[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 3


IRAN:

Iranian Resistance calls to save 32 death row prisoners



The lives of at least 32 prisoners on death row who have been subjected to 
beatings and torture in a Tehran prison are in danger and there is fear of 
their execution.

The prisoners have been transferred to Tehran-e Bozorg (Laerger Tehran) Prison 
in the Hassan Abad district of the capital city from the Section 2 of Ghezel 
Hessar prison in the city of Karaj during the past few days.

The prisoners are among those who been involved in a recent hunger strike in 
protest against a wave of group hangings in Ghezel Hessar prison.

In order to further terrorize the prisoners, henchmen Rajabazaded and Norouzi 
severely tortured and battered the newly arrived prisoners at Tehran-e Bozorg 
Prison.

Mr Javad Jahani, a 25-year-old student, was cruelly flogged and injured. Jahani 
has been arbitrarily detained along with his brother, Abedin, over 4 years ago.

The Iranian Resistance calls on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights and all human rights defending bodies to adopt immediate and effective 
measures to save the lives of these prisoners and to prevent their harassment, 
torture and execution.

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








UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Housemaid gets the death penalty for murdering 4-month-old baby by bashing its 
head on a wooden table because she was jealous of the child's nanny in Abu 
Dhabi



An Indonesian housemaid who murdered a 4-month-old baby by bashing its head on 
a wooden table has had her death penalty upheld and her final appeal rejected.

The defendant, named only as S.T., was accused of killing the child, Malak, out 
of jealousy of her Filipino nanny last year.

Home security cameras captured the chilling moment the maid took the child out 
of its crib before returning its battered body 4 minutes later.

It is believed that the baby's head was bashed against a table at the family 
home in Abu Dhabi, reports Gulf News.

It was said she carried out the extraordinary attack on Malak - whose name 
means 'angel' - to get at her colleague, according to The National.

The child's nanny, a Filipino woman, was in the shower at the time and came 
back to the sight of the injured baby struggling to breathe.

She was rushed to the Sheikh Khalifa Hospital in the city, where doctors 
diagnosed her with a fractured skull and severe brain damage.

She died on April 28 2013 - 2 weeks after the attack.

In an attempt to frame her, the maid initially blamed Malak's nanny for the 
death - but admitted her guilt when she was presented with video footage of her 
actions.

Prosecutors said that she resented her colleague because it was her job to care 
for Malak and her brother, while the convicted woman had to care for a sick 
grandmother.

The defendant had already been sentenced to death after being found guilty at 
the Criminal Court of First Instance.

But The Appeals Court then announced that it was cancelling the Criminal 
Court's verdict of the death sentence because it was invalid as S.T.'s defence 
was not serious enough.

Defendants facing life in jail or the death penalty are entitled to a lawyer 
appointed by the court. The court is then responsible for monitoring the 
appointed lawyer's performance to see if they attend hearings, follow the case 
and present a 'serious defence'.

The Appeals Court said that the defence attorney representing S.T. in the 
Criminal Court of first instance was not serious in presenting the defence and 
therefore the verdict that sentenced her to death was invalid.

However, that verdict was upheld by the first Appeals Court to look at S.T.'s 
case, before being cessated, bounced back to the Appeals Court, and upheld for 
a 2nd time.

Since the baby's family has insisted on the death penalty, the court sentenced 
her to death again.

The verdict is to be carried out in the presence of the child's family and in a 
method chosen by the President of the UAE.

All death sentences in the UAE are subject to 2 rounds of appeals, and if these 
both fail the common method of execution is firing squad.

(source: Daily Mail)








INDONESIA:

Bali remand hard slog for accused Kiwi drug accused Antony de Malmanche



Locked in a small concrete cell with 27 other men, 24 hours a day, with no 
direct sunlight, showering with a bucket and relying on the kindness of police 
for the necessities of life is not how Antony de Malmanche imagined his 1st 
trip to Bali.

When the 52-year-old left his Wanganui flat, he was on the trip of a lifetime. 
Life had been cruel to him over the years, and this was his chance at real 
happiness. He had met a woman on the internet and thought he had found his 
soulmate. He never imagined that following his heart would land him in a dingy 
Indonesian jail accused of trying to smuggle 1.7kg of methamphetamine into the 
country and facing the death penalty.

De Malmanche has limited access to the phone at the Denpasar police station, so 
his lawyer, Craig Tuck, agreed to act as an intermediary and share details of 
his client's daily life.

