[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 4



GUYANA:

Guyana should abolish the death penalty


Dear Editor,

The European Union welcomes Suriname's recent ratification of a new penal code 
which includes abolition of the death penalty. By taking this positive step 
Suriname has joined the ever-increasing number of abolitionist countries in the 
world. The EU, and increasingly most of the world, considers capital punishment 
to be a cruel and inhuman punishment. Any miscarriage of justice - which is 
inevitable in any legal system - could lead to innocent persons being killed 
and is irreversible.

Following its 1st Universal Periodic Review on 11 May 2010, Guyana established 
a Special Select Parliamentary Committee to consider the abolition of the death 
penalty. However, since then it has not issued any conclusions and Guyana's 2nd 
Universal Periodic Review on 28 January 2015 again recommended that Guyana 
abolish the death penalty and accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at abolishing the 
death penalty. I encourage Guyana to follow these recommendations and abolish 
the death penalty; an action which will contribute to the inherent dignity of 
all human beings and the inviolability of the human person.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Kopecky, Ambassador of the European Union

(source: Letter to the Editor, Stabroek News)






BANGLADESH:

Rotten rice, animal feed served in Bangladesh prison!


If Nazi Concentration camp or Abu Gharib prisons were infamous, Bangladeshi 
prisons have turned worst, which compel the inmates in eating rotten rice and 
lentil that are unfit for human consumption. Prisoners are becoming physically 
ill and suffering from various diseases due to such diet.

Most of the prisons in Bangladesh are having 2-3 times more inmates than actual 
capacity while judicial processes are extremely slow.

Death row in-mates are the worst sufferers, who have to wait decades in getting 
justice as 3 million cases are now pending in lower and higher courts according 
to a statistic only 3 % of the people awarded death penalty by lower courts 
face the gallows while the supreme courts turns down the remaining verdicts. 
Lower courts in Bangladesh have wrong tendency of awarding death sentence en 
masse. Also 80 % of the lower court verdicts in other cases are found defective 
by the higher courts.

Condemn cell prisoners are kept under lock and key 24 hours which causes 
extreme physical illness, high blood pressure, diabetic, asthma, paralysis etc 
while many turn mentally insane. Most of the prisoners are denied medical 
checkup and treatment. Prison cells are mostly dark while prisoners have to 
sleep in floor on old and dusty blankets. Prison authorities apply extreme 
physical torture which include beating, electric shock, hanging on ceiling etc. 
There is no fan in any of the condemn cells in Bangladesh. Global media as well 
Bangladeshi media are yet to put focus on these important humanitarian issues.

(source: weeklyblitz.net)



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

Hefazat demands Latif Siddique's death penalty


Radical Islamist platform Hefazat-e-Islam after yesterday's Jummah prayer 
demonstrated in Chittagong's Anderkilla area demanding that sacked Awami League 
minister Abdul Latif Siddique be rearrested and sentenced to death.

Its members brought out a procession from Anderkillah Shahi Jam-e Masjid and 
marched through different points of the city before stopping on Chittagong 
Press Club premises.

Mainuddin Ruhi, central joint secretary general of Hefazat, said protests 
against atheists started from Chittagong back in 2013. "We will resume protests 
from here after the month of Ramadan, demanding death penalty for notorious 
atheist Abdul Latif Siddique," he said. "The government staged a drama over 
Latif Siddique issue and people now want to see the conclusion of it. Hefazat 
Nayeb-e-ameer Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury was not granted bail in just a 
single lawsuit [filed over grenade blast at his Lalkhan Bazar Madrasa] while 
Latif has secured bailed in as many as 19 cases," said Azizul Haque Islamabadi, 
its organising secretary.

Formed in 2010, Hefazat is a Qawmi madrasa-based platform having association 
with radical Islamist parties and groups.

It carried out demonstrations in early 2013 against the activists demanding 
death penalty for the 1971 war criminals terming them atheists. They also 
placed 13-point demands which the government termed contrary to the 
constitution.

"Latif has enraged the people of the country by making derogatory remarks on 
Islam and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). We will sacrifice our lives to protect Islam 
if necessary."

On Tuesday, Hefazat issued an ultimatum, calling for the arrest of Latif 
Siddique by Thursday. Its leaders have also threatened to kill the former 
minister wherever he is found.

Latif, who also lost his membership of the Awami League, was freed on June 29 
after he had obtained bail in cases filed on charges of hurting religious 
sentiment of the Muslims.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)





CHINA:

Chinese court upholds death penalty for 5 in mine murders


A court in eastern China upheld death sentences for 5 people who conspired to 
kill miners in what they claimed were mine accidents and then posed as 
relatives to claim $300,000 in compensation, state media reported Saturday.

The Hebei Higher People's Court delivered the verdict Friday for 5 defendants 
who were convicted in August 2014. They were among a group of 21 people in the 
scheme, which targeted migrant workers and took advantage of lax safety and 
loose regulation of mines.

Members of the group first hatched the plan in July 2011 when they met a 
migrant worker from southern China who came to Hebei seeking employment, the 
China News Service said in a report.

Fellow miners killed him while he worked underground at an iron mine in October 
of that year and then reported a cave-in. 2 members of the group posed as his 
widow and surviving son, in order to claim about $100,000 in compensation.

The group continued the pattern in 3 other murders through February 2012 until 
staff at 1 of the mines became suspicious and reported the incident to police, 
the report said.

In all, the group had claimed about $300,000 in compensation. The report gave 
no details of how the murders were carried out or how they were made to look 
like mine accidents.

(source: Associated Press)