[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 13



BANGLADESH:

A case for clemency


If ever there was an appropriate case for judicial leniency or presidential 
clemency it is in the tragic case of Oishee, recently convicted of murdering 
her parents and sentenced to death as a result.

We are not questioning the verdict nor the honourable judge's decision to 
impose the sentence that he did. He followed the law and his conscience, and 
there can be no questions raised about the probity of the process or the 
soundness of the judgment rendered.

However, we feel that Oishee's tender age at the time the murders were 
committed together with her diminished capacity due to years of drug abuse make 
her an appropriate candidate for mercy.

Whatever else she may be, she is not a hardened criminal with a long record of 
heartless crime behind her. She was a misguided girl, caught in a cycle of drug 
dependency and all its attendant ills, who made a catastrophic and 
unforgiveable moral choice.

She has been found guilty of a terrible crime, and she must face punishment for 
it. However, we feel that for one of her years and record, a lesser punishment 
than the one served would not be inappropriate.

She may have committed a heinous crime, but she is not a lost cause. With 
appropriate custodial punishment and rehabilitation, she has the potential to 
make something of her life and atone for her actions, a possibility the death 
penalty would foreclose.

It should be noted that caught in a downward spiral of drug abuse and 
degradation from a vulnerable age, she never received the treatment, guidance, 
or support that could have led to a happier path. For all these reasons, we 
feel that society should not give up on her just yet.

Even if she was not a child under the law, she was, without question, at a very 
young and impressionable age, and to be sentenced to death for a single act 
committed in her teenage years, that we are sure she will spend her whole life 
regretting, is a severe punishment indeed.

None of this exonerates Oishee for her actions. However, if she were to receive 
leniency on appeal or, failing that, the president sought to exercise his 
august powers of clemency in her favour, we think justice would be well served

(source: Editorial, Dhaka Tribune)






SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi carries out 146th execution this year


Most Saudi executions are carried out by beheading with a sword.

Nabi Baksh, Mohammd Balouh and Omeed Bouledah were executed in the Eastern 
Saudi port of Dammam, Sabq newspaper said.

Hundreds of people have been beheaded in Saudi Arabia on charges of smuggling 
drugs and a lot of them were Asians.

Their cases, according to AFP tallies, bring to 145 the number of foreigners 
and locals executed in the conservative Islamic kingdom in 2015, compared with 
87 in 2014.

The last time Riyadh executed over 150 people in a single year was in 1995, 
when 192 executions were recorded, according to the statement.

Rights experts have raised concerns about the fairness of trials in the 
kingdom.

Nearly 1/2 of the 151 executions were for offences that do not meet the 
threshold of "most serious crimes" which involve intentional killing and for 
which the death penalty can be imposed under worldwide human rights law, 
Amnesty said. Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Ghashghavi said that when the 
Iranians were originally arrested four years ago, Iran attempted to provide 
them with legal counsel but were prevented from doing so by Saudi Arabia.

Nimr's nephew Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr, and 2 other young Shia activists who 
were arrested as juveniles after taking part in anti-government rallies, also 
had their death sentences upheld, Amnesty said.

Saudi Arabia also continues to impose death sentences on and execute people 
below 18 years of age, in violation of the country's obligations under global 
customary law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

(source: financialspots.com)






FRANCE/IRAN:

Le Monde: 40 intellectuals urge France to denounce Iran executions


On the eve of the trip to France by the Iranian regime's President Hassan 
Rouhani, a group of forty intellectuals signed an appeal on Friday published in 
the French daily Le Monde to denounce the surge in executions in Iran, 
stressing that no political or economic consideration can justify turning a 
blind eye to the disastrous state of human rights in Iran.

The following is the text of the appeal by the 40 intellectuals which appeared 
in Le Monde on November 13, 2015:

Appeal

We are deeply concerned by the situation of human rights in Iran and the 
increasing number of executions.

Amnesty International reported that from January to mid-July 2015, about 694 
executions were carried out in Iran. That is the equivalent of more than 3 
people per day. The NGO stated that "Iran's staggering execution toll for the 
1st half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state 
carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale."

In the 2 years that the "moderate" Hassan Rouhani has been president in Iran, 
some 2,000 people, including 57 women, have been executed, some in public, to 
terrorize the population.

According to Ahmed Shaheed, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the situation of 
human rights in Iran, the country "continues to execute more individuals per 
capita than any country in the world."

Hassan Rouhani has defended the executions by saying that "it is the 
application of divine commandments or laws adopted by parliament."