"Tony has given me permission to share some personal circumstances as they are 
important to the context of the defence and how we position various matters 
before trial," Mr Tuck said.

"Tony was one of the children of Lake Alice [Hospital, near Bulls, and spent] 3 
1/2 years in a psychiatric institution as a child and young person. He suffers 
from long-term depression and has had a head injury which makes him slow to 
process information."

The head injury - along with back and neck injuries - came when de Malmanche 
was struck by a falling branch while working as a tree feller in 2002. 2 years 
later, his 7-year-old son, Andre, drowned.

"He is still in shock of the loss of his son," Mr Tuck said.

"By his own admission he is simple and naive. He had never travelled overseas 
before, he was overwhelmed and out of his depth and hoping to meet the dream 
woman.

"Tony is a vulnerable person, probably an ideal target - middle-aged and white 
with a New Zealand passport."

Since his arrest, de Malmanche's only respite from his cell has been trips to 
the local hospital for help with his pain management. He is on medication for 
ongoing back and neck pain and without it he is suffering.

Mr Tuck said arrangements had been made to get his prescription medication 
couriered to Bali from New Zealand, which would make de Malmanche more 
comfortable.

But even if he is pain free, things will still be grim. "He is in a cell with 
27 others with a fan and hole in the roof," Mr Tuck said. "Some other prisoners 
have no light and no windows. The women's cell is connected to the men's cell 
so they can talk and play cards but it is closed at night.

"No one is allowed anything they might kill themselves or others with - no 
mattress or pillow, and they are only allowed half a towel. They can boil water 
and have drinking water in a big container. No toilet paper."

Food is given to inmates twice a day - but it is sparse.

"Rice, a small portion of what looks like anchovies and one section of carrot - 
that is one slice. The police have been giving Tony some of their lunch. They 
like him and, like so many others in custody, are kind and supportive. There is 
a real sense of humanity [but] it is grim."

De Malmanche's family have raised more than $10,000 to support him in prison 
and to pay for his defence. Mr Tuck said that had enabled him to take his 
client some food and other supplies - much more than some of the others in his 
cell get.

The 24/7 lockdown means there is little sunlight and no room for de Malmanche 
to exercise.

"He is able to shower - with a bucket - and has toothbrush and toothpaste, 
clothes and the fancy orange [prison-issue] suit when they move him," Mr Tuck 
said.

"I joked with him that it is a hell of a place for a holiday in Bali.

"We can still joke about things, sort of a gallows humour, I guess. He is a 
great guy, a typical Kiwi battler. He has been through the ringer."

Some of de Malmanche's family will visit him next month - possibly at Kerobokan 
Prison, to where he will soon be moved.

"Tony is overwhelmed by the support and love shown," Mr Tuck said.

"He is confused and scared but knows that some of New Zealand is with him."

Hard line on drugs

Under Indonesian law the country's controlled-substances list is divided into 
three different groups, each with different penalties.

-- Group 1: Heroin, cocaine, marijuana, MDMA, Ecstasy, LSD, amphetamine, 
methamphetamine, opium - viewed by the Indonesian Government as having high 
potential for causing addiction. Offences for these drugs carry the heaviest 
sentences - life imprisonment for possession, and the death penalty for 
convicted drug traffickers.

-- Group 2: Morphine, methadone, oxycodone, pethidine and hydromorphone. Seen 
as useful for "therapeutic purposes" but dangerous due to their high addictive 
potential, possession and trafficking in these substances is punishable by 3 to 
12 years' imprisonment. If the amount of drugs exceeds 5g, the death penalty 
might be imposed.

-- Group 3: Codeine, dihydrocodeine and buprenorphine. Considered 
therapeutically useful and moderately addictive, offences attract terms of two 
to 10 years. Judges may take mitigating circumstances into account and impose 
lighter sentences. Drug users can be sentenced to rehabilitation instead of 
prison. Prisoners can appeal the death penalty as far as the Supreme Court. The 
last resort is an appeal to the President of Indonesia for clemency. Appeals 
often result in higher courts increasing or upgrading sentences.

(source: New Zealand Herald)



PHILIPPINES:

Death penalty urged for foreign drug pushers



Driven by reports that foreigners convicted of drug trafficking enjoy luxurious 
stay at the National Bilibid Prison, a Mindanao congressman yesterday appealed 
for swift plenary action for a bill seeking to prescribe the death penalty for 
aliens found guilty of grave drug offenses.

