[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 15


TUNISIA:

Street Theater Performance Against Death Penalty and Suicide



Activists gathered today on Avenue Habib Bourguiba to raise awareness about the 
death penalty and high student suicide rates with a theatrical performance. 
Human rights organization Fanni Raghman Anni (Tunisian Arabic for "Artist 
Against My Will") collaborated with Danseurs-Citoyens to organize the show, 
which was met with mixed reactions.

Wearing simple costumes and makeup, actors began the show, titled "3 Points," 
by asking the audience to follow 3 pieces of advice: "don't commit suicide, 
don't die out of agony, and live your life." After around 15 minutes of 
simulating an intense scene about human rights violations, performers concluded 
the show by distributing small bags of colored liquid to be thrown at one of 
the subjects on stage, a tradition at their shows.

The performance targeted 2 major issues, adolescent suicides and the death 
penalty, both particularly relevant and strung together by the organization's 
strong position asserting the human right to live. "The right to life is sacred 
and no one has the right to violate it," Badr Baabou, a member of the 
Association of Justice and Equality and a friend of the show's organizers, told 
Tunisia Live.

"Child suicides are being tackled in light of recent news about students who 
have been committing suicide because of the hardships they face during school," 
Baabou explained. Tunisian Social Observatory concluded in a monthly report 
that December saw the highest number of people who committed suicide, reaching 
26 cases. The organization also indicated that Tunisia saw 122 reported suicide 
attempts in nine months, mostly among pupils and children.

He also emphasized the choice to focus on capital punishment: "Even if crimes 
are related to terrorism, this cannot justify death penalty punishment. How 
could I punish someone with the same wrong that he committed?!"

Some were confused by the abstract performance, while others were simply upset 
with the group for "leaving Bourguiba street with a big mess of colours."

Many, however, appreciated the performance. As one young audience member told 
Tunisia Live: "This event is for 10 year old kids who commit suicide out of 
deprivation. Fanni Rhaghman Anni always holds these kind of performances and I 
like them very much. I also appreciate their aim, because they bring important 
issues to light."

(source: Tunisia Live)








INDONESIA----impending executions

Indonesia to carry out first executions under Widodo government----President 
Widodo, who took office in October, has insisted that there will be no pardons 
for those convicted of drugs offences on death row, disappointing activists who 
had hoped the reformist leader would take a softer line on capital punishment.

Indonesia will put to death 6 drug convicts, including 4 foreigners, at the 
weekend, the attorney general said on Thursday (Jan 15), the 1st executions to 
be carried out under new President Joko Widodo's government.

Widodo, who took office in October, has insisted that there will be no pardons 
for those convicted of drugs offences on death row, disappointing activists who 
had hoped the reformist leader would take a softer line on capital punishment.

The foreigners - from Brazil, Malawi, Vietnam and Nigeria - will be executed by 
firing squad on Sunday, said attorney general H M Prasetyo. The 2 others to be 
executed are an Indonesian and a man whose nationality authorities said was 
unclear.

"This will send a message to members of drugs syndicates - there is no mercy 
for drug dealers and traffickers," he told reporters. "For those who disagree 
with the death penalty, hopefully they can understand that what we are doing is 
simply to save our nation from the threat of narcotics."

Jakarta halted executions for five years from 2008 but resumed them again last 
year, prompting outrage from rights groups.

All 6 of those to be put to death had their appeals for clemency to the 
president - their last chance to avoid the firing squad - rejected on December 
30, he said. 5 will be executed on an island housing a large prison off the 
coast of main Java island, while the 6th will be executed at a jail in central 
Java.

2 Australians, part of the "Bali 9" group caught trying to smuggle heroin into 
Indonesia, and a British grandmother are on death row but are not among those 
being executed at the weekend.

1 of the Australians, Myuran Sukumaran, also had his appeal for clemency 
rejected last month. But Prasetyo said the law stipulated that he must be 
executed with the 2nd Australian - his accomplice Andrew Chan - as they had 
committed their crime together.

