[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 17



GAZA:

Gazan accused of spying for Israel sentenced to death----Hamas-run court says 
54-year-old man will be hanged for allegedly providing Jewish state with 
information since 1987


Courts in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip handed down 3 death sentences on Monday, 
including 1 for allegedly spying for Israel and 2 others for murder, 
authorities said.

In the 1st case, "the military court in Gaza decided upon death by hanging for 
the convict, 54, on charges on spying for the Israeli occupation," a court 
source said.

The court said the man had allegedly been linked to Israel since 1987 and had 
provided a large amount of information to the Jewish state since then.

The case was held behind closed doors and the defendant was referred to only by 
the initials E.A.

Another alleged spy was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Also on Monday 2 men from rival families were sentenced to death after 
tit-for-tat killings in 2013 and 2015 respectively, the public prosecutor said.

A series of death sentences have been handed down in recent weeks despite calls 
on Hamas from the European Union and rights groups to halt the practice.

The authorities in Gaza executed 3 men behind closed doors in May, the first 
time the death penalty had been carried out since 2014, drawing condemnation 
from the United Nations.

In Gaza, accusations of spying for the Jewish state are often brutally 
punished. During the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, 18 alleged 
collaborators were shot dead in public by Hamas forces.

(source: The Times of Israel)






INDIA:

The crimes of serial killer and rapist Umesh Reddy, a man set to go to the 
gallows ---- The Karnataka High Court, while confirming the death sentence, 
called Umesh a "devil"


Lodged in Belagavi's Hindalga jail, notorious rapist and serial killer Umesh 
Reddy awaits a death warrant that is likely to be issued for his execution. He 
has spent over 18 years in jail, with some stints outside when he managed to 
escape custody.

Umesh was first arrested on March 2, 1998, in connection with the murder of a 
Bengaluru woman. He made news again in 2007, when the VII Fast Track Court, 
Bangalore, sentenced him to death for the rape and murder of the 37-year-old 
Bengaluru woman in front of her son. His death sentence was confirmed by the 
Karnataka High Court in October 2007 and the Supreme Court in February 2011.

The Karnataka High Court, while confirming the death sentence, called Umesh a 
"devil". Justice SR Banurmath, who was the 3rd judge appointed to rule on 
Umesh's sentence, said: "It is evident that even after punishments in cases of 
robbery, dacoity and rape, he has not reformed; no reformation can be expected 
from such a habitual offender and pervert criminal."

The judge added: "I do not understand why such a devil in man's garb should be 
maintained by society by locking him up in jail for life. It is a known fact 
that whenever there is an opportunity, he has a tendency to run away from 
custody and commit new, heinous crimes.

Belagavi's Central Prison in Hindalga, is the only prison in Karnataka which 
has gallows. The last execution was carried out in 1983.

In the trial court, the prosecution argued that Umesh raped and murdered the 
woman before robbing her. The prosecution also called him a serial rapist and 
psychopathic killer.

Umesh was born as Umesh BA in Basappa Malige village in Chitradurga district in 
1969. Much of his story beyond this point, is a sensational or perhaps 
sensationalised one.

By some accounts, he was posted in Jammu and Kashmir while in the CRPF, where 
he is said to have attempted to rape a commandant's daughter. He was arrested, 
but managed to escape and return to Chitradurga.

The Hindu however, reports that Umesh was first employed as a police constable 
and was recruited in the District Armed Reserve (DAR) in 1996. In 
November-December that year, Umesh was accused of attempting to rape a girl in 
Chitradurga district.

Media reports vary in the number of accusations against him. In May 2002, Umesh 
faced 19 cases in Chitradurga, Ballari, Bengaluru, Vadodara, and Kunigal. In 
2009, The Hindu reported that Umesh faced seven cases in Bengaluru alone. 
According to a Deccan Herald report from 2009, Umesh faced 25 cases, of which 
he had been acquitted in 10 and convicted in 9, but the offences of which he 
was convicted are not known.

Umesh is said to have murdered a string of women after raping them. He would 
then make off with their valuables.

In 2002, when the police arrested him after he gave them the slip on his way 
from Ballari to Bengaluru, the media began to claim that he was a transvestite 
or a cross-dresser.

