[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 19



TURKEY:

Turkey: death penalty incompatible with Council of Europe----Adoption would 
push Ankara outside the institution


"Rejection of capital punishment is a basic principle of the Council of Europe 
and its reintroduction would be simply incompatible with Turkey's continued 
membership in the organization". It is what the Luxembourg socialist 
parliamentarian Yves Cruchten, general rapporteur on abolition of the death 
penalty for the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace), said 
reacting to President Erdogan's declaration on the intention of holding a 
referendum to bringing back the death penalty in Turkey. "The parliamentary 
assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace) has helped turn Europe into a death 
penalty free continent, by making a moratorium on executions and a commitment 
to abolition a condition for accession" says Cruchten, underlining that Pace 
"will not accept any backsliding on this".

"President Erdogan should be under no illusion: reintroducing the death penalty 
would be simply incompatible with Turkey's continued membership of the Council 
of Europe" declares Cruchten.

(source: ansamed.info)






SINGAPORE:

Activists decry hurried execution of convicted drug courier


The following is a joint-press release by We Believe in Second Chances and the 
Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign.

***

We Believe in Second Chances and the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign 
(SADPC) note with dismay that the execution of Jeefrey bin Jamil has been 
abruptly scheduled for this Friday, 21 April 2017. Jeefrey is now known as 
Jeffrey Marquez Abineno.

Jeffrey (aged 52) was convicted by the High Court of trafficking 45.26 grams of 
diamorphine into Singapore on 28 November 2014. His appeal was dismissed by the 
Court of Appeal on 2 December 2016. He appealed to the President of Singapore 
for clemency, but was refused a pardon on 17 April 2017 - the same day his 
family was informed of his scheduled execution.

We are alarmed by the speed at which Jeffrey's execution is to be carried out. 
In previous cases, there was more time between the President's rejection of 
clemency and the execution. We note with concern this decreasing window of time 
between notifying the inmate's lawyer and the scheduled execution. Families of 
death row inmates need time to make funeral preparations, inform their 
relatives, visit the inmate, and ready themselves emotionally. The inmate's 
lawyers need time to review their case and pursue other legal avenues where 
necessary. There should be a reasonable notice period, and at the very least a 
consistently enforced notice period, for the inmate's family and lawyers to 
plan ahead and make the necessary arrangements.

The death penalty is the harshest and most final punishment that a court can 
mete out to any individual. It is a punishment that has been abandoned by the 
majority of criminal justice systems in the world. Moreover, decades of 
research have not been able to prove that the death sentence is more effective 
than other forms of punishment in deterring crime and keeping society safe.

Furthermore, should Jeffrey's hanging on Friday proceed as planned, it would 
take place under a cloud of uncertainty over its international legality and 
legitimacy. Lawyers for 2 of Jeffrey's fellow death row inmates - Malaysians S 
Prabagaran and K Datchinamurthy - have commenced judicial review proceedings in 
Malaysia challenging Singapore's drug prosecution regime on grounds that it 
constitutes a breach of fair trial. Their case is now before the Court of 
Appeal of Malaysia. Should it succeed, Putrajaya would be compelled to 
institute legal proceedings against Singapore before the International Court of 
Justice (ICJ) for denying its citizens a fair trial.

This impacts Jeffrey's case substantially. If the ICJ ultimately rules that 
Singapore's current drug prosecution regime breaches the accused???s right to a 
fair trial, Jeffrey and his family would pay the high price of him being one of 
the last men hanged under a regime found to be in breach of customary 
international law.

We urge the Singaporean authorities to halt the execution of Jeffrey Marquez 
Abineno. The death penalty is irreversible. Once it is carried out, a wrongful 
execution is an injustice that can never be rectified.

(source: theindependent.sg)






BANGLADESH:

2 men bag death sentence in Bangladesh


A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday sentenced 2 men to death for crimes committed 
during the country's 1971 war of independence with Pakistan, officials said.

The Special War Crimes Tribunal handed down the penalty to Moslem Prodhan, 66, 
and Syed Mohammad Hossain, 64, for killings and atrocities carried out on 
civilians during the 9-month war.

