[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

Thu Nov 9 08:17:54 CST 2017

Nov. 9

EGYPT:

Egyptian court orders retrial of 7 Daesh defendants

Egypt on Tuesday overturned the death penalty and jail sentences for 7 
defendants who have been accused of establishing links with Daesh.

The Court of Cassation ordered a retrial of the cases by the criminal court, 
the official Middle East News Agency, MENA, reported.

The defendants were referred to the criminal court along with 13 others in 2014 
by the country's late Attorney General, Hisham Barakat, accused of creating a 
terror cell that carried out hostile acts against police and army personnel. 
They were also accused of embracing extremist ideologies and establishing links 
with Daesh.

The court had already sentenced 4 of the other defendants to death, 3 of which 
were in absentia, 2 others were sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard 
labour, 6 to 10 years with hard labour, and 11 defendant was acquitted, added 
MENA.

(source: The Gulf Today)

IRAN----executions

4 Prisoners Executed For Drug Offences

4 prisoners were executed at Urmia Central Prison (Northwestern Iran) on drug 
related charges.

According to a close source, on the morning on Tuesday November 7, 4 prisoners 
were executed at Urmia Central Prison (Darya). The prisoners, who were 
sentenced to death on drug related charges, were transferred to solitary 
confinement from ward 15 yesterday.

The prisoners were identified as Asghar Ranjbar, Hedayat Shirzad, Hassan 
Bashoqi, and Ali Zare'.

"The prisoners were sentenced to death on the charge of possessing 5 to 200 
kilograms of heroin or meth," said a close source to Iran Human Rights 
yesterday.

These prisoners were executed while a few weeks ago a new anti-narcotics bill 
was approved by Iran's Parliament and the Guardian Council. The bill was also 
announced by the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and published in an official 
newspaper on Saturday October 29 2017.

According to Article 2 of the civil law, the laws are ought to be enforced 
within 15 days after being published in an official newspaper (6 days from 
now).

The executions of these prisoners have not been announced by the state-run 
media so far.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

PAKISTAN:

Pakistani death sentences show blasphemy laws' threat

The October death sentences for 3 Pakistani men demonstrate the threat of 
blasphemy laws in many countries to the life and liberty of Christians and 
other religious minorities.

The judgments for the Pakistanis -- all members of the Ahmadi Muslim sect -- 
came 2 months after the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 
(USCIRF) issued a report that showed more than 1/3 of the world's countries 
have blasphemy laws. Most of the blasphemy laws in those 71 countries not only 
transgress international human rights standards but fail to fully protect 
freedom of expression and impose unduly severe punishments on violators, 
according to the report.

Arrested in 2014, the 3 Ahmadis -- Mubasher Ahmad, Ghulam Ahmed and Ehsan Ahmed 
-- received the death penalty Oct. 11 in a court in the Punjab Province of 
eastern Pakistan. They were charged with violating the country's law against 
deliberately insulting Islam by tearing down a religious poster, according to a 
report by Voice of America (VOA). An Ahmadi spokesman said the poster was 
anti-Ahmadi, VOA reported.

While Ahmadis describe themselves as Muslims, Pakistan -- with Islam as its 
state religion -- does not recognize them as such and prohibits some of their 
practices. Ahmadis differ from other Muslims in that they believe the Messiah 
has already come.

Southern Baptist religious freedom advocate Russell Moore said the sentencing 
"is yet another reminder how imperiled religious liberty is throughout the 
world."

"Conscience freedom is the most fundamental human right of all," said Moore, 
president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, "but for millions of 
people across the globe, including many of our brothers and sisters in Christ, 
such freedom is consistently and violently attacked."

In written comments for Baptist Press, Moore said he prays the United States 
"will continue to take the lead in global advocacy for religious liberty. Most 
importantly, I pray that we as Christians would work and pray for conscience 
freedom for everyone and everywhere."

USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark said in a written statement, "In short, Ahmadis are 
required to renounce their faith in order to avail themselves of important 
civil rights in Pakistan."

USCIRF -- a bipartisan panel selected by the president and congressional 
leaders -- "has consistently called on Pakistan to repeal such laws. They 
violate human rights standards and make the government the ultimate arbiter of 
religious doctrines or truths. This is quite simply wrong," Mark said.

The situation for minority faith groups is growing worse, an expert on 
blasphemy laws told BP.

