[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 21


AUSTRALIA/MALAYSIA:

Sirul Azhar Umar, ex-bodyguard to Malaysian PM, detained in Queensland after 
death sentence over Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu's murder



A former bodyguard of the Malaysian prime minister has been detained in 
Queensland after being sentenced to death for the murder of a pregnant 
translator and model who had been working on sensitive defence contract 
negotiations.

Sirul Azhar Umar was taken into custody by immigration officials in Brisbane 
overnight after an Interpol red notice was issued.

The 43-year-old has been sentenced to death in Malaysia over the murder of 
28-year-old Mongolian interpreter and model Altantuya Shaariibuu in his home 
country.

During the original trial it was revealed Ms Altantuya told Sirul Azhar she was 
pregnant before she was shot in the head near Kuala Lumpur.

The 28-year-old's body was blown up with military-grade explosives in a jungle 
clearing, leaving only shattered bone fragments as evidence.

It has long been alleged Ms Altantuya was murdered because of her connections 
to high-level Malaysian government officials.

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the 
killing.

It is understood Sirul Azhar is currently being held in immigration detention 
after arriving in Australia on a valid passport last October.

The man's lawyer Kamural Kamaruddin said his client was innocent and would 
fight any moves by Malaysia to return him to Kuala Lumpur.

"We know of no such request being made as yet," he said.

Australia signed an extradition treaty with Malaysia in 2006 but is unlikely to 
deport Sirul Azhar because he faces the death penalty.

A spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Department said it would not comment 
publicly on extradition matters, including whether it had received an 
extradition request, until the person was arrested or brought before a court 
pursuant to a request.

"Australia's extradition legislation does not allow a person to be surrendered 
to another country for an offence punishable by death unless the country has 
given Australia an undertaking that the death penalty will not be carried out 
on the person," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"Immigration detention is a matter for the Department of Immigration and Border 
Protection."

A spokeswoman for the Immigration Department confirmed an "unlawful 
non-citizen" had been detained in Brisbane, and said in a statement that the 
department was aware of Malaysian authorities' interest in the case.

Sirul Azhar and a 2nd officer convicted of the murder, Azilah Hadri, had been 
working for an elite police unit that protected the Malaysian prime minister 
and deputy prime minister.

In a drawn-out case, Sirul Azhar was sentenced in death in 2009 but was 
acquitted on appeal.

That decision was overturned last week and he again faces death by hanging.

Victim allegedly knew about kick-backs to government officials

The case caused a political storm in Malaysia when it was alleged Ms Altantuya 
was murdered because she knew about kickbacks to high-level government 
officials.

Before her death Ms Altantuya was in a relationship with Abdul Razak Baginda, 
who was a close friend and adviser to Mr Najib.

Ms Altantuya worked as a translator for Baginda's company, which brokered the 
purchase of French submarines for the Malaysian government.

The French-speaking translator, a mother of two, told family and friends that 
Baginda promised then reneged on a million-dollar commission.

Abdul Razak was accused of ordering police to kill his former lover, after she 
came to his family home to harass him for money.

He was acquitted of abetting her murder, and is now believed to be living in 
Britain.

Despite the Malaysian prime minister's repeated denials, allegations of Mr 
Najib's involvement have dogged the leader since 2006.

An official inquiry into the murder has never been conducted despite the 
Malaysian opposition's demands for an independent probe.

In 2008, Mr Najib told Foreign Correspondent he had never met Ms Altantuya.

"I do not know her at all and how can I be linked with her?" he said.

"I have said it in Parliament, I've said it in the mosque, I will say it over 
and over again: those allegations are totally unfounded."

When sentencing Sirul Azhar and Azilah Hadri in 2009, Malaysian High Court 
judge, Zaki Mohamad Yasin, told the court: "Each of them are blaming the other, 
they failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution's case."

(source: ABC news)








BANGLADESH:

5 to die for killing schoolboy in Jamalpur



A court here yesterday sentenced 5 people to death for killing a schoolboy in 
the district town in 2010.

