[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 6



GAZA----executions

Hamas hangs 3 Gaza 'collaborators' with Israel----Gaza's Hamas rulers hanged 3 
men they accused of collaborating with Israel Thursday following calls for 
revenge for the killing of 1 of their commanders last month, an AFP journalist 
reported.


Hamas says that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and its "collaborators" 
killed Mazen Faqha in the Palestinian territory on March 24, but has offered no 
evidence.

According to Hamas, Faqha formed cells for the Islamist group's military wing 
in the West Bank cities of Tubas, where he was born, and Jenin.

The men who were hanged on Thursday were not implicated in his killing but the 
Islamist group has pledged "radical measures" against Palestinians who 
"collaborated" with Israel.

Hamas has offered "collaborators" with Israel a chance to turn themselves in 
and receive clemency.

"The doors of repentance will be open for 1 week, from Tuesday, April 4 to 
Tuesday, April 11," the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

Hamas also tightly restricted movement out of the enclave following the 
assassination.

The measure remains in place despite calls from NGOs and human rights groups to 
lift it.

The restrictions have stopped male patients aged from 15 to 45 from using the 
territory's sole crossing for people to enter Israel to receive medical 
treatment, Human Right s Watch said.

Security checks and searches have increased, including roadblocks.

Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought 3 wars since 2008. The 
enclave has been under an Israeli blockade for 10 years.

(source: al-monitor.com)






LIBYA:

Libyan Muslims Throw Alleged Gay Men Off Rooftop


A video of Muslim men throwing accused homosexuals from a rooftop in Libya was 
posted to Twitter by a local journalist on Sunday.

The killing was done as a form of punishment for disobeying the Sharia law, a 
strict interpretation of an Islamic set of principles, according to Tarek 
Fatah.

The authenticity of the video was unclear, but in the 45-second clip, apparent 
Muslims can be seen chanting "Allah-U-Akbar" as they throw 4 purportedly gay 
people off a rooftop.

The incident allegedly took place in Libya, and the date, as well as the 
victims' gender, were unknown.

Towards the end of the clip, a bystander walked toward the unmoving bodies.

However, it remained unclear if he was a part of the act since he stood on the 
sidewalk as the bodies dropped one by one.

Under Sharia law, homosexuality "is a vile form of fornication, punishable by 
death," according to TheReligionofPeace.com.

(source: Instinct Magazine)






INDIA:

Report over abolition of death penalty sent to all states: Govt


The Law Commission report which recommended abolishing death penalty for all 
crimes other than those related to terrorism, has been circulated to all the 
states for their views, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

Quoting the Ministry of Home Affairs, Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary 
said in response to a written reply to a question that as criminal law and 
criminal procedure are on the concurrent list of the Constitution, the report 
was circulated to all the states on October 13, 2015 for their views on the 
issue.

"The views of some of the states are awaited and they are being reminded 
regularly," he said.

2 government appointees in the law panel - then ex-officio members P K Malhotra 
(Law Secretary) and Sanjay Singh (Legislative Secretary) had given their 
dissent on the report. Besides them, Justice Usha Mehra (retd), the then 
permanent member of the panel too had opposed the report.

(source: The Free Press Journal)






BANGLADESH:

Youth gets death twice for killing child


A Rajshahi court sentenced a man to death penalty twice under separate sections 
for killing a child after abduction in 2014.

The death-row convict was identified as Ashik Mondol, 25, son of Akter Hossain 
alias Babu of Dighirparha village under Adamdeghi upazila in Bogra.

Judge Shiring Kabita Akter of Speedy Trial Tribunal of Rajshahi handed down the 
verdict on Tuesday afternoon.

The court also sentenced Ashik 17-year rigorous imprisonment and fined Tk 
40,000.

The convict was present at the court while delivering the judgment. Later, he 
was sent to Rajshahi Central Jail.

According to case statement, Ashik abducted Meghdad, 7, son of one Rashedul 
Islam of the area on Eid Day on July 29, 2014.

