[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 25



GLOBAL:

Why Pointing a Finger at Countries With the Death Penalty for Drugs Is Not 
Enough


The death penalty for drug offences has received much attention recently. Mass 
executions last year in Indonesia, and the announcements of further killings, 
have garnered world headlines. Iran continues to execute drug offenders at an 
astonishing rate, earning condemnation from human rights groups. At last 
month's United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the world drug 
problem (UNGASS), the death penalty prompted vocal debates between retentionist 
and abolitionist States, and more than sixty countries voiced their opposition 
to the practice.

When Harm Reduction International (HRI) launched our death penalty for drugs 
project in 2007, this issue was largely invisible in both the human rights and 
the drug policy discourse. It was certainly not an issue of debate during UN 
meetings on drug control at the time, which passed every year with no mention 
of capital punishment. Given that our research has found as many as 1,000 
people are executed annually for drug offences, the increased attention over 
the last decade is welcome.

I am often asked what the international community can do to challenge the 
practice of death penalty States. There are options. One is for abolitionist 
governments and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to end financing of drug 
enforcement operations in death penalty States, which HRI and others have shown 
to directly contribute to death sentences and executions. Another is to fund 
human rights advocates working in death penalty countries to influence public 
opinion and government policy, and to defend death row prisoners.

After watching dozens of countries speak against capital punishment during the 
UNGASS, I think there is a third and perhaps even more important action that 
States can take if they are truly committed to ending the death penalty for 
drugs around the world.

The death penalty for drugs is the most extreme example of what I call 
'punitive suppression'--the logic that the harsher we punish people, the more 
effectively we will suppress drugs and drug markets. While this logic is 
commonly used by death penalty supporters to justify the practice, it also 
underpins the legal and policy frameworks of drug control in almost every 
country, regardless of whether they have capital punishment.

Punitive suppression is at the heart of the core UN treaties on drug control, 
particularly 1988 drug convention that established obligations to enact harsh 
penal provisions at domestic level. A 2001 UN report recorded a 50% increase in 
the number of countries prescribing the death penalty for drugs into domestic 
law between 1985 and 2000, the exact period during which the treaty was 
drafted, adopted and implemented at national level.

Punitive suppression takes different forms in different places. While capital 
and corporal punishment for drug crimes are obvious abuses that draw attention, 
other practices such as criminal penalties and incarceration for drugs, 
mandatory minimum sentences, felony disenfranchisement, stop and search, 
mandatory drug testing of people receiving benefits or prisoners and bans on 
accessing food assistance for drug offenders are equally driven by this same 
logic.

While abolitionist States argue (correctly) that the death penalty does nothing 
to deter drug crimes, this argument is undermined when punishment continues to 
be the premise of drug laws and policies in their own countries. This 
disconnect allows death penalty States and their defender to argue that capital 
punishment is rooted in national culture or tradition, and is simply their 
particular approach of pursuing drug suppression objectives shared by all 
countries.

While capital punishment for drugs is only practiced by a small handful of 
governments, it has much wider significance in the drug reform debate. It is a 
window onto the failure - in both human rights and efficacy terms - of the 
global experiment in punitive drug suppression over the past half century. For 
this reason, the crucial work of abolishing the death penalty must go further 
than simply pointing our fingers at that tiny number of extremist fringe States 
that continue to execute people. We must acknowledge the flawed logic at the 
heart of the regime itself, and undo its corrosive effects on the drug laws and 
policies everywhere.

We are commonly told by political leaders that punitive drug laws are needed to 
'send a message'. Perhaps, then, the most powerful way that non-death penalty 
States can truly challenge capital punishment for drugs is to reject the 
supremacy of punitive suppression within their own domestic drug laws, and 
'send a message' of a different kind. Only then can we start to create a future 
in which the use of criminalisation, punishment and prisons as core tools of 
drug control is as much an extreme fringe position as is executing people for 
drug offences today, and draws the same kind of global condemnation.

(source: Dr Rick Lines is Executive Director of Harm Reduction International in 
London----huffingtonpost.co.uk)






JAMAICA:

An intellectually stimulating article on the death penalty


Let me congratulate Professor Stephen Vasciannie for what I regard as an 
excellent, objectively written, and intellectually stimulating article on the 
death penalty, appearing in your newspaper of Sunday, May 15, 2016. It has 
provided some very useful information for those who need proper understandings 
of feelings about and thinking with respect to the subject both locally and 
internationally.