Those who have been awarded death penalty are Fazle Rabbi Shishir, 23, son of 
Musa Karim of Kampapur village, Saddam, 23, son of Abbas Ali of Miapara 
village, Zakir Hossain, 24, son of Badal Mia of Muslimabad village, Miran, 24, 
son of Nur Islam, and Setu, 24, son of late Helal Uddin of Sakal Bazar area in 
the town.

Judge Wahiduzzaman Shikdar of Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court 
delivered the verdict.

According to the case statement, the convicted 5 scuffled with the deceased, 
Shahjamal Islam Swadhin, a Class X student of Jamalpur High School, when they 
tried to snatch his mobile phone at a Baishakhi fair in the town on March 23, 
2010.

As a sequel to the incident, they called Swadhin out of his house in Bajaripara 
area at around 9:00pm, stabbed him in the chest and fled the scene. Critically 
injured Swadhin succumbed to his injuries on way to Jamalpur General Hospital 
the same night.

Saiful Islam, father of the deceased, filed a murder case with Sadar Police 
Station, accusing the 5 people, the following day. The court recorded 
statements of 8 witnesses during the trial of the case.

(source: The Daily Star)

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

Bangladeshi ex-minister appeals against death penalty for war crimes



Bangladesh's former minister Syed Mohammed Kaiser has challenged the death 
penalty on him by a war crime tribunal.

His lawyer Joynul Abedin Tuhin on Monday filed an appeal against the 
International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-1) verdict against Kaiser, who is now behind 
the bar.

Abedin, on behalf of Kaiser, filed the appeal in the country's Supreme Court.

On Dec. 23, 2014, the ICT-1 handed down punishment to Kaiser for war crimes.

ICT-1 found the 74-year-old guilty of collaborating with Pakistani forces 
during the war between the 2 countries and committing war crimes including mass 
killings.

(source: Xinhua)



PAKISTAN:

201 terrorists behind bars in Sindh, government told



Jail authorities have submitted a report to the government stating that there 
are 201 terrorists in jails across Sindh, Dunya News reported.

According to report, 65 out of 201 terrorists belong to banned 
Tehreek-e-Taliban. 46 have been convicted by different courts while 24 
terrorists have been handed death penalties.

So far, 20 convicted terrorists have been executed in jails across Pakistan 
since the government removed a six-year moratorium on the death penalty a day 
after Taliban massacred 135 children on December 16 in Peshawar.

The lifting of the ban has been generally welcomed in the country, which 
stepped up the fight against terrorism with new resolve eliminate each and 
every terrorist from Pakistan's soil.

(source: Dunya News)








SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi beheads murderer, warns others will face same fate



Saudi Arabia today beheaded one of its citizens for murder in its 12th 
execution this year, warning it would mete out the same fate to perpetrators of 
similar crimes.

Mansour bin Awad bin Ziniegih al-Jabri was sentenced to death after being 
convicted of shooting dead another Saudi in a family dispute, the interior 
ministry said.

Authorities carried out the sentence in the central Qassim region, the ministry 
said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The government is committed "to maintaining security, realising justice and 
implementing God's law on those who shed blood," the ministry said.

"It warns others tempted to carry out any similar act that their fate will be 
the same legitimate punishment."

The conservative kingdom has faced international criticism for its frequent use 
of the death penalty.

An independent expert working on behalf of the United Nations expressed concern 
in September about the judicial process in Saudi Arabia, calling for an 
immediate moratorium on executions.

The kingdom executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013, according to an 
AFP tally.

Saudi Arabia had the 3rd-highest number of recorded executions in 2013, behind 
Iran and Iraq, according to rights group Amnesty International.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable 
by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Islamic sharia law.

(source: Agence France-Presse)

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

The Death Sentence That Could Inflame Sectarian Tensions Across Middle East - 
Analysis



Last October, Saudi Arabia's Special Criminal Court sentenced Sheikh Nimr Baqir 
al-Nimr - a popular Shi'ite cleric and outspoken political dissident - to 
death.

