[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 3




EGYPT:

Death sentence for 149 suspected Islamists quashed


The death penalty of 149 suspected Islamists accused of killing 13 Policemen in 
2013 has been quashed by Egypt's Court of Cassation.

Justice officials said the constitutional court ordered that the accused be 
retried by a court other than that which convicted them a year ago.

The 149 were sentenced to death on February 3 2015 in a speedy trial.

The United Nations has criticised the hasty and arbitrary trials meted out to 
suspected supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood including deposed President 
Mohamed Morsi.

Since Mr. Morsi's ouster on July 3 2013, the courts have sentenced hundreds of 
Islamists to death including the former president.

International rights organisations have accused incumbent President Abdel 
Fattah el-Sisi of eliminating dissent and instituting a more repressive regime 
than former president Hosni Mubarak.

(source: africanews.com)






BANGLADESH:

Mir Quasem's appeal hearing deferred till February 9


The Supreme Court has deferred until February 9 the hearing on an appeal by 
Jamaat-e-Islami's key financier Mir Quasem Ali, seeking review of his death 
penalty for war crimes.

A 4-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice SK Sinha fixed 
the date yesterday, responding to a time plea filed by the defence lawyers.

Earlier, the apex court set February 2 for commencing the appeal hearing.

On November 3, 2014, Mir Quasem, a commander of al-Badr during the war, was 
awarded capital punishment by the International Crimes Tribunal 2.

The tribunal handed down death penalty in 2 charges for killing 7 people, 
including one Jasim Uddin, after abduction. He was awarded a total of 72-year 
imprisonment on other charges of abduction, conspiracy and planning. 4 charges 
were not proved.

On November 30, 2014, Quasem Ali appealed to the Supreme Court against the 
death sentence.

Mir Quasem joined Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat, in 1967 
while studying at Chittagong Collegiate School. He later became its Chittagong 
City unit general secretary.

He played an important role in forming al-Badr Bahini that orchestrated 
systematic killing of freedom fighters and intellectuals.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)






PAKISTAN:

Top court seeks report on death row convicts


The top court directed the federal government on Tuesday to submit a report on 
the status of thousands of death row prisoners languishing in jails for years.

A 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, took 
up a petition filed by Barrister Zafarullah, who requested the court to convert 
the sentences of death row convicts into life imprisonment.

The petitioner also asked the SC to decide the fate of the condemned prisoners 
in view of the terms they have served and the various changes occurred since 
the Law Reforms Ordinance 1972.

Capital punishment is legal in Pakistan. There had been a moratorium on 
executions since 2008, but it was lifted for terrorism cases as of December 16, 
2014, following the massacre of nearly 150 people, mostly pupils, at the Army 
Public School in Peshawar.

It has been reported that there are more than 6,000 death row prisoners in 
Pakistan - more than anywhere in the world. Pakistan has executed 239 death row 
convicts since the APS tragedy.

The bench directed Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti to file a report 
on the status of death row prisoners within 15 days.

Last year the SC - while dismissing a plea of the same petitioner against 
abolition of the death penalty in Pakistan - had observed that the right to 
life and liberty is not absolute in nature; such a right is, however, 
circumscribed and subject to law.

Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, while authoring the judgment, observed that the 
petitioner had referred to Article 9 of the Constitution, which says no person 
shall be deprived of life or liberty. But the court clarified that the right to 
life and liberty is not absolute in nature and a person cannot be bereft of his 
life and liberty except in accordance with the law.

Referring to Article 4(2)(a), the court said a person could be deprived of his 
life and liberty if it is provided and prescribed by any law.

The judgment also said the petitioner had failed to show the court that on the 
basis of 2 constitutional clauses, the top court could direct the abolition of 
the death penalty in Pakistan and annul any law.

Regarding the petitioner's argument that Article 9 was not properly worded, the 
parliament should make necessary amendment, said the judgment. "As regards the 
argument that the criminal justice system is unfair, unreasonable and convicts 
and death punishments lack due process, suffice it to say that this by itself 
is not a threshold or touchstone for striking down any law, rather if there is 
deficiency in the relevant law, it is the duty of parliament to provide it or 
correct the law by amendment."

Referring to Article 10-A, the court said that if any person is aggrieved on 
account of lack of fair trial or due process of law, he has the remedy of 
approaching the appropriate forum to challenge such a trial and conviction.

(source: The Express Tribune)