[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 24




GAZA:

Hamas announces public executions that will 'take Gaza past Saudi Arabia'


The Palestinian militant group Hamas is to carry out a string of public 
executions in the Gaza strip, the patch of territory it controls.

The executions were announced by Hamas's attorney general in Gaza, Ismail 
Jaber. "Capital punishments will be implemented soon in Gaza," he said. "I ask 
that they take place before a large crowd."

13 men, most convicted of murder connected to robberies, are currently awaiting 
execution, another Hamas official, Khalil al-Haya, said on Friday at the main 
prayers.

If all those go ahead, Gaza's execution rate relative to the size of its 
population will overtake that of Saudi Arabia's in one go.

Last year, Saudi Arabia, with a population of 31.5 million, executed 153 
people. Though one of the most densely populated territories in the world, Gaza 
has a population of just 1.8 million.

Palestinian law allows the death penalty for collaborators, murderers and drug 
traffickers.

On Sunday, the families of the victims of those on death row protested in 
favour of the executions outside Gaza's parliament, after the authorities gave 
a rare permission to stage a public demonstration.

The last time Hamas carried out public executions was during the summer 2014 
war with Israel, when a Hamas firing squad shot dead 7 people outside Gaza's 
main mosque following Friday prayers . Bodies were then dragged through the 
streets.

According to a May 2015 report by Amnesty International, Hamas forces also 
carried out at least 23 extrajudicial killings of Palestinians in Gaza in 2014, 
with at least 17 people killed on 1 day alone.

So far in 2016, approximately 10 people have been sentenced to death in Gaza.

Since the creation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, more than 170 
Palestinians have been sentenced to death and around 30 have been executed, 
mostly in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).

All execution orders must in theory be approved by the Palestinian Authority 
president, Mahmoud Abbas, but his legitimacy is not recognised by Hamas in the 
Gaza strip.

In February this year, it was announced that Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a commander from 
Hamas's military wing, was executed in Gaza by a firing squad.

(source: telegraph.co.uk)






SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi man executed for murder


Saudi Arabia put to death a citizen convicted of murder on Tuesday, bringing to 
94 the number of executions in the kingdom in 2016.

Imad al-Assimi was found guilty of shooting dead a compatriot in a dispute, the 
interior ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

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

Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, 
although 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" on a single day in 
January, 2016.

According to human rights group Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia had the 
3rd-highest number of executions last year - at least 158.

That was far behind Pakistan which executed 326, and Saudi Arabia's regional 
rival Iran, which executed at least 977, said Amnesty, whose figures exclude 
secretive China.

Rights activists have raised concerns about the fairness of trials in Saudi 
Arabia and have been particularly critical of the use of the death penalty for 
non-violent offences like drug trafficking.

The interior ministry has said it is "determined to fight drugs of all kinds 
due to the serious damage they do to individuals and society".

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

(source: Agence France-Presse)






IRAN----execution

Man Hanged In Northwestern Iran


1 prisoner was hanged in Qazvin Prison (northwestern Iran) on the morning of 
Thursday May 19, reports the official website of the Iranian Judiciary in the 
province of Qazvin.

The man, who was identified as "Sepahdar", was reportedly convicted of 
murdering another man who allegedely had an affair with his sister.

*********

At Least 8 Prisoners Transferred to Solitary Confinement For Execution


At least 6 prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement in Karaj's Rajai 
Shahr Prison (west of Tehran) on Saturday May 20, report close sources to Iran 
Human Rights (IHR).

These prisoners, who are all convicted of murder, are scheduled to be executed 
on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. According to reports gathered by IHR, at 
least 40 prisoners were executed in Iran during the first 3 weeks of May.

*********

5 Other Prisoners Scheduled to Be Executed in Coming Days


5 prisoners are scheduled to be hanged in the coming days, according to sources 
of Iran Human Rights.

6 prisoners from Karaj Central Prison were transferred to solitary confinement 
in preparation for their executions, which were scheduled for Sunday May 22. 1 
of the prisoners was eventually returned to his cell while the other 5 
prisoners are scheduled to be executed in the coming days. All the prisoners 
were sentenced to death for drug related charges.

8 other prisoners are scheduled to be executed in the coming days in Karaj's 
Rajai Shahr prison (west of Tehran).

(source for all: Iran Human Rights)

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

Iranians in Canada protest against executions in Iran


Iranians in Canada have held protests over the weekend denouncing human rights 
violations in Iran and urging the Canadian government to base any improvement 
in its ties to the Iranian regime on a halt to executions in Iran.

Protests were held on Saturday in Ottawa and Toronto and on Sunday in Montreal 
by supporters of the main Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of 
Iran (PMOI or MEK).

Protesters condemned the recent wave of executions in Iran.

They held up banners in English and Persian reading: "Political prisoners must 
be freed," "No to torture and execution," and "Stop torture and executions in 
Iran."

