[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 13



GERMANY----film festival entry

Steve Coogan Film at Berlin Fest Puts Death Penalty on Trial


Is it possible to discuss an emotive topic like the death penalty with both 
passion and reason? Steve Coogan hopes so.

The British actor-comedian plays a lawyer battling to keep his client from the 
gallows in Berlin Film Festival entry "Shepherds and Butchers," set in South 
Africa in the last years of apartheid. Adding to the ethical complexity, the 
defendant is a white death-row prison guard, who has killed seven black men in 
an apparent road rage incident.

Coogan says director Oliver Schmitz's film, which has its world premiere at the 
festival on Saturday, is "a powerful indictment of capital punishment" but not 
"sanctimonious or preachy."

"No one is demonized in this film, apart from the system itself," Coogan said 
over the phone from New York, where he's filming taut domestic drama "The 
Dinner" alongside Laura Linney and Richard Gere. "It's about the brutalizing 
effect on those who carry out executions and the dehumanizing effect on all 
those involved."

There's no doubt where Coogan stands on the issue; he thinks capital punishment 
is "repellent and morally objectionable." But he said Schmitz's film, which 
also stars Andrea Riseborough and young South African actor Garion Dowds, 
approaches the topic without "hand-wringing or pious pontification."

"The film is very honest in its presentation of literally what happens, and 
sometimes it's hard to watch," Coogan said. "It's a literal representation of 
the minutiae of what happens when the state kills people.

"It lets the actions do the talking for themselves."

Like many comedians, 50-year-old Coogan relishes the chance to get serious. He 
has worked hard to expand his career beyond its comic origins - a particularly 
difficult task in Britain, where his best-known creation, pompous radio 
personality Alan Partridge, is a comedy icon.

He has given his comic skills free rein in road series "The Trip" and "The Trip 
to Italy," in which he drives, eats and banters with Welsh comedian Rob Brydon.

But he also co-wrote and helped produce 2013 feature "Philomena," in which he 
starred alongside Judi Dench as a jaded journalist who helps an Irishwoman 
search for the son taken from her decades earlier by Catholic church officials. 
The film, based on an actual case, was nominated for four Oscars, including 
best picture.

"I think a film is interesting if the subject matter is divisive or has some 
tension within it," Coogan said.

"If you try to make films all things to all men you end up with some kind of 
nondescript soup, which may tick all the boxes in terms of the bottom line, but 
I don't think it makes for very interesting art.

"With 'Philomena,' one of the most gratifying things about it was that people 
left the theatre talking animatedly about forgiveness and whether it was 
appropriate. To provoke discussion is a good thing."

(source: Associated Press)






EUROPEAN UNION:

British MP Lambert accepts Bangladesh criticism for her call to spare 1971 war 
criminal Mujahid's life----Member of European Parliament Jean Lambert says her 
letter urging the government to review the death sentence of war criminal Ali 
Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid should not be seen as "a partisan move on behalf of any 
particular party."


"I'll be hated to be saying that ...," the chair the European Parliament 
Delegation to South Asia said at a press beefing on Friday when she was asked 
why she had made the appeal to spare the Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general's 
life.

Mujahid was hanged in November last year along with BNP leader Salauddin Quader 
Chowdhury for the horrific crimes against humanity they had committed in 1971 
to thwart the independence of Bangladesh.

Just before the verdict of their final review in October, Lambert had written 
in her "personal capacity" to the Bangladesh government through the ambassador 
in Brussels. In the letter, she had called for a review of Mujahid's death 
sentence.

The EU, as a matter of policy, does not support death sentence to any person in 
any part of the world.

But the British MP Lambert had made the request to the Hasina government 
specifically in Mujahid's case. bdnews24.com had seen the letter and run a 
story.

"You're right in saying that it was a specific case. I think you are also right 
in implied criticism that why I did not mention others," she said.

"It was a case where I was asked to intervene. You are absolutely right, I 
should raise other issues of death penalty."

But the member of European Parliament (MEP) added: "I don't want to be 
misinterpreted that this was support of any particular individual in terms of 
who they are. It's a question about raising opposition to death penalty."

(source: bdnews24.com)






IRAN:

Infographic: Capital Punishment in Iran - 2015


IHRDC's final update of its chart of executions carried out by the Iranian 
government in 2015 counts 966 executions, an increase of nearly 34% from the 
previous year. The infographic below highlights some of the details behind 
these numbers, including the charges leading to the death sentences of the 
individuals in question, the 8 top cities for executions in the last year, and 
trends in overall executions and the executions of juvenile offenders over the 
last year. Iran has led the world in executions per capita for years.

Among these 966 executions, 625 - nearly 2/3 - arose from drug trafficking 
charges. This represents a rise of over 75% in executions for this charge over 
the previous year. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 
(ICCPR) establishes that the death penalty may only be used for "the most 
serious crimes", and international legal experts have long averred that 
drug-related offenses do not fit in this category. Iranian law envisions the 
use of capital punishment for a wide variety of crimes, including armed 
robbery, drug trafficking, fraud, and sodomy.

These executions took place in a highly problematic judicial context. There 
have been hundreds of reports of violations of due process in Iran in recent 
years, including the denial of access to counsel, the denial of the right to be 
heard by a fair, independent, and impartial judicial body, and a routine 
reliance on confessions extracted under physical and psychological duress as 
primary forms of evidence in capital cases.

see: 
ttp://www.iranhrdc.org/english/news/features/1000000626-infographic-capital-punishment-in-iran-2015.html

(source: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center)






PAKISTAN:

JI calls for revoking Qadri's death penalty


Jamaat-i-Islami leader Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan has asked the president and 
the prime minister to revoke death penalty of Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the 
murderer of the former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, and set him free 
'honourably'.

"President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should show wisdom 
in the case of Qadri. They should not only revoke his death penalty but also 
set him free from the jail honourably," a statement issued here on Friday 
quoted the former senator as saying.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has upheld the death sentence of Qadri. "If the 
president and prime minister don't show wisdom then it can trigger crisis 
across the country," he cautioned.

The JI leader said blasphemy should not be associated with an individual but 
this was an issue of the entire Muslim Ummah. He urged ulema to highlight the 
issue of death penalty of Qadri in their sermons in mosques.

Justifying action of Qadri the JI leader said late governor Taseer had visited 
the jail where he met Asia Bibi who was detained in blasphemy case. He said Mr 
Taseer not only met Asia Bibi but also expressed sympathies with her and 
started efforts for her release.

Prof Ibrahim raised reservations over Mumtaz Qadri case and said instead of 
blasphemy law he was treated under the anti-terrorism law. He said law in 
Taseer case was 'misused'.

(source: dawn.com)






DONETSK PEOPLES REPUBLIC:

DPR court hands down 1st death sentence


1 person has been sentenced to death in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's 
Republic (DPR), Lyudmila Strateichuk, DPR Supreme Court judge and acting 
chairman of the DPR Military Tribunal, said.

"1 such sentence has now been handed down. There are cases that are pending 
consideration, and they also envisage the death penalty. These cases involve 
killings and espionage," Strateichuk told reporters on Friday.

She also said the republic's military tribunal has considered two criminal 
cases against DPR troops, and over 40 are pending consideration.

"The military tribunal has now tried 2 criminal cases, both defendants are DPR 
troops. Another 46 cases are pending trial," she said.

(source: interfax-religion.com)