[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 25



PAKISTAN:

2 more LeJ activists to be hanged on Feb 3



An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday issued death warrants for 2 murder 
convicts belonging to banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) for February 3.

Attaullah and Muhammad Azam had been convicted for killing Dr Ali Razi Peerani 
in the area of Soldier Bazar in June 2001.

The ATC had awarded capital punishment to them, over which the 2 approached the 
Sindh High Court and then Supreme Court, but both the appellate courts rejected 
their appeals.

Finally, Attaullah and Azam appealed before the president, who dismissed their 
mercy appeals as well.

In 2013, the ATC issued death warrants for these convicts, but due to the 
moratorium the 2 could not be hanged.

The ATC again issued death warrants against the 2 on December 19, 2014 for 
December 30, but the heirs of the convicts moved a petition in the Sindh High 
Court that had declared the issuance of black warrants as contradictory to the 
rules.

On Saturday, the ATC reissued death warrants against Attaulah and Abdullah for 
February 3.

The last execution in Karachi was carried out on January 15, as 
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi activist Mohammad Saeed alias Maulvi was hanged inside the 
Karachi Central Jail.

An anti-terrorism court had found the man guilty of shooting deputy 
superintendent of police (retd) Syed Sabir Hussain Shah and his young son Syed 
Abid Hussain Shah and sentenced him to death in April 2001. Saeed had killed 
both his victims on sectarian grounds in an ambush near the Malir City railway 
crossing.

An anti-terrorism court had issued black warrants for his execution on January 
3 after the years-long moratorium on death penalty was lifted in the wake of 
the Peshawar school attack. Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan 
had announced that more than 500 convicted terrorists would be hanged across 
the country.

Mercy appeal of the convict was also turned down by the president. Strict 
security measures were taken outside the Karachi jail and besides extra 
contingents of police, army and Rangers personnel were also deployed in and 
outside the prison premises.

So far 19 death row prisoner have been executed in the country since Prime 
Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on death penalty on December 17, 
2014, a day after the carnage in Peshawar. The moratorium had been in place 
unofficially since 2008.

(source: The News)

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

Death penalty won't solve terror: Ayesha Jalal



The lifting of moratorium on death penalty in Pakistan had been demanded by the 
military high command for a long time, said Pakistani academic Ayesha Jalal at 
a seminar here on Saturday.

The moratorium was lifted after Taliban gunmen attacked an army school in 
Peshawar and killed more than 130 children in December last year.

Describing the revocation of the moratorium as a "sort of knee-jerk reaction," 
Ms. Jalal said: "I do not believe that going back to death penalty will solve 
the problem of terror which is deeply embedded and needs to be addressed at 
multiple levels by Pakistan."

She claimed that the move points to the "inefficacy of the judiciary which 
cannot convict people fast enough or adequately enough."

Ms. Jalal said that it was the problems in the judicial system that was 
"driving the return of capital punishment."

She said there was an "ideological dimension" on lifting the ban on capital 
punishment as it was the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto of 
the Pakistan Peoples Party who introduced it.

"The party that is currently occupying power in Pakistan [Pakistan Muslim 
League (N)] has been in favour of death penalty." She claimed that the U.S. was 
"losing interest in Pakistan," adding that the U.S. "interest in Pakistan has 
been in the Army and nothing else." "Those who want Pakistan to retain its 
democracy would like to see America taking less interest in Pakistan," Ms. 
Jalal added.

(source: The Hindu)








NIGERIA:

'Obey Laws of Foreign Nations'



The Federal Government has appealed to Nigerians travelling abroad to adhere to 
the laws, rules and regulations of nations they visit to avoid running foul of 
the law and finding themselves in trouble.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Danjuma 
Sheni, made this appeal while speaking on the recent execution of 2 Nigerians, 
Daniel Enemuo and Solomon Chibuike Okafor (who had been travelling as a 
Malawian citizen) by Indonesian authorities for drug trafficking.