What makes the article so good, from my perspective, is that it provides a 
platform for informed discourse on the subject, and not the kind of emotive 
responses by pro-abolitionists every time the retention or implementation of 
the law relating to the death penalty is raised. It would be good to get the 
pro-abolitionists' response to the professor's article.

What should be of particular interest to those of us who support the retention 
and execution of capital punishment is that every time the subject is raised in 
our nation's Parliament, those against its abolition and in favour of its 
execution outvote - even if marginally - those who want to see it removed from 
the statute books. This correlates with a poll conducted by the late Professor 
Carl Stone many years ago, which showed that 83 % of the population is in 
favour of the retention and infliction of the sentence of death on those who 
deserve it.

Another piece of information that those in favour of the imposition of 
sanctions on those who are found guilty of murder is the fact that there is 
nothing in international law that denies a country its sovereign right to do 
so. What seems to be preventing the country from executing the sentence is more 
the fact that we are a part of a global village where the abolitionist virus 
has affected many of us, including the political directorate. But, probably the 
greatest factor of all is our mendicant status, which makes it difficult, if 
not impossible, for us the carry out the will of the majority without dire 
consequences for our fledgling economy.

While I agree with Professor Vasciannie that delay in carrying out the sentence 
of death, locally, is an impediment, a greater stumbling block, and probably 
part of the reason for delay, is the overt or covert threat of economic 
sanctions by powerful donor agencies. The rock star Bob Geldof once expressed 
the view that one of the downsides of financial assistance from cash-rich 
countries and financial institutions of the world is that the hand of the 
receiver is under the hand of the giver - which could compromise the 
sovereignty of the receiver country.

The other deterrent is the fear - real or imagined - of the possible 
miscarriage of justice, best expressed in the words of one of the dying thieves 
on the cross: "We are punished justly...But this man has done nothing wrong" - 
let alone the fallibility of judges, jurors, and lawyers, which could be a 
contributing factor. I would also like to take issue with Professor 
Vasciannie's biblical reference, especially in relation to the lex talionis and 
Jesus's teaching in the New Testament about non-retaliation. The lex talionis, 
according to biblical scholar the late John R W Stott, was designed to have the 
double effect of "...defining justice and restraining revenge". It also 
discouraged an individual taking the law into his or her hand by assigning the 
distribution of justice to the state authorities. So, the professor's use of 
the word "brutality" in reference to this provision is out of line with the 
best scholarly work.

One of the greatest obstacles to Old Testament scholars who support abolition 
is the provision of Cities of Refuge as an asylum for man slayers (Exodus 21: 
13; Numbers 35: 19). Pro-abolitionist Sir Norman Anderson, a 1-time lecturer in 
Islamic Law at the University of London, ran aground in his discussion of the 
Old Testament teaching on capital punishment when he stumbled upon the 
establishment of Cities of Refuge for a man who killed without malice 
aforethought, but no such provisions for the murderer.

Also, Jesus's reference to turning the other cheek in the Sermon on the Mount 
cannot be appealed to with respect to the adjudication of justice by the civil 
authority, because it relates to personal revenge. So, it is never wise to use 
it in discussing the distribution of justice by the State. Further, if the 
non-retaliation injunction given by Jesus in Matthew 5: 38-39 were to be 
applied by civil magistrates, it would be difficult for them to enforce any law 
which sought to protect the lives and property of law-abiding citizens.

Listen, also, to Paul in his defence before Festus: "If then I am a wrongdoer 
and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape 
death..." (Acts 25: 11), suggesting that there were crimes that warranted the 
hangman's noose. And, as I have pointed out earlier, the dying thief on the 
cross remarked to his fellow malefactor: "We are punished justly, for we are 
getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." He was 
not only pointing to the miscarriage of justice in Jesus's execution, but 
pointing to something equally critical, which is often overlooked in our 
pre-occupation with deterrence - the issue of whether what the murderer is 
getting is justly deserved for the crime he has committed.

The late C S Lewis answers this question ably and well in an excellent article 
written many years ago. This is what he writes on the humanitarian theory of 
punishment: "The humanitarian theory removes from punishment the concept of 
desert. But the concept of desert is the only connecting link between 
punishment and justice. It is only as deserved or undeserved that a sentence 
can be just or unjust. I do not here contend that the question 'Is it 
deserved?' is the only one we can reasonably ask about a punishment. We may 
very properly ask whether it is likely to deter others and to reform the 
criminal. But neither of these 2 last questions is a question about justice. 
There is no sense in talking about a 'just deterrent' or a 'just cure'. We 
demand of a deterrent not whether it is just but whether it will deter. We 
demand of a cure not whether it is just but whether it succeeds. Thus, when we 
cease to consider what the criminal deserves and consider only what will cure 
him or deter others, we have tacitly removed him from the sphere of justice 
altogether; instead of a person, a subject of rights, we now have a mere 
object, a patient, a 'case'."

