[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 24



JAPAN:

Ministry moves away from deferring executions of convicts seeking retrial



Under certain circumstances, executions are carried out quietly even if a death 
row convict is in the process of appealing for a retrial. Will the recent 
executions of 2 male death row convicts become a precedent for further such 
developments?

1 of the 2 men, Masakatsu Nishikawa, had been convicted of murdering four 
female proprietors of bars and robbing them of money and other valuables in 3 
prefectures in western Japan. He was sentenced to death in the courts of 1st 
and 2nd instances, with his sentence finalized at the Supreme Court in 2005.

Nishikawa was in the process of his 10th appeal for a retrial. As the reasoning 
behind his appeals was said to be virtually identical on each occasion, the 
Justice Ministry seems to have reached the conclusion that there was no longer 
any valid reason to suspend the execution of the convict.

This was an unusual step away from the established practice of deferring the 
execution of a death row inmate who is in the process of requesting a retrial.

It goes without saying that the death penalty, as it takes the life of a 
person, is the ultimate punishment. This is a penalty that should be applied 
only in cases in which no doubt has arisen whatsoever about the guilty party 
after all relevant evidence has been examined from every angle. There is no 
room to allow for any mistakes in the factual findings of the case.

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, an appeal for a retrial is approved if 
new evidence is found that could reverse a finalized sentence. The right of a 
death row convict to appeal for a retrial must be respected to the greatest 
extent possible. Since the end of World War II, there have been four cases in 
which a death row convict was found not to be guilty at a retrial.

On the other hand, it is also necessary to turn our attention to the present 
situation, whereby over 70 % of death row convicts, totaling more than 120 
persons, are in the process of appealing for a retrial. It is undeniable that 
there are those among them who have recourse to a retrial request as a means of 
escaping the execution of their sentences.

Examine appeals carefully

Judgments on whether executions should be carried out should be based on 
examinations of the content of appeals applying the utmost care. The Justice 
Ministry is strongly required to uphold such a stance.

Factions opposed to the death penalty criticize the latest executions. The 
Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA), in protesting the executions, 
issued a president's statement expressing their "aim for the abolition of the 
death penalty by the year 2020."

At the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights held last October, the 
federation clearly spelled out, for the 1st time as an organization, their 
policy of seeking the abolition of the death penalty. While attendees of the 
convention represented only 2 percent of all the lawyers in Japan, a 
"declaration calling for the abolition of the death penalty" was adopted by 
majority approval of these attendees.

Not a few lawyers call for capital punishment systems to be retained. There are 
also lawyers working on helping crime victims who want the people convicted of 
crimes against them to be subject to capital punishment.

Regardless of their thoughts and beliefs as individuals, all lawyers engaged in 
legal practice must be registered with this federation. Isn't it problematic 
that such an organization, to which lawyers are required to belong, expresses 
its position on this subject, on which there are differing opinions?

In a public opinion survey result released by the Cabinet Office in 2015, 80 % 
of those polled approved of the death penalty. The federation should also pay 
attention to the gap between public opinions and the expression of its own 
convictions.

(source: The Yomiuri Shimbun)








ZIMBABWE:

No hangman for Zim: Recruitment blocked



Dozens of job desperate seekers have applied for the vacant post of Zimbabwe's 
hangman, but the country's vice-president has blocked the recruitment process 
because he narrowly escaped the hangman's noose as a teenager during the 
liberation struggle in the 1960s.

Alfred Mashamba is growing impatient. He wants the job.

Virginia Mabhiza, a permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice, says the 
post, which fell vacant more than 10 years ago, has not been filled since 
Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who doubles as Justice minister, is strongly 
opposed to the death penalty.

The vice-president's refusal to appoint a hangman is stoking controversy in a 
country whose constitution still upholds capital punishment. More than 70 
convicts are currently on death row.

Mabhiza says more than 5 aspiring hangmen have applied for the job since 2013. 
Previous reports show that more than 20 men have eyed the post - no females 
have sought the unusual job.

"The hangman's post is yet to be filled and we continue to receive 
applications. The constitution still allows the death penalty," Mabhiza said.

Last year, there were reports that a "suitable candidate" had been found for 
the post of hangman. It now emerges that the vice-president is blocking the 
appointment.

One of the men vying for the job is Alfred Mashamba, a bearded 47-year-old who 
says he is growing increasingly impatient over delays in recruiting a hangman.

