[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 30




SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi Arabia executes another prisoner, bringing to 55 number of convicts put 
to death this year


Saudi Arabia on Thursday executed one of its citizens for murder, bringing to 
55 the number of convicts put to death this year.

Authorities in the southwestern region of Aseer carried out the death sentence 
against Owaidhah al-Saadi, the interior ministry said in a statement.

A court found him guilty of shooting dead another Saudi following a dispute, it 
said.

Most executions in Saudi Arabia are done by beheading with a sword.

The kingdom on January 2 executed 47 people in a single day for "terrorism".

According to an AFP tally, Saadi is among 8 other locals and foreigners put to 
death this year.

New York-based Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the country to abolish its 
"ghastly" beheadings.

"Saudi Arabia made positive changes for women and foreign workers in 2015, but 
these steps were overshadowed by its continued use of cruel punishments such as 
flogging and beheading," HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson said as the watchdog released 
its 2016 world report.

"Saudi Arabia should reform its justice system and halt these ghastly 
punishments."

Last year the kingdom executed 153 people, mostly for drug trafficking or 
murder, according to an AFP tally.

Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia in 2015 was 
the highest in 2 decades.

The kingdom practices a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug 
trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

(source: therakyatpost.com)

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

Artists to Saudi authorities: Free Ashraf Fayadh


note: Ashraf Fayadh is a Palestinan poet and artist living in Saudi Arabia who 
has been sentenced to death on a charge of apostasy, or renouncing Islam. Saudi 
authorities claim his poetry has undermined Islam and spread atheism. In the 
following article, his friend, Halifax musician and filmmaker Fateh Ahmed, 
pleads for his innocence and calls for his release. There is an Amnesty 
International petition supporting Ashraf Fayadh at 
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/free-ashraf-fayadh-saudi-arabia-palestinian-poetry-apostasy-execution

Abha, where I met Ashraf Fayadh, is a small city in southwestern Saudi Arabia. 
It's rich in historical landmarks and breathtaking landscapes and is an 
artistic hub for poets, composers and painters.

Saudi Arabia sponsors arts and culture by establishing innovative programs to 
match intermediate and professional artists. Its scholarships to European and 
North American countries have also brought to light talented artists such as 
Ahmed Mater and Ashraf, whose works have been acknowledged by British and New 
York museums.

In early 2002, I met Ashraf, an artist and poet, through a very good friend, 
Ahmed Mater. Since then, we've introduced each other's art and discussed many 
thoughts and ideas on helping younger generations pursue their art.

Ashraf was very welcoming and very open. You would always find him humble, 
patient and willing to exchange new artistic information. During those times, I 
demonstrated my 3rd symphony and a few additional concertos to Ashraf, who was 
delighted and made interesting remarks that related to his own work. He said 
the music sometimes reminded him of his own home in Palestine.

For the next couple of years we would usually meet at local coffee shops in 
downtown Abha and discuss the latest in arts and technology. This is how I met 
Shaheen bin Ali Abu Mismar, who was a very quiet person and shared little 
information, mostly observing rather than taking an active role in any 
discussion. He seemed a bit controversial, neither an artist nor a contributor 
in any shape or form.

Later we came to know he had strong ties with Saudi secret police as well as 
with the local court system. He started to attend most of our gatherings and 
discussions.

Ashraf's book, Instructions Within, is a collection of thoughts and ideas, 
written philosophically, touching on matters that deal with purification of the 
soul, looking into the inner core of ourselves and the values we represent and 
how can we transform what we've learned into meaningful experiences.

The book is an easy read and organized mostly in a diary format relating to 
Ashraf's background and personal life, including the adaptation process of a 
Palestinian refugee in an unwelcoming world and looking into the soul in search 
of equality and equal opportunities.

Contrary to the state accusations against Ashraf, of insulting the belief and 
of apostasy, the book (which I have read cover to cover) is about reflecting on 
oneself and doesn???t address Islam or Muslims.