Abante Mindanao Partylist Rep. Maximo Rodriguez urged the House leadership to 
pull out House Bill 1213 from the legislative burner where it has been sent 
since the measure was sponsored on the plenary for 2nd reading February, 2014.

"It's about time we debate on the issue. Let those who are for or against it be 
heard and let us vote on it," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez, together with his elder brother, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus 
Rodriguez, re-filed HB 1213 which was inspired by the execution by China of 3 
Filipinos accused of acting as drug mules.

The original bill introduced as HB 4510 during the 15th Congress was approved 
on 3rd and final reading in the Lower House but the Senate failed to act on it.

HB 1213 provides for the adoption of the higher prescribed penalty, including 
death, of the national law of an alien found guilty of trafficking dangerous 
drugs and similar substances.

The House Committee on Dangerous Drugs recommended approval of the measure 
without any amendment.

"This will help deter foreign nationals from engaging in drug related 
activities in the Philippines," authors explained.

The younger Rodriguez admitted that anti-death penalty lawmakers are apparently 
blocking congressional action for HB 1213.

"What we want is for lawmakers to voice out their concerns, whether or not this 
should pass as a law in the country," he stressed.

While at least a dozen foreigners, many of them Chinese, have been convicted of 
the severest penalty of life imprisonment under Philippine laws, some of them 
are enjoying a life of luxury as indicated in a raid at the National Bilibid 
Prison recently.

"Many foreign nationals are now emboldened to establish their drug factories in 
the Philippines because once c onvicted, they only suffer life imprisonment as 
opposed to the penalties that they may suffer in their countries which is in 
some cases death," explained authors of HB 1213.

In 2012, government disclosed that at least 80 Filipinos are awaiting execution 
in various countries where the death penalty is legal.

The Rodriguez brothers described the situation "unfair".

"This is sad, or even unfair situation because when Filipinos are caught drug 
trafficking abroad, they may be imposed the death penalty, as seen in the 
execution of 3 Filipinos in China, namely, Elizabeth Batain, 38; Sally 
Ordinario-Villanueva, 32 and Ramon Credo, 42," they explained.

After the execution of the 3 Filipinos, another 35-year-old Filipina was put to 
death by the Chinese government despite strong please for mercy aired by the 
Philippine government.

(source: tempo.com)








PAKISTAN:

Pakistan issues death warrants for 6 more militants: official



Pakistan on Saturday issued orders to hang 6 more militants, official said, the 
latest in a wave of executions in the wake of the Peshawar school massacre, 
which claimed 149 lives in the country's deadliest terror attack.

Among the 6 is Shafqat Hussain, who was 15 when he was sentenced to death for 
the kidnapping and murder of a 7-year-old boy in 2004, officials said.

"The courts have issued death warrants for 7 convicts," the prison department 
home secretary in southern Sindh province Nawaz Shaikh told AFP.

"Prisoners Shahid Hanif and Khalil Ahmed convicted for killing government 
official on sectarian grounds, Zulfiqar Ali for killing 22 policemen deputed at 
the US Consulate in Karachi and Behram Khan for killing a young lawyer will be 
hanged on January 13, while Shahfaq Hussain will be executed for killing a 
child on January 14," Shaikh said.

"2 others, Talha and Saeed, will be given capital punishment for sectarian 
killings on January 15," he added.

Rights groups in the country have opposed Hussain's conviction and sentence 
saying he should have been tried in a juvenile court and not been given the 
death penalty, which cannot be imposed on minors in Pakistan.

Pakistan ended its 6-years-old moratorium on the death penalty in terror cases 
last month in the wake of the slaughter at an army-run school in the 
northwestern city of Peshawar on December 16.

Heavily-armed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) gunmen murdered 149 people, 133 
of them schoolchildren, in the attack, which shocked the world and brought 
promises of swift and decisive action by the government and military.

7 convicted militants have been hanged so far since the de facto ban on capital 
punishment ended. 6 of those executed were found guilty of trying to 
assassinate then-military dictator Musharraf in Rawalpindi in 2003 and the 7th 
was sentenced in connection with a 2009 attack on the army headquarters.

Pakistani officials have said they plan to hang 500 convicts in the coming 
weeks, drawing protest from international human rights campaigners.