"I guarantee, I will diligently execute my duties," Mashamba has vowed. "If you 
have lost someone dear to you because of murder, someone who the whole family 
looked up to, then you will understand my decision," Mashamba adds.

Mashamba says when he was a young boy, his father was forced to quit his job 
and look after his ailing mother. An uncle then took over the responsibility of 
fending for the extended family. Tragically, the uncle was murdered and the 
killers were never found.

Before the family had found closure on the uncle???s murder, another killing 
rocked the clan. "Last year, my niece was raped and murdered after she had gone 
to sell fresh milk to fend for her family," Mashamba said.

Officials would not reveal to African Independent whether Mashamba is one of 
the frontrunners for the job. Jobs are difficult to find in Zimbabwe, where the 
International Labour Organisation estimates the rate of formal unemployment at 
95 %.

Mnangagwa (70), one of the senior Zanu-PF securocrats accused of spearheading 
the 1980s genocide which claimed the lives of 20,000 civilians from the 
minority Ndebele tribe, is considered a leading contender in the race to 
succeed President Robert Mugabe.

During his early days as a political activist against the colonial regime in 
the 1960s he was sentenced to death for participating in the bombing of a 
Rhodesian train. He was spared the noose after arguing that he was only 17 
years old. Instead of going to the gallows, he served 10 years in prison for 
sabotage. He has vowed to resist any attempt to hang condemned killers.

(source: African Independent)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Arabian Activist Calls Out U.S. For Ignoring Human Rights 
Abuses----Women's Rights Saudi Arabia activist Hala Aldosari calls for greater 
action as 14 protesters, including a disabled person and two people arrested as 
juveniles are scheduled to be executed in Saudi Arabia



On July 11, ABC News reported that Saudi Arabia executed four individuals for 
participating in protests against the government. As the Saudi Government is 
scheduled to execute 14 more protesters, including a disabled person and 2 
individuals who were imprisoned as juveniles, the American Federation of 
Teachers Union is pushing the Trump Administration to speak out as one of the 
protesters set to be executed, Mujtaba?a al-Sweikat, was detained right before 
boarding a plane to the United States to begin school at Western Michigan 
University.

"The excessive punitive measures against protestors and critics and the 
unchecked political power of the ruling family fuels violence as the only 
course available for change," said Saudi Arabian activist Hala Aldosari in an 
interview with me, explaining that Saudi Arabia's tactics to suppress any form 
of dissent is creating political instability in the country that makes violence 
the only avenue toward change or progress for those who don't agree with the 
authoritarianism exercised by the Saudi royal family in power. She has been 
leading a petition to end male guardianship in Saudi Arabia. "The fact that the 
US was informed of the executions of protesters and dissidents beforehand is a 
testimony on the hypocrisy of the international system that views the region 
only through economic interests, which in turn is compromised when political 
instability is inevitable."

She added in a 2016 interview with me, "we are targeted by our own system 
because of the way we stand up to speak against those policies and human rights 
violations. In this type of regime, we do not have platforms to speak 
independently," she added. "Everything is banned, so it is very difficult to 
mobilize people within this context. This is why the majority of activists are 
in prison and those who are speaking are outside."

Saudi Arabia has a drastic human rights record in executing its citizens, and 
the government has shown no signs of reducing their high death penalty rates 
that are conducted in an inhumane fashion from public beheadings to subjecting 
those prosecuted to be stoned to death. One of the protesters, Ali Mohammed al 
Nimr, was sentenced to death by crucifixion after being arrested at the age of 
17. He received no due process, but was sentenced anyways for "encouraging 
pro-democracy protests using a Blackberry." The corpses are often left on 
public display to serve to intimidate other citizens from expressing any form 
of dissent toward the government.

In January 2017, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention 
identified the country's youngest political prisoner, Murtaja Al-Qureyrees, who 
was arrested at the age of 13. Many of the protesters arrested have been 
tortured into signing false confessions. Activists are calling on the Trump 
Administration and the State Department to try to intervene to halt the mass 
executions.

Despite criticizing Saudi Arabia during his presidential campaign, President 
Trump has refused offer any criticism toward the country at all during his 
presidency. At a recent visit to the country he signed a deal to provide the 
Saudis with nearly $110 billion in weapons from the United States. For several 
years the United States have been providing Saudi Arabia with weapons that have 
been used to perpetuate human rights atrocities in a War on Yemen. A bipartisan 
effort in June 2017 attempted to block the weapons sale, but the Senate came up 
short to provide the required votes to do so. The United States Government 
under Trump continues to turn a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's abhorrent record on 
human rights abuses within its own borders and abroad in Yemen to appease the 
special interests that profit immensely off of the relationship.