12 Nigerians remain on death row in the Asian nation which maintains a hard 
stance against drug trafficking related offences. "Most substantially, we as 
Nigerians must also look inwards; we must ensure that our nationals, as they 
move around the world must take full cognisance of the fact that certain 
countries, particularly in Asia, have the death penalty and do not take issues 
pertaining to drug trafficking lightly," he said.

(source: All Africa News)








MALAYSIA:

Kedah police seized drugs worth RM110,000



Kedah police had seized more than 3 kilogrammes of heroin and syabu with street 
value of RM110,000 following the arrest of 7 traffickers in separate arrests in 
Alor Star and Langkawi between Wednesday and Friday.

State Narcotic Investigation Department chief Superintendent Abd Razak Md Zin 
said in the 1st bust, police nabbed 2 men after seizing 2.3kg of heroin and 
407gm of syabu in their Toyota Vios car at Kuala Kedah on Wednesday.

He said in another haul the following day, police arrested a 32-year-old drug 
trafficker upon his arrival at Kuah Jetty in Langkawi and seized 250gm of syabu 
from the suspect, who later led police to a house in Kedawang.

"In the follow up raid, the Langkawi Narcotic Investigation Department rounded 
up two men and a woman after seizing 72.6gm of heroin and 0.5gm of syabu plus a 
WY pill from the suspects," he said in a Press conference at the state police 
contingent headquarters here today.

Abd Razak said in a separate raid in Langkawi on Friday, police nabbed a 
38-year-old drug trafficker in Taman Nilam and seized 100gm of heroin from the 
suspect.

He said all cases were being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous 
Drugs Act 1952 which carries mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

(source: New Straits Times)








IRAN----executions

At least 12 people have been executed for drug-related charges in Iran today.



2 prisoners were hanged in the prison of Arak (Central Iran) early Sunday 
morning 25. January. According to the official website of Iranian Judiciary in 
Markazi Province, both the prisoners were executed for drug related charges. 
The prisoners were identified as "Milad Z" charged with possession and 
trafficking of 2950 grams of heroin, and "Alireza A" for possession and 
trafficking 2950 grams of heroin, said the report.

Earlier today Iran Human Rights reported about executions of 10 prisoners for 
drug-related charges in Kerman (Southeastern Iran).

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

Executions of Kerman: 10 Prisoners hanged for Drug-Related Charges 
Today----Besides today's executions of 10 prisoners, there are reports about 3 
group executions during the last week in Kerman. None of these executions are 
announced by the official sources.



10 prisoners were hanged in the prison of Kerman early Sunday morning 25. 
January. All the prisoners were convicted of drug-related charges. None of the 
executions have been announced by the official Iranian sources.

According to the reports by reliable sources Iran Human Rights (IHR) has been 
in contact with 8 of the 10 prisoners executed today are identified as: 1) 
Rahmatollah Mokhtari, 2) Mohammad Shahriari, 3) Ebrahim Abai, 4) Mehri Raeisi, 
5) Mansour Behrouzi, 6) Hassan Ramyar, 7) Ghodratollah Roudbari, and 8) 
Mohammad Karim Morad Zehi. Names of the 2 other prisoners are not known yet.

The families of the prisoners were informed about the executions and were given 
the chance to meet them for the last time.

According to IHR sources there have been 3 group executions on Sunday January 
18, Tuesday January 20 and Thursday January 22 in the prison of Kerman. IHR is 
investigating about the details around these executions.

In December 2014 IHR reported about the unannounced mass-executions of 
drug-convicts in the prison of Kerman.

Despite the fact that several Iranian officials have announced that they are 
not happy about the high number of executions for drug-related charges, IHR has 
noticed a sharp increase in the number of drug-related executions during the 
past few months.

(source for both: Iran Human Rights)

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

10 Prisoners Hanged in Taibad Prison



10 prisoners, who had been charged with drug related crimes, were executed in 
Taibad prison by hanging.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on 11th 
January, 10 prisoners, who had been charged with drug related crimes, were 
executed in Taibad prison by hanging.

