[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 24




IRAN----executions

4 Prisoners Hanged In The Central Prison Of Karaj


4 prisoners were executed in Karaj prison.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), 4 
prisoners with the names of Seyed Hamid Hajian, Hossain Tootian Noosh, Mostafa 
Jamshidi and Mohsen Nasiri were executed by hanging in Karaj prison on Tuesday, 
January 19.

All of the prisoners were charged with drug related crimes and were transferred 
to solitary confinements on Sunday, January 10th. Authorities and judicial 
offices have not publicized any information in this regard yet.

(source: HRANA)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Arabia executions: Son of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr calls on David Cameron to 
save his cousin from death sentence----The UK has an option either to stay with 
this regime or go to a better place and condemn these barbaric acts'


The son of a senior Shia cleric executed by Saudi Arabia has challenged David 
Cameron to speak out about what he called the murder of his father, Sheikh Nimr 
al-Nimr, and the death sentence that hangs over his cousin, Ali al-Nimr.

Sheikh Nimr was beheaded on 2 January along with 46 others. Nearly all were 
alleged to be members of al-Qaeda. The cleric was 1 of 4 Shia men from the 
country's restive Eastern Province who were executed for allegedly plotting the 
overthrow of the government. Ali al-Nimr, a juvenile when he was arrested, and 
2 other young Shia, also juveniles, face being beheaded at any time.

Mohammed al-Nimr, 29, spoke to The Independent on Sunday from Indianapolis 
where he moved 5 years ago to study mechanical engineering at the University of 
Indiana. "The UK," he said "has an option either to stay with this regime or go 
to a better place and condemn these barbaric acts."

He urged the Prime Minister to intervene with the Saudis to save his cousin. "I 
say to you, Mr Cameron, that if you as a British citizen value freedom and if 
you value human life, then please imagine Ali as your son and ask yourself what 
would you do?"

Fearing for his own safety, Mr Nimr has not returned to Saudi Arabia for nearly 
two years. His uncle, the sheikh's brother, was detained on the day the death 
sentence was handed down in 2014 for tweeting about it. Mr Nimr said that the 
execution of his father and the continuing threat to his cousin have had a 
devastating impact on the family.

In 2013, 1 year into his father's incarceration, his mother died while 
receiving treatment at a hospital in New York. "It is not easy at all. We are 
doing our best to save Ali and we live in hope that one day he will be free," 
he said.

Exacerbating their grief is the fact the Nimr al-Nimr's body has not been 
returned to the family for burial. The Saudi authorities have said that all 
those executed were buried together in an unknown place according to Muslim 
practice. "There is no doctrine in Islam that would say do not return the 
body," his son said. "We have the right to a proper burial."

The family does not know what was done to his father before he was executed. In 
the harsh Wahhabist version of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, the condemned 
can have hands or feet cut off before beheading. "The world should know what a 
brutal and barbaric regime this is."

He described his father as an advocate of non-violent change. "He was a man who 
would not accept oppression or tolerate any tyrant, but he always spoke about 
the peaceful way to demand rights."

In a memo released by the Saudi embassy in London shortly after the executions, 
Nimr al-Nimr was described as having direct involvement in terrorist 
activities. The memo claimed the cleric was "involved in incitement, planning 
terrorist attacks, arming militants, and was apprehended following a gunfight 
with security officials".

Mohammed al-Nimr rejects all those charges. He says there is not a single piece 
of evidence to prove the allegations. "Bring 1 proof, 1 piece of evidence to 
show that he was armed or that he was violent, just 1. They cannot."

Sheikh Nimr had been a long-time critic of the ruling House of Saud. He had 
repeatedly called for elections and an end to discrimination against the Shia. 
His popularity soared during the Arab Spring, and he condemned the Saudi-led 
invasion of neighbouring Bahrain that helped crush a largely Shia-led protest 
calling for democratic reform there.

The cleric's arrest in 2012 led to massive street protests as thousands came 
out in the Eastern Province to demand his release. Ignoring the protests, the 
Saudi Specialised Criminal Court, which was established in 2008 to deal with 
terror suspects and human rights activists, sentenced him to death in October 
2014.

It was a decision that Amnesty International described as "part of a campaign 
by the authorities in Saudi Arabia to crush all dissent, including those 
[activists] defending the rights of the Kingdom's Shia Muslim community".

Mohammed al-Nimr says his father's only crime was to call for freedom and 
humanity. "He told the people that 'the government wants you to be violent so 
they can have a legitimate cause to kill you, but the loud roar of words is 
mightier than the sound of bullets'."

