[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 17



SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi Arabia beheads Pakistani in 84th execution this year



Saudi Arabia has beheaded a Pakistani national convicted of drug trafficking, 
bringing to 84 the number of such executions in the kingdom since the start of 
this year.

The convict, identified as Iftikhar Ahmed Mohammed Anayat, was beheaded in the 
Red Sea city of Jeddah on Sunday, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a 
statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The man was found guilty of attempting to traffic heroin into the kingdom in 
balloons concealed in his stomach.

In recent months, a significant number of foreign nationals and workers have 
been beheaded in the kingdom, triggering an outcry from human rights 
organizations.

On April 16, Saudi Arabia beheaded an Indonesian female domestic worker, just 2 
days after executing another woman from the Southeast Asian country.

In January, authorities in Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded Laila Bint Abdul 
Muttalib Basim, a Muslim woman from Myanmar, by sword in the holy city of 
Mecca.

Footage of the execution showed Basim being dragged into a street and held down 
by 4 police officers.

"I did not kill, I did not kill," she was heard to shout repeatedly.

Basim then screamed as a sword-wielding man struck her neck. 2nd and 3rd blows 
completed the beheading and authorities swiftly removed her body from the road.

In 2014, Saudi Arabia beheaded a total of 87 alleged convicts.

Saudi authorities claim the executions show the kingdom's commitment to 
"maintaining security and realizing justice."

Saudi Arabia has come under particular criticism from human rights groups for 
the executions. Amnesty International says Saudi Arabia has one of the highest 
execution rates in the world.

Muslim clerics have also slammed Riyadh for indicting and then executing 
suspects without giving them a chance to defend themselves, describing the 
Saudi authorities as uncivilized.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable 
by death under Saudi law.

(source: Albawaba news)

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

Saudi protesters hold rally to support senior Shia cleric



Saudi protesters have once again taken to the streets, calling on authorities 
to overturn the death sentence handed to prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr 
al-Nimr.

The Saudis staged a rally in the Qatif region of Eastern Province for the 3rd 
night in a row to show solidarity with Nimr, on death row in the kingdom.

The demonstrators carried placards and shouted slogans, urging the ruling Al 
Saud regime to release the respected cleric, who was sentenced to death last 
year.

The protest was held as calls were growing worldwide for the release of Nimr, 
who has been in jail for more than 3 years.

Rallies in UK, Germany

Also on Saturday, a similar rally was held outside the Saudi Embassy in London, 
where protesters voiced anger at the death penalty handed down to Nimr and 
other human rights activists in the Arab kingdom.

A similar rally was also staged in Germany in solidarity with the prominent 
Saudi Shia cleric.

In the capital, Berlin, Germans called upon Riyadh to immediately release 
Sheikh Nimr and drop all charges brought against him as they carried large 
portraits of the Shia Saudi cleric.

The German demonstrators also commended the systematic and widespread 
violations of human rights in Saudi Arabia.

Nimr was attacked and arrested in Qatif in July 2012 on charges of disturbing 
the country's security, delivering anti-government speeches, and defending 
political prisoners.

There have been numerous demonstrations in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province 
since 2011, with protesters calling for political reform and an end to 
widespread discrimination. A number of people have been killed and many have 
been injured or arrested during the demonstrations.

The monarchy has intensified repression not only against Shia Muslims, but also 
against Sunnis and other dissident voices.

International human rights organizations have criticized Saudi Arabia for 
failing to address the rights situation.

On May 1, Amnesty International criticized Saudi Arabia for its grim human 
rights record, arguing that widespread violations continue unabated in the 
oil-rich country even though a new ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 
has taken the helm of the absolute monarchy.

(source: Press TV)








EGYPT----executions

Egypt hangs 6 convicted Islamist militants



Egyptian authorities hanged 6 men convicted of killing soldiers Sunday, police 
said, ignoring appeals to spare them amid allegations 2 of them had been in 
custody at the time of their alleged crimes.

A military court upheld the death sentences last March, following a trial in 
which the 6 were convicted of carrying out the attacks in the months after the 
army's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Prosecutors said they were members of the Sinai-based Ansar Beit al-Maqdis 
jihadist group, which late last year pledged allegiance to the Islamic State 
group in Iraq and Syria.

The sentence was carried out by hanging in a Cairo jail, the officials said.

Some of the men had been arrested when police and soldiers raided their 
safehouse north of Cairo in March 2014.

