[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----GAZA, BANG, IRAN, PHILIP.

[Rick Halperin]

March 19



GAZA:

2 given death penalty for Gaza drug smuggling


A Hamas military court on Sunday sentenced 2 Palestinians to death for drug 
smuggling in the Gaza Strip, in the 1st punishment of its kind in the enclave.

"The Gaza military court announced the death penalty for 2 civilians from 
Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, for selling narcotics," the Hamas-controlled 
interior ministry said in a statement.

It said a 3rd suspect was sentenced to hard labor.

Authorities have seized drugs with a street value of around $1 million (900,000 
euros) over the past few months, the ministry said.

They seized 1,250 packets of cannabis and 400 pills of Tramadol -- a powerful 
opiate-based painkiller -- in January alone, it said.

Until Sunday, only people guilty of spying for Israel or murder had received 
the death penalty in Gaza, controlled by Islamist Hamas since 2007.

All Palestinian death sentences in theory have to be approved by president 
Mahmoud Abbas, but Hamas has long refused to accept his legitimacy.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights says around a dozen death sentences 
have been passed down in Gaza since the start of 2017.

(source: The Daily Star)






BANGLADESH:

Mufti Hannan's death penalty upheld


The appellate division of the Supreme Court on Sunday upheld the death penalty 
of 3 men of banned militant outfit Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJi), including 
its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, in a case filed for the grenade attack on the 
then UK envoy in Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury in 2004.

A 3-member bench of the Appellate Division led by chief justice Surendra Kumar 
Sinha passed the order after dismissing the review appeal of the HuJi chief.

On 7 December last, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty of the 3 HuJi 
men.

On 11 February last year, a High Court bench, comprising justice M Enayetur 
Rahim and justice Amir Hossain, delivered the verdict upholding the death 
sentence of 3 of the accused - Mufti Abdul Hannan, Sharif Shahedul Alam and 
Delwar Hossain - and life-term imprisonment of 2 others - Mufti Hannan's 
brother Mohibullah and Mufti Moinuddin - handed down by the lower court.

Anwar Choudhury and 51 others were injured while 3, including 2 police 
officials, were killed in a grenade attack at Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) shrine in 
Sylhet on 21 May 2004.

Later, 2 cases - 1 for murder and another under the Explosive Act - were filed 
in connection with the grenade attack.

After investigation into the case, charges were framed against four people, 
including Mufti Hannan, on 31 July 2007.

The Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal of Sylhet on 23 December 2008, awarded 
death sentence to Huji leaders Hannan, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar 
Hossain Ripon while Mufti Muhibur Rahman (Hannan's brother) and Mufti Mainuddin 
were awarded life term, and fined Tk 10,000 each in the murder case.

(source: prothom-alo.com)






IRAN----executions

3 Prisoners Hanged


Iranian authorities have hanged a prisoner at Dizel Abad, Kermanshah's central 
prison, and 2 prisoners at Choubindar, Qazvin's central prison.

According to close sources, a prisoner was hanged at Kermanshah's central 
prison on the morning of Monday March 13. The prisoner has been identified as 
Mohammad Reza Samadi Nasb, sentenced to death on drug related charges.

"Mohammad Reza was arrested in 2013 on the charge of trafficking 2 kilograms of 
crystal meth, but he always insisted on his innocence and claimed the charges 
against him were false," a source close to Mr. Samadi Nasb's cas file tells 
Iran Human Rights.

According to a report by the state-run news agency, Rokna, 2 prisoners were 
hanged at Qazvin's central prison on the morning of Tuesday March 14. The 
report identifies the prisoners as: Reza, 31 years of age, charged with 
possession of 400 grams of heroin and 890 grams of crystal meth; and Mehdi, 
charged with murder of a relative.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

Marjan Davari's mother speaks out against the death penalty


In an interview on March 17, 2017, the mother of Marjan Davari called for 
abolition of her daughter's death sentence.

Ms. Davari's mother said, "Marjan did not deserve the death penalty. I don't 
know what happened in the middle of the way that the page turned ... As a 
mother I am burning. I hope that not only my own daughter but other youths 
would not go on the stool."

Marjan Davari, 50, a researcher and translator, was arrested on September 24, 
2015, when the Path of Knowledge Institute was shut down and its instructors 
arrested. She received a death sentence on March 12, 2017.

(source: NCR-Iran)






PHILIPPINES:

CBCP to lawmakers: Christ was never for 'legal killing'


As the Senate considers the revival of capital punishment, leaders of the 
Philippines' Catholic Church on Sunday urged legislators not to use the Bible 
to defend the death penalty, which they say runs against the teachings of Jesus 
Christ.

In a pastoral letter read out at Mass services across the country, the Catholic 
Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said lawmakers must "interpret 
the Scriptures properly" and take note that Jesus "was never an advocate of any 
form of 'legal killing.'"

"To the people who use the Bible to defend death penalty, need we point out how 
many other crimes against humanity have been justified, using the same Bible? 
We humbly enjoin them to interpret the Scriptures properly, to read them as a 
progressive revelation of God's will to humankind, with its ultimate 
fulfillment in Jesus Christ, God's definitive Word to the world," the letter 
read.

"Jesus was never an advocate of any form of "legal killing". He defended the 
adulterous woman against those who demanded her blood and challenged those who 
were without sin among them to be the first to cast a stone on her."

Christ, the CBCP said, pushed for "justice founded on mercy" in lieu of a 
system of retribution exemplified by the principle of "an eye for an eye, a 
tooth for a tooth."

Senator Manny Pacquiao, a champion boxer and born-again pastor, has repeatedly 
used the Bible to defend the return of the death penalty. He said in January 
that that while the 10 Commandments prohibit killings, God approves of capital 
punishment to pursue justice and that even Christ was sentenced to death.

Capital punishment inched closer to reinstatement earlier this month after it 
was approved by the House of Representatives on 2nd reading on Ash Wednesday, 
March 1, as well as on final reading last March 7.

CBCP said it was ironic that majority of congressmen during the 2nd reading 
voted in favor of death penalty while their foreheads were marked with crosses 
made of ashes, a symbol of God's forgiveness.

"Could they have forgotten what that cross meant? Could they have missed out 
the contradiction between their vote and the crosses on their foreheads, which 
were supposed to serve as a loud statement of faith in the God who, for love of 
us, chose to give up his life for our salvation, rather than see us perish?" 
the Church leaders asked.

The bishops said capital punishment has often been used by repressive 
governments as "a way of stifling dissent, or of eliminating those whom they 
regarded as threats to their hold on political power."

"Think, for instance why Herod Antipas had John the Baptist beheaded, or why 
Pilate had Jesus crucified. Think of the thousands of Christian martyrs who 
were put to death for sheer hatred for the faith," they said.

They added that capital punishment was never proven as an effective deterrent 
to crime and will likely target only the poor who cannot afford good lawyers 
and a guarantee of due process.

The CBCP ended its pastoral letter with an appeal for the public to pray for 
the enlightenment of the Senate ahead of its death penalty deliberations.

"Let us pray fervently for the legislators of our country as they prepare to 
vote on death penalty in the Philippine Senate. Let us offer all our Masses for 
them, asking our Crucified Lord who offered his whole life, body and blood, for 
the salvation of sinners, to touch their consciences and lead them to abolish 
capital punishment once and for all," CBCP said.

(source: abs-cbn.com)