Other banners read "Down with Khamenei," referring to Ali Khamenei, Supreme 
Leader of the mullahs' regime.

The protesters in Ottawa also held a banner which highlighted the role of the 
Iranian regime's President Hassan Rouhani in the torture and executions taking 
place in Iran.

It read: "Rouhani is complicit in more than three decades of killing, torture 
and execution in the Iranian clerical regime. His record: More than 2300 
executions during his presidency."

The protesters in Montreal in particular called for international solidarity 
with Iran's imprisoned teachers and trade union activists.

The PMOI (MEK) supporters in both rallies also commemorated the 41st 
anniversary of the martyrdom of the PMOI's original founders by the Shah's 
regime which will take place on Tuesday.

(source: NCR-Iran)






ISRAEL:

"Execute Terrorists": New Israeli Death Penalty Would Apply to Non-Jews Only


Israel has never fully abolished the death penalty, but it has remained unused 
since the 1960s.

A new law to execute "terrorists" in Israel will effectively apply only to 
non-Jews, according to a source in the Likud party.

Incoming Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has made the restoration of the 
death penalty for terror attacks a sticking point for his far-right Yisrael 
Beiteinu party to join the government.

However, according to a Likud source quoted by Haaretz, the new law would apply 
only to people tried in military courts.

As Palestinians are prosecuted in military courts while Jews accused of similar 
crimes are prosecuted in civil courts, the death penalty would in practice 
apply only to Palestinians.

The move to restore the death penalty, which has never been officially 
abolished but has not been used since 1962, has proved highly controversial in 
Israel.

Former attorney general Yehuda Weinstein on Thursday called on his successor, 
Avichai Mendelblit, to oppose the proposals.

"There's nothing like it in the world," he told Haaretz. "There are no 
countries that added the death penalty to the book of law, only ones that took 
it off.

"It's not practical in terms of deterrence, since these are criminals who 
anyhow act out of an ideological motive and aren't afraid of death. It's also 
not moral."

However, other right-wing politicians in Israel have backed calls for the death 
penalty to be used again.

Ayelet Shaked, Israeli justice minister and member of the far-right Jewish Home 
party, said last July that she "found out that there's a death penalty for 
terrorists and that it was last handed out in 1994. Since then the military 
prosecution has not requested a death penalty, but it can be requested, and the 
military court can give it according to the law.

"Unfortunately, the sentence of the terrorist prosecuted in 1994 was commuted 
to a life sentence, and he was released in the Shalit deal, but the penalty 
exists and can be carried out," she added, according to Haaretz. Israeli 
soldier Gilad Shalit was part of a prisoner-exchange deal In 2011 after being 
held captive by Hamas for 5 years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lieberman may sign the coalition 
agreement on Sunday evening.

Netanyahu had also been in talks with the leader of the Labor Party, Isaac 
Herzog, but those negotiations broke down when news leaked that Netanyahu was 
thinking of bringing Lieberman back into the fold in a move that Israeli media 
agrees would create the "most right-wing government" Israel has known.

Lieberman has served in previous coalitions with Netanyahu but declined to join 
his coalition last year.

Yaalon had been at loggerheads with Netanyahu over his insistence made in a 
speech last week that senior officers be encouraged to "speak their mind".

On Thursday, he made public comments that he was "surprised" by a growing "loss 
of moral compass on basic questions" in Israeli society.

"We need to steer the country in accordance with one's conscience and not 
whichever way the wind is blowing," Yaalon said.

According to reports in the Israeli press, Netanyahu called Yaalon on Thursday 
to tell him to ignore media speculation about Lieberman, insisting that nothing 
was set in stone, although it appears Yaalon decided to jump ship before he was 
pushed.

Earlier reports claimed that Netanyahu was considering offering the retired 
lieutenant general the foreign ministry as a consolation, but that the offer 
was never made.

Yaalon's resignation paves the way for right-wing activist Yehuda Glick to 
enter the Knesset as he is the next candidate on the Likud list that decides 
who becomes an MP.

Glick is a leading figure in the Temple Mount movement that seeks to have 
Jewish prayers in the al-Aqsa mosque compound, with Palestinians scared the aim 
is to completely level Muslim holy sites to make way for a Jewish Third Temple 
that many believe was prophesied by scripture.

The compound is under Jordanian control, and non-Muslim prayers are strictly 
forbidden there, although growing numbers of Israelis have been skirting the 
rules in a move deemed by by Palestinians to be highly inflammatory.

Glick survived an assassination attempt by a Palestinian assailant who was 
angered by his views on Temple Mount in 2014.

