[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 19



MALAYSIA:

Malaysia postpones execution of Filipino on death row



The scheduled execution of a Filipino convicted of murder in Malaysia was 
postponed after the governor of Sabah heeded appeals from the Philippine 
government, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Saturday.

Ejah Bin Jaafar was supposed to be hanged on Friday.

"We would like to thank the governor of Sabah for responding to the repeated 
appeals of the Philippine government on behalf of the family of Mr. Jaafar," 
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in the statement.

"The execution of Ejah Bin Jaafar was ordered postponed by Sabah Governor Tun 
Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Juhar Haji Mahiruddin following a last-minute appeal 
from the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur," the DFA said in a statement.

Jaafar's punishment may be reduced to life imprisonment instead of the death 
penalty, depending on the outcome of a case review.

"The Sabah Pardons Board will meet in December to review his case... The 
decision of the board will be final and executory without any further 
possibility of appeal," the DFA said.

The Sandakan High Court sentenced Jaafar with capital punishment in 2009 after 
it found the Filipino guilty of murder in September 2006.

The DFA has yet to give details on Jaafar's case including who he killed and 
why he committed the crime.

Foreign affairs spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar told Agence France-Presse that 
Jaafar and his family have lived in Sabah "for a long time," but gave no other 
details.

Officials from the Philippine Embassy in Malaysia have been "making appeals 
since 2015 for Malaysian authorities to spare the life of Mr. Jaafar and 
commute his sentence," the DFA said.

The Philippines has also appealed to Malaysia to commute the death sentences of 
nine of its nationals who were convicted of taking part in a 2013 attack on the 
Sabah district of Lahad Datu, which left scores of people dead.

Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos live in the Malaysian state of Sabah on 
Borneo island, many having been displaced by war and violence in the nearby 
southern Philippine region of Mindanao -- home to long-running Muslim 
rebellions.

(source: ABS-CBN News)








INDONESIA:

New fears for death row gran Lindsay Sandiford as drug smugglers executed in 
Indonesia----She was sentenced to death after being caught in Bali Airport with 
4.8kg of cocaine



Death row gran Lindsay Sandiford is still awaiting her fate on in Indonesia.

Fresh calls to change the execution system have been made, 4 1/2 years after 
she was found trying to smuggle 1.6m pounds worth of cocaine.

She was sentenced to death after being caught in Bali Airport with 4.8kg of 
cocaine, and has since desperately tried to appeal the execution.

Ms Sandiford, now 61, from Cheltenham, maintains she was carrying the drugs to 
protect her son, who was being threatened.

No date has been set for her execution but it is believed that the Indonesian 
authorities are preparing for more executions as president, Joko "Jokowi" 
Widodo, steps up the country's war on drugs.

This is despite an official watchdog finding this week that Indonesia executed 
a Nigerian man last year while his case was unresolved.

Humphrey Jefferson was executed by firing squad along with 3 other, despite 
there still being a chance of pardon in his case, leading to renewed calls to 
halt executions in the Asian country.

Charity Human Rights Watch said in a statement: "Indonesia should restore the 
unofficial moratorium on the death penalty and ensure the rights of criminal 
suspects, including those implicated in drug crimes, are respected rather than 
steamrolled."

Sandiford recently celebrated her 61st birthday behind bars at Kerobakan Prison 
with a special cake, according to Gazette Live .

In a message posted on the Justice and Fairness for Lindsay Sandiford Facebook 
page, the grandmother thanked her supporters.

The message reads: "Dear Friends and supporters.

"Thank you to everyone for your kind wishes for my 61st birthday last weekend. 
I had a thoroughly enjoyable day with visits from some dear friends, a 
delicious cake, and messages from my family and supporters from around the 
world.

"I was immensely touched by all your warm thoughts, and I would like to add a 
heartfelt thank-you to the wonderful governor at the women's prison here, for 
making the small celebration possible.

"I would like you all to know that I am keeping well and continuing to work and 
teach other women on various handicrafts.

"In the meantime, keep me in your thoughts and thank you all again for your 
friendship and support.

"Warm regards, Lindsay."

(source: gloucesterlive.co.uk)






'

PAKISTAN:

Botched-up investigation: 2 death row convicts set free after 12 years



The Supreme Court on Friday acquitted 2 death row convicts languishing in 
prison for around 12 years for murdering a man in the name of honour, ARY News 
reported.

Aijaz Ahmed and Shahid Iqbal were condemned to death by a trial court for 
killing a man for honour in Hafizabad city of Punjab in 2005.

Subsequently, the convicts challenged the guilty verdict in high court which 
converted their capital punishment into life imprisonment.

The convicts, afterwards, appealed the high court's verdict in the top court, 
seeking their acquittal in the murder case.

After hearing arguments from defense and prosecution sides, a Supreme Court 
bench announced the verdict acquitting both the convicts for want of evidence.

