[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 22



PHILIPPINES/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Emotional meeting between Baldoz, OFW with death sentence----On appeal, 
Dalquez' death sentence stems from a murder conviction handed down by the Al 
Ain Court of First Instance last May 20



"Of course, she cried when she recounted her ordeal, and I couldn't help but 
also shed tears. But she was an emotionally-strong woman," narrated the Labor 
Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz of her recent meeting with a Filipino migrant worker 
sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Overseas Filipino worker 
(OFW) Jennifer Aresgado Dalquez was "in good condition," said Baldoz.

The labor chief visited Dalquez in a UAE prison last Thursday, June 18, the 
first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"She was in prison garb, but not in handcuffs. She was with two uniformed 
female guards and we talked for over one hour," Baldoz said.

On appeal, Dalquez' death sentence stems from a murder conviction handed down 
by the Al Ain Court of First Instance last May 20.

The 24-year-old murder convict was deployed as a household service worker to 
Abu Dhabi in UAE. She worked on a live-out arrangement with her employer since 
November 2013.

In the emotional meeting with Baldoz, Dalquez reiterated that she acted in 
self-defense when she stabbed her Emirati employer, who she said tried to rape 
her.

Now in Manila, Baldoz came from the 104th International Labor Conference in 
Geneva before visiting the imprisoned OFW.

The Cabinet official said Dalquez had requested to see her two children and 
mother who are based in the Philippines, a matter the government will work on.

She also assured the sentenced OFW that her 2 children will receive educational 
assistance from the government, with his son Sadjed already enrolled in a 
General Santos City school.

Appeal

Dalquez had appealed her death sentence before an Abu Dhabi appellate court, 
with Baldoz having "high hopes that the appeal" will prosper. The court has set 
the hearing on September 3.

At least 92 Filipinos have been meted the death penalty in foreign courts as of 
March 2015, majority of whom are in Malaysia.

Dalquez adds to the 49 already convicted of murder.

According to the 2013 Commission of Filipino Overseas (CFO) Compendium of 
Statistics, there are 931,562 Filipinos in the UAE, where Dalquez is.

The Philippines is a known labor-sending country. Over 10.5 million Filipinos 
are either temporarily working or permanently residing abroad, according to the 
2013 CFO compendium. More recent estimates peg the number at 15 million.

While OFWs' remittances boost the economy, President Benigno Aquino III 
envisions "a government that creates jobs at home so that working abroad will 
be a choice rather than a necessity."

(source: rappler.com)






IRAN----execution

Mansoor Arvand Executed without Any Prior Notifying of His Family



Mansoor Arvand, political prisoner in Mahabad, has been hanged, without 
informing his family and the last meeting.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), 
a member of his family, confirmed this news and said that, on Wednesday 15 
June, they had been told by the Miandoa'b prison that they could and collect 
his body for a fee.

A close relative of Mr. Arvand, told HRANA's reporter, "Rumors were heared 
regarding the reduction of the death sentence, but it was never confirmed 
officially, and we had doubts about it. However, they executed Mansoor without 
informing his family and without giving them the chance of a last visit."

Earlier, 1 of HRANA's legal advisers, about the news related to the 
cancellation of his death sentence by the Supreme Court, had told: "The Supreme 
Court does not have judicial authority to reduce or cancel court verdicts, and 
only can consider the problem, reject an order, and send it to another branch 
for a judicial review."

One of HRANA's sources had announced the execution of a death sentence in 
Miandoa'b prison on 6th June. Also, on 7th June, the officers referred to 
Mahabad prison collected all his personal belongings that had been left in 
Mahabad prison, in the previous transfer, and took them to an unknown location. 
It seems that it was at the same time of Mr. Arvand's execution, but his family 
has been informed with a delay.

One of the relatives of this political prisoner had told HRANA's reporter, on 
that date, "Since a few days ago his contacts have been cut and he has been 
transferred from Miandoa'b prison. His family and his lawyer have gone 
everywhere, but they have got no answer, also his family was told by 
Intelligence Office in Ormia: 'do not look for Mansoor', and it has made them 
very concerned."

On 10th May, this prisoner, unexpectedly and suddenly, was transferred from 
Mahabad prison to an unknown location and then he was exiled to the prison of 
Miandoa'b. His transfer to Miandoa'b prison, created this hope that his death 
sentence has been reduced to life imprisonment and exile. But with multiple 
transfer and ignorance, the status of his case was again uncertain.

Mansoor Arvand was arrested at his home in June 2011 and by the Revolutionary 
Court, Branch 1, in Mahabad, charged with waging war against God and 
cooperation with the Kurdish parties was sentenced to death, he never accepted 
the charges.

