[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 13




IRAN----executions

5 Prisoners Executed In Western Iran



5 prisoners were executed at Kermanshah Central Prison on murder charges.

According to a close source, on the morning of Monday December 11, 5 prisoners 
were executed at Kermanshah Central Prison (Western Iran). All of the prisoners 
were sentenced to death on murder charges.

1 of the executed prisoners was identified as Keykavus Ashouri. He was arrested 
and sentenced to death 15 years ago.

The execution of these prisoners has not been announced by the state-run media 
so far.

According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 142 of the 
530 execution sentences in 2016 were implemented due to murder charges. There 
is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in 
issuing death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and 
intent.

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

Prisoner Scheduled To Be Executed in Public



A prisoner who was sentenced to public execution on the charge of murdering a 
police officer was transferred to solitary confinement.

According to a close source, a prisoner was transferred to solitary confinement 
in Isfahan Central Prison. The prisoner is charged with murdering a police 
officer, named Asghar Qezavi, while trafficking drugs in Naein (Fars Province) 
in April 2016. He was arrested and sentenced to public execution along with 4 
other people.

The execution is apparently going to be carried out publically in Naein on the 
next morning.

According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty 33 people 
have been executed in public in front of large crowds including children in 
2016. Public executions have been strongly criticized by Iranian human rights 
activists and sociologists.

(source for both: Iran Human Rights)

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

Iranian court upholds death penalty for researcher)



Human rights groups are reporting that Iran's Supreme Court has upheld the 
death sentence for a disaster medicine researcher, Ahmadreza Djalali. Amnesty 
International reported Tuesday that Djalali's lawyers have learned that the 
Supreme Court upheld the death sentence "in a summary manner without granting 
them an opportunity to file their defense submissions."

Djalali, an Iranian-born resident of Sweden, was arrested in April 2016 during 
an academic trip to Iran and convicted in October of spying in what Amnesty 
describes as a "grossly unfair" trial. In an August letter from Tehran's Evin 
Prison, Djalali wrote that he was arrested for his refusal to use his academic 
and other ties in Europe to spy for Iran. Djalali holds a Ph.D. in disaster 
medicine from the Karolinska Institute, in Sweden, and taught at the 
Universita` degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale, in Italy, and at Vrije 
Universiteit Brussel, in Belgium.

(source: insidehighered.com)








EGYPT:

MP introduces draft law stipulating death penalty for rapists of women, 
children



Aiming to limit incidences of rape and kidnapping against women and children, 
Member of Parliament Mona Monir has suggested amendments to Egypt's main penal 
code including the death penalty for perpetrators of such crimes.

Egypt Independent obtained a copy of the draft law on Tuesday.

The 1st suggested modification relates to rape and stipulates perpetrators of 
the crime should be sentenced to death as opposed to the current sentence of 
lifetime imprisonment.

The amendment suggests that if the perpetrator of the crime is a relative of 
the victim or works as a servant for her, the death penalty should be applied.

The draft law also suggests that the perpetrator of sexual assault against any 
person under 18, whether male or female, should receive the death penalty.

The draft law suggests that anyone found guilty of kidnapping a minor should 
also be sentenced to death or life in prison. A perpetrator of kidnapping who 
is a relative or guardian should immediately receive the death penalty.

"I strongly support the death penalty against those who commit kidnapping or 
rape crimes targeting female or male children or handicapped children[...]

Perpetrators should receive the death penalty without any opportunity of 
appeal," MP Mona Monir told Egypt Independent on Tuesday.

She added that the draft law has been introduced to the Egyptian parliament's 
legislative committee which is assigned to review it and decide a date for 
starting discussion.

Egypt's penal code does not include the death penalty as a first punishment for 
perpetrators of rape and kidnapping crimes against children, Monir explained, 
arguing that amendments are necessary.

Monir also argued that there has been a significant rise of incidences of rape 
and kidnapping of children and that the recent rape of a baby pushed her to 
call for the death penalty for such crimes against minors.

(source: Egypt Independent)








LEBANON:

Judge calls for death penalty for child who murdered father, 2 others



Beirut's First Investigative Judge Ghassan Oueidat Tuesday called for the death 
penalty in the case of a 15-year-old boy who killed 3 people, including his 
father, and attempted to murder 4 others.

Psychiatrist Dr. Mohammad al-Hashash said in a report that there was no 
evidence that the child, Ali Yunis, had mental health issues that would make 
him ineligible for trial.

In the early hours of Oct. 17, the decision read, the Internal Security Forces 
Beirut Operations Chamber contacted the Zoqaq al-Blat station about reports of 
gunfire in the Baghdadi alleyway near the area's Hosseiniyeh.

Yunis was later arrested for shooting multiple people with a 12-gauge automatic 
hunting rifle.

Yunis' victims were identified as his father, Mohammad Hussein Yunis, Mohammad 
Aadan al-Marabi and Mansur Ahmad Abd al-Salam. Those injured were identified as 
brothers Bassam, Mohammad and Ali Chehab and Salwa Hamad Mansur - the wife of 
the late Mansur Ahmad.

The coordinator of child protection NGO Himaya's legal unit, Basima Rummani, 
told The Daily Star that children cannot be sentenced to death in Lebanon.

"Lebanese law does not allow for minors to be sentenced to death at all, no 
matter what the scale of the crime they committed, the most they can be 
sentenced to is ... several years in prison," she said. "Will he be sentenced 
to death? No way. What kind of judge would call for the death penalty, even if 
it's an indictment, it's laughable," she added.

(source: The Daily Star)