The points of disagreement aside, though, I found the professor's article most 
informative and intellectually stimulating.

(source: Opinion; Dennis McKoy is an adjunct lecturer at Mico University 
College----Jamaica Observer)






NIGERIA:

The death penalty is not the solution to kidnapping in Nigeria


Earlier this month the Senate approved a proposal to introduce a bill that will 
make kidnapping punishable by death. Many commentators have welcomed the 
decision arguing that the death penalty will deter the increasing number of 
kidnappings in the country. They are wrong.

Kidnapping has reached epidemic levels in Nigeria and whilst the need for the 
federal government to fight this crime effectively has never been more urgent, 
the death penalty is not the solution. The reason for this is that there is no 
credible evidence that the death penalty deters kidnapping - or any other crime 
for that matter.

Scientific studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence that 
the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. A 
series of authoritative studies conducted for the United Nations in regions 
around the world have repeatedly found that the death penalty does not have a 
greater deterrent effect on crime than a term of imprisonment.

In 1970 the military government of General Gowon introduced the death penalty 
for armed robbery in response to the alarming increase of the crime in Nigeria. 
This did not solve the problem, in fact armed robbery is as common today as it 
was then.

Equally, the enactment of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 and the 
Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013 - introducing the death sentence 
for terrorism-related offences has not curbed the problem in Nigeria. According 
to a Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, 
in 2014 Nigeria witnessed the largest increase in terrorist-related deaths ever 
recorded by any country, increasing by over 300 per cent to 7,512 fatalities.

Over the last 3 years a number of states - including Bayelsa, Delta and Edo - 
have made laws prescribing the death penalty for kidnapping; however this has 
not stopped the practice. This year alone has seen high profile kidnappings of 
former President Goodluck Jonathan's uncle in Bayelsa state, His Royal Majesty 
Josiah Umukoro in Delta state and Hassana Garuba, a magistrate in Edo state. 
Whilst the senate has the constitutional mandate to enact laws, making 
kidnapping a capital crime will breach Nigeria's obligations under 
international human rights law.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Nigeria became 
a party in 1993, permits countries that have not abolished the death penalty to 
use the punishment only for the "Most Serious Crimes". Under international 
human rights standards "Most Serious Crimes" are crimes that involve 
intentional killing. Kidnapping does not meet this threshold.

The death penalty is a violation of the right to life as declared in the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and 
degrading punishment. Everyone has the right to life regardless of the nature 
or circumstances of the crime they have committed. This does not mean that 
criminals should not face justice, and punishment, for their crimes. They 
should, the federal and state governments have a range of options they can 
legally use, including prison terms.

The federal government should immediately take steps to address the root causes 
of kidnapping and other crimes by dealing with the high unemployment in the 
country and ensuring that the Nigeria Police Force and other crime fighting 
agencies are well funded, trained and equipped to deal with crime. Good 
investigation into alleged crimes, timely arrests of suspects and effective 
prosecution will go a long way in reducing kidnapping and other crimes.

The world is moving away from the use of the death penalty. In 1977 only 16 
countries had abolished the punishment for all crimes. As of today the number 
stands at 102 countries, a majority of the countries in the world. In 2015, 4 
countries, including Madagascar and the Republic of Congo both in Africa, 
joined the ranks of countries that have consigned this cruel punishment to 
history. Expanding the scope of the death penalty goes against this positive 
global trend and will further entrench Nigeria amongst a minority of countries 
that hold on to the death penalty.

Executing kidnappers is not the solution to ending the scourge of kidnapping in 
Nigeria. Rather it is a knee-jerk reaction by a government that wants to appear 
tough on crime. Instead of being a form of toughness, recourse to the death 
penalty is in reality a symptom of failure in governance. Rather than expanding 
the death penalty, the Senate should abolish it altogether.

(source: Oluwatosin Popoola is Amnesty International's Advocate/Adviser on the 
death penalty----The Vanguard)

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

Looming War'----Zimbabwean women on death row in China caused by Nigerian men' 
- Member of Parliament


A Minister in Zimbabwe has revealed that over 200 of their women on death row 
in Asia for drug trafficking are caused by Nigerian men.