Heated discussions took place in 2013 at a local coffee shop between Ashraf and 
Shaheen and were then taken to another level. Ashraf was targeted not for his 
art, but attacked on his character. Consequently he was sentenced to death on 
the claim that he renounced Islam.

It's inhumane and degrading to have been given the maximum penalty for apostasy 
in a case that was very weak even based on Saudi Sharia Law.

Many approached Shaheen to change his opinion and withdraw the case against 
Ashraf, but he would not change his mind.

Islam is a religion that promotes peace, unity and understanding. It's a 
religion of mercy, not punishment.

Ashraf Fayadh sought refuge in Saudi Arabia from the conflict in Gaza and it is 
another tragedy to see him suffering once again. Both Ashraf and the Saudi 
judicial system are victims in this case.

This is not a regular everyday case. It is a demonstration of trying to use the 
judicial system to resolve personal conflicts by pulling strings and distorting 
information.

Today we call for Ashraf's freedom. Many Saudi artists and the international 
artistic community stand by him and have called for his immediate release. You 
can sign the petition on Amnesty International to help support us with calls 
for his release.

(source: Fateh Ahmed is a musician, documentary filmmaker and department head 
of digital filmmaking at daVinci College in Halifax----The Chronicle Herald)






PHILIPPINES:

What's your stand on the death penalty? ---- VACC asks presidentiables


The country's leading anti-crime and corruption group has dared all 
presidential aspirants to formally declare their support for the restoration of 
the death penalty and the extent to which it can be imposed.

Arsenio "Boy" Evangelista, a board member of the Volunteers Against Crime and 
Corruption (VACC), said among the leading presidential aspirants, only Davao 
City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is pushing for the restoration of the death penalty.

Evangelista said presidential bets seeking support of anti-crime advocates in 
the country may win their backing if they can present an acceptable death 
penalty option in their platform of government.

"Presidential candidates should present a program of government that will 
include strong measures at addressing the country's rising crime incidence. 
Restoration of the death penalty for uniformed personnel involved in drug 
manufacturing or other heinous crimes is 1 death penalty option," he said.

Evangelista, whose son, Benson was kidnapped and murdered in 2011 also 
challenged presidential bets to make public their program of government against 
drug abuse, particularly the involvement of politicians in drug trade.

"Narco-politics in our country has obviously become a major serious crime 
threat," he said.

Earlier, VACC officers, including Evangelista have aired support for Duterte 
whose platform of government is focused on anti-crime and corruption program.

The administration bet, Mar Roxas has chided Duterte's anti-crime record saying 
Davao City remains plagued with high incidence of drug abuse.

Another presidentiable, OFW Family Party-list Rep. Roy Seneres has rejected the 
revival of the death penalty.

Evangelista lamented that the current drug abuse situation in the country 
remains high, thus posing a big challenge to the next administration.

"This is why we want our presidential aspirants to present their respective 
peace and order and anti-corruption platform," Evangelista said.

(source: manila Bulletin)






BELARUS:

Samoseiko: PACE wants to see Belarus Parliament in European family


The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) wants to see the 
Parliament of Belarus in the European family, Nikolai Samoseiko, the head of 
the delegation of Belarus' National Assembly for contacts with PACE, a member 
of the House of Representatives, said during a videoconference on the website 
of the Sovetskaya Belorussiya newspaper, BelTA has learned.

"Some positive changes have taken in PACE towards Belarus. They were primarily 
due to the thaw in the relations in recent years. We will not credit 
exclusively ourselves for this. With regard to PACE, in many ways the credit 
goes to newly appointed rapporteur Andrea Rigoni who works with us," the MP 
added. Nikolai Samoseiko explained that Andrea Rigoni criticizes the Belarusian 
side as mush as the previous special rapporteurs but the rhetoric is no longer 
directed at confrontation but at dialogue. It gets a response from the 
Belarusian MPs.

