[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 24




INDIA:

Sent to the gallows


Some honourable members of the Rajya Sabha had raised a proposal to do away 
with capital punishment. D. Raja, a CPI leader, even moved a resolution for the 
abolition of such punishment in India, because in his opinion it has its own 
basis of formulating laws and it should respect the prevailing sentiment of the 
people. According to him, it is not a question of technicality or legality but 
a crucial matter of philosophy and morality. So in his view the time has come 
to abolish capital punishment from the country.

However, the resolution was rejected by the House by a voice-vote. But some 
other members advised the Government to consider the issue with necessary care 
and wisdom. According to them, it should amend the rules relating to death 
sentence and until then such penalty needs to be stopped. Moreover, some laws 
which provide for such life-penalty should be changed, because many crimes are 
committed due to predicament and deprivation. This is why it has been suggested 
that the issue should be referred to the Law Commission for its meticulous 
consideration.

But Kiren Rejiju, the Minister of State for Home, emphatically informed the 
House that the government is not in favour of abolishing the death-sentence in 
the prevailing circumstances. It means that it would remain in force, because 
in the present condition we can do away with it at the cost of our own peril.

It is absolutely true that many countries have abolished such punishment for 
some obvious reasons. They felt that some people may commit heinous crimes like 
murder but the state cannot kill them by law. It has the serene duty to save 
the life of every citizen and the time and date of one's death is to be decided 
by Providence alone. Moreover, they believe that death-penalty of a person can 
by no means prevent crime in society because out of a distrust on the legal 
system, some people feel that they should take the law in their own hands and 
some offenders fondly think that they might go away with impunity.

But Rijiju countered all arguments of the dissidents by some cogent logic. 
First, the Constitution has expressly provided various safeguards against the 
miscarriage of justice regarding death-penalty. We have a 3 or4-tier legal 
system and, more often than not, a case comes up to the higher court on appeal. 
If capital punishment is awarded by a lower court by judicial mistake, it can 
be corrected by the appeal-court. Moreover, even if such case is not moved to 
the higher court, the sentence pronounced by the Judge is to be approved by the 
High Court which can correct the error.

Thirdly, our Supreme Court has made it crystal clear that this judicial power 
must be exercised in 'exceptional circumstances' and as 'an unavoidable 
alternative'. In other words, the apex court clearly ruled that such sentence 
can be pronounced only in the 'rarest' case.

Above all, the accused can, under Art. 72 (i), appeal to the President to grant 
pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend or 
commute the sentence. Almost similarly, he can under Art. 161, also send an 
appeal to the Governor to exercise his mercy power. In such case, the President 
can, if he deems fit, save the life of the offender and the Governor can, in 
some cases, use his clemency-power.

Such power has been conferred upon the executive for a valid reason. The courts 
apply the law and they cannot go beyond it. But the President and the Governor 
can consider several non-judicial factors such as the offender???s 
socio-economic condition, motive, health, age, sex, psychological stage, 
background of the crime and circumstantial sequence. So there is sufficient 
scope for commutation of the death-penalty.

While a pardon absolves the offender from punishment, commutation substitutes 
one form of punishment to another of a light character. Remission reduces the 
amount of sentence without changing its nature. Respite means a lesser 
punishment due to some reason like pregnancy and reprieve implies a stay of the 
execution of the sentence.

In this matter, the Constitution has granted almost concurrent power to the 
President and the Governor. So if one of them refuses to respond, the 
petitioner can approach the other. However, V.D. Mahajan points out the 
President alone should be vested with such clemency-power, because it is 
normally a prerogative of the Head of the State which cannot be claimed by 
others. Of course, this gubernatorial power is not so wide as that of the 
President, because he can exercise it in case the punishment is inflicted for 
violating a law relating to the executive power of the state.

But, it has practically widened the range of executive mercy to the accused by 
keeping 2 alternatives. Thus, the President's power does not affect the similar 
power of the Governor. Of course, there seems to be some inconsistency between 
Art. 161 and Art. 72(1) (c), because both the President and the Governor have 
been granted clemency-power. But, according to G.S. Pandey, the 2 can surely be 
reconciled. In cases where death-sentence has been awarded, the President alone 
can leniently deal with it.

Thus, there should be little fear for judicial 'murder'. Before pronouncing the 
death-sentence, the courts meticulously consider all sides of the case and, 
very rarely, do they issue an order to hang the offender. Moreover, such 
verdict can be modified by the executive Head of the State on humanitarian 
grounds.

