[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 27



SOUTHEAST ASIA:

Southeast Asia: UN rights office appeals for halt in executions for drug crimes



The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 
today expressed concern over the use of the death penalty for drug-related 
crimes in Southeast Asia and urged authorities to abolish the punishment amid 
reports that eight more people had been sentenced to death for heroin 
trafficking.

"According to international human rights jurisprudence, capital punishment 
could only be applied to the crime of murder or intentional killing," OHCHR 
spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva, where the Office is 
based.

"Drug-related offences, economic crimes, political crimes, adultery, and 
offences relating to consensual same-sex relationships did not fall under the 
threshold of "most serious crimes" required under international law for 
application of the death penalty," Ms. Shamdasani said.

OHCHR expressed its concern about the continued use of the death penalty for 
drug-related crimes in parts of South East Asia, where last Sunday, 6 people 
convicted of drug offences were executed in Indonesia in spite of several 
national and international appeals. Further, a court in Vietnam today 
reportedly sentenced 8 people, including 2 women, to death for heroin 
trafficking.

The Office is particularly concerned about the respect for due process in such 
cases after Indonesian President Joko Widodo reportedly stated that he would 
reject all requests for clemency for drug-related crimes, the Spokeswomen said.

OHCHR urged the Indonesian authorities to reinstate a moratorium on the death 
penalty and to conduct a thorough review of all requests for pardon with a view 
to commutation of sentence, Ms. Shamdasani said.

According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which 
Indonesia has ratified, "anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek 
pardon or commutation of the sentence," according to the spokeswoman.

OHCHR also called on Vietnam not to carry out those executions of the 8 people 
sentenced today, to ensure judicial review of the sentences, and to consider 
elimination of the death penalty for drug-related crimes.

In Southeast Asia, drug-related crimes are punishable by death in Indonesia, 
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

While those crimes are also punishable by death in Brunei Darussalam, the Lao 
Peoples" Democratic Republic and Myanmar, those three countries have not 
carried out executions since 1957, 1989 and 1988, respectively.

The OHCHR Spokesperson said the International Narcotics Control Board had 
encouraged States that still imposed the death penalty for drug-related 
offenses to abolish that punishment.

(source: India Gazette)








IRAN----executions

3 Prisoners Hanged in Western Iran----At least 70 executions have been reported 
so far in 2015 in Iran



3 prisoners were hanged in Hamadan (western Iran) reported the official website 
of Iranian Judiciary in Hamadan. The prisoners who were not identified by name, 
were convicted of rape, said the report. The executions were carried out 
yesterday morning 26. January.

According to reports by Iran Human Rights (IHR) at least 70 people have been 
executed so far in January 2015 in Iran. 25 of the executions have been 
reported by official Iranian sources.

(source: Iran Human Rights)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Arabia's New King Refused to Intervene in a Controversial Beheading



Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud looks on during a 
meeting with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in 
Beijing

An alleged rapist was executed Monday but many Saudis believe the case against 
him was shaky

A Saudi man accused of raping young girls was beheaded on Monday in the 1st 
execution under the administration of Saudi Arabia's new King Salman.

Teacher Moussa al-Zahrani, 45, was beheaded in the western city of Jeddah, the 
Associated Press reports. The execution drew an unusual amount of debate on 
Saudi talk shows and social media, with citizens and relatives pointing out 
inconsistencies and gaps in evidence.

Al-Zahrani repeatedly maintained his innocence throughout his trial and 
appeals, and pleaded to the late Saudi King Abdullah to intervene in a video, 
which circulated widely in social media. The video featured al-Zahrani's 
allegations that police framed him, eliciting a Twitter hashtag in Arabic "We 
are all Moussa al-Zahrani."

However, King Salman, like his predecessor, chose not to intervene in the 
execution. Saudi Arabia continues to apply the death penalty to cases of rape, 
murder and other offenses according to the theocratic kingdom's strict 
interpretation of Islamic law.

(source: TIME Magazine)








CHINA:

Death penalty upheld for child trafficker



A court in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday confirmed 
and upheld the child trafficking conviction and death sentence of a man 
claiming to be Vietnamese.

The region's higher people's court announced that it agreed that Huang Qingheng 
was guilty of orchestrating the exchange of more than 20 infants and children 
for financial gain since 2010.

The children were either smuggled from Vietnam to be sold in China, mainly in 
Guangdong Province, or pregnant Vietnamese women were sent to China to sell 
their unborn children.

11 of the children have been rescued by Chinese police.

The other 23 members of Huang's gang, who are both Chinese and Vietnamese 
nationals, were given jail terms ranging from 22 months to life imprisonment.