Chan is still waiting for the outcome of his clemency appeal. After Sukumaran's 
appeal was rejected, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott urged Indonesia not 
to put him to death.

Indonesia enforces some of the world's toughest punishments for narcotics 
offences and there is strong public support for putting drug traffickers to 
death.

(source: channelnewsasia.com)

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

Stop imminent execution of 6 people by firing squad



Indonesia must immediately halt plans to put to death 6 people - 1 Indonesian 
and 5 foreign nationals - by firing squad this week, Amnesty International said 
after the Attorney General???s office today confirmed the executions would be 
carried out on Sunday 18 January 2015.

"These executions must be stopped immediately. The death penalty is a human 
rights violation, and it is shocking that the Indonesian authorities are 
looking to put to death six people this Sunday," said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty 
International's Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

"Indonesia's new government took office on the back of promises to improve 
respect for human rights, but carrying out these executions would be a 
regressive move. Rather than putting to death more people, the government 
should immediately impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a 
view to its eventual abolition."

All 6 of those to be executed on Sunday were convicted and sentenced to death 
for drug-related offences. They include one Indonesian, Rani Andriani alias 
Melisa Aprilia; and 5 foreign nationals: Daniel Enemuo (Nigerian), Ang Kim Soei 
(Dutch), Tran Thi Bich Hanh (Vietnamese), Namaona Denis (Nigerian) and Marco 
Archer Cardoso Moreira (Brazilian).

5 of them are reportedly going to be executed on Nusakambangan Island, Central 
Java province, while Tran Thi Bich Hanh is to be executed in Boloyali district, 
also in Central Java.

While no executions were carried out in Indonesia in 2014, the government has 
announced that 20 are scheduled for this year.

In December 2014, it was also reported that President Joko Widodo would not 
grant clemency to at least 64 individuals who have been sentenced to death for 
drug-related crimes and that there were plans to execute them.

Drug-related offences do not meet the threshold of the "most serious crimes" 
for which the death penalty can be imposed under international law.

"It would be a huge set back if the government goes ahead with its plans to 
execute as many as 20 people during the year. Tackling rising crime rates is a 
legitimate goal of President Widodo's administration, but the death penalty is 
not the answer and does not work as a deterrent to crime," said Rupert Abbott.

"The plans for a new spate of executions come at a time when the government is 
actively seeking to protect Indonesian nationals who face the death penalty 
overseas. If the death penalty is wrong elsewhere, it is surely wrong in 
Indonesia too."

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases and under any 
circumstances, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of 
the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The 
death penalty violates the right to life as recognized in the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading 
punishment. The protection for the right to life is also recognized in 
Indonesia's Constitution. So far 140 countries have abolished the death penalty 
in law or practice.

(source: Amnesty International)








SAUDI ARABIA----execution//female

Woman Is Publicly Beheaded in Saudi Arabia's 10th Execution of 2015



Gruesome footage circulating on social media shows Saudi authorities publicly 
beheading a woman in the holy city of Mecca earlier this week. The execution is 
the 10th to be carried out in country in the last 2 weeks; setting 2015 up to 
be even more bloody than last year, when 87 people were punitively killed by 
the state.

Rare video of Monday's killing shows the woman, a Burmese resident named as 
Lalia Bint Abdul Muttablib Basim, screaming while being dragged along the 
street. 4 police officers then hold the woman down before a sword-wielding man 
slices her head off, using 3 blows to complete the act.

In the chilling recording, Bashim, who was found guilty in a Saudi Sharia court 
of sexually abusing and murdering her 7-year-old step-daughter, is heard 
protesting her innocence until the very end. "I did not kill. I did not kill," 
she screams repeatedly.

Filming of executions is normally strictly prohibited by Saudi authorities 
raising speculation that a security official may have covertly videoed the 
killing.

In a statement released on their official website, the Saudi Ministry of 
Interior said that the brutally delivered death penalty was warranted due to 
the "enormity of the crime," and was carried out to "restore security" and 
"realize justice."

