[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 3



TAIWAN:

Supreme Court upholds death for man convicted of double murder and rape


The father and husband of 2 women killed by Huang Lin-kai speaks to reporters 
outside the Supreme Court in Taipei yesterday.

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the death sentence for Huang Lin-kai, who 
was convicted of the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, 
saying the "enormity of his crimes" preclude any chances of rehabilitation.

Yesterday's ruling was the 1st time this year that the Supreme Court upheld a 
sentence for capital punishment, as judges in the lower courts are increasingly 
reluctant to hand out the death penalty.

Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted of the rape and 
murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang, and of killing her mother, after 
breaking into their house on Oct. 1, 2013.

Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the 
motives behind the double homicide.

The Supreme Court upheld Huang's death sentence for killing his ex-girlfriend, 
in addition to the life imprisonment sentence without the possibility of parole 
that he received for killing her mother.

The nation's top court said that while Huang's murder of the mother was 
cold-blooded, it was an unpremeditated crime and did not meet the legal 
requirements for capital punishment.

However, after Huang murdered the mother, he waited in the residence for an 
hour before ambushing Wang to commit premeditated rape and murder, as evidenced 
by the mask and rope he brought with him, the court said.

"Huang planned meticulously for his strangling of the woman, surnamed Wang. 
Prior to killing Wang, Huang committed the additional crime of forcible sexual 
intercourse. The inhumanity and enormity of his crimes give the judges of the 
panel no option but to pronounce a death sentence," it said.

The husband and father of the murder victims told reporters: "I hope they shoot 
him soon and stop wasting food."

The Huang family had paid no damages to him or his 3 surviving daughters, the 
husband said, accusing the Huang family of liquidating their assets to avoid 
liabilities incurred by civil lawsuits.

(source: Taipei Times)






INDIA:

'Delay in execution of death row convict is dehumanising'


Delay in the execution of a death row convict after his capital punishment has 
been confirmed by the highest judicial forum, torments the prisoner, has a 
dehumanising effect on him and violates the law, the Delhi High Court has said.

"As between funeral fire and mental worry, it is the latter which is more 
devastating, for, funeral fire burns only the dead body while mental worry 
burns the living one," a bench of Justices G S Sistani and Vinod Goel said 
while referring to former Supreme Court judge K Jagannatha Shetty's observation 
in a similar matter.

The bench, in its judgement, commuted to life term the capital punishment 
awarded to 31-year-old Sonu Sardar in a case relating to the murder of 5 
persons including 2 children in November 2004 in Chhattisgarh.

It set aside the President of India's and Chhattisgarh Governor's orders 
rejecting the mercy plea, but made it clear that "life imprisonment means (till 
the) end of one's life".

Noting that there was a delay of about 3 years in the process of adjudicating 
the convict's mercy petition, the bench said "there can be no doubt that it is 
incumbent upon the executive to expedite the process at every stage."

The President had rejected Sardar's mercy petition on May 5, 2014 and the 
Governor in April 2013.

"Once the sentence of death has been confirmed by the final judicial forum, any 
hope of acquittal which might be lingering on in the mind of the condemned 
prisoner is foreclosed and the spectre of death starts looming upon him.

"One never knows when he might be called upon to answer the call of the 
hangman. This uncertainty, i.e. the doubt of a tomorrow, is what burns the 
living body," the court said.

The bench said this was "a form of additional torment not mandated by law, not 
part of the sentence awarded to the convict and hence, it violates the 
constitutional protections.

"This delay inserts a dehumanising factor in the execution of the sentence of 
death inasmuch it deprives one of his life in an unjust, unfair and 
unreasonable way, running awry of the due process of law enshrined in Article 
21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution," the high 
court added.

The bench noted that there was a delay, which though "unexplained, is not 
unreasonable, nor is it inordinate to be a supervening circumstance vitiating 
the decisions of the Governor and the President".

Sardar, along with his brother and accomplices, had killed 5 persons of a 
family, including a woman and 2 children, during a dacoity bid in 
Chhattisgarh's Cher village on November 26, 2004.

The trial court had slapped death penalty on him in February 2008 and the 
Chhattisgarh High Court had upheld it on March 8, 2010.

The Supreme Court in February 2012 had concurred with the findings of the 2 
courts and affirmed the punishment. His mercy petition was also dismissed by 
both the Governor and the President. In February 2015, the apex court had also 
rejected his review plea.

The convict then moved the high court seeking quashing of the orders of the 
President and the Governor rejecting the mercy petition. He had also sought 
commutation of the death sentence into life imprisonment on account of delay, 
improper exercise of power and illegal solitary confinement.

(source: ptinews.com)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Atheism in Saudi Arabia----God's own country

Atheism remains one of the most extreme taboos in Saudi Arabia. It is a red 
line that no one may cross. Regarded on a par with terrorists, atheists in 
Saudi Arabia suffer imprisonment, marginalisation, slander, ostracisation and 
even execution. Efforts at normalisation between those who believe and those 
who don't remain bleak.

