[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

Thu Oct 15 14:44:49 CDT 2015

Oct. 15

SAUDI ARABIA:

JUVENILE OFFENDERS RISK EXECUTION

Two Saudi Arabian Shi’a activists, arrested when they were under 18 years old, 
risk being executed
as soon as the King ratifies their death sentences. They were moved to solitary 
confinement on 5
October and have been held incommunicado since then.

Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format, including case 
information,
addresses and sample messages.

Shi’a activists Abdullah Hasan al-Zaher and Dawood Hussein al-Marhoon were 
moved to solitary
confinement in al-Ha’ir prison on 5 October, where they have since been held 
incommunicado. They
were sentenced to death on 22 October 2014  by the Specialized Criminal Court 
(SCC) in the capital,
Riyadh, which had convicted them of offences that included “participating in 
the marches and
gatherings of the Awamiyya riots”, “chanting slogans against the State with the 
intent of
destabilizing the security of the country and overturning its system of 
government”, “participating
in killing of police officers by making and using Molotov cocktails to attack 
them” and “carrying
out an armed robbery”.

Throughout their pre-trial detention, both activists were denied access to 
their lawyer, who was
only allowed to meet them at the second court hearing. Both the appeal court 
and the Supreme Court
upheld their sentences earlier this year, without telling them.

Abdullah al-Zaher and Dawood al-Marhoon were arrested on 3 March and 22 May 
2012, when they were 16
and 17 years old respectively. Both were taken to the juvenile rehabilitation 
centre (Dar
al-Mulahaza) in Dammam, in the Eastern Province, where they were held until 
they reached the age of
18. They were then moved to the General Directorate of Investigations (GDI) 
prison in Damman. They
were interrogated without access to a lawyer and state that they were tortured 
by GDI officers to
force them to “confess”.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Saudi Arabia is one of the most prolific executioners in the world, putting 
more than 2,200 people
to death between 1985 and 2015. So far this year it has executed at least 136 
people, almost half of
them for offences that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” for 
which the death
penalty can be imposed under international law.

Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format.

Names: Dawood al-Marhoon, Abdullah al-Zaher
Gender m/f: m
UA: 229/15 Index: MDE 23/2671/2015 Issue Date: 15 October 2015

Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!

EITHER send a short email to uan at aiusa.org with “UA 229/15” in the subject 
line, and include in the
body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent,

OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.

Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office 
if taking action after
the appeals date. If you receive a response from a government official, please 
forward it to us at
uan at aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please write immediately in English, Arabic or your own language:
  *  Urging the authorities to quash the conviction and death sentence of 
Abdullah Hasan al-Zaher and
     Dawood Hussein al-Marhoon, and ensure that they are retried in line with 
international law and
     standards and without recourse to the death penalty;
  *  Calling on them to order an independent investigation into the men’s 
allegations of torture and
     other ill-treatment;
  *  Reminding them that Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention on the 
Rights of the Child,
     which strictly prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed 
by anyone below the
     age of 18;Urging them to establish immediately an official moratorium on 
all executions with a
     view to abolishing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 26 NOVEMBER 2015 TO:

King and Prime Minister
His Majesty Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court, Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior)
+966 11 403 3125 (please keep trying)
Twitter: @KingSalman
Salutation: Your Majesty

Minister of Interior
His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Minister of Interior
Ministry of the Interior, P.O. Box 2933, Airport Road, Riyadh 11134 Kingdom of 
Saudi Arabia
Fax: +966 11 403 3125 (please keep trying)
Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:
President, Human Rights Commission
Bandar Mohammed ‘Abdullah al-Aiban
Human Rights Commission
PO Box 58889, Riyadh 11515
King Fahd Road
Building No. 3, Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: +966 11 418 5101
Email: info at hrc.gov.sa

Also send copies to:
Ambassador Adel A. Al-Jubeir, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington DC 20037
Fax: 1 202 944 5983 I Phone: 1 202 342 3800 I Email: info at saudiembassy.net

Please share widely with your networks: http://bit.ly/1GILpw5

We encourage you to share Urgent Actions with your friends and colleagues! When 
you share with your
networks, instead of forwarding the original email, please use the "Forward 
this email to a friend"
link found at the very bottom of this email. Thank you for your activism!