The Chairperson of the Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development 
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee in Zimbabwe, Beatrice Nyamupinga, has accused 
the plight of more than 200 of their women who are on death row for drug 
trafficking in China and other Asian countries on Nigerian men who trick and 
use them as mules to carry the deadly cargoes for them.

The Chronicle, one of the country's biggest newspaper, report that Nyamupinga, 
a ZANU-PF MP for Goromonzi, moved a motion on human trafficking in the National 
Assembly, where she made the revelations, adding that findings have shown that 
most of the women on death row were duped by their Nigerian boyfriends that 
they were going for shopping in preparation for their weddings, while dangerous 
drugs would be placed in their luggage without their knowledge.

She said the Nigerians would have paid lobola (a sort of bride price in 
property in cash or kind, which a prospective husband or head of his family 
undertakes to give to the head of a prospective wife???s family in 
consideration of a customary marriage), for the women who the West Africans 
then use as drug mules.

"We've about 200 Zimbabweans and the majority of the 200 are women, who are on 
the death row in China because they've been used by the so-called Nigerians who 
are coming here, marrying them through an Act that we enacted in this House.

They marry them and then ask them to go to China to buy their wedding gowns. As 
they go to China to buy their wedding gowns, they're given a bag, which has a 
false bottom and in that false bottom, drugs are secretly packed.

They're told; 'when you get to China, my friend is going to receive you and 
will show you the shops where you can buy your gown.' She gets to China and the 
immigration and customs of China know that and these girls are intercepted and 
convicted.

It's with a heavy heart that I rise to move a motion on human trafficking 
following the repatriation of around 53 out of 1,000 women believed to have 
been trafficked to Kuwait.

Not only Kuwait but to other countries like China, other Arab countries and 
including South Africa of all countries.

On this one, let me also add that these girls or the women who are being 
trafficked, we've almost 2,000 or over 1,000 that are roaming around China as 
we speak right now. They were trafficked to China and some of them are now 
desperate and stranded in China.

The government departments should swiftly address the issue of foreigners 
marrying locals as they are the ones contributing to the challenges of human 
trafficking.

Once that's done, the Nigerian will go and marry the next one. I don't know the 
game of changing names and whatever happens. I think also the Minister of Home 
Affairs, through the Registrar General, should also look at this.

So, these women now, you know in China, they'll tell you that once you bring 
drugs, it's death penalty; almost 200 are on death row and of the 200, the 
majority are women."

This is not the first other countries will blame Nigerians for their woes. 
Early this year, a controversial Kenyan blogger, Cyprian Nyakundi, set the tone 
for an online war between his country and Nigeria, after he took to his blog to 
say that Nigerian men use their women as drug mules.

(source: pulse.ng)






INDONESIA:

Greater jakarta: Three Taiwanese drug dealers arrested


Police have apprehended 3 suspected drug dealers from Taiwan at Sun Plaza 
Serpong shopping mall in Tangerang, Banten, and confiscated 60 kilograms of 
crystal methamphetamine.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto said on Monday his officers had 
arrested the suspects, identified only as CHJ, LDC and CMT, at the shopping 
mall and seized 6 kg of meth from the men.

Moechgiyarto said the officers found a further 54 kg of meth at the suspects' 
rented house at Cluster Alicante in Paramount Serpong housing complex, also in 
Tangerang.

Besides the 3 Taiwanese, he said the police had also arrested 7 other suspects 
from among 4 groups from Aceh and Jakarta.

All the suspects were arrested on Sunday and Monday in Greater Jakarta.

"We seized 646 grams of meth from the Aceh group, 4 kg from the 1st Jakarta 
group, 323.14 g from the 2nd Jakarta group and 50 g from the 3rd Jakarta 
group," Moechgiyarto said

He said the suspects would be charged under the Narcotics Law, which carries 
the death penalty.

(source: The Jakakrta Post)






PHILIPPINES:

'In countries where you can't trust the courts 100 %'---Branson says no to 
death penalty, urges new admin to think twice

British billionaire and philanthropist Richard Branson is a known rebel in his 
field, having grown his Virgin Group business empire in oftentimes 
unconventional ways.

But even Branson, who was back in Manila Wednesday after 2 decades to speak 
with the country's entrepreneurs and business elite, draws the line when human 
rights are involved, especially when it comes to the death penalty.

"The death penalty is not a deterrent," Branson told the crowd of about 800 who 
attended the ABS-CBN News Channel's 1st "Asian Innovation and Entrepreneurship 
Forum" held at the Sofitel Manila.

