[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 26


SUDAN:

Sudan pastor faces death penalty


A Christian human rights group is concerned that a Sudanese pastor could soon 
be facing the death penalty.

In December of last year, the African country of Sudan began a crackdown of 
church leaders and pastors which included several arrests. While 1 pastor was 
recently released, another pastor, Hassan Abduraheem Taour, remains jailed.

Troy Augustine, regional manager for Africa for International Christian 
Concern, says the pastor has been transferred to the attorney general's office.

"Which means that charges should be coming soon," Augustine explains. "But the 
charges that are likely to come down on Mr. Taour, 3 of which carry the 
possibility of the death penalty."

Augustine says they are working on the pastor's behalf.

"We're working on different advocacy efforts to bring this issue to the fore 
and say that this pastor's incarceration is unjust, and for him to face charges 
that seem to be trumped up is unjust," he says.

Augustine says they do have some hope though because in past similar 
situations, Sudan has responded positively to international pressure.

(source: onenewsnow.com)






INDONESIA:

Drug lord Freddy tries to avoid death


Amid the government's preparations for the next round of executions, convicted 
drug kingpin Freddy Budiman has filed a case review to overturn his death 
sentence.

On Wednesday, he and his team of lawyers attended a hearing for the case review 
at the Cilacap District Court in Central Java, amid reports he is one of the 
death-row convicts soon to be executed on Nusakambangan Island.

His lawyer Untung Sunaryo told the panel of judges, presided over by Catur 
Prasetyo, that his client should not have been sentenced to death because none 
of Freddy's accomplices, who were involved in the smuggling of 1.4 million 
ecstasy pills from China in 2011, was given the death penalty.

"Why was Freddy Budiman then sentenced to death while the others were not? This 
is the substance of the objection we've raised in this case review hearing. We 
demand our client not be put to death," said Untung at Cilacap District Court.

Freddy's case review hearing was tightly secured by around 150 police personnel 
from the Cilacap Regency Police. Police escorted Freddy from the ferry crossing 
from Nusakambangan Island to the Cilacap District Court, a distance of around 4 
kilometers. Freddy wore a long white robe with black cap.

"We hope the Supreme Court will hear our case for a review as far as possible 
because the judges stated our client's offense was the same as his accomplices 
during a previous appeal hearing," said Untung.

The central government has remained silent on the upcoming executions despite 
apparent preparations on the island, in a move many see as trying to avoid 
animosity among the international community.

Central Java Police revealed that 10 foreign nationals and five Indonesians 
were already on the list, but the Attorney General???s Office ( AGO ) has 
denied this, with Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo saying that his office had 
yet to decide when and who would be included in the next batch of executions.

Freddy has avoided execution at least twice as his lawyer team had kept 
postponing a plan to file for a case review.

Prasetyo said he expected Freddy would be included in the next round of 
executions, but he was still waiting for the convict to decide on whether to 
exercise his legal right to challenge the death sentence.

The hearing at Cilacap court was heard by 3 local judges--Catur and Vilia Sari 
and Cokia Ana Pontia, while the prosecutors were from the West Jakarta 
Prosecutor's Office.

The case review appeal was read by Freddy's legal advisors. The hearing 
commenced at around 10:30 a.m. local time and ended at 12 p.m..

Freddy's case review should have been heard in early May at the West Jakarta 
District Court. However, as Freddy had been transferred to Nusakambangan, his 
legal team requested the case review hearing be held in Cilacap and this was 
granted.

"As he's been transferred to the Pasir Putih prison, Freddy's legal team 
proposed the hearing be moved and it was finally approved to be held at the 
Cilacap District Court," West Jakarta prosecutor Reda Manthovani told 
journalists.

He said that although the hearing was at the Cilacap District Court, 
prosecutors convened the session from the West Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.

Freddy was arrested on April 28, 2011, by the Jakarta Police's narcotics 
division for smuggling 1.4 million ecstasy pills from China. Freddy was 
sentenced to death by the West Jakarta District Court five months after his 
arrest.

>From November 2012 until July 2013, he was confined at the Cipinang Narcotics 
Prison in East Jakarta. Although he was sentenced to death, Freddy did not give 
up drug dealing, as he carried on his activities from within his prison cell, 
he was therefore transferred to Batu Prison on Nusakambangan in July 2013. 
However, he allegedly still deals drugs in Nusakambangan.

(source: The Jakarta Post)






IRAN----executions

Collective hanging of 11 young men in Gohardasht Prison


The Iranian regime collectively hanged 11 young prisoners in Gohardasht (Rajai 
Shahr) Prison on May 25. 1 of those executed was only 16 at the time of his 
alleged crime. A day earlier, 5 prisoners were executed in Ghezel Hessar Prison 
of Karaj and Adelabad Prison of Shiraz. Another prisoner was also hanged in 
public in the city of Ramsar after spending 8 years in prison.

The Iranian Resistance calls on the UN Security Council, the European Union, 
the United States, as well as all international human rights organizations, 
particularly the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on 
the situation of human rights in Iran, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial 
and arbitrary executions, and unions and assemblies that defend the youths to 
condemn the antihuman clerical regime for these criminal executions. These 
crimes that take place concurrent with Western officials' relations with the 
Iranian regime demonstrate that these relations have emboldened the religious 
fascism ruling Iran in its brazen, brutal and systematic violation of human 
rights. Trade with the murderers of the Iranian people and dubbing them as 
'moderates' has no meaning but collaboration in the human rights tragedy in 
Iran. This policy must cease and instead the leaders of the Iranian regime 
should be brought to justice in international tribunals.

(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)






UGANDA:

7 convicted over al-Shabab's deadly World Cup bombings


7 men have been convicted of carrying out twin bombings which killed 76 people 
who were watching the 2010 World Cup final in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

The men, who were also convicted of multiple counts of murder and attempted 
murder, could face the death penalty in sentencing on Friday.

Another suspect was convicted of aiding and abetting terrorism, while 5 others 
were acquitted.

In convicting the seven men, High Court Judge Alphonse Owiny Dollo said there 
was proof that the July 2010 bombings were planned in Somalia and that 
explosives used in the attack were ferried through Kenya.

The 13 suspects - including Ugandans, Kenyans and Tanzanians - were charged 
under Uganda's anti-terror law. FBI agents testified during the trial in 
Kampala.

1 of the convicts, a Ugandan named Issa Luyima, was identified as the 
mastermind of the attacks, the judge said in his decision. The suspects 
appeared calm throughout the session that lasted more than 5 hours.

The 2010 attacks targeted a rugby club and an Ethiopian-themed restaurant where 
customers were watching the World Cup final on giant screens.

A 3rd bomb planted elsewhere in Kampala failed to detonate.

The attacks were claimed by the Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which 
opposes Ugandan military involvement in Somalia.

The group has since carried out even deadlier attacks in neighboring Kenya, 
which in 2011 deployed peacekeepers to Somalia.

Al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida, has been fighting to impose a strict 
version of Islam in Somalia, but the group's campaign of violence has been 
thwarted by the African peacekeepers deployed in support of Somalia's weak, 
Western-backed government.

(source: breakingnews.ie)