[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 3




IRAN----executions

Iran Ends 2015 & Begins 2016 with Executions: 9 People Hanged


On Thursday December 31, 6 prisoners were reportedly hanged at Tabriz Central 
Prison (northern Iran) on drug charges and 2 young prisoners were reportedly 
hanged at Mashhad's Vakilabad Prison (northern Iran) on murder charges. On 
Saturday January 2, a prisoner was reportedly hanged at Khorramabad's Parsilon 
Prison (central Iran) on drug charges.

According to Iran state run news media, Jam News, the prisoners from Mashhad 
were executed on murder charges. The report identifies one of the prisoners as 
"A", committed murder in 2001, and does not mention any information about the 
other prisoner except that he was hanged for murder.

According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, about 4 years ago, the s6 
prisoners from Tabriz were arrested and sentenced to death for possessing and 
trafficking 10 Kilograms of methamphetamine. The report identifies the 
prisoners as: Amir Ahmadi, Jahangir Saeedi, Javad Rahnama, Reza Mohammadpour, 
Javad Gharehbaghi, and Hossein Hassanzadeh.

According to the human rights group HRANA, the prisoner from Khorramabad is 
Mehdi Ranjkesh. This prisoner was able to smuggle out a video message before he 
was transferred to solitary confinement and later executed. The video is 
available online. In the video Ranjkesh claims he suffers from mental and 
physical disabilities, but Iranian authorities denied him medical care and 
treatment. Ranjkesh also says that during his time in prison, he has been 
helping advocate for an end to the death penalty for drug offenses. Ranjkesh's 
execution is the first reported for 2016 in Iran.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

***********

Disabled man hanged in western Iran prison


Iran's fundamentalist regime on Saturday hanged a disabled man in a prison in 
Khoramabad, western Iran.

The executed prisoner was identified as Mehdi Ranjkesh. He had spent the past 5 
years behind bars.

Ranjkesh, who was accused of a drugs-related charge, was both physically and 
mentally disabled and was denied proper medical treatment while in prison.

The human rights situation has been deteriorating rapidly in Iran. More than 
2,000 individuals have been executed during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as 
President of the regime. This is the highest rate of executions in the past 25 
years, and it reflects an increase over figures that had already secured Iran's 
place as the nation with the most executions per capita.

On December 17, 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution strongly 
condemning the brutal and systematic violation of human rights in Iran, in 
particular the mass and arbitrary executions, increasing violence and 
discrimination against women and ethnic and religious minorities.

Following the adoption of the 62nd UN resolution censuring human rights abuses 
in Iran, the Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi called on the 
UN Security Council to hold the leaders of the clerical regime accountable and 
prosecute them for crimes against humanity. She underlined that this is a 
necessary step towards respecting the international community's vote that 
condemned the systematic and flagrant violations of human rights in Iran.

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

10 prisoners at imminent risk of execution in Iran


10 death-row prisoners were on Sunday transferred to solitary confinement in 
the notorious Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of the 
Iranian capital Tehran, in preparation for their imminent execution.

Iran's fundamentalist regime has upheld the execution sentence for all 10 of 
the prisoners.

Among the prisoners at imminent risk of execution is Farajollah Hatami who has 
been imprisoned for the past 12 years.

The other prisoners are yet to be identified by name, but they were transferred 
to solitary confinement from wards 3, 4 and 6 of Gohardasht Prison.

The human rights situation has been deteriorating rapidly in Iran. More than 
2,000 individuals have been executed during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as 
President of the regime. This is the highest rate of executions in the past 25 
years, and it reflects an increase over figures that had already secured Iran's 
place as the nation with the most executions per capita.

On December 17, 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution strongly 
condemning the brutal and systematic violation of human rights in Iran, in 
particular the mass and arbitrary executions, increasing violence and 
discrimination against women and ethnic and religious minorities.

Following the adoption of the 62nd UN resolution censuring human rights abuses 
in Iran, the Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi called on the 
UN Security Council to hold the leaders of the clerical regime accountable and 
prosecute them for crimes against humanity. She underlined that this is a 
necessary step towards respecting the international community's vote that 
condemned the systematic and flagrant violations of human rights in Iran.

(source for both: NCR-Iran)






QATAR:

5 expats sentenced to death penalty for killing employer in Qatar


A criminal court in Qatar this week has sentenced 5 men in absentia to death by 
firing squad for murdering their boss.