An only son, he remembers his father as one who took him for morning prayers 
just before sunrise and how after prayers they would walk through the palm 
groves in their hometown of Qatif. "He would put aside politics and his role as 
a cleric and we would discuss matters related to me and things I needed advice 
on. He was a father to me."

Mr Nimr is fearful that if he returns to Saudi Arabia he will be arrested, but 
he is determined to carry on fighting for the sake of his father and to save 
his cousin's life.

"It is a crime and one day I will prove it in a court of law - and before the 
whole world - that whoever was involved will get the justice they deserve for 
the crimes they have committed."

(source: independent.co.uk)






ZIMBABWE:

Death penalty raises stink...Hangman holding the aces


"The death sentence is a barbaric act . . . It is a reflection of the animal 
instinct still in human beings," once remarked former South African president 
and Nobel Prize Laureate, the late Nelson Mandela.

He could not make head or tail of why the world was still holding on to capital 
punishment when humanity tells us that killing, for whatever reason, is wrong.

The veteran human rights campaigner likened punishment by way of killing to a 
medieval way of instilling discipline in people.

In more condensed terms, what Mandela was promulgating was that the death 
sentence is inhuman, wild and should, therefore, be abolished.

In the same spirit last week, Zimbabwe's traditional leaders petitioned the 
Government to abolish the death penalty. They argued that the death penalty is 
alien to Zimbabwean culture and is a legacy of the colonial regime.

About 45 chiefs from Mashonaland East and Central provinces unanimously agreed 
that the capital punishment should go.

The decision was made at a workshop organised by the Zimbabwe Association for 
Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) in Harare last 
week.

Explaining some of the reasons behind the decision, president of the Chiefs' 
Council, Chief Fortune Charumbira, said killing someone because they killed 
another creates a cycle of violence which can only go on and on.

"We, as chiefs, have concluded that killing is an unacceptable form of 
punishment. When you kill, you kill only the person and you leave behind the 
spirit that made him to kill," he said.

"In our culture, we used to order compensation. The murderer was made to pay 
several cattle or else an avenging spirit would torment the person."

Chief Nechombo shared the same sentiments, arguing: "You can kill a murderer 
but you cannot kill murder."

So adamant were the chiefs such that in a secret vote carried out at the 
workshop, 42 chiefs voted for the abolition of the death penalty while only 2 
supported the law and 1 was undecided.

Chief Charumbira went on to point that Zimbabwe has failed to do any executions 
during the past decade since Government has not found a suitable person for the 
job, a testimony that no sane person wants to be associated with the practice. 
ZACRO chief executive officer, Mr Edson Chiota, was impressed by the spirit 
displayed by the traditional leaders in condemning the law.

"The discussion was so mature to the point that almost all the chiefs agreed 
that capital punishment must be abolished. They believe in appeasement. Chiefs 
said the act of punishing by killing will not in any way solve the problems of 
murder in Zimbabwe, hence other forms of punishment must be found," he said.

Zimbabwe has for the past decade grappled with the death penalty dilemma as it 
has been failing to carry out any executions.

Resultantly, 117 people are waiting to be hanged with some of them having been 
on death row for over 20 years.

The development has been widely condemned by civic groups as they are of the 
view that the long wait has put those given death sentences grave emotional 
stress. Roselina Muzerengi from Amnesty International gave some of the reasons 
why civic organisations are advocating for the abolishment of the capital 
punishment. She said capital punishment is irreversible and could claim lives 
of innocent people as has often been proved that errors can be made in handing 
out of judgments. Roselina used an example of a Chinese man who was executed 
for murdering his wife, only for his wife to resurface about 5 years later.

"It's not in line with our culture because an eye for an eye makes the world 
blind. We have discovered that there are some instances where the judiciary 
makes wrong judgements and wrongly sentences people to death," she said.

"After these people are hanged, evidence may show they were wrongly accused but 
it will be too late since death is irreversible."

In as much as the issue of abolishing the death penalty continues to command 
support the world over, it still remains a relatively fluid situation in 
Zimbabwe. Officials have on record indicated their intentions to put an end to 
the law but not much progress has been made in doing so. Experts point out that 
the fact that Government has failed to act quickly on the matter shows how 
complicated the process is. Research shows that prior to 1991, crimes such as 
attempted murder, rape, and a variety of offences relating to political 
violence were punishable by the death penalty.