The United Nations, European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights 
Watch have called on Pakistan to re-impose its moratorium on the death penalty.

Rights campaigners say Pakistan overuses its anti-terror laws and courts to 
prosecute ordinary crimes.

(source: Agence France-Presse)

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

LHC stays execution of a death-row prisoner



A Lahore High Court division bench on Friday stayed execution of a death-row 
prisoner till January 5 on a petition challenging his death warrants.

The bench comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Abdul Sami Khan 
passed the orders on a petition filed by Faiz Muhammad who had challenged his 
death warrants. The bench also summoned Faisalabad Central Jail Superintendent 
along record on January 5 besides seeking a reply from an anti-terrorism court 
(ATC) who issued death warrants despite the fact that convict's appeal was 
pending with the Supreme Court.

Earlier, the petitioner's counsel arguing before the bench submitted that the 
convict was awarded death penalty for killing Lance Naik Maula Buksh and 
soldier Tariq Mahmood in Nankana Sahib by a trial court. However, the decision 
was challenged before the Supreme Court and it was still pending since 2009, he 
said. He submitted that an ATC issued death warrants of the convict on December 
24 despite the fact that his appeal was pending in the Apex Court. He pleaded 
the court to cancel the death warrants being illegal.

A provincial law officer also confirmed the bench that the convict was 
scheduled to be executed on January 14 in the said murder case. At this, the 
bench staying the execution till January 5 summoned Faisalabad Jail 
Superintendent along record and sought a reply from the ATC for issuing death 
warrants of the convict despite the fact that his appeal was pending before the 
apex court.

(source: Daily Times)

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

Terrorism-related cases: SC to take up appeals of condemned militants



The Supreme Court will take up next week over a dozen appeals of militants 
condemned to death by courts under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The appeals filed by death-row prisoners against their convictions by 
anti-terrorism courts will be taken up by 2 separate 3-judge benches of the 
apex court headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.

This comes over a week after an extraordinary huddle of the top judiciary 
decided to give priority to terrorism-related cases. Chief Justice of Pakistan 
Nasirul Mulk had convened the meeting in the aftermath of the December 16 
massacre of children at the Army Public School in Peshawar.

The meeting had decided that the registrar offices of the Supreme Court and 
high courts would bifurcate appeals between militancy-related and other cases 
so that cases in the first category could be taken up on a priority basis.

Most of the appeals to be taken up by the 2 benches next week have been pending 
before the top court since 2005. It has been learnt that around 250 appeals 
against convictions by ATCs have been pending before the SC.

On January 8, the Justice Khosa-led bench will take up 2 appeals of militants 
condemned to death by military courts. Col (retd) Muhammad Akram, the counsel 
for Gunner Muhammad Mushtaq, told The Express Tribune that his client had been 
awarded the death penalty by a military court in 2004 but he was not allowed to 
hire a counsel of his own choosing.

Akram said that in 2006 he had challenged the military court's verdict in the 
apex court which had accepted his plea for a regular hearing - but it was never 
taken up. Akram criticised former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for 
delaying hearing on such appeals during his tenure in the Supreme Court.

Lawyer Chaudhry Faisal Hussain said it was unfortunate that instead of 
disposing of the appeals of convicted militants, the former chief justice had 
spent time on self projection.

The Justice Khosa-led bench will also take up a number of appeals of death-row 
prisoners convicted by civilian courts.

Similarly, a larger bench of the Supreme Court will take up the matter related 
to determining the fate of over 8,000 death-row prisoners across the country in 
the 3rd week of January.

(source: The Express Tribune)

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

Karachi jail authorities approach ATC for death warrants of 3 terrorists



Authorities of Karachi Central Jail today (Saturday) filed a request in the 
anti-terrorism court, seeking death warrants of 3 convicted terrorists.

The 3 terrorists include Shafqat, Bahram and Al-Qaeda's Zulfiqar Ali.

Zulfiqar Ali was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court for murdering 
two policemen outside the US Consulate in Karachi. Another convict Shafqat had 
kidnapped a 6-year-old child for ransom while Bahram was involved in the 
killing of a lawyer.

On December 17, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted a 6-year moratorium on death 
penalty for those convicted for terrorism a day after the deadly attack on Army 
Public School in Peshawar that left 150 persons including mostly children dead.

7 militants convicted of attacks on the Pakistan Army headquarters and former 
military ruler Pervez Musharraf have since been hanged.

(source: Dunya News)