According to court documents, the incident took place in January 2014.

4 of the men who were convicted are from Bangladesh: Rebon Khan, Din Islam Aziz 
al-Rahman, Muhammad Rashid Muhammad and Muhammad Ruseil. A 5th, Sahtaj Sheikh, 
is from Nepal.

They had been charged with 1st degree, premeditated murder, theft and forgery. 
The men were not in Qatar when the verdict was read on Dec. 31, 2015.

What happened

According to court testimony, the victim and several of his employees had gone 
to an under-construction home at 6am on Jan. 9.

At some point, the 5 defendants threatened the rest of the workers and shut 
them into a bathroom, closing the door. The defendants could be observed 
holding hammers.

Some of the men trapped in the bathroom testified that while inside, they heard 
loud voices and screams from the victim, but added that they were too scared to 
call the police.

The victim's body was found the next day by his brother, who had gone to the 
construction site searching for him after his wife reported him missing.

A forensics report stated that the victim was struck several times on the head 
with hammers, resulting in his death.

After the employer was killed, the defendants stole the victim's smart card, 
the court heard.

They then used an electronic device to issue exit permits for themselves by 
entering the victim's data and making it look like as if he had agreed to the 
issuing of the permits.

The court documents did not include the name and nationality of the victim.

Kafala debate

The case comes less than a year after a Doha court sentenced 4 other expats in 
absentia to jail time for abducting 1 of their Qatari sponsors.

Those defendants were acquitted of an attempted murder charge, but had been 
found guilty of beating and robbing the sponsor.

They had also forced him to sign their exit permits before they left Qatar.

The verdict prompted a flurry of debate about Qatar's restrictive kafala 
sponsorship system, with critics saying freedom of movement should be a 
universal right, and the defendants may have had no choice but to resort to 
extreme measures.

Others, however, countered that torturing a person is always unjustified and 
breaking the law is not the answer.

(source: Doha News)






SAUDI ARABIA:

EU, US Condemn Saudi Executions, Especially Concerned Over Al-Nimr Execution


The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia carried out 47 executions earlier Saturday, 
including that of Saudi Shi'ite Cleric Nimr Al-Nimr.

Following the news of the executions, the European Union reiterated its strong 
opposition to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, and in 
particular in cases of mass executions.

Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign 
Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, 
said, "The specific case of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr raises serious concerns 
regarding freedom of expression and the respect of basic civil and political 
rights, to be safeguarded in all cases, also in the framework of the fight 
against terrorism."

According to Mogherini, "This case has also the potential of enflaming further 
the sectarian tensions that already bring so much damage to the entire region, 
with dangerous consequences."

The EU called on the Saudi authorities to promote reconciliation between the 
different communities in the Kingdom, and all actors to show restraint and 
responsibility.

Similarly, the executions have drawn the ire of the United States.

"The United States also urges the Government of Saudi Arabia to permit peaceful 
expression of dissent and to work together with all community leaders to defuse 
tensions in the wake of these executions," said John Kirby Spokesperson for the 
US Bureau of Public Affairs in a statement.

"We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and 
political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time 
when they urgently need to be reduced," Kirby said.

"In this context, we reiterate the need for leaders throughout the region to 
redouble efforts aimed at de-escalating regional tensions," Kirby added.

(source: eurasiareview.com)

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

Shia cleric among 47 executed by Saudi Arabia in a single day


Saudi Arabia's authorities have demonstrated their utter disregard for human 
rights and life by executing 47 people in a single day, said Amnesty 
International yesterday.

Those put to death earlier today included prominent Shi'a Muslim cleric Sheikh 
Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, who was convicted after a political and grossly unfair 
trial at the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC). With the exception of the Sheikh 
and three Shi'a Muslim activists, the others were convicted of involvement with 
al-Qa'ida.

"Saudi Arabia's authorities have indicated that the executions were carried out 
to fight terror and safeguard security. However, the killing of Sheikh Nimr 
al-Nimr in particular suggests they are also using the death penalty in the 
name of counter-terror to settle scores and crush dissidents," said Philip 
Luther, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa 
Programme.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr had been a vocal critic of the Saudi Arabian government and 
was among 7 activists whose death sentences were upheld earlier this year. They 
had all been arrested for participating in protests in the Kingdom's 
predominantly Shi'a Eastern Province in 2011, and for calling for political 
reform.