UA Network Office AIUSA │600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003
T. 202.509.8193 │ F. 202.509.8193 │E. uan at aiusa.org │amnestyusa.org/urgent

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

Ali al-Nimr’s campaign – What’s a life really worth?

Since his arrest in 2012, Ali Mohammad al-Nimr the nephew of prominent Shia 
cleric and rights activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr has languished in a Saudi 
Arabian prison, the pawn in a cruel game of political manipulations and 
sectarian hatred.

As world leaders continue to argue national security, rationalizing their 
silence under broad, and let’s face it empty statement, one young man is facing 
death … and not just that! His jailors, his tormentors have called; no, they 
have demanded for his death to be absolutely cruel. Saudi Arabia’s monarchy, 
the most violent, repressive, reactionary and anti-democratic regime in the 
world has ruled that one of  his nationals be beheaded and then crucified.

Under strict order of the Saudi Royal court, a judge saw fit to condemn a 
young, an innocent man to death by beheading, to later parade his mutilated 
body so that the people will cower before the might of their king.

A 16-years old boy was taken away from the safety of his home for he dared 
exercise those rights which are not only inalienable but inherent to human 
nature. Ali was born on December, 25th, 1995 – a date which should resonate and 
hope as it coincides with Christmas in the Christian community.

While Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was born a Muslim, his beliefs are not foreign to 
that of Judaism and Christianity – in his prayers he honors and remembers those 
name the Church and Judaism hold most dear: Abraham, Jesus, Moses … those 
prophets who relentlessly stood and fought against tyranny.

Following his unlawful arrest by Saudi Arabia’s infamous Security Forces he was 
transferred to a juvenile detention center – a tacit admission of his age on 
the part of the authorities – There he was tortured and held incommunicado for 
six months.

His fingerprint was then forcibly imprinted on a confession he neither ever 
agreed, nor made.

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was denied proper legal representation. Ali Mohammed 
al-Nimr was set up and left to rot alone in a cell for Riyadh Royals thought to 
use him as a pawn against his uncle: Sheikh al-Nimr.

His rights, dignity and future were robbed, trampled over and violated in the 
most vicious, relentless and cowardly manner there is, for those in powers felt 
they could laugh in the face of international law and get away with it.

In truth so far they have … They have because world leaders have proven too 
cowardly; because world leaders have forgotten in their quest for influence and 
control to remember that Ali al-Nimr is not just another collateral damage to 
be brushed under the rug. Ali al-Nimr is a person, he is a life and he is a 
voice.

The day we stopped caring whether a man lives or dies is truly the day darkness 
will have swallowed us whole.

Martin Luther King Jr said: “Human progress is neither automatic nor 
inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, 
suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of 
dedicated individuals.”

Justice is not a word or a notion we should take for granted. Justice requires 
courage indeed and it requires for leaders to act bravely – not for political 
gain, but because it is the right thing to do.

Can we tolerate living in a world where our leaders can stare barbarism in the 
face and still get to hold on to those moral values they clamor to represent?

Can we tolerate calling Saudi Arabia an ally when over the course of a year the 
kingdom has saw fit to launch an illegal military campaign against Yemen with 
one hand while it used the other to prop Wahhabi-inspired radicals across the 
Middle East?

Can we remain silent when women, men and children are slaughtered by Saudi 
Arabia on account their faith – Shia Islam, has been labelled an apostasy by Al 
Saud’s Wahhabi clergy?

Will we sit and turn away while our youth, our children, our sons are being 
castigated by a murderous and rapacious regime on account their pockets line 
more zeros than America’s deficit?

Silence is contagious!

