[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 11


INDIA:

Outfit seeks death penalty in Santhal woman's murder case


All India Manji Pangana Mahal (AIMPM), a national Santhal tribe outfit, here 
today staged a sit-in protest demanding death penalty for the killer of a B.Ed 
student who was shot dead outside her college last week.

31-year-old Sonali Murmu, a married Santhal women, was shot dead outside her 
college and her hand severed in front of the institute's campus on May 4.

Addressing the protest gathering at Subhash Chowk here, District Convener of 
the tribal outfit AIMPM Babulal Hembrom said the killer of Murmu should be 
"arrested and hanged".

Hembrom said the government has been claiming that initiatives were taken for 
women empowerment but a poor tribal woman was killed in broad day light outside 
her college. The incident projects the true picture of women empowerment 
initiatives in the state, he added.

According to police, Murmu was allegedly being harassed by one Suken Mandal of 
Dumka for long who had even threatened her after marriage.

Prima facie, the killing appeared to be Mandal's handiwork as he was in love 
with her, Superintendent of Police, M Tamilvanan, had said.

A number of Santhal men and women joined the protest today in front of the 
statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and demanded immediate arrest of the 
culprit and capital punishment.

The protest was supported by various Left parties.

(source: Zee news)






IRAN----executions

Iran regime hangs 4 prisoners in Isfahan


The mullahs' regime has hanged 4 prisoners in a notorious jail in Isfahan, 
central Iran, according to local reports.

The 4 prisoners, who were not named, were hanged on Sunday in Dastgerd Prison.

Also on Sunday a man was hanged in public in Kermanshah, western Iran, and 
another man was hanged in a prison in Minab, southern Iran. On Monday 2 
prisoners were hanged in a prison in Orumieh (Urmia), north-west Iran.

The latest hangings bring to at least 70 the number of people executed in Iran 
since April 10. 3 of those executed were women and 1 is believed to have been a 
juvenile offender.

Iran's fundamentalist regime on Monday amputated the fingers of a man in his 
thirties in the city of Mashhad, north-east Iran, the latest in a line of 
draconian punishments handed down and carried out in recent weeks.

The state-run Khorasan newspaper identified the victim by his initials M. T., 
adding that he was 39 years old. The prisoner was accused of theft and is also 
serving a 3-year jail sentence.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement on April 
13 that the increasing trend of executions "aimed at intensifying the climate 
of terror to rein in expanding protests by various strata of the society, 
especially at a time of visits by high-ranking European officials, demonstrates 
that the claim of moderation is nothing but an illusion for this medieval 
regime."

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 2,300 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)

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

19-Year-Old Prisoner Hanged in Northeastern Iran


A young prisoner with murder charges was reportedly hanged at Mashhad Central 
Prison (in the Razavi Khorasan province, northeastern Iran) on Sunday May 8 at 
4:50am.

The state-run news site, Rokna, identifies the prisoner as a 19-year-old by the 
name of "Morteza". Although the report does not mention the date of arrest, 
there is a possibility that the prisoner was arrested when he was under the age 
of 18.

(source: Iran Human Rights)






PAKISTAN----executions

Murderer of 11 among 2 sent to gallows


2 murder convicts were sent to gallows yesterday.

Later, the dead bodies were handed over to the heirs for burial.

The convicts identified as Captain (Retd) Zafar Iqbal and Mirza Shafique Ahmed 
were supposed to be hanged in April but their executions were delayed after 
they filed applications in courts against their execution.

In the case of Iqbal, he was supposed to be hanged on April 25 but his 
execution was delayed on the directions of the district and sessions court 
after he filed an application saying that his family had reached a compromise 
with the victim family.

Iqbal was convicted for killing 11 persons of a family.

The convict had gunned down 6 of his relatives at Arya Mohalla in Rawalpindi on 
January 10, 1994 and later on the same day he went to village Sangori in Gujar 
Khan and shot dead 5 more members of the family.

He was convicted for the murders and given death penalty.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2008 dismissed review petition filed by Iqbal 
against his death penalty and his mercy petition was also rejected by the 
president.

In the second case, Mirza Shafique Ahmed was convicted for a murder committed 
in 1993.

Ahmed was scheduled to be hanged on April 27 after his lawyer moved the Lahore 
High Court saying his client was juvenile at the time of the murder.

The plea was rejected by the high court and later the Supreme Court also turned 
down his plea.

(source: The Nation)

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

Death row prisoner hanged in Sahiwal


A death row prisoner involved in murder case was executed in the Sahiwal 
CentralJail on early on Tuesday morning.

As per details, prisoner Mansha had killed a man in 2001 during a robbery 
attempt. The dead body of the prisoner was handed over to his heirs after the 
execution.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted a 6-year moratorium on death penalty on 
December 17, 2014 for those convicted for terrorism a day after the deadly 
attack on Army Public School in Peshawar that left 150 persons including mostly 
children dead.

There are more than 8,000 prisoners on death row in Pakistan.

(source: Daily Times)






NIGERIA:

Senate's death penalty for kidnappers


The Senate is poised to enact a law that will prescribe the death penalty for 
kidnapping and hostage-taking in the country. This resolve is coming on the 
heels of the kidnap and rescue of Senator Iyabo Anisulowo. The 65 year-old 
ex-minister and former lawmaker was kidnapped penultimate week on her way to 
her farm.

Kidnapping has become a thriving criminal industry of sorts. Prominent and 
not-so-prominent citizens have been targeted. One-time presidential candidate, 
Chief Olu Falae; foster father of former President Goodluck Jonathan as well as 
his nephew and 3 female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School, 
Ikorodu, Lagos, were some of the victims whose kidnaps recently claimed 
prominent media attention. Constitutional lawyer and activist, Chief Mike 
Ozekhome (SAN) and former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Chief Okey 
Wali (SAN) were also subjected to the ordeal.

Available statistics show that 225 kidnap cases were recorded between October 
and November last year across the 24 states. In all, N85 billion worth of 
ransom was demanded while N28 million was paid by victims' families or 
governments. Those whose relations are unable to pay are sometimes killed. 
Though arrests are being made, yet the tide of this criminality keeps soaring.

Apart from a handful of states that have imposed the capital punishment on the 
heinous act, others are still treating it with kid gloves.

The time has come for us to take a serious look at this crime, which is 
blighting our image internationally. We believe that what is required to tackle 
this problem goes beyond the inchoate enactments among the federal and state 
legislatures. There must be a national action plan against kidnapping which 
every segment of society must key into. Such a game-plan will examine if the 
death penalty will solve the problem.

Once it is nationally agreed, all segments of society will pursue it until it 
becomes unattractive to kidnap people in Nigeria.

We believe that the death penalty could act as a deterrent, even though it 
could also spike the number of people who lose their lives in the kidnappers' 
dens. Kidnapping is a dastardly crime, and we must send the strong message that 
those who involve themselves in it deserve no mercy.

However, we must also explore the sociological, underlying factors that drive 
people to the crime, which include high unemployment rate, lack of welfare for 
the less privileged and the persistent quest for quick money, which permeates 
all levels of society.

Besides, the law-enforcement agencies must improve inter-agency synergy and 
redouble their efforts at intelligence gathering. They must work with the 
civilian populace to share intelligence to ensure that crimes are nipped in the 
bud.

We must make it clear that kidnapping, like all crimes, does not pay.

(source: Editorial, The Vanguard)