(source: Global Research)



PHILIPPINES:

Duterte and the coming bloodbath


On Nov. 16, 1999, President Joseph Estrada appointed his then-favorite 
policeman, Director Panfilo Lacson, as the new chief of the Philippine National 
Police. The next day, the special operations group that Lacson led before his 
appointment, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, killed eight men 
in Fairview, Quezon City, in what some witnesses called a "rubout." 7 of the 
dead were later identified as suspected robbers; the 8th, a civilian bystander, 
was later reported to be the alleged mastermind of the robbery gang.

It was an arresting start to a controversial (and, as it turned out, 
abbreviated) term. For many, the spectacular violence was seen as precisely a 
violent spectacle, staged to strike fear among criminals.

3 renowned lawyers immediately raised the alarm. (I quote from an Inquirer 
editorial written some 10 years after the event.)

"Sen. Raul Roco told a news conference: 'Lacson must be made to explain: Why, 
on your 2nd day, did 7 people die? How many will die on the 3rd day? What are 
your projected plans on the 14th day?'

"Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. called on the PNP to disclose the true 
circumstances of the killings. 'Otherwise, the apprehension will continue that 
extrajudicial killing or vigilante justice is now taking place all over the 
country.'

"Rep. Joker Arroyo sketched a disturbing profile of Lacson's brand of law 
enforcement. There is an emerging 'pattern' in the way Lacson and his unit 
conduct their operations, he said: 'All the suspects are killed.' He also noted 
that, in the Fairview killings as in the Kuratong Baleleng case of 1995, 'the 
victims were relatively small-time'."

When Rodrigo Duterte, the controversial mayor of Davao City famous for his 
iron-fist approach to peace and order issues, takes his oath of office as the 
next president of the Philippines on June 30, only 1 of these 3 historical 
personalities will still be around to serve as a conscience of the people. Will 
Nene Pimentel, the founder of the PDP-Laban party which now serves as Duterte's 
political vehicle, sound the alarm when the new president inaugurates his term 
with the spectacles of violence he promised during the long campaign?

I say "when," not "if," because it is clear to both those who voted for Duterte 
and those who did not that he intends to "suppress" crime within "3 to 6 
months" after he takes office.

Those who voted for him and those who did not may agree that the only way 
Duterte can come close to making good on that ambitious promise is by doing 
what he did (or, if one prefers to accept that the Davao Death Squad is not 
connected to him, what he failed to stop) in Davao City: to identify the 
criminal suspects, and then to see them dead. But because by noon of June 30 he 
will be running a national government, he will need to scale up. Hence his 
statement, repeated many times, about filling Manila Bay (chosen for its 
symbolic national value) with the corpses of a hundred thousand suspected 
criminals.

In a television interview a year before the elections, for instance, he teased 
out once again his reputation as the man behind the Davao Death Squad, the 
vigilante group that is estimated to have killed over a thousand people in his 
city.

"If by chance, God will place me there [in the presidential palace], the 1,000 
will become 100,000," he said. "Diyan mo makita na tataba ang isda sa Manila 
Bay. Diyan ko kayo itatapon (That's where you will see the fish getting fat in 
Manila Bay; that's where I will dump you)."

Surely this is hyperbole? And that plural "you" at the end - this must be just 
another example of Duterte's gift for stirring controversy and courting media 
coverage with outrageous statements, right? Perhaps; at least that is what one 
should hope for, if we want true justice, not the false peace of the funeral 
parlor.

But the killing of 100,000 Filipinos will be the worst outbreak of violence in 
the country since World War II, when about a million people died. The total of 
100,000 that Duterte seeks to feed the fish of Manila Bay with is about twice 
the number of Filipino soldiers killed by the Japanese, and 5 times the number 
of Filipino revolutionaries killed by the Americans during the 
Philippine-American War.

If we say, "OK, perhaps he really did not mean 100,000 killings," we will find 
ourselves sucked into a dangerous exercise, a dubious moral calculus. Are 
10,000 extrajudicial killings "OK" for a country with a population of almost 
110 million? That's less than 1 % of 1 %. How about 1,000 killings - but not 
spread between 1998 and 2015, as in Davao City, according to documentation by 
human rights groups, but between July and December this year? Is that 
"acceptable"? How about "only" 100 killings, but all on the afternoon of June 
30, after Duterte takes his oath? Would that be "fitting"?

Or perhaps we can accept the figure of 100,000, after all; these are suspected 
criminals, not soldiers or revolutionaries.

These damning calculations should chill our blood. Archbishop Antonio Ledesma 
of Cagayan de Oro used his preelection pastoral letter to remind us: "The 
victims [of the Davao Death Squad] include 132 children (17 years and below)." 
Let us take a deep breath and ask ourselves: How many of Duterte's 100,000 will 
be innocent or underage?

We may see a spree of extrajudicial killings at the exact same time the 
privileged party-hopping animals of Congress debate a death penalty law - a law 
that, in practice, will affect only those Filipinos without privilege. Like 
others, I am filled with foreboding.

(source: Opinion, John Nery----Philippine Daily Inquirer)