Most of the crowd paid anywhere between P20,000 to P35,000 each to hear the 
flamboyant visionary share his thoughts on business and success. His latest 
project involves making space travel affordable to all.

Branson said implementing the death penalty in jurisdictions where convictions 
are less than certain cannot be tolerated. He said even the United States, 
which has a "relatively good judicial system", got it wrong years ago when 
DNA-based evidence was not yet allowed.

"In countries where you can't 100 % trust the courts, the last thing you should 
have is the death penalty, and it's not a deterrent anyway," Branson said.

"I don't think society can risk executing innocent people and I hope this new 
government will think twice about that," he added, referring to the incoming 
administration of presumptive president elect Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte, who won by a landslide in the May 9, 2016 polls on a platform coming 
out tough against crime and corruption, said he would restore the death penalty 
for heinous crimes.

These crimes include rape as well as kidnapping resulting in the death of the 
victim, reports showed. He further threatened that those convicted can be 
executed by hanging. Duterte's pronouncements drew opposition from the Catholic 
Church, the Commission on Human Rights and even some lawmakers.

Instead of executing criminals, Branson said they should be locked up "for life 
without any chance of coming out on the street again."

The topic on the death penalty came up during the business forum as Branson 
noted the global war on drugs has "been a complete failure".

He said jurisdictions would have less of a chance resolving the drug problem if 
approached in a "repressive" way rather than an approach seeking to reform 
addicts.

Branson's Virgin Group had come out strong against the death penalty in the 
past. It condemned Indonesia's execution of 8 individuals of drug-related 
crimes last year. Only Filipino Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso was granted a 
last-minute reprieve.

Despite calls against it, executions have been on the rise globally, Amnesty 
International said in its latest report.

In 2015, the non-government human-rights organization said those executed - 
mainly by hanging, shooting, lethal injection and beheading - hit 1,634 people, 
the highest it recorded since 1989

(source: inquirer.net)


IRAN----executions

Iran regime mass executes 11 prisoners, including juvenile offender


Iran's fundamentalist regime mass executed on Wednesday 11 prisoners in their 
twenties, including at least one who is believed to have been a minor at the 
time of his alleged offence. Another three prisoners were executed on Tuesday.

The 11 victims, all aged between 22 and 25, were hanged en masse at dawn on May 
25 in the notorious Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of 
Tehran.

Among them was Mehdi Rajai who is believed to have been 16 years old at the 
time of his alleged crime.

The names of 8 of the other prisoners are believed to be Mohsen Agha-Mohammadi, 
Asghar Azizi, Farhad Bakhshayesh, Iman Fatemi-Pour, Javad Khorsandi, Hossein 
Mohammadi, Masoud Raghadi, and Khosrow Robat-Dasti.

On Tuesday, May 24, 3 other prisoners in Karaj's Qezelhesar Prison were hanged. 
1 of them was identified as Ruhollah Roshangar, a married father of 2. All 3 
had been behind bars for the past 4 years.

Also on Wednesday, the mullahs' regime informed 7 Sunni prisoners in Gohardasht 
that their execution sentences have been handed down by Branch 28 of the 
regime's 'Revolutionary Court.'

The 7 prisoners were identified as Davoud Abdollahi, Qasem Abesteh, Khosrow 
Besharat, Ayoub Karimi, Anvar Khezri, Farhad Salimi, and Kamran Shikheh. All 7 
have been behind bars since December 7, 2009.

Iran's fundamentalist regime has sharply increased its rate of executions, 
carrying out at least 21 hangings in a 48-hour period last week.

Ms. Farideh Karimi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran 
(NCRI) and a human rights activist, on Wednesday called for an urgent response 
by the United Nations and foreign governments to the appalling state of human 
rights in Iran.

"The rising number of mass executions in Iran in recent weeks clearly shows 
that the regime has in no way decided to change its disgraceful human rights 
record. Any claim of moderation under Hassan Rouhani is simply a myth. It is 
high time for the United Nations and human rights organizations to speak out 
against the brutal executions by the mullahs' regime and send Iran's human 
rights dossier before the UN Security Council," she said.

The latest hangings bring to at least 112 the number of people executed in Iran 
since April 10. 3 of those executed were women and 2 are believed to have been 
juvenile offenders.

Iran's fundamentalist regime earlier this month amputated the fingers of a man 
in his thirties in Mashhad, the latest in a line of draconian punishments 
handed down and carried out in recent weeks.