As a stark reality, every civilized society requires some sort of penalty for 
individual acts of offence. A cold-blooded murder or a gang-rape cannot go with 
impunity and if one deliberately destroys another's life, he cannot have the 
right to live. Moreover, the capital punishment definitely has a deterrent 
effect - the fear of death often prevents people from committing a heinous 
crime.

However, it does not in any way imply that the legal system should be based 
upon the cruel principle of 'eye for an eye' or 'tooth for a tooth.' It simply 
means that society must be legally cleansed. When an enemy agent sells a secret 
document to his master for sabotage or the terrorist takes away innocent lives, 
no legal system can show him any mercy. Even our Law Commission has suggested 
that in the case of terrorism and waging war, death-sentence shall be the 
befitting penalty. In other words, some kind of fear is really needed in order 
to stem the rot in the polity.

The aim of the law is to protect people from the terror and tyranny of the 
miscreants. So, when the crime is diabolical, the law should be sufficiently 
severe in order to punish the offender and prevent its recurrence by other. 
This is why the death-penalty should remain in force until peace and 
tranquility are within our reach. We can, at best, codify some crimes which, in 
effect, would entail death-penalty.

(source: Nirmalendu Bikash Rakshit; The writer is a Griffith Scholar, Author 
and Former Reader, New Alipore College----The Statesman)






IRAN----executions

4 People Publicly Hanged In Southern Iran


4 men were publicly hanged in the Persian Gulf Island of Qeshm, on Wednesday 
November 23, according to the local "qeshmeazad" news website. The 4 prisoners 
were convicted of raping a girl in 2014 said the report.

The pictures published on this website show hundreds of people watching the 
public hanging in a beach area. None of the prisoners were identified by name.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

Hassan Rouhani: Iran's Executioner


There has been an atrocious rise in the number of executions in Iran under the 
mullahs??? president, Hassan Rouhani, according to dissident writer Heshmat 
Alavi writing in the American Thinker on November 23.

The following is the text of the op-ed:

November 23, 2016

Hassan Rouhani: Iran's Executioner

By Heshmat Alavi

As we begin to wind down to the end of Hassan Rouhani's term as president of 
the regime in Iran, it is time to take a look back at the past four years. We 
all remember how the West joyfully welcomed his election -- read selection -- 
as a change of gear in Iran aimed at moderation. However, what the world 
witnessed ever since has been anything but. An atrocious rise in executions, 
continued public punishments and an escalating trend of oppression has been 
Rouhani's report card during his tenure. With a new administration coming into 
town, Washington must make it crystal clear to Tehran that human rights 
violations will no longer be tolerated.

Unprecedented executions

Despite pledging to hold the "key" to Iran's problems, Rouhani has failed to 
provide even an iota of the freedoms the Iranian people crave and deserve. His 
record has revealed an unrelenting loyalty to the regime establishment in 
regards to social oppression and continued crackdowns. Iran sent 18 to the 
gallows last week alone, according to official reports.

As the international community continued its policy of appeasement, Rouhani and 
the entire regime used this opportunity to launch an execution rampage. Over 
2,500 people have been sent to the gallows ever since Rouhani came to power, 
shattering all records held by this regime itself in over 2 decades.

In 2015 alone, Iran was executing an individual every eight hours, as reported 
by Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights 
in Iran.

Vast social crackdown

Rouhani's commitment to regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the ruling elite 
has rendered a wide-ranging, escalating crackdown. In addition to the 
executions mentioned above, state-sponsored social oppression has resulted in 
horrific scenes of public hangings, floggings, and even limb amputations.

The prisons are overwhelmed with inmates, leading to intolerable and inhumane 
conditions. Political prisoners, specifically, are subject to horrendous 
treatment by the authorities. Renowned human rights organization Amnesty 
International has recently issued an Urgent Action call expressing major 
concerns over the case of Maryam Akbari Monfared, a Green Movement organizer 
still in prison 2 years after her family put up her bail.

And this is merely a single example of the dreadful results of Rouhani's 
domestic policies. The regime, with the West unfortunately falling in line, had 
claimed that the Iranian nation welcomed Rouhani's presidency with open arms. 
While such assertions were politically motivated from the very beginning, the 
ordinary Iranian has been the first to pay the price of such a failed 
engagement policy.

A call for justice

The Iranian population is extremely fond of the Internet and millions are 
actively using social media. Despite its vast censorship efforts, the regime 
has failed to completely firewall the entire globe from the clever and highly 
motivated Iranian netizen. Various clips, images, and stories from inside Iran 
are leaking to the outside world as we speak, revealing ever more the regime's 
atrocities.