Despite constant warnings issued by Saudi religious authorities about 'the 
dangers of atheism', which is, according to them, 'tantamount to not believing 
in God', many citizens in the kingdom are turning their backs on Islam. Among 
other things, perhaps what is primarily driving Saudis to abandon their 
religion is the country's strict and dehumanising codex of Islamic law coupled 
with easy access to information and mass communication. Unfortunately, those 
who are open about their atheism find themselves harshly punished or forced to 
live double lives.

Just recently Saudi Arabia sentenced another atheist to death for uploading a 
video renouncing Islam. The man was identified as Ahmad Al-Shamri, in his 20s, 
from the town of Hafar Al-Batin, a village located in Saudi Arabia's eastern 
province. In the video, Al-Shamri renounces Islam and makes disparaging remarks 
about the prophet Muhammad.

Saudi authorities first picked him up in 2014 after he uploaded a series of 
videos reflecting his views on social media, which led to him being charged 
with 'atheism and blasphemy'.

With leaving Islam punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, the country's Supreme 
Court, which ruled against Al-Shamri on 25 April 2017, has effectively already 
pronounced the death sentence. Although court proceedings dealing with 
blasphemy, atheism or homosexuality may last for months, the sentence is far 
more likely to be known in advance.

The birthplace of Islam: "we are the country that hosts the two holiest sites 
for Muslims in Mecca and Medina. We are the country that is based on Islamic 
principles and so forth. We are a country that is homogeneous in accepting 
Islam by the entire population. Any calls that challenge Islamic rule or 
Islamic ideology is considered subversive in Saudi Arabia and would be 
subversive and could lead to chaos," claims the Saudi ambassador to the UN, 
Abdallah Al-Mouallimi

Riyadh introduced a series of laws in 2014 criminalising those who spread 
'atheist thought' or question the 'fundamentals of the Islamic religion'. 
According to Amnesty International Global Report on death sentences and 
executions, Saudi Arabia has scored 154+ executions, in which the 'death 
penalty was imposed after proceedings that did not meet international fair 
trial standards'. In January 2017, an unnamed Yemeni man living in Saudi Arabia 
was reportedly charged with apostasy and sentenced to 21 years in prison for 
insulting Islam on his Facebook page.

In November 2016, Indian migrant worker Shankar Ponnam reportedly was sentenced 
to 4 months in prison and a fine of 1,195 euros for sharing a picture of the 
Hindu god Shiva sitting atop the Kaaba on Facebook.

In November 2015, Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh was sentenced to 
death for apostasy for allegedly questioning religion and spreading atheist 
thought in his poetry. His sentence was reduced to 8 years in prison and 800 
lashes to be administered on 16 occasions.

In 2014, Raif Badawi was also convicted of blasphemy for creating a website 
dedicated to fostering debate on religion and politics. He was sentenced to 10 
years in prison and 1000 lashes.

In 2012, the journalist Hamza Kashgari was accused of blasphemy after he posted 
a string of tweets. He was captured in Malaysia and brought back to the 
kingdom. No further information about his case has surfaced since.

Atheists are terrorists

In 2014, Saudi Arabia introduced a series of new laws in the form of royal 
decrees, which define atheists as terrorists. The new royal provisions define 
terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question 
the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which Saudi Arabia is based".

Conflating atheism and terrorism has become official in Saudi Arabia, by which 
non-believers who commit 'thought crimes' are the same as violent terrorists.

Offering a platform: "Saudi atheists can turn to a number of Internet sites, 
such as 'Saudis without religion', 'Spreading atheism in Saudi' and 'Saudi 
secular'; all of which indicate that, despite the restrictions, there is a 
certain level of 'atheist' activity. On Twitter, the most widely used site in 
Saudi Arabia, over 20,000 Saudis have reacted to topics relating to the spread 
of atheism in Saudi Arabia," writes Khatib

Article 4 of the kingdom's laws on terrorism states: "Anyone who aids 
['terrorist'] organisations, groups, currents [of thought], associations, or 
parties, or demonstrates affiliation with them, or sympathy with them, or 
promotes them, or holds meetings under their umbrella, either inside or outside 
the kingdom; this includes participation in audio, written, or visual media; 
social media in its audio, written, or visual forms; internet websites; or 
circulating their contents in any form, or using slogans of these groups and 
currents [of thought], or any symbols which point to support or sympathy with 
them."

In a programme named "UpFront" on Al Jazeera America, Saudi Ambassador to the 
UN, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi explains why advocating atheism in Saudi Arabia is 
considered a terrorist offence.

Al-Mouallimi says that atheists are deemed terrorists in his country because in 
Saudi Arabia, ?we are a unique country.?

"We are the birthplace of Islam," he adds. "We are the country that hosts the 
two holiest sites for Muslims in Mecca and Medina. We are the country that is 
based on Islamic principles and so forth. We are a country that is homogeneous 
in accepting Islam by the entire population. Any calls that challenge Islamic 
rule or Islamic ideology is considered subversive in Saudi Arabia and would be 
subversive and could lead to chaos."