According to Cornell Law School, in the 1990s there was a period of restriction 
of the death penalty as Zimbabwe reduced death-eligible offences to murder, 
treason, and certain military crimes when it passed the Criminal Law Amendment 
Act. Research further shows that in 2000, the Genocide Act provided that the 
death penalty could be imposed for the crime of genocide resulting in death, 
and in 2004, the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act expanded the 
application of the death penalty to attempted murder, incitement or conspiracy 
to commit murder and terrorism-related crimes that result in death.

Zimbabwe's Parliament has, nonetheless, interfered with the Supreme Court's 
jurisprudence limiting application of the death penalty, enacting 
constitutional amendments to negate court rulings that have questioned the 
constitutionality of hanging or held that long stays on death row constitute 
cruel and unusual punishment.

Section 48 (1) of the new constitution abolished mandatory death sentence as 
every person has the right to life. However, in Article 2, it says a law may 
permit the death penalty to be imposed only on a person convicted of murder 
committed in aggravating circumstances.

The new constitution also bars death sentences for women and men under the age 
of 21 and those over 70 years.

Law expert Rutendo Mudarikwa said: "The exclusion of certain categories of 
persons from the death sentence were in line with Zimbabwe's obligations as 
member of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the 
African Charter on Human and People's Rights. These excluded individuals below 
18, pregnant women, intellectually disabled, mentally ill and the elderly," she 
said.

"The Con Court has amended this to include all women and has changed the age 
from 18 to 21. Most of the exclusion can be justified. The exclusion of the 
mentally ill and those below 21 speak towards the mental capacity and one's 
ability to take full cognisant of their actions. A problem comes with the total 
exclusion of women from execution. The differentiation promotes gender 
imbalance within the criminal justice system."

Of the inmates who have been on death row, 15 of them have sought to have the 
Constitutional Court commute their sentences to life imprisonment.

However, some people who are still mindful of the terrorising trails of Edmund 
Masendeke, Elias Chau ke and Stephen Chidhumo, want the death sentence to stay. 
After a series of crimes as well as their supposed supernatural ability to 
escape the maximum prison, Chidhumo and Masendeke became the last people to be 
hanged in 2004.

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

Hangman holding the aces


Convicted of armed robbery and murdering a Fairmile Motel Manager in Gweru in 
2000, Cuthbert Tapuwanashe Chawira (45) is on death row at the Chikurubi 
Maximum Prison.

Only 1 thing is keeping him from the gallows - there is no hangman.

No executions have been carried out for the past 12 years due to the 
unavailability of a hangman.

Were it not for the unavailability of the hangman, some of the 117 prisoners on 
death row in Zimbabwe might have been executed by now.

Chawira has since appealed to the Constitutional Court to reverse his and 14 
other prisoners' death sentences.

With the hangman's job far from being a glamorous profession, it seems few 
people have risen to take up the post. Zimbabweans are reportedly shunning the 
job. The selection and recruitment process for a hangman has, however, been 
shrouded in mystery, raising questions on Government's commitment to finding 
one.

For years now, this publication has been scouting the local media with the hope 
of coming across an advertisement for the job so as to understand its 
requirements but that has not happened. There hasn't been any word on any 
interviews either.

Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa is on record stating that no-one will be 
executed in Zimbabwe.

The VP has been at the forefront advocating for the removal of the death 
penalty from the country's statutes.

Given the country's high unemployment rate, and even the number of murders 
taking place (which indicate that there are many who could kill for a living), 
many people are baffled by the Government's claim that it is failing to find 
someone for the job.

Mrs Olivia Zvedi, a law officer in the Attorney-General's Office was quoted in 
The Herald saying Government is still looking for a hangman.

She said the hangman's job is not an easy one and people were shunning it.

"This is not a job that one can easily apply for. The State is also in a 
predicament on how to proceed in the absence of a hangman," Mrs Zvedi was 
quoted saying.

Questions sent to Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Permanent Secretary 
Mrs Virginia Mabhiza, regarding the perks and recruitment process for the 
hangman had not been responded to by the time of going to print.

Sekuru Friday Chisanyu, the president of the Zimbabwe National Practitioners 
Association (ZINPA) says Zimbabweans are not keen to take the job for cultural 
reasons.

He said the indigenous African tradition is against the shedding of blood.

"In the indigenous African tradition, the death penalty is forbidden. The 
hangman will surely attract the wrath of the avenging spirits of those that he 
would have executed. It is for the simple reason that Zimbabweans are shunning 
this post," Sekuru Chisanyu said.

