[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 3



SAUDI ARABIA----executions

5 executed in Saudi as toll hits 69


A Qatari and a Jordanian were among 5 people executed in Saudi Arabia on 
Tuesday, bringing to 69 the number of people it has put to death this year.

The Qatari, Mohammed Jarboui, was executed in the eastern region of Al-Ahsa 
after being convicted of murdering a Saudi, the interior ministry said.

Sliman and Ahmed Messoudi were put to death in the northern Tabuk region for 
trafficking amphetamines, the ministry said in a separate statement.

The Jordanian, Abdallah Tayaha, was also convicted of amphetamine trafficking. 
He was put to death in the northwestern Jawf region, it said.

Amphetamines are stimulants most often targeted at students and labourers in 
the kingdom, interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki told 
reporters last week.

He added that war-ravaged Syria has become one of the biggest producers of the 
drug.

The 5th person to be executed on Tuesday was Kassadi Atoudi, put to death in 
the southern region of Jazan following his conviction for murder.

The 69 executions so far this year include 47 death sentences for "terrorism" 
carried out in a single day on January 2.

Most people sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia executed 153 people, most of them for drug trafficking or 
murder, according to an AFP count.

Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia last year 
was the highest for 2 decades.

However, the tally was far behind those of China and Iran.

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

(source: Middle East Monitor)

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

Qatari and Jordanian among 5 executed in Saudi Arabia


Saudi Arabia has executed a Qatari and a Jordanian national, along with 3 
Saudis, raising the country's toll from executions to 69 - just 2 months into 
the year.

Qatari Mohammed Jarboui was executed in the eastern region of Al-Ahsa, after 
being convicted of murdering a Saudi, the interior ministry said.

The Jordanian, Abdallah Tayaha, was convicted of amphetamine trafficking along 
with 2 other Saudis, Sliman and Ahmed Messoudi.

Kassadi Atoudi, executed in the southern region of Jazan, had been convicted of 
murder.

Among the executions already this year are the names of 47 people who were 
sentenced to death under "terrorism" charges on January 2.

The kingdom came under fire for executing a prominent Shia cleric from its 
eastern region, along with al-Qaeda militants.

The 56-year-old cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was a driving force of protests 
that broke out in 2011 in the kingdom's east, where the Shia minority complains 
of marginalisation.

The execution of al-Nimr sparked widespread anger across the region and 
resulted in deteriorating relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, where the 
Saudi embassy was attacked.

The kingdom, which has a long history of human rights violations, has come 
under fire on numerous occasions for its gruesome procedure in carrying out the 
capital punishment.

Most executions see condemned convicts beheaded with a sword in public.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia executed 153 people, most of them for drug trafficking or 
murder, according to an AFP count.

(source: alaraby.co.uk)






NIGERIA:

The Death Penalty Polemics


This generation, where drug taking, satanic feats and many heinous crimes like 
rape, murder, and armed robbery are gradually becoming the order of the day for 
many miscreant groups, abolishing the death penalty, as a constitutional 
imperative, would be tantamount to the beginning of political madness.

If anything, the death penalty should, for the time being, be an entrenched 
clause in the revised constitution until the entire drug addicts who emerged as 
a result of the war, who now have no value for human life, because killing and 
destroying man, have been grafted in them, are completely expunged from the 
face of this land, 1 by 1, as and when they commit. The 'slaughter house' in 
Kailahun remains a rather sad monument for the degeneration of human 
civilisation into a so-called cannibalistic existence, to the point of creating 
a 'slaughter house,' an abattoir for the sole purpose of killing and butchering 
humans for food.

That 'slaughter house' should be one of the monuments of the war that should be 
preserved for posterity and, also, to remind the present of the moral 
disintegrating effects of war, to ensure that those things that contributed to 
the emergence of the war are not repeated such as: corruption in high places, 
political marginalisation, tribalism and brothernization, corrupt Police Force 
and their involvement in the politics of the day, unbalanced distribution of 
the national cake and a whole lot of ills.

Great Philosophers and educationists in Western societies have written that the 
greater the experience the effective the learning. The post-war Head of State 
in Nigeria, Yakuba Gowan, was able to end armed robbery in his country by 
introducing public firing squad for armed robbery, an example of the end 
justifying the means.

To abolish the death penalty just now is to mortgage the lives of peaceful 
Sierra Leoneans to drug addicts, whose main occupation is to make money at the 
expense of hard working compatriots, through the barrel of the gun, most times 
at night.

Publicly executing armed robbers and making all murderers face the gallows are 
measures that this country should be considering for entrenchment in our 
constitution rather than the country.

Many Sierra Leoneans thinks that it is not even prudent, just now, to be a rich 
man, which is a direct invitation for armed robberies.

