[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 7


EGYPT:

Rights group: 485 death penalties issued in Egypt

Some 485 Egyptians have been handed the death penalty between 30 June 2013 and 
the end of December 2016, the Egyptian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms 
revealed today.

In a report, the Swiss based organisation said that in 50 cases all processes 
have been exhausted, including appeals to the highest courts, and so the 
judgments are final and enforceable.

Entitled "No end in sight for the systematic injustice", the report said: "The 
trials of these cases lacked the basic standards of fair trials (...) the lack 
of an independence military judiciary contributed to this."

Thousands of political detainees throughout the country have been subjected to 
legal and legislative violations because they are referred to military courts, 
even though they are civilians.

The report criticised "the successive authorities in Egypt for legalising 
military trials of civilians after the revolution of 25 January 2011, and 
turning them into an integral part of the justice system, rather than an 
exception."

(source: Middle East Monitor)






GAZA:

Human Rights Watch blasts Hamas executions


Human Rights Watch on Thursday condemned Hamas, after the terrorist group 
executed three men in Gaza who were accused of "collaborating" with Israel.

In a statement quoted by AFP, the organization urged Hamas to stop the 
"barbaric" practice.

The executions were carried out after Hamas vowed revenge for the killing last 
month of one of its top terrorists, Mazen Faqha, which it blamed on the Israeli 
intelligence agency Mossad and its Palestinian "collaborators".

The men who were hanged on Thursday were not implicated in the killing of Faqha 
but were accused of past acts of "treason and collaborating," a Hamas interior 
ministry statement said.

In response , Human Rights Watch said, "The abhorrent executions by Hamas 
authorities of three men in Gaza deemed to be collaborators project weakness, 
not strength."

"Hamas authorities will never achieve true security or stability through firing 
squads or by the gallows, but rather through respect for international norms 
and the rule of law," it added.

Human Rights Watch cited data from the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human 
Rights as saying that Hamas had now executed a total of 25 Palestinian Arabs 
since violently seizing power in Gaza in 2007.

Hamas regularly claims to have captured "Israeli spies", and many times it 
tries them and sentences them to death.

Amnesty International has in the past called on Hamas to stop the executions of 
suspected collaborators, saying that the group "must immediately and totally 
cease its use of the death penalty."

In theory all execution orders in the Palestinian Authority's (PA) territories 
must be approved by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in Ramallah and who 
imposed a moratorium on executions several years ago.

Hamas no longer recognizes Abbas's legitimacy, and has in the past emphatically 
declared that the death penalty in Gaza can be carried out without his consent.

(source: Israel National News)






INDOENSIA:

Clemency plea for Hongkonger on death row in Java----Chief executive's office 
steps in as man convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia faces execution


Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's office has made a formal plea for clemency to 
the Indonesian authorities for a Hong Kong man who has been sentenced to death 
for drug trafficking.

With the clock ticking for 39-year-old Anika Lai Shiu-cheung on the 
Nusakambangan Island, the notorious "Execution Island" in Central Java, Leung's 
office confirmed it had recently sent a letter to the Indonesian consulate in 
Hong Kong asking for clemency. Details of the letter were not disclosed.

Consul general Tri Tharyat told the Post that the letter had already been 
forwarded to the Indonesian foreign ministry.

"After that, the consulate general will observe the process undertaken by the 
officials in Jakarta," the diplomat said.

Asked if he believed Lai's claims that he was beaten up by the Indonesian 
police and that he was innocent, Tri said Lai had already been given the 
opportunity to state his arguments in all 3 layers of legal proceedings - the 
lower, higher, and top courts.

"We have faith in the legal system. But I can't comment on the outcome of the 
proceedings," Tri said.

Lai's 69-year-old mother, Shiu Yuk-chee, is desperate to see her only child 
come home.

"He told me he did not do it," Shiu said. "He is an honest person. I believe he 
did not do it."

According to Shiu, the saga started in 2013 when a former colleague of Lai 
asked him to send a batch of preserved fruit from Hong Kong to Indonesia. Lai 
was told that he would be rewarded with HK$100,000 once the job was completed.