This was not an ordinary criminal trial, even considering Saudi Arabia's 
liberal use of capital punishment. Among other charges, the prosecutor sought 
to convict al-Nimr of "waging war on God" and "aiding terrorists," even calling 
for the cleric to be publicly executed by "crucifixion." In Saudi Arabia, this 
rare method of execution entails beheading the individual before publicly 
displaying his decapitated body.

The widely revered Shi'ite cleric was ultimately convicted of "disobeying" the 
king, waging violence against the state, inviting "foreign meddling" in the 
kingdom, inciting vandalism and sectarian violence, and insulting the Prophet 
Muhammad's relatives. However, al-Nimr's family and supporters claim that the 
ruling was politically driven and insist that the cleric led a non-violent 
movement committed to promoting Shi'ite rights, women's rights, and democratic 
reform in Saudi Arabia.

Since the October 15 ruling, high-ranking political and religious authorities 
in Iran and international human rights organizations have sought to pressure 
the Saudi Arabian leadership into sparing al-Nimr's life. Demonstrations 
demanding that the death sentence be revoked have been held in Saudi Arabia, 
Bahrain, Yemen, and the United Kingdom, underscoring the international 
sensitivity surrounding al-Nimr's imprisonment and death sentence.

While many experts doubt that the Saudi Arabian authorities will actually carry 
out the execution, it is important to take stock of the political context in 
which the Special Criminal Court issued the death sentence.

Saudi Arabia's Restive Shi'ite Minority

Saudi Arabian Shi'ites have long complained of state-sponsored discrimination 
and human rights abuses by conservative Sunni authorities. According to Human 
Rights Watch, Saudi Arabian Shi'ites "face systematic discrimination in 
religion, education, justice, and employment."

In early 2011, anti-government protests erupted in the Qatif district of Saudi 
Arabia???s Eastern Province, which is home to nearly all of Saudi Arabia's 3 
million Shi'ite citizens and nearly 1/5 of the world's oil supply. Throughout 
2011 and 2012, al-Nimr was a leader in these protests, in which activists 
demanded the release of the "forgotten prisoners" - a reference to 9 political 
prisoners who had been detained then for some 16 years.

After Saudi Arabian, Emirati, and Kuwaiti forces entered Bahrain to help quell 
a non-violent Shi???ite uprising in the tiny island kingdom, Saudi Shi'ites 
expressed solidarity with their Bahraini counterparts. This prompted officials 
in Riyadh to fear that growing Shi'ite dissent could trigger a crisis in the 
strategically vital Eastern Province, which borders several other countries 
with sizeable Shi'ite populations. So between March 2011 and August 2012, the 
Saudi government waged a harsh crackdown on Shi'ite protestors, killing over 
20, injuring several dozen, and detaining over 1,000 others, including 24 
children.

Following the shooting of 4 Shi'ites in the Eastern Province in November 2011, 
al-Nimr spoke at one of their funerals. "We are determined to demand our 
legitimate rights by peaceful means," he declared. Al-Nimr, who had already 
been detained several times by that point, had called for peaceful resistance 
to the ruling monarchy on numerous other occasions, despite Riyadh's 
allegations that the cleric incited violence.

On July 8, 2012, Saudi security forces shot, wounded, and arrested al-Nimr 
after clashing with his bodyguards. Amnesty International condemned the arrest 
and described the cleric as "an outspoken critic of the policies and practices 
of the Saudi Arabian authorities affecting the [Shi'ite] community, including 
detentions without charge or trial, and excessive use of force against 
protestors."

Al-Nimr's trial began in March 2013. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the 
judges claimed that the cleric was "insistent" and "stubborn" during the trial. 
Al-Nimr did not deny the charges levied against him, yet he maintained that he 
never incited violence.