Let us first get rid of armed robbery, though a few examples can reduce the 
incidence of murder and other drug related crimes, then and only then should 
there be such a thing as abolishing the death penalty. Think security first 
before dancing to the tune of international polemics on death penalty.

Think seriously first, before dancing to the tune of international polemics on 
death penalty.

(source: Joe Nyangu; sierraexpressmedia.com)



EGYPT:

Egypt court sentences 7 to death over cadet bombing


An Egyptian military court has handed down 7 death sentences for an April 2015 
bombing that killed 2 army cadets as they waited to board a bus, an army 
official said.

The blast in the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh was one of a spate of 
attacks that have hit the security forces since the 2013 overthrow of Islamist 
president Mohamed Morsi.

Most have been in the Sinai Peninsula, but some have been in Cairo or the delta 
to its north.

The court in second city Alexandria also sentenced 5 people to life in prison, 
which in Egypt means 25 years, the army official said.

It sentenced 2 defendants to 15 years, and 4 to 3 years.

The defendants have the right of appeal to the Court of Cassation.

3 of those sentenced to death were tried in absentia.

Police have detained or killed scores of suspected militants in Cairo and the 
delta, although the security forces continue to face frequent attack in the 
Sinai, stronghold of jihadists loyal to the Islamic Strate group.

The jihadists say their attacks are in retaliation for a government crackdown 
targeting Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands 
imprisoned.

Morsi himself and hundreds of his followers have been handed death sentences, 
many of them in speedy mass trials that have been condemned by the United 
Nations and human rights groups.

Some have been overturned by the Court of Cassation on appeal.

(source: Yahoo news)






SOMALIA:

Somali Extremist Sentenced to Death for Journalist Killings


A former journalist accused of belonging to an Islamic extremist group has been 
sentenced to death for his alleged role in the killings of 5 Somali 
journalists.

A military court in the Somali capital convicted Hassan Hanafi Haji, who was 
extradited from Kenya last year on the request of the Somali government.

A judge, while handing down the death penalty for Haji, said the suspected 
al-Shabab member had been involved in the killings of 5 journalists in Somalia.

Haji showed no signs of emotion before soldiers took him away. His trial 
attracted significant attention from local journalists, some of whom attended 
the trial Thursday.

Many hope the sentence will send a message to extremists who have made Somalia 
one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work.

(source: Associated Press)






DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC of CONGO:

Court convicts suspect to death in murder of Soleil Balanga


This statement was originally published by JED on 23 February 2016.

Journaliste en danger (JED) notes the capital punishment ruling of the High 
Court of Boende for the murder of journalist Soleil Balanga, killed on April 
16, 2015 in Monkoto, situated more than 100 km from Boende, the capital of the 
province of Tshuapa (northwestern RDC).

According to information shared with JED and confirmed by 1 of the lawyers for 
the slain journalist's family, the High Court of Boende delivered its verdict 
regarding the murder of the journalist Soleil Balanga on Monday, February 22, 
2016. Moussa Tendele, the son of the chief medical officer of the Monkoto 
health district, was sentenced to death for slitting Soleil Balanga's throat 
with a knife. A doctor and a nurse from the Monkoto health district, who were 
being prosecuted for criminal involvement, were acquitted.

We...hope that the ruling will dissuade others in this country who think that 
one can threaten, attack or kill journalists without penalty. But as an 
organization for the defence of human rights, we are naturally against the 
execution of the death sentence.

Contacted by JED, Mr. Papay Botshona, 1 of the lawyers for the family of Soleil 
Balanga declared "We are not completely satisfied with the verdict. The 2 
others who were being prosecuted for criminal activity should also be found 
guilty. This morning (Tuesday, February 2016), I went to appeal the verdict."

"We acknowledge this ultimate sanction and hope that the ruling will dissuade 
others in this country who think that one can threaten, attack or kill 
journalists without penalty. But as an organization for the defense of human 
rights, we are naturally against the execution of the death sentence," said 
Tshivis Tshivuadi, JED General Secretary.

Soleil Balanga, journalist with Monkoto Radio Communautaire, was violently 
attacked with a knife on Thursday, April 16, 2015, by the son of the chief 
medical officer of the Monkoto health zone, who slit his throat after sharing 
information that his father was leaving his management position at the 
hospital.

(sources: bignewnetwork.com & Democratic Republic of Congo Impunity Free 
Expression the Law)


KENYA:

Death penalty for murder suspects unconstitutional, says Tobiko


Mandatory death sentence on those convicted of murder is against the 
Constitution, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has said.

Keriako Tobiko in a case filed by 2 convicts Francis Karioko and Wilson 
Thirimbu before Supreme Court said that section 204 of the penal code as 
prescribed by Parliament limited the mandate of the Judiciary to determine 
criminal issues.