Later, he claimed ransom for his release over Rashedul's mobile phone. On 
August 2, 2014, Rashedul filed a case in this regard.

Police arrested Ahik on the following day and took in remand. Later, law 
enforcers recovered Meghdad's body based on information he provided.

(source: businessnews24bd.com)


NIGERIA:

Senate proposes death penalty for sea piracy


A bill seeking death penalty for anybody that caused death during sea piracy 
scaled second reading in the Senate on Wednesday.

The bill sponsored by Senator Nelson Effiong, (Akwa Ibom South) also proposed 
life imprisonment if death was not recorded during sea piracy.

The document was titled: "A Bill for an act to make special provisions for 
suppression of sea piracy and to provide for punishment for the offence of sea 
piracy and for matters connected therewith."

Effiong in his lead debate described sea pirates as distinct and sophisticated 
criminals who are fully armed and whose despicable activities are carried out 
on those traveling on sea routes.

He described sea routes as popular and cheaper trade routes.

Effiong added that Nigeria, being an import dependent economy must do more to 
guarantee the safe arrival of goods at her shores.

He underscored the urgent need to put in place law that will discourage and 
suppress sea piracy and punish those engaging in it.

(source: The Nation Newspaper)






TRINIDAD:

'Death penalty talk happens every 5 years'


Trinidad and Tobago is the only country in the Commonwealth Caribbean still 
adhering to the cyclical, political debate on the death penalty.

That is the view of Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, who participated in a panel 
discussion on perspectives on the death penalty at The University of the West 
Indies (The UWI), St Augustine, on Tuesday night. He said while the death 
penalty is still "on the books" in Barbados, it is due to be removed shortly.

Mendes sat on a panel with Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, dean at The UWI's 
Faculty of Law; British MP and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on 
the Abolition of the Death Penalty Mark Pritchard; and Jadia Jn Pierre, student 
representative at the Faculty of Law.

While the panel gathered to discuss different perspectives on the death 
penalty, they all seemed to support its abolition.

"The death penalty talk is cyclical and comes around every 5 years, and those 
are the facts," Mendes said.

He said the Inter-American Court also deemed the death penalty as a violation 
of the Constitution. The Inter-American Court, he said, directed T&T to amend 
the archaic laws to remove the mandatory death penalty. However, in order to 
hang reputed gang leader Dole Chadee in 1999, then-attorney general Ramesh 
Lawrence Maharaj removed T&T from under the ambit of the Inter-American Court, 
he said. "We did so solely because membership of the court was seen as a 
hindrance to carrying out the death penalty," Mendes said, adding this made T&T 
a "pariah country".

Maharaj was recently tapped by the current Government to advise on the death 
penalty.

According to Mendes, "The death penalty should not be on the books."

He said there was a bill, still at the Attorney General's office, that has been 
debated and discussed and yet never handed over to the President.

"The death penalty is the law but it hides something, which is that it must be 
carried out scrupulously in accordance with the law and what the Constitution 
says," he said.

He said a death sentence can only be carried out after the convicted person 
exhausts all applications from the High Court all the way to the Mercy 
Committee, and not be carried out 5 years after sentencing.

Pierre, who spoke on behalf of the student body, provided statistics as 
evidence that the death penalty did not impact the rising crime levels.

She examined the murder figures in T&T following the 1999 hangings. "The crime 
rate has been increasing. You had 93 murders in 1999; in 2000, you had 118; in 
2001, there were 153; 2002 there was 171, and it has been increasing. Sometimes 
I lose count," she said.

"I think when people are calling for the death penalty, they are actually 
calling on the Government to do something," she said.

She said when the Government then responds by bringing up the hangman as part 
of the crime solution, they think they are saying to the public something is 
being done. "We must be concerned about the detection rate. If you are not 
catching anybody, you will not be hanging anybody," she said.

She called for better and improved detection rates before hanging would serve 
as a deterrent to crime.

Pritchard questioned whether there was even a real debate happening in the 
country. "There are loud voices but is it a debate?" he asked.

