[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 23




INDIA:

Yakub Memon being hanged because he's a Muslim: Asaduddin Owaisi----Owaisi said 
killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Punjab Chief Minister Beant 
Singh are not being executed because of political pressure.


Raising questions over 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon's expected 
hanging, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi 
on Thursday said Memon is being punished because of his religion.

Addressing a public gathering in Hyderabad, Owaisi said Memon, who is likely to 
be hanged on July 30, accused the Centre of indulging in religious 
discrimination and said the government should execute all death row convicts.

Owaisi said killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Punjab Chief 
Minister Beant Singh are not being executed because of political pressure.

"The killers of Rajiv Gandhi and Beant Singh have the backing of political 
parties in Tamil Nadu and Punjab. Which political party is backing Yakub Memon? 
Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab has gone to the extent of pardoning Balwant Singh 
Rajoana," Owaisi said.

Raking up the Babri Masjid issue, the Hyderabab MP said thousands of people 
were killed in communal riots following the demolition of Babri Majid, many 
officers were booked under serious chanrges but none were convicted.

Later, talking to India Today TV, Owaisi said he is not against the court's 
verdict in Memon's case but the circumstances leading to his death penalty can 
not be ignored.

Earlier, in a last-ditch effort to avoid execution of his death sentence, Yakub 
Memon, the lone death row convict in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts that left 
257 dead and over 700 injured, filed mercy petition to Maharashtra Governor Ch 
Vidyasagar Rao. The move came after the Supreme Court rejected his curative 
petition, the last legal remedy available to avoid execution of death sentence.

A 3 judge bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu rejected Memon's plea, saying 
that the grounds raised by him do not fall within the principles laid down by 
the apex court in 2002 for deciding curative petitions.

Memon, in his plea, had claimed he was suffering from schizophrenia since 1996 
and remained behind the bars for nearly 20 years. He had sought commutation of 
death penalty contending that a convict cannot be awarded life term and the 
extreme penalty simultaneously for the same offence.

The apex court said, "The petitioner has raised certain grounds in the curative 
petition which would not fall within the principles laid down in the case of 
Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra.

The apex court had on April 9 this year dismissed Memon's petition seeking 
review of his death sentence which was upheld on March 21, 2013. President 
Pranab Mukherjee had earlier rejected his mercy petition in May 2014.

The Supreme Court, while upholding the death sentence to Memon, a chartered 
accountant by profession, on March 21, 2013, described him as the "driving 
spirit" behind the carnage that followed the communal riots of 1992.

The Supreme Court had also upheld the life sentence awarded to 23 others, 
including Yakub brother Essa, who was found guilty of conspiracy and allowing 
the use of his flat at Al-Hussaini building at Mahim for meetings to plan the 
blasts and storing arms and ammunition, and sister-in-law Rubina, who arranged 
finances and allowed her car to be used by terrorists for carrying 
co-conspirators, arms, ammunition and explosives.

Yakub was arrested on August 6, 1994 when he arrived at Delhi Airport from 
Kathmandu. He had claimed he felt remorse and wanted to surrender.

(source: India Today)

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

Yakub Memon's family travels to Nagpur in secret for final meeting


They arrived in Nagpur by the Duronto Express from Mumbai on Thursday morning 
with 2 other relatives and approached the jail authorities to meet Memon, who 
had been shifted to Nagpur jail from Mumbai's Arthur Road jail in 2007. They 
met him around 9.30 am amid tight security; the meeting lasted over an hour. 
According to a source, Memon was in tears while talking to his wife and 
daughter.

The Memons said they preferred to travel to Nagpur by train rather than by air 
and their overnight journey was kept secret. After their meeting, they refused 
to speak to journalists outside the jail and left in a private vehicle around 
11am. The family had planned to meet Memon earlier this month and had booked 
train tickets for July 4. However, they later postponed the visit.

2 days ago, the Supreme Court had rejected Memon's curative petition against 
capital punishment, following which he filed a mercy petition addressed to the 
governor of Maharashtra.

