[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 10



IRAN----executions

2 Prisoners Executed in Southern Iran----2 prisoners sentenced to death for 
drug related charges were executed in the province of Hormozgan, southern Iran.


2prisoners sentenced to death for drug related charges were executed at Bandar 
Abbas Central Prison on the morning of Tuesday September 8, say unoffiical 
reports. Official Iranian media and judicial sources have not reported on the 
news. The HRANA human rights website has identified the prisoners as Ali 
Teymourian, 27 years old, and Rasoul Mirzaei, 54 years old.

On Sunday September 6, Iranian authorities had transferred Ali and Rasoul from 
their wards in Bandar Abbas Central Prison to solitary confinement in 
preparation for their executions.

(source: iran Human Rights)






INDIA:

In 1984, HC saved Kattabomman heir from the gallows


The demand for abolition of death penalty has been gathering voice, and the 
recent law commission report recommending abolition of death penalty, except in 
terror-related cases, emphasizes that need to change the laws of the country. 
At this point, it is relevant to recall a case where the Supreme Court and the 
President rejected the appeals of a death row convict, but, in a turn of fate, 
the Madras high court commuted the death sentence to life. And Gurusamy 
Naicker, descendant of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, was saved more than 30 years 
ago.

It was September 27, 1984. Suspense was mounting in the corridors of the Madras 
high court - the final verdict on a 7-year-old case was being pronounced. If 
the verdict was against the petitioner, India would lose the descendant of an 
early freedom fighter Veerapandia Kattabomman who was hanged by the British in 
1799. However, if the verdict went in favour of the petitioner, the case of 
Gurusamy would be unique in the legal history of the country where hanging for 
any culpable offence was not uncommon.

The fight for the release of Gurusamy gained national attention after Vaiko (V 
Gopalasamy), DMK Rajya Sabha MP, took up his cause. The 2 met at Palayamkottai 
prison. Vaiko had been taken into custody under the Maintenance of Internal 
Security Act during the Emergency in 1977 and Gurusamy was convicted of murder 
and awaiting his execution. Gurusamy was sentenced to death by a sessions court 
in Tirunelveli in 1976 over a property dispute.

During a fight, Gurusamy apparently struck back in self-defence, causing the 
death of his uncle. Upon hearing all this, Vaiko was determined to save 
Gurusamy from the gallows and approached the then President of India, Sanjiva 
Reddy, with a memorandum signed by 38 members of Parliament. The President said 
he was emotionally moved but the mercy petition fell through and the date of 
execution was fixed as September 15, 1981.

Once again, on September 8, 1981, Vaiko submitted a memorandum signed by 50 MPs 
to the President, and was directed to submit it to the minister of state for 
home, Venkada Subbiah. Just 5 days ahead of Gurusamy's end the execution was 
put off. The home department directed the Tamil Nadu government to verify the 
bonafides of Guruswamy's direct lineage to Veerapandia Kattabomman. Execution 
was delayed for a year till the verification was complete and his case was 
recommended for commutation.

However, it was only a year's reprieve, for President Zail Singh rejected the 
mercy plea on the ground that a criminal could not be excused for being a 
descendant of a freedom fighter. At this juncture, Justice Chinnappa Reddy of 
the Supreme Court pronounced that if the death row convict had served a long 
time in prison, the sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment.

On the strength of this judgment, another petition was submitted to the 
President on the plea that Gurusamy had been languishing in prison for 5 years. 
It was already June 14, 1984, and the date of execution was fixed on June 21. 
Petitions for stay of execution were filed both before the Supreme Court and 
the Madras high court.

The affidavit was supported by a goodwill certificate from all the 150 
prisoners and the jailors of the Palayamkottai Central Prison. Amidst all this 
din and hustle, the only person who patiently and agonizingly waited for events 
to run their course was Gurusamy. His only wish was that if he was executed, 
his body should be handed over to Vaiko. The day of judgment arrived. Justice V 
Ramaswami and Justice David Annousamy pronounced: "If professional murderers 
can be excused from being hanged, it should only be just that the descendent of 
a freedom fighter too be saved from the gallows. I order the death sentence 
quashed and commute the sentence to life imprisonment."

