive hundreds of lashings for 
criticising the government and the Palestinian poet, Ashraf Fayadh, who was 
convicted of "apostasy" and sentenced to death.

Reprieve said the plans for the mass execution were "alarming ... and should 
prompt revulsion and condemnation from Saudi Arabia's allies".

Hassan al-Zaher, who works in a pipe manufacturing factory, said he last saw 
his son 3 months ago during a 10-minute visit.

He told the Guardian that their son was arrested on his way home after his 
mother, Fatima Gazwi, sent him out to go to the shops. On the street Zaher was 
identified as a protester and when the police asked him to stop he fled in 
fear, stopping when they fired a warning shot, the family said. The parents 
then allege that Zaher was beaten and his face was bloodied after being hit 
with a rifle butt.

Visiting him in jail, they also saw other signs of physical punishment during 
detention "on his face and body".

His father said the family was coming forward now because they felt that as a 
minority religious group seeking equal treatment in the kingdom, they had no 
other option.

"He was only 15 years old, still a minor, so we expected a lesser punishment if 
he was proven guilty."

"[So] the decision of the court was as difficult for us to accept as to appeal, 
as we, as Shias in this Sunni dominated country, have only very little voice.

"This is why we feel compelled to exert all efforts and avenues that may save 
the life of my son."

Hassan al-Zaher described his son as popular and peaceful adding that he attend 
the protests knowing little of what they were about.

"He loved to ride my horses and wanted to become a medical assistant or nurse 
someday."

"My son ... did not fully understand what the people are protesting for. He 
just went there after being invited by a friend. He did not go there with the 
intention of fighting or opposing the government, in his eyes it was just a 
simple protest rally."

Saudi Arabia's corporal punishments have recently strained relations with the 
UK. Following concerns from opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn over Ali al-Nimr's 
situation, the government pulled out of bidding for a prison training contract 
worth 5.9m pounds.

On 20 October the UK foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, told the Commons: "I do 
not expect Mr Al-Nimr to be executed."

"Our judgment is that we achieve most by speaking privately and regularly to 
our Saudi interlocutors," he said.

Last week, sources at the Foreign Office told the Guardian that Hammond still 
stood behind his Commons statement adding that the UK ambassador in Riyadh 
continued to raise the issue at regular intervals.

Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: "Abdullah al-Zaher 
has been through a horrifying ordeal."

"It is utterly disgraceful that the Saudi authorities are now threatening to 
carry out his beheading imminently, along with the killing of other juveniles 
like Ali al-Nimr. Those governments who are among the closest Saudi allies - 
notably the UK and the US - must step in without delay and urge the Saudi 
authorities to change course."

The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment. The Saudi 
ambassador to the UK, Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, said in October that 
kingdom's justice system was based on sharia law, implemented by an independent 
judiciary and "just as we respect the local traditions, customs, laws and 
religion of Britain, we expect Britain to grant us this same respect".

(source: Ther Guardian)






PAKISTAN:

HRW urges Pak to restore death penalty moratorium


Pakistan's government should immediately halt executions, reinstate the 
moratorium on the death penalty, and move toward abolition, Human Rights Watch 
said today in a joint letter with Amnesty International to Prime Minister Nawaz 
Sharif.

In the year since the country's 6-year moratorium on executions was lifted, 
Pakistan has carried out more than 300 executions. Those executed include child 
offenders, defendants who received blatantly unfair trials, and, most recently, 
individuals tried in secret by military courts with no civilian oversight.

"Over the past year with the moratorium lifted, the Pakistani government has 
sent hundreds to the gallows with cruel disregard for the rights of those put 
to death," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"The government urgently needs to find a better way to address militancy and 
common crime since the death penalty has long shown to be ineffective in 
tackling these challenges," he added.

On December 17, 2014, Sharif rescinded an unofficial moratorium on capital 
punishment following a militant attack on a school in Peshawar the previous day 
that killed at least 149 people, including 132 children. The authorities should 
bring the perpetrators of this horrific attack to justice in fair trials, but 
without resorting to the death penalty.

Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an 
inherently cruel punishment.

(source: Human Rights Watch)

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

3 convicts executed


2 convicts were hanged at Faisalabad Central Jail and 1 was hanged at the Dera 
Ghazi Khan Central Jail on Wednesday. The execution of a convict scheduled to 
be hanged in Dera Ghazi Khan on Wednesday was put off on orders of Lahore High 
Court.

