[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 21




INDONESIA:

Capital punishment an effective way to combat drug dealers: Tito



National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said on Thursday that the example of 
the Philippines illustrated that capital punishment was an effective way to 
combat drug dealers.

He said capital punishment delivered a deterrent effect, despite controversies 
surrounding its implementation.

"From practice in the field, we see that when we shoot at drug dealers they go 
away," Tito said, referring to the drug war initiated by Philippine President 
Rodrigo Duterte.

Civil societies that focus on human rights have long lambasted the Indonesian 
government for persistently implementing the death penalty. These groups often 
highlight the country's judicial system, which is still marred by rampant 
corruption.

Tito earlier expressed appreciation for the work of his subordinates who 
succeeded in foiling a plan by four Taiwanese citizens to smuggle one ton of 
crystal methamphetamine into Greater Jakarta last week.

During the drug bust, 1 smuggler was shot dead while resisting arrest.

Tito said he had told police officers "not to hesitate shooting drug dealers 
who resist arrest."

(source: Jakarta Post)

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

British grandmother on Indonesian death row could be executed at 'any 
time'----Lindsay Sandiford's appeal was turned down by the Indonesian Supreme 
Court.



A British grandmother fears she could be executed at "any time" after money 
that had been raised to help her legal fees disappeared.

Around 40,000 pounds had been raised by family, friends and supporters of 
61-year-old Lindsay Sandiford who is trying to appeal a death sentence by 
firing squad for smuggling 10lbs of cocaine into Bali in 2013.

The money had been put into a bank account that was controlled by Indonesian 
legal advocate Ursa Supit, who used to work with British charity Reprieve.

But despite almost 8,000 pounds being withdrawn, no appeal has been lodged, 
leaving Sandiford unsure of her future.

In her latest statement she said: "I could now be taken way and executed at any 
time."

Sandiford, who lived in Cheltenham at the time of her trip to Bali, has been 
left with no legal representation after the British government said they 
weren't going to fund her appeal and her previous lawyer was jailed for 
corruption in an unrelated case in 2015.

Sandiford has always maintained that she was carrying the cocaine hidden in the 
lining of her suitcase to protect her son from being threatened. In 2013, 
Sandiford appealed her death sentence but this was rejected by the Indonesian 
Supreme Court.

Speaking to the BBC in 2013, Sandiford said that the actions taken by the 
British government were "tantamount to condoning the death penalty... The 
government and FCO are doing all they can to resist me at this difficult time."

Indonesia is known for its tough penalties and zero-tolerance policy on drug 
offences.

Indonesia's President Jodo Widodo has defended the country's death penalty laws 
saying they act as an "important shock therapy" for future offenders.

During a lecture at the Yogyakarta college in December 2014, Widodo said drug 
traffickers on death row had "destroyed the future of the nation."

(source: ibtimes.co.uk)








PAKISTAN----execution

Man hanged to death in Attock jail



A death row convict was executed in Central Jail Attock in the early hours of 
Thursday morning. M Lateef had stabbed to death his relative Abdul Waheed over 
monetary dispute on March 25, 2004. Police have registered a case against the 
accused over the complaint of the deceased's uncle Faizur Rehman. The court 
found the accused guilty and had sentenced him death penalty on July 1st, 2004.

Later, the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench and the Supreme Court 
upheld the decision of the lower court, and his mercy appeals were also 
rejected.

(source: The Nation)

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

PHC suspends execution of death row prisoner



A Peshawar High Court bench on Thursday suspended execution of death sentence 
awarded to a prisoner till July 26 and issued notice to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 
advocate general in the prisoner's writ petition seeking directives from the 
court to the government to introduce a less painful mode of execution instead 
of hanging to death.

The bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Abdul Shakoor ordered 
that till next date of hearing, July 26, the death sentence awarded to the 
prisoner, Jan Bahadur, shall not be implemented.

The bench ordered that the advocate general should appear and argue on the 
points raised by the petitioner, Jan Bahadur.

The petitioner, imprisoned at Haripur Central Prison, has requested the high 
court to declare the mode of hanging to death as un-Islamic and 
unconstitutional as it was painful and against human values.

Directs AG to give arguments on mode of execution

The petitioner states that section 368 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 
provides: "When any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct 
that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead."

He has requested the court to issue directives for ending the execution of 
death row prisoners through hanging as it is cruel, painful, un-Islamic and 
inhuman.

He added that the court may issue directive that such mode of execution should 
be adopted which is not painful.

