[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 14




MYANMAR:

Myanmar Authorities Sentence Rohingya Man to Death for Attacks on Border Guards


Myanmar authorities have sentenced a Rohingya Muslim to die for leading and 
participating in militant attacks on border police stations that killed 9 
officers in Rakhine state's Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships four months ago, 
police officials said Monday.

Muhammad Nul, also known as Ula, received the sentence at the district court in 
Rakhine's capital Sittwe on Feb. 10 for intentional murder during a raid on 
Rathedaung's Kotankauk border post, police said.

The 23-year-old from Maungdaw's Kyautpyinsite village is 1 of 14 people police 
have charged in the attacks, but the only one so far to receive the death 
penalty, they said.

Trials are under way for the other 13 in special courtrooms in Maungdaw and 
neighboring Buthidaung township, though they have yet to be sentenced, lawyers 
said.

Myanmar has said those who carried out the attacks were militant Rohingya 
Muslims who had received training and financial support from Islamic extremists 
abroad.

The news comes as Myanmar police investigate allegations of human rights abuses 
against Rohingya Muslims who live in the areas where the border guard attacks 
occurred on Oct. 9, 2016.

More than 1,000 Rohingya are believed to have died in a subsequent security 
operation by Myanmar soldiers and border police in northern Rakhine state, 
while at least 66,000 Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, according 
to U.N. estimates.

Some Rohingya have accused the security forces of murder, torture, rape, and 
arson, prompting the U.N.'s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 
(OHCHR) to issue a report on Feb. 3 saying that the abuses indicate "the very 
likely commission of crimes against humanity."

The Myanmar government has denied allegations of abuse, but set up an 
investigation commission in December to look into the violence in northern 
Rakhine.

In an interim report in January, the commission said it had found no evidence 
of genocide or religious persecution of Rohingya Muslims living in the region, 
and that its probe of rape allegations had yielded insufficient evidence to 
take legal action.

On Friday, the commission set out on a 6-day fact-finding mission to the 
affected areas to investigate the U.N.???s allegations of human rights 
violations.

Other investigation teams

Last week the Myanmar military also created a team to investigate whether 
soldiers stationed in northern Rakhine used excessive force and committed human 
rights violations.

Myanmar's police have also set up a team of high-ranking officials to 
investigate the allegations of human rights abuse by security forces.

A statement issued by the home affairs ministry on Sunday said that if security 
force members violated human rights, they would be charged under police 
disciplinary law, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported.

The statement also said that action was being taken against officers who did 
not follow instructions, but gave no further details, the report said.

It was an apparent reference to a small group of police officers caught on 
video abusing Rohingya civilians in a village in Maungdaw during the security 
sweep early last November. Those involved in the incident were sentenced to 2 
months in prison.

(source: BenarNews)






BANGLADESH:

Pilots panic over death penalty in new aviation draft law


Pilots and aviation experts strongly criticised the Cabinet approved Civil 
Aviation Operation Act 2017 draft law which proposes death penalty for 
negligent or reckless operation of post-departure flights.

Though the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism claims the draft law has been 
formulated in accordance with the guidelines of International Civil Aviation 
Organisation (ICAO), pilots and aviation experts decry the ministry's claim, 
stating that the government has misrepresented the guidelines and that the 
draft law does not reflect ICAO rules.

Reactions of pilots range from panicked to enraged. A Biman Bangladesh Airlines 
pilot said: "As a pilot, I am scared, angry and sad about the approval of the 
draft law which proposes a death penalty punishment."

"This sort of punishment for obstructing aircraft operation is rare. These 
types of laws are not prevalent in any country of the world," he added.

Requesting anonymity, a pilot of a private airlines said other countries also 
consider accidents caused by negligence or reckless flight operation after the 
departure of a flight to be an offence. Yet no country in the world has a law 
whereby a pilot may face death penalty for such violations.

An aviation expert said the new draft law was disappointing for the industry 
and would certainly hamper the growth of aviation in the country.

Choosing anonymity, a senior Biman Bangladesh Airlines pilot said for the sake 
of the pilots, the government should immediately revise the draft law before it 
gains approval in parliament, especially since even road accident laws only 
require a maximum of 3 years imprisonment for reckless drivers.

He added that the pilots, who are the main stakeholders in this decision, had 
not been consulted before the law was drafted. Now that the draft law has been 
approved, parents will no longer encourage their sons or daughters to choose 
aviation as a career.

Several pilots, especially young, newly recruited ones, are fearful that if the 
law passes at parliament, they will have to find alternative jobs.

"The new draft law will definitely affect us. Now, we are fearful of even doing 
our day to day work. Perhaps it would be better if we leave our jobs or find 
alternative jobs," said an engineer of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, requesting 
anonymity.

A senior pilot of airlines said if the government did not revise the law, the 
pilots would have to express their anger and fear in a more formal manner.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)






IRAN:

4 prisoners in imminent danger of execution


At least 4 prisoners ain Rajai Shahr Prison have been transferred to solitary 
confinement in preparation for their executions. According to close sources, 
the prisoners were transferred on Saturday February 11. The prisoners have been 
identified as: Mir Mohammad Mousavi, Mohammad Abdi, Farzad Taghavi, Yousef 
Mohammadi. A close source has informed Iran Human Rights that the prisoners are 
on death row on murder charges.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

No plans to hang tycoon Zanjani in coming weeks


Judiciary spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, has denied reports on plans 
to execute Iranian businessman billionaire Babak Zanjani over the coming 5 
weeks.

Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has said that Zanjani will not be executed over the 
current Iranian calendar year (ending March 21), Fars news agency reported.

He further added that the country's intelligence ministry is still probing into 
the issue. Babak Zanjani was arrested in December 2013 after accusations that 
he withheld billions of oil revenues, channeled through his companies. Zanjani 
at the time denied the accusations.

Iranian judiciary has previously announced that the 42 year-old businessman was 
sentenced to death, pronouncing him guilty of fraud and economic crimes.

During the former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term, Zanjani reportedly 
played a key role in helping the country to bypass Western-imposed sanctions 
against Iran restricting the country's oil exports.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has criticized the death penalty saying the 
execution of the billionaire will mask the identity of senior officials who 
supported him.

(source: Trend News Agency)

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

Urgent Action


MAN ARRESTED AT 17 FACES IMMINENT EXECUTION

The execution of Hamid Ahmadi, an Iranian man arrested when he was just 17 
years old, has been rescheduled for 18 February. He continues to be held in 
solitary confinement in Lakan prison in the city of Rasht, northern Iran, 
further exacerbating his mental anguish.

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

* Urging the Iranian authorities to immediately halt any plans to execute Hamid 
Ahmadi, and immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a 
view to abolishing the death penalty;

* Urging them to ensure his conviction and sentence are quashed and he is 
granted a fair retrial in accordance with the principles of juvenile justice, 
without resort to the death penalty, in particular ensuring that no statements 
obtained through torture or other ill-treatment or without the presence of his 
lawyer are admitted as evidence;

* Calling them to ensure that his allegations of torture and other 
ill-treatment are investigated and that those responsible are held to account 
in trials that meet international fair trial standards;

* Urging them to amend Article 91 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code to completely 
abolish, without any discretion by the courts or other exceptions, the use of 
the death penalty for crimes committed by people below the age of 18, in line 
with Iran's obligations under international law.

Contact these 2 officials by 27 March, 2017:

Important note: Please do not forward this Urgent Action email directly to 
these officials. Instead of forwarding this email that you have received, 
please open up a new email message in which to write your appeals to each 
official. This will help ensure that your emails are not rejected. Thank you 
for your deeply valued activism!

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani

c/o Public Relations Office

Number 4, Deadend of 1 Azizi

Above Pasteur Intersection

Vali Asr Street, Tehran, Iran

Salutation: Your Excellency

Office of the Supreme Leader

Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Fax: (212) 867-7086
Phone: (212) 687-2020
Email: iran at un.int

Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei

Salutation: Your Excellency

(source: Amnesty International)






PHILIPPINES:

'Conscience vote' sought on death penalty bill


Pro-life advocates are seeking a conscience vote in the lower House on the 
proposal to revive the death penalty amid alleged arm-twisting to pass the 
bill.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman thinks pro-death penalty lawmakers don't have enough 
numbers backing the bill, which has pushed House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to 
threaten lawmakers to vote for the death penalty or risk losing their 
positions.

"I don't think they have the numbers to pass the measure so the Speaker has 
resorted to intimidation of house members particularly deputy speakers and 
committee chairs," Lagman said on Monday's episode of ANC's "Talkback."

"A conscience vote should be the priority not a party or pressure vote," he 
added.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier said that deputy speakers and committee 
chairpersons at the House of Representatives who will vote against the 
reimposition of the death penalty will be removed from their posts.

Alvarez, who has denied arm-twisting congressmen who will vote against the 
bill, also said PDP-Laban party-mates who would oppose the measure should 
resign from the party, asserting that as members of the supermajority in the 
House, they should as the main proponents of the bill.

Commissioner Karen Dumpit of the Commission on Human Rights agreed with Lagman, 
saying the vote could not just be dependent on a party stand since the bill 
concerns the right to life.

"This is about the life of the people, we cannot just go by a party line 
because this is very important. It's the right to life," she said.

House Justice Committee Chair Reynaldo Umali, on the other hand, argued for the 
necessity of the death penalty due to the growing number of crimes, a reason 
which Lagman dismissed as not compelling.

"Until we reform the criminal justice system there has something to be done, 
something bold to address the gravity of the crimes and growing criminality 
that is happening," Umali said.

Lagman said families of victims of heinous crimes do not wish for death to the 
perpetrators since vengeance is not justice.

Dumpit added that the Philippines, as a stakeholder to the "Second Optional 
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at 
the abolition of the death penalty" has an obligation to honor its provisions.

"That is an international commitment that we are bound to honor because it is a 
legal obligation," she said.

Umali responded that despite such a commitment, the country can still implement 
the death penalty anew.

"A treaty cannot be better than our Constitution that allows it," Umali said.

(source: abs-cbn.com)

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

14 senators block Palace move to withdraw from treaty vs death penalty


In a resolution filed on Monday, 14 senators virtually blocked a Palace move to 
withdraw from an international agreement to clear the way for the passage of a 
bill reviving death penalty in the country.

The resolution expressed the sense of the Senate that any move to withdraw from 
any treaty that had been concurred in by the Senate will not be valid without 
their concurrence, as stipulated by the Constitution.

Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon said, "This is in recognition of 
the right of the Senate to participate in the withdrawal of a treaty, because 
the Senate concurrence is required in the approval of the treaty. A treaty that 
is approved by the Senate becomes part of the law of the land, and any repeal 
of any treaty by a withdrawal should also require the concurrence of the 
Senate," Drilon said.

Drilon said that 14 senators signed Senate Resolution No. 289 titled 
"Resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that termination of, or 
withdrawal from, treaties and international agreements concurred in by the 
Senate shall be valid and effective only upon concurrence by the Senate."

Besides Drilon, those who signed the resolution are Senate Majority Leader 
Vicente Sotto III, Minority Leader Ralph Recto, Senators Benigno Aquino IV, 
Leila De Lima, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Loren 
Legarda, Miguel Zubiri, Gregorio Honasan, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Juan Edgardo 
Angara and Joel Villanueva.

"The power to bind the Philippines by a treaty and international agreement is 
vested jointly by the Constitution in the President and the Senate," the 
resolution said. "A treaty or international agreement ratified by the President 
and concurred in by the Senate becomes part of the law of the land and may not 
be undone without the shared power that put it into effect," the resolution 
added.

Drilon further explained that the resolution is just formalizing the approval 
on the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) treaty.

"When we ratified the treaty there, we included a provision there that says 
that any withdrawal should have the Senate concurrence, and that was approved. 
So we are just reiterating and formalizing the resolution," Drilon said.

According to news reports, Malacanang Palace is now moving for the country's 
withdrawal from the Second Option Protocol to the International Convention on 
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which hinders deliberations on the death 
penalty law.

"Well, that is a legal position that the 14 senators have taken: that any 
withdrawal from any treaty should require the concurrence of the Senate. But it 
is argued by those who opposed the death penalty that in fact, the Philippines 
cannot withdraw from that Second Protocol," Drilon stressed.

Drilon, former justice secretary, said that the Constitution explicitly 
delegated to the Senate the power to concur any international treaty and 
agreement entered into by the Executive Department.

"When we concur in a treaty, it becomes part of the law of the land. The 
concurrence of the Senate is required to make the treaty effective and 
therefore any withdrawal should have the concurrence of the Senate," Drilon 
said.

"Let me repeat that a similar provision was already approved by the Senate in 
the concurrence in the treaty wherein the Philippines agreed to become a member 
of the AIIB," he added.

(source: interaksyon.com)