"[The punishment] implements the rulings of God against all those who attack 
innocents and spill their blood. The government warns all those who are seduced 
into committing a similar crimes that the rightful punishment is their fate," 
the statement said.

Saudi Arabia bases its legal system on a strict Wahhabi interpretation of 
Sharia law that imposes a wide-range of physical punishments for a number of 
crimes. The death penalty can be given for several offences including, armed 
robbery, drug-related offences, sorcery, adultery, murder, and rape.

Beheading is widely seen in the country as the most humane means of executing 
but death by stoning, crucifixion, and death by firing squad is also carried 
out.

Bashim's execution comes as the Saudi authorities are already under the 
spotlight for the public flogging of Raif Badawi, a blogger and political 
activist who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a total of 1,000 lashings 
for a range of offenses, including insulting religious authorities. Badawi set 
up the "Liberal Saudi Network," a website that aimed to provide a forum for 
public debate in the country. The blogger was previously arrested in 2008 for 
apostasy - a crime also punishable by death.

After Badawi's conviction his lawyer was also sentenced to 15 years in jail for 
"undermining the regime and officials," "inciting public opinion," and 
"insulting the judiciary" in an anti-terrorism court.

Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, described the 
Saudi authorities record on basic rights as dismal. "There's no movement 
forward, and if anything it's backwards," he told VICE News.

Coogle said that it was "impossible to know what the Saudi authorities were 
thinking." Yet he also noted that since the Arab uprisings that began in 2011 
the Saudi authorities have approached all domestic dissent as a security issue. 
"With every execution announced we see the government use this rhetoric of 
security," he told VICE News.

The vast majority of executions in Saudi Arabia are for drug-related offenses 
and murders. But the state has also shown a willingness to impose increasingly 
severe sentences on dissidents with 10- to 15-year prison sentences being 
imposed on political activists. "Some charges, as in the case of Badawi, are 
not in themselves crimes, it's a matter of freedom of expression," Coogle said. 
"This is particularly troubling."

Yet in the current regional security climate, Saudi Arabia is not alone in 
wanting to appear tough on dissent and willing to exact severe punishments. In 
December, Jordan ended an 8-year de-facto moratorium on the death penalty and 
reportedly hanged 11 men. In the same month Pakistan also brought back the 
death penalty following a brutal Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that 
left 148 people dead, including 132 students.

While several western authorities have spoken out against Badawi's case, in 
general governments have been slow to condemn oil-rich Saudi Arabia. "The US 
and European governments have always been reluctant to take publicly critical 
positions on Saudi Arabia," Coogle said. "This is a matter of a whole bunch of 
economic and regional security and stability issues, but human rights typically 
ends up a low priority in these circumstances."

(source: vice.com)








IRAN----executions

12 prisoner hanged in 5 cities



At least a dozen prisoners have been hanged in prisons across Iran since 
Sunday. Since the beginning of the New Year, 36 prisoners have been executed.

A group 5 prisoners were hanged in the main prison in the city of Arak (central 
Iran) on Wednesday, while another prisoner was executed in the main prison in 
the city of Sari (northern Iran), according to reports received from Iran.

A group of 3 men were hanged in the city of Kerman (southern Iran) on Monday. 
The prisoners were identified as Karim Alizehi, Hasan Rahimyar and Ghader 
Alizehi.

They had been transferred to solitary confinement in the city's Shahab Prison 
the previous day. The executions were not announced on any of the judiciary's 
websites.

However, the state-run media reported the hanging of a man on Sunday in the 
main prison in city of Ardakan, identifying him by his initials A.D.

2 more prisoners were hanged on the same day in the main prison in the city of 
Shiraz (southern Iran). The state-run media reporting the executions did not 
identify the 2 victims.

Since Hassan Rouhani has become the president of the clerical regime, at least 
1,200 people, including political prisoners, have been executed in Iran.

(source: NCR-Iran)