Meanwhile in 2017, the country has executed 57 people. In 2016, the Saudi 
Government put 154 people to death after executing 158 in 2015, the country's 
highest record since 1995.

The country was recently ridiculed globally for arresting a woman who 
videotaped herself defying strict religious laws by walking the streets in a 
skirt as women's rights activists around the world continue to try to pressure 
the Saudi Arabian government to end male guardianship that subjugates women to 
serve as property to men.

(source: therealnews.com)




PHILIPPINES:

Duterte calls for death penalty: 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'



In his 2nd State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, President Rodrigo 
Duterte called on Congress to pass the death penalty on drug-related offenses, 
insisting that in the Philippines a criminal who took one's life should pay for 
the offense with his own life.

"I ask Congress to act on all pending legislation to reimpose death penalty on 
heinous crime," Duterte said.

He said the death penalty under the Revised Penal Code was not only meant for 
retribution but also to prevent the criminal from killing another person again.

"In the Philippines, it's really an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," 
Duterte said. "You took a life, then you must pay [for] it with life."

He said he did not agree with the belief a criminal mind could be reformed.

"You can't place premium on the human mind, that you will go straight. Nobody 
can," he said.

Duterte decried that being too "lenient" on drug criminals, in the hope that 
they could be reformed, would only allow them to commit more crimes once 
released from prison.

"You are soon to be lenient about this son of a bitch, a human being that has a 
virulent brain and his enemy is society,"

(source: newsinfo.inquirer.net)

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

Death penalty still not a priority for Senate - Pimentel



The death penalty bill is still not included in the Senate's list of priority 
measures, Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said Monday.

Pimentel assured the House of Representatives, however, that the said proposal 
will be discussed in the current second regular session.

"As the Senate President, this bill was submitted by the House; so I think we 
owe it as a gesture of friendship to the House that since they passed it, that 
means they want us also to discuss it," Pimentel said in an interview.

"I will assure the House that we will discuss the death penalty bill...[But] 
not [as a] priority, in the regular course of business [only]," he said.

Last March, the administration-controlled House of Representatives approved the 
reimposition of the death penalty on 3rd and final reading.

House Bill No. 4727, which seeks to reimpose capital punishment on seven 
drug-related offenses, sailed past 3rd and final reading with a vote of 217 
against 54 and 1 abstention.

7 death penalty proposals are still pending at the Senate justice committee 
chaired by Senator Richard Gordon. Gordon himself is against the said 
proposals.

The House of Representatives and the Senate must agree on all provisions of a 
death penalty proposal before it is sent to Malacanang for the President's 
signature.

The Senate's priorities for its 2nd year, according to Pimentel, are the 
approval of the tax reform package, the Bangsamoro Basic Law, Charter change, 
anti-terrorism laws, and the proposed national ID system.

"We will pursue the path to lasting peace in Mindanao by addressing the valid 
concerns of our Muslim brothers and sisters through the Basic Bangsamoro Law," 
Pimentel said in his remarks before the opening of session.

Pimentel also mentioned the proposed Universal Health Care Act as 1 of the 
priorities.

Pimentel, meanwhile, urged his colleagues to work harder, citing the recent 
approval and trust ratings of the Senate, making them the "most trusted 
institution."

Present in the opening of the session were Executive Secretary Salvador 
Medialdea, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, Socioeconomic Planning 
Secretary Ernesto Pernia, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, Defense 
Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.

(source: GMA News)








INDIA:

Nithari killings: Koli, Pandher get death sentence for murder of Pinki 
Sarkar----Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher were pronounced guilty by 
the CBI court in the murder and attempted rape of 20-year-old Pinki Sarkar. 
This is 8th of the 16 murder cases against the two. Judgment has already been 
given in 7 cases.



A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad awarded death 
sentence to Moninder Singh Pandher and his help Surinder Koli on Monday in 
connection with one of the 16 cases of attempted rape, murder, abduction and 
criminal conspiracy in Nithari, Noida.

CBI Special Judge (anti corruption) Pawan Kumar Tiwari, who pronounced the 
sentence, called it a 'rarest of rare' case.