He said more states are moving towards abolition and questioned why T&T was 
moving in the opposite direction.

Attorney Bindra Dolsingh, who was in the audience, said it was "virtually 
impossible to implement the death penalty" as a sentence.

He was involved in 4 cases where the accused pleaded guilty to murder on the 
understanding that the death penalty was not going to be imposed.

Murder categories

Senior Counsel Peter Pursglove added his voice to the debate from the audience. 
Pursglove worked with Maharaj on the 1999 legislation during the 1999 hanging 
of Chadee and his gang.

"The mandatory death penalty, we had made legislation to abolish it. I in fact 
drafted that legislation, and we introduced the categorisation of murder," he 
said.

Murder, he said, was differentiated into 3 categories.

"The reason why the bill was never sent to the President for assent was because 
we decided that it was unconstitutional at that time because the law had moved 
on," he said.

He said a 2nd bill was drafted which still differentiated murder into 3 
categories but made the mandatory death penalty for murder 1 open to judicial 
discretion.

"Now that bill is somewhere in the Attorney General's headquarters, already 
drafted but no government had the ability or the will to actually implement it. 
Its all there to categorise murder and remove the mandatory death penalty, It's 
a matter for the politicians," Pursglove said.

(source: Trinidad Express)






FRANCE:

2 guillotine anniversaries invite a macabre head count


The year 2017 offers up a head count of a macabre kind. France introduced the 
guillotine en route to a more humanitarian and equitable system of capital 
punishment 225 years ago on the April date, and used it for the last time 40 
years ago. At least 40,000 heads rolled before France abolished capital 
punishment in 1981.

Convicted felon Nicolas-Jacques Pelletier fell victim to the not-so-merciful 
killing machine, which introduced the efficiency of the slaughter house to 
executions, on Apr 25, 1792. The last decapitation in France was Hamida 
Djandoubi's on Sep 10, 1977. A Tunisian immigrant, he was executed for the 
slaying of his girlfriend.

The French Revolution alone is believed to have lopped off those 40,000-plus 
heads. Encyclopedia Britannica notes that only eight executions occurred 
between 1965 and the last one in 1977. The number for the intervening centuries 
is probably a matter of record for anyone interested enough to scour French 
government archives.

The inventor of the execution machine, Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, lobbied for 
decapitation before the National Assembly in 1789 as an execution method that 
exemplified the spirit of liberte, egalite and fraternite. The argument at the 
time, as recounted by History.com, was based on unfairness: common criminals in 
France were executed by unreliable methods such as hanging, burning at the 
stake and breaking on the wheel while aristocratic felons had the privilege of 
a quick decapitation. A tip would persuade the executioner to ensure a swift 
chop.

The guillotine was promoted as an instrument that would decapitate more 
efficiently than a sword or ax.

The discovery that the instrument wasn't as efficient as its inventor portrayed 
hastened its end, as did Djandoubi's execution. A doctor in attendance 
testified that Djandoubi remained responsive for up to 30 seconds after 
decapitation.

It was not the 1st time that the condemned appeared to remain conscious for an 
uncomfortably long period of time before life finally oozed out. Henri 
Languille, guillotined in 1905, reportedly looked at a witness who called out 
his name - after being decapitated.

The abolition of the death penalty was incorporated into the Constitution of 
the Fifth Republic by the Constitutional Act of Feb 23, 2007, and under French 
law, it is forbidden to remove people to a country where they would face the 
death penalty.

(source: newsahead.com)






INDONESIA:

Indonesian envoy explains execution of drug traffickers, other offenders


The Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Purwanto, has said his country 
reserves the right under international conventions to punish certain categories 
of crimes with death penalty. Purwanto told The Guardian in Abuja yesterday 
that there were 16 legal regulations bordering on severe crimes against the 
country that attract the death sentence, which include terrorism, corruption as 
well as trafficking in drugs and psychotropic substances.