"There is an escalation of pressure and charges of blasphemy against religious 
minorities in many Muslim-majority countries, both in terms of formal legal 
charges by the government and also in private accusations by radicals, 
vigilantes and terrorists," said Paul Marshall, senior fellow at the Hudson 
Institute's Center for Religious Freedom.

Accusations are more dangerous than government charges, he said in an email 
interview.

"For example, nobody has been executed for blasphemy under Pakistan's current 
laws, which date from the 1980s, but dozens, perhaps hundreds, have been 
murdered after they had been accused of blasphemy or quasi-blasphemy laws," 
said Marshall, who co-wrote a 2011 book on blasphemy codes.

Blasphemy accusations are increasing not only in Pakistan but in Egypt, 
Algeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia, he said.

When USCIRF released its report Aug. 16, Mark pointed to this double-edged 
menace.

"Blasphemy laws are wrong in principle, and they often invite abuse and lead to 
assaults, murders and mob attacks," he said in a written statement.

As an example, a Pakistani Christian man and his wife were falsely accused of 
tossing pages of the Koran into the garbage and were thrown into the furnace of 
a brick kiln in 2014, according to Morning Star News.

In its report, USCIRF defined blasphemy as "the act of expressing contempt or a 
lack of reverence for God or sacred things." In the study, blasphemy laws 
include sections "that sanction insulting or defaming religion and seek to 
punish individuals for allegedly offending, insulting, or denigrating religious 
doctrines, deities, symbols or 'the sacred,' or for wounding or insulting 
religious feelings."

The USCIRF report showed the 5 countries with the worst scores in its survey -- 
Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Qatar in order -- all use blasphemy laws to 
guard the state religion of Islam, violating the rights of other religious 
groups in the process.

While many of the 71 countries with blasphemy laws hold Islam as the government 
religion, many others do not. Some countries with blasphemy laws seem 
surprising, such as Canada, New Zealand and several European countries, 
including Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Some of those governments do not 
enforce their laws, according to the USCIRF report.

USCIRF calls "upon those countries to set an example for the others and repeal 
their blasphemy laws," Mark said. "And we call upon all countries to repeal any 
such laws and to free those detained or convicted for blasphemy."

USCIRF found 86 % of the countries with blasphemy laws call for prison 
sentences for violators.

The United States has the ability to help combat blasphemy laws round the 
world, Marshall said.

"The U.S. should point out that empirical research shows that restrictions on 
religious freedom, including blasphemy laws, actually increase religious 
tension, hostility and violence and push to limit and ultimately abolish 
blasphemy laws and restrictions wherever they occur," he told BP. "We should 
also resist so-called 'hate-speech' laws in the West, since many of these 
function as blasphemy laws."

In addition to the 3 Ahmadis sentenced to death in Pakistan, other individuals 
charged, sentenced or imprisoned under blasphemy laws in recent months include:

-- Slimane Bouhafs, an Algerian Christian who had his request for parole 
rejected in early October despite his poor health while serving a prison 
sentence for a social media post saying the light of Jesus overcomes the "lie" 
of Islam and its prophet, according to World Watch Monitor.

-- Nadeem James, a Roman Catholic father of 2 who has been sentenced to death 
for blaspheming Mohammad, Islam's prophet, in a phone text despite the fact he 
is illiterate, Morning Star News reported Sept. 18.

-- Shahzad Masih, a 17-year-old Roman Catholic in Pakistan who was arrested 
July 14 after being accused by a Muslim co-worker of blasphemy following an 
argument, according to Morning Star News.

-- Ishfaq Masih, a Christian father who was arrested June 16 in Pakistan after 
being accused of blasphemy by a Muslim client following a disagreement over a 
repair bill, Morning Star News reported.

-- Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian ousted as governor of Jakarta, 
Indonesia, who began serving a 2-year prison sentence for blasphemy in May for 
comments he made during a 2016 re-election campaign, BP reported.

The USCIRF report -- "Respecting Rights? Measuring the World's Blasphemy Laws" 
-- is available online at 
http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/Blasphemy%20Laws%20Report.pdf.

In September, USCIRF issued a follow-up compilation titled "Selected Blasphemy 
Cases," which provides information on many individuals imprisoned for violating 
blasphemy laws. The report is available at 
http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/Selected%20Blasphemy%20Cases%20--%20September%202017.pdf.

(source: Tom Strode is Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press, the Southern 
Baptist Convention's news service----Baptist Press)