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa observed that the fault is that police collude with 
suspects which leads to their acquittal. Police botched up the case after 
receiving kickbacks, observed another member of the bench and added that the 
prosecution???s conduct was also inappropriate whereas police was not ready to 
do anything.

(source: arynews.tv)








IRAN:

Call for an international commission of inquiry to investigate 1988 massacre of 
30,000 political prisoners in Iran



Human rights defenders, dignitaries, European politicians and the Iranian 
Resistance called for the formation of an international commission of inquiry 
into the massacre of political prisoners in Iran in the summer of 1988 and 
bringing those responsible for this genocide and crime against humanity to 
justice.

They stressed that the issue of human rights should be at the core of the 
West's policy on Iran. They urged the UN, EU and the US to put the issue of 
flagrant and systematic violation of human rights in Iran on top of their 
agenda.

The call was made during an exhibition on the 1988 massacre that took place 
upon the initiative of Mr. Jean-Francois Legaret, the Mayor of Paris 
municipality District 1 at this municipality on Thursday, August 17, 2017.

In addition to Mr. Legaret, several French mayors including Armand Jacquemin, 
mayor of Moussy Le Vieux, Jean-Claude Jegoudez, mayor of Grisy-Sur-Seine, and 
Jacky Duminy, mayor of Ors took part and spoke at the exhibition.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, in a message 
to the exhibition said 30,000 political prisoners were hanged in Iran in days 
such as these in the summer of 1988, without any reaction by Western 
governments.

Those who remained silent over this tragedy betrayed humanity because the 
mullahs found out that their crimes had no consequences. So, they continued by 
exporting their terrorism and fundamentalism abroad and drenching the Middle 
East in blood.

If in those days, the massacre had not been met with silence, today, the 
mullahs could not sink Syria in a whirlpool of blood.

The people of Iran want to end the impunity of those in charge of the massacre 
and hold them accountable. This has turned into the Iranian people's most 
important political demand from the clerical regime. We urge the UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights to set up an independent commission of inquiry to 
investigate the 1988 massacre. The UN Security Council must set up a special 
tribunal or refer the issue to the International Criminal Court to arrange for 
the prosecution of the leaders of the Iranian regime.

Mrs. Rajavi once again urged all governments to make their relations and trade 
with the religious fascism ruling Iran contingent on an end to executions and 
torture.

Governor Yves Bonnet, the former head of France's domestic anti-terrorism 
organization; Struan Stevenson, a Scottish politician, President of "European 
Iraqi Freedom Association" and former President of the European Parliament's 
Delegation for Relations with Iraq, were among the dignitaries who took part in 
this exhibition and supported the call by the head of the opposition.

In his remarks, Stevenson condemned the recent trip of EU foreign policy chief 
Federica Mogherini to Iran and said: "Rouhani has been hailed in the West as a 
moderate and a reformist, despite the fact that more than 3,500 people, 
including 80 women, have been executed during the 4 years he has been in 
office, catapulting Iran into pole position as the world's number 1 state 
executioner per capita. Several hundred people have been executed so far this 
year, including women and teenagers. 3 days before Mogherini arrived in Tehran, 
Amnesty International published a 94-page report highlighting the 'web of 
oppression' that pervades Iran and detailing the catastrophic human rights 
situation in the country."

He added: "The French government and the EU should also be demanding a full 
United Nations inquiry into the 1988 massacre, with Khamenei, Rouhani and their 
clique of killer clerics indicted for crimes against humanity and brought for 
trial before the international courts in The Hague."

Khomeini, the founder of the clerical regime in the summer of 1988, in a fatwa 
that was unprecedented in the history of Islam, stated that all those who were 
imprisoned throughout Iran and were still loyal to the People's Mojahedin 
Organization of Iran should be executed. More than 30,000 political prisoners 
who were serving their terms were executed in a few months based on this 
criminal fatwa. The Death Commissions, in trials that lasted just a few 
minutes, sent to the gallows any of the prisoners who were not willing to 
condemn the PMOI (MEK). The victims were buried in mass graves in secret.

In spite of the mullahs' attempts to impose silence on this crime against 
humanity and to prevent the spread of this issue in the society, the movement 
calling for justice for the victims of the massacre in Iran has expanded since 
last year and has evolved into a public issue. The Justice seeking movement in 
Iran managed to corner the mullahs.

Ali Khamenei intended to put a member of the 1988 massacre's Death Commission 
in the office of president, but the nationwide campaign calling for justice 
foiled his plans.

During the last year, new information about the slaughter, including a large 
number of names of the victims, as well as the locations of numerous mass 
graves which the mullahs had previously concealed, has surfaced.

The 1988 massacre and the conspiracy of silence has been an issue of consensus 
among the regime's various factions and its senior officials.

