[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 10




GLOBAL:

Links Between Islamism and Executions


People have, it seems, often been arrested or detained on the basis of a rumor; 
then convicted without trial, counsel or often even the chance to mount a 
defense.

As Amnesty International points out, "In many countries where people were 
sentenced to death or executed, the proceedings did not meet international fair 
trial standards. In some cases, this included the extraction of 'confessions' 
through torture or other ill-treatment".

The laws under which these people are sentenced to death are often not only 
vague and open to interpretation. Charges that warrant the death penalty, for 
instance, include being "corrupt on earth", "enemies of Allah on Earth", or 
alleged "crimes against chastity". What exactly does "corrupt on earth" or 
"enemies of Allah on Earth" mean?

Just how strict and brutal it is to enforce Islamic law, sharia, has now been 
revealed by Amnesty International.

Amnesty's study, which details the number of reported executions around the 
world, clearly maps out the most at-risk populations. Lands ruled predominantly 
by sharia are apparently the most vulnerable to multitudes of executions 
without fair trials. At the top of the list, with the most executions, are 
those nations that enforce Islamic sharia law. Despite many human rights 
violations, these nations, apparently undeterred, continue to execute their 
citizens.

Sharia makes those in authority infallible and untouchable. Therefore, whatever 
the government or those in power deem to be "just" can be carried out without 
question or consequence. Under sharia law and the Islamic penal code, 
executions can be carried out in sickening forms. Those convicted may be 
beheaded, hanged, stoned, or shot to death.

As disturbing as the numbers in the report may be, they do not represent the 
reality that the citizens in these nations across the world face every day. 
There is, evidently, a connection between radical Islamist governments and 
extremist groups. The report does not include the gruesome executions that are 
carried out on a regular basis by extremist Islamist groups and non-state 
fundamentalists, such as members of the Islamic State (ISIS) and their 
affiliated groups.

These executions include, as we have seen, slitting throats, burning alive, 
drowning alive and crucifixion.

If these acts were included in the Amnesty International report, the total 
number of executions committed under the authority of Islamist law would be far 
higher. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, for example, pointed out that 
the Islamic State executed 33 people in the 1st week of April alone.

The report also did not include the number of Westerners being shot, executed 
and terrorized by Islamist groups. Many of these, such as ISIS, Asaib Ahl 
al-Haq (AAH), Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH), the Badr Organization, Or Kata'ib al-Imam 
Ali (the Imam Ali Battalions), are funded and trained by Islamist governments 
and oil-rich, unaccountable leaders.

Mass executions are evidently also being carried out by both extremist Islamist 
governments and Islamist groups. A culture of executions, often extra-judicial, 
as in Pakistan, seems to run rampant within the borders of these countries. 
Without any consequences for this horrifying disregard for human life, the 
numbers will only increase.

In Pakistan, Asia Bibi, a Christian, sits on death row for "blasphemy." Asia's 
"crime" was to use the same water glass as her Muslim co-workers. "You defiled 
our water," the Muslim women told her.

Both Islamist governments and Islamist groups justify their brutal acts by 
referring to the "religious" Islamist legitimacy of their murders. Members of 
fundamentalist Islamist governments, to legitimize these types of atrocities, 
also exploit the right of "sovereignty": they point out that they belong 
independent state with a fully operating and "legal" judiciary.

In the Amnesty International report, the Iran ranked number one, per capita, in 
executing people. It also accounted for 66% of all officially recorded 
executions in the region. Again, this amount only represents those executions 
that were officially registered.

It is also critical to point out that the statistics Amnesty International 
provides were given by the very governments that carried out the executions. 
This method means that those in power were the ones to calculate and decide 
what number should officially represent their country. The unofficial number is 
thought to be even higher. There is nothing to stop governments from simply 
keeping the true number to themselves.

Executions carried out under the strict governmental laws of sharia and 
Islamist judicial systems can have even more grotesque characteristics. The 
high number of executions included children, some convicted before the age of 
18. Death sentences may frequently have lacked due process and what many would 
consider acceptable standards of proof. People have, it seems, often been 
arrested or detained on the basis of a rumor; then convicted without trial, 
counsel or often even the chance to mount a defense. As Amnesty International 
points out, "In many countries where people were sentenced to death or 
executed, the proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards. In 
some cases, this included the extraction of 'confessions' through torture or 
other ill-treatment".

Prisoners' vulnerabilities also had no bearing on their executions. Even those 
seriously ill were executed. Mass executions or stoning could be ordered and 
then carried out within a very short time, sometimes within days, giving those 
convicted no time to mount any form of appeal.