The Iranian regime has so far executed 120,000 of its opponents, of which 30 % 
were women. The current Minister of Justice has been designated by human rights 
organizations as the "Minister of Death" for his involvement in the massacre of 
30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988.

Women are the first victims of the misogynist regime in Iran. In the past year 
dozens of Iranian women have been the target of acid attacks under the pretext 
of mal-veiling. Freedom of speech and assembly are non-existent and repression 
of religious and ethnic minorities continues unabated.

Rights abuses are enshrined in Iran's Constitution, Penal Code and the Iranian 
civil law. Punishments handed down include stoning, eye-gouging and amputation 
of limbs.

The international community cannot remain indifferent to these atrocities for 
which the Iranian people rightly accuse the mullahs' regime of being the 
godfather of Daech (ISIS, ISIL, IS, Islamic State). No political or commercial 
considerations can justify turning a blind eye to this situation. Even from the 
perspective of realpolitik, the long-term interest of our nation would be 
better protected by staying true to our values and our principles and by 
partnering with those who seek democracy, respect for human rights and 
separation of religion and state.

Therefore, we invite France and the President of the Republic to show firmness 
against violations of human rights in Iran in the dealings with that country.

List of first signatories:

Audrey Alwett (ecrivain), Georges Aperghis (Compositeur), Robert Badinter 
(ancien Garde des Sceaux), Elisabeth Badinter (Philosophe), Patrick Baudouin 
(President d'honneur de la FIDH), Brigitte Bellac (auteure scenariste), Pierre 
Bercis (president des Nouveaux droits de l'Homme), Jose Bove (eurodepute), 
Jean-Pierre Bequet (ancien depute-maire), Ingrid Betancourt (ex-otage), Herve 
Bismuth (enseignant-chercheur), Yves Bonnet ( Prefet honoraire, ecrivain), 
William Bourdon (avocat), Sorj Chalandon (ecrivain), Huguette Chomski Magnis 
(Secretaire generale, Coordinatrice du Collectif Contre le Terrorisme), 
Francois Colcombet (ancien depute et magistrat), Erica Dauber-Ziegler 
(Historienne des arts), Annie Ernaux (ecrivain), Odile Favrat (militante 
syndicale), Mgr. Jacques Gaillot, Andre Glucksmann (philosophe), Elise Groulx 
Diggs (Avocate), Elisabeth Helfer-Aubrac (enseignante-officier des Palmes 
academiques), Renaud Helfer-Aubrac (petit fils du couple Aubrac), Henri Leclerc 
(President d'honneur de la LDH), Brigitte Lemaine (sociologue et realisatrice), 
Damarys Maa Marchand (Presidente de la Federation Nationale des Femmes 
Africaines de France et d'Europe), Andree Michel (directrice honoraire de 
recherche au CNRS), Jean-Pierre Michel (parlementaire honoraire) Gilbert 
Mitterrand (Pdt Fondation Danielle Mitterrand - France Libertes), Virginie 
Molinier (avocate), Maudy Piot (presidente de l'association Femmes pour le 
Dire, Femmes pour Agir), Alain Piot (Sociologue), Sapho (Chanteuse, ecrivain), 
Olivier Steiner (ecrivain), Alain Vivien (Ancien ministre), Rama Yade (ancien 
secretaire d'Etat aux Droits de l'Homme), Jean Ziegler (sociologue, membre du 
Comite consultatif du Conseil des Droits de l'Homme de l'ONU)...

(source: ncr-iran.org)






CHINA:

China sentences 2 convicts to death for jailbreak


A Chinese court on Friday sentenced 2 convicts to death for a jailbreak and for 
killing a guard.

Gao Yulun, 50, was sentenced to death for intentional homicide and breaking out 
of jail using violence, while Wang Damin, 35, was sentenced to death for 
breaking out of jail using violence, larceny, causing intentional injury and 
intentional destruction of property. Wang also was ordered to pay a penalty of 
50,000 yuan ($7,840), China.org reported.

A 3rd man, Li Haiwei, 29, was sentenced to life imprisonment for intentional 
homicide and breaking out of jail.

Wang and Li said they will appeal to a higher court, while Gao accepted the 
punishment.

The 3 escaped from a jail in Yanshou county, on September 2, 2014, after 
killing the guard.

After the escape, over 15,000 police officers were deployed in the hunt and 
authorities offered a reward of 150,000 yuan for information leading to their 
capture.

They were captured shortly.

(source: Business Standard)