But the middleman who was supposed to receive the preserved fruit in Jakarta 
was nowhere to be seen when Lai arrived in the country. Stranded with a big 
batch of the produce, the ex-colleague asked him to find a warehouse to store 
the goods first and then open a shop to sell them.

In April 2014, Lai was handling renovation issues at the shop, which was in a 
shopping mall. Several people suddenly stormed inside and beat him up.

"He thought it was robbery because they were pointing guns at him. They were 
searching the shop looking for something," Shiu said.

She claimed Lai was then taken to a vehicle where the attackers finally 
identified themselves as police officers. They were unable to communicate with 
each other because of the language barrier and Lai was taken to his hotel where 
he was beaten up again, she said.

The next day, Shiu claimed, Lai was taken to the warehouse where he had stored 
the preserved fruit, but found crystal meth there instead, Shiu said.

In November 2014, Lai was sentenced to life in prison by the lower court. An 
appeal court upheld the lower court's decision in February 2015, but the top 
court sentenced Lai to death in September 2015. He was sent to the "Execution 
Island" last month.

Lai was not represented by lawyers in courts, Shiu said. She said Lai's former 
boss once flew to Indonesia to try to find him a lawyer, but it did not work 
out, with the former boss getting scammed HK$40,000 instead.

Shiu also said she did not have the opportunity to find legal representatives 
for her son. The 1st time Lai told Shiu that he was charged with drug 
trafficking was after the top court had already made its decision.

The charge sheets said Lai trafficked 91kg of crystal meth, but the court 
judgement said it was only about 423 grams, Shiu said.

The Post could not verify Shiu's accounts, but spoke with Democratic Party 
lawmaker James To Kun-sun, who is assisting the family. To is trying to obtain 
primary documents of the case. He hoped that the authorities could first stay 
the execution.

Last week, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he would restore a moratorium 
on the death penalty if he won the backing of the people, after a spate of 
executions drew international condemnation.

He has rarely granted clemency but did so in 2015 for convicted murderer Diwi 
Trisna Firmansyah, reducing his death sentence to life imprisonment.

No date for Lai's execution has been announced.

(source: South China Morning Post)






PAKISTAN:

Noose over their heads: 'You cannot take what's not yours to give'


In a harrowing yet powerful depiction, Ajoka Theatre's play Interzaar showed 
the life and struggle of six death row inmates who literally had a noose 
hanging over their heads, but were trying to prove their innocence in court at 
the same time.

Intezaar, which rather fittingly translates into "wait", was created by Ajoka 
Theatre in collaboration with the Justice Project Pakistan, London-based 
Complicit and Highlight Arts at the Forman Christian College University (FCCU) 
Lahore on Thursday. The play is written by Shahid Nadeem, directed by Dina 
Mousawi, and produced by Ryan Van Winkle.

With a tagline of "you cannot take what's not yours to give", the play is based 
on the true stories of six death row prisoners in Pakistan. Performed in an 
open theatre, it tells the tale of suffering, injustice and waiting for death 
in Pakistani prisons. Often enough, the people who find themselves this 
situation hail from financially disadvantaged backgrounds and are victims of 
the miscarriage of justice.

Talking to The Express Tribune, playwright Shahid Nadeem said that the 
performance highlights the dark world of death row prisoners, who are 
struggling to survive under the long and arduous legal system of the country.

"Many death row convicts have to fight their pleas in the judicial system for 
up to 20 years, while some are also executed or die of natural causes before 
proving themselves innocent," he said. "We believe that capital punishment is 
in itself cruel, hence the tagline. On top of this, our legal system is marred 
by corruption, flaws and the rich almost always get away while the poor 
suffer."

Shahid said the play interweaves 6 different stories into 1.

"There is one a story of a juvenile on death row, another of a woman who was 
tortured to get a confession and also the tale of a mentally-challenged 
convict," he explained.

According to Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), the theatre piece was built upon 
real-life accounts from Pakistan's 8,000-strong death row convicts. According 
to JPP's research, a condemned prisoner would have to spend an average of 11.41 
years on death row in Pakistan.