The laws under which these people are sentenced to death are often not only 
vague and open to interpretation. Charges that warrant the death penalty, for 
instance, include being "corrupt on earth", "enemies of Allah on Earth", or 
alleged "crimes against chastity". What exactly does "corrupt on earth" or 
"enemies of Allah on Earth" mean? There are no guidelines to establish guilt or 
innocence. Those in power are therefore able to decide who has violated what 
laws on what can only be a capricious basis. Islamist sheikhs, imams, or judges 
can subjectively interpret charges any way they like. A charge of being 
"corrupt on earth" can apply to having fun at a party or writing poetry that 
government decides is critical of it. A charge of being "corrupt on earth" can 
apply to someone who is homosexual, someone who is claimed to have committed 
adultery, or who has simply declined to accepted an unwanted advance. It can 
mean anyone who has done anything that the ruling leaders dislike.

These Islamist laws, moreover, also serve as a perfect tool for exploitation. A 
woman finding herself accused of breaking a law may be assured that if she 
agrees to sleep with a judge, for instance, he will interpret the law in a 
lenient way and protect her from the death penalty. After a woman submits to 
this, she can be executed nevertheless. Sometimes girls are forced into sighah 
-- the Shiite Islamist law of temporary marriage -- with a cleric, or a 
governmental official; after "consummating" it, they can also be put to death.

What does a charge such as "crimes against chastity" mean under sharia? This 
accusation can apply to a girl who has been raped. Instead of the law providing 
protection for the victim and consequences for the rapist, the victim is 
accused of the crime of "adultery", convicted without a fair trial, and swiftly 
executed.

When Islamist laws enter a land, it seems the number of stonings, beheadings, 
and executions goes up.

Leaders of these nations can use this flexibility to terrorize and control 
entire societies, expand their power, export their ideology, and ensure that 
there is no opportunity to resist. More disturbing is that those numbers are 
just a portion of the truth.

(source: Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, political scientist and Harvard University 
scholar is president of the International American Council on the Middle 
East----gatestoneinstitute.org)






IRAN----executions

2 Prisoners Hanged on Murder Charges


On the morning of Monday May 8, 2 prisoners were reportedly hanged at Mashhad 
Central Prison.

According to the Iranian state-run news agency Rokna, 1 of the prisoners, who 
was not identified by name, was 35 years old, while the other prisoner, who was 
identified by the initials M.M., was 27 years old.

(source: Iran Human Rights)






EGYPT:

Specter of death penalty haunts Egypt???s Brotherhood----Egypt's highest court 
for the 1st time has upheld the death penalty against a member of the Muslim 
Brotherhood, prompting fears that it won't be the last time.


An Egyptian court issued the 1st death sentence against a member of the Muslim 
Brotherhood, Sheikh Fadl al-Mawla, in what some fear will be a precedent for 
the regime.

The Court of Cassation ruling April 24 prompted objections from human rights 
groups and politicians.

Since July 2013, when current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led a coup to 
overthrow then-President Mohammed Morsi, the only related death sentences 
upheld have been against individuals alleged to have belonged to jihadi 
movements - but not against actual members of Morsi's Sunni Islamist 
organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, or even against Morsi himself.

In this context, the final ruling issued against Sheikh Fadl al-Mawla, an 
Islamist cleric accused of killing a taxi driver during the Rabaa Al-Adawiya 
sit-in strike in 2013, has prompted many people to ask the most important 
question to be raised in four years: Will the regime officially carry out death 
sentences issued against the Brotherhood's members?

"Many of the Muslim Brotherhood members are awaiting the decisions that the 
Court of Cassation will soon take regarding their death sentences," said lawyer 
Khalaf Bayoumi, the head of the El-Shebab Center for Human Rights.

Part of the motive behind the question is the nature of Mawla's case. Bayoumi, 
who has been closely following Muslim Brotherhood cases, said the ruling is 
"shocking and contrary to all legal norms and traditions." He called the ruling 
"a continuation of the judiciary politicization that is taking place in Egypt," 
and expressed concerns over the "political exploitation of the ruling, which 
could set the stage for similar verdicts."

Bayoumi explained to Al-Monitor what he considers to be "legal shortcomings in 
the verdict" and said, "The verdict was based on the testimony of one witness 
only, and this testimony was abnormally contradictory." The court disregarded a 
request by Mawla's lawyer to nullify the arrest because Mawla wasn't caught in 
the act. The court also disregarded the defense's information about the arrest 
operation that was "quite different from the story told by the criminal 
investigation agent," Bayoumi said. He also pointed out, "The death sentence is 
only applicable when there is an aggravating circumstance behind the 
intentional murder, and this was not the case."