One significant case involves the exposure of a controversial sound file 
shedding light on a private meeting between the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali 
Montazeri and the main officials involved in the horrendous 1988 summer 
massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners across Iran. Montazeri was the 
successor to Iranian regime founder, mullah Ruhollah Khomeini, set aside by 
Khomeini himself considering his opposing perspectives.

This disclosure sent shockwaves amongst the Iranian people from all walks of 
life, and throughout the globe. As a result a global movement is demanding 
accountability from those responsible for the horrific massacre of thousands of 
innocent political prisoners. The victims of this carnage included members and 
supporters of the main Iranian opposition entity, People's Mojahedin 
Organization of Iran, and other dissident groups and minorities. The PMOI, more 
commonly known as the MEK in the West, has also been the focus of a lobbying 
campaign launched by Iran. Tehran's mullahs are terrified of MEK supporters 
such as former New York City mayor and ambassador John Bolton being considered 
for senior cabinet posts in a Donald Trump White House.

Conclusion

The entire regime in Iran, including the so-called "hardliners" and 
"moderates," are shifting gear for the upcoming presidential elections in June 
2017. Members of the Rouhani faction have described U.S. President Barack 
Obama's tenure as a "golden era." This signals how Tehran took full advantage 
of Obama's rapprochement as a green light to escalate executions and further 
implement social crackdown.

With a new administration set to take the reins in Washington, the opportunity 
has arrived for America to raise the issue of Iran's human rights violations. 
Such outrageous crimes have no place in the 21st century, and all eyes are on 
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. Supporting the call to hold all senior 
Iranian regime officials involved in the 1988 massacre accountable for their 
crimes is a good start.

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

Execution of 4 young men in public in Qeshm


Iranian Regime's Member of Parliament: 5,000 young people of 20 to 30 years old 
in Iran's prisons are on death row

The religious fascism ruling Iran, in order to intensify the atmosphere of 
intimidation and to prevent popular uprising, has resorted to public hangings, 
and everyday shows horrendous scenes of hanging bodies from the cranes in 
public.

On Wednesday November 23, the mullahs' henchmen publicly hanged 4 young people 
collectively in the Qeshm Island in Hormozgan province.

Hassan Norouzi, a member of the regime's Parliament in a shocking confession 
said: "5,000 people aged 20 to 30 years old are on death row. Most of them are 
1st-time drug offenders" (Mehr state run news agency - November 23).

Youssefian, another member of parliament said: "We have executed so many, we 
execute every day. ... Rajaeeshahr 30, another place 20, another place 10, what 
was the result? In 1990 when I was the prosecutor in Mazandaran province, a 
report came from the office of education that when you execute 1 person, 20 to 
30 other students don't come to school ... a lady said in the court ... in Iran 
a whole family is executed, it is not the individual who gets executed." 
(Farhag state-run radio November 23).

Any relationship with this medieval regime, which maintains power only through 
torture and execution, must be contingent upon a halt to executions. Ignoring 
the appalling record of human rights violations by the clerical regime under 
any pretext further emboldens Iran's ruling criminals.

(source for both: NCR-Iran)






BELARUS:

Belarus' efforts to uphold democratic values are "insufficient", MEPs say


MEPs say that Belarus' progress in upholding democratic values is 
"insufficient" in a resolution voted on Thursday. They note that Belarus is 
taking new political prisoners, harassing the opposition, using capital 
punishment, and failing to address safety concerns about its first nuclear 
power plant, being built in Ostrovets.

MEPs stress that "since 1994 no free and fair elections have been conducted in 
Belarus" and that its attempts to make progress during 2015 presidential and 
2016 parliamentary elections were insufficient. Key sectors of the Belarusian 
economy are still under state control, no new political party has been 
registered since 2000, new ways to harass or even jail the opposition are being 
found, they add.

The resolution calls on Belarus to stop these developments, reiterates the 
European Parliament's commitment to support the pro-democratic aspirations of 
its people and calls on the European External Action Service and the EU 
Commission "to continue and strengthen support for civil society organisations 
in Belarus and abroad."

Stop capital punishment

MEPs urge Belarus, the only country in Europe still applying capital 
punishment, to "join a global moratorium on execution of the death penalty as a 
1st step towards permanent abolition." The Belarusian Supreme Court confirmed 
four death penalties in 2016, they note.