A Prisons Department spokesperson said Muhammad Ishaq alias Saqi, son of Asghar 
Ali, a resident of Mohallah Bagh Jhang, and Liaqat Hussain, son of Ashiq 
Hussain Ansari, a resident of Sultan Noonwali Basti in Jhang, were hanged on 
Wednesday at the Faisalabad Central Jail. They were accused of killing 2 rivals 
on June 15, 1992, to avenge an old enmity. Kotwali police had registered a case 
against them.

Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Shafiq Ahamd Butt had sentenced them to death on 
August 7, 1994. The apex courts had upheld the lower court's decision and the 
president had turned down their mercy petitions. The court had then issued 
death warrants for Ishaq and Ansari.

They were allowed to meet their families for the last time on Tuesday. Tight 
security arrangements were made and the relatives were requested to stay calm. 
The suspects asked their families to forgive them. The men were executed on 
Wednesday and their bodies were handed over to their families. In Dera Ghazi 
Khan, a man convicted of killing his wife and daughter was executed on 
Wednesday morning. The execution of another convict was put off till December 
23 on orders of the LHC.

Jail Superintendent Sheikh Afzal Javed said Mushtaq Ahmad and Allah Ditta had 
been scheduled for execution on Wednesday. Allah Ditta's execution was put off.

Ahmad, son of Allah Bakhsh, a resident of Taunsa Sharif, was hanged amid tight 
security. He had shot at and killed his wife and daughter on October 19, 1999.

A trial court had sentenced him to death on February 25, 2002. Allah Ditta, son 
of Rasool Bakhsh Gurmani, a resident of Rajanpur, had shot at and killed Abdul 
Karim on the premises of district courts to avenge his brother Piran Ditta's 
murder.

A trial court had sentenced him to death on October 1, 2007. District and 
Sessions Judge Khalid Mahmood had issued death warrants for the execution of 
Mushtaq Ahmad and Special Court Judge Wajahat Hussain had issued death warrants 
for Allah Ditta after their appeals had been rejected by superior courts and 
their mercy petitions were turned down by the president.

(source: The Express Tribune)






JAPAN:

Infamous Nagoya murderer gets death sentence for earlier killing


The Nagoya District Court on Tuesday handed down a death sentence to a 
40-year-old man currently serving a life term for a murder in 2007 for another 
infamous killing that utilized an underground Web site 1 decade before, reports 
the Yomiuri Shimbun (Dec. 15).

Judge Taro Kageyama sentenced Yoshitomo Hori to death for the robbery and 
murder of 45-year-old Ichio Magoori, the manager of a pachinko parlor, and his 
wife, Satomi, 36, in Hekinan City, Aichi Prefecture in June of 1998.

"They were killed one after another in a cold-blooded robbery," said Kageyama. 
"Since it was done with an extreme disregard for human life, there is no reason 
to avoid capital punishment."

In the case from 2007, Hori and 2 accomplices, Kenji Kawagishi and Tsukasa 
Kanda, kidnapped and murdered Rie Isogai, 31, in Chikusa Ward of Nagoya. After 
pushing her into a van, 3 men beat her with a hammer and choked her with a 
rope.

The case garnered notoriety since Hori had met Kawagishi and Kanda on an 
underground Internet bulletin board for people looking for partners in crime.

In September of that year, Isogai's mother launched a petition that called for 
the defendants to receive the death penalty. By December of 2008, it had been 
signed by more than 300,000 people.

2 years later, Hori was sentenced to death. However, the ruling was reduced to 
life in prison by an upper court in 2011 due to considerations that he could be 
reintegrated into society.

Kanda received the death penalty, and was executed in June of this year. 
Kawagishi was sentenced to life in prison.

(source: The Tokyo Reporter)



IRAN:

Bid to End Drug-Offense Executions----Thousands on Death Row


The Iranian authorities should approve proposed drug law amendments to end the 
use of the death penalty for all nonviolent drug offenses. The authorities 
should also investigate and bring to justice those responsible for abuses of 
prisoners held on drug charges.

In phone interviews in March and November 2015, with eight prisoners on death 
row or awaiting sentencing on drug-related charges that carry the death 
penalty, Human Rights Watch documented serious due process and other 
violations. The interviewees are among more than 2,000 people held in a unit of 
Ghezel Hesar prison, most of whom have been sentenced to death on drug charges.

"Alleged drug offenders face egregious violations of their rights, beginning 
with the moment authorities make drug arrests on dubious legal grounds," said 
Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director. "Packing death row with drug 
offenders won't solve Iran's drug problem."