Many Muslim Brotherhood leaders and activists told Al-Monitor they have been 
expecting such an escalation as the 2018 presidential elections draw nearer. So 
far, they said, all deaths among former Brotherhood leaders were extrajudicial 
because of medical neglect or torture in prison. However, some people believe 
that even the sentences handed down by the Criminal Court should be considered 
"extrajudicial," alleging that politics, not justice, is the motivating factor.

"This issue reflects the mobilization practiced by the head of the regime, 
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for the 2018 elections," Yasser Fathi, a political 
observer close to the Brotherhood, told Al-Monitor. "This is a trend in public 
policies, and it has been made clear by Sisi's desire to show more dominance 
and rigor in dossiers related to the judiciary and Al-Azhar, which are 
institutions affiliated with the state."

Fathi believes all indicators show the Muslim Brotherhood is being used as a 
scapegoat, especially at the political level. "The Brotherhood is always the 
category that is easy to target and blame for the failure to combat terrorism 
and other matters. We fear that Mawla might be executed at any time, and we 
feel that the danger will be more serious moving forward, especially amid the 
state of great anger within the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood at what is 
happening," Fathi said.

Al-Monitor spoke to Mawla's wife, who said her husband was targeted due to his 
"beard, religious appearance, advocacy activity and activity against the coup." 
This, she said, would "help distort his image in the state media." She believes 
her husband is a scapegoat, especially as none of those arrested with him 
received a death sentence. She said she was "shocked" when she heard the news 
with her 5 children.

Though the court upheld Mawla's death sentence, Ashraf Sharif, a comparative 
politics professor at the American University in Cairo, said, "It remains to be 
seen whether the sentence will be executed, especially considering that the law 
does not compel the authority to immediately implement the sentence and its 
execution could be delayed for years."

Sharif said judicial decisions in Egypt are often subject to individuals' 
motives and conspiracies, which could mean the court's decision "was not issued 
under the direct guidance of the regime." However, "This does not negate the 
fact that the regime's decision to take escalatory measures against the 
Brotherhood has been indeed ongoing for some time." The evidence of that 
escalation, he said, is the regime's rejection of reconciliation and "its 
repressive measures against what it calls 'radical groups within the 
Brotherhood.'"

Sharif, who researches Islamic movements, said there are 2 approaches within 
the Egyptian state when it comes to dealing with the Brotherhood. "The 1st is 
based on eradication and is represented by Sisi, who wants to succeed in the 
areas that [Gamal Abdel] Nasser failed in and completely eliminate the Muslim 
Brotherhood, while the other approach favors the traditional [Hosni] 
Mubarak-state style, which is based on containment and calculated repression."

Al-Monitor asked Sharif if Egypt might be feeling less pressure regarding its 
use of the death penalty because of the new US administration. The previous 
administration would have been likely to criticize Egypt strongly, but perhaps 
Egypt feels its relations with the United States have improved under President 
Donald Trump. There have been Brotherhood reports of links between Sisi???s 
visit to the United States and the ruling, but Sharif said the Trump 
administration is unlikely to have affected the ruling.

The United States has been under pressure to decide whether to officially label 
the Brotherhood a terrorist group, but so far it has not weighed in on its 
leanings.

"Trump's administration has not yet decided on the Brotherhood matter, 
especially given the practical difficulty of declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a 
terrorist group and having such a declaration serve as a reason to accept ... 
executions against the group," he added.

Meanwhile, Mawla's family lives in hope that the ruling will be disrupted. His 
wife said, "We submitted a petition to the prosecutor general to quash the 
ruling amid the ongoing constitutional dispute over the law."

Bayoumi said his legal center and lawyers submitted several complaints to the 
African Commission to stop the sentence from being carried out: "In a joint 
statement with several human rights organizations, we called on the 
international community to intervene and place pressure on the Egyptian regime 
to stop the implementation of the sentence."

Although it remains to be seen if the regime will weigh in publicly on the 
execution, there are Brotherhood activists who believe the regime could 
threaten to implement the ruling at any time, sending a political message to 
the group whenever it might consider supporting any presidential candidate 
running against Sisi.

(source: al-monitor.com)






SUDAN:

Sudanese activist faces death penalty over apostasy case


Police officers in Sudan's capital, Khartoum Monday have arrested a human right 
activist over allegations of Apostasy.The arrest came 2 day after the guy went 
to a court in Ombada area, asking a judge to allow him change his Aslamic 
religion that written in his national identity card to Atheism.

The 27-year -old wrote to the court a long letter explaining why he wanted to 
leave his religion.

According to reports, the activist, Mohamed Al-dossogy will be transfered 
tomorrow from his jail in Khartoum to a court to face the charges that 
including disturbance and apostasy.

Article 126 of the 1991 Sudanese Penal Code imposes death penalty for any 
person found guilty of apostasy, Which is defined "crime that is committed by 
any Muslim who advocates for the renunciation of the creed of Islam or publicly 
renounces his or her faith."

