[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----IRAN, QATAR, JAPAN, INDIA, BANG., INDON.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 28



IRAN----execution

At Least 1 Prisoner Hanged in Isfahan



Last Wednesday a prisoner with charges related to drugs, was executed in 
central prison of Isfahan.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a 
prisoner identified as Solaiman Ahmadi, who was sentenced to death for drug 
related charges, was executed last Wednesday at dawn by hanging, on central 
prison of Isfahan.

Solaiman Ahmadi, the son of Hossain, was arrested 3 years ago and sentenced to 
death for drug related charges. He was the from Amir Abad village of Boukan 
town.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)








QATAR:

American family rules out death penalty for teacher murder trial in 
Qatar----Qatar court tells US family to decide on execution



The family of an American schoolteacher murdered in Qatar has told a court they 
do not want her alleged killer to be executed as they are "not cruel".

A judge in Qatar ruled on Sunday that the Pennsylvania-based family of Jennifer 
Brown could decide whether the Kenyan security guard charged with her murder 
should face the death penalty.

Relatives were also told that it was able to choose between blood money or a 
pardon.

One of Brown's sisters said the family could not morally sanction the use of 
the death penalty and wanted the security guard, who has yet to be convicted, 
to "get life" in prison.

"We don't believe in taking life," said Tricia Snisky. "What he did was awful 
and horrendous, but killing him wouldn't bring Jennifer back. It does more 
harm.

"We don't want somebody's blood shed on our behalf. We are not cruel."

The family is in the process of signing official papers for the Qatari court, 
expressing their desire for a life sentence, Ms Snisky said.

Although the death penalty can still be handed down as a punishment in Qatar, 
it has been 12 years since the last execution took place.

Even if the security guard was to be pardoned, he would face some form of 
custodial sentence, court officials said.

Brown, 40, was murdered in her company-provided home in November 2012.

She had only been in the country for 2 months, teaching at the English Modern 
School in Al Wakrah, south of Doha.

The security guard has reportedly confessed but the case has been subject to 
several delays.

"We are tired of it. It's been dragging on for 2 years," Ms Snisky said by 
telephone from her home in the town of Jim Thorpe.

"We just want to close it and forget it as best as we can."

She said that her parents would "never be the same" because of the murder.

The next hearing in the case will take place in Doha on March 8.

(source: Agence France-Presse)








JAPAN:

Japan to maintain capital punishment in line with public support for the policy



Citing overwhelming public support for capital punishment, Justice Minister 
Yoko Kamikawa pledged Jan. 27 to continue to authorize executions by hanging.

Kamikawa, 61, also made clear that she does not intend to review the policy in 
the near-term, although she touched on the possible introduction of life 
imprisonment without parole.

Referring to a nationwide Cabinet Office survey that found 80.3 % backing for 
the death penalty, with 9.7 % calling for it to be abolished, Kamikawa said at 
a news conference: "It showed a positive result. We will continue to take 
careful and strict actions."

"Most people believe it is unavoidable for those who committed extremely 
malicious crimes to face (execution)," she added. "We will not review the 
system of capital punishment for the time being."

Turning to calls in some quarters for life terms that mean precisely that, 
Kamikawa noted that some people regard it as "too severe punishment that could 
give convicts a feeling of hopelessness."

"The issue should be discussed broadly among the public," she said.

Kamikawa also referred to the global trend of abolishing the death penalty and 
calls by activists for Japan to follow suit. However she noted these arguments 
should be discussed in Japan, saying, "It is a problem associated with what 
country Japan should be, and it is (the Japanese people's) business."

(source: The Asahi Shimbun)



INDIA:

India cancels 'house of horrors' child-killer execution; Surinder Koli Koli was 
found guilty of kidnapping, murder and attempted rape in multiple cases



A notorious Indian child-murderer convicted in a case dubbed "the house of 
horrors" has had his death penalty commuted to life in prison.

The Allahabad High Court ruled Surinder Koli had waited too long for his mercy 
plea to be heard, making his execution unconstitutional under Indian law.

He was convicted in 2009 of killing at least 5 children in the Delhi house 
where he worked as a servant.

Police suspect at least 19 people were raped, killed and dismembered.

Since January last year, Indian courts have granted reprieves to several 
prisoners on death row after a Supreme Court ruling said long delays in 
deciding mercy pleas were "inhuman".

The court granted reprieve to 15 death row prisoners, including 4 associates of 
the notorious bandit Veerappan and 2 other men convicted of murdering their 
relatives.

In February, 3 men convicted of plotting the 1991 assassination of former Prime 
Minister Rajiv Gandhi were spared, as the government took 11 years to decide 
their mercy plea.