The petitioner was arrested in connection with a murder case registered at 
Takhtbhai police station, Mardan, on Oct 22, 1993. He was sentenced to death by 
an additional district and sessions judge on Apr 7, 2000, at Takhtbhai.

The said judgment was upheld by the high court on Mar 12, 2002, and 
subsequently, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had also upheld the verdict. His 
review petition and clemency petition were also rejected.

The respondents in the petition are: provincial home secretary, superintendent 
of Haripur Central Prison, provincial law secretary, secretary to Council of 
Islamic Ideology, and district and sessions judge, Mardan.

The petitioner's counsel, Mohammad Khursheed Khan, stated that there are 9 
modes of carrying out death penalties, which includes: death by hanging; 
through firing squad; shooting in the head; through lethal injection; 
beheading; stoning to death; gas chamber; through electric chair; and pushing 
from height.

He stated that in past in all the states of USA the mode of execution was 
through hanging. Subsequently, he states, the use of electric chair was 
devised, which was considered less painful. However, he added that in 1921 the 
State of Nevada introduced gas chamber for carrying out death penalty.

He contended that in over 30 states in the USA, the mode of execution was now 
through lethal injection, which is considered more humane and less painful. He 
stated that through that mode 3 injections were administered to a death row 
prisoner - the 1st injection turns a prisoner unconscious; the 2nd makes his 
body paralysed and the 3rd one stops his heart function.

He claims that in 28 countries prisoners are executed through firing squad, 
whereas in 22 countries prisoners are killed by shooting in the head.

He stated that the colonial rulers had introduced death by hanging through the 
CrPC in 1898 and after creation of Pakistan the same mode was adopted.

? (source: dawn.com)








MALAYSIA:

Bangladeshi human rights activist detained



The Malaysian authorities must immediately release a distinguished Bangladeshi 
human rights activist and former prisoner of conscience and allow him to speak 
at and participate in a conference on the death penalty, Amnesty International 
said today.

The Malaysian authorities at Kuala Lumpur airport detained Adilur Rahman Khan, 
the Secretary of Odhikar, a leading Bangladeshi human rights organization, this 
morning as he arrived in the country to speak at a conference on the death 
penalty.

"The Malaysian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Adilur 
Rahman Khan and allow him to participate in and speak at the conference," said 
James Gomez, Amnesty International's Director for Southeast Asia and the 
Pacific.

There is no justification for detaining him whatsoever. It is an outrage that a 
human rights activist cannot even travel freely to speak on a key human rights 
issue. Moreover, we understand that he still has not been given access to legal 
advice and is at risk of being deported."

"We are concerned that this arrest and detention is the latest target in a 
growing trend to impose travel bans on human rights defenders entering 
Malaysia."

Adilur Rahman Khan's detention is the latest in a series of cases where 
peaceful activists have been barred from entering the country, including Hong 
Kong political activist Joshua Wong, Indonesian human rights defender Mugiyanto 
Sipin and Singaporean political activist Han Hui Hui. Anti-Death Penalty Asia 
Network, the organizers of the conference, said that Adilur Rahman Khan was the 
only foreign participant not allowed into the country. Human rights campaigners 
from Amnesty International are among those in attendance.

(source: Amnesty International)








KENYA:

Nairobi men who attacked woman gets death sentence



A sexual assault case that was opened in 2014 has finally come to an end and 
it's a death penalty.

The death penalty in South Africa was abolished in 1935, however, it seems that 
this form of punishment for crimes committed still exists in Kenya.

According to Daily Sun, in 2014 an incident occurred that shocked everyone. A 
woman was attacked by three men on a bus because she was not dressed 
'inappropriately'. The death sentence was handed down to them after they were 
convicted of robbery with violence.

Evidence of this cruel assault was scatted all over social media showing the 
terrified victim being stripped and manhandled by the 3 men.

This incident resulted in protests all over Kenya with the hashtag 
#mydressmychoice that made the rounds after the incident went viral.

(source: ecr.co.za)








IRAN:

Parliament Votes on Halt to Drug-Related Executions in Iran



Human Rights Watch said today that the Iranian government should immediately 
halt all executions for drug-related offenses while parliament debates 
amendments to reform the country???s drug law. In two weeks Parliament is 
expected to vote on an amendment to the drug law that will drastically raise 
the bar for a mandatory death penalty sentence.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said, "It makes 
no sense for Iran's judiciary to execute people now under a drug law that will 
likely bar such executions as early as next month. It would be the height of 
cruelty to execute someone today for a crime that would at worst get them a 
30-year sentence when this law is amended."

Parliament approved a proposal on July 16, 2017, to amend Iran's 1997 Law to 
Combat Drugs to limit the death penalty for some nonviolent, drug-related 
offenses, but then parliament sent the draft legislation back to the 
parliamentary judiciary commission to deliberate the proposed changes for 
certain offenses.

At least 10 offenses, including some that are nonviolent, are punishable by 
death under Iran's current drug law, including possession of as little as 30 
grams of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine. The death penalty is also 
mandated for trafficking, possession, or trade of more than five kilograms of 
opium or 30 grams of heroin; repeated offenses involving smaller amounts; or 
the manufacture of more than 50 grams of synthetic drugs.

146 members of parliament introduced a draft amendment on December 6, 2016, 
seeking to replace capital punishment for drug offenses with imprisonment for 
up to 30 years. The death penalty would be allowed if the accused or one of the 
participants in the crime used or carried weapons intended for use against law 
enforcement agencies. As well, the death penalty would apply to a leader of a 
drug trafficking cartel, anyone who used a child in drug trafficking, or anyone 
facing new drug-related charges who had previously been sentenced to execution 
or 15 years to life for drug-related offenses.

The judiciary commission retracted part of their proposed amendments on July 
9th, under pressure from the judiciary and administration. It added the death 
penalty for nonviolent charges of "production, distribution, trafficking, and 
selling" of more than 100 kilograms of "traditional" drugs like opium, or 2 
kilograms of synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine. Also restored, is the 
death penalty for possession, purchase, or concealing more than 5 kilograms of 
synthetic drugs. The death penalty would only apply in those cases where the 
accused had previously been sentenced to more than two years for drug-related 
offenses.

Hasan Noroozi, the commission's spokesman, told IRNA news agency on July 18th, 
that the commission is adding "possession, purchase or concealing" 50 kilograms 
of "traditional" drugs to the offenses punishable by death.

Last April, the commission proposed that the amendments be applied 
retroactively, which would dramatically reduce the number of people currently 
on death row in Iran. In addition, in early July, judiciary commission members 
asked the judiciary to suspend executions of drug offenders until parliament 
could vote on the bill.

A review of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization???s database, which 
documents executions in Iran, by Human Rights Watch, shows that Ghezelhesar and 
Karaj Central prisons have carried out no executions since the beginning of 
Ramadan, but that other prison authorities in Isfahan, Western Azerbaijan, 
Kurdistan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Khorasan Razavi, have continued to 
execute people convicted of drug offenses. The group said that at least 39 
people have been executed since July 5 on drug-related charges. Additionally, 
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented serious violations of due process, 
torture, and other violations of the rights of criminal suspects facing 
drug-related charges.

Iran has one the highest rates of executions in the world. According to Amnesty 
International, in 2016, Iran executed at least 567 people, the majority for 
drug-related convictions. In December 2016, the parliamentary judicial 
committee spokesman Noroozi, urged parliament to amend the law, stating that 
several thousand people are on death row for drug related offenses, most of 
them ages 20 to 30.

(source: iranfocus.com)






MALDIVES:

Urgent Action



MALDIVES TO RESUME EXECUTIONS AFTER OVER 60 YEARS

Sources close to the government of Maldives have confirmed that executions in 
the country will resume on 21 July 2017. The Maldives Supreme Court has upheld 
the convictions and death sentences of 3 men, who are all now at imminent risk 
of execution. If carried out, it would be the first executions in the country 
in over 60 years.

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

* Halt any plans to resume executions and establish an official moratorium on 
all executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty;

* Immediately commute the death sentence against all prisoners under sentence 
of death, including those imposed for crimes committed when the prisoners were 
below 18 years of age;

* Amend national legislation to remove provisions that are not in line with 
international law and standards and abolish the death penalty for all crimes.

Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of 
forwarding this one!

Contact these 2 officials by 15 August, 2017:



President of Maldives

Abdulla Yameen Gayoom

The President's Office

Boduthakurufaanu Magu

Male' 20113

Republic of Maldives

Fax: (960) 332 5500

Twitter: @presidencymv

Salutation: His Excellency





H.E. Ambassador Ahmed Sareer

Permanent Mission of the Republic of Maldives to the United Nations

800 Second Avenue, Suite 400E

New York, NY 10017

Fax: 1 212 661 6405

Phone: 1 212 599 6194

Salutation: Dear Ambassador

(source: Amnesty International)