Ali Mohammad al-Nimr cannot be another silence on our collective wall of shame! 
Ali is his mother’s child, he belongs with his family. He DOES not belong in 
jail! He should never have landed in jail.

His arrest was motivated by a desire to repress and oppress the people of Qatif 
(eastern province of Saudi Arabia), and beyond all religious minorities. And 
not just that, his arrest was motivated by a desire to further inflict harm on 
a family which purpose and mission has always been to stand tall before 
tyranny.

Al Nimr have become the hope of an entire nation, for their voices have always 
carried above the regime threats – forever calling for justice and freedom. 
Will we not raise our voices now that their own have been silenced?

Will we not stand with them when their legs have been stolen from under them?

Will we dare walk away when everything they always stood for was for their 
people, for the people of Hijaz to reclaim their place under the Sun – proudly, 
unafraid and free?

Ali Mohammad al-Nimr is not just another youth accused of a crime he did not 
commit. He is the nation a king wants to keeps in shackles.

Silence is not an option anymore, not when silence echoes of the cries of our 
children.

(source:  Catherine Shakdam, AhlulBayt News Agency)

INDONESIA:

Report reveals endemic judicial flaws in death penalty cases

Death row prisoners in Indonesia are routinely denied access to lawyers and are 
coerced into “confessions” through severe beatings, while foreign nationals 
facing the death penalty had to deal with a judicial system they hardly 
understand, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

Flawed Justice exposes how the government under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo 
has made a mockery of international law by carrying out 14 executions since 
taking office, while the lives of scores more prisoners now on death row could 
be at risk.

“Indonesia’s callous U-turn on executions has already led to the death of 14 
people, despite clear evidence of flagrant fair trial violations. The 
government might claim to be following international law to the letter, but our 
investigation shows the reality on the ground is very different with endemic 
flaws in the justice system,” said Josef Benedict, Amnesty International’s 
South East Asia Campaigns Director.

“The death penalty is always a human rights violation, but the numerous and 
serious issues with regards to how it is being applied in Indonesia makes its 
use all the more tragic. Authorities must end this senseless killing once and 
for all and immediately review all death penalty cases with a view to their 
commutation.”

Despite strong signs that Indonesia had moved away from the death penalty in 
recent years, the government of President Widodo - which took office in October 
2014 - has scaled up executions significantly.

Of the 14 people who have been sent before the firing squad in 2015, 12 were 
foreigners and all were convicted on drugs charges. The government has vowed to 
use the death penalty to tackle a national “drugs emergency”, despite there 
being no evidence that the threat of execution can work as more of a deterrent 
to crime than a prison sentence. President Widodo has also said he will reject 
all clemency petitions of death row prisoners on drug charges.

Amnesty International’s investigation into 12 individual death row cases 
reveals emblematic flaws in the Indonesian justice system, which raises serious 
questions about the country’s use of the death penalty.

Forced confession

In half of the cases, death row prisoners claimed that they had been coerced 
into “confessing” to their crimes, including through severe beatings at the 
hands of police officers in detention. Many claim to have been tortured or 
ill-treated, yet Indonesian authorities have never followed up to investigate 
these allegations.

A Pakistani national, Zulfiqar Ali. claims that police kept him in a house for 
three days after his arrest, where he was kicked, punched and threatened with 
death until he eventually signed a “confession”. The beating left him in such a 
bad state that he had to go through kidney and stomach surgery.

Despite Zulfiqar Ali detailing the torture he had endured during his trial, the 
judge allowed his “confession” to be used as evidence and there was no 
independent investigation conducted into his allegations.

The findings in Flawed Justice echo those of other national and international 
human rights organizations, who have found evidence of systematic and 
widespread torture or other ill-treatment by the Indonesian police with 
impunity.

Denied access to lawyer

Indonesian death row prisoners are routinely denied access to lawyers, despite 
this right being guaranteed in both Indonesian and international law.

