[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 29



JAPAN:

After popular support, Japan to continue capital punishment



Japan will continue to apply the death penalty after over 80 % of the country's 
population expressed their support for the measure, media on Thursday cited 
Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa as saying.

A recent government survey revealed that 80.3 % of respondents backed the death 
penalty, while 9.7 % felt that it should be abolished.

Kamikawa termed the results as positive and said strict and careful measures 
would continue in this regard.

She said there was no intention of revising the current policy in the short 
term, despite having hinted at times the possibility of introducing life 
sentences for capital crimes.

"Most people believe it is unavoidable for those who committed extremely 
malicious crimes to face (execution)," Kamikawa said, according to the Asahi 
daily newspaper.

Kamikawa also made a reference to the global trend against the death penalty 
and the petition by activists for Japan to end capital punishment."It is a 
problem associated with what country Japan should be, and it is (the Japanese 
people's) business," she said.

11 convicts have been executed since the current government took office in 
December 2012.

Japan, along with the US, is the only developed and democratic country that 
still imposes the death penalty.

(source: oneindia.com)



CHINA:

Supreme court eases attorney participation in death sentence review



The Supreme People's Court (SPC) issued a protocol to facilitate the 
participation of defense lawyers when reviewing a death sentence.

According to the document, if a defense lawyer requests a meeting with the 
judge to express the defendant's opinion about a death sentence, the judge 
should arrange the meeting promptly.

The meeting can be held at the SPC office in Beijing or at a local court house 
when the judge is visiting the defendant.

The content of the meeting will be logged into a transcript and it will be 
signed by the lawyer. If the condition allows, the meeting will be recorded or 
videotaped, according to the document.

Defense lawyers are allowed to read and copy legal documents of the cases at 
the SPC office.

The SPC verdict will be delivered to defense lawyers within 5 days after it is 
announced.

The protocol is considered part of the SPC's efforts to protect defendants' 
rights and adopt a more prudent attitude toward using death penalties.

The country's judicial system was alerted of wrongful convictions by the case 
of a teenager named Huugjilt in Inner Mongolia, who was wrongfully convicted of 
rape and murder, which led to his execution in 1996. In December 2014 a higher 
court in Inner Mongolia ruled that Huugjilt was innocent.

Last Thursday, top justice Zhou Qiang reiterated the criteria for issuing 
capital punishment should be strictly observed so as to ensure "the penalty is 
only used on an extremely few convicts whose crimes are extremely serious".

(source: Xinhua News)








IRAN:

Man Publicly Executed 4 Weeks After His Arrest----2 men were executed in Iran 
today. 1 of them was hanged publicly in central Iran 4 weeks after he was 
arrested.



2 prisoners were hanged in two different Iranian cities today, reported the 
Iranian state media.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported that a man was hanged in public 
early this morning in the town of Golpayegan (Central Iran). Several thousand 
people were gathered at the scene of the public executions. The man who was 
identified as Mansour Mirlouhi (43) was charged with Moharebeh (Waging war 
against God) and "Corruption on earth" for participation in several episodes of 
armed robbery and 2 armed clashes in Khomein and Golpayegan resulting in death 
of t3 security forces and 3 civilians, said the report.

According to the report Mirlouhi was arrested on 1. January 2015 and sentenced 
to death on January 24 by section 1 of Isfahan Revolution Court. His death 
sentence was approved by the Supreme Court 2 days later on January 26 and he 
was hanged publicly 2 days after that, on January 28.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemns today's public execution and Mahmood 
Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson og IHR said: "Beside the inhumane and 
degrading punishment of public execution, lack of due process is another 
serious violation of human rights in this case. The whole judicial process 
leading to the man's execution lasted less than 4 weeks. Unfortunately lack of 
due process is not uncommon in Iran".

The state run Iranian news agency Fars reported about another execution in 
Tehran today. The prisoner was identified as "Ali Kamalvand" and was sentenced 
to 74 lashes for stealing and 3 times execution for 3 rapes, said the report. 
The charges haven't been confirmed by independent sources. (source: Iran Human 
Rights)

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

Chronicle of an Execution: The Case of Mohsen Amir Aslani



In September of 2014, Iran carried out the death sentence of a man who had 
allegedly attracted a small following with unorthodox religious teachings. But 
when Mohsen Amir Aslani was executed after over 8 years in prison, conflicting 
reports emerged as to the nature of his alleged crimes.

While Mr. Amir Aslani was known to have received a conviction for the religious 
crime of heresy because he rejected the tale of Jonah and the whale, that 
conviction did not carry a death sentence. Rather, some alleged that Mr. Amir 
Aslani had been convicted of the national security crime of spreading 
corruption on Earth, which can be a capital crime. Meanwhile, the authorities 
stated that his execution pertained instead to accusations of rape leveled 
against him by erstwhile female followers.