A Kannada film called Khatarnak was made based on details of Umesh's life in 
2013. However, its contents have been fictionalised.

In May 2012, when Umesh filed mercy petitions with the Karnataka government, 
the media reported that he had faced 15 rape cases. The Cabinet, headed by the 
then chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, rejected his mercy plea.

In February 2012, Umesh's mother Gowramma filed a clemency petition with the 
President, which was rejected in May 2013. In her petition, she said that her 
son was the sole breadwinner of her family and that his brother was unwell. She 
also said that her son was "innocent" and that he had been picked up because 
the police could not arrest the real culprits.

Simultaneously, he approached the Supreme Court seeking a review of its own 
decision to confirm the death sentence awarded to him. This has now been 
rejected by the Supreme Court. Jail Superintendent at Hindalga TP Shesha told 
The News Minute that they had received a copy of the SC order, but the trial 
court had not, and that they were awaiting the issuance of the death warrant.

Director of the Centre on Death Penalty at the National Law School Delhi, Anup 
Surendranath, told The News Minute that the law mandated that the defence 
lawyer be present when a trial court issues the death warrant.

Anup said that Umesh could still challenge the death sentence awarded to him on 
technical grounds. He said that Umesh could challenge the rejection of his 
mercy petition by the President, first in the Karnataka High Court and if that 
failed, in the Supreme Court.

But this could be done if relevant material had not been presented to the 
President, or certain other grounds such as the mental health of the prisoner. 
He explained that in the Shatrughan Chauhan v. Union of India, 2 prisoners' 
death sentences had been commuted to life as they were found to be unsound of 
mind.

Anup said that the death penalty was often "misunderstood" as a means to punish 
the "rarest of rare" crimes on the basis of brutality. "It is the state's 
burden to show that a convict is beyond reformation, and that alternatives such 
as life imprisonment are foreclosed," Anup said. He explained that the 
government can, by invoking certain sections of the CrPC, remit the sentence of 
a convict. But in December 2015, the courts interpreted the law to hold that 
instead of the death penalty, they would be asked to undergo life sentence, 
disallowing the state from invoking powers of remission.

(source: The News Minute)






CHINA:

China refutes rumors of organ harvesting


Chinese health officials on Monday vowed to fight corruption in the organ 
donation system, pledging zero tolerance toward non-voluntary organ transplants 
and denying that organ harvesting continues from executed prisoners.

On Monday, organ transplant experts from the WTO, International Society for 
Organ Donation and Procurement (ISODP) and The Transplantation Society (TTS) 
gathered in Beijing to attend the 2016 China International Organ Donation 
Conference, the first such international meeting held on the Chinese mainland.

"All the organs transplanted after 2015 are from voluntary donors and we have a 
zero tolerance toward violations," Huang Jiefu, a former Chinese vice-minister 
of health and current head of the National Human Organ Donation and Transplant 
Committee, said at a press conference.

Huang blasted allegations that the number of organ transplants far surpassed 
the amount of organs donated as lacking evidence, saying that China performed 
around 8 % of the world's organ transplant surgeries, and also consumed 8 % of 
world's post-operative medications, which are all produced by foreign companies 
and are traceable.

China banned the use of executed prisoners' organs in January 2015, making 
voluntary donations the only legitimate channel.

However, the rumor that China is still using organs from dead prisoners and 
harvesting from living people has not died down.

CNN reported in June that China was still engaged in harvesting organs from 
prisoners, and that people were even being murdered for their organs, citing a 
report.

The law and regulations cannot stop all the violations and corruption, such as 
trading in organs, but the Chinese government has shown great resolution to 
fight against corruption in organ donation and will not tolerate violations, 
Huang said.

The rumors only make us stronger and more dedicated to making the system more 
open, fair, transparent and trustworthy, Huang said.

The Chinese government's resolve to reform the organ transplant industry was 
highly praised by many organ transplant experts, including Kimberly Young, 
former president of the ISODP, who said after the conference that she was 
highly impressed by the huge change.

"None of us would be here today if we did not trust that everything is 
continuing to be done to support this transparent and ethical process," Young 
told the Global Times.

