[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

jan. 15




CHINA:

China to formulate judicial exclusionary rule of illegal evidence


China will formulate and issue a judicial interpretation on the throwing out of 
illegally-obtained evidence.

At a meeting attended by the heads of higher people's courts nationwide on 
Saturday, courts were asked to implement policies regarding the death penalty.

They were told to learn from the case of Nie Shubin, an innocent man who was 
wrongfully executed over 20 years ago.

Stricter punishments will be given to crimes of murder, robbery, kidnapping, 
women trafficking and telecom fraud, according to the meeting.

Violations in the securities market will also be handled according to law, and 
more should be done to educate minors involved in school bullying, it was 
stressed at the meeting.

The courts were also called to intensify the analysis and study of the root 
causes of corruption and loopholes in the supervision system to improve 
anti-corruption systems.

Chinese courts at all levels received over 23 million cases in 2016 and 
concluded the trial or enforcement of about 19.8 million cases, statistics 
revealed at the meeting showed.

(source: ecns.cn)






INDIA:

President converts 4 tribals' death sentences to life terms


President Pranab Mukherjee has disposed of all mercy petitions of death 
penalties pending before him till date. The latest was the case of Bara 
massacre accused of Gaya district, where 32 Bhumihar Brahmins were killed by 
the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), a banned outfit.

President Pranab Mukherjee has disposed of all mercy petitions of death 
penalties pending before him till date. The latest was the case of Bara 
massacre accused of Gaya district, where 32 Bhumihar Brahmins were killed by 
the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), a banned outfit. In 2001, Krishna Mochi 
along with 3 others, Nanhe Lal Mochi, Bir Kuer Paswan and Dharmendra Sing, 
alias Dharu Sing, were awarded capital punishments by a sessions court in 
connection with the massacre.

They were tried under the provisions of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities 
(Prevention) Act. In 2002, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty by a 
majority of 2:1 in a 3-judge Bench. Justice M B Shah differed from the view of 
the majority. He acquitted Sing and commuted the death sentences of the 3 
others to life.

All the 4 convicts have been lodged at Bhagalpur Central Jail. Their mercy 
petitions were dispatched from the jail on March 2, 2003. Since then, it was 
pending with the Union Home Ministry. Only in the month of August last year, 
the Home Ministry sent the mercy petition to President Mukherjee for his 
consideration.

The President sought legal opinion on the matter because of a recent landmark 
judgment of the Apex Court which overturned an earlier judgment and drew a 
distinction between murders related to terrorism and other kinds of murders.

After considering the merit of the case carefully, the President endorsed the 
view of the dissenting judge except for the acquittal of the accused. In the 
month of January this year, the President reduced the death sentences of those 
convicts to life imprisonment. This was the last mercy petition pending before 
him. During his tenure, President Mukherjee has accepted 4 mercy petitions and 
rejected 28.

Among them were high profile cases including dreaded Pakistan terrorists Ajmal 
Kasab, Yakub Abdul Razak Memon and Afzal Guru of Jammu and Kashmir which drew 
international interest and was debated widely.

(source: milleniumpost.in)

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

Budding lawyers debate sedition and death penalty at moot court


The classrooms were converted into courts, the students were public prosecutors 
and counsels, the judges were senior advocates of Supreme Court and the High 
Court.

Though it was a moot court organised at Delhi University's Campus Law Centre, 
the temperament of the court proceeding was nothing less than those in real 
courts.

Delhi University's Campus Law Centre organised the 13th K.K. Luthra moot court 
on the law of sedition and the propriety of death penalty as a punishment for 
the offence.

The 3-day event that lasts till Sunday has students from 75 colleges 
participating from across the country and abroad. The final result of the 
competition will be declared on Sunday.

On Saturday, there were Toby Chandler, Sorcha Dervin and Kieran Freear from 
Bristol University in the shoes of public prosecutor defending the state and 
against them were students of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law in 
Patiala, Mittul Singh Rana, KS Roshan and Vikram Choudhary.

The budding lawyers from Punjab submitted before the court that Article 124A 
which advocates that whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, 
or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into 
hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards state 
shall be punished, should be struck down. They gave examples of how sedition 
was invoked on a great leader like Mahatama Gandhi.

In March 1922, Gandhi was tried before Mr Broomfield, District & Sessions Judge 
of Ahmedabad, for sedition in respect of two articles, which he had written in 
his paper "Young India".