Over the past 4 years, the mullahs' president Hassan Rouhani had appointed 
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, one of the key officials in charge of the 1988 
massacre, as Minister of Justice. The new Justice Minister for his 2nd term, 
Alireza Avaie, is another one of the perpetrators of the massacre, who has been 
already designated as a violator of human rights by the European Union.

A number of relatives of the victims and individuals who spent years in prison 
in Iran and were tortured shared their observations with the audience during 
the exhibition.

(source: NCR-Iran)








VIETNAM:

Vietnam upholds death sentences against shipping execs in major corruption case



But without a major overhaul of the country's public sector, stern sentencing 
may be only cosmetic, analysts say.

A court of appeals in Hanoi on Friday upheld the death sentences against 2 
executives from the corruption-hit shipping industry after convicting them of 
pocketing nearly $12 million in deals made between 2006 and 2008, the latest 
punishment meted out as the ongoing crackdown on the public sector is widening.

At the 1st trial in February, Giang Kim Dat, the former sales manager of the 
troubled shipbuilder Vinashinlines, and Tran Van Liem, the company's former 
CEO, were sentenced to death for stealing more than VND260 billion ($11.65 
million) from the company between 2006 and 2008.

In February, the firm's former accountant, Tran Van Khuong, also got a life 
sentence for abetting the embezzlement, while Dat's father Giang Van Hien 
received 12 years in prison for money laundering. Friday's appellate court 
upheld all these sentences.

According to the indictment, Dat siphoned off the money from 16 deals to buy or 
lease old vessels. He also advised Liem on how to buy and lease ships and 
colluded with foreign partners to rig prices for personal gain.

The investigation found that Dat paid Liem $150,000 and Khuong $110,000 in the 
scam. The rest of the embezzled money was transferred to multiple bank accounts 
in Hien's name, who used it to buy houses and cars.

After his wrongdoings were discovered, Dat fled aboard and was arrested in July 
2015 following an international arrest warrant.

Vinashinlines is a subsidiary of Vinashin, a shipping behemoth that racked up 
debt of $4.5 billion in 2010 before being restructured into the Shipbuilding 
Industry Corporation in 2013.

The Vinashinlines case is 1 of 6 serious corruption and economic mismanagement 
cases the government planned to bring to trial by the end of March 2017. The 
others involved violations at Agribank, OceanBank, VietinBank, the Vietnam 
Waterway Construction Corporation and a public development fund in the northern 
province of Bac Ninh.

However, authorities have failed to bring these cases to a close.

The trial took place in the context of Vietnam's widening crackdown on 
corruption and malfeasance at the much-cosseted yet inefficient public sector.

But analysts say infrequent but harsh punishment can only serve as a deterrent 
to contain large-scale corruption in the short run. They say without a major 
overhaul of the state sector, which has proved a drag on a once-thriving 
economy, corruption will remain endemic.

"Evidence from all over the world suggests the death penalty is not a deterrent 
to grand corruption," said Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the University of 
New South Wales in Australia.

"The death penalty for high level corruption might win some publicity and 
approval from the public. But this feeling wears off when large scale 
corruption continues," Thayer said.

(source: vnexpress.net)








ENGLAND:

Letter to the editor: What has got to happen before the death penalty is 
restored?



In response to your regular correspondent Robert Readman in Monday's Echo (Aug 
14), he was appealing for the restoration of the death penalty, which I too 
would like to happen, but it will never happen. Why?

Before the recent elections I contacted our local MP Conor Burns and put the 
question to him, if you are restored to power will you consider the restoration 
of the death penalty.

I received a letter which stated that he is against it and has been for a long 
time.

He then went on to say that the government is clear that those who commit the 
most serious crime will receive the most severe sentences which as Mr Readman 
pointed out is a long stay in prison, life of luxury, all medical problems 
sorted out. In fact, total heaven.

So the question now comes, what has got to happen before the death penalty is 
restored?

Throughout the last few weeks there have been some horrific murders and the 
culprit will receive the luxury stay in prison for a few years and then be 
released so they can then carry out a greater crime.

I firmly believe the reason why the death penalty will never be restored is 
because the government is afraid of creating a martyr to a cause if a terrorist 
is ever executed.

But it should be remembered the death penalty is still carried out around the 
world, even in some Christian countries.

To back this up I have spoken to several strongly religious people - 
Christians, Catholics and Jehovah's Witnesses - and they all say the same 
thing. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

So, in concluding, I say to Mr Readman there are thousands of people in this 
country who strongly support his views but "weak and wet" politicians are 
frightened of creating a martyr of the executed felon. Just look at some of the 
sentences handed out in the local courts which appear in the Echo regularly. I 
sometimes have to sit down before I fall to the floor due to excessive laughing 
at the pitiful sentence handed out!

Graham Potter

Fletcher Road, Ensbury Park, Bournemouth

(source: Letter to the Editor, bournemouthecho.co.uk)