2 army explosive experts and 6 militants were killed in an ensuing gunfight, 
adding to the list of charges against the 6 men.

But human rights groups had appealed for a stay of execution, saying 2 of the 
defendants had been in custody at the time.

Amnesty International said the men underwent a "grossly unfair" trial and that 
the only witness during the trial was a secret police officer.

(source: The Guardian)

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

US 'deeply concerned' by Egypt's death penalty decision for Mohamed Morsi -- 
US joins Amnesty International and Turkey's president in criticising mass death 
sentence handed to more than 100 Muslim Brotherhood supporters



The US is "deeply concerned" about an Egyptian court decision to seek the death 
penalty for the former president Mohamed Morsi, a State Department official 
said on Sunday.

The US criticism follows condemnation from Amnesty International and Turkish 
president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after the court ruling on Saturday against the 
deposed leader and 106 supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood in connection with 
a mass jail break in 2011.

The ruling against Morsi is not final until 2 June. All capital sentences are 
referred to Egypt's top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for a non-binding 
opinion, and are also subject to legal appeal.

"We are deeply concerned by yet another mass death sentence handed down by an 
Egyptian court to more than 100 defendants, including former president Morsi," 
the State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We have consistently spoken out against the practice of mass trials and 
sentences, which are conducted in a manner that is inconsistent with Egypt's 
international obligations and the rule of law," he said. The official, noted, 
however, that Saturday's death sentence ruling was "preliminary".

Morsi and his fellow defendants were convicted on charges of killing and 
kidnapping policemen, attacking police facilities and breaking out of jail 
during the uprising.

Morsi, who became Egypt's 1st freely elected president in 2012 after the 
ousting of president Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising, has said the court is 
not legitimate, describing proceedings against him as part of a coup by former 
army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in 2013.

Despite US lawmakers' concerns that Egypt is lagging on democratic reforms, 
Egypt remains one of Washington's closest security allies in the region. 
Relations cooled after Morsi was overthrown by the military nearly 2 years ago, 
but ties with Sisi, his successor, have steadily improved.

In late March, Barack Obama lifted a hold on a supply of arms to Cairo, 
authorising deliveries of US weapons valued at more than $1.3bn.

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

Egypt's former leader Morsy given death sentence in jailbreak case



Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy was sentenced Saturday by a Cairo court 
to death -- the latest judicial setback for the ousted leader. He was convicted 
in a 2011 prison break.

Morsy's name, along with those of more than 100 other defendants, will be 
passed to the Grand Mufti, the highest legal authority in Egypt, who will have 
the final say on their sentence. The verdict will be confirmed June 2.

This was the harshest sentence that Morsy could have expected to receive in the 
case.

The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and a former parliament 
speaker, Mohamed Saad El-Katatny, also were referred to the Grand Mufti in the 
jailbreak case.

Cairo's military-installed government has banned the Muslim Brotherhood, 
branding it a terrorist group -- an allegation it denies.

Morsy and his co-defendants were accused of collaborating with the Palestinian 
Islamist group Hamas and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah to break into 
several prisons across Egypt in January 2011 and of facilitating the escape of 
Morsy and 20,000 others.

The jailbreak came amid the chaos of the January 2011 popular uprising that 
toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak and led to Morsy's election the 
following year.

Rights group: Trials a "charade"

Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moniem Abdel Maqsoud told CNN that the defense 
would have to consult with Morsy before deciding whether to lodge an appeal on 
his behalf.

Morsy has said throughout the process "that he doesn't recognize these trials," 
the lawyer said.

Maqsoud characterized Saturday's ruling as "a decision, not a verdict."

"Consequently we will wait until June 2," he said. "If there is a conviction, 
we will continue the legal path that we started the past months, which is to 
point the legal faults of these verdicts."

He said he believed the Court of Cassation would overturn all the verdicts 
handed down.

Rights group Amnesty International condemned the trials of Morsy and others as 
a "charade" which demonstrated the "deplorable state" of Egypt's criminal 
justice system.

Condemning Morsy to death "shows a complete disregard for human rights. His 
trials were undermined even before he set foot in the courtroom," said Said 
Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North 
Africa program.

He urged Egypt to ensue the independence and impartiality of the justice 
system, saying most of those sentenced to death by its courts since July 2013 
have been Morsy supporters.

"The death penalty has become the favorite tool for the Egyptian authorities to 
purge the political opposition," he said.

Hamas criticized the death sentences handed down for some of its members in 
connection with the jailbreak -- pointing out that 2 of the named defendants 
were already dead.