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)






IRAQ:

Iraq justice ministry announces execution of 22 convicts----Amnesty 
International has said that recent trials resulting in death sentences have 
been 'grossly unfair'


Iraq has executed 22 people over the past month who were convicted of terrorism 
and other crimes, the justice minister announced on Monday.

The ministry "carried out death sentences against 22 convicts condemned for 
crimes and terrorist acts," Justice Minister Haidar al-Zamili said in a 
statement.

It also quoted Zamili as saying that with the start of the Iraqi operation to 
retake the city of Fallujah from the Islamic State (IS) group, "we confirm ... 
that the ministry is continuing to carry out just punishment against 
terrorists."

Rights group Amnesty International said that Baghdad executed at least 26 
people in 2015.

Iraq sentenced nearly 100 people to death within the first 2 months of 2016, 
the group said in a February report.

"The vast majority of the trials have been grossly unfair, with many of the 
defendants claiming to have been tortured into 'confessing' the crimes," James 
Lynch, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa deputy director said.

Amnesty called on the Iraqi leadership to stop ratifying executions and begin a 
process to abolish the death penalty.

Iraq has faced widespread criticism from diplomats, analysts and human rights 
groups who say that due to a flawed justice system, those being executed are 
not necessarily guilty of the crimes for which they were sentenced to die.

But the country has repeatedly defied such criticism and continues carrying out 
executions.

(source: Middle East Eye)






GAZA:

Gaza calls for death penalty


Over the last 3 years, murders in cases of theft, robbery and physical attack 
in the Gaza Strip have become common. Money changer Ameen Sharab from Khan 
Yunis was stabbed to death in a robbery attack on May 30, 2013. Mohammed Mahdi 
and his nephew Anas Tammous from Deir al-Balah refugee camp were killed against 
the backdrop of a family dispute on June 24, 2013. Aliyan al-Talbani from Deir 
al-Balah city was killed in an armed robbery on July 31, 2013. Money changer 
Fadel al-Astal from Khan Yunis was killed in a fight over bank checks in May 
2014. Hammad Dughmosh from Gaza City was killed against the backdrop of a 
dispute with Abed Rabbo Abu Madin on April 25, 2016; and most recently, on May 
13, Thouraya al-Badri from Gaza City was killed in an armed robbery.

There has been a significant increase in the crime rate in Gaza over the past 
few years. According to statistics of the public prosecutor's office, 
approximately 40 people were murdered in 2013, 168 in 2014 and 28 in 2015. Most 
murders were committed for purely criminal reasons or due to disputes resulting 
from bad economic conditions and the spread of poverty and unemployment.

Following search and investigation operations carried out by the investigations 
unit of the police in Gaza, in general criminals were caught just a few hours 
after the crime. The perpetrators of these crimes have been given the death 
penalty, and they are awaiting execution, pending a decision from President 
Mahmoud Abbas.

The president of the Supreme Judicial Council in Gaza, Counsellor Abdel Raouf 
al-Halabi, told Al-Monitor, "The death penalty in Palestine was stipulated by 
law and is only issued against those who deserve it. It is linked to 
aggravating factors of willful, deliberate and premeditated murder. The courts 
issued death penalties in 13 cases that met the relevant legal conditions and 
are awaiting implementation by the public prosecutor."

In a press conference at the Ministry of Information in Gaza City on May 22, 
attended by Al-Monitor, Gaza public prosecutor Ismail Jaber said, "The public 
prosecutor communicates with the [Palestinian] Legislative Council [PLC] to 
decide on the implementation of death penalties in the Gaza Strip aimed to 
reduce and deter crime."

He said, "We sent a letter to Salim al-Sakka, the former justice minister in 
the unity government, to ask President Mahmoud Abbas to endorse the death 
penalty decisions in accordance with Article 109 of the Palestinian Basic Law 
and Article 409 of the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 3 of 2001. But we have 
not received a response in this regard despite the prior agreement on the 
endorsement of death penalties in Gaza."

Jaber said that the public prosecution is currently examining the death 
penalties to be carried out within the coming days, even if they are not 
endorsed by the president, although this violates the Palestinian Basic Law.

On May 16, village officials and dignitaries of families in Gaza submitted to 
Ismail Haniyeh, the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, a petition urging 
him to rule with an iron fist by punishing the criminals who violate the law 
and kill people, and to implement death penalties.