(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)








GAMBIA:

Hamat Bah to Campaign Against Broadening of Death Penalty



The leader of the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) has denounced the 
proposed new amendment to the supreme law of The Gambia, the 1997 Constitution, 
saying he will campaign against it becoming a law.

The Gambia government has proposed an amendment to Section 18 (sub-section 2) 
of the constitution, to make provision for application of death penalty in 
circumstances other than where there is actual violence or administration of 
toxic substances resulting in death.

In a recent exclusive interview with The Point newspaper at the NRP secretariat 
on Kairaba Avenue, Hamat Bah said the proposed amendment "should be rejected 
completely".

Section 18 is one of the entrenched clauses of the constitution, meaning any 
amendment to it shall be subjected to a referendum after endorsed by the 
National Assembly.

The referendum will offer the masses, the electorate, to finally decide whether 
the changes to the constitution should stand or be annulled.

The NRP leader said even if the National Assembly endorsed the amendment - 
"there is no indication they would not" - he and his party will campaign for 
the electorate to vote 'No' in the referendum.

When the amendment is endorsed by the National Assembly and the electorate also 
accepts it by voting 'yes' in the referendum, then the government would be able 
to pass laws imposing death penalty for any crime it deems fit.

"We are going to campaign against the amendment 100 per cent," Mr Bah said.

"How can you amend the constitution to kill people who have not killed 
anybody?"

He said anyone can be a victim if the amendment is allowed to pass.

"You can be framed and be sent before a judge who knows fully well you are not 
supposed to have a death penalty, but will sentence you to death and you will 
be killed," the NRP leader said.

Not only is Mr Bah against the amendment to broaden the provisions for death 
penalty, he said he is "totally opposed" to the death penalty itself.

"I don't believe in taking anybody's life," he said."Life sentence for somebody 
who kills, yes, but I don't believe in death penalty."

(source: All Africa News)








IRAQ:

Don't Ease Death Penalty Process ---- Dangerous Move to Skip Presidential 
Ratification



Iraq's parliament should turn down a proposal to allow the justice minister, 
rather than the president, to ratify execution orders.

On June 15, 2015, Justice Minister Haider al-Zamili said that Iraq's 
extraordinary security situation required the speedier application of the death 
penalty. But criminal procedures in Iraqi courts, including in death penalty 
cases, fall short of international fair trial standards. Judges have repeatedly 
admitted allegedly coerced confessions as evidence without investigation and 
have not allowed the accused to have qualified legal counsel. The proposed 
amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code would add to the concerns about how 
Iraq handles these cases.

"Speeding up executions by further reducing safeguards for defendants will put 
more innocent lives at risk," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North 
Africa director. "Iraq should combat violence by Islamic State insurgents with 
fair and transparent trials that deliver justice, not expedited executions 
based on torture-tainted confessions."

The proposed change, which Iraq's cabinet approved on June 16, 2015, would no 
longer require the president to ratify executions. Instead, the justice 
minister could ratify the sentence if the president didn't act within 30 days 
of a final Court of Cassation verdict to ratify the sentence, issue clemency or 
a pardon, or commute the sentence.

Iraq's criminal justice system, and in particular its counterterrorism law, is 
highly problematic. The counterterrorism law of 2005 mandates the death penalty 
for vague and not necessarily lethal acts, such as "threats which aim to bring 
about fear among people." Iraq's constitution also prohibits clemency or a 
pardon in terrorism cases, in violation of international human rights norms 
that grant a person sentenced to death the right to seek clemency, pardon, or 
commutation of sentence at any time.

In 2013, Iraq executed 177 people, the highest number since the United States 
occupation administration suspended executions from 2003 until mid-2004. In 
2014, Iraq remained the 4th country worldwide in the number of executions, 
after China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. On July 15, 2014, Iraq established a 2nd 
execution site in Nasiriyah prison, in addition to an existing one in Baghdad's 
maximum security facility.

In a recent case, Nasiriya's Serious Crimes Court on April 30 sentenced Mohamed 
Medini, a Tunisian, to death on terrorism charges. Medini's mother, Saliha, 
told Human Rights Watch that the conviction was based on a confession obtained 
under torture from her son in 2008, but that a medical record of 3 days he 
spent in hospital as a result of the abuse "disappeared from his case file." 
Hanan al-Rawi, an Iraqi lawyer who was assisting a defendant in a separate case 
at the same court on April 30, confirmed to Human Rights Watch that Medini did 
not have a lawyer present during his conviction and sentencing.