"The concept of 'blood for blood' cannot be made applicable operational in 
society. Still, the work of the state is to strive for a decent society. This 
is possible only when such people, who have become dangerous for the society, 
are punished with death. They crossed all barriers of inhuman act with the 
victim ... such trend is not observed even in animals... (sic)," CBI Special 
Judge, Pawan Tiwari said while delivering the sentence.

"Such culprits deserve hard punishmet so that others think a thousand times 
before committing such crimes. Koli lured victims inside the house where he 
raped and attempted rape before murdering them and later threw their body parts 
and ate some of them in a heinous manner. Moninder Singh Pandher was part of 
the conspiracy... There is no scope for their (the accused's) reform or 
rehabilitation. This case falls under the category of rarest of rare and both 
deserve death penalty," the CBI special judge said.

Before their sentencing, Pandher's lawyer argued that there was no evidence 
against his ailing client and he has already been in jail for 8 long years. 
Koli, on the other hand, voiced his anger as he made his own closing arguments 
on Saturday.

"You give me any punishment as you feel like... there is no evidence against 
me. The CBI has framed me. The court should be equal to both the sides (defence 
and prosecution) and I feel I have been denied justice. There is no eyewitness 
in the case and the victim family never made any allegation against me. The DNA 
test of the victim did not confirm rape." Koli said in court.

Both Koli and Pandher stood in the witness box while the judge pronounced the 
death sentence.

They were handed copies of the judgment and sent to Dasna jail.

On Saturday, the CBI court held both the accused guilty of attempted rape, 
murder and destruction of evidence. Out of the 16 cases filed against the duo, 
8 have been decided so far and the Ghaziabad court has awarded death penalty to 
prime accused Surinder Kohli in each of these cases.

Arrested in December 2006, Pandher walked out of Dasna jail in September 2014 
after securing bail in all cases. Koli is still in the same prison. After being 
held guilty in the case in question, Pandher was again taken into custody and 
sent to Dasna jail.

The case on which the court pronounced verdict on Saturday was the second case 
in which both Pandher and Koli have been named accused.

In the 1st case, the CBI court awarded death sentences to both in February 
2009. However, following an appeal, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Pandher 
and upheld Koli's punishment.

The CBI Special Judge on Saturday held Koli guilty of murder, abduction, 
attempted rape and destruction of evidence in the 8th case. The victim was 
20-year-old Pinki Sarkar who worked as a domestic help in Noida Sector 30. She 
was reported missing since leaving the house of her employer after watching a 
television serial on October 5, 2006.

"We looked for her everywhere, but could only find her clothes and slippers. We 
left Nithari after she was presumed dead, as we had to pass by Pandher's house 
on way to work and couldn't bear the sight of it. Every time I passed by the 
house, tears streamed down my eyes. We have waited 11 years for them to be 
hanged," Bandana Sarkar, the victim's mother, said.

Noida police arrested Pandher and Koli on December 29, 2006 after the discovery 
of bones, skulls and other remains from the former's backyard sent shockwaves 
and stirred the collective conscience of the country.

The horiffic Nithari killings took place in 2005 and 2006 after minor girls, 
young women and children disappeared mysteriously from around Pandher's Sector 
31 residence in Noida.

The CBI said Koli, who is from Mangrukhal in Uttarakhand, lured victims to his 
employer's house where he raped them and later dismembered their body parts 
before dumping them in bags and burying them in the backyard.

(source: Hindustan Times)








PAKISTAN:

A Humane Death Penalty



A death-row inmate in Peshawar has requested that a court suspend the 
"un-Islamic" practice of hanging prisoners because it is "too painful", instead 
the Pakistan government should start using lethal injections.

The petition was filed by the defense lawyer of Jan Bahadur, who was sentenced 
to death by an additional district and sessions judge on Apr 7, 2000, in Takht 
Bhai in connection with a 1993 murder case. The petition has named the 
provincial government and the Council of Islamic Ideology as the respondents.

While cynicism would have us see this petition as another way to increase the 
lifespan of an inmate on death row who has exhausted all options like clemency 
and appeals, there is a case to be made here. The nation's across the world who 
still constitute capital punishment are moving away from hanging and other 
antiquated methods of execution to the lethal injection - a relatively painless 
if not foolproof method. While there are concerns that wrongly administered 
injection could be equally painful and traumatic, it is generally seen as a 
more humane alternative.

The petitioner will have difficulty convincing the Peshawar High Court of that 
- especially on the grounds named in the petition. Hanging has historically 
been used throughout the Muslim world as the preferred mode of execution and 
even now most major Muslim countries use it; in fact punishments are harsher 
and more graphic in countries like the Saudi Arabia. It would be difficult to 
convince the judge that it is "un-Islamic" when all the arguments used are 
based on practices in the USA.