"It is a bloody day when the Saudi Arabian authorities execute 47 people, some 
of whom were clearly sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials. Carrying 
out a death sentence when there are serious questions about the fairness of the 
trial is a monstrous and irreversible injustice. The Saudi Arabian authorities 
must heed the growing chorus of international criticism and put an end to their 
execution spree," said Philip Luther.

Also sentenced to death following their participation in these protests were 
Ali al-Nimr, the Sheikh's nephew, Abdullah al-Zaher and Dawood Hussein 
al-Maroon, all of whom were under 18 at the time of their arrest. All 3 remain 
at imminent risk of execution, after being convicted in deeply unfair trials 
and claiming to have suffered torture and other ill-treatment.

"A 1st step would be for them to remove the threat of execution currently 
hanging over individuals sentenced for 'crimes' they committed while they were 
children," said Philip Luther.

International law prohibits the use of the death penalty against anyone under 
the age of 18.

Saudi Arabia has long been one of the most prolific executioners in the world. 
Between January and November 2015, Saudi Arabia executed at least 151 people, 
amounting to its highest recorded number of executions in a single year since 
1995. In many death penalty cases defendants are denied access to a lawyer and 
in some cases they are convicted on the basis of "confessions" obtained under 
torture or other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty at all times and in all cases 
without exception - regardless of who is accused, the crime, guilt or innocence 
or method of execution.

(source: Amnesty International)

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

Saudi Arabia executions: The death penalty is abhorrent and our leaders should 
say so at every opportunity----It would enhance Britain's standing in the world 
if our Government condemns the beheading of 47 people in clear and forthright 
terms


Any British prime minister taking office is required to undergo a secret 
ritual. He or she has to kiss the monarch's hand, write letters for the 
commanders of the nuclear submarines, and agree to defend the UK's alliance 
with Saudi Arabia.

The best that can be said about David Cameron's discharge of this 3rd 
obligation is that at least he has the decency to look embarrassed about it. He 
seemed uncomfortable in a television interview in October when he was asked 
about the squalid deal in which the two governments agreed, in 2013, to support 
each other's election to the UN Human Rights Council. "We have a relationship 
with Saudi Arabia," was all the Prime Minister could manage. He said he 
"completely disagreed" with the country's "punishment routines", but the 
relationship was important for our national security.

Saudi executions were worthy of Isis - so what now for the West?

The problem with this claim is that it is impossible for the average citizen to 
verify. We can all have a view on the arms trade, or of the value of trading 
generally with an authoritarian theocracy. But the claims of intelligence 
co-operation have to be taken on trust. "There was 1 occasion since I've been 
Prime Minister where a bomb that would have potentially blown up over Britain 
was stopped because of intelligence we got from Saudi Arabia," Mr Cameron said. 
Even if this is the case, and such intelligence would not have been shared with 
us if our relationship had been slightly less close, we still have moral 
obligations as a nation. If Saturday's 47 beheadings does not prompt those 
obligations, Britain's ethical stature is diminished.

The death penalty is abhorrent and our leaders and diplomats should say so at 
every opportunity, but this is a particularly shocking example. The Saudi law 
of January 2014 does not merely criminalise dissent, it defines it as terrorism 
and imposes the harshest penalties. The early silence from Mr Cameron was 
deafening, and the failure of the Foreign Office to put out more than a vague 
statement of disapproval of the death penalty was feeble in the extreme. This 
is all the more disappointing because, a few days after the awkward interview 
already quoted, Mr Cameron sided with Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, to 
resolve a Cabinet dispute with Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to cancel a 
contract to supply prison services to Saudi Arabia.

It was after that decision that the Saudi ambassador to London wrote that he 
felt there had been "an alarming change in the way Saudi Arabia is discussed in 
Britain". If the ambassador is alarmed, this confirms that British disapproval 
does count for something.

We had hoped that the cancellation of the prisons contract might mark a 
recalibration in our relationship with Saudi Arabia. It would make sense, even 
in cynical terms, over the medium to long term, to downgrade it. The Kingdom is 
not the fabulously rich country it once was. Even if the best way of persuading 
Saudi Arabia to respect human rights is as a candid friend, it might be more 
persuasive if its rulers were in a permanent state of incipient alarm about the 
strength of that friendship.

