[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 27




MALAYSIA:

Penang police seize drugs worth RM30,000 in raid---ACP Mior Faridalatrash Wahid 
said the police have detained 2 friends aged 18 and 16 suspected of being drug 
dealers and seized drugs worth about RM30,000 during a press conference at the 
northeast district police, headquarters on May 27, 2016.


The northeast district police detained 2 friends suspected of being drug 
dealers and seized drugs worth about RM30,000 at Pepper Estate, Jalan Tanjong 
Tokong here early today.

Its chief ACP Mior Faridalatrash Wahid said both suspects aged 18 and 16 were 
detained at their rented house at about 12.30pm.

"During the arrests police seized about 701g of heroin and 51g of Syabu from 
the suspects.

"Police also seized a gold necklace and a gold ring from them," he told 
reporters during a press conference today.

Mior said police have also identified the mastermind of the drug dealing 
syndicate but have yet to make an arrest.

He said the seized drugs were for the local market.

Mior said both the suspects would be remanded for 7 days starting tomorrow to 
assist in investigations under Section 39B (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 
1952 which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

(source: The Sun Daily)






GAZA:

Palestinian rights groups try to stop Gaza executions


Palestinian and international human rights defenders are urging Hamas 
authorities not to proceed with planned executions in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this month, Ismail Jaber, the attorney general in the coastal 
territory, announced that Gaza would soon witness the public executions of 13 
persons convicted of murder, with the goal of deterring such crimes.

Ismail Haniyeh, the most senior Hamas leader in Gaza, also announced that the 
executions would go ahead. On Wednesday, Gaza-based members of the 
Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council 
also approved the plan.

Human rights defenders are mobilizing to stop the executions.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) warned on Thursday 
that the executions would be illegal under the Palestinian Basic Law, which 
requires that all death sentences be ratified by the Palestinian Authority 
president.

The group said that the executions would amount to extrajudicial killings.

PCHR said it had written to Haniyeh setting out its legal arguments against the 
executions. The group stated that leaders who order them could face prosecution 
in the International Criminal Court in which Palestine is now a member.

"Street justice"

Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, also based in Gaza, said it too was in 
contact with Hamas leaders to try to prevent the killings.

"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," Al-Mezan's 
assistant director Samir Zakout said. "The street wants the death penalty, 
people who had relatives killed want it. But we are against this kind of street 
justice."

Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 
said his office was "deeply concerned" about the planned executions.

"We urge the authorities in Gaza to uphold their obligations to respect the 
rights to life and to a fair trial - which are guaranteed under the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the State of 
Palestine is a party - and not carry out these executions," Colville said.

"We also urge the Palestinian president to establish a moratorium on executions 
in line with the strong international trend towards ending the use of the death 
penalty,: Colville added.

Split authority

The West Bank-based PA leader Mahmoud Abbas has not ratified any death 
sentences in a decade.

Hamas has however continued the use of the death penalty in Gaza.

The surprise victor in legislative elections in 2006, Hamas took control of the 
internal governance of Gaza in 2007 after fierce battles with Abbas' rival 
Fatah party, which refused to hand over power.

This has meant in practice that most areas of governance, including the 
judicial system, have been split.

As of January, according to PCHR, a total of 172 death sentences had been 
issued since the PA was established in 1994, of which 30 were in the West Bank 
and 142 in Gaza.

84 death sentences were issued since Hamas took over in Gaza in 2007.

Up to 2010, according to PCHR, approximately 1/2 the death sentences were for 
homicides and approximately 1/2 for collaboration with Israel.

No deterrent

The planned executions come in apparent response to several high-profile 
murders in Gaza and an increase in crime that is seen as linked to the dire 
economic situation in the territory as a result of the tight siege Israel has 
imposed since Hamas assumed power.

PCHR, which has long campaigned against the death penalty, challenged the 
claims of Hamas leaders that public killings would do anything to improve 
security.

PCHR noted that crime rates in Gaza, where the death penalty has been applied 
in recent years, are far higher than in the West Bank, where it has not been 
implemented since 2001.

"In addition, the experiences of other countries, which abolished the death 
penalty, reveal that no change was noticed regarding the serious crime rate," 
PCHR added. "Even in countries applying thousands of death sentences annually, 
serious crime rates have not decreased."

"According to scientific research, the crime rate is mainly based on social, 
economic and cultural circumstances and an efficient security system not on 
lenient or severe punishments," PCHR stated.

The group urged Hamas leaders to take another factor into account: the 
potential gift to Israeli propaganda of public executions.

"Implementing the death sentences in this manner might contribute to displaying 
a negative image about the Gaza Strip that Israel attempts to market to justify 
their crimes against Palestinian civilians," PCHR said.

While Israel and its supporters have certainly tried to exploit executions by 
Palestinians to portray them as barbaric, Israeli leaders are enthusiastic 
about executing Palestinians, whether judicially or extrajudicially, just as 
long as it is done by Israelis.

(source: electronicintifada.net)