Prosecution lawyer Tureen Afroz said 6 charges, including killing of unarmed 
civilians, were proved beyond doubt against the accused, who were members of an 
armed militia group linked to the Pakistan army.

"The death sentence can be executed either by hanging or shooting as the 
government decides," Afroz quoted the court's decision as saying.

Prodhan is in custody and Hossain is currently on the run.

6 opposition politicians, mostly from the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, 
have been hanged after being convicted of war crimes. Prime Minister Sheikh 
Hasina set up the special tribunal in 2010.

The Head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, Motiur Rahman Nizami, and its 
top-ranking leaders Abdul Kader Mollah, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan 
Mohammad Mojaheed and Mir Quasem Ali, and Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, 
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, were among those executed.

East Pakistan became Bangladesh after the fighting ended with the surrender of 
Pakistani forces on Dec. 16, 1971.

An early attempt to prosecute the suspects was called off following the 1975 
assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding leader and father 
of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

(source: The News)


IRAN----impending executions

Mohsen Babaie and 10 Others May Be Executed at Any Moment


11 prisoners are reportedly in imminent danger of execution in Karaj's Rajai 
Shahr Prison. According to close sources, they may be executed at any moment.

According to close sources, the prisoners were transferred to solitary 
confinement on the morning of Sunday April 16 in prepation for their 
executions. All 11 prisoners are reportedly on death row on murder charges. 
Iran Human Rights has obtained the names of 5 of these prisoners: Farzad 
Ghahreman, Mohsen Babaie, Mehdi Bahlouli, Seyed Hassan Hosseini, and Vahid 
Silani.

Close sources have informed Iran Human Rights that Mohsen Babaie was born in 
1988, and he was arrested in 2011. "Mohsen was an accountant. In 2011, he and 
his business partner got into a physical altercation. His partner died after 
Mohsen punched him in the face. If the murder victim's son does not forgive 
him, Mohsen will be executed," a source close to Mohsen tells Iran Human 
Rights.

In a recent urgent action report by Amnesty International, Mehdi Bahlouli is 
described as 17 years old at the time of his alleged crime. According to 
Amnesty, another prisoner by the name of Peyman Barandah is scheduled to be 
executed at Shiraz Central Prison (Fars province) on Wednesday May 10. Peyman 
was arrested "at the age of 16 and spent nearly 5 years on death row, after 
being convicted in August 2012..." says the Amnesty report.

Iran remains one of the few countries which sentences juveniles to death, 
executing more juvenile offenders than any other country in the world. Juvenile 
executions are in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 
which Iran has ratified.

(source: Iran Human Rights)






NIGERIA:

Lagos govt to execute Rev'd King, others on death row


The Lagos State Government is set to execute the General Overseer of the 
Christian Praying Assembly, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, also known as Rev King and 
other prison inmates on death roll.

This was disclosed by the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, 
Adeniji Kazeem during a press conference in the state.

Kazeem said the state government was reviewing the cases of those on death roll 
and will be taking a crucial decision soon.

The Commissioner disclosed that his recent visit to prisons in the state which 
was on the instruction of the state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, said prison 
officials drew his attention to the highhandedness of those on death row.

According to Kazeem, previous administration had not deemed it fit to sign 
documents for the execution of convicts on death row, but the Ambode 
administration is moving towards signing the execution document.

Kazeem said, "Very soon, you will see the action of this government on that 
issues, we are reviewing the case on Rev. King and others on death roll.

"Lots of people are on death row, Rev. King is not the only one on death row, 
it is on the instruction of Ambode that I visited the prisons recently and I 
discuss the issue with the prison officials and they expressed concern.

"We are moving in that direction of signing. The prison officials said we need 
to look at that seriously. Those on death row are beginning to think they have 
some rights. We are going to move in that direction, you will hear from me, but 
I will not tell you the exact date."

Recall that the Supreme Court had on 27 February, 2016 upheld the judgment of 
the Appeal Court which passed death penalty on King.

(source: dailypost.ng)