Daesh and Saudi Arabia's Domestic Environment

Anti-Shi'ism has served as a pillar of the Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam ever 
since Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab founded the movement in the 18th century. By 
inciting violence against Shi'ites in the Arabian Peninsula and beyond, Saudi 
Arabia's political leadership has maintained the alliance with the kingdom's 
hardline Wahhabi religious establishment (which views all Shi'ites as 
"heretics" and holds notoriously intolerant views of Christians and Jews) that 
led to the formation of the modern-day state of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

However, the rise of Daesh (or the "Islamic State") in Iraq and Syria - 
combined with the threat of violence from Daesh sympathizers inside Saudi 
Arabia - has put the government in an interesting position of having to defend 
its Shi'ite citizens from the rigidly anti-Shi'ite group.

Daesh's capacity to increase Saudi Arabia's sectarian temperature was 
demonstrated last November, when 3 Saudis and 1 Qatari linked to Daesh used 
machines guns and pistols to kill 5 Saudi Arabian Shi'ite worshippers in the 
Ahsa district of Dalwah. In contrast to the government's traditional role of 
promoting anti-Shi'ite bigotry, Saudi authorities responded the following day 
by shutting down Wesal TV, which had broadcast programs that labeled Shi'ites 
as "rejectionists." Later than month, Saudi Arabian security forces killed 3 of 
the 4 men responsible for the attack and uncovered a Daesh-linked cell 
comprised of 77 members (3 came from Jordan, Syria, and Turkey; the rest were 
Saudi Arabian nationals) that stored the weapons used in the Dalwah attack.

The threat from Daesh and its sympathizers in the country poses a new security 
and ideological challenge for Riyadh, which previously faced an al-Qaeda 
insurgency from 2003-2006 that killed hundreds of Saudi Arabians. Yet the 
authorities' response to this new menace has not been well received among 
certain conservative circles within the kingdom.

The official position of Saudi Arabia - a key Arab member of the U.S.-led 
military campaign against Daesh in Iraq and Syria - is that Daesh and the 
Damascus regime must be simultaneously defeated.

However, some Saudis are not sold. By taking military action against Daesh 
while not striking against Bashar al-Assad's forces, they say, Saudi Arabia is 
aligning itself with Iran, Syria, and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Some hardline Saudis 
believe that Daesh deserves Riyadh's support for serving as a Sunni bulwark 
against Iranian-backed governments in Baghdad and Damascus. Even some Saudi 
Sunnis who are opposed to Daesh's ideology and fearful of the group's agenda 
object to the bombing of Sunni Arabs combating the Alawite-led regime in Syria.

Within this context, the Saudi Arabian government's treatment of al-Nimr serves 
to communicate that while Riyadh channels greater resources toward the threat 
of Sunni extremism, the monarchy has not abandoned efforts to crush all forms 
of Shi'ite dissent in the restive Eastern Province. It is part of an effort by 
the government to prevent Daesh from exploiting a perception within hardline 
Wahhabi circles that Riyadh is becoming "soft" on Shi'ite activism at home and 
abroad.

A Shi'ite Backlash on Saudi Arabia's borders

But that strategy comes at a cost. Al-Nimr's prosecution and death sentence 
have triggered an outcry among Shi'ites across the Middle East, leaving little 
doubt that al-Nimr's execution would worsen the violent state of sectarian 
unrest in the region.

Iran's religious establishment in particular has harshly condemned al-Nimr's 
sentence. Conservative Iranian ayatollahs - including Jafar Sobhani, Hossein 
Nuri-Hamadani, and Naser Makarem Shirazi - have warned Riyadh that al-Nimr's 
execution would produce "unpredictable results" and that "such cruel actions 
will have consequences." Iran's Fars News Agency quoted Ayatollah Ahmad 
Khatemi, who admonished Saudi Arabia's leadership that "the execution of this 
scholar of religion will result in tough and serious repercussions, and it will 
cost you dearly."

Bahraini Shi'ites have held protests in solidarity with al-Nimr that resulted 
in clashes with local police. Militant Shi'ite factions in the island kingdom 
have also mobilized in response. Last August, Saraya al-Mukhtar - an 
organization that has pledged solidarity with its Shi'ite counterparts in Saudi 
Arabia - launched an assault near a Bahraini military base, citing al-Nimr's 
imprisonment as the motivation.