In May 2014 court in the country jailed and convicted Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, a 
27-year-old woman in her 9th month of pregnancy, but she Was released after the 
case brought criticism to the government.

(source: journalducameroun.com)






INDIA:

Kill the death penalty: UNHRC to India----In a periodical review, UN has given 
250 recommendations

4 days after the Supreme Court ordered capital punishment for the 4 accused in 
the Nirbhaya rape case, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has 
recommended that India do away with death penalty.

Following the Universal Periodic Review of India's human rights track record, 
conducted by the UNHRC every four years, the country has received 250 
recommendations, some of the crucial ones being abolishment of the death 
penalty, ratifying the convention against torture and other cruel punishments, 
and criminalising marital rape. India has decided to review the recommendations 
and report to UNHRC by September.

The issue of making marital rape punishable has met with lacklustre political 
will. In the recent past, Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Chaudhary 
went on record in Rajya Sabha to say a move to amend the Indian Penal Code to 
undo the exclusion of marital rape from the definition of rape would be 
"impossible".

Merely a year later, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka 
Gandhi went on to say the 'concept' of marital rape "as understood 
internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to 
various factors such as level of education/illiteracy, poverty." The preference 
given to social customs over the protection of women from crimes is not just 
limited to laws on rape. India???s ratification of the Convention on the 
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, comes burdened with 
conditions.

While ratifying the Convention, in 1993, India declared, "With regard to 
Articles 5 (a) and 16 (1) of the Convention ... the Government of India 
declares that it shall abide by and ensure these provisions in conformity with 
its policy of non-interference in the personal affairs of any Community without 
its initiative and consent."

Article 5 (a) pertains to eliminating prejudices and customary practices that 
hinge on the idea of inferiority of women; while 16 (1) asks States to 
eliminate discrimination against women in matters related to marriage as well 
as family relations - giving equal rights to choose spouse, choose the number 
of children, to own property, and have a job, besides others.

Some of the other recommendations include, preventing inter-communal violence; 
eradicating all forms of caste-based discriminations and violence; and 
strengthening the national mechanisms to combat human trafficking.

(source: thehindubusinessline.com)






PAKISTAN:

International Court of Justice stays death sentence given to Kulbhushan Jadhav 
by Pakistan Army court----The ICJ observed that Pakistan failed to offer a just 
trial to Kulbhushan before awarding him the death penalty.


International Court of Justice (ICJ) stayed the execution of Kulbhushan Jadhav, 
the former Indian naval officer who was sentenced to death in Pakistan. Jadhav 
was awarded death by Pakistan's Army court last month, evoking sharp reaction 
from India. The verdict against Jadhav was termed as a 'premeditated murder' by 
India, accusing Pakistan of violating the guidelines of Vienna Convention on 
Consular Relations.

The ICJ observed that Pakistan failed to offer a just trial to Kulbhushan 
before handing him the death penalty. The Hague-based court further questioned 
the Pakistani civilian government for rejecting India's plea for consular 
access 14 times in a row. At the ICJ, India is being represented by senior 
Supreme Court advocate Harish Salve.

India's application before ICJ was accepted on May 8. In the plea, Pakistan was 
accused of agreeing to provide consular access to Kulbhushan, only if India 
assists in the probe being conducted against him. "Linking assistance to the 
investigation process to the granting of consular access was by itself a 
serious violation of the Vienna Convention," India said in the petition 
submitted to ICJ.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj confirmed the stay put by ICJ on 
Kulbhushan's execution. She tweeted about her conversation with Jadhav???s 
mother, apprising her about the order issued by the ICJ to stay the hanging of 
her son.

With the ICJ admitting India's application to review the subject, the 
Kulbhushan Jadhav row is no longer a bilateral subject. Defence expert Maroof 
Raza lauded the efforts of Narendra Modi government to seek justice from the 
ICJ. "Government of India has used its diplomatic skills in the most efficient 
manner. This shows India's desire to approach the international court on 
disputes with Pakistan. So far, only Pakistan has been using global forums for 
legal battles against India," he said, while speaking to Times Now.

The respite for Kulbhushan comes in the backdrop of major diplomatic efforts 
taken by India to stay his execution. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs 
reached out to their Pakistani counterparts on multiple occasions, seeking 
consular access for Kulbhushan. However, Islamabad has denied consular access 
to Kulbhushan for 14 times in a row.

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had so far defended the death verdict 
of Kulbhushan, saying, "The execution of Kulbhushan is completely justified 
under the laws of the land." The Indian national was charged for espionage and 
convicted under Official Secrets Act, 1929.

(source: india.com)