The Independent on Sunday understands that compromises are needed in life and 
diplomacy. We do not advocate the end of the British arms industry, or a 
foreign policy that refuses to work with any government that fails to live up 
to the best human rights norms. But we believe that it would enhance Britain's 
standing in the world if our leaders would condemn the Saudi government in 
clear and forthright terms. It might be diplomatic if our PM could tell the 
Saudis that he understands their problem with dissidents. But if only he could 
say, in the words of Iyad El-Baghdadi, the Arab Spring activist expelled from 
UAE for his ideas: "The antidote to bad ideas is better ideas, not beheadings."

(source: Editorial, The Independent)

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

UN chief expresses 'dismay' at Sheikh Nimr's execution by Riyadh


United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he is "deeply dismayed" by 
Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, calling 
on the Riyadh regime to commute all death sentences handed down in the kingdom. 
"Sheikh Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted 
following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges 
and the fairness of the process," Ban's spokesman quoted him as saying in a 
statement released on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced that Sheikh Nimr 
along with 46 others, who were convicted of being involved in "terrorism" and 
adopting a "Takfiri" ideology, had been put to death.

The UN chief had raised the case of Sheikh Nimr with Saudi leaders on several 
occasions, the statement read, reiterating Ban's stance against the death 
penalty and urging the kingdom to commute capital punishment.

In October 2015, Ban had called on the Al Saud regime to revoke Sheikh Nimr's 
death sentence.

He called for "calm and restraint" in the face of the execution in a bid to 
avoid the exacerbation of strife in the region, according to the statement.

Sheikh Nimr, a critic of the Riyadh regime, was arrested in 2012 in the Qatif 
region of Shia-dominated Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful 
anti-regime demonstrations at the time.

He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom's security, 
making anti-government speeches and defending political prisoners. He had 
rejected all the charges as baseless.

In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced Sheikh Nimr to death, provoking widespread 
global condemnations. A year later, the sentence was upheld by the appeal court 
of Saudi Arabia.

The religious figure's execution has drawn angry reactions worldwide. 
Widespread protest rallies have been held across the world to condemn the 
killing.

Saudi authorities also refused to hand over the cleric's body to his family and 
buried him at an undisclosed cemetery, according to the Sheikh's brother, 
Mohamed Nimr.

(source: presstv.ir)

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

Saudi Arabia's execution of cleric ignites fury in Iran


Iran's Supreme Leader warned on Sunday that there would be divine retribution 
for Saudi Arabia's rulers after the execution of a renowned Shiite cleric, 
sustaining the soaring regional tensions that erupted in the wake of the 
killing.

The warning came hours after crowds of protesters stormed and torched the Saudi 
embassy in Tehran to vent their anger at the execution of Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, 
who was among 47 people put to death in the kingdom on Saturday.

In a posting on his website, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that the execution 
"will cause serious troubles for the politicians of this [Saudi] regime in a 
very short time....The hands of divine vengeance will surely snatch - by their 
necks - those cruel individuals who took his life."

The execution of Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Saudi royal family, has 
ignited sectarian tensions across the already inflamed region and jeopardized 
U.S. diplomacy aimed at tamping down conflicts in the Middle East.

Most of the 47 executed on Saturday were Sunnis accused of participating in Al 
Qaeda attacks. According to Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry, some were 
beheaded and others were shot by firing squad in 12 different locations around 
the kingdom.

Nimr, however, was 1 of 4 Shiites put to death for political activism and the 
leading figure in the anti-government demonstrations that swept the mostly 
Shiite east of the country in 2011, inspired by the Arab Spring protests 
elsewhere in the region.

A photo montage also posted on Khamenei's website showed a split image of an 
Islamic State fighter preparing to carry out a beheading and a Saudi 
executioner. The caption asks the question "Any difference?" The photograph 
echoed numerous Iranian accusations that Saudi Arabia supports the Islamic 
State.

In response, Saudi Arabia issued an angry statement pointing out that Iran is 
often accused by many countries of supporting terrorism.

Iran "is the last regime in the world that could accuse others of supporting 
terrorism, considering that [Iran] is a state that sponsors terror, and is 
condemned by the United Nations and many countries," said a Foreign Ministry 
statement carried by the official Saudi news agency.

The Saudi statement also pointed out that Iran also is frequently criticized by 
the international community for carrying out large numbers of executions.

Iran carried out 694 executions in the 1st half of last year, according to an 
Amnesty International statement in July. Saudi Arabia, with a population nearly 
1/3 smaller than Iran's, carried out 157 in 2015, according to Amnesty and 
media reports.