"If he [an atheist] was disbelieving in God, and keeping that to himself, and 
conducting himself, nobody would do anything or say anything about it. If he is 
going out in the public, and saying, 'I don't believe in God', that's 
subversive. He is inviting others to retaliate," Al-Mouallimi elaborates.

Countermeasures

The president of the Centre for Middle East Studies in Riyadh, Anwar Al-Ashqi, 
does not see the authorities' adoption of these laws as a suppression of 
freedoms. While he believes that atheism as an independent thought is positive, 
it may become negative and require legal accountability if it aims to transform 
the traditional nature of the Saudi society, triggering communal strife and 
challenging the established religion. The state in this case, according to him, 
"has the right to outlaw this type of atheism and declare it an aspect of 
terrorism."

Similar to other Gulf States, Saudi Arabia perceives atheism as a threat that 
needs to be eliminated. There have therefore been several conferences, 
trainings and workshops in recent years aimed at 'immunising society, 
especially the youth, against atheist ideas'. Saudi Arabia has established the 
Yaqeen Centre at The Al-Madina University Department of the Study of Faith and 
Religions. Yaqeen Centre, which means 'certainty', specialises in combatting 
atheistic and non-religious tendencies. The centre's vision is 'to achieve 
leadership in countering atheism and non-religiosity locally and globally'. 
What this centre actually does remains unclear.

In October 2016, the Saudi Ministry of Education launched a government 
programme called ?Immunity? in schools to ?inoculate? children against 
Westernisation, atheism, liberalism and secularism.

Atheists in the Kingdom?

In 2012, a poll by WIN-Gallup International (Global Index of Religiosity and 
Atheism) found that almost a quarter of people interviewed in Saudi Arabia 
described themselves as "not religious" and of those 5 to 9% declared 
themselves to be convinced atheists. Extrapolating that figure on a national 
scale suggests there are about 1.4 million atheists living in Saudi Arabia. 
This of course excludes all work migrants from different parts of the world, 
who might already be non-believers.

(source: qantara.de)






IRAN----executions

2 Men and a Woman Hanged on Drug Charges


On Saturday July 1, 2 men and 1 woman were reportedly hanged at Rasht's central 
prison on drug related charges. According to close sources, these 3 prisoners 
were transferred to solirary confinement on Thursday in preparation for their 
executions. Close sources have identified the 2 men as Sallaholdin Par and 
Jafar Saadanloo. The woman was identified as the wife of Jafar Saadanloo, but 
her name is not known at this time.

"Sallaholdin was sentenced to death on the charge of trafficking and possessing 
three kilograms of crystal meth," an informed source told Iran Human Rights.

Since the start of 2017, 133 individuals have been executed in Iran on drug 
related charges. Iranian parliament members had formerly requested from the 
Judiciary to stop drug related executions for at least 5,000 prisoners pending 
further investigation. However, the request has not stopped the Judiciary from 
carrying out death sentences for prisoners with drug related charges.

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

(source: Iran Human Rights)






EGYPT:

Egyptian Court Upholds Death Sentence for 20 in 2013 Police Station 
Attack----The court also handed 114 people sentences ranging from 15 years to 
life (25 years) and ordered a juvenile jailed for 10 years, they said.


An Egyptian court sentenced on Sunday 20 people to death over charges of 
murdering 12 police officers in 2013, state-run MENA news agency reported. One 
minor was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 21 people were acquitted.

Islamist gunmen fired rocket propelled grenades at a police station in Kerdasa 
on August 14, 2013, and slit a policeman's throat before burning the building 
down, hours after security forces violently dispersed 2 protest camps, killing 
hundreds. All the defendants were present in court during the ruling, which can 
still be appealed. "If it were not for all of that, these crimes would not have 
been committed", said Judge Mohammad Sherine Fahmy before reading out the 
verdict.

The preliminary death penalty was announced by Cairo Criminal Court in April, 
and referred to the Chief Islamic Legal Authority, the Grand Mufti, for a 
non-binding opinion as required by Egyptian law. The number of detained 
suspects in the Kerdasa case later increased to almost 200 people.

The case involves 156 people on trial and is known as the "Kerdasa incident" in 
reference to the pro-Muslim Brotherhood neighbourhood where the violence took 
place in the Giza province adjacent to Cairo.

Egypt was roiled by violence and unrest after the military deposed Morsi, the 
country's 1st freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.

The attack, which came during a frenzy of violence following the ouster of 
Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, killed close to a dozen police officers and 
cited in the government's case for the use of force to quell a budding popular 
insurrection. Morsi and other top Muslim Brotherhood figures have also faced 
trial.

In late 2014, an Egyptian court issued death sentences to 188 suspects, which 
sparked an global outcry against the controversial verdicts.

(source: normangeestar.com)