"As far as section 204 of the penal code, it is agreed that it's against the 
Constitution. Let Parliament do its work and the Judiciary its own work. What 
is unconstitutional about the code is the mandatory nature of it," the DPP said 
through lawyer Njagi Nderitu. The contentious section has 10 words and reads 
that any person convicted of murder shall be sentenced to death.

The DPP agreed to the argument placed before Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, 
Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and justices Smokin Wanjala, Jackton Ojwang, 
Mohamed Ibrahim and Njoki Ndung'u by lawyer Fred Ngatia that section 204 should 
be declared unconstitutional but disagreed on outlawing the entire penal code.

The country has over 2,511 individuals on death row and 4,203 others are 
serving life sentences.

"We got death sentence from our colonial masters and in all former colonies, 
death sentence was predetermined. The courts are tied to pass a similar 
sentence to all found guilty," he said.

"The court should inform Parliament it is not within their function to 
determine a penalty. Both USA and the commonwealth countries have held that 
mandatory death sentence is unconstitutional and this court should also hold 
so," Mr Ngatia argued.

Karioko and Thirimbu have been awaiting execution since 2003 after being 
sentenced to death alongside 5 other suspects, including former Lands 
Commissioner Wilson Gachanja's wife, for the murder of businessman Lawrence 
Githinji Magondu.

According to the 2014 Economic Survey Report released in April 2013, Kenyan 
courts are responsible for 32 % of all death sentences in the world. Kenya 
remains defiant to abolish the law though 139 countries had done so by December 
2010.

(source: Standard Media)






PAKISTAN:

An assassin's hanging: Why Pakistan needs to kill the death penalty----The 
state needs to differentiate itself from those like Mumtaz Qadri, who believe 
in the arbitrary imposition of death.


Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, was executed on 
February 29 at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where he had been imprisoned for the 
past several years. His execution ended a tragic and sordid chapter of 
Pakistan's history - its fight against extremist vigilantes who believe they 
have the right to kill.

Qadri's death came a little over 5 years after he assassinated Taseer outside a 
coffee shop in Islamabad. Investigating authorities said that Qadri had 
confessed to the murder - he said he had done it because the governor had 
wished to reform Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws. At the time, authorities 
also insisted that his was the act of a lone assassin and that he had no 
connection with any militant organisation.

I oppose the death penalty. I hold my position because I do not believe that 
any government or instrument of State should partake in taking the life of any 
individual. Qadri's execution has, for me, been the greatest test of my 
conviction in the necessity of banning the death penalty. Over the years, I 
have written about Qadri often - the last time was in November 2014, after 
Mohammad Asghar, a 70-year-old schizophrenic man was shot by a jail guard. 
Asghar was imprisoned on blasphemy charges and was targeted owing to Qadri's 
incitement. The guard was a newbie, who had been convinced by Qadri to target 
others serving blasphemy terms. Mohammad Asghar had been a perfect and easy 
target. As I said in that piece, Qadri was a living embodiment of the 
distortion of faith that anoints not the Almighty but the individual, himself 
really, as the arbiter of who gets to live and die.

The State as killer

If this logic is reprehensible, and it is to me, then the question becomes 
whether it is ever valid. Instruments of the State are not individual. They are 
instead based on procedure and process, the product of which is justice. Qadri 
was a convicted killer, imprisoned not at the behest of arbitrary judgement but 
law and process. Using the instruments of State, however, to impose the death 
penalty on Qadri, or really anyone else, is something that undermines the 
legitimacy of these legal processes.

Since the taking of a life is irreversible, its imposition by the State tests 
the procedures and processes of justice that has imposed them. It also attaches 
a few shades of taint, the hesitation that ensues from considering that if 
killing is always wrong, then is it very right?

That, of course, is a technical argument. Another objection that irks me just 
as much is somewhat particular to Pakistan, or at least the contexts in which 
death, its detail and performance, has become a rhetorical instrument, the 
basis of an argument that eggs on others to sacrifice their lives if it 
accomplishes the killings of many others.

In the grim present, where Pakistan and Pakistanis have been subjected to 
thousands of such acts of death which produce thousands more deaths, there are 
some additional risks when death is attached to an individual such as Qadri. 
The cult of suicide bombings against the Pakistani state considers those killed 
in the path of killing others as "martyrs". In this case, the fact that the 
State itself carried out the killing can attach even more significance to 
Qadri's end - and anoint him even further in the eyes of those who have managed 
to attach divine significance to such acts.

Death as political theatre

Death penalties handed out by the State add to the tableau of righteous and 
unrighteous deaths underway in Pakistan. There are two sides to this. On one 
are those who believe in the State, in the law, in a process, and in a faith 
that does not permit the taking of lives by individuals who, like Qadri, 
imagine themselves as judges. On the other side are those who are beguiled by 
the blood-laden rhetoric that embraces vigilante justice and centralises death 
as an act of faith, even when it is unjustly imposed on others.