There are also 5 legal stages peddlers of hard drugs and other psychotropic 
substances must go through before they are executed. He said Indonesia placed a 
moratorium on the death penalty until 2013 when it was reinstated after the 
drug challenge got worse with 4.5 million Indonesians undergoing 
rehabilitation.

The envoy added that "between 30,000 and 40,000 young Indonesians were dying 
because of drugs, but when President Joko Widodo was elected in 2014, he vowed 
not to grant clemency to anyone who was convicted of drugs in all 6 stages of 
the country's legal process and has kept faith with that pledge.

He listed the processes drug suspects must go through before facing death to 
include the 1st court of trial, Appeal Court, Supreme Court, presidential 
clemency and the last stage which is a final review.

The envoy stated that Indonesia does not impose the death penalty in all cases 
except severe cases with serious impact on society.He debunked the claims that 
the country was a drugs hub, arguing that the hubs were elsewhere in Asia and 
the Americas.

On whether Nigerians are specifically targeted for execution for drugs related 
offences, Purwanto maintained that Indonesian laws are not discriminatory as 
Africans, Asians and Europeans have paid the ultimate price for trafficking in 
drugs in the country.

Purwanto disclosed that there are some Nigerians who have integrated into the 
Indonesian society and even married Indonesians but are serving 10 to 15 years 
in jail for drugs related offences.

(source: nigeriatoday.com)






PHILIPPINES:

Death Penalty Bill Weakens Mercy Appeals For Death Row Inmates


The proposed revival of capital punishment in the Philippines "weakens appeals 
to save" Filipinos on death row abroad, warns a church body that works with 
migrant workers.

Edmund Ruga of the Commission for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerant 
People said the approval of the bill is an indication that the Philippines 
agrees with death penalty.

The bill seeking to re-impose the capital punishment was approved in the Lower 
House of the Philippine Congress on March 7.

"How can we demand other countries stop executing Filipinos if we are promoting 
death itself?" said Ruga.

Church groups, however, are optimistic that a strong lobby will still work 
against the passage of the proposed measure.

Nikka Sebastian of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the bishops' conference 
said her organization will "solicit commitments" from senators.

"We want their assurance that the death penalty will not be pushed through the 
Senate," she said, adding that if the bill becomes law, the Philippines will 
lose the right to ask mercy for Filipinos sentenced to death abroad.

At least 88 Filipinos are on death row on various countries, according to the 
Philippines' Foreign Affairs office.

(source: eurasiareview.com)






SYRIA:

ISIS executes 33 in the Syrian desert, observatory claims


In the al-Mayadin desert near Deir ez-Zor, ISIS executed 33 people "with sharp 
tools" on Wednesday a conflict monitoring group claimed, as ISIS is 
increasingly limited in its movements and is being squeezed out of major 
population centers in Syria.

"The 'Islamic State' [ISIS] organization executed 33 persons aged between 18 
and 25 years old in the desert of al-Mayadin in an area located about 8 km 
southeast of al-Mayadin city in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor city," a 
statement from SOHR read.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that its activists 
"were able to monitor the execution and see the bodies."

The US-led international coalition to defeat ISIS believes places like Deir 
ez-Zor to be ISIS's largest concentrations of forces.

"As ISIS is being squeezed out of Mosul and isolated from Raqqa they are 
centered largely along the Euphrates River valley, ranging from Raqqa all the 
way down through Deir ez-Zor, Mayadin, Abu Kamal, and then over into Al-Qa'im 
in Iraq," the press office of the US-led global anti-ISIS coalition told Rudaw 
English by email in March. "That is probably their largest concentration of 
forces.

"We also believe there is a pocket of ISIS fighters there that may grow as they 
realize they cannot safely re-enter Raqqa and have no ability to get into Mosul 
in large numbers without encountering Iraqi security forces screening them."

ISIS has not been in full control of Deir ez-Zur city. The Syrian army, 
supported by Russia, controls portions, including an airbase in the south of 
the city, and they clash regularly with ISIS fighters.

(source: rudaw.net)