Furthermore since the death penalty has been instituted in the Pakistan Penal 
Code, and has been functioning as is for decades, only a piece of legislation 
can effectively change the law in this regard.

A debate on the humanity of our execution methods needs to be had, but it seems 
unlikely that it could be held in the present case.

(source: The Nation)








IRAN:

Call on U.N. : Nobel Laureates Condemn Executions by Iran Regime Perpetrators 
Must Be Held Accountable



A group of Nobel laureates expressed grave concerns over continuing human 
rights violations in Iran. 21 Nobel laureates from the United States, Canada, 
Germany and Norway issued a letter asking United Nations Secretary General 
Antonio Guterresto to use his good offices "through the UN Human Rights Council 
to closely monitor the human rights situation in Iran, inform the world of the 
violations taking place in that country and to strongly condemn such violations 
..." and "an immediate halt to intractable arrests, torture and arbitrary 
executions. The perpetrators of such executions must be held accountable." 
Pejman Amiri an Iranian dissident and freelance writer wrote in an article in 
'NewsBlaze' on July 22, 2017 and the article continues as follows:

The 21 Nobel laureates have praised the Secretary-General's last report on the 
human rights situation in Iran, in which he referred to the 1988 massacre of 
more than 30,000 innocent human beings in Iran on the charge of loving freedom, 
said Dr. Richard J. Roberts, a Nobel laureate in medicine from the US who led 
the initiative. The 1988 massacre has currently become a very challenging 
internal matter for the brutal clerics in Iran.

The prominent laureates reiterated their previous communications with the UN 
about the fate of members of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin 
Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Camps Ashraf and Liberty in Iraq who were 
under constant missile barrage attacks.

"In previous communications, we had expressed our utter abhorrence over the 
massacre of refugees in camps Ashraf and Liberty in Iraq, all of whom were 
opponents of the crackdown and human rights violations in Iran. We also voiced 
our support regarding their safe and sound transfer outside of Iraq. 
Fortunately, under international community supervision, these residents have 
now been transferred to other countries, including Albania. We are witness to 
your direct efforts as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in aiding the 
issue of Ashraf and Liberty residents, and we express our humble gratitude," 
they wrote.

>From 2011 to 2016, as the top UN refugee officer, Guterres UNHCR supported a 
safe and secure transfer of MEK members out of Iraq. He personally intervened 
with former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to prevent attacks against the 
residents. al-Maliki and Iran-backed Shiite militias regularly stormed the MEK 
members at the behest of Tehran.

"We are seeking that you in your new position call on the Iraqi government to 
pay the compensation to these Ashraf and Liberty residents for their property 
in Iraq, valued at $600 million. During their confinement in Iraq the 
government did not permit them to sell their property and refused to provide 
compensation. This money would have allowed the residents to pay for their 
current accommodation in Albania, which from a humanitarian perspective is both 
necessary and vital," the Nobel laureates??? letter to Guterres continues.

"In addition to our scientific obligations to advance science and improve human 
life, we also consider defending human rights across the globe as our duty. We 
believe the 2 endeavors of science and human rights must advance in lock-step 
to establish a better world. The wanton trampling of basic human rights in the 
21st century is completely unacceptable," they added, shedding light on their 
motivation behind this humanitarian initiative to condemn executions in Iran as 
it has highest number of executions per capita in the world.

Executions have continued since the May farce presidential election in Iran 
that the incumbent Hassan Rouhani remained in the presidency. For the past few 
months many people have been hanged in public. The hangings are despite the 
Iranian regimes' lobbyists around the world, particularly in the U.S., 
portraying the Iranian government and Hassan Rouhani as moderate.

In the early days of this regime after the 1979 revolution, Rouhani had called 
for the public execution of dissidents during Friday prayers. His justice 
minister is a member of a four-man commission that supervised the execution of 
more than 30,000 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience back during 
the 1988 massacre.

Currently, the relatives of the executed victims are active in social media 
calling for justice to be done and bring the henchmen and those who ordered the 
executions to justice. The Nobel laureates letter to the United Nations 
Secretary General emphasizing that "The perpetrators of such executions must be 
held accountable" is certainly giving a new international dimension to this 
issue and a stronger voice to the demand for justice to be done.

(source: ncr-iran.org)