[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----IRAN, PAKIS., INDIA, BANG., IRE.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 26




IRAN----executions

4 Prisoners Hanged



A prisoner was hanged at Rajai Shahr Prison on Moharebeh charges and 3 other 
were executed at Tabriz Central Prison on murder charges.

Execution in Karaj

According to a close source, a prisoner was executed at Rajai Shahr Prison 
charged with Moharebeh (waging war against God) on Wednesday November 22. The 
prisoner, identified as Majid Sa'adat, was transferred to solitary confinement 
on Wednesday November 15. On Wednesday November 21, he was returned to his 
cell, while his execution was thought to have been stopped. However, he was 
transferred to solitary confinement again on Wednesday and was executed.

Majid Sa'adat was convicted of Moharebeh, while there is no information 
regarding his criminal offence and the evidence against him.

"Majid Sa'adat extorted some of the Iranian authorities by posing as government 
officials and an agent of the Ministry of Intelligence. However, he was never 
aggressive and did not use cold weapons or guns, which would make his crime 
count as Moharebeh," Said one of the prisoner's relatives to Iran Human Rights 
(IHR).

IHR is investigating further into this case.

Execution in Tabriz

According to a report by HRANA News Agency which is also confirmed by Iran 
Human Rights (IHR), on the morning of Wednesday November 22, 3 prisoners were 
executed at Tabriz Central Prison on murder charges.

Kurdistan Human Rights Network identified the three prisoners as Jamal Qanbari 
from Tabriz, Sa'ed Askari from Mianeh, and Ali Delgoshadi from Mamqan.

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

(source: Iran Human Rights)








PAKISTAN:

2 get death penalty in murder case



Additional District and Sessions Judge Ejaz Ahmad on Saturday awarded death 
sentence to 2 accused involved in a murder case of Sadar police station. 
According to the prosecution, Muhammad Nawaz with his 2 accomplices Qaisar and 
Rizwan had gunned down Sohail Anjum at Chak 5/NB over some business matters on 
February 3. The court awarded 50 years jail imprisonment to Nawaz and Qaisar 
with a fine Rs1 million as compensation money for the family of the victim 
while the court acquitted Rizwan.

(source: The Express Tribune)

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

Culture Circle: Play on prisoners on death row to be staged on 28th, 29th



Ajoka Theatre in collaboration with Justice Project Pakistan and Alhamra Arts 
Council are set to stage their co-production, Intezaar, on Nov 28 and 29 at 
Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall.

The play, written by Shahid Nadeem and directed by UK-based director Dina 
Mousawi, is based on true stories of prisoners on death penalty in Pakistan.

It is a unique project that has brought 4 organisations together committed to 
human rights and socially meaningful art. Supported and coordinated by Justice 
Project Pakistan and Highlight Arts, London, the project has been developed by 
creative partners Ajoka and Complicite, London.

An evening was organised in memory of poet and writer Aqeel Ruby in connection 
with his 3rd death anniversary at Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture 
(Pilac) on Thursday. Speakers, including Syed Noor, Asim Bokhari, Pervaiz 
Kaleem, Dr Kanwal Feroze and Yousaf Punjabi paid tributes to Ruby.

Syed Noor said that the success of his movies such as Choorian, Majajan and 
Mehndi Walay Hath had immense contribution from Ruby in the form of his 
beautiful poetry.

Pilac Director General Dr Sughra Sadaf said the centre would publish Punjabi 
literature written by Ruby. He was a university in himself and had great 
command over Greek philosophy.

Ruby's widow, Begum Bushra Aqeel, announced that the literary collection of her 
husband, including books, would be donated to the Pilac library.

A classical dance performance is scheduled to be held at Ali Auditorium on 
Sunday (today).

Faiz Foundation Trust has flown in a 10-member classical dance team from the US 
to present a dance drama.

Titled 'The Forgotten', the performance will be based on the history and life 
of Empress Noor Jahan. It aims to explore Noor Jahan's strength and influence 
in 16th century Mughal India, and how she maintained her power in a 
male-dominated empire, only to be almost forgotten in the latter years of her 
life and in death.

Through an enthralling performance of South Asian classical dance, live music, 
stunning visuals and theatre, kathak artist Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, director 
Matthew Spangler and music director Salar Nader, along with their team of 
musicians and actors, will deliver the performance surrounding this powerful 
woman.

(source: dawn.com)








INDIA:

Cabinet approves death penalty for convicts raping 12-year-old and 
below----Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya said, "Any person 
convicted for raping 12-year-old minor or below will be sentenced to death."



Madhya Pradesh Cabinet approves death sentence for rape convicts in the cases 
involving minors of 12-year-old and below.

Jayant Malaiya, Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister confirmed the development and 
said, "Any person convicted for raping 12-year-old minor or below will be 
sentenced to death."

He added, "Death penalty will also be awarded to convicts of gang rape cases."

The Cabinet also passed an amendment in the penal code to increase fine and 
punishment for rape accused was approved.

(source: newsnation.in)








BANGLADESH:

Peelkhana massacre: High Court sentencing on Monday



The High Court proceedings in delivering the verdict over the killings during 
the 2009 mutiny at the border guards' headquarters in Dhaka have rolled into 
Monday.

A 3-member bench led by Justice Md Shawkat Hossain started announcing the 
verdict just before 11am Sunday and adjourned in the afternoon.

Justice Hossain has said the court will reconvene on Monday, when the 
sentencing is expected.

The larger bench with Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Md Nazrul Islam 
Talukder as the 2 other members was formed in 2015 to hear the case, largest in 
Bangladesh's history in terms of the number of convicts.

At the beginning of Sunday's proceedings for the verdict at 10:54am, Justice 
Siddique spoke on the trial process and the Peelkhana massacre before reading 
out his observations.

He continued until the court recessed at 1pm, when he said his observations 
were more than 1,000 pages.

When the counsels asked how long it may take, the presiding judge, Justice 
Hossain, said: "We can't say that. What we can say is that it's a unanimous 
verdict."

The court proceedings resumed an hour later.

At 4pm, Justice Hossain said the court was adjourned for the day to reconvene 
at 10:30am on Monday, when Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder will read out a 
summary of his observation.

"We hope to start the sentencing before noon tomorrