[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 20



IRAN----executions

3 Prisoners Hanged in Qom----They were sentenced to death about 21 years ago 
based on the Judge's opinion rather than actual documented evidence.



3 prisoners were reportedly hanged at Qom Central Prison on murder charges. The 
case files for these prisoners were reportedly opened about 21 years ago.

According to a report by the human rights news agency, HRANA, the Iranian 
authorities carried out the 3 executions on the morning of Tuesday August 15. 
The report identifies the prisoners as Mahmoud Arab Khorasani, Mehdi Kaseb, and 
Mohammad Taghi Dehparvar. The prisoners were reportedly transferred to solitary 
confinement on Sunday August 13 in preparation for their executions.

"These three prisoners were sentenced to death about 21 years ago based on the 
Judge's opinion rather than actual documented evidence," an informed source 
tells Iran Human Rights. "21 years ago, 2 of the prisoners had their death 
sentences commuted to lashings and a 3-year prison term each. However, they 
were tried again and sentenced to death."

Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and the state-run media, have 
not announced these 3 executions.

(source: Iran Human Rights)








BANGLADESH:

10 get death penalty for attempted assassination of Bangladesh PM Hasina----The 
convicts had hatched the plot to kill Hasina in 2000 by planting a high-powered 
explosive device



10 militants were on Sunday sentenced to death and 9 others jailed for 20 years 
each by a court in Bangladesh for attempting to assassinate Prime Minister 
Sheikh Hasina in 2000.

The convicts had hatched the plot to kill Hasina in 2000 by planting a 
high-powered explosive device in an open ground at her village home in 
southwestern Gopalganj where she was scheduled to address a public rally.

Security officials, however, detected the bomb ahead of the rally.

On further investigation, outlawed Harkatul Jihad-e- Islami Bangladesh (HuJI) 
chief Mufti Hannan, who was executed earlier this year in another case 
involving the attempted assassination of the then Bangladeshi-origin British 
High Commissioner, was found to be the mastermind of the plot.

25 suspects had been accused in the Special Powers Act case. Nine received 20 
years in prison and were fined 20,000 taka each, while 4 were acquitted.

"They (convicts) will be executed either by hanging or by shooting with 
permission of the High Court," Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 judge Mamtaz 
Begum said.

Only 8 of the accused faced the trial in person while the rest were sentenced 
in absentia.

Under the Bangladesh law, the death sentences would require being endorsed by 
the High Court following an automatic death reference hearing. The convicts are 
allowed to file an appeal as well.

The judgement comes even as a Dhaka court nears the end of a trial regarding 
another major assassination attempt on Hasina while she was the opposition 
leader as the chief of the Awami League in 2004.

An influential group of the then ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of 
ex-premier Khaleda Zia is believed to have masterminded the plot, which they 
had engaged HuJI to execute.

Hasina narrowly escaped the attack that killed 23 people and injured hundreds.

BNP leader and Zia's son Tarique Rahman is being tried in the case in absentia 
as a prime accused.

"The verdict of the case is expected by the year end," a court official 
familiar with the development said.

(source: business-standard.com)

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

Bangabandhu's grandson Radwan Mujib says he was surprised by law to protect 
killers



It came as quite a shock to Radwan Mujib Siddiq, when he was told by his family 
that there was a law in the country protecting the killers of his grandfather 
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Bangladesh's founding father was assassinated with most of his family members 
in a military putsch 42 years ago.

Bangabandhu's 2 daughters, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana were 
in Germany when they lost their whole family in the carnage on Aug 15, 1975.

Siddiq, the son of Rehana, says he knew about it in 1986 when he was attending 
preschool in Dhaka.

"I was quite surprised...how can it be a law," he told a group of students and 
professionals on Saturday at a seminar in Dhaka.

He was addressing the seminar, 'Bangabandhu Murder Case: Journey, 
Accomplishments and Remaining Challenges' organised by the Awami League's 
research arm Centre for Research and Information or CRI.

After the assassination, Khandaker Mostaq Ahmad, a cabinet minister under 
Bangabandhu, took over the presidency and on Sep 26, 1975 promulgated the 
indemnity ordinance.

Later it was incorporated into the constitution as the Fifth Amendment in 1979, 
after reconstitution of parliament during the rule of military dictator Ziaur 
Rahman.