There was no immediate indication however that either Tehran or Riyadh planned 
to take their spat beyond trading barbs, at least for now. The authorities in 
Tehran announced that they had made a number of arrests in connection with the 
rampage at the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and the Foreign Ministry pledged to 
secure Saudi Arabian diplomatic facilities against further attack.

"The diplomatic police are responsible for confronting any aggression against 
the diplomatic sites of Saudi Arabia and will act according to its duties to 
maintain public order and restore security to such places," Foreign Ministry 
spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said.

The Saudi consulate in the Iranian city of Mashad was also set on fire during 
the protests that erupted after Nimr's execution was announced.

The death sentence was carried out despite international appeals for clemency 
and repeated warnings from the kingdom's arch???enemy in the region, Iran, that 
there would be consequences if the popular cleric were killed.

The U.S. State Department, which had refrained from publicly joining the 
appeals for Nimr's life, said it had raised concerns at the highest levels of 
the Saudi government about the judicial process. In a statement, it called on 
Saudi Arabia "to respect and protect human rights" and to permit "peaceful 
expression of dissent." "We are particularly concerned that the execution of 
prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating 
sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced," the State 
Department said in a statement. "In this context, we reiterate the need for 
leaders throughout the region to redouble efforts aimed at de-escalating 
regional tensions."

Shiites around the world expressed outrage, potentially complicating a surge of 
U.S. diplomacy aimed at bringing peace to the region, according to Toby 
Matthiesen, an expert on Saudi Arabia at the University of Oxford.

"Nimr had become a household name amongst Shiite Muslims around the world. Many 
had thought his execution would be a red line and would further inflame 
sectarian tensions," he said. "So this will complicate a whole range of issues, 
from the Syrian crisis to Yemen."

Saudi Arabia and Iran are backing rival sides in Syria's war, and their enmity 
risks derailing a diplomatic effort led by the United States and Russia to 
convene peace talks between the factions in Geneva this month.

The 2 feuding powers also support opposing sides in the war in Yemen and more 
broadly find themselves in opposition in the deeply divided politics of the 
mixed Sunni-Shiite nations of Iraq and Lebanon.

The Obama administration's hopes that the conclusion last summer of an 
agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program would help bridge the sectarian 
divide between Tehran and the United States' biggest Arab ally were further 
diminished by the eruption of fury that followed Nimr's death.

Iran summoned the Saudi charge d'affaires in Tehran to complain about the 
execution, and Saudi Arabia reciprocated by calling in the Iranian ambassador 
in Riyadh to protest the "hostile" remarks made by Iranian officials.

The execution also triggered renewed unrest in both Saudi Arabia and 
neighboring Bahrain, after years of calm following the suppression of the 
demonstrations in 2011.

Activists from both countries used Twitter and other social media to appeal for 
an uprising. In the eastern Saudi city of Qatif, hundreds took to the streets, 
and Saudi officials expanded patrols and bolstered checkpoints to deter further 
upheaval, according to a Qatif activist who spoke on the condition of anonymity 
because he feared for his safety.

The Nimr family issued a statement expressing shock and dismay at the 
execution, and urging "restraint and self-control" among Nimr's followers.

The cleric's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, pledged on his Twitter account that the 
democracy movement would endure.

"Wrong, misled and mistaken [are] those who think that the killing will keep us 
from our rightful demands," he tweeted after the execution was announced.

In Bahrain, where demonstrations by the country's Shiite majority against the 
ruling Sunni royal family were quelled by the intervention of Saudi troops in 
2011, there were reports of scattered protests in several Shiite towns and 
villages. Videos posted on YouTube by Bahraini activists showed hundreds of 
people, some wearing T-shirts featuring the bearded cleric's face, marching 
through the streets in at least 4 locations.

Nimr had long served as the voice of Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, the target 
of discrimination, but he rocketed to prominence in 2011, articulating the 
sentiments not only of Shiites but also of many others in the region demanding 
change after decades of authoritarian rule.

He had consistently advocated nonviolence, and his views transcended the 
Sunni-Shiite divide, said Maryam al-Khawaja, a Bahraini human rights activist 
with the Gulf Center for Human Rights who lives in exile in Denmark.

"He said Sunnis and Shiites should unite and that anyone who supports the 
oppressors should be condemned," she said, citing a 2012 speech in which Nimr 
condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is from the Shiite-affiliated 
Alawite sect and is backed by Iran, and the region's Sunni authoritarian 
leaders, including the Saudi royal family.