Many of the prisoners mentioned in the report and charged with capital crimes 
are forced to wait several weeks or even months before seeing a lawyer, 
seriously undermining their ability to make their case in court.

There are also serious doubts about the quality of legal representation 
afforded to those facing drugs charges. In one recent case, the only advice a 
defendant received from his lawyer was to answer “Yes” to any questions from 
the investigator. In another case a death sentence was handed down due to a 
request by defendant’s own lawyer to the judges.

In none of the 12 cases examined in Flawed Justice were prisoners brought 
before a judge immediately after arrest as required by international law and 
standards – most had to wait several months before this happened.

Foreign nationals

Twelve out of the 14 people executed in Indonesian in 2015 were foreign 
nationals, and at least 35 other foreigners are currently on death row in the 
country.

But Amnesty International’s findings show that in numerous instances Indonesia 
violates the rights of foreign death row prisoners by denying them 
interpretation during or before trial, making them sign documents in a language 
they don’t understand, or refusing access to consular services.

Additionally in 2015, Indonesia put to death one man suffering from a severe 
mental disability in violation of international law. Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte 
had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Recommendations

Given the serious flaws in Indonesia’s justice system, Amnesty International 
urges authorities to immediately establish an independent body to review all 
cases where people have been sentenced to death, with a view to commuting the 
death sentences.

Indonesia must also reform its Criminal Code to match international standards 
and ensure that all prisoners’ right to a fair trial is respected.

“President Joko Widodo has promised to improve human rights in Indonesia, but 
putting more than a dozen people before a firing squad shows how hollow these 
commitments are,” said Josef Benedict.

“Indonesia should set an example on human rights regionally. It is time to take 
this responsibility seriously - a first step must be to impose a moratorium on 
executions.”

Background

27 people were executed between 1999 and 2014, under Indonesia's first 4 
democratic-era presidents. No executions were carried out between 2009 and 
2012.

According to figures obtained from the Law and Human Rights Ministry on 30 
April 2015, there were at least 121 people death row. These include 54 people 
convicted of drug-related crimes, two convicted on terrorism charges and 65 
convicted of murder.

As of today, 140 countries are abolitionist in law or practice. Amnesty 
International opposes the death penalty in all cases and under any 
circumstances, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of 
the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The 
organization considers the death penalty a violation of the right to life as 
recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ultimate cruel, 
inhuman and degrading punishment.

(source: Amnesty International)

KUWAIT:

The death penalty scares me

Every time I read about a maid receiving a death sentence in court, I feel pain 
in my heart. It usually takes me some time to pretend that the decision is not 
mine and she probably received the right end for the crime she committed. Yet, 
I wonder if hanging a woman is the solution? Why we as a society have to put 
two young lives in danger without observing and digging into the probable roots 
of the problem that lead to this devastating route?!

Kuwait’s Cassation Court recently upheld a death sentence for a 22 year old 
Ethiopian domestic helper for killing a Kuwaiti girl. A capital punishment 
verdict was issued after the maid admitted to the public prosecution that in 
March 2014 she took a knife and walked into the victim’s bedroom where she 
stabbed her several times in the chest. She confessed that she killed the 
Kuwaiti sponsor’s 19 year old daughter, a college student, when the family were 
resting after hosting a dinner reception. According to police reports, the maid 
stabbed the victim who was asleep, then locked herself inside her room before 
leaving her employer’s house and eventually turning herself in to the police. 
Investigators confirmed that the maid killed the Kuwaiti because her 
fingerprints were all over the knife used in the crime. Last November, the 
court sentenced her to death by hanging.

Sadly this incident was not the first of its kind and I doubt it will be the 
last. Now, I believe the bottom line is that we lost 2 people instead of 1. The 
victim has lost her young life. And the maid will also be gone either when she 
is hanged or even if she went to jail for the rest of her life.

However such a horrific incident will not end the troubled relations here in 
Kuwait between sponsor and their servants. Not unless we hold the courage to 
point fingers over whom should be blamed for the unsettled contact among the 2.