Bassam al-Badri, whose mother Thouraya was murdered on May 13, told Al-Monitor, 
"The only punishment that would satisfy me is to see the killer of my mother 
hanged publicly in the presence of his parents, so that this deters anyone who 
dares to think about killing people and offending the sanctity of private 
homes."

Muhammad al-Talbani from Gaza, the father of Aliyan, called for accelerating 
the implementation of death penalties against the killers of his son, so as to 
prevent the recurrence of such crimes and prevent people from taking the law 
into their own hands.

Article 415 of the 2001 Palestinian Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that 
executions of civilians must be done by hanging and of soldiers by shooting to 
death.

The head of the legal committee at the PLC, Muhammad Faraj al-Ghoul, told 
Al-Monitor, "The PLC will seek to accelerate the implementation of the death 
penalties against murderers in Gaza and will not allow them to go unpunished."

He added, "The implementation of the death penalties is stipulated in the 
Palestinian Basic Law, and the fact that these judgments are not endorsed by 
the president is a conspiracy aimed to bring chaos to the Gaza Strip."

It seems that Abbas is refusing to approve execution sentences issued in Gaza 
because he considers them illegal and issued by courts that are not affiliated 
with the Palestinian Judicial Council in Ramallah.

Al-Monitor attended the sit-in staged by the families of the victims, citizens, 
human rights organizations, clerics, reform committees and tribesmen in front 
of Rashad Shawa Cultural Center in Gaza City on May 22. Head of the reform 
committees Maher al-Halabi spoke on their organizations' behalf, demanding to 
pressure Hamas to promptly implement the death penalties against the murderers 
so as to prevent the aggrieved citizens from taking the law into their own 
hands.

Journalist Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Al-Ray media agency in Gaza, wrote 
on his Facebook page, "Do you support the death sentence for those convicted of 
murder, drug trafficking and other crimes?" Currently, 143 Facebook users say 
they do.

For his part, Bahjat al-Helo, awareness and training coordinator at the 
Independent Commission for Human Rights, told Al-Monitor, "Human rights 
organizations reject the execution of the death penalties. Palestine is a party 
to the charters on human rights, mainly the Universal Declaration on Human 
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which call 
for the abolition of the death penalty."

Helo indicated that safeguards must be strictly abided by when implementing the 
death penalty - which is stipulated in the Palestinian law - in accordance with 
the provisions of the law. He said, "According to the law, the death penalty is 
final and irreversible and gives the accused the right to defend himself or 
appoint a defense lawyer and to appeal in court; and therefore the most 
important safeguard is that the execution of these penalties must be endorsed 
by the Palestinian president, which is not the case in the death penalties 
issued in Gaza due to the separation between the government and the judiciary."

The official spokesman for the Palestinian government in Ramallah, Bassem 
Youssef Mahmoud, told Al-Monitor that the execution of the death penalties 
requires a judicial review of the judgment, which is automatically appealed 
without the need for any appeal to be lodged by the defendants so that it 
becomes final and cannot be appealed as per Article 408 of the Criminal 
Procedures, and the president???s endorsement.

He said, "It is impossible to meet the legal conditions and safeguards for the 
issuance and execution of the death penalty judgments in the Gaza Strip for 
reasons related to the ongoing internal division. The courts in Gaza are not 
subordinated to the Palestinian Supreme Judicial Council, the general 
prosecutor's office in Gaza is not subordinated to the Palestinian public 
prosecution and police stations, and the correctional facilities in Gaza are 
not subordinated to the official police. This is because of the division and 
because Hamas formed a new judicial council and public prosecution that the 
Ramallah government does not recognize."

(source: al-monitor.com)






ISRAEL:

Hamas seeks to re-introduce death penalty for murder----Will 'street justice' 
become the norm in the Gaza Strip?


Amid a surge in violent crime, leaders from the Hamas movement, which controls 
the Gaza Strip, have begun advocating implementation of the death penalty for 
convicted murderers, even though carrying out capital punishment without the 
authorization of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would be 
illegal.

At a sermon during prayers at the al-Mughrabi mosque in Gaza City last Friday, 
Khalil al-Haya, a member of the movement's political bureau, said Hamas would 
take action in response to murder and, in remarks quoted by the Ma???an News 
Agency, called for the implementation of 13 death sentences that were handed 
down by courts in recent years.

In separate remarks, Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri described the stipulation 
in the Basic Law of the Palestinian Authority that the president must endorse 
any death sentence before it is carried out as a ''formality.'' He urged a 
return to capital punishment, something Abbas has repeatedly shunned in recent 
years. Abbas heads the Fatah movement, Hamas's rival from whom the Islamic 
movement seized power in the Strip in 2007.