The group also issued threats on Facebook against U.S. troops stationed in 
Bahrain, proclaiming that Washington's support for the ruling Saudi Arabian and 
Bahraini monarchies makes the U.S. a legitimate target if al-Nimr is executed. 
On August 10, the group threatened Saudi nationals in Bahrain with a poster 
warning that "harming [al-Nimr] means every single Saudi national will enter 
our country in a coffin."

The following October, the group claimed responsibility for attacks in Sanabis 
and Aker. "The occupying mafia of Al Saud and Al Khalifa," it said in a 
statement referring to the Saudi and Bahraini monarchies, will "face 
consequences for the death sentence." 3 days later, the Shi'ite faction 
referred to the attacks as "revenge of the Faqih [a scholar in Islamic 
jurisprudence] Nimr" and claimed that the violence targeted the "ranks of the 
enemy occupier," referring to Saudi Arabia.

Bahraini officials have painted over pictures of al-Nimr that Shi'ites had 
plastered on walls to demonstrate solidarity with the cleric. Unquestionably, 
officials in Manama must be concerned about security risks in Bahrain as well 
if al-Nimr is executed.

Lebanon's Hezbollah has not been silent about al-Nimr either. The day after 
al-Nimr was sentenced to execution, the Lebanese resistance movement condemned 
the ruling as "unfair and politically charged." In an earlier release, the 
group issued a statement that "The continued detention of this great scholar 
and prosecuting him for natural political activities comes while such rights 
exist for every individual and every scholar and expression of ideas and views 
is a natural right of all individuals, underlined by all international 
regulation and divine faiths."

Protests against al-Nimr's death sentence were also held outside of Saudi 
Arabia's embassy in Yemen's capital, Sana'a. Ibrahim Bader Al-Deen al-Houthi - 
the brother of Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen's Shi'ite Houthi 
rebels - wrote in an online commentary, "We warn Saudi Arabia against...harming 
Sheikh al-Nimr in any way." He also declared that "if the Saudi authorities 
execute al-Nimr, it will be a criminal act that will not go unanswered."

Iraqi Shi'ite militias - including Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada ("The Battalion of 
the Sayyid's Martyrs," or KSS), Kata'ib Hezbollah ("Battalions of the Party of 
God"), and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq ("League of the Righteous") - have reacted as 
well. Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq's political wing in particular warned that Saudi Arabia 
would face "consequences" for the verdict. Previously, KSS praised Bahraini 
Shi'ite militant groups' attacks in the island kingdom, and Kata'ib Hezbollah 
(not the Lebanese group) launched assaults against U.S. armed forces in Iraq, 
citing Washington's support for the Bahraini government during the Shi'ite 
uprising of 2011 as justification.

Saudi Arabia and Iran's Rivalry

The flames of sectarian violence have wreaked havoc across the Levant and 
Arabian Peninsula. Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen continue to serve 
as sensitive proxy battlegrounds in Saudi Arabia and Iran's geopolitical 
rivalry.

Riyadh has backed Sunni forces in these countries with the intention of 
countering Tehran's influence in the Arab world, which grew substantially after 
Saddam Hussein's regime fell in 2003. The country played a pivotal role in 
sending its youth into Syria to wage a "holy war" against the secular Alawite 
regime in Damascus and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Daesh's rise to power last year, however, demonstrated that Riyadh's sectarian 
foreign policy has backfired against the kingdom's interests. Interestingly, 
while Saudi Arabia and Iran maintain opposing interests in Syria and Iraq's 
political futures, the 2 states indeed share a common interest in defeating 
Daesh, which controls swathes of Iraqi territory near both countries' borders. 
Recent diplomatic overtures between Riyadh and Tehran, following the 2013 
election of the moderate Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, have prompted 
speculation that the mutual threat of Daesh will pave the way for a thaw in 
Saudi Arabian-Iranian relations.