1 of them was named "Mohammad Rasool Etemadi Khah" but there is no information 
about the others name, yet.

Iranian official Media have not reported these executions, yet.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)

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

Freedom Hanging from a Rope in Iran




Despite an outcry from the international community and several human rights 
organizations against the use of capital punishment in Iran, the world still 
sees an increasing amount of images of hangings being carried out, ones that 
are justified by the Iranian regime as being a righteous duty for them.

Under the rule of Hassan Rouhani, Friday morning news was again met with 9 more 
prisoners being hung in Iran, including 3 as public executions. 3 other men 
were put to death in the city of Bonab, where this increase in number has 
caused the international human rights organizations to be worried and on their 
toes as to when the Iranian regime would strike again.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) highlights how capital 
punishment in Iran, has escalated to such an extent that quite a number of 
executions are not even privy to the public. A group of 5 prisoners was hanged 
in Adelabad Prison, in the city of Shiraz, that was kept quiet by the 
authorities.

It has been reported that since Hassan Rouhani has become President of this 
clerical regime, over 1,200 people have been executed and hundreds more have 
been subjected to degrading and inhumane punishments such as amputation, 
flogging in public and being paraded naked in streets. The NCRI has been 
frequently denouncing this oppressive regime, by highlighting cases of death 
penalties under any justification. On New Year's Day, it was reported by them, 
that 14 prisoners were hanged, including 4 women. The United Nations General 
Assembly last month slammed the violations of human rights by the Iranian 
regime, where it criticized it for using inhuman punishments and its 'mullah' 
dictatorship to cause fear for its civilians, through these unnecessary 
executions.

The Iranian Resistance has repeatedly condemned the carrying out of medieval 
punishments and executions by the clerical regime in Iran and has called for 
referral of the regime's violations of human rights record to the United 
Nations Security Council. Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian opposition 
has elaborated on the movement's vision for a future Iran, through their Ten 
Point Plan. In that, they have made it quite clear that they support and are 
committed to the abolition of death penalty, where for this to be possible, 
separation of religion and state is necessary. Only then would any form of 
discrimination against the followers of any religion and denomination will be 
prohibited.

The International Federation For Human Rights , has also criticized the 
continuation of the death penalty in Iran, providing insight into this 'state 
terror policy' of Iran, one that violates the basic human right of all human 
beings born free and equal in dignity. At a time when momentum is gathering 
across the world to abolish capital punishment, the Islamic Republic of Iran 
currently ranks 2nd for number of executions and 1st for per capita executions 
in the world. Iran can never be free, unless it can break away from the 
shackles of its 'mullah' leaders, ones that are breeding fear and extremism 
through these hangings.

(source: Iran Focus)








AUSTRALIA:

Take aim, fire at will: Australian hypocrisy on a high pedestal



The Australian media is engaged in a surreal form of hypocrisy by criticizing 
the execution of those convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia. Canberra's 
exceptionalism stands out as it puts its double standards with respect to human 
lives and dignity on a high pedestal, problematizing the death penalty only 
when Australians are put before the firing squad.

First, Indonesian state treatment of convicted drug traffickers differs only 
slightly from Australia's treatment of asylum seekers. Asylum seekers 
desperately trying to seek refuge in Australia and convicted drug traffickers 
vacationing in Bali are similar "abject bodies": individuals that the sovereign 
state does not want and plans to effectively and efficiently dispose of.

In a nutshell, the only difference between Indonesian and Australian treatment 
of "abject bodies" lies merely in each country's preferred legal methods and 
the distance considered comfortable and acceptable by its public. Indonesia 
provides open and accessible trials, opportunities for appeal, sympathetic 
media coverage, rehabilitation programs and a chance at being granted 
presidential clemency.

On the other hand, Australia seemingly prefers secretive on-the-spot 
extra-judicial actions, better known as "on-sea-matters" that the Abbott 
government refuses to comment on. Furthermore, Indonesia prefers openly using 
its own firing squad, having solid legal justification and being fully 
accountable for the lives it takes.