"Hossam El-Sanie was martyred in 2008. Martyr leader Raed El-Attar was martyred 
the 2014 war. Today, the Egyptian judiciary sentenced them to death. Fair 
judiciary indeed," Ismail Haniyyeh, the deputy head of the Hamas politburo, 
tweeted.

He noted that another Palestinian sentenced to death, Hassan Salama, has been 
in Israeli prisons since 1996.

Espionage case

In a separate case involving espionage charges, another 16 defendants -- but 
not Morsy -- were also sentenced to death. The verdict will be confirmed June 
2.

Among those sentenced to death are Mohamed El-Shater, deputy leader of the 
Muslim Brotherhood; Mohamed El-Beltagy, a former Muslim Brotherhood member of 
parliament; Ahmed Abdel Aty, a former presidential aide; and Emad Shahin, a 
political science professor now in the United States.

Those defendants present chanted "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is the greatest," 
as they were sentenced. They remained in the cage where prisoners are held in 
the courtroom, waving to journalists and lawyers as they chanted.

Morsy can expect to learn his verdict in the espionage case on June 2, but it 
won't be the death penalty.

Violence against protesters

Morsy, who became Egypt's 1st democratically elected President in June 2012, 
was deposed by a popularly backed military coup in July 2013.

He was already sentenced to 20 years in prison in April this year on charges 
involving violence against protesters outside the presidential palace in 
December 2012. But he was acquitted of murder in the deaths of protesters.

After that verdict, his Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's 
political wing, called the trial a "travesty of justice."

The ousted president is still facing an ongoing trial on charges of espionage 
with Qatar. A fifth trial will start this month on charges of insulting the 
judiciary.

(source: CNN)

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

Sondos Asem: Only woman to be sentenced to death in Egypt mass trial



The former international media coordinator for ousted president Morsi was 
charged with espionage and sentenced to death in absentia

Sondos Asem, a member of the Freedom and Justice Party, was one of the 
defendants sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court on Saturday, and 
the only woman to receive the death penalty.

She is 1 of the 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including leaders Mohamed 
al-Baltegy and Khairat al-Shater, to be sentenced to death after being charged 
for acts of espionage by conspiring with Palestinian movement Hamas.

The preliminary verdict was sent to the grand mufti for approval as is required 
with all death penalty sentences under Egyptian law. The final decision is 
expected to be announced on 2 June.

(source: middleeasteye.net)

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

Erdogan slams Western stance on Egypt after Morsi death sentence



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the West for not taking action 
against Egyptian rulers after a court sentenced the country's deposed leader 
Mohammed Morsi to death over his role in a 2011 jail break.

"Egypt is returning to old Egypt. You know what old Egypt is about, don't you?" 
Erdogan asked supporters at a rally in Istanbul on Saturday, held hours after 
the Egyptian court ruling was announced. "[Egyptian President Abdel Fattah] 
al-Sisi cannot be stopped. The West does not take a position against the coup 
maker Sisi. While the West is abolishing the death penalty, they are just 
watching the continuation of death sentences in Egypt. They [Western leaders 
and Sisi] meet and display solidarity."

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced Morsi and more than 100 other members 
of the Muslim Brotherhood to death in connection with a mass jail break in 
2011. Morsi and the other defendants were convicted for killing and kidnapping 
policemen, attacking police facilities and breaking out of jail during the 2011 
uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak's rule.

Erdogan, a close ally of Morsi, has condemned a 2013 coup that deposed Morsi 
and the lack of strong international reaction against his toppling.

After criticizing the Western stance towards the Sisi administration, Erdogan 
said in his speech that it was the Turkish nation that will "shape the course" 
of events. "This is why the June 7 election is critical," Erdogan said, 
apparently asking the crowd for support for the ruling Justice and Development 
Party (AK Party).

Erdogan has been frequently criticized by opposition parties for campaigning 
for the AK Party, a party that he founded and led for years before handing over 
the chairmanship to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu after he was elected 
president in August last year.

The opposition says Erdogan's rallies are in violation of the Turkish 
Constitution, which stipulates that the president be politically impartial. 
Erdogan says in response that he does not name any party in his speeches.

Davutoglu draws parallels with Turkey

In a separate speech in the western province of Bursa, Prime Minister Davutoglu 
also condemned the death penalty and said what happened in Turkey 55 years ago 
was now being repeated in Egypt, referring to the death penalties handed down 
for late Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and two former ministers 
following a military coup in 1960.