(source: europa.eu)






ANTIGUA:

Reports say ex-death row inmates awaiting re-sentence are risks to society


In a hearing yesterday to determine their fate for the murders they committed, 
2 former death row convicts awaiting resentencing - Atley Alexander and Fitzroy 
Jarvis - have been described as potential "risks" to society.

Justice Darshan Ramdhani, who presided over the case, will be spending the next 
few days reviewing arguments on the appropriate sentence for the convicted 
killers who will be re-sentenced on Monday, because the Privy Council has ruled 
that the automatic sentence of death is unconstitutional.

And further, even if the death penalty is warranted in the two cases, the Privy 
Council has already handed down a landmark decision making it impossible to 
carry out the death sentence if a person has been on death row for more than 5 
years.

Each man has been on death row for more than a decade.

Alexander was des-cribed as someone with antisocial personality disorder and 
his risk for recidivism (to re-offend) is, according to a psychiatric report, 
considered high.

The court heard that he has been in solitary confinement by request to avoid 
interaction with other inmates and "to avoid problems".

Jarvis's relatives said they do not think he should be released. His 
psychiatric evaluation report indicates he is a risk and residents who were 
interviewed by the Probation Department said they are concerned that he could 
be a risk to them.

Alexander was initially sentenced to death in 1999 but has been behind bars 
since his arrest in 1997 for killing his ex-partner Jacqueline Simon, who was 9 
months pregnant, and her 2 children - Amber James, 13 and 10-year-old Sophia 
Jones.

He had doused the house with gasoline and set it alight while they were asleep. 
Another of Simon???s daughters who was in the house managed to escape to tell 
the story of what transpired right to the end of the tumultuous relationship.

The DPP argued that the crime was heinous, premeditated and done in a manner to 
ensure the victims had no chance to escape. Up to yesterday, Alexander denied 
he was the killer and the court noted he showed no remorse.

The alibi he gave claiming he was at his own home at the time of the incident, 
was discredited and proven false at trial.

(source: The Antigua Observer)






NIGERIA:

Kano State Governor Signs Death Penalty for Kidnappers, Others into Law


Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has signed the State's 
Kidnapping, Abduction and Forced Labour bill into law.

This was contained in a press statement in Kano on Wednesday by the Director 
General of Media and Publicity to the Governor, Malam Salihu Tanko Yakasai.

The statement explained that the law became necessary in view of the spate of 
kidnappings in the state, particularly in local government areas neighboring 
Falgore forest.

"The law provides for death sentence for kidnappers who abduct and kill their 
victims, while kidnappers who abduct but did not kill their victims, if 
apprehended and found culpable, would be jailed for life", the statement 
revealed.

According to it, Ganduje therefore advised kidnappers to repent and hand over 
their weapons to security agencies.

He explained that those who do so would be considered for rehabilitation, to 
enable them re-integrate into the society.

(source: nigeriatoday.ng)






KENYA:

Man to hang for stealing child's slippers and shoes in Nakuru


A man who stole a pair of slippers, a pair shoes and a wrist watch has been 
condemned to death.

Samuel Ndung'u had initially been sentenced to seven years in prison by the 
Magistrates Court for using a metal rod to steal the items which belonged to a 
child.

But aggrieved with his conviction in 2011, he moved to the High Court which 
enhanced the sentence.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the death penalty, saying the State has proved 
the robbery with violence charge.

He had filed a second appeal before a three-judge bench composed of justices 
Phillip Waki, Roselyne Nambuye and Patrick Kiage hoping that he could get his 
freedom back.

"The position in law is that due process had to be followed for the proof or 
otherwise of the offence charged. In the instant appeal due process of the law 
was followed and the offence established and proved to required threshold 
against the appellant. We cannot therefore, interfere with their concurrent 
findings on guilt and punishment. In the result we find no merit in this 
appeal. It is dismissed in its entirety," the appeal court ruled.

According to the evidence before the court, Ndung'u together with an accomplice 
stole the items in broad daylight.

The incident occurred in Molo, Nakuru County.

The court was told that on June 6,2011 Samuel Macharia was on his way home when 
he noticed 2 men standing at his gate.

The old man ignored the duo and entered his compound only for them to force 
their way in.

The robbers went for Macharia's grandchild's pair of slippers and shoes that 
had been left out to dry.

Macharia raised alarm as he grabbed Ndung'u and wrestled with him to the 
ground. Passers by heard his cry and assisted him to arrest Ndung'u. His 
accomplice escaped.

"We also find that the violence meted on the complainant was in the assailant's 
attempt to prevent the complainant from thwarting the said robbery," said the 
judges.

(source: standardmedia.co.ke)