Yet if a rapprochement between the 2 rivals is in the works, al-Nimr's 
execution would surely derail it. If Saudi Arabia executes al-Nimr, which would 
make him the 1st Muslim cleric to receive the death penalty in the kingdom, 
Iranian officials would have to respond in some form, as the Islamic Republic 
fashions itself as the heart of modern day Shi'ism. Additionally, new threats 
to Saudi Arabia will arise from other countries on its borders as various 
groups who revere al-Nimr would feel obligated to strike against the state or 
its interests abroad.

Within the oil-rich Eastern Province, there is a possibility that Saudi 
Hezbollah (which is also distinct from the Lebanese group) could reemerge as a 
force capable of wreaking havoc, posing graver security challenges for the 
ruling monarchy. Indeed, in the late 1980s, Saudi Hezbollah bombed energy 
infrastructure in the kingdom and waged an assassination campaign that targeted 
Saudi Arabian diplomats in Pakistan, Thailand, and Turkey in response to the 
killing of hundreds of Iranian pilgrims who traveled to Saudi Arabia for the 
Hajj in 1987 and the beheading of 4 Saudi Hezbollah members.

As officials in Riyadh decide what steps to take toward al-Nimr, they must be 
cautious about the possibility of Shi'ite militias carrying out future attacks 
against the ruling monarchy. Indeed, reports have surfaced of Shi'ite militants 
striking 1st against Saudi security forces in the Eastern Province. If true, 
al-Nimr's execution would only serve to exacerbate the dangerous state of 
relations between the Sunni monarchy and the kingdom's 3 million Shi'ites at a 
time when Saudi Arabia faces a growing security threat from Daesh in Iraq and 
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen.

Ideally, Saudi Arabia's authorities will conclude that they must spare 
al-Nimr's life to prevent sectarian unrest from further escalating in eastern 
Saudi Arabia and the greater Middle East. Until that decision is made, 
al-Nimr's fate will hang like a sword of Damocles over the region's already 
volatile geopolitical environment.

(source: eurasiareview.com)


BAHAMAS:

Child Killer's Sentence Is Reduced To 50 Years In Jail



Former death row inmate Clayton Cox did not appear satisfied yesterday when the 
Court of Appeal reduced his life sentence to 50 years imprisonment for the 
murder of a 10-year-old boy.

Cox and his lawyer Roberto Reckley had previously argued to the appellate court 
that the 49-year-old should have been re-sentenced, in 2010, to 30-35 years in 
jail for the bludgeoning death of Scottie Andrews back in 1998.

While Justices Anita Allen, Stanley John and Neville Adderley took into 
consideration the point raised on the uncertainty of life sentences in the 
previous cases of Angelo Poitier and Peter Meadows, the judges stressed that 
the killing of a 10-year-old, in the manner in which it happened, warranted a 
punishment at the higher end of the sentencing range of 25-60 years.

Upon taking a seat at the back of the Claughton House courtroom to await 
transportation to the Department of Correctional Services, Cox's reaction was: 
"Muddoes dred, [sic] this court cold.

"50 years? I (will) appeal that again," he added.

Cox was initially sentenced to death in 1998 for the murder of Andrews who had 
returned home from school on October 4, 1994, and went to play with friends 
before returning home and leaving again.

He did not return and three days later, he was found behind a church on Balliou 
Hill Road with his pants pulled down and his body partially decomposed.

According to a 12-year-old boy, who was with Andrews when they were returning 
home, they were intercepted by Cox who took Andrews by the neck while telling 
the witness to go away.

Another eye-witness testified seeing Cox leaving his house with a piece of 
plywood. An autopsy revealed that Andrews died as a result of severe blunt 
force trauma that fractured his skull.

Cox's execution was stayed by the ruling of the London-based Privy Council in 
2006, which found that the mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional.

In March 2010, then-Senior Justice Jon Isaacs re-sentenced Cox to life 
imprisonment, which has been reduced to 50 years imprisonment.

Cox's new sentence runs from November 1998, when he was convicted.

He has already served 16 years.

(source: The Tribune)