Meanwhile, Australia prefers the outsourcing and subcontracting of their deeds 
to private companies and offshoring them to distant locations that are 
conveniently out of sight and out of the mind of its public, such as Manus 
Island, Nauru and Cambodia. In July 2014, the forced return of Australian-bound 
refugees to Sri Lanka also indicated that Canberra is content with practices 
bordering on "forced disappearance" of civilians at sea while effectively 
breaching international legal principles of non-refoulement, the UN Refugee 
Convention and UN Convention against Torture. Asylum seekers, sometimes 
including children, in Australian detention facilities have undergone hunger 
strikes, sewn their lips shut, inflicted self-harm and attempted suicide, 
swallowed razorblades and even burned themselves to death in protest at the 
"Australian solution".

Currently, 700 asylum seekers are on hunger strike in Manus Island. 2 asylum 
seekers from the camp, Reza Barati and Hamid Kehazaei, have already died but 
not a single asylum seeker has been successfully resettled to date. This makes 
the facility more of a death camp than a resettlement camp.

Second, insistence on saving individual Australians misses the bigger picture 
which should be the abolition of the death penalty and upholding human dignity 
in Indonesia, Australia and beyond. When former president Yudhoyono left his 
presidency, he controversially granted Schapelle Corby parole. His act of 
conceited generosity fostered Australian exceptionalism, giving the impression 
that the death penalty is avoidable by turning convicted Australians into media 
darlings, concluding backroom negotiations, having your appeal heard by the 
president and finding legal loopholes that Australians can exploit.

Before concerned Australians can start seeing the bigger picture and join ranks 
with like-minded liberals and reformists in Indonesia, Australian parents will 
continue to worry about their youth vacationing in Bali, knowing that once 
caught experimenting with recreational drugs, their loved ones might be sent to 
the firing squad.

Third, implying that executions will affect bilateral relations to the 
disadvantage of Indonesia is ridiculous. Former Australian prime minister John 
Howard and opposition leader Simon Crean were not opposed to the execution of 
convicted terrorists Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Imam Samudra in 2008 and 
Canberra, through its counterterrorism aid, had actually subsidized the bullets 
used to execute them. Australian media coverage of their executions was 
surprisingly detailed and even savored many of its graphic moments.

Australia's main ally, the United States, enforces the death penalty in the 
majority of its states and one of Canberra's largest trading partners and 
paymaster, China, performs one of the highest numbers of executions worldwide 
and has only stopped harvesting organs from executed prisoners this year. If 
anything, Australian hypocrisy and exceptionalism risks worsening its public 
image in Indonesia as a neighbor that not only disrespects international law 
and Indonesia's borders, but now also Indonesian law and legal corridors.

Australian government appeals are neither heroic nor heartfelt; Canberra is 
merely trying to save their own "subject bodies" from the firing squad, while 
slowly disposing of "abject bodies" it does not want through inhumane detention 
camps or returning them to foreign regimes that will probably finish the job 
for them. Indonesia paying "blood money" to save the "subject bodies" of 
Indonesian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia from beheading is no less 
hypocritical as these efforts are done against the backdrop of killing off 
"abject bodies" that were once warmly received as guests in Bali.

Australia and Indonesia betray human rights and violate human dignity alike by 
abusing the criminalized and illegal "abject bodies" in surprisingly similar 
ways, differing only in their preferred legal methods and comfortable distance 
acceptable to their respective publics. All lives matter greatly, not just 
Australian ones.

Any debate that does not start from these fundamental premises of equality of 
human life and dignity is not worth visiting and is a waste of the Indonesian 
public's valuable attention and time.

(source: Pierre Marthinus; The writer is executive director for the Marthinus 
Academy in Jakarta----The Jakarta Post)

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

Australian stars and public figures plead for mercy for Bali 9



Asher Keddie, Germaine Greer and Alan Jones are among those who have thrown 
their support behind 2 Australians facing the death penalty in Indonesia, in a 
powerful star-filled video calling for mercy.