The iterations of this second kind have been seen time and again in Pakistan, 
and increasingly openly. Right-wing clerics in the country's mosques talk time 
and again of categories of people, the killing of whom is permissible. It is an 
invocation to all who will listen to become Mumtaz Qadri. Sadly, there are 
millions who listen and among those millions are some thousands who silently 
sympathise and some hundreds who actively join the rosters of militant 
organisations. Death, the embrace of it, the imposition of it on innocent 
others, is central to this conversion.

The emergence of death as an act of political theatre in the war raging within 
Pakistan and increasingly in many parts of the world requires a rethinking of 
its imposition by the State. A greater moral contrast is required between those 
who believe in the arbitrary imposition of death, and the State that imposes it 
following the deployment of law, process and procedure. Such a contrast can be 
better achieved when the State imposes a complete moratorium on the death 
penalty and is able to say that it never kills as a retort to those who always 
kill, love killing, preach killing. A failure to do so risks the use of a 
State-imposed death penalty - like the hanging of Qadri - as one more act in 
the drama of his heroism of which he imagined himself a star, where he is the 
noble avenger, his killers the agents of faithlessness and corruption.

Simply put, the State imposition of the death penalty on a man like Qadri can 
be manipulated into yet another dimension of anti-State radical heroism and 
divert attention from the horror of his crime. Pakistan does not need any more 
of such men. An ironic but real act of preventing their creation may be to let 
them fester in prison, alone, anonymous and forgotten.

(source: Rafia Zakaria, scroll.in)






INDIA:

If we are serious about fighting corruption, we must have death penalty: Lok 
Sabha MP Rajesh Ranjan----Pappu Yadav speaks to The Indian Express on the 
issue.


During discussion on the Aircel-Maxis deal, Lok Sabha MP Rajesh Ranjan alias 
Pappu Yadav demanded that corrupt politicians and bureaucrats be hanged as 
punishment. His comment - that all politicians are corrupt - drew sharp 
reactions in the House, leading Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu 
to intervene.

Why do you think the corrupt should be hanged?

This is the only way to eradicate corruption - by giving maximum punishment to 
the corrupt. How else can you tackle corruption when the most powerful, the 
politicians and the bureaucrats, are engaged in corruption and black money?

Is it fair to make such a blanket statement about all politicians and 
bureaucrats?

How else do you think politicians afford such expenditure during elections? On 
advertisements and other things? Officers and politicians help each other in 
breeding corruption. Both gain. Each politician easily spends crores of rupees 
in elections.

Have you ever used black money in your life or political career?

I am open to any probe. Let the CBI probe all my assets. I have in fact lost 
whatever I had. Around 9,000 acres of land I once had has been reduced to next 
to nothing. I have nothing to hide.

But Venkaiah Naidu and many from the Opposition took exception to your speech 
today. How do you react?

I did not name anyone, so there is nothing to object to. All I said was that 
corruption exists in all sections of the political class and officialdom. If we 
are serious about fighting corruption, we must have death penalty as the 
maximum punishment for the corrupt.

Were you satisfied with Arun Jaitley's reply on the Aircel-Maxis deal 
discussion?

Arun Jaitleyji is a lawyer, so he speaks in legal language. But corruption has 
to be fought not with legal jargon but with sincere will. It is said that the 
thief will always find a way in, if there is no sincere will to protect the 
house.

(source: Indian Express)

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

Notice to Yug's killers for confirming death penalty


Yug Chandak's killers' case came up for confirmation of death sentence at 
Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Monday. A division bench comprising 
justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari and justice Vinay Deshpande issued notices to 
both convicts - Rajesh Dhanalal Daware (19) and his friend Arvind Abhilash 
Singh (23). The judges directed the court registry to expedite preparation of 
paper book related to the murder after hearing government pleader Bharti Dangre 
and Chandak family's counsel Rajendra Daga.

Both convicts were awarded a rare double death penalty on February 4.

Notice to EOW in Wasankar case

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court, on Tuesday, issued notice to senior 
inspector of Economic Offences Wing (EOW) over a plea filed by a non-banking 
financial company in Mumbai challenging summons issued to it in Wasankar scam.

A division bench comprising Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Justice Vinay 
Deshpande asked the respondents to file reply before March 9. The judges 
directed EOW to continue probe, but restrained from taking coercive steps 
against the petitioner - Essar (India) Ltd. The EOW had issued summons under 
section 162 of Criminal Procedure Code, which the petitioner challenged 
thorough counsel Rahul Kurekar

(source: The Times of India)