Nikolai Samoseiko recalled that it was Andrea Rigoni who raised the issue of 
reinstating the special guest status at PACE for Belarus in 2009 which the 
country was stripped of in 1997. Nikolai Samoseiko noted that it was done on 
the far-fetched grounds. "Perhaps now Europe regrets this," he said. After the 
statements of Special Rapporteur Andrea Rigoni in 2009, a resolution was 
adopted to reinstate the special guest status. But in return they wanted 
Belarus to impose a moratorium on the death penalty, or abolish it. Also in 
2009 the Belarusian Parliament established a working group to study the death 
penalty issues.

The MP added that the requirement to abolish the death penalty does not seem 
tough for Europe. But for Belarus this is a very big issue which needs to be 
widely discussed.

"As Belarus pursues a multi-vector foreign policy, it is important for us to 
have a presence in all international platforms," Nikolai Samoseiko said when 
speaking about the possible reinstatement of the special guest status.

The MP attended a session of the commission for political affairs and democracy 
at the PACE winter session in late January. "I met with many PACE members. The 
most important meetings were with PACE President Pedro Agramunt, Andrea Rigoni 
who is already recognizable in our country," the MP noted. He said he also had 
meetings with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Wojciech Sawicki.

"The issues were about the implementation of the European values in Belarus, in 
the Belarusian society," said the MP. We also discussed the programs to combat 
trafficking in human beings, against corruption, the reform of electoral 
legislation, etc. "We do not hide the fact that we are ready to ask for advice 
in these issues from the PACE and those who, let's say, have already gone this 
way," Nikolai Samoseiko said.

(source: belta.by)






CHINA----execution

Serial human trafficker executed in China after abducting 22 children


A man has been executed in China for the abduction and trafficking of 22 
children over the space of 5 years.

China's top court, The Supreme's People's Court, announced today that Tan 
Yongzhi had been 'condemned to death' in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, reports the 
People's Daily Online.

Tan kidnapped the children between February 2008 and April 2013 from areas that 
stretched across south-west China's Yunnan Province to the central area of 
Henan.

According to the report, the court said Tan's actions and the large number of 
children he abducted seriously damaged children's rights, which is why he was 
executed.

The authorities have been unable to locate the birth parents of all the 
abducted children.

The exact date of the sentencing or execution has not been released.

There has always been a heavy penalty for those convicted of abducting a child 
in China, and the death penalty is still prominent.

The country has intensified its crackdown on trafficking of women and children 
in recent years.

In 2012, 1,918 abduction cases involving women and children were solved.

The Supreme People's Court said that number declined massively to 858 cases 
last year - a drop of almost 50 %.

The amount of people punished for abduction related charges in China declined 
by more than 1/2, from 2,801 in 2012, to 1,362 in 2015.

Child abduction is a major problem in the country, and finding accurate figures 
is extremely difficult.

A recent BBC report said that an illegal market in children has developed in 
the country, and it is estimated that 200,000 children are taken from their 
parents each year.

In some cases of extreme poverty parents are forced to choose between selling 
their children and paying fines for having too many, which could explain why 
some of the birth parents of the children abducted by Tan could never be found.

(source: Daily Mail)






BAHAMAS:

Bahamas called on to abandon Privy Council


Retired Justice Neville Smith QC, said on Thursday the country should not allow 
itself to become a "hostage" to the Privy Council and recommended that The 
Bahamas set up its own final court of appeal rather than continue to "perch" on 
the British government's doorstep.

"Who knows when the British government, bent on the restructuring of its courts 
... will do away with the Privy Council that it created by an 1844 English 
act," said Smith at a special sitting at the Court of Appeal to mark the 
opening of the legal year.

"Should we not set up our own final court in our own deliberate time rather 
that to continue to perch on the doorstep of the foreign office in London or 
wait to be embarrassed by the British government doing away with the Privy 
Council and cause us here to run ... to make up a replacement court?