"This was a big part of why he became problematic for the Saudi regime, because 
he refused to abide by the sectarian discourse that is basically enforced on 
everyone," Khawaja said.

Nimr was arrested by Saudi security forces in 2012, after being shot in the 
legs during a car chase. He had been charged with "instigating unrest and 
undermining the kingdom's security," as well as delivering speeches against the 
government and defending political prisoners.

Condemnations also poured in from other Shiite figures and organizations. 
Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said it held the United States and its allies 
responsible for Nimr's execution because "they are giving direct protection to 
the Saudi regime."

"This crime will remain a black mark that will plague the Saudi regime, which 
has been committing massacres since its inception," Hezbollah said in a 
statement.

In Iraq, there was an outpouring of anger from Shiite leaders and politicians, 
with the influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr calling on Shiites in Iraq and 
across the region to protest the execution. He told Iraqis to take their 
demonstrations to the newly reopened Saudi Embassy in Baghdad's fortified Green 
Zone, which welcomed a new Saudi ambassador to Iraq on Friday for the first 
time in nearly 25 years.

Iraq's al-Sumaria television channel reported that Shiites in Karbala were 
demanding that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi close the Saudi Embassy.

Abadi condemned the execution but offered no immediate response. Yemen's Houthi 
rebel movement also issued a condemnation on its website.

The advocacy group Amnesty International criticized all of the executions, 
including those of the accused al-Qaeda operatives, saying those killed had not 
been given fair trials. Nimr's execution, in particular, suggested that Saudi 
authorities "are using the death penalty, in the name of counter terror, to 
settle scores and crush dissidents," Amnesty International said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in the past year, a record 
number according to human rights groups. Nimr's nephew, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, 
is on death row - he was sentenced last year to death by crucifixion for 
participating in the protests while he was 16 or 17 years old, also drawing 
widespread international condemnation.

(source: Washington Post)






INDONESIA:

Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to death in 2013 for cocaine smuggling


A British grandmother on death row in Bali for smuggling cocaine has set up a 
knitting venture behind bars to provide desperately needed funds for a final 
appeal.

As her execution date draws close, Lindsay Sandiford, 59, has taught 20 other 
inmates to knit, and they now work in their cells making teddy bears, jumpers, 
shawls, Nativity scenes and Easter boxes, which are sent to church groups in 
Australia.

Sales of the items have so far generated more than 7,000 pounds towards 
Sandiford's appeal, as well as money for wool and extra meals and provisions 
for those inmates who make the items in sweltering conditions inside Bali???s 
Kerobokan jail.

The items have become crucial to Sandiford's chances of survival as she tries 
to lodge her appeal.

The Indonesian authorities are poised to resume executions after a temporary 
moratorium on the death penalty ended on Friday.

Sandiford was sentenced to death in January 2013 and could face execution at 
any time.

Her chances of having a final appeal are in jeopardy after her lawyer Chris 
Harno was arrested last month for corruption. He has yet to be replaced.

Even if another lawyer is found, Sandiford remains 15,000 pounds short of the 
40,000 pounds needed to pay for legal fees for the hearing.

She has already missed a November deadline for filing her appeal papers, and 
Indonesia's attorney general said last week that a new list of convicted drug 
traffickers to be executed in 2016 was being prepared.

Sandiford set up the knitting operation with the support of Christian pastors 
who visit her in prison after she was denied funding by the UK Government for 
her appeal against the death penalty.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday from Kerobokan prison, Sandiford 
said she began with wool brought in by her sister to make a Christening blanket 
for her granddaughter Ayla, who was born after Sandiford's arrest in 2012 for 
smuggling 10.6lb of cocaine.

'Knitting stops me from going insane,' she said. 'I can blank everything out. 
It calms me down and I'm doing something useful.

'For the other women, they earn money to pay for food and learn a skill they 
can take out of prison.'

Sandiford was initially listed for execution in September last year following 
the killing of 14 other drug traffickers earlier in the year. They included her 
friend and mentor, Australian Andrew Chan.

'Andrew told me to treat each day as if it were my last,' she said. 'I do but 
sometimes it is overwhelming. Every 10 minutes there is a story about when I'll 
be executed.

'Sometimes it would be better not knowing. I don't want to wallow in self-pity, 
so I feel sorry for myself for 5 minutes and then get on with things.'