Sydney-based artist Ben Quilty who formed a bond with Bali nine death row 
inmates Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan over art classes at the notorious 
Kerobokan Prison posted the video to social media on Saturday.

"Some of my favourite people are standing for mercy," he wrote. "Myu and 
Andrew, we are walking this path with you."

Sukumaran and Chan have spent nearly a decade behind bars in Bali for their 
roles in an attempt to smuggle heroin into Australia from Indonesia.

Both Australians have recently lost their final bids of clemency to Indonesian 
President Joko Widodo.

Their deaths by firing squad are considered imminent.

The impassioned video features Australian stars and public figures expressing 
their opposition to the killing of the reformed men and includes quotes from 
Kerobokan inmates whose lives they have touched.

Among the familiar faces to express support are Megan Washington, Claudia 
Karvan, Missy Higgins, Bryan Brown, Richard Roxbugh and David Wenham.

The video, which was also uploaded to the Mercy Campaign website, points to an 
online petition addressed to Mr Widodo calling for the Australians to be 
spared, which has garnered more than 1500 signatures and was forced to relocate 
due to the heavy web traffic it was receiving.

Written in English and Indonesian the petition argues both men have turned 
their lives around and helped other prisoners do the same.

"They are a true credit to the Indonesian Penal system, which has enabled their 
rehabilitation," it states.

"They deserve to be in jail, but not to be killed."

Quilty is also putting together a tribute concert for the men.

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

Aussies on death row part of a grim line to have faced possible death sentence



Death row inmates Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan stand in a grim line of 
nearly 90 Australians who have faced a possible death sentence overseas in the 
past 30 years.

1/3, or 28, of the 87 Australians arrested abroad for capital crimes were 
sentenced to execution. Only 16 were acquitted or had the charges dropped, 
while drug trafficker David McMillan managed to escape Thailand's Klong Prem 
prison in 1996 before he could be tried.

Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia handed down the most death sentences, while 
Malaysia and Singapore are the only countries to have executed Australians 
since mid-last century.

Indonesian lawyers for Sukumaran and Chan will lodge a 2nd request for judicial 
review this week. If rejected, the Sydney men will become the 5th and 6th 
Australians to be executed since 1967, the year of Australia's last execution, 
the hanging of Ronald Ryan.

19 of the 28 death sentences were later commuted to jail terms. At least 3 
Australians - Chan, Sukumaran, and Pham Trung Dung in Vietnam - remain on death 
row, while four others arrested last year, await sentencing.

The fate of Harry Chhin, who received a suspended death sentence in 2005 in 
China, remains unknown. His case was set for review in 2007, but his status, in 
a country that regards prisoner executions as a state secret, is unknown.

Only 1 death row inmate, Donald Tait, has managed to escape execution by having 
his Thai verdict overturned.

Of those arrested overseas for capital crimes, 9 in 10 were detained for drug 
offences. The smallest amount was carried by Aaron Cohen, who was sentenced to 
life in a Malaysian prison in 1985 after being caught with 34 grams of heroin. 
Cohen, who was 19 when arrested and reportedly born a heroin addict, was 
detained with his mother Lorraine. She was sentenced to death. Both were 
pardoned in 1996.

The youngest, Gordon Vuong, was only 16 when he was sentenced to 13 years in a 
Cambodian jail in 2005. The oldest, an unnamed 71-year-old woman, was arrested 
in Vietnam allegedly with 2.8 kg of heroin in December last year.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties considered the death penalty "barbaric", 
said president Stephen Blanks.

"Every criminal is entitled - even the worst murderers, the worst drug dealers 
- to the opportunity to reform themselves."

The number of Australians arrested overseas each year has tripled in the past 
20 years, mirroring a rise in travel overseas, figures from the Department of 
Foreign Affairs and Trade show.

In 2014, nearly 370 Australians were imprisoned overseas and more than 1200 
Australians were arrested while abroad.

(source for both: Sydney Morning Herald)