This theatre piece traced the impact that waiting can have not only on 
prisoners, but their families too. The characters of Intezaar walked the 
audience through their miserable existence and how resilience and courage give 
a purpose to otherwise meaningless lives. Intezaar also demonstrates the 
structural flaws inherent to Pakistan's criminal justice system which remains 
inaccessible, beholden to power, mired in red tape and usurped by influence and 
wealth.

The stories of Intezaar are based on actual stories of many of JPP???s clients, 
whose names were changed to protect their privacy. Many of them continue to be 
on death row, while others were executed after the government lifted the 
moratorium on the death penalty in December 2014.

Intezaar is a unique project which has brought together by 4 organisations from 
Pakistan and the United Kingdom, all committed to the cause of human rights and 
socially meaningful art.

The theatre piece will be staged again in Rawalpindi at the National College of 
Arts on April 10 and in Faisalabad at Government College on April 11.

(source: The Express Tribune)






RUSSIA:

FSB Major General: we need death penalty for corrupt migration officials, not 
terrorists----In his opinion, corruption is one of the main obstacles for 
eradicating terrorism.


In Russia, it is not terrorism that we need to fight against more vigorously, 
but corruption, since it is one of the main obstacles for eradicating 
terrorism, says reserve FSB Major General Alexander Mikhailov, a member of the 
Council for Foreign and Defense Policy of the Russian Federation.

In this regard, he considers it necessary to stiffen the penalties for corrupt 
officials - up to death penalty, RIA Novosti reports.

"The criminal blasts himself up, and if he does not, we threaten him with 20 
years of imprisonment," he said, adding that it is unlikely that such a measure 
could scare a suicide bomber.

In Mikhailov's opinion, if the responsibility is to be stiffened, it is better 
to do it with regard to crimes related to corruption in the sphere of 
migration. It is the kind of offense, he believes, that is one of the main 
obstacles for eradicating terrorism.

"I believe that initiating capital punishment for corrupt officials would be 
the solution we need," the General said.

As an example, he referred to the situation in St. Petersburg, where a major 
terrorist attack took place in the subway, killing 14 people. Mikhailov noted 
that today in the Northern Capital "there is a huge amount of information about 
places of compact residence of migrants," however, the police there "do not 
even show up" at those areas.

One of such enclaves, according to him, is the St. Petersburg market Apraksin 
Dvor. "Why don???t local authorities pay attention to citizens' statements? 
What can be the key factor, except corruption, to not to get everything under 
control there," he asked rhetorically.

On February 2, 1999, the Russian Constitutional Court imposed a moratorium on 
the capital punishment, until jury trials are introduced throughout the 
country. On November 19, 2009, the Constitutional Court extended the moratorium 
until the ratification of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human 
Rights, which provides for the complete abolition of the death penalty.

In October 2015, Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov proposed to institute the 
death penalty for terrorists in Russia. According to him, this must be done 
because keeping these criminals in prisons is "wrong".

A month later, a similar proposal was made by Sergey Mironov, the leader of 
Spravedlivaya Rossiya party. However, the Kremlin said that Russian President 
Vladimir Putin, who had spoken earlier against the capital punishment, did not 
change his mind.

Nevertheless, in March 2016, a bill was introduced in the State Duma, providing 
for the capital punishment as one of the punishments for terrorism. A year 
later, a decision on it still has not been made. However, after the terrorist 
attack in St. Petersburg, the initiative was brought up again.

It is also to be noted that shortly before the terrorist attack in St. 
Petersburg, protests against corruption swept through Russia. However, after 
the subway explosion, the fight against terrorism took the leading place on the 
agenda.

(source: crimerussia.com)




PHILIPPINES:

Sotto: Most senators will OK death penalty for top drug traffickers


Senate Majority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said he was almost certain that 
the majority of senators would vote for the proposed death penalty if it would 
be implemented through lethal injection and imposed only on high-level drug 
traffickers.