In a last-ditch effort to help him escape the death penalty, another appeal was 
filed on Memon's behalf in the Supreme Court on Thursday. While filing the 
petition, Memon's lawyer Anil Gedam said his death warrant had been issued 
before he had exhausted all available legal options - specifically, the Supreme 
Court's ruling on his curative petition - in violation of the rules. A curative 
petition is one in which a death-row prisoner asks the Supreme Court to review 
its own judgement.

According to jail officials, Memon, who is believed to suffer from 
schizophrenia, has been restless for the past couple of days and has been 
taking sleeping pills every night. He was treated at JJ Hospital for a mental 
illness, but officials said his symptoms reduced after he was shifted to Nagpur 
jail.

According to a source, Memon suffered bouts of depression brought on by 
loneliness when he was at Arthur Road jail as he had been kept in solitary 
confinement in an 'anda cell'.

Memon, who was otherwise quiet, would open up to psychiatrists at Nagpur jail, 
according to an official who did not wish to be named. Gedam, however, said he 
saw no signs of mental illness during his meetings with Memon. "Whenever I've 
met him, I've found him to be very sober, healthy and humane," he said.

(source: Hindustan Times)






TUNISIA:

Tunisia parliament okays death penalty for 'terror crimes'


Tunisia's parliament approved Thursday imposition of the death penalty for 
"terrorist" crimes, despite opposition from rights groups and a de facto 
quarter-century moratorium on executions.

Lawmakers were voting during the 2nd of 3 days of debate on a bill aimed at 
beefing up powers to confront a jihadi threat following deadly attacks claimed 
by ISIS.

President Beji Caid Essebsi imposed a state of emergency after a student went 
on a shooting rampage at a beach resort last month, killing 38 foreign 
tourists, most of them Britons.

That incident came on the heels of one in March in which two gunmen attacked 
Tunisia's national museum, killing 21 foreigners and a policeman.

Lawmakers voted heavily in favor of 3 articles imposing the death penalty.

Article 26 applies to anyone who "knowingly murders someone enjoying 
international protection," a reference to such people as diplomats and 
international civil servants.

The following article applies to cases in which people die in hostage-taking or 
kidnapping situations, while Article 28 refers to people who commit rape during 
the course of a terrorism-related crime.

Sana Mersni, an MP with the Islamist Ennahda party, noted ironically that the 
death penalty would not deter "terrorists seeking death in order to go to 
paradise".

The bill would replace the 2003 terrorism law, passed under the dictatorship of 
president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, ousted 4 years ago, which was widely 
criticized as being a tool to crush dissent.

The death penalty already exists under Tunisian law, for such crimes as murder 
and rape, but no one has been hanged since 1991.

Rights groups had hoped parliament would leave it out of the current bill.

Among other things, the bill would make it easier for investigators to use 
phone-tapping against suspects and make public expressions of support for 
terrorism a jailable offense.

Advocacy groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have 
condemned the bill.

Describing it as draconian, they say its definition of terrorist crimes is too 
vague and that it fails to adequately safeguard the rights of defendants and 
could undermine freedoms.

"Tunisian authorities have legitimate concerns about the growing influence of 
extremist groups and individuals and the threat they pose to Tunisians and 
foreigners," Eric Goldstein, HRW's deputy Middle East and North Africa 
director, has said.

"But laws to counter terrorism should meet - not flout - international human 
rights standards," he said in a statement.

Critics say the bill would allow the authorities to detain suspects for 15 days 
without access to a lawyer or being brought before a judge, as well as put 
harsh restrictions on journalists.

Ammar Amroussia, of the leftist Popular Front, said "we fear the fight against 
terrorism could be turned into a fight against social and popular movements."

Labiadh Salem, an independent, was even more scathing.

"This law will not limit the phenomenon of terrorism; this law will fuel 
terrorism" as it "does not distinguish between social movements and protesters 
and terrorist act."

(source: Agence France-Presse)