In this legal commentary, IHRDC legal advisor Hossein Raeesi, an attorney with 
over 20 years' experience trying sensitive cases in Iran, examines the 
tumultuous procedural history of the case. The similarity of a 2nd set of 
charges leveled against the accused as his 1st case was coming to a close - 
including those of spreading corruption on Earth and rape - suggests that 
safeguards against double jeopardy were intentionally and repeatedly ignored. 
In examining the proceedings related to this 2nd set of charges, Raeesi 
demonstrates that minimal evidentiary requirements were not met, and that 
several Supreme Court orders pertaining to the case were ignored. Despite 
attempts by some judges to uphold domestic law during Mr. Amir Aslani's 
prosecution, the tendentious approach of other judiciary officials precluded a 
fair trial and led to numerous violations of Iran's own Code of Criminal 
Procedure. In his analysis, Raeesi counts multiple deviations from domestic law 
where it should have ensured a dismissal of the charges and Mr. Amir Aslani's 
release from prison. As such, the Mohsen Amir Aslani case is a textbook example 
of the arbitrariness and politicization at the heart of Iran's judiciary.

see: 
http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/publications/legal-commentary/1000000565-chronicle-of-an-execution-the-case-of-mohsen-amir-aslani.html

(source: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center)








PAKISTAN:

LHC upholds death penalty of three terrorists



A Lahore High Court division bench on Wednesday upheld death penalty of 3 
terrorists who were convicted for attacking and blowing up police checkpost in 
Mianwali.

The division bench comprising Justice Abdul Sami Khan and Justice Sadqat Ali 
Khan announced the decision while dismissing appeals filed by terrorists 
Abdullah Ghazali, Abdul Hai and Saleem Zaman.

During the hearing, the defendant's counsel pleaded the bench to acquit the 
accused being innocent. He submitted that the accused were not nominated in the 
case and they were arrested after one month of the incident. He further 
submitted that identification parade was not held in accordance with the law.

However, Deputy Prosecutor General Punjab Khurram Khan opposed the request and 
submitted that the convicts were arrested after a police encounter and heavy 
arms were recovered from them. He contended that the trial court had awarded 
punishments in accordance with law on the basis of witnesses' statements and 
available evidence.

The bench after hearing the arguments of both parties dismissed the appeals and 
upheld the conviction of the accused.

The terrorists had attacked Qudratabad checkpost with explosives and hand 
grenades, killing policemen Sher Khan, Bahadur Khan, Sajawal Khan, Ghulam 
Shabbir, Zafar Iqbal, Ghulam Abbas, Yasir Arafat and Muhammad Ilyas on February 
7, in 2009.

The convicts had also attacked other checkposts in the area.

(source: Associated Press of Pakistan)

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

8000 death row prisoners at risk as Pakistan plans execution of non-terrorists



A Pakistani Court has ordered the 1st execution of a prisoner who was neither 
charged with terrorism offences nor tried in a terrorism court, indicating that 
the authorities may have abandoned their claim that they will hang only alleged 
'terrorists.'

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Government lifted a moratorium on executions late 
last year, but has repeatedly stated that it was doing so only in 
"terrorism-related cases."

However, a 'black warrant' has now been issued for Shoaib Sarwar, who was 
convicted of murder 17 years ago, following a trial process which saw a number 
of irregularities. The authorities do not consider Mr Sarwar to be a terrorist, 
or his case to be in any way terrorism-related. His execution has been 
scheduled for Tuesday, 3rd February.

At the time of his conviction, Mr Sarwar claimed to have been acting in 
self-defence, but due to bad advice from his defence counsel, a number of key 
witnesses who could have supported this were never called - although newspaper 
reports and eyewitnesses at the scene had both corroborated his version of 
events.

Due to the widespread misuse of anti-terror legislation - which expressly 
curtails the fair trial rights of the defendant - Pakistan has previously made 
attempts to execute people who cannot properly be classed as terrorists. 
However, Mr Sarwar's case is the 1st in which a black warrant has been issued 
for someone who not only was convicted of non-terrorist offences, but was not 
even convicted in a terrorism court.

Commenting, Kate Higham, an investigator at legal charity Reprieve said: "If 
the Pakistani Government wants anyone to believe their claim that they are only 
executing 'terrorists,' they must stop Shoaib Sarwar's execution from going 
ahead. If it does, all 8000 people on Pakistan's death row - many of whom have 
been tortured into 'confessing,' or who have been convicted of non-lethal 
offences such as blasphemy or adultery - will be at risk. The international 
community must make clear to Pakistan that it will not tolerate such an opening 
of the floodgates, which could see many innocent people losing their lives."

(source: Reprieve)