Davutoglu slammed a Turkish media report of the death penalty ruling for Morsi 
for highlighting the fact that he had been elected president with 52 % of the 
vote. "What do they mean? If they refer to our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 
who was also elected with a 52 % vote, they should know that no elected 
president or a prime minister will be sent to death in this land," Davutoglu 
said.

Echoing Erdogan, he criticized the West for its silence on the Egyptian court 
ruling. "Those who tried to teach us a lesson on freedoms during Gezi [Park] 
protests. Where are you now?" he asked.

(source: Sunday's Zaman)

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

Amnesty calls Mursi death sentence bid in Egypt 'a charade'



Amnesty International on Saturday called an Egyptian court's decision to seek 
the death penalty for ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi "a charade based 
on null and void procedures" and demanded his release or retrial in a civilian 
court.

The court sought the death penalty for Mursi and more than 100 supporters of 
his banned Muslim Brotherhood group in connection with a mass jail break in 
2011.

(source: Reuters)








PAKISTAN:

To the gallows: Black warrant issued for murder convict



A black warrant has been issued for a Haripur prison inmate convicted of 
murder; he will be put to death within seven days, insiders familiar with the 
matter told The Express Tribune.

According to official sources, the home department issued a black warrant for 
Shamsul Islam on Friday. The Charsadda resident was sentenced to death by the 
district court over 8 years ago for murdering a young boy.

He challenged his conviction in the high court and later the Supreme Court but 
his death penalty was upheld by both courts. After exhausting all forums of 
appeals, the condemned prisoner moved a mercy petition to the office of the 
President of Pakistan. However, that too was turned down a few days ago, said 
insiders.

Following the rejection of his mercy petition, the provincial home department 
issued his black warrant.

According to an official of the prison department, they have written to the 
office of IG Prisons to shift Islam to his native district for the execution. 
Insiders said although gallows were constructed at Haripur Central Prison a 
couple of months ago, the administration would prefer to send him to Charsadda. 
However, the final decision in this regard would be taken by IG Prisons and 
home department.

The prisoner would be allowed a last meeting with his family in the next few 
days.

Being one of the biggest jails of the province, Haripur Central Prison holds 
over 140 condemned prisoners. Earlier, Niaz Muhammad, convicted in the attack 
on former president General Pervez Musharraf, was also taken to Peshawar and 
hanged on January 1st.

(source: Express Tribune)

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

Hanging in the balance----The debate on possible deterrence goes on as more 
than 100 persons have been executed in Pakistan in less than 6 months



On March 19, around midnight, Saulat Mirza, a convicted murderer issued a 
video-statement from jail that was aired on the national media. He blamed the 
Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) top leadership for complicity in the crimes he 
had committed. This was a few hours before his scheduled hanging. Hours after 
the video, the president of the country stayed his hanging. He did that a 
couple of times subsequently, apparently to get more clues.

Mirza was hanged to death in the early hours of May 12 at Balochistan's Machh 
Jail, after about 2 months, putting an end to the rumours that he might be 
saved as an approver.

By early May, Pakistan had crossed the 100 mark in executions since lifting of 
ban on death penalty last December. The moratorium was lifted following the 
barbaric attack on Army Public School Peshawar on December 16, 2014 in which 
around 150 students and teachers were ruthlessly slaughtered. A few days later, 
Pakistan lifted the ban and hanged 2 terrorists in Faisalabad jail involved in 
attacks on forces; the video of hanging was flashed by the media.

"Till mid April, the number of executed prisoners whose mercy petitions had 
been rejected by the highest forum went up to 81," says Farooq Nazir, Inspector 
General Prisons of the Punjab. "The executions will continue till any further 
order from the government."

By mid May, 33 condemned prisoners including one woman, whose mercy petitions 
were rejected by the President of Pakistan, are languishing in Punjab jails. 
While 5,431 condemned prisoners including 46 women are waiting for the appeals 
to be heard at different forums. Shockingly, around 45 % of population of 
Punjab jails consists of under-trial murder prisoners.

Figures show that of the under-trial accused murderers, number of convicted and 
condemned inmates is 19781, while 194 inmates are facing charges of death by 
negligence and 2140 have been booked on murder attempt.

Human rights groups claim that resuming executions will not do much to address 
the root causes of crime and terrorism, and must end immediately. Critics of 
death penalty say the country's criminal justice system is marred by police 
torture, poor legal representation for victims and unfair trials.