Basing their argument on the theme - dissent is essence of democracy - they 
said that freedom of speech means that right to say things which some people 
regard as dangerous, a robust and nature democracy should be expected to absorb 
unpalatable ideas without prosecuting them.

Enacting the role of public prosecutor, the students from Bristol University 
said that any act that leads to violence needs to be contained.

They said that if an act of delivering speech, calling for supporters to break 
government into pieces and burning public property are in pursuant of the 
common intention to overthrow the government and should be dealt harshly, 
according to the law of land.

(source: Hindustan Times)

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

In his new book, Gopalkrishna Gandhi turns every possible stone to attain a 
fine understanding of the history of death penalty in India, voicing the 
concerns of abolitionists, writes Keith A. Gomes.

Abolition of the Death Penalty

By Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Publisher: Aleph Book Company

Pages: 124

Price: Rs 399

Former governor of West Bengal, diplomat, professor of history and politics at 
the Ashoka University, and student of English literature, Gopalkrishna Gandhi 
has recently written a book-length essay, published by Aleph Book Company. The 
essay is titled Abolishing the Death Penalty: Why India Should Say No To 
Capital Punishment, and deals with the distressing subject of where a state 
stands when it declares the time of one's death as a punishment. The book can 
be approached in 2 key ways. First via impression: by what it impresses upon 
the mind and thus evokes within the reader in sentimental terms. Secondly, it 
can be approached via inference: drawing an understanding from all that Gandhi 
has put into 1 essay. Either ways, the one critical statement within the text 
is, "Birth and death happen; murder is committed" (p.12).

The death penalty has been observed by many thinkers as "judicial murder", and 
especially so by the law. But Gandhi turns to Shakespeare's Hamlet and 
concludes murder as being nothing other than "a thing most foul". His work 
divides itself into varieties as per its form; it can be considered an argument 
drawn at length, yet not seeming like an argument at all. It can be considered 
an encyclopedia of murder due to the prolific collection of data over the 
matter; he reaches with his palms to the writings of George Orwell, Thomas De 
Quincy and Albert Camus, the paintings on the death of Socrates, the final 
words of those implicated in the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham 
Lincoln, and the ideas of Bhagat Singh which border into political theory. It 
can also be understood as a congenial expression, in its attempts to reach a 
certain and stable truth as to what murder can truly imply when decreed by the 
body of the law.

, "Abolishing the Death Penalty as a well researched and voraciously analytical 
essay displays a movement from insight to foresight. From the beginning through 
the very heart of the text, all information is gathered and then it is 
observed, studied and analysed by Gandhi until he is able to provide a stable 
understanding to the reader."

The work is finely divided into chapters where each one tries to hold down a 
facet over the matter of death penalties and begins with the updated 
information about those nations which have abolished the death penalty and 
those nations which still retain it: nations like the USA, India, Pakistan and 
China. His approach to the matter is much organised, since he tries to treat 
the available knowledge in terms of its cause and its effect. He explains that 
the main cases in which the death penalty is carried out are murder and 
treason/terrorism. The book demarcates that in India the "rarest of rare" 
crimes deal out the death penalty and that a lot of focus is laid on these 
cases. The entire process of how the death penalty is carried out and who all, 
including the President and the government, are involved is clearly explained. 
Gandhi has put in the meticulous effort of enumerating some of the better-known 
Presidents of India and how their response has been to the death penalty - 
President Radhakrishnan was an abolitionist, and so were Kalam and Patil who 
were disinclined to mete out the death penalty.

Gandhi also shows sensitivity in his essay as he tries to understand the 
response mechanism of those who are victims or are related to the victims. He 
tries to wear their shoes and speak out their own woes, like Nirbhaya's family. 
He realises the necessary need for retribution, another matter which becomes a 
key subject for discussion. Through this extended essay, matters like 
retribution, are not simply understood for their objective reality but also 
just as well for their psychological scaffolding. The study of retribution 
gathers much appeal as it takes one further into understanding the conditions 
of power: the fact that the judicial body carries out the need of a mass which 
seeks justice and must be pacified. Thus, what Gandhi pays attention to in his 
essay is his pace; he treads carefully around the quagmire of deep and 
troubling matters and gives time to assessing his own awareness of various 
topical issues.

Abolishing the Death Penalty, as a well researched and voraciously analytical 
essay, displays a movement from insight to foresight. From the beginning 
through the very heart of the text, all information is gathered and then it is 
observed, studied and analysed by Gandhi until he is able to provide a stable 
understanding to the reader. And it is in the final 2 chapters that he gives us 
a final word of his position, his grounds for arguing and his prophetic message 
of India's choice. Gandhi states that he is a 100% abolitionist and he argues 
for abolition on grounds of human rights to life, right to self-defense against 
battery, assault, homicide and murder. He also adds to this a very well argued 
"plain truth" which is based on the purpose of punishment, he says that one of 
the purposes of punishment is the experiential outcome of the punishment 
wherein the criminal is able to learn from the experience of the punishment. 
This clearly cannot happen in the case of capital punishment since once death 
takes place there is no space for thought let alone learning. Gandhi makes 
clear that India shall not turn abolitionist due to one reason only: its 
sovereignty.

In this work, Gopalkrishna Gandhi has attempted to lay out, for an average 
reader, the fierce debate over a grave matter, which has been taking place for 
decades and has a vast history. As we read, the realisation, that there are 
many who fight for the life of strangers, some of whom are severe criminals, on 
the grounds of humanity, settles in. A noble endeavor undertaken by Gandhi in 
this essay makes for a reading full of knowledge and awakening.

(source: sundayguardianlive.com)






BAHRAIN----executions

Bahrain executes 3 Shiites in 1st capital punishment since 2010


3 Shiites convicted for being involved in a deadly police bombing in 2014 that 
killed 1 Emirati and 2 Bahraini officers have been executed in Bahrain.

The executions come less than a week after the Court of Cassation - the 
country's highest - has confirmed the death sentences originally handed out to 
the 3 suspects in 2015.

As a result of fears the authorities may go through with the sentences, 
hundreds of Bahrainis took to the streets in protest in capital Manama on 
Saturday. Word spread quickly over social media after the parents of the 3 were 
summoned to the prison to see their loved ones, Reuters reports.

The attack of March 3, 2014 saw 3 policemen killed while dispersing a protest 
in the village of Daih, west of the capital, when the attack took place.

The 3 men convicted in 2015 - Abbas al-Samea, Sami Mushaima and Ali al-Singace 
??? have continued to maintain their innocence, and have had rights groups 
speaking on their behalf, alleging that their original confessions had been 
obtained under torture.

Executions are normally rare in the Western-allied kingdom, and are mainly 
aimed at suppressing dissent by the Shia minority that fights Sunni 
discrimination.

Although Bahrain denies the use of torture, its famed human rights activist 
Nabeel Rajab alleges he was a victim of the tactic in his several stints in 
prison for speaking up against the government.

As recently as 2 weeks ago, Rajab had been released from prison, before being 
taken back within hours.

Human rights groups have reported on the plight of dissenters in Bahrain, 
particularly in the aftermath of the 2011-12 government crackdowns. Allan 
Hogarth, Amnesty International's head of policy and government affairs, said 
last November that the Gulf Kingdom is continuing its "shocking crackdown on 
protesters."

The organization has also recently criticized the British government for 
praising Bahrain for improving its human rights situation through reforms that 
Amnesty has referred to as "woefully inadequate." They include 2 UK-supported 
Bahraini institutions created in the wake of the 2012 crackdown that Amnesty 
calls a "PR exercise."

"5 years after Bahrain's shocking crackdown on protesters, its peaceful human 
rights activists are still being jailed after unfair trials. Yet, to listen to 
UK ministers, one would think the country had long ago turned a corner and put 
these human rights abuses behind it," Hogarth said.

(source: rt.com)

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

First executions in more than 6 years a shocking blow to human rights


In response to the execution today of 3 men accused of killing 3 police 
officers in Bahrain Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Campaigns in 
Beirut, Samah Hadid said:

"This is a dark day for human rights in Bahrain. These executions - the 1st to 
be carried out since 2010 - are a deeply regressive step for a country whose 
authorities' have repeatedly trumpeted their commitment to human rights.

"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and 
the fact that this execution was carried out after an unfair trial and despite 
claims from the men that they were tortured in custody makes this news even 
more shocking. Instead of stepping up executions Bahrain's authorities should 
establish an immediate moratorium on executions and work on abolishing the 
death penalty once and for all."

On 9 January Bahrain's Court of Cassation in Bahrain upheld death sentences for 
Ali Abdulshaheed al-Sankis, Sami Mirza Mshaima' and Abbas Jamil Taher Mhammad 
al-Samea. It also upheld life sentences against 7 others and the revocation of 
the nationality of 8 of them. All 10 men were convicted following an unfair 
trial in relation to the March 2014 killing of 3 policemen.

(source: Amnesty International)

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

Bahrainis protest against death penalty for anti-regime demonstrators


People have taken to the streets of two Bahraini villages to denounce a latest 
court ruling that upheld death sentences against 3 anti-regime demonstrators.

The protests, called by Bahraini clerics, took place in the northern villages 
of Abu Saiba and Shakhurah on Saturday, the website of Bahrain's LuaLua TV 
reported.

The demonstrators were holding placards reading, "No to execution" and "We are 
not afraid of execution."

In a statement, Bahraini clerics had earlier called on people to take part in 
Saturday's "demonstration of rage" in a bid to save the lives of innocent 
youths facing death in an unfair trial.

On January 9, Bahrain's Court of Cassation found Sami Mushaima, Abbas Jamil 
Tahir al-Sami' and Ali Abdulshahid al-Singace guilty of killing a member of 
Emirati forces assisting Manama in its suppression of Bahraini protesters in 
the northern village of al-Daih back in March 2014. The defendants have denied 
the charge.

The court also sentenced 7 other defendants to life imprisonment and stripped 8 
others of their nationality.

Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch released its 2017 world report, accusing 
Bahrain of having stepped up its suppression of activists and those critical of 
the Manama regime's conduct in 2016.

On Thursday, the New York-based rights organization accused Bahraini 
authorities of having prevented several activists from leaving the island and 
deporting 6 nationals after arbitrarily stripping them of their citizenship.

Home to US Navy's 5th Fleet, Bahrain has witnessed a wave of anti-regime 
demonstrations since mid-February 2011.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded or detained 
amid Manama's ongoing crackdown on dissent and widespread discrimination 
against the country's Shia majority.

(source: Albawaba News)






IRAN----executions

26 Prisoners Including 2 Women Hanged


In the last few days, at least 26 people, including 2 women, were reportedly 
executed in various Iranian prisons.

14 PRISONERS EXECUTED

According to close sources, at least 14 prisoners were reportedly hanged at 
Karaj Central Prison on Saturday January 14 on drug related charges. Iran Human 
Rights has obtained the names of 10 of these prisoners: Mohammad Soleimani, Ali 
Ebadi, Ali Reza Moradi, Majid Badarloo, Omid Garshasebi, Ali Yousefi, Seyed Ali 
Sorouri, Ebrahim Jafari, Ali Mohammad Lorestani, and Mohsen Jelokhani.

12 of these prisoners were reportedly transferred to solitary confinement on 
the morning of Sunday January 8 in preparation for their executions. In a 
recent joint statement, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on 
Iranian authorities to halt these executions. Iran Human Rights had also 
released a statement calling on the Iranian authorities to halt these 
executions.

According to a family member of 1 of the executed prisoners, 2 women were among 
these prisoners. They were reportedly transferred from Gharchak Prison to Karaj 
Central Prison for execution. The names of the 2 women are not known at this 
time.

AT LEAST 5 PRISONERS EXECUTED

At least 5 prisoners were reportedly executed at Karaj's Rajai Shahr Prison on 
Saturday January 14. According to close sources, these prisoners were sentenced 
to death on murder and Moharebeh (enmity against God) charges. Iran Human 
Rights has obtained the names of four of these prisoners: Siamak Shafiee, 
Abouzar Alijani, Saeed Teymouri, and Reza Naghizadeh.

1 PRISONER EXECUTED

On Thursday January 12, a prisoner was reportedly hanged at Hamedan Central 
Prison on drug related charges. Iran Human Rights has identified the prisoner 
as 37-year-old Babak Asghari.

"Babak was arrested in July 2011 and was sentenced to death in May 2013 for 
possession and trafficking of 4 kilograms of crystal meth and 3 kilograms of 
hash," a confirmed source tells Iran Human Rights.

AT LEAST 3 PRISONERS EXECUTED

According to the human rights news agency, HRANA, at least 3 prisoners were 
hanged at Qazvin's central prison on Thursday January 12. HRANA has identified 
1 of the prisoners as Akbar Kabiri, sentenced to death on drug related charges. 
The names and charges of the 2 other prisoners are not known at this time.

