[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 27



SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi Arabia beheads Egyptian national


Saudi Arabia has beheaded an Egyptian national after sentencing him to death on 
charges related to robbery and murder.

The convicted Egyptian man, identified as Mahmud Jumaa Morsi, was beheaded in 
the capital Riyadh on Wednesday, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a 
statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The man was found guilty of fatally strangling and robbing a Saudi citizen, the 
ministry added.

According to AFP tallies, the latest execution brings to 54 the number of 
locals and foreigners put to death this year.

In the most stunning case, Saudi Arabia executed on January 2 Sheikh Nimr 
al-Nimr along 46 other people in defiance of international calls for the 
release of the prominent Shia cleric and other jailed political dissidents in 
the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia carried out 153 executions, including 71 foreign nationals, in 
2015. This number of executions in terms of annual basis in Saudi Arabia has 
been unseen since 1995.

Beheading with a sword is the most common form of execution in Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh has been under fire for having one of the world's highest execution 
rates.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Saudi regime to 
abolish its "ghastly" beheadings.

Under the Saudi law, apostasy, armed robbery, drug trafficking, rape and murder 
carry the death penalty. Most Saudi executions are carried out by beheading 
with a sword.

(source: presstv.ir)






UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Man demands death of brother for murder----Brother, wife charged with killing 
second wife


A man demanded the execution of his brother and his brother's wife in court in 
Abu Dhabi, on charges of murdering his 2nd wife, insisting that he would not 
pardon them.

The court asked the man to make a statement on the grounds he is the legal 
custodian of the victim's 2 children, who are too young to decide whether to 
accept diya (blood money) for the death of their mother.

The defendant had confessed to locking up the 2nd wife and using a stick to 
beat her up for nearly 8 years on the grounds she was disobeying him.

"The brother rejected blood money and insisted on the death penalty for his 
brother and his brother's wife for complicity in the murder," Al Bayan' daily 
said.

(source: emirates247.com)






MALAYSIA:

7 men plead not guilty to murdering Kevin Morais


7 men, including a military doctor, pleaded not guilty in the Kuala Lumpur High 
Court today for murdering and abetting in the murder of deputy public 
prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais, whose body was found in a cemented drum.

They made their plea before Judge Azman Abdullah after the charge was read to 
them, and the court fixed Feb 25 for mention of the case.

6 men - G Gunasekaran, 43; R Dinishwaran, 23; A Thinesh Kumar, 22; M 
Vishwanath, 25; S Nimalan, 22; and S Ravichandaran, 34 - pleaded not guilty to 
murdering Kevin, 55, between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015 while Kevin was on his 
way from Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul to No 1 Jalan USJ1/6D, Subang Jaya.

They face the mandatory death penalty if convicted under Section 302 of the 
Penal Code.

The charge against them was read in Tamil.

Meanwhile pathologist Col Dr R Kunaseegaran, 52, pleaded not guilty to abetting 
with the six men in the murder of Kevin at the same place, date and time.

The charge against him was read in Malay.

Kunaseegaran was charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read together 
with Section 302 of the same act.

Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Abdul Razak Musa applied for the court to fix 
the mention's date in three weeks' time to enable the prosecution to transfer a 
case involving another accused, A Murugan from the Shah Alam High Court, to be 
jointly on trial with the seven accused.

Murugan was charged with abetting the 6 men in Kevin's murder at Desa Mentari, 
Kuala Lumpur between 9.30am and 8pm last Sept 4.

Counsel M Manoharan and V Rajehgopal represented the 6 men, while N Sivananthan 
represented Kunaseegaran, and Simon Sabapathy was the watching brief for the 
deceased's youngest brother, Richard Dilaan Morais, who was also present today.

Kevin's remains were found in a cemented drum at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang 
Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur on Sept 16 last year.

Kevin was reported missing on Sept 4. He was last seen leaving his apartment at 
Menara Duta, Kuala Lumpur for Putrajaya in a Proton Perdana car bearing 
registration number WA6264Q.

(source: malaysiakini.com)



VIETNAM:

Teacher arrested for raping 8-year-old student in southern Vietnam


Police in Tay Ninh Province in southern Vietnam have arrested a teacher for 
allegedly raping a 2nd-grade student in their school.

Investigators said that on January 22 Bui Khanh Hoang, 32, a gymnastics 
teacher, asked the 8-year-old girl to stay after class and raped her in a 
classroom.

Her grandmother found scratches and blood while giving her a bath that day, and 
made the girl describe what had happened to her.

Police arrested Hoang the next day and keeping him for questioning.

The mother of the girl said her daughter is shocked and eats little.

"She wakes up at night many times and screams," she said.

The crime can be punished by jail terms of at least 12 years or even a death 
penalty.

(source: Thanh Nien News)






INDIA:

Delhi HC commutes death sentence of serial killer, awards life term


The Delhi High Court on Wednesday commuted to life capital punishment awarded 
to serial killer Chandrakant Jha in 2 identical cases of murder and upheld 
imprisonment of life till death awarded to him in a 3rd similar case by a trial 
court here.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and R K Gauba upheld Jha's conviction in all 
the 3 cases but modified the death sentence awarded to him in 2 of the cases to 
life imprisonment till death.

"We uphold the conviction in all the 3 cases. He is sentenced to life term 
without remission for rest of his life," the bench said.

While commuting death to life term in 2 cases, the court said, "there was no 
eye witnesses" to these incidents.

In 1 of the 3 cases of murder, the trial court on February 4, 2013 had awarded 
life term till death to Jha for decapitating his victim and dumping the body 
near the Tihar Jail daring the police to nab him.

Jha, a native of Madhepura in Bihar, was sentenced to life term till death in a 
case relating to killing of one Dilip, whose headless body was dumped near 
Tihar Jail in 2007.

On February 5, 2013, Jha was sentenced to death in the second case of identical 
crime by the same trial court, saying his offence fell under the "rarest of 
rare case" as the brutality committed by him showed he "cannot be reformed".

The court awarded death sentence to Jha for taking away the life of 19-year-old 
Upender and dumping his headless body also near Tihar jail in 2007.

On February 6, 2013, Jha was awarded death penalty in yet another crime of 
beheading and chopping the body parts of a victim by the trial court which said 
he committed the murder in an "extremely brutal, diabolical and revolting 
manner".

In this case, Jha had murdered one Anil Mandal in 2006 and dumped his body 
outside the jail after chopping off the head and limbs.

Jha was arrested by the Delhi Police in May 25, 2007 in Mianwali Nagar here. He 
was earlier arrested in 1998 in a murder case but was acquitted for want of 
evidence.

In December 2007, a Delhi court had acquitted him in a case after the police 
failed to file charge sheet against him in another murder case.

After committing the murders, Jha had even dared the police by writing several 
letters to them to nab him, saying he would send similar "gifts" after every 15 
days.

(source: Deccan Chronicle)