"When we first received training [as a surgeon], we were encouraged not to 
interact with China because there were concerns about unethical practices going 
on, but what I have seen over the last 10 years is gradual engagement between 
the transplantation society and those leaders within China who are interested 
in changes," said Nancy L. Ascher, president of The Transplantation Society, at 
the conference.

Innovative procedures

The Chinese government puts great attention on the country's organ donation and 
transplant procedures, which directly concerns the lives of patients and also 
justice in society, Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong said in a speech delivered 
at the conference.

China processed 2,950 organ donations in the first nine months of this year, 
with a 50 % increase year-on-year, the Xinhua News Agency quoted figures 
released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission as saying on 
Sunday.

At present, the annual average number of organ donations in China ranks 1st in 
Asia and 3rd in the world, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

WHO director general Margaret Chan on Monday praised China's "green channel" 
for organ transport, which sufficiently reduced delivery times for organs, as 
an innovative move from the country's health, police and transport system.

In May, a 31-year-old patient at a hospital in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei 
Province, received a donated heart within 3 hours, 1/2 the time before the 
green channel went into operation.

The Chinese government started to pilot changes to the organ donation system in 
2010, and criminalized the unauthorized trading of organs in 2011. In severe 
cases of violation, the death penalty could apply.

Moreover, a new system for organ management and distribution was launched in 
2013 to better regulate donations.

Since 2007, China has apprehended 32 intermediaries involved in the organ 
trade, arrested 158 criminal suspects, investigated 17 medical institutions and 
closed 13 underground operation theaters.

(source: Global Times)






SUDAN:

Prayers Needed Urgently For Christians Facing Death Penalty In Sudan


The 4 Christians in Sudan who are facing the death penalty were due back in 
court on Khartoum today.

Release International asked for Christians worldwide to pray for Pastors Hassan 
Abduraheem and Kowa Shamaal, Abdulmonem Abdumawla and the Czech citizen Petr 
Jasek.

The 4 men have been charged with 7 crimes, including funding rebel movements in 
areas such as Darfur and South Kordofan. The 2 charges that could lead to their 
execution are "waging war against the state" and spying.

Human rights groups are increasingly concerned about the growing persecution 
faced by Christians in Sudan.

World Watch Monitor reports that a crackdown on religious freedom is creating 
space for radical extremist groups to flourish.

The case was raised in the European Parliament last week when several hundred 
MEPs signed a resolution protesting the treatment of the men and highlighting 
their plight.

The resolution states that "the Sudanese authorities impose severe restrictions 
on freedom of religion; whereas threats against church leaders and the 
intimidation of Christian communities have continued at an accelerated pace 
over the past years; whereas Czech Christian aid worker Petr Ja???ek, Sudanese 
pastors Hassan Abduraheem Kodi Taour, Kuwa Shamal and Darfuri graduate student 
Abdulmonem Abdumawla Issa Abdumawla have been detained for nine months already 
by the NISS [National Intelligence Security Services] and are facing trial on 
charges of highlighting alleged Christian suffering in war-ravaged areas of 
Sudan; whereas in recent years there has been an increase in trials on charges 
of apostasy and subsequent death sentences".

It calls on the African Union and the Sudanese Government to abolish the death 
penalty and reaffirm that freedom of religion, conscience or belief is a 
universal human right that needs to be protected everywhere and for everyone; 
and demands that the Sudanese Government repeal any legal provisions that 
penalise or discriminate against individuals for their religious beliefs, 
especially in the case of apostasy.

It also "expresses its concern with regard to the increased crackdown by the 
NISS on citizens who are civil society activists and calls on Sudan to release 
detainees immediately and unconditionally".

Last month, the former Bishop of Kadugli Diocese in South Kordofan said the 
government of Sudan was "not interested in the Christian religion". Andudu Adam 
Elnail said, "There is no freedom for us, we cannot build churches. We are 
treated as 2nd-class citizens."

Sudan, where Christians make up 1 in 20 of the population, is ranked at number 
8 on the Open Doors' 2016 World Watch List of countries that have the worst 
record for Christian persecution.

(source: christiantoday.com)