2 PRISONERS EXECUTED

According to a report by Iranian state-run media, IRIB, 2 prisoners were hanged 
at Rasht's central prison on Saturday January 14 on drug related charges. The 
report does not identify the names of the prisoners, but mentions other details 
about them. One of the prisoners was identified as 31 years old, charged with 
trafficking 2 kilograms of crystal meth. The other prisoner was reportedly 
charged with trafficking 1 kilogram and 766 grams of crystal meth.

1 PRISONER EXECUTED

According to the Iranian state-run media, Rokna, a prisoner was hanged at a 
prison in the city of Sari on Wednesday January 12 on murder charges. The 
report does not identify the name of the prisoner, but cites the age of the 
prisoner as 21 years.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

French Organization Calls for a Boycott of Iran Regime's Football


A French organization called for total boycott of Iranian regime's football 
because of the regime carrying out executions in football stadiums. The request 
was sent to the International Football Federation (FIFA) and the FIFA's 
secretary general has also supported the call.

According to state-run ISNA news agency, on January 12, French news site SOfoot 
wrote that FIFA has recently added an article (provision) to its statutes 
emphasizing on human rights according to which the organization will deal with 
countries that implement death penalty in sports stadiums.

The name of Iran regime is included in the FIFA's report as a country that 
carries out death penalty in sport stadiums. In recent years, a number of 
executions by hanging have been carried out in sport stadiums in Iran. However, 
a death penalty carried out in the football stadium in Neyriz in Fars province 
(southern Iran) on September 22, 2016, was reported to FIFA.

In this regard, the human rights organization ECPM in France, protesting 
implementation of death penalties in sport stadiums in Iran, has sent a letter 
to Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, to inform him about executions in sport 
(football) stadiums. The human rights organization particularly called on FIFA 
to boycott Iranian regime and remove the regime football from the international 
competitions.

Raphael Chenuil-Hazan, director of ECPM, in his letter to FIFA's president 
wrote: "FIFA cannot ignore this behaviour. If I was a player, I would not play 
(football) in a place where a human being is executed."

Following the letter, FIFA has finally reacted to these events and Fatima 
Samoura, FIFA's secretary general, in a letter responded: "...FIFA condemns any 
such action which by its nature fundamentally violates the dignity inherent to 
every human being. In this regard, I am committed to raise this topic in my 
future exchange with Iran Football Federation ... We will prevent such actions 
through our programs...."

"According to Article 3 of our statues, FIFA is committed to respect 
internationally recognized human rights and promote protection of these rights. 
These commitment included efforts to prevent such actions that have adverse 
human rights impacts," she added.

(source: NCR-Iran)






IRAQ:

Iraqi court convicts 47 Hashd al-Shaabi memebrs of charges including murde


47 members of the mainly Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary were convicted for 
murder, kidnappings and possessions of weapons in Iraqi court, a top Iraqi 
judge announced.

Majid al-Aaraji, head of Iraq's Central Criminal Court, said that their 
sentences ranged between the death penalty, life imprisonment and 15 years 
imprisonment.

The media office for the Iraqi court told Rudaw on Thursday that these cases 
did not all happen in 2016, but since the foundation of the paramilitary force 
in 2014.

"The Central Criminal Court issued verdicts against 47 defendants from the 
Hashd al-Shaabi after they were convicted of murder, kidnapping and possession 
of weapons," Aaraji told reporters in a press conference in Baghdad this week.

Amnesty International accused the paramilitary, also known as the Popular 
Mobilization Units, of human rights violations earlier this month.

"Since June 2014, Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) militias have 
extra-judicially executed or otherwise unlawfully killed, tortured and abducted 
thousands of men and boys," Amnesty said.

Hashd al-Shaabi denied the accusations, accusing the rights organizations of 
having hidden agenda funded by foreign parties.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced in late October that his 
government does not tolerate human rights violations in battlefields.

"We will not allow violations of human rights," he said via videoconference 
during an international meeting hosted in Paris to discuss the future of Mosul, 
2 days before the launch of the offensive. "So we have set up investigation 
committees. We have brought some people to trial, some of them for violations 
of human rights during the course of battles."

The PMU were created in June 2014 when Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, Iraq's 
highest Shiite religious authority, called for able-bodied men to join the 
fight against ISIS.

In December the Iraqi parliament approved a law recognizing Hashd al-Shaabi as 
an official force under the umbrella of the army.

(source: rudaw.net)