[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 14



SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi executes Iraqi for murder


An Iraqi convicted of murder Thursday became the 132nd person executed in Saudi 
Arabia this year, the interior ministry said.

Kazim al-Abasi, a sheep herder, was found guilty of killing a Saudi with whom 
he worked, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press 
Agency.

It said Abasi bashed the victim in the head with a hammer while he slept, bound 
him and tossed him down a hole before fleeing in his car.

Authorities carried out the death sentence in Hafr al-Batin, near Iraq.

According to AFP tallies, 132 foreigners and Saudis have been put to death in 
the kingdom this year during a surge of executions that compares with 87 for 
all of 2014.

London-based Amnesty International last month described Saudi Arabia's judicial 
system as "deeply flawed" and called for a moratorium on executions.

Death sentences have nonetheless continued to be carried out.

The interior ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for the punishment.

Under the conservative kingdom's strict Islamic sharia legal code, murder, 
armed robbery, rape, drug trafficking and apostasy are all punishable by death.

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

In July, Amnesty also protested a "staggering" execution spree in Saudi 
Arabia's regional rival Iran, where almost 700 people were put to death this 
year.

(source: The Daily Star)






THAILAND:

Death Penalty for 2014 train rapist: Appeals Court refuses to commute 
punishment


The Appeals Court today has upheld the death penalty imposed on a former 
railway employee who raped a 13-year-old girl and later threw her off the train 
in July 2014.

Wanchai 'Game' Saengkao, 23, was brought from Bang Kwang Prison in Bangkok to 
the Hua Hin Provincial Court in Prachuap Khiri Khan where the verdict from the 
Appeals Court was read out this morning.

In attendance were the victim's relatives (except for her mother who was in 
hospital) and the family's lawyer Wanchai Bunnag.

The court rejected Wanchai's appeal for a lighter sentence. It argued that he 
only confessed to the crime due to the overwhelming evidence against him, and 
not out of any sense of remorse.

The death penalty was meted out by the Hua Hin Provincial Court in September 
last year.

The former railway employee was arrested in July, 2014, for raping a 
13-year-old girl who was sleeping on a train en route to Bangkok from Nakhon 
Sri Thammarat.

After he violated her, Wanchai threw the unconscious girl out of the train 
while in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. He then searched her bag and took her 
iPhone which he later sold in Bangkok for THB1,800.

Wanchai was arrested by the police the morning after as he confessed to the 
crime.

He was found guilty and sentenced to death penalty for murder, raping a girl 
under 15, stealing her mobile phone, hiding her body and consuming 
methamphetamine.

The State Railway of Thailand has paid the victim's family THB8.5 million in 
compensation, in addition to funeral costs, Bangkok Post reported.

(source: Coconuts Bangkok)






BULGARIA:

Over 4,200 signatures collected in Bulgaria???s Veliko Tarnovo, Gorna 
Oryahovitsa in favour of death penalty reinstatement


Over 4,200 signatures have been collected in the towns of Veliko Tarnovo and 
Gorna Oryahovitsa in favour of death penalty reinstatement. Petko Ganchev, who 
organised the petition, announced the news, speaking at a protest staged Monday 
in front of the court house in district centre Veliko Tarnovo, Radio FOCUS - 
Veliko Tarnovo reported.

The District Court of Veliko Tarnovo is to sit Monday and Tuesday on the trial 
against Iliyan Zdravkov who murdered this spring 23-year old student Veronika 
Zdravkova.

The District Prosecutor's Office of Veliko Tarnovo filed the indictment against 
the defendant in July.

Petko Ganchev explained most of the people who had signed the petition had not 
provided their uniform civil numbers as they were afraid of disclosing this 
personal information.

Ganchev commented some 200 signatures had been collected in Veliko Tarnovo and 
about 4,000 - in Gorna Oryahovitsa.

(source: focus-fen.net)






INDONESIA:

Indonesian guard held over death of Japanese


Indonesian police have arrested a man suspected of robbing and strangling a 
Japanese woman to death in her apartment in Jakarta.

The woman identified as Yoshimi Nishimura, 28, was found dead with 
strangulation marks on her neck at Casa Grande apartment building in south 
Jakarta last Monday, the capital???s police chief Tito Karnavian told 
reporters.

"There was definitely resistance, but the victim was later strangled and beaten 
to death," he said.

Police arrested the apartment building's security guard, Mursalim, 25, who like 
many Indonesians goes by 1 name, and who had fled to Sumatra.

According to a police statement released on Friday, the suspect had jammed the 
lock of the door to Nishimura???s apartment by stuffing it with paper and then 
demanded she hand over her belongings after he helped her to open the door.

"His main motive was to take the victim's belongings," Karnavian alleged, 
adding that the items seized included money and mobile phones.

"He observed that the woman was living alone which made it easier to rob her," 
he added.

Mursalim could face the death penalty if found guilty of premeditated murder.

An Indonesian court in 2010 sentenced a man to 10 years in prison as an 
accessory to the murder of a female Japanese tourist on the resort island of 
Bali.

In 2009, an Indonesian man was jailed for 20 years for murdering another 
Japanese tourist, Rika Sano, after kidnapping her in Bali.

(source: Agence France-Presse)






IRAN:

10 Prisoners in Rajai Shahr in Danger of Execution


On the morning of Sunday September 13, 10 prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison who 
are charged with murder were reportedly transferred to solitary confinement in 
preparation for their executions.

4 of the 10 prisoners have been identified as Davoud Alambeigi, Mohammad 
Mahmoudi, Mehdi Kaheh and Morteza Ahmadbeigi. This is reportedly Alambeigi's 
4th time being taken to the gallows. Last month Iranian authorities had stopped 
his execution at the last moment and returned him to his cell. According to 
reports, Alambeigi had received a last minute reprieve from the plaintiffs on 
his case file.

According to a close source, due to the complications and difficulties that 
arose from processing Alambbeigi's reprieve, the plaintiffs gave up on their 
pursuit to save his life.

(source: Iran Human Rights)