Sandiford claims she was forced to carry cocaine from Bangkok after threats to 
the life of her younger son, and she received the death penalty despite 
co-operating with police in a sting operation to arrest people higher up in the 
syndicate.

The plot's alleged ringleader, Briton Julian Ponder, who conducted a 
behind-bars romance with British Vice-Consul Alys Harahap that led to her 
sacking, is expected to walk free next year after serving a 6-year term with 
remission.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has repeatedly refused to help fund 
Sandiford's appeal, despite a recommendation to consider doing so from 5 
Supreme Court judges in London.

The judges said 'substantial mitigating factors' had been overlooked in her 
original trial.

(source: Daily Mail)






INDIA:

Civilized killing----Execution is unlikely to be outlawed in India at the 
moment


Is anything new about this 'new' year for us ? Not in our way of punishing the 
guilty, or those thought to be guilty. Death has been ordered by the Ruler of 
India, over centuries. The way of executing has changed, but executing stays. 
As we enter 2016, it is instructive to see how and where the death penalty 
stood in 1516, 1616, 1716, 1816 and 1916. And where it stands, or how it drops 
into the scaffold's dark well, in 2016.

1516

Sikandar Lodi is enthroned in Delhi. A Persian scholar, he attempts 
versifications under the effete pen name of Gulrukhi, "Of Flower-like 
Countenance". He is fond of creating gardens, beautiful buildings. But he is a 
bigot and inflicts bigoted punishments. Notoriously, he has a sadhu called 
Bodhan burnt alive for saying Islam and Hindu dharma are equally acceptable to 
the creator.

Krishnadevaraya is king of Vijayanagara. A strong administrator, he is proud to 
be personally and politically tough. He believes his task is to preserve the 
dharma. But he "maintains the dharma by killing". Fernao Nuniz, a Portuguese 
traveller says of Krishnadevaraya's punishments: "Nobles who become traitors 
are sent to be impaled alive on a wooden stake thrust through the belly..."

Hundred years on, in 1616

The Mughal emperor, Jahangir, loves the arts, miniature painting, animals and 
birds. Mansur, the greatest of miniaturists, paints Jahangir's birds including 
the rare dodo. Jahangir's court dazzles. But he shows nothing of his father's - 
the great Akbar's - pluralism when he orders Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh 
Guru, to be executed. The Guru is tortured before being killed. Jahangir has 
earlier had his rebellious son, Khusrau, blinded. A painting of great sadness 
shows Khusrau being taken on elephant back past a row of his friends and 
followers impaled on stakes.

Vijayanagara is in its last gasp. The new king Sriranga II, in a palace coup 
led by Jagga Raya, is thrown into Vellore Fort prison with his entire family 
and put to death. The practice of royalty murdering its own kind is now 
established in India's north and south as a form of political power-games. 
Capital punishment is the preferred weapon.

Another hundred years later, by 1716

The Mughal Empire is in decline. It has not forgotten - how can it? - 
Aurangzeb's executions of his brothers, nephew, of Sarmad the Sufi saint, of 
Guru Teg Bahadur, of Sambhaji, head of the Maratha Confederacy. A grandson of 
Aurangzeb, Farrukhsiyar, is on the shaky throne. His grandfather's example 
before him, he has the incumbent Mughal vizier and several nobles executed in 
mere whimsy. And he orders the execution of the poet laureate Jafar Zattalli, 
on the assumption that he had composed poems critical of his regime. Banda 
Singh Bahadur, a Sikh leader of great courage and charisma, has established his 
authority in Punjab and won great renown as an abolisher of the zamindari and 
one who gave tillers proprietory rights. In 1716, Farrukhsiyar moves against 
Banda, captures him after a grim battle in Gurdaspur, brings him to Delhi, 
tortures and then executes him.

In the south, Vijayanagara has disintegrated and the Marathas are down. But the 
Peshwas are rising to the fore. There is something elevated about the Peshwa 
mind, but this does not redeem the Peshwa system of punishment which is carried 
out either by hanging the condemned man, cutting him to pieces or being 
decapitated. A further refinement includes breaking the skull under mallets. 
But Brahmins, if sentenced to death, are to be poisoned.