Prisoners contacted via cell phones told Human Rights Watch that agents of the 
Department for Combating Drugs routinely blindfold and beat detainees and force 
them to sign confessions. The prisoners also said that authorities refuse to 
show the accused the evidence against them. Instead, some said, court 
interrogators and judges said that their rulings are based on "intuition."

Court-appointed lawyers are not allowed to be present during interrogations or 
to meet privately with their clients, the prisoners said. During court 
hearings, defense lawyers are only allowed to submit written statements, rather 
than to present oral arguments.

The semi-official Iranian news agency, ISNA, reported that Mir-Hadi Gharaseyyed 
Romiani, a member of parliament, announced on December 8 that he and other 
members had submitted a proposal to eliminate the death penalty for drug 
offenses, except for armed smuggling. Romiani also told the parliament's 
official news agency, the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency, that more 
than 70 members of the 290-seat body had signed onto the plan. The parliament's 
Legal and Judicial Committee will review the proposed plan before it can move 
forward.

Iran's anti-drug law, under amendments that went into effect in 2011, expanded 
the offenses that could carry the death penalty, including possession of more 
than 30 grams of synthetic drugs like methamphetamines. Previously, the law 
mandated the death penalty for trafficking, possession, or trade of more than 5 
kilograms of opium; 30 grams of heroin or morphine; repeated offenses involving 
smaller amounts; or the manufacture of more than 50 grams of synthetic drugs. 
The law also allows for corporal punishment in the case of less serious drug 
crimes.

According to the October 2015 report of the United Nations special rapporteur 
on human rights in Iran, at least 69 % of executions during the first six 
months of 2015 were for drug-related offenses. Iran executed at least 830 
people between January 1 and November 1.

Under article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 
which Iran has ratified, in states that still retain capital punishment, the 
death penalty may be applied only for the "most serious crimes." The UN Human 
Rights Committee, which interprets the covenant, has said that drug offenses do 
not constitute "most serious crimes," and that the use of the death penalty for 
such crimes violates international law. Human Rights Watch opposes capital 
punishment in all circumstances because it is inherently irreversible and 
inhumane.

"Iran clearly needs to address the serious problem of torture in its law 
enforcement and prison systems," Goldstein said. "And Iran's courts should 
replace judicial 'intuition' with due process."

Accounts from Death Row Prisoners

Bahman (pseudonym), awaiting sentence on offenses carrying the death penalty; 
November 16, 2015; Ghezel Hesar prison, Karaj:

I've been in temporary detention for 5 years now, in a legal limbo. It's me and 
8 other defendants in this case and none of us were somewhere where there were 
drugs. None of us have a criminal record either. One day a few friends and I 
went to see a place in Karaj. We were there about an hour and a half. I'm in 
construction work, so we'd gone to see this building to figure out if we could 
renovate it.

Then some officers bust in and told us "Stop! Stop! Lay on the ground!" Then 
they handcuffed us. I asked, "What are you doing?" They told us that someone 
had died there and they wanted to ask if we knew the person. I said, "This is 
the 1st time I've been in this area; how I am I supposed to identify the dead 
person?" They said, "We'll take you to another house and you'll figure 
everything out there." Then they just transferred us straight to the drug units 
and we've been here 5 years. No matter how much we protest that there "is no 
[drug issue involved]," they say "Yes, there is." They never even showed us IDs 
or a warrant when they arrested us.

Mehrdad (pseudonym), sentenced to death; November 16, 2015; Ghezel Hesar 
prison, Karaj:

I swear to God I was beaten for an entire week. They throw you in some basement 
and just beat you. Nobody could hear us. Just a week of being beaten in the 
Tehran Department for Combating Drugs. They would handcuff our hands and feet 
to the chairs and beat us on our head and feet with a cable. They'd hang us 
[from the ceiling]. They would do things to you that make you just say, "Yes, 
ok, it was my [drugs]."

But I am innocent. Those drugs were not mine. I said so from the 1st day and 
fingerprinted my statement. But they still say I am involved in drugs. I am not 
alone. I have a wife and a kid on the outside. A mother and a sister. If it 
were just me alone in prison, I would have hanged myself. I wouldn't have let 
them take me to the hanging scaffold. It's easy, I would just pour some meth in 
water and drink it all up. A lot of people have been doing that lately in the 
prisons. I can say about 5 to 6 people a month are dying in prison like this. 
Whenever people kill themselves like this the authorities say it was just an 
addict who died from withdrawal.