"High level drug trafficking and lethal injection has a better chance of 
passing the Senate than all the other laws that were included in the old law 
reimposing the death penalty," Sotto said during a forum at the Senate on 
Thursday.

"When it comes to high-level drug trafficking, many issues that they use to 
counter the death penalty vanish. It's not anti-poor. The death penalty is 
never anti-poor for high-level drug trafficking because there are no drug lords 
who are poor."

Based on his last count, the 24 senators are still split on the death penalty 
bill - 10 are in favor, 10 are against it, while four are still weighing on the 
issue.

But even if the bill gets the majority votes, the Senate would not still be 
able to pass it before the first regular session of the 17th Congress adjourns 
on June 2.

The House of Representatives has already approved the measure, but it remains 
pending at the committee level in the Senate.

"In June? That's hard. It would call for a long debate," Sotto said when asked 
if the Senate could pass the measure before the adjournment.

"Even if we have the majority - as a matter of fact, we will get the majority - 
I believe we may get the majority after the debates," he added.

He said the measure was a priority in the House, but not in the Senate.

"On our part, we promised them that we will debate on it and as much as 
possible pass it," he said. "But we were not able to give a guarantee that we 
will pass it, by June ha," Sotto said.

(source: newsinfo.inquirer.net)






NIGERIA:

3 men, 2 women face kidnap charge, get N5m bail----He alleged that the accused 
had conspired to kidnap a woman, Mojisola Adeleke, and demanded N15 million 
from her family.


5 people including 2 women were on Thursday arraigned before Chief Magistrate 
Oluyemisi Adelaja for allegedly kidnapping a woman and demanding a N15 million 
ransom.

The accused - Aboy Feku, 23; Blessing Mimo, 20; Samuel Yola, 26; Lovers 
Gregory, 31; and Donald Gregory, 26 - are standing trial at an Ebute Meta Chief 
Magistrates' Court on charges bordering on conspiracy and kidnap.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

But the Prosecutor, Insp. Chinalu Uwadione told the court that the accused 
committed the offences on March 2 at about 4.00p.m. at Ketu-Ejinrin in Lagos.

He alleged that the accused had conspired to kidnap a woman, Mojisola Adeleke, 
and demanded N15 million from her family for her release.

The offences contravened Sections 271 and 299 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 
State, 2015 (Revised).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the offence of kidnap carries 
death penalty following the signing into law the anti-kidnapping bill by Gov. 
Akinwunmi Ambode on Feb. 1, 2017.

The magistrate, however, granted the accused bail in the sum of N1 million each 
with 2 sureties each in like sum 1 of who must be a landlord in Lagos.

Further hearing has been adjourned until April 26.

(source: pulse.ng)






IRAQ:

Hussein Execution was Moved Forward Because of Gaddafi Rescue Plans


The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was accelerated due to 
the belief that the then Libyan leader, Muammar El-Gaddafi, had a plan to 
rescue him from prison, Judge Mounir Haddad revealed today.

Hadad, who presided over the trial of Hussein, revealed to the Al-Arabiya 
Satellite Channel Point of Order program new details of the trial against the 
former president and his last moments before being hangged, including the 
'health and welfare' votes for the magistrate himself .

According to his testimony, the application of the death penalty to Saddam 
Hussein was precipitated because authorities knew that El-Gaddafi - later 
murdered in 2011 - was allegedly trying to bribe US guards who guarded him to 
rescue him from prison.

He added that, contrary to previous reports from the local and US press, former 
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani gave his 'implicit approval' for Hussein's 
execution, and that during the hearing to hear the verdict he was distinguished 
by 'his calm and composure' .

The judge said that he personally received the last will from Saddam Hussein 
because no Sunni cleric was present when he was executed, and when asked about 
his final wish, the condemned man responded by wishing him 'health and 
well-being.'

Al-Arabiya will broadcast more details of the last days of the ex-leader of the 
Iraqi Baath party in the episode that will be broadcast on April 14, the 
channel announced when reproducing the opinion of the lawyer on the Muslim 
confession of the deposed ruler after the invasion and military occupation Of 
the United States.

(source: Prensa Latina)