[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 19



PAKISTAN:

Pakistani PM urges president not to pardon 4 sentenced to death over Peshawar 
school attack


Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked the country's president to 
reject a petition for pardon for 4 suspected militants sentenced to death over 
the Peshawar school attack last December that killed 150 people, mostly 
children.

The horrific Dec. 16 attack was claimed by the Taliban and prompted Pakistan to 
lift a 2008-moratorium on the death penalty.

The government released a statement on Thursday quoting Sharif as saying that 
the "brutal and merciless killings" of the children in Peshawar have convinced 
him that the perpetrators of such crimes don't deserve any mercy.

Under the constitution, Pakistan's president has the authority to pardon any 
convicted person.

Since the moratorium was lifted, Pakistan has hanged nearly 300 on death row, 
most of them convicted criminals - not the Taliban or other insurgents.

(source: Associated Press)

***********

Pakistan set to reform its Blood Money Law


Pakistan is set to reform its controversial Islamic blood money laws that allow 
murderers to escape punishment if they are forgiven by their victim's heirs, a 
senior official told AFP today.

Critics contend that the law, which was passed in 1990, allows the wealthy and 
the powerful to walk scot-free from homicide convictions either by intimidating 
their victim's loved ones, making them a financial offer that they cannot 
refuse, or both.

The Qisas (retribution) and Diyat (blood money) law was famously invoked in the 
case of Raymond Allen Davis, a CIA contractor who shot 2 men dead in the 
eastern city of Lahore in 2011.

The incident sparked a diplomatic furore which was only resolved when Davis was 
pardoned in return for a USD 2.4 million settlement with the men's families.

The 2012 killing of 20-year-old Karachi student Shahzeb Khan by 2 young men who 
belonged to powerful political families also drew national outrage after Khan's 
parents pardoned the killers, reportedly due to threats.

But under the proposed reforms, a pardon can only be granted if a murderer has 
been convicted, according to Ashtar Ausaf Ali, the special assistant to the 
prime minister on legal affairs.

And a convicted murderer will have to face a minimum of 7 years in prison, even 
if they are pardoned by their victim's relatives and avoid the death penalty, 
Ali said.

"This law has been abused," he told AFP. "This abuse was to the degree that 
influential and rich people would get away with murder, literally."

Furthermore, a murder convict must have confessed to his crime before a trial 
has taken place in order to be eligible to seek such a pardon; or have been 
convicted on the basis of the eye-witness testimony of 2 upstanding Muslim men 
-- a condition that is unlikely to be fulfilled in reality.

According to Ali, a pardon would no longer be enough to avert a prison term. 
"Forgiveness is with God. To safeguard the rights of a person is the obligation 
of the state."

The proposed changes are likely to be tabled in parliament next month and have 
also received the blessing of prominent Islamic scholars, Ali added.

According to "The application of Islamic criminal law in Pakistan" by scholar 
Tahir Wasti, Pakistan's murder conviction rate dramatically declined from 29 % 
in 1990 to just 12 % in 2000 after the enactment of the Qisas and Diyat law.

The percentage of cases that were cancelled before they were brought to court 
meanwhile more than doubled in the same period as police "availed the loopholes 
in the new law".

(source: Business Standard)






BANGLADESH:

Halt the Execution of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed and Salauddin Quader 
Chowdhury


see: 
http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/bangladesh-halt-the-execution-of-ali-ahsan-mohammad-mujaheed-and-salauddin-quader-chowdhury-ua-2621

(source: Amnesty International USA)






FINLAND:

Minister of Justice: "I could consider the death penalty for terrorists"


Finns Party MP and Minister of Justice and Labour Jari Lindstrom says he could 
be prepared to revoke the passports of persons taking part in terrorist 
activities. He told Yle on Thursday that he would even consider resorting to 
capital punishment.

Jari Lindstrom, Minister of Justice and Labour and Finns Party MP suggested 
being open to harsh measures against terrorism in an Yle interview on Thursday. 
These measures could involve condemning terrorists to death. Lindstrom made his 
statements following a Europe-wide heightening of threat levels and the Paris 
massacre.

Lindstrom's stance on capital punishment made headlines earlier this year when 
it came to light that he had suggested the measure for especially brutal crimes 
in a 2011 questionnaire for MPs.

"The death penalty is one way to solve things like these, but I'm not quite 
sure what the proper kind of punishment would be for these situations," the 
Minister of Justice said on Thursday. "Would it be to throw the perpetrator in 
jail for the rest of their life, which society would pay for? Or to kill them 
and be done with it?"

Lindstrom also says he would be prepared to revoke a terrorist's passport. 
Causing a person to be stateless is against international human rights.

(source: yle.fi)