"We should not allow ourselves to become a hostage."

He said the Court of Appeal is suited to fill the role of becoming the final 
court of appeal in The Bahamas.

Smith noted that before the establishment of the Court of Appeal, The Bahamas 
operated on a 2-tiered court system, the Supreme Court and the Privy Council.

"It therefore should not be earth shattering if we revert to a 2-tiered system 
minus the Privy Council with this court at the top, sometimes sitting with a 
3-judge panel and for the more complex appeals with a 5-judge panel.

"I am aware that there would be considerable criticism and disapproval of the 
idea of giving up the... Privy Council as the final decider of what is or 
should be."

Smith said the country must come to the realization and acceptance that The 
Bahamas cannot indefinitely rely on the good graces of the British government 
to provide this service.

"A well managed colony has to sooner or later, preferably sooner, take 
responsibility of choosing the court which will carry its cases," he said.

Over the years, several observers, including MP Leslie Miller, have repeatedly 
called for the abandonment of the Privy Council.

Miller said he can't understand why The Bahamas as an independent country 
continues to "rely on 10 or 12 old men in London" to decide who lives and who 
dies.

The calls intensified following the March 2006 Privy Council ruling that the 
mandatory death sentence in The Bahamas was unconstitutional.

Many condemned men at Her Majesty's Prisons escaped the death penalty because 
the Privy Council ruled in 1993 in the Jamaican case of Earl Pratt and Ivan 
Morgan that it would be cruel and inhumane for prisoners to wait more than 5 
years on death row.

Since the 2006 decision, the Privy Council has made it increasingly difficult 
for The Bahamas to carry out capital punishment.

In a presentation before the Constitutional Commission in 2013, Justice Anita 
Allen, president of the Court of Appeal, suggested that the time had come to 
bring finality to the death penalty issue in The Bahamas, "and to give our 
citizens the opportunity to decide whether the death penalty should be retained 
as a mandatory, or as a discretionary punishment, or whether it should be 
abolished".

"I encourage you to include the appropriate question on any referendum you may 
recommend," she said.

She pointed to the Maxo Tido murder case and the decision rendered by Lord Kerr 
on behalf of the Board (of the Privy Council).

Lord Kerr opined that even though Tido's crime was "dreadful" and "appalling," 
it was "not one that warranted the punishment of death" as it did not satisfy 
the criterion of "worst of the worst" and "rarest of the rare" even though the 
school girl who Tido lured from her home was so tortured and bludgeoned that 
"her brain tissue was spewed outside of her body."

(source: caribbeannewsnow.com)



INDIA:

Kamduni gang rape: Sentence for accused to be announced by court on Saturday


With the arguments on the quantum of punishment not concluded, a city court on 
Saturday will decide the sentence to the six people convicted in the brutal 
gang rape and murder of a college student in West Bengal's Kamduni village.

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Sanchita Sarkar on Thursday 
convicted Saiful Ali, Ansar Ali and Amin Ali of gang rape and murder. The trio 
face a maximum punishment of death penalty.

3 other accused-- Sheikh Emanul Islam, Aminur Islam and Bhola Naskar have been 
convicted of gang rape, criminal conspiracy and causing disappearance of 
evidence and face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Amid tight security arrangements, the proceedings of the day began with the 
defence counsel pleading that the case did not warrant awarding death penalty.

With the counsel yet to conclude their arguments, the court announced it will 
pronounce the sentencing on Saturday upon conclusion of the arguments.

The 20-year-old girl was attacked while she was returning home from college on 
June 7, 2013. The 2nd-year BA student was forcibly taken inside a factory where 
she was gang-raped and then savagely murdered, sparking widespread outrage 
across the country.

9 people were arrested and charged for the crime, with the court on Thursday 
acquitting Rafiqul Islam and Nur Ali while the 9th accused Gopal Naskar died 
while the trial was on.