Sekuru Chisanyu called for the scrapping of the death sentence, arguing that 
those that are convicted of serious crimes must be sentenced to life in prison.

"In my opinion, it is better to sentence one to life that to kill the person. 
If a person is in jail, that person can be made productive. Having the death 
sentence does not mean that murder cases will cease to exist," Sekuru Chisanyu 
said.

Pastor Emmerson Fundira of the Jehovah Sharma Ministries said the death penalty 
should be scrapped.

"The Bible is clear on this one - it instructs us not to kill. There is no 
reason why a human being should take the life of another being," Pastor Fundira 
said.

Over the years, finding a hangman has often proved to be a tall order for many 
countries.

According to a BBC report, a newly recruited hangman in Sri Lanka resigned in 
shock after being shown the gallows for the first time. Sri Lanka has not 
carried out a judicial execution since 1976 but has over 400 prisoners on death 
row.

The report states that last year alone, 3 recruits abandoned the job within a 
year after the previous hangman was promoted to become a prison guard.

Sri Lankans had responded well to the job advertisement with 176 applicants.

The BBC also reported that a former United States executioner is now leading a 
campaign for the scrapping of the death sentence saying doing so eases his 
"tremendous guilt".

Allen Ault, who oversaw deaths via the electric chair in the late 1990s, 
claimed his campaign to prevent further executions was a way of finding 
forgiveness".

"When you realise ... that you just murdered another human being and you were 
the one that gave the order, you feel totally responsible."

(source for both: The Zimbabwe Daily)






PAKISTAN:

Justice: Death penalty awarded to 2 brothers


Additional Sessions Judge Amjad Nazeer Chaudhary on Saturday sentenced two 
brothers he convicted of murder to death. Prosecution said Azam and his brother 
Arif had shot dead Ajmal Amir over a property dispute in Khurarianwala. After 
examining the evidence and hearing the witnesses, judge sentenced them to death 
and ordered them to pay Rs100,000 compensation to heirs of the deceased.

In Bahawalpur, Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Yaqoob on Saturday awarded 
death sentence to a man he convicted of murder.

Prosecution said Umar Farooq, a resident of Chak 208-RB, and his father 
Muhammad Arshad and uncle Abdul Ghaffar had shot dead Gulzar, a resident of the 
same neighbourhood, after an argument.

After examining the evidence and hearing the witnesses, the judge sentenced 
Farooq to death under Section 302-B of the Pakistan Penal Code. The convict was 
also directed to pay Rs100,000 compensation to heirs of the deceased.

The court acquitted Arshad and Abdul Ghaffar, giving them the benefit of doubt.

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

Pakistan Death penalty: EU urges moratorium revival


The European Union continues to engage with Pakistan in an effort to convince 
it to reinstitute its moratorium on the death penalty. EU Ambassador to 
Pakistan Jean Francois Cautain has said that the EU is of the view that the 
death penalty is not a deterrent and may conversely be a factor which increases 
hatred for the state. He was speaking to The Express Tribune at the Dean of 
European Diplomatic Corps Emilian Ion, Ambassador of Romania's farewell to 
outgoing ambassadors of Argentina, the UK, Sweden, Bangladesh and Japan. He 
said that despite terrorist incidents in Europe there was no possibility that 
death penalty may be considered in Europe referring to the recent terrorist 
incidents in France.

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

Rule Of Law: 'Facilitators to get death penalty'


Senior lawyer Salim Shah Hoti on Saturday said that 'facilitators' found aiding 
terrorists in terror attacks, are liable to be punished with the death penalty 
according to the law of the land. He added that those arrested by security 
forces for their involvement in the Bacha Khan University carnage will be dealt 
with accordingly. The interior ministry, he said, would send their cases to 
military courts for trial as the same law was applicable to them. He stated 
that military courts were set up after the passage of the 21st Amendment in 
January 2015 to adjudicate upon terror-related cases. PM Nawaz had abolished 
the moratorium on death penalty in terrorism-related cases soon after assuming 
office.

(source for all: Express Tribune)

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

'Facilitators' to get death penalty as per law: legal expert


'Facilitators', found involved in helping out terrorists in terror attacks, are 
liable to death penalty according to law of the land, and those arrested by 
security forces for Bacha Khan University carnage will be dealt accordingly. 
Salim Shah Hoti, a senior lawyer, on Saturday said that military courts were 
set up after the passage of 21st Amendment in January 2015 to proceed terror 
related cases.

(source: Associated Press of Pakistan)