Among high-profile cases has been the sentencing of Rasha al-Husseini, a 
secretary to former Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, to death on terrorism 
charges on October 22 by Baghdad's Central Criminal Court. The court's judgment 
appeared to have been based entirely on al-Husseini's confession, though her 
lawyers allege that security forces psychologically and physically tortured 
her.

On November 23, the same court sentenced Ahmed al-Alwani, a former parliament 
member, to death on murder charges. Family members told Human Rights Watch they 
saw marks on him allegedly caused by torture before his trial, which the judge 
apparently dismissed.

In its response to its last review in 2010 by the United Nations Human Rights 
Council, Iraq agreed to "[i]ncrease its efforts at eradicating torture" and to 
"consider inadmissible the confessions obtained under torture or ill 
treatment." But a February 15 joint report by the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq 
(UNAMI) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on judicial 
responses to torture allegations found that "In all cases the presiding judge 
failed to order any investigation into the torture allegations and did not 
question the defendant further about the matter."

These findings are consistent with a 2014 Human Rights Watch investigation of 
the treatment of women by Iraqi security and judicial authorities. The 
investigation concluded that Iraq's weak judiciary, plagued by corruption, 
frequently bases convictions on coerced confessions, and that trial proceedings 
fall far short of international standards.

Iraq also broadcasts on television "confessions" by people it claims were 
arrested on terrorism charges, before a trial has begun. Such confessions 
undermine the premise that defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

In an October 2014 report on the death penalty in Iraq, UNAMI noted that, in 
addition to failing to investigate torture allegations for confessions that 
were the sole evidence for the charge:

[P]ersons accused of serious crimes carrying the death penalty often only have 
lawyers representing them when the Court appoints one to act on their behalf, 
usually on the day of the trial and with no reasonable time granted by the 
Court to prepare a defense. UNAMI has observed that court appointed defense 
lawyers rarely intervene during the trial - their only intervention often being 
a plea for leniency after conviction and during the sentencing proceedings 
before the Court.

Iraqi law imposes the death penalty for 48 crimes, including for human 
trafficking and several that fall well outside of the international standard 
that limits the death penalty in countries that retain it to "the most serious 
crimes." The UN Human Rights Committee has interpreted that to include only 
crimes that involve willful killing.

The Justice Ministry does not publish detailed information about the death 
penalty, including statistics on the crimes for which it is applied, however, 
the UN report notes that the number of victims of violent crimes has actually 
increased with the number of executions.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and in all 
circumstances because the inherent dignity of the person is inconsistent with 
the death penalty. This form of punishment is unique in its cruelty and 
finality, and it is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, 
prejudice, and error.

International human rights law requires that where the death penalty has not 
been abolished, it should be imposed only for the most serious crimes and after 
scrupulous adherence to international fair trial standards, including the 
rights of the defendant to competent defense counsel, to be presumed innocent 
until proven guilty, and not to be compelled to confess guilt.

The government of Iraq should place an immediate stay on all pending death 
sentences and issue a public and permanent moratorium on any use of the death 
penalty, or abolish the death penalty by ratifying the Second Optional Protocol 
to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Human Rights Watch 
said. Iraq should also order a thorough and impartial investigation into 
executions over the past 2 years.

"Iraq should be moving to restrict and then abolish the death penalty, not 
making it easier to impose it," Whitson said. "Iraq's government should give 
priority to strengthening its justice system rather than sending more people to 
the gallows."

(source: Human Rights Watch)








SINGAPORE:

24-year-old Singaporean might receive death penalty for illegal discharge of 
firearm



A 24-year-old Singaporean man who fired a police revolver while trying to 
escape custody at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital yesterday may receive a death 
sentence for unlawfully discharging a firearm.

A statement from the Singapore Police Force said that he had been arrested for 
motor vehicle theft on 19 June and was in remand pending further investigation 
when he complained of chest pains the next day. He was then taken to Khoo Teck 
Puat Hospital.

"While inside one of the hospital's examination rooms, which are not accessible 
to the public, the suspect attempted to escape but was stopped by one of the 
Police officers. A struggle ensued during which the suspect snatched the Police 
officer's revolver. Shots were fired from the 31-year-old officer's revolver," 
said the statement.

A police officer suffered gunshot wounds to his right thumb and left foot, 
while the suspect sustained superficial injuries.

The statement added that the suspect is set to be charged in court tomorrow for 
Unlawful Discharge of Firearms under Section 4(1) of the Arms Offences Act.

If convicted, the sentence is mandatory death.

(source: The Online Citizen)