They just took us to court once, as well as one session for interrogation. The 
interrogator saw us and said, "What happened?" And I said, "You are the ones 
who arrested me. Let me have a face to face session with the agent [so we can 
talk about] where and how you arrested me. The interrogator said what the 
[Tehran Department for Combating] Drugs tells me is enough, I accept whatever 
our agents have told me. Then he just wrote it down and sent us to the judge. 
The judge was holding the indictment written by the interrogator. I asked him, 
"Why aren't you asking me any questions?"

Behnam, (pseudonym), awaiting sentence on offenses carrying the death penalty; 
interviewed March 27, 2015; Ghezel Hesar prison, Karaj:

I don't have a criminal record. They didn't even find 1 gram of drugs on me. 
I'm just here based on the confessions of some other guy who was accused. In 
2012, I was just sitting in my store and they came and arrested me. I'm not 
saying I'm innocent. Let's say I am guilty. But I never sold anything to the 
guy who accused me in his confession.

In this unit of Ghazal Hesar alone there are 2,000 inmates and they are all on 
death row, for anything from [possessing] 100 grams to 100 kilograms.... While 
the guy with the drugs on him just gets charged with possession - just 
possession of like, 5 kilograms of meth. They ask the guy they've arrested, 
"Who did you get this from?" and then they come after a guy like me.

I was not tortured. They put me under pressure but I never confessed.... I have 
a lawyer, but lawyers in drug cases are a joke. I'm sorry to say that. But the 
lawyers can't do anything."

Matin (pseudonym), sentenced to death; March 27, 2015; Ghezel Hesar prison, 
Karaj:

The 1st week we were just beaten. I was not even asked one question. The 2nd 
week they told us we had to sign something. I said, "How can I sign? I haven't 
done anything." They said, "No, it seems like you still haven't understood." 
Just like that. It was all beatings and insults. So I finally just 
fingerprinted a statement they gave me and that is how I ended up with the 
death penalty later on.

He said that the interrogator told him he was free to go but that officials 
instead took him to court the next day and added his name to a list of 
defendants in a drug case.

The interrogator [who had accompanied me to the court] said, "But his name is 
not part of this case." [The court officials] told him to just do what they 
said. So my name got added and I was taken to Tehran. In Tehran, they took me 
to a basement where I was tortured. I was blindfolded and my feet and hands 
were cuff.... Each time they took us to the interrogator during the 2nd week of 
our incarceration we were so terrified we thought we were going to pass out. We 
would be blindfolded so we couldn't see the officer...

After being in detention for 55 days without my family knowing where I was, my 
wife was able to figure out through a lawyer she knew that I was being held by 
the revolutionary court. My 1st phone call with the outside was after 4 months 
in detention. It took 2 years and 8 months before I received my sentence...

There is no such thing as a lawyer in drug cases. Lawyers are just a useless 
formality. My lawyer was appointed, not chosen. But you pay two hundred or 
three hundred thousand tumans (about $100) for a lawyer who is not even allowed 
to speak. It's only when you go to receive your sentence that the lawyer shows 
up. In the court they ask if you have a lawyer and when you say "No," they say, 
"Okay, we will get a lawyer for you." The lawyer never meets with us and just 
reads our file. You don't see or know the lawyer. In the court, the lawyer asks 
4 questions and puts some document in your file. Then he comes and tells you, 
"I'm your lawyer and I defended you as best I could," when in fact he hasn't 
said anything.... The court doesn't have any evidence to show why we were 
convicted. There is something here called the "judge's intuition."

Afshin (pseudonym), sentenced to death; March 13, 2015; Ghezel Hesar prison, 
Karaj:

For 20 days, the people from the Department for Combating Drugs beat us day and 
night in some basement. Our families didn't know where we were and they 
wouldn't let us call... When we were in temporary detention we didn't have 
contact with anyone. For 3 months I wasn't allowed visits or telephone 
calls.... I didn't confess. The interrogator said based on my own intuition, 
you are guilty.

My court trial took four sessions. Twice I was interrogated [outside the 
courtroom] and twice before the judge. Each session lasted no more than 5 
minutes. And then I was in legal limbo for 2 years until they gave me a death 
sentence. They wouldn't let us talk in court. They would just read the agent's 
report [or say they know things] based on intuition."