The local police said that Huang's nationality is yet to be verified.

(source: Xinhua News Agency)








NIGERIA:

Death Row Inmates Recount Experience As LEDAP Opens New Office



Williams Owodo is 36 years old. Out of that 36 years, he spent 17 of it in 
prison as a death row inmate. His story is heart-rending as it is incredulous.

He was barely 16, when he was picked up in Police raid at Ajegunle while 
returning from a football training.

In a twist of events, he ended up in death row as a condemned criminal. Owodo 
said: "I was arrested in February 1, 1995 with 4 others persons on allegation 
of murder in Ajegunle and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death on 
December 5, 2003 by the Lagos High Court."

Williams said when they were arrested and kept in Ajeromi Police station, most 
of the other detainees whose parents had the wherewithal effected their 
release. In his own case, there was no means, so he was branded an armed 
robber, tortured to confess to the crime and condenmed to death in court. He 
was freed eventually by the Appeal Court in 2014.

Also, Sopuruchi Obed was barely 17 when he was arrested on September 30, 2004 
on the allegation by Police at Igando that he and others were part of a group 
of young men seen by Police informant spending lavishly at a beer parlour, and 
overhead boasting of their unlawful escapades. Obed said even though no one 
ever testified of being robbed by him or others, they were charged for armed 
robbery and convicted.

Meanwhile, the young man said he was just a hapless passerby. He revealed that 
he met his alleged crime mate, Oto-Obong Edet for the 1st time in Police 
custody. Both of them were locked up in jail since and only had the air of 
freedom in 2014. He faced the trauma of the imminence of the hangman for 10 
years.

Unlike Owodo, Obed was not only tortured to confess to the crime, he was shot 
on his leg. He said: "Everyday, I see people get killed. The fear and torment 
of being killed was horrifying. I didn't want to die, so when they tortured me 
and threatened to kill me, I signed the document, admitting that I robbed. But 
when I told the court that the statement was not voluntary, the judge just 
refused to agree".

The story is the same for Christopher Tobi Okolie, a former student of the 
Federal Technical College Ilesha who was arrested in 2000 when he was accused 
of committing the offence of murder while he was involved in a altercation with 
few of his neighbours.

Okolie said a gang of boys within his neighbourhood waylaid him on his was to 
his father's residence in Ikotun area as a result of his discman player, which 
his friend borrowed and refused to return. "I borrowed my disc player to my 
friend. So when I wanted to return to school, I went to collect it, but he told 
me that he has given it to his brother. Because I didn't want to go without my 
disc, I took the one I saw in their house and left. When I came home, their 
brother came to my house and slapped me.

"One evening, as I was returning, they waylaid me on the street. I ran to enter 
our compund but it was locked. So in the process of dragging me, both of us 
fell into the gutter. I didn't know that the guy got seriously injured. It was 
later that the Police came and arrested me in my sisters place".

He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death in March 2006 for murder. 
But late last year, he was freed by the superior court.

Those are the ugly stories of hundreds of weak an vulnerable Nigerians who have 
been in death row but freed through the intervention of Legal Defence and 
Assistance Programme (LEDAP).

They recounted their experiences recently at the occasion of the opening of 
LEDAP's new office in Lekki, Lagos. They all appealed for aid to start a new 
life.

Speaking at the occasion, the national cordinator of LEDAP, Mr. Chino Obiagwu 
said for the past 18 years, the non-governmental organisation has worked in the 
area of access to justice and rule of law; human security, women's right, 
internaional advocacy and rights of persons living with disabilities.

Obiagwu pointed out that LEDAP has remained the leading voice in Nigeria on the 
abolition of death penalty.

His words: "Under its human security programme, LEDAP has documented since 2001 
extrajudicial killings in Nigeria comprising over 12, 500 recorded cases of 
unlawful killings published as our annual 'impunity report'."

He noted that his organisation pioneered the Domestic Violence Law, which is 
today the key instrument for the protection of women and children from 
gender-based violence, the administration of criminal justice law as well as 
being a licenced service provider to the Nigeria Bar Association on mandatory 
continuing legal education.

According to him, LEDAP's access to justice and human security programmes are 
geared towards providing free legal services to indigent prisoners. "LEDAP has 
provided free legal support to over 100 death row inmates in Nigeria. Nearly 7 
out of every 10 death penalty appeals that LEDAP has handled in the last 2 
years have resulted in the acquittal of the appellants, suggesting a very high 
rate of wrongeful capital convictions", he said, and appealed to the Nigerian 
government to reconsider its stand on the use of capital punishment by 
abolishing the use of death penalty and replace same with life imprisonment.

(source: All Africa News)