[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 25



IRAN----executions

5 Prisoners Executed on Drug Charges----Iranian authorities hang 5 prisoners 
early Tuesday morning for alleged drug related offenses, but Iranian official 
sources are silent about these executions.


5 prisoners were reportedly hanged early morning on Tuesday October 25 for 
alleged drug related offenses. Close sources say the execution sentences may 
have been carried out at either Karaj Central Prison or nearby Ghezel Hesar 
Prison.

Iran Human Rights is aware of the names of 3 of the prisoners: Saeed 
Pourhassan, Mehrshad Kalhori, and Milad Beigdeli. These 3 prisoners along with 
the other 2 were reportedly transferred to solitary confienement cells at Karaj 
Central Prison on Saturday October 22 in preparation for their execution.

"If they gave us until 2 in the afternoon, we could have stopped Saeed's 
execution. [Mehrshad Kalhori and Milad Beigdeli] had claimed to authorities 
that Saeed was guilty, but they wrote a letter retracting their claim stating 
that their confessions were false and given out of spite. They thought if they 
gave the names of others to the authorities that they all would be issued light 
prison sentences. We gave the letter to authorities and pleaded with them to 
postpone Saeed's execution for several hours. But, they threw the letter away 
and even attempted to run us over with a car," the brother of Saeed Hassanpour 
tells Iran Human Rights.

Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and the media, have been 
silent about these 5 executions.

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

4 Prisoners Executed in Iran


2 prisoners with drug related charges were reportedly hanged at Salmas Prison 
(West Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran) and 2 prisoners with murder 
charges were reportedly hanged at Sepidar Ahwaz Prison (Khuzestan province, 
western Iran).

According a report by the the state-run news site, Rokna, 2 brothers charged 
with murder were hanged at Sepidar Ahwaz Prison on the morning of Monday 
October 24. The report identifies the prisoners as "Hassan" and "Mohsen".

According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network and information received by 
Iran Human Rights, 2 prisoners, identified as Bakhtiar Khaledi and Shoresh 
Mizrapour, were hanged at Salmas Prison on Monday October 24 for alleged drug 
related offenses.

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

3 Prisoners Executed in Southern Iran


3 prisoners were reportedly hanged in Shiraz on kidnapping and rape charges. 
The exact location of the executions is not known at this time.

According to a report by the Judiciary in the Fars province, the executions 
were carried out on the morning of Monday October 24. The report says one of 
the prisoners was initially arrested on drug related charges.

The report identifies the prisoners as Reza N., Mohammad A., and Hashem P. 
Their execution sentences were reportedly issued by branch 4 of the criminal 
court in Fars and were confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court.

(source for all: iranhr.net)






SAUDI ARABIA:

'Gruesome' execution warrant casts light on Saudi death penalty


An execution warrant in Saudi Arabia was published to social media on Tuesday, 
providing a rare insight into how the death penalty is implemented in the 
secretive kingdom.

The warrant, posted to Twitter, ordered an unnamed prisoner to be executed in 
"Retribution Square" in the northern town of Qurayyat at 9am (0700 GMT).

Translation of tweet: Saudi Arabia returns to performing executions in public 
on Tuesday 9am according to a letter (top secret/urgent and important) with an 
accused in a drugs case after it (execution) was performed in prison.

The order was signed by the local police chief Mufdhi bin Abdallah al-Khamees 
and it instructed the Qurayyat General Hospital to "carry out the necessary 
procedure upon receipt of the prisoner's corpse" after the execution had taken 
place.

A doctor was also ordered to be present at the execution, which in Saudi Arabia 
is typically a public beheading carried out by a masked executioner with one 
blow to the neck with a long curved silver sword.

The doctor was required to attend the beheading to confirm the prisoner's 
death.

British human rights group Reprieve said they had information the execution was 
carried on Tuesday as ordered.

Reprieve said the publishing of the execution warrant exposed the nature of 
human rights abuses in the kingdom.

"It is chilling to see the Saudi execution procedure laid bare," Reprieve 
director Maya Foa said in a statement. "The gruesome details contained in this 
warrant only serve to highlight the shocking abuses that continue in the 
kingdom."

Prior to the latest executions, Human Rights Watch reported on 19 October that 
Saudi authorities have executed 134 prisoners so far in 2016.

Many of those executed in Saudi Arabia are convicted of drug charges, while 
other crimes that carry the death penalty include murder, and less commonly 
apostasy, adultery and homosexuality.

Earlier this month Saudi authorities executed a prince for the 1st time in over 
40 years, after the royal had been convicted of murdering another man during a 
brawl.

The execution of Prince Turki bin Saud bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabeer brought 
praise in some quarters within the kingdom, with government supporters stating 
the sentence demonstrated no one is above the law in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has come under increasing criticism for abuses as the kingdom 
stands for re-election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

As well as highlighting a lack of women]s rights, Human Rights Watch said on 
Monday that Saudi Arabia should not be allowed to sit on the council because of 
its ongoing war in Yemen, where its military has been accused of committing an 
array of war crimes.

(source: Middle East Eye)






KENYA:

South Rift lawyers call for abolition of death penalty


The lawyer says a death sentence has become known as an "academic sentence" in 
legal circles because though Kenya allows capital punishment, the last 
execution was in 1986.

Senior lawyers in the South Rift have called for amendments to the penal code 
to abolish capital punishment.

Giving their views on the matter a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta commuted 
the death sentences of all 2,747 convicts on death row to life imprisonment, 
Law Society of Kenya South Rift Branch chairman Erastus Orina and former Rift 
Valley LSK chairman Kipkoech Ngetich said it was time for the death penalty to 
be scrapped.

Mr Orina noted that though the President's decision was an act of clemency, the 
courts would continue to sentence more people convicted of serious crimes to 
hang because they have no other option under the law.

Under the current laws, convictions on robbery with violence, treason and 
murder attract the death sentence.

"It would be good if the same is embedded on legal premise. Some people may 
view the President's move to commute the sentences to life imprisonment as 
having gone in conflict with existing laws.

"I believe our penal code must be amended to abolish the death sentence," said 
Mr Orina.

The long-serving lawyer noted that around the world, many countries have done 
away with the death penalty in favour of long prison terms, including life 
imprisonment.

"Most nations which have taken the move are of the view that killing a person 
does not change others and that no government has the right to take away 
anyone's life. For them, life sentences serve better in deterring crime than 
the death penalty," he said.

Mr Ngetich, for his part, noted that a death sentence has become known as an 
"academic sentence" in legal circles because, though Kenya allows capital 
punishment, the last execution happened in 1986.

"The death sentence is an academic sentence. It is enshrined in our law and we 
retain it for the fear of the unknown and nothing else. It should not last a 
day more in our statute books," said Mr Ngetich.

The last people to face the hangman's noose were Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras 
Okumu, who were executed in 1986 for treason after being convicted of 
involvement in the 1982 attempted coup.

The debate over whether the capital sentence is still necessary has come up 
before, with human rights organizations calling for its abolition.

(source: The Nation)





PAKISTAN:

Take Action! - Halt Imminent Execution Of Man Harshly Sentenced


HALT IMMINENT EXECUTION OF MAN HARSHLY SENTENCED

The Supreme People's Court approved a death sentence which could result in the 
execution of Jia Jinglong at any time. According to lawyers, mitigating factors 
of his case were not taken into account during sentencing.

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet urging the authorities to:

* Halt any plans to execute Jia Jinglong and commute his death sentence without 
delay;

* Establish an official moratorium on all executions as a first step to 
abolishing the death penalty, as provided by five UN General Assembly 
resolutions, most recently resolution 69/186 of 18 December 2014;

* Commute all existing death sentences.

Contact these 2 officials by 6 December, 2016: Important note: Please do not 
forward this Urgent Action email directly to these officials. Instead of 
forwarding this email that you have received, please open up a new email 
message in which to write your appeals to each official. This will help ensure 
that your emails are not rejected. Thank you for your deeply valued activism!

Minister of Justice

Wu Aiying Buzhang

Sifabu

10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie

Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020

People's Republic of China

Fax: +86 10 65292345
Email: pfmaster at legalinfo.gov.cn

Salutation: Dear Minister

Ambassador Cui Tiankai

Embassy of the People's Republic of China

3505 International Place NW,

Washington DC 20008

Fax: 1 202 495 2138 I Phone: 1 202 495 2266

Email: chinaembpress_us at mfa.gov.cn

Salutation: Dear Ambassador

(source: Amnesty International USA)






INDIA:

Jigisha murder case: Delhi High Court seeks death row convicts response----It 
is mandatory for a trial court to refer a death penalty case to a high court 
for confirmation of the sentence within 30 days of the pronouncement of the 
verdict.


The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the reply of two death row convicts in 
the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case, whose case file has been sent by the trial 
court here for confirmation of capital punishment. A bench of justices Gita 
Mittal and P S Teji also sought personal presence of convicts Ravi Kapoor and 
Amit Shukla, who were handed down death penalty by the trial court.

The bench, which has fixed the matter for further hearing on November 24, also 
issued production warrants to the 2. The sessions judge had sent the case 
record relating to the conviction and death sentence of Kapoor and Shukla to 
the high court.

It is mandatory for a trial court to refer a death penalty case to a high court 
for confirmation of the sentence within 30 days of the pronouncement of the 
verdict. The trial court had on July 14 held the duo guilty for murder of 
28-year-old IT executive Jigisha Ghosh and other counts.

While sentencing the 2 to death on August 22, the trial court had said the girl 
was killed in a "cold-blooded, inhuman and cruel manner" and "brutally mauled 
to death". It had said the magnitude and brutality exhibited by the convicts 
made the case 'rarest of rare', warranting capital punishment for Kapoor and 
Shukla. The 3rd offender Baljeet Malik was given reprieve from the gallows for 
his good conduct in jail.

The 3 have challenged their conviction and order on sentence awarded by the 
trial court, on which the police were asked by the high court to file their 
response. Kapoor and Shukla in their appeal have said the trial court has 
"wrongly held that the case falls in the category of rarest of rare".

Malik, challenging his conviction and sentence of life term through his counsel 
Amit Kumar, has said the trial court judge has "failed to appreciate that there 
were contradictions and discrepancies in the depositions of prosecution 
witnesses (PWs) and, therefore conviction and the sentence awarded to him is 
liable to be set aside". Shukla said the trial court has committed grave error 
by awarding death penalty to him, simply on the basis of biased jail/probation 
report about his client.

The trial court had imposed varying fines on the convicts. While Kapoor was 
slapped a fine of Rs 1.2 lakh due to his inability to pay, Shukla and Malik 
were directed to pay Rs 2.8 lakh and Rs 5.8 lakh respectively as the 
pre-sentencing report had suggested they were financially strong. The trio are 
also facing trial for the murder of TV journalist Soumya Viswanathan, killed a 
year before Jigisha.

It had also directed that out of the total fine of Rs 9.8 lakh, Rs 6 lakh be 
paid to the parents of the victim, and an adequate compensation amount be 
decided by the District Legal Service Authority (South).

The trial court had held the 3 guilty under several sections of IPC, including 
302 (murder), 364 (abducting for murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 394 
(voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 468 (forgery for purpose of 
cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document). It, however, held that 
the charge of criminal conspiracy (120-B of IPC) could not be proved against 
them.

The police had filed the charge sheet in the case in June 2009, stating that 
Jigisha's post-mortem report revealed that she was killed by smothering. The 
trial in the case began in April 2010. Recovery of the weapon allegedly used in 
Jigisha's murder had led to cracking of the murder case of Soumya Vishwanathan, 
who was a journalist with a news channel.

Soumya was shot dead on September 30, 2008 while she was returning home in her 
car from office in the wee hours. The police had claimed robbery as the motive 
behind the killings of both Jigisha and Soumya.

(source: Indian Express)

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

Day before hanging, SC stays execution of 2 convicts


The execution of 2 death-row convicts, who were found guilty of kidnapping and 
killing a Hoshiarpur boy Abhi Verma in 2005, was stayed by the Supreme Court on 
Monday - a day before their hanging.

A special 3-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan 
while hearing a petition for reviewing death sentences of Vikram Singh and 
Jasbir Singh stayed the execution while reserving the judgement.

The 2 were to be executed at 9 am on Tuesday and the Patiala central jail 
administration had made all arrangements and even brought a hangman from Uttar 
Pradesh. "We have received the court???s stay order and the execution has been 
put off," said Bhupinderjeet Singh Virk, superintendent of Patiala central 
jail.

Talking to HT, the counsel of 2 accused Balwant Singh Billowria, who had filed 
the latest review petition, said he had pleaded that there is need to revisit 
the decision of death sentence as the trial court has overseen some evidences.

Abhi, 16, son of a goldsmith, was kidnapped and murdered by Jasbir Singh, his 
wife Sonia and her brother Vikram Walia in February 2005 for a ransom of Rs 50 
lakh. He died with an overdose of anaesthesia.

On December 21, 2006, the Hoshiarpur district and sessions judge had awarded 
death penalty to the three accused. The Punjab and Haryana high court had 
upheld the sentence but the Supreme Court had commuted Sonia's sentence to life 
imprisonment. Jasvir and Vikram had filed a mercy petition with the President 
after a 3-member bench of the apex court had rejected their review petition in 
August 2015.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has also deferred hearing of the convicts' 
petition seeking commutation of their sentences to November 3.

(source: Hindustan Times)






CHINA:

Will Public Outcry Spare Jia Jinglong From Controversial Death Sentence?