Amin (pseudonym), sentenced to death; March 7, 2015; Ghezel Hesar prison, 
Karaj:

When they take you for questioning, they hit you all over with sticks and 
cables. They are not humans. During interrogation they would take us one by one 
blindfolded to some basement. First they would hit, then ask the question. They 
wouldn't write down your answer but just write whatever they wanted and force 
you to fingerprint it. If you didn't want to they would take your hand and make 
you do it....

The lawyer only comes before the judge. You don't get a lawyer during the 
initial questioning or during the official interrogations. They don't even let 
the lawyer in. When you get to the judge, the lawyer still can't say anything. 
They don't let you defend yourself. They weave the story and write it, that's 
it. The last thing that the judge in our case told us was "God help you. I 
can't help you." The court was closed. I've been here 3 years and they've 
killed 300-350 people.... This year (2014/15) they've sped up the executions."

(source: Human Rights Watch)






YEMEN:

Yemen court spares life of American Sharif Mobley in alleged killing ---- 
Mobley, a former nuclear plant worker from New Jersey detained on terrorism 
charges, had been facing the death penalty but instead will serve 10 years


A court in Yemen has spared the life of an American man detained on terrorism 
charges but sentenced him to 10 years in prison for an alleged killing - 
despite protests from his legal team about lack of evidence.

Sharif Mobley, 32, a former nuclear plant worker from New Jersey, had been 
facing the death penalty in Yemen, accused of killing a guard in 2010 during an 
escape attempt after he was snatched from the street and detained on terrorism 
charges that were later dropped.

His relatives and lawyers from the British human rights advocacy group Reprieve 
continue to face a wall of silence about his welfare and fundamental aspects of 
his case, with no evidence presented that there is even a case against him.

But in a surprise decision on Wednesday, news emerged from Yemen that although 
Mobley had been convicted he had been spared the death penalty, delighting his 
family back in New Jersey.

"This is such a relief. I was able to call my mother and tell her that after 
such a long time we had this good news. She wept. We are elated that the 
judgement went in our favor, at least to a certain extent," Caamilia Beyah, 
Mobley's sister, told the Guardian on Wednesday.

In 2010 Mobley was seized on the streets of the capital Sana'a in circumstances 
that remain murky but in which the US government has been implicated, according 
to previous investigations by the Guardian.

Beyah, 36, said on Wednesday the family is still extremely concerned that 
Mobley is being mistreated in captivity, enduring beatings and shackled with 
his hands chained to his feet day and night.

He is being held in a notorious prison for political detainees in Sana'a and 
has had very little access to a lawyer, instead of a criminal facility where he 
would be allowed more communication with his family and legal team, according 
to his Reprieve case worker Tim Moore.

Beyah has repeatedly and adamantly denied that her brother had any interest in 
terrorist causes.

"He is a mild-mannered, peaceful man who is normally full of laughs and jokes. 
This terrible journey is not over yet," Beyah said.

Reprieve was expecting a procedural hearing on Wednesday but received the 
surprise announcement that a judge had sentenced Mobley to 10 years, including 
the almost 6 years he has already spent in custody since early 2010.

"There have been so many procedural failings. For 20 months during his 
detention he disappeared and we had no information where he was. He has never 
been charged with terrorism and we have never seen a warrant or any evidence 
presented in court in the homicide case. This conviction is based on such shaky 
premises that a US court would have thrown it out years ago," Moore said.

Mobley was tried for murder in a capital case after he allegedly shot and 
killed a guard and injured others when he attempted to escape from a hospital 
where he was taken after being shot himself during his capture.

"There has been so much confusion, everything in Yemen is so chaotic and we 
don't understand what the laws are there or why he was detained in the first 
place," Beyah said.

Beyah and her 3 other siblings and parents have not seen Mobley since he moved 
to Yemen 6 years ago.

He took his wife and children, who are now back in the US, because he wanted 
the children to learn Arabic and he wanted peacefully to explore his Muslim 
faith in an Islamic country, Beyah said.

He was initially accused of holding an allegiance to al-Qaida in the Arabian 
peninsula, but all charges were dropped in court in Yemen.

Since then, the US authorities have been accused of abandoning an American 
trapped in the country and stonewalling requests for information and assistance 
from his family, despite facilitating the release this fall of other Americans 
held by Yemeni captors

"He keeps disappearing and we know that he's being mistreated, although he 
tries to keep the worst details from us," said Beyah.

Beyah and advocates at Reprieve are also gravely worried that no matter what 
prison he is held in in Sana'a, he is in mortal danger from the civil war 
racking the country and Saudi-led coalition airstrikes that, prior to the 
current ceasefire, have been pounding the country.

(source: The Guardian)