'Police negligent'

Koli and his employer, Moninder Singh Pandher, were arrested in 2007 after body 
parts were found near their home.

They were both convicted and sentenced to death, but Pandher was later 
acquitted by a higher court.

The killings in Noida, a Delhi suburb, shocked the country and many accused the 
police of negligence.

Local residents said that police failed to act over the abductions and murders 
because many of those reported missing came from poor families.

They said as many as 40 children disappeared in the area over 2 years before 
the crime came to light in December 2006.

The remains of the children were found hidden in bags.

(source: BBC news)

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

Maharashtra: High Court commutes death sentence of Solapur man who killed son 
and niece



In August 2013, the sessions court at Solapur convicted Ombase for murdering 
the 2 children and assaulting his wife, and sentenced him to death.

The Bombay high court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a Solapur man 
who had killed his 3-year-old son and 9-year-old niece after attacking his wife 
on December 31, 2012. A division bench of Justices VK Tahilramani and Ajey 
Gadkari set aside the death sentence of Sunil Ombase and sentenced him to life 
imprisonment for the murders.

Ombase used to work as a labourer in Mumbai and would visit hometown Solapur 
once a month. Suspecting his wife's character, he would often fight with her. 
On the night of December 31, 2012, Ombase asked his wife to chose between him 
and their son. When she refused to reply, he became angry and assaulted her, 
after which she managed to run outside the house. However, their son and niece 
were sleeping on a cot nearby and became his target. He assaulted them, which 
resulted in their deaths.

In August 2013, the sessions court at Solapur convicted Ombase for murdering 
the 2 children and assaulting his wife, and sentenced him to death.

Since all death sentences need to be confirmed by the HC, the state filed a 
petition in the HC, seeking confirmation of the death penalty. Additionally, 
Ombase had challenged his death sentence, pleading innocence.

(source: Daily News & Analysis)








BANGLADESH:

Azhar appeals against death penalty



Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general ATM Azharul Islam today challenged 
the death penalty awarded to him by a war crimes tribunal for his crimes 
against humanity during the country's Liberation War in 1971.

His lawyer submitted the 90-page appeal along with 2,250 pages of necessary 
documents with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

The 62-year-old was found guilty on 5 out of 6 charges. He was awarded death 
sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on December 30, last year.

In his appeal, Azhar claimed himself innocent and sought acquittal of all the 
charges, in which he was found guilty.

He also cited 113 grounds in support of his acquittal.

In the appeal, Azhar said there were many contradictory statements of 
prosecution witnesses which the tribunal did not consider.

The verdict awarded against him was "manifestly perverse" so the tribunal 
verdict is liable to be cancelled, he added.

Advocate Md Shishir Monir, a lawyer for Azhar, told The Daily Star that the 
appellate division will later fixe a date for hearing the appeal.

(source: The Daily Star)








INDONESIA:

Bali 9 Australians Next To Be Executed: Indonesian Attorney-General



A breaking report from the AAP this afternoon states that Bali Nine Australians 
Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan are amongst the next group of 11 convicts on 
death row who will be executed as early as next month, according to Indonesian 
Attorney-General HM Prasetyo.

UPDATE: Contrary earlier reports filed from the AAP, the head of Indonesia's 
parliamentary committee Azis Syamsuddin says Chan and Sukumaran are not listed 
in the next group to be executed and that Attorney-General Prasetyo was 
essentially misquoted. He was supposedly listing prospective execution 
locations, not the nationalities of those on death row in the group.

Per AAP, Prasetyo this afternoon told a parliamentary committee that he's still 
evaluating several obstacles preventing the execution from happening, including 
human rights activists and "electronic media reporters" disguised as fishermen 
trying to get close to the expected execution site on the Central Java prison 
island of Nusakambangan:

"We are still finding the right time for the next executions of citizens of 
France, Ghana, Cordova, Brazil, The Philippines, Australia and one Indonesian."

Chan and Sukumaran are the only Australians currently facing execution by 
firing squad under President Joko Widodo's hardline anti-drug laws. Earlier 
today, Wododo told CNN he would not be swayed in his stance, especially where 
Sukumaran and Chan are concerned:

"Imagine every day we have 50 people die because of narcotics, in one year it's 
18,000 people because of narcotics. We are not going to compromise for drug 
dealers. No compromise, no compromise. The decision of death penalty is on the 
court. But they can ask for amnesty to the president but I tell you there will 
be no amnesty for drug dealers."

A free "Music For Mercy" concert and candlelight vigil organised by Australian 
artist Ben Quilty musicians like Megan Washington, Emma Louise, The Presets' 
Julian Hamilton, Josh Pyke and more will be held in Sydney's Martin Place 
tomorrow from 7pm.

(source: pedestrian.tv)