The amendment also legalised all military rules and orders given during the 
period of Aug 15, 1975 to Apr 9, 1979.

The 12 army men involved in the killings had been rewarded with jobs in 
diplomatic missions abroad during BNP founder Zia's regime.

"In 1986, my family moved to Dhaka and I was admitted at a kindergarten school 
in Banani, but was shifted to another school soon after," Siddiq said recalling 
his childhood memories.

"When I asked my mother why, her answer was the killers' sons went to the same 
school. I was told about the law when I asked how murderers can roam free?"

Recalling that children of his age then did not know anything about 
Bangabandhu, he said, "Our family never hides history. So we were briefed about 
the brutality."

He added that he could not even speak about his grandfather in school for 
security reasons.

21 years after the killing of the independence leader, a trial began when the 
Awami League formed the government in 1996.

In November of the same year, the parliament repealed the Act paving the way 
for the prosecution of the killers.

12 people were awarded the death penalty for the assassination. In 2010, 5 of 
the convicts were executed while 1 died as a fugitive abroad. 6 others are 
still absconding, including 1 of the masterminds, Abdur Rashid.

Convicts M Rashed Chowdhury and Noor Chowdhury have been traced to the US and 
Canada. The government says the process to bring them back is on.

Prosecutors and investigators of the Bangabandhu murder case, legal academics 
and senior journalists spoke at Saturday's seminar at the premises of the 
Bangabandhu Memorial Museum.

Law Minister Anisul Huq, who was the chief prosecutor of Bangabandhu murder 
case, was the keynote speaker at the seminar moderated by Mizanur Rahman, 
former chief of Human Rights Commission.

The panelists included Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, 
Awami League MP Fazilatunnesa Bappy, Chairman of Centre for Genocide Studies at 
the Dhaka University Delwar Hossain, and Executive Editor of Daily Janakantha 
Swadesh Roy.

Trustee of CRI and State Minister Nasrul Hamid, Bangabandhu Memorial Trust CEO 
Mashura Hossain, and Bangabandhu Museum's Curator Nazrul Islam Khan also spoke 
at the seminar.

(source: bd news24.com)








PAKISTAN:

Murder accused gets death penalty



Additional Sessions Judge Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali on Saturday awarded death 
penalty to an accused involved in a murder case of 2 people.

According to the prosecution, accused Waseem, Abid and their accomplices had 
shot dead Hanif and Shahid Guhman over a minor issue in Bina Baryar village in 
the limits of Sadar police 3 years ago.

The court awarded death sentence and Rs 500,000 fine to accused Waseem and life 
imprisonment and Rs 500,000 fine to co-accused Abid. The court acquitted other 
accused giving them the benefit of the doubt.

(source: thenews.com.pk)








MOROCCO:

415 people, including 14 Convicted for Terrorism



On the King and the People day celebration, King Mohammed VI granted a royal 
pardon to 415 persons convicted by the various courts of the kingdom, said the 
Department of Justice in a statement.

Out of the 343 detained beneficiaries of the pardon, 337 inmates benefited from 
the pardon over their remaining prison term and 6 inmates had their prison 
sentences commuted from life imprisonment to fixed prison terms.

In addition, among the 72 free beneficiaries of the royal pardon, 14 people 
benefited from pardon over their imprisonment term, 1 person had his prison 
sentence dropped and fine maintained and another person benefited from pardon 
over his prison term and fine, while 56 people had their fines dropped.

King Mohammed VI also granted his pardon over the remaining prison term for the 
benefit of 13 detainees, sentenced for terror charges and who participated in 
the "Mussalaha" (reconciliation) program.

He has also commuted death penalty to a 30-year fixed prison term for the 
benefit of 1 convict who was also involved in the Mussalaha program.

The royal pardons came as a response to the requests made by the people 
concerned, after they officially expressed their attachment to the Morocco's 
"immutable values and national institutions, reviewed their positions and 
thinking, voiced their rejection of extremism and terrorism and affirmed that 
they resumed the right path, while showing good conduct in prison," said the 
department of justice.

During the Throne day celebration on July 30, the king granted a royal pardon 
to 1,272 persons who were convicted by Moroccan courts.

(source: moroccoworldnews.com)