[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 17



EGYPT:

Egypt court hands death sentences to 6 Brotherhood members over 2013 
violence----The 9 Muslim Brotherhood members were sentenced in absentia meaning 
that if they turn themselves into the authorities a retrial will be granted


A Cairo criminal court handed death and life imprisonment sentences in absentia 
on Sunday to nine members of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood over violence 
related events that took place in Giza governorate in 2013.

On Sunday, the court sentenced 6 people to death and three others to life 
imprisonment over their participation in violent attacks referred to as the 
"Omraneya events" in November 2013.

Life in prison sentences carry up to 25 years in jail, according to the 
Egyptian penal code.

They were referred to court after prosecution accused them of illegally 
gathering, protesting, cutting off roads, and possessing firearms.

The prosecution also charged them of committing assaults, including murdering a 
child and the attempted murder of others.

The 9 convicts were tried in absentia, and thus given the maximum penalty for 
their crimes.

If they turn themselves into the authorities, they can appeal their initial 
death and life imprisonment sentences.

(source: ahram.org)






SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudis carry out first execution since Ramadan


Saudi authorities executed a murderer in the holy city of Mecca on Sunday, the 
1st death sentence to be carried out since before the Muslim fasting month of 
Ramadan.

Fahd al-Hasni, a Saudi, was put to death after being convicted of stabbing dead 
a fellow citizen, the interior ministry said in a statement published on the 
official SPA news agency.

Most people executed in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.

It was the 96th execution of the year in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, 
which imposes the death penalty for offences including murder, drug 
trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy.

The last execution in the Gulf country took place on May 29, more than a week 
before Ramadan began.

There were no beheadings during the fasting month and the following Eid'l Fitr 
feast.

Rights group Amnesty International says the kingdom carried out at least 158 
death sentences last year, making it the third most prolific executioner after 
Iran and Pakistan. Its figures do not include secretive China.

The London-based watchdog has said that the rate of executions this year is 
"higher than at the same point last year."

Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, 
although 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" offences on a single day 
in January.

They included prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution prompted 
Iranian protesters to torch Saudi diplomatic missions triggering the severing 
of relations between the Middle East???s leading Sunni and Shiite powers.

(source: Agence France-Presse)






IRAN----executions

Iran regime hangs 18 people over the weekend


Iran's fundamentalist regime hanged 18 prisoners over the weekend, including 2 
cases in public. A woman was among those hanged on Sunday.

11 prisoners were hanged en masse in Qezelhesar Prison in Karaj, north-west of 
Tehran, on Sunday. 2 of the prisoners were identified as Saeed Saberi and 
Moslem Bahrami. At least 1 of the 11 prisoners was a woman.

2 men, identified only by their initials Q. J. and M. R., were hanged in public 
in Karaj on Sunday. The 2 men were hanged in a public square in the city's 
Mehshahr District, the state-run Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

Another 3 men were hanged in prison in the city of Birjand, eastern Iran, on 
Sunday. They were identified as Mansour Zafarani, Yousef Barahoui and Qassem 
Delshad. They were accused of drugs-related charges.

2 prisoners, whose names were not given but who were said to be 40 and 49 years 
old, were hanged on Saturday in Lakan Prison in Rasht, northern Iran, according 
to the state broadcaster IRIB which quoted Ahmad Siavosh-Pour, the provincial 
head of the judiciary. They were accused of drugs-related charges.

Also it emerged over the weekend that 5 men were hanged on July 11 in the 
Central Prison of Arak, central Iran. They were identified as Masoud Taqi-Pour, 
Hassan Faraj-Pour, Mehdi Baqeri, Baqer Jalili and Hamid Haqvin. They too were 
accused of drugs-related charges.

The mullahs' regime hanged 9 prisoners collectively on July 13 in Gohardasht 
Prison in Karaj.

3 of the executed prisoners were identified as Seyyed Mohammad Taheri, Amir 
Khadem Rezaiyan and Saeid Ahmadi.

More than 270 Members of the European Parliament signed a joint statement on 
Iran last month, calling on the European Union to "condition" its relations 
with Tehran to an improvement of human rights.

The MEPs who were from all the EU Member States and from all political groups 
in the Parliament said they are concerned about the rising number of executions 
in Iran after Hassan Rouhani took office as President 3 years ago.

Amnesty International in its April 6 annual Death Penalty report covering the 
2015 period wrote: "Iran put at least 977 people to death in 2015, compared to 
at least 743 the year before."

"Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions recorded" in the Middle East 
and North Africa, the human rights group said.

There have been more than 2,500 executions during Hassan Rouhani's tenure as 
President. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation 
in Iran in March announced that the number of executions in Iran in 2015 was 
greater than any year in the last 25 years. Rouhani has explicitly endorsed the 
executions as examples of "God's commandments" and "laws of the parliament that 
belong to the people."

(source: NCR-Iran)