I believe in law. But I also believe in the need to enforce and implement laws 
rather than having them solely for the pleasure of the beautiful way they look 
written on a page. So, I believe maids in general must be given all their 
personal needs and space. That is a fact….when a maid is deprived of humane 
treatment, how can you expect her to act human?

A full day off is her right and not a gift from an employer. Whatever your 
excuse you are denying her a basic human need to have personal space and rest. 
Some employers argue that she might go out and get a boyfriend and get 
pregnant. But we all know that’s just a lazy excuse. It’s illegal to get 
pregnant here without marriage and if one does so, she will end up jail. The 
employer will not be held responsible for the maid breaking laws.

We forget that our helpers are people too. They have a legal right to have time 
to make friends and enjoy life. They are not slaves – though many are treated 
as such here in Kuwait.

No amount of pressure can excuse the taking of another human life.

But when employers deny domestic staff even a little bit of relaxation and fun, 
a day to rest and release some of the stress and pressure that all human beings 
feel, the only possible result is that some will go crazy. Moving from home to 
a new land is never easy for any one, so if it is not easy for professionals or 
housewives, you can imagine that it is surely not easy for a woman who may 
suffer from homesickness, missing her partners, family members or children.

Also verbal abuse which is very common here is hard to deal with….I know some 
here may deny such vulgar behavior but, it’s happening and widely spread among 
a lot of people. I think such an environment can lead any person to depression, 
mental illness and the temptation to commit acts of extreme violence.

We need a balance study that sheds light on the real suffering of maids and 
point fingers towards the truth behind the horrifying daily news about human 
rights abuses in Kuwait.

(source: Muna Al-Fuzai, Kuwait Times)

PAKISTAN:

More than 1,400 cases of blasphemy last year

Human rights groups say the blasphemy laws are frequently misused by 
extremists, and have called for them to be revoked.

More than 1,400 cases of blasphemy were registered in Pakistan last year, a 
senior lawyer has claimed, and it is becoming increasingly dangerous for 
lawyers to defend the accused.

Syed Mumtaz Shah, a top lawyer in Pakistan, made the claim at a seminar on 
religious freedom in Karachi, Fides news agency reports.

Leaders and representatives from civil society and religious groups gathered to 
discuss human rights at an event organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour 
Education and Research.

A spokesman for the association of lawyers in Karachi said "even for lawyers it 
has become dangerous to do their job and defend a defendant accused of 
blasphemy".

Pakistan's blasphemy laws have long been blamed for increasing inter-religious 
tensions across the country. Those who are accused of "defiling the Prophet 
Muhammad" face the death penalty, while life imprisonment is given for damaging 
the Quran. "Insulting another's religious feelings" can result in up to 10 
years in jail.

Human rights groups say the blasphemy laws are frequently misused by 
extremists, and false charges are often brought against minority groups in 
order to settle personal scores or to seize property or businesses. One of the 
most well known cases is that of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of 
blasphemy and now facing the death penalty. Her case made global headlines when 
2 prominent politicians were assassinated after trying to help her.

Last year, a Christian couple were beaten and burned to death in a brick kiln 
following rumours that they had burned pages from the Quran. They were later 
proved innocent, and 106 people were charged with their murder.

The US Commission for International Religious Freedom this year said Pakistan 
represented "one of the worst situations in the world for religious freedom" 
and recommended that the administration designated it a 'country of particular 
concern'.

In the State Department's International Religious Freedom Report for 2014 
released yesterday, the Pakistani government was blamed for failing to 
"investigate, arrest, or prosecute those responsible for religious freedom 
abuses promoted an environment of impunity that fostered intolerance and acts 
of violence".

"Government policies did not afford equal protection to members of minority 
religious groups, and due to discriminatory legislation such as blasphemy 
laws...minorities often were afraid to profess freely their religious beliefs," 
the report said.

(source: Christian Today)