"The decision to hang a large number of condemned prisoners is a complicated 
issue," says I.A. Rehman, Secretary General Human Rights Commission of 
Pakistan. "This would not bring terrorist groups to their knees. Besides, we 
must realise that nothing can be achieved by anger alone."

Amnesty International and European Union are still urging Pakistan to resume 
moratorium.

According to Pakistan's Interior Ministry, the number of condemned prisoners is 
not less than 8,000 including those who have moved appeal before the relevant 
courts. Over 8,500 death row prisoners were languishing in jails across 
Pakistan till March 2014. Pakistan is among the countries that have the highest 
number of accused held on murder charge.

"This is not the case in Punjab alone. Jails throughout the country have a high 
ratio of inmates on death-row," Masood Khan, former principal of the Academy of 
Jail Staff and Training Institute, tells TNS. He says no other place in the 
world has such high number of inmates on death-row. "In death-cells, where you 
cannot put more than 1 condemned prisoner; the cells are packed with 6 to 10 
inmates."

"The major reason which has led Pakistan to this situation is faulty criminal 
justice system that delays justice and lack of accountability making people 
fearless," says Khan.

Mirza had been on death row for nearly 17 years. He was sentenced to death in 
1999. Last week, the Islamabad High Court gave a verdict on a petition 
challenging capital punishment to Shafqat Hussain, who was said to be a 
juvenile at the time of crime by a non-government organisation. The IHC also 
set aside the request of forming a commission for the confirmation of age of 
the accused murderer.

In March 2015, death penalty was extended to cover all capital offences. The 
European Union, the United Nations and human rights campaigners have all urged 
Pakistan to reinstate the moratorium. However, the hiatus in the 5 year 
moratorium was interrupted in November 2012 when the military executed a 
soldier who was found guilty of murder in a military court. Since then, no one 
had been sent to the gallows till the lifting of ban on death penalty last 
December.

(source: The News)








INDIA:

Supreme Court slaps death sentence on woman



In a new twist to sentencing policy, the Supreme Court on Friday held that no 
leniency can be shown by courts in awarding death sentence only on the ground 
that the accused in a brutal killing is a woman.

The sentencing policy must be proportionate to the crime committed and the 
sentence must be the same for man and woman, held a 3-judge bench of Chief 
Justice H.L. Dattu and Justices S.A. Bobde and Arun Mishra, while confirming a 
death sentence awarded to a woman and her paramour for killing 7 members of a 
family (the case was briefly reported on April 30 when the bench reserved 
orders).

Writing the judgement, the CJI said, "The Indian legal system today does not 
differentiate between a son and a daughter - they have equal rights and duties. 
Indian culture has been witness to for centuries, that daughters dutifully bear 
the burden of being the care-givers for her parents, even more than a son. Our 
experience has reflected that an adult daughter places greater emphasis on 
their relationships with their parents, and when those relationships go awry, 
it takes a worse toll on the adult daughters than the adult sons." The bench 
said, "The principle that when the offence is gruesome and was committed in a 
calculated and diabolical manner, the age of the accused may not be a relevant 
factor. Death penalty is not proportional if the law's most severe penalty is 
imposed on one whose culpability or blameworthiness is diminished, to a 
substantial degree, by reason of youth and immaturity. This, however, does not 
seem to be the case herein. The appellant-accused persons' preparedness, active 
involvement. It said "Here is a case where the daughter, appellant-accused 
Shabnam, who has been brought up in an educated and independent environment by 
her family and was respectfully employed as a Shikshamitra (teacher) at the 
school, influenced by the love and lust of her paramour has committed this 
brutal parricide exterminating seven lives including that of an innocent 
child." It said "Of all the crimes that shock the souls of men, none has ever 
been held in greater abhorrence than parricide, which is by all odds the most 
complete and terrible inversion, not alone of human nature but of brute 
instinct. Such a deed would be sufficiently appalling were the perpetrator and 
the victims are uneducated and backward, but it gains a ghastly illumination 
from the descent, moral upbringing, and elegant respectful living of the 
educated family where the father and daughter are both teachers.

Dismissing the appeals against a Allahabad High Court verdict confirming a 
trial court's order, the bench said "the crime is committed in the most cruel 
and inhuman manner which is extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical and 
revolting. Therefore, as the instant case requires us to award a punishment 
that is graduated and proportioned to the crime, we have reached the 
inescapable conclusion that the extreme culpability of both the 
appellants-accused makes them the most deserving for death penalty."

(source: The Asian Age)