[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 16




IRAN:

nian MPs approve generalities of bill to reduce death penalty for drug offences


The Iranian parliament approved general outlines of a bill to reduce death 
penalty for drug offences in the country.

The bill was approved on July 16 by 182 MPS votes in favor of it, 36 against 
and 6 abstained, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.

The bill, which is under study in parliament for more than 1 year, will save at 
least 5,000 prisoners pending for execution once approved.

Under the new bill, those convicted of producing or distributing more than 100 
kilograms of opium or 2 kilograms of industrial narcotics will face death 
penalty.

Under the current law, smuggling of 30 grams of industrial drugs and also 20 
kilograms of opium is punishable by death.

According to Amnesty International, Iran carried out 567 executions in 2016, 
standing among the top 5 executioner countries in the world.

(source: Trend News Agency)






PAKISTAN:

Eye For An Eye: Man awarded death sentence


Additional and District Sessions Judge Javed Iqbal Ranjha on Saturday awarded 
the death sentence to an accused involved in a murder case of Shahpur City 
Police station. According to the prosecution, accused Muhammad Aslam was a 
resident of village Jhaverian. He lived with his father, Muhammad Ramzan. The 
accused along with his father murdered his relative Allah Ditta, who was the 
son of Lal Khan. They had a family dispute on April 18 last year. The court 
awarded the death penalty to Muhammad Aslam with a fine of Rs200,000 while 
acquitting Muhammad Ramzan.

(source: The Express Tribune)






INDONESIA:

British grandmother on death row in Bali faces losing last-ditch appeal after 
thousands of pounds of funding goes missing


A British grandmother on death row for drug-smuggling faces losing her last 
chance to escape the firing squad after thousands of pounds to fund a final 
appeal went missing.

Well-wishers and church groups raised 40,000 pounds to help Lindsay Sandiford, 
61, appeal against the death penalty for smuggling 10 lb of cocaine into Bali 
in 2012.

The money was paid into accounts controlled by Indonesian legal advocate Ursa 
Supit, who used to work with British charity Reprieve.

But 18 months after receiving the funds, Supit has failed to lodge an appeal - 
despite withdrawing 7,800 pounds to make the arrangements.

She has also refused requests from Sandiford to produce bank statements to 
account for the remaining money and has now cut off all contact with her.

Friends of Supit say the 45-year-old is a drug addict and is unable to account 
for the funds.

Sandiford, of Redcar, Teesside, said: 'I could now be taken away and executed 
at any time.'

Supit is living on an island near Bali where she bought a 3-year lease on a 
complex of holiday bungalows.

She did not respond to calls from The Mail on Sunday.

iii Sandiford has had no legal representation since her previous lawyer was 
jailed for corruption in an unrelated case in 2015.

The British Government has refused to fund her appeal.

(source: dailymail.co.uk)






GHANA:

Revealed: Ghana has no hangman to execute death row convicts


The last time the death sentence system was used was in 1993.

There is no personnel to operate the hangman system at the Nsawam medium 
prison.

The Director of Administration at the Prison Service, Stephen Coffie, has 
revealed that Ghana currently has no hangman to execute death sentences. 
According to him, the last professionally trained hangman Ghana had has long 
left the system and is yet to be replaced.

(source: yen.com.gh)






TURKEY:

Erdogan backs death penalty on Turkey coup attempt anniversary


The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reiterated his support for 
reinstating the death penalty in an emotive and combative speech to tens of 
thousands of people gathered in Istanbul to mark the anniversary of last year's 
attempted coup.

On Saturday a sea of marchers flocked to the Bosphorus Bridge where 36 people 
were killed by coup soldiers exactly a year ago.

In a speech packed with religious references, Erdogan said defendants in 
coup-related trials should wear a standard uniform "like in Guantanamo", warned 
that Turkey would "cut the heads off" traitors bent on destabilising the 
country, and brandished the coup plotters as "unbelievers".

"The most powerful weapons were mercilessly used by the enemies of our nation," 
he said. "Our people only had the flag and faith."

During the attempted coup, tanks and fighter jets were deployed in the streets 
and skies of Ankara and Istanbul, when a faction within the military attempted 
to overthrow the elected government.

The coup was defeated after citizens of all political stripes took to the 
streets to challenge the soldiers. The government blames Fethullah Gulen, an 
exiled preacher based in the US with a large grassroots following, and his 
movement for orchestrating the coup attempt.

But Turkey is in the shadow of a crackdown that has gone beyond the coup 
plotters to encompass dissidents and even opposition politicians. Tens of 
thousands of people have been dismissed or detained from the civil service, 
police, military, judiciary, media and academia, and rights activists have been 
repeatedly detained. On Friday the government sacked an additional 7,000 
people, and more than 150 journalists are in prison.

In his speech after unveiling a monument to the victims at the Bosphorus 
Bridge, which has been renamed the 15 July Martyrs Bridge, the president 
harshly criticised opposition parties, indicating that there would be no 
attempt at a post-coup consensus.

Erdogan was scheduled to deliver a speech in the early hours of Sunday at the 
Grand National Assembly to mark the moment during the coup when parliament was 
bombed by the plotters.

Marches and commemorative events were planned around Istanbul, Ankara and other 
big cities to mark the anniversary of the coup, including "democracy watches", 
in which citizens occupy the cities' main squares.

(source: The Guardian)