The residents of Kamduni led by Tumpa Koyal and Moushumi Koyal continue to 
press with their demand for death penalty for the convicts and also opposed the 
acquittal of the 2 accused.

Led by the 2 Koyals and several eminent personalities from the city, many of 
the friends and relatives of the victim, had floated a platform 'Kamduni 
Pratibadi Mancha' seeking speedy justice and capital punishment to the guilty.

They knocked on the doors of top political and constitutional authorities 
including the president, demanding the trial be expedited.

(source: newsx.com)






PAKISTAN:

Death penalty to killers of Justice Javed Iqbal's parents


A sessions court yesterday awarded death sentence on two counts to three men 
accused of murdering the parents of Justice (r) Javed Iqbal.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs550, 000 each on Naveed Iqbal, Abbas Shakir 
and Ameen Ali. Malik Abdul Hameed, 80, and Zarina, 70, were found murdered in 
their house on Jan 11, 2011. A case was registered against unknown robbers on 
the complaint of Saeed Iqbal, brother of Justice Javed. According to the 
prosecution, Naveed Iqbal, step brother of Justice Iqbal, in connivance with 
other 2 suspects had murdered the judge's parents.

(source: The Nation)






IRAN:

Concerns over Iran executions as Rouhani visits Europe


Concerns have been raised that new cooperation agreements between Europe and 
Iran could contribute to a surge in drug-related executions - including those 
of juvenile offenders.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has been in Italy for talks, before travelling 
to France on (27 Janusary, in the 1st European state visit by an Iranian 
President for more than 16 years. Iranian media have reported that "Iranian 
officials accompanying the president will sign agreements for the expansion of 
relations in different fields."

The EU recently helped negotiate a $20 million UN funding deal for 
counter-narcotics efforts in Iran that will increase the international funding 
available to the country's Anti-Narcotics Police. The Hhman rights organisation 
Reprieve has previously raised concerns that similar UN programmes in Iran have 
led to arrests and executions, including those of juveniles. They include 
Jannat Mir, who was arrested by Iranian drug police at the age of 15 and 
subsequently hanged for narcotics offences.

Iran's authorities have recently executed large numbers of people convicted of 
drugs offences; 600 of 947 hangings in Iran in 2015 were drug-related, as were 
31 of 47 executions carried out so far in 2016.

Rouhani's visit is taking place as an Amnesty International report showed that 
Iran has continued to convict and execute juveniles since 2005, in violation of 
its international obligations. The report notes that at least one juvenile 
offender, Mohammed Ali Zehi, is currently awaiting execution for narcotics 
offences.

The visit also follows the news that British Prime Minister David Cameron 
recently held a phone call with President Rouhani, as a step towards 
normalising ties with Iran. Britain's government, while not a funder of Iran 
programmes, is a donor to UNODC.

Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at human rights organisation Reprieve, 
said: "Iran's government is overseeing a horrifying surge in executions, the 
vast majority for drugs offences. Against this backdrop, it is deeply worrying 
to see European countries like France lining up to support a vast package of 
support for Iran's drug police. It is vital that European countries use their 
growing ties with President Rouhani???s government - including these donations 
- to urge an end to the use of the death penalty for drugs offences."

(source: ekklesia.co.uk)

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

Iran's 'moderate' hangman


The appalling human rights situation in Iran has not improved since Hassan 
Rouhani - touted in some circles in the West as a "moderate" and a "reformer" - 
became president of the Islamic Republic in 2013.

Since taking office, more than 2,000 people have been hung under Rouhani's 
watch, the biggest scale of executions in the past 25 years, adding to the 
black pages of the regime's history of human rights violations since the 
Iranian revolution in 1979.

The execution spree in the first half of 2015 was not missed by the human 
rights group Amnesty International, which noted that "death sentences in Iran 
are particularly disturbing because they are invariably imposed by courts that 
are completely lacking in independence and impartiality".