Legal analysts and experts in China say that the fate of a 30-year-old Chinese 
man, sentenced to death for his murder of a village chief in a forced 
demolition dispute, is still up in the air.

This despite a growing public outcry to stay his execution.

Jia Jinglong from Hebei province of northern China was convicted of murder 
after he resorted to violence and shot his village chief to death with a 
modified nail gun in early 2015. This was 2 years after his house was allegedly 
demolished by force, after he was said to have exhausted all means to appeal 
his case.

The Supreme Court recently ratified Jia's death sentence, which is expected to 
be carried out as early as Monday.

That was when Jia's family rushed to petition both the Supreme Court in Beijing 
and the Intermediate Court in the province's capital city of Shijiazhuang for a 
reprieve as well as a retrial. Many legal professionals have blamed the court 
for having turned a deaf ear to evidence in favor of Jia, which may qualify him 
for a lesser sentence.

So far, neither a reply nor an order to carry out the execution has been 
finalized, which Jia's sister, Jia Jingyuan, took as a good sign.

There's still hope

So far, she told VOA, the family has heard nothing regarding the petition.

"There's still hope," she added, explaining that her family will be allowed to 
meet Jia in person if he is to be executed.

According to her, Jia's life was torn apart overnight after the wrecking team, 
led by the village head, flattened the house he had carefully renovated in 
preparation for his marriage. His fiance later left him - a tragedy that 
devastated the young man.

For now, Jia appears to have dodged a bullet, but that doesn't mean he is out 
of the woods, says legal studies scholar Zhang Yaojie, one of the few legal 
observers who have been keeping an eye on the case.

"In the short term, it's unlikely [that Jia will be executed]," Zhang said. 
"But shall his death verdict fail to be reversed, a surprise order can still 
arrive later to close his case when attention from both the media and the 
public dwindles. This is the biggest fear."

Unjust ruling

Last week, many well-renowned law professors, including Liu Hong of East China 
University of Political Science and Law, He Haibo of Tsinghua University Law 
School, and Zhang Qianfan of Peking University Law School, presented legal 
opinions online in defense of Jia, who they said shouldn't have been convicted 
as a capital murderer.

They argued that evidence shows Jia had attempted to turn himself in, although 
he was intercepted and beaten up by relatives of the victim minutes before 
reaching the police station. The village head, they added, should have been 
held accountable for his failure to secure a court order prior to the house 
demolition, a misstep that only intensified the dispute. For all of these 
reasons and more, the legal experts said, Jia's death penalty should be ruled 
out.

Professor Zhang of Peking University urged the court to "exercise prudence in 
applying death penalties," while his colleague He Weifang added that China 
should abolish the capital punishment for good.

Even state media, including China Daily and Global Times, raised concerns about 
the controversy.

(source: voanews.com)






PHILIPPINES:

Death penalty will work under my watch, Duterte tells Pinoys in Tokyo


President Duterte made a fresh pitch for the return of the death penalty as he 
faced the Filipino community in Japan, and brushed aside criticism that it had 
not served as a deterrent to crime when it was prevailing in the Philippines.

Critics of the return of the death penalty don't understand, Mr. Duterte said. 
With him as President, it would work, he said.

"[They ask] why I want to bring it back. Fool ... I was not the President at 
that time. If I had been the President at that time, we wouldn't be talking 
about this thing now," he said.

On comments that there are many criminals in jail, he commented: "Then let's 
get roasting."

The return of the death penalty is one of the measures he had pushed for 
shortly after coming into power as President.

Speaking of his abhorrence of crime, Mr. Duterte said he could not accept it 
that criminals would just take away what Filipinos had worked so hard to 
attain.

He also castigated against illegal drug manufacturers and pushers, who sell 
illegal substances that destroy children's lives.

His campaign against illegal drugs has been the centerpiece program of his 
administration, but it has been heavily criticized because it has given rise to 
the extrajudicial killing of thousands of drug suspects.

In his speech in Tokyo, Mr. Duterte also justified his anti-drug war, saying 
the Philippines has nearly 4 million addicts and is in the grip of drug lords.

"We are already into the narcopolitics," he said.

He said almost all of the barangay captains were involved in the trade, because 
it's easy money. So are members of the police, mayors, governors, and judges.

He also took the chance to take another jab at Sen. Leila de Lima, one of his 
fiercest critics who, he alleged, was linked to the illegal drug trade in the 
national penitentiary when she was the Justice Secretary.

"With the election of De Lima, the national portals of narcopolitics have 
entered the political life," he said.

(source: Philippine Inquirer)