The long drawn 7-year battle to save the life of a condemned prisoner did not 
go in vain. Gurusamy is now serving time as a convict warden and is expected to 
join his family shortly, the life sentence being reduced on account of his good 
conduct. Had Guruswamy been hanged, the judicial system would not have had this 
avant-garde verdict in its legal annals.

(source: The Times of India)






NIGERIA:

Nigeria Labour Unions Want Death Penalty for Corrupt Govt. Officials


The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and civil society 
on Wednesday in a joint conference advocated capital punishment for corrupt 
officials as obtained in China and India.

To drum support for the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari, 
they said the organised labour would hold a mass rally on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr. Wabba said the NLC was in support of whatever would address the issue of 
corruption in the country, including death sentence.

"If such capital punishment can happen in China, India and South Africa, it can 
also happen in Nigeria; whatever measure that will address the issue of this 
mind-boggling corruption in the country, NLC will support it," he said.

"As organised labour, we firmly believe that the political leadership of our 
country must act decisively to get us out of the brink of disaster that greed 
and primitive accumulation [of wealth] through open looting of our commonwealth 
in the last 6 and more years, has brought us to," said the unionist.

Also speaking, Mr. Kaigama of the TUC decried the level of looting at the state 
and local government levels across the country.

"We have not experienced non-payment of salary for 8 months in the last 
20years; this is sad and this is due to the massive corruption in the country," 
said the TUC president.

(source: Nigerian Bulletin)






BANGLADESH:

Man to die for murder in Mymensingh


A Mymensingh court yesterday sentenced a man to death for killing his neighbour 
over a land dispute in Tarakanda upazila in 2008.

The death penalty awardee is Md Sohel Khan, 35, of Panihata village in the 
upazila.

According to the prosecution, there had been a long-standing dispute between 
Monjurul Islam Khan, 45, of Panihata village and his neighbour Sohel Khan.

Sohel Khan and his men locked in an altercation with Monjurul over the issue on 
October 5, 2008. At one stage, they attacked Monjurul with sharp weapons, 
leaving him critically injured.

Monjurul was admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and died on way to 
Dhaka Medical College Hospital the same day.

Later, victim's younger brother Sadiqul Islam Khan filed a murder case with 
Tarakanda Police Station, accusing Sohel Khan and 2 others. Police investigated 
the incident and pressed charges against Sohel.

(source: The Daily Star)

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

Hearing on Jamaat chief Nizami's death penalty begins


Bangladesh Supreme Court has begun hearing Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman 
Nizami's appeal challenging a verdict which had sentenced him to death for his 
crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

According to the Daily Star, the Appellate Division's 4-member bench headed by 
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha began the hearing with Attorney General 
Mahbubey Alam placing eight war crime charges on which Nizami was convicted.

The report was filed when defence counsel Joynul Abedin Tuhin was reading out 
the statement of prosecution witnesses before the apex court.

On October 29 last year, International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) handed Nizami 
the death penalty on 4 charges of war crimes, including murdering intellectuals 
during the Liberation War in 1971.

Nizami had challenged the court verdict on November 23, 2014, claiming that he 
was innocent.

(source: newkerala.com)


MALAYSIA:

5 sailors arrested, drugs worth RM3.1m seized during raid


Delaying setting sail for a week resulted in the arrests of 5 Indonesian 
sailors and the seizure of RM3.1 million worth of drugs from the boat they were 
in during a raid on Tuesday.

Customs Department Penang branch director Datuk Mohd Pudzi Man said the 
authorities suspected something amiss when the boat failed to set off for 
Acheh, Indonesia, despite given clearance on Sept 1.

He said a raid was conducted resulting in the discovery of 22.07kg of drugs, 
believed to be meth and ecstasy, a pistol and 31 bullets during the 5pm 
operation.

He added the drugs in 19 packages and the weapons were found concealed in the 
wall of the boat.

He said the 5 sailors, aged 30 to 54, were arrested on the spot and have been 
remanded for 14 days to assist investigations.

Initial checks showed the boat entered Malaysia 4 times this year and carried 
used items for trade, he added.

"We believe the drugs are meant for Indonesia," he told a press conference 
today, adding the case was being investigated under the Dangerous Drugs Act 
1952 which carries the death penalty on conviction.

(source: The Sun Daily)