A further century on, by 1816

On the relics of a vanished Vijayanagara, a debilitated Mughal empire and a 
directionless Maratha conglomerate, India's new guest, Britain's East India 
Company, makes determining inroads. In 1799, the collector of Tinnevelly gives 
mouth-foaming chase to Kattabomman, the defiant ruler of Panchalankurichi and 
on capturing him, has him hanged from a tamarind tree. Several of Kattabomman's 
associates are also executed. 20 years on, in 1816, the example is still strong 
on every colonial and colonized mind.

Lord Hastings, as governor general of India by 1816, wants to be different. In 
the Maratha war that he wages, he exacts heavy casualties yet eschews bloody 
reprisals, retributive hangings and decapitations. But this is just for the 
now. A mere 40 years later, no more, after the Great Rebellion of 1857, the 
British Raj is also going to become merciless as a punisher. Savage, in fact, 
with the death penalty being its absolute favourite.

By 1916

The need to protect the colony from insurrection is seen as paramount. But the 
raj's brutality, post-1857, has raised such a stench that the mood in London is 
for punishment to be awarded lawfully, under a law, not capriciously or 
whimsically. The Indian Penal Code has come into effect in 1860, listing a 
number of 'capital offences' which include 'waging war against the State'. The 
Partition of Bengal and its reversal have seen a great new energy unleashed 
that threatens the raj with home-devised bombs and bullets. A Defence of India 
Act is brought into being in 1915. Hangings and firings are back. In London, 
Curzon Wyllie, the political aide-de- camp to the secretary of state for India, 
Lord George Hamilton, is assassinated on July 1, 1909, by the Indian 
revolutionary, Madan Lal Dhingra. And after a trial in the Old Bailey, an 
unrepentant Dhingra is hanged on August 19, 1909.

And, now, in 2016

Independent India has inherited capital punishment from its blood-smeared 
history. Its emancipating founders do not dispense with that 'king' of 
punishments. The first to be hanged in free India, within months of freedom, is 
Nathuram Godse, assassin of the Father of the Nation. The threat to 'high 
functionaries' remains great. Hangings have made no difference to that form of 
privileged crime, not to speak of humbler murders. Thanks to the Supreme 
Court's mature orders the death penalty is now ordered only in 'the rarest of 
rare' cases. Rajiv Gandhi's family saying that it does not believe in the death 
penalty has been hugely civilizing, as is the Indian Left's consistent support 
for its abolition. The forward logic of all this points to its abolition. But 
public opinion in India remains 'death-penalty minded'. Terrorism and the 
deaths of innocents at the hands of cynical cabals entrench that opinion, as 
does the brutal rape and murder, in Delhi, of Nirbhaya. The present Parliament 
of India too is similarly minded.

Many, very many, outside the State's anatomy but within its embrace, also want 
the death penalty to stay. Not just stay but stay tight and get tighter. They 
are like the ulema who goaded and then applauded medieval executions of 
'unbelievers'. Bodhan, Sarmad and Zattalli were all killed by the Lodi and 
Mughal states for something like un-belief. Today's India is divided into 
'believers' in bhakti and shakti on the one hand and those who believe in a 
liberal State on the other.

A wise and brave law commission, headed by the perspicacious judge, A.P. Shah, 
has recommended doing away with the death penalty. But it has said also that 
acts against the State, in other words, terrorists, should remain visitable by 
death.Terrorism has weighed on its recommendation.

In the three years of his incumbency, President Pranab Mukherjee has brought a 
glitter of his own to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Like Jahangir's menagerie, he has had 
the birds of his garden documented in a book, Winged Wonders of Rashtrapati 
Bhavan. And like that great Mughal, he has had to deal with, and deal, the 
death penalty. Three persons found guilty of terrorist acts, have gone to the 
gallows under the ink of his pen. More await his decision.

The law does not, will not, tolerate acts against the State. But will the 
Indian State let go of the death penalty, a grand perquisite of authority, be 
it imperial, colonial or republican? Unlikely. We may not burn, decapitate, 
crush heads under mallets as before but we will 'hang by the neck till death'. 
We may not put needles through eyes, we will use other means of the third 
degree in thanas. We are not uncivilized.

What, then, is new about 2016?

Nothing?

Not so.

Over the frenzy and the froth, there are those, neither insignificant in 
numbers nor in stature, who are thinking what Amartya Sen said in Delhi just 
the other day to a hall packed to overflowing: Killing for killing is like the 
market economy - a system of exchange. We are under a market economy; we need 
not be under a market scaffold.

(source: Opinion, Gopalkrishna Gandhi; Telegraph India)