The calls come against the backdrop of 2 deadly crimes that have shaken the 
crowded coastal enclave in recent weeks and what analysts say is an overall 
rise in crime in the Strip that they attribute to worsening poverty as an 
Israeli blockade continues with no end in sight.

2 weeks ago, a 74 year old woman, Soraya al-Badri, was murdered in her 
apartment in Gaza City by a thief who broke in. Gaza police spokesman Ayman 
Batniji told The Media Line ''The killer is in the hands of the police and has 
admitted to his crime.'' The murder, widely publicized in the media, touched 
off a strong reaction in the Strip because of the victim's age and the fact 
that she was the mother of Bassam al-Badri, a well-known figure in the Strip 
who is the physician in charge of arranging treatment of Gaza medical patients 
at hospitals in Israel and the West Bank.

Another deadly crime, this time in the central part of the Gaza Strip, which 
took place last month, is perhaps even more serious from Hamas's point of view 
because it threatens to touch off warfare between two large Gaza clans, the Abu 
Midein family and the Doghmush family, according to analysts.

According to Batniji, the police spokesman, the alleged killer, whom he 
identified as Silman Abu Midein ''opened fire with a Kalashnikov'' on victim 
Hamed Doghmush, killing him. Batniji said the motive was a land dispute.

Seeking a kind of blood vengeance, the Doghmush family is demanding that Hamas 
authorities execute Silman Abu Midein, a stance the authorities have reason to 
take seriously, according to Mkhaimar Abusada, who teaches political science at 
al-Azhar University in Gaza City.

''Palestinian society in general and Gaza in particular is very tribal and if 
someone commits a crime against someone from another family it becomes a tribal 
issue, a tribal war so that if Hamas doesn't implement the death penalty on 
those who commit murder, Gaza might erupt into tribal violence.'' Abusada said. 
''The victim's family feels its honor has been injured and that to restore the 
honor the criminal must be executed. If not, victims' families will try to take 
the law into their own hands, something that happened during the Second 
Intifada [from 2000 to 2005]. Hamas is afraid of this.''

In an apparent allusion to the prospect of clan violence, al-Haya said during 
his mosque sermon that Hamas would not allow murder to distort the fabric of 
society in Gaza. Doing so, he said, would amount to playing into the hands of 
Israel which, he charged, wants to see the Strip in turmoil. ''The occupation 
is always busy in breaking the harmony of our social system,'' he said. Al-Haya 
called on decision-makers ''not to remain silent for a long time about 
implementing sentences that Abbas doesn't approve because he fears the reaction 
of the European Union.''

According to Ma'an, al-Masri, the Hamas legislator, said that carrying out the 
sentences would be the safest choice to safeguard the security of Gazan 
society.

Hamas has not implemented any death sentences for murder in Gaza since 2014, 
when it reached agreement on a national consensus government with Fatah and it 
stopped having a separate cabinet and prime minister for the coastal enclave. 
During the 50-day Gaza war that year, Hamas summarily executed 23 people, 
describing many of the killings as retribution for alleged collaboration with 
Israel. According to Amnesty International, the vast majority of those killed 
were either still on trial, were in the middle of serving prison sentences, or 
were awaiting trials or appeals. Al-Haya said that in the thirteen cases of 
death sentences waiting to be implemented, all the legal procedures had been 
completed.

But the Independent Commission for Human Rights, the Ramallah-based human 
rights monitoring organization for the Palestinian Authority, is voicing deep 
concern over Hamas talk of a return to capital punishment. ''According to 
Palestinian Basic Law, no death sentences can be implemented without the 
approval of the president so if they go ahead with this, then it is 
extrajudicial killing from our point of view,'' Ammar Dweik, ICHR's 
director-general told The Media Line. Dweik said that some of those who 
received death sentences were tried before military courts despite being 
civilians. ''These military courts do not provide the minimum standards for 
fair trial,'' he said.

Samir Zakout, assistant director of al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza 
City, said his organization was in contact with leaders in the Strip urging 
them not to implement the death sentences. He noted that despite the 
expressions of support by politicians such as al-Haya, no official decision has 
been taken. ''We are against it. There's no logic in violating the right to 
life and when you implement the death penalty it doesn't stop the crime,'' he 
said. ''The street wants the death penalty, people who had relatives killed 
want it. But we are against this kind of street justice.''

(source: The Jewish Journal)