The rights group added:

"They are imposed either for vaguely worded or overly broad offences, or acts 
that should not be criminalized at all, let alone attract the death penalty. 
Trials in Iran are deeply flawed, detainees are often denied access to lawyers 
in the investigative stage, and there are inadequate procedures for appeal, 
pardon and commutation."

As a result, Iran became the top country committing executions per capita - 
again under Rouhani's watch.

Any use of the term "moderate" in connection with Rouhani's administration is 
ludicrous hyperbole; he is simply the president elected from the list of 
candidates chosen for the position by the Guardian Council, consisting of 12 
Islamic theologians and jurists, in accordance with the Iranian constitution.

Secular or non-Shia candidates have little chance of securing an approval from 
the vetting Guardian Council, nor are presidential hopefuls whose loyalty to 
the ideology of the revolution is not impeccable.

The odds of being "elected" to parliament are relatively better, but the Majlis 
has little power over the regime's religious courts to stop or even slow down 
the rate of executions, with the courts routinely issuing verdicts without even 
hearing evidence or investigating the charges against accused individuals.

One example of the Iranian regime's legal system is the common charge of 
"muharebeh" or "enmity to God," routinely used against human rights activists 
and dissidents and which invariably receives the death penalty, sometimes 
administered in public by mass hangings by cranes (although even stoning is not 
ruled out legally). Many of those hanged take up to 20 minutes to die slowly 
and painfully of strangulation. The victims' bodies are left for some time 
before being removed as a way of intimidating the public into silence.

A lot of those who are executed come from minority communities such as the 
Ahwazi Arabs - who are predominately Shia - as well as Kurdish and Baluchi 
Sunnis. The targeting of minorities has not changed since the coming of Rouhani 
to office.

Over the past decade, many Ahwazi Arab political prisoners, ranging from poets 
and teachers to bloggers and human rights activists, have been executed on 
trumped-up charges in kangaroo courts. Again, nothing has improved under 
Rouhani.

Rather than finding reasonable evidence for the commission of a crime, judges 
generally rely on confessions, which have been drawn out from the accused 
through physical torture and psychological duress. Meanwhile, friends and 
relatives of the accused are kept in the dark, often not informed of where 
their loved ones have been imprisoned, or even buried.

As I've previously argued, the rush to a nuclear deal with Iran has left human 
rights issues sidelined.

Never mind that Iran is one of the few countries that continue to execute 
juvenile offenders, where according to the UN at least 160 are languishing on 
death row for crimes committed under the age of 18. The number of child 
offenders executed in 2014-15 - ie under Rouhani's watch - is higher than at 
any time during the past 5 years.

According to an Amnesty International report released a few days ago, Iran's 
authorities have sought to "whitewash their continuing violations of children's 
rights and deflect criticism of their appalling record as 1 of the world's last 
executioners of juvenile offenders".

These youths are "robbed of valuable years of their lives - often after being 
sentenced to death following unfair trials, including those based on forced 
confessions extracted through torture and other ill-treatment," according to 
Said Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty International's Middle East and 
North Africa Programme.

The report has not stopped Rouhani receiving a warm welcome on his Europe tour, 
as he met with top politicians as well as the Pope. Much of the world wants do 
business with Iran, and they don't want a fuss over trivial things like the 
human rights of the people of Iran - not even prominent opposition voices in 
the West, who often complain about their governments' disregard of rights 
violations committed by their valuable trade partners. When it comes to Iran, 
those hypocrites would happily sacrifice Iranian blood - not for wealth or the 
wellbeing of Western citizens but for mere ideological reasons.

(source: Rahim Hamid is a freelance journalist and human rights advocate who 
writes about the plight of his community - the Ahwazi Arabs - and other ethnic 
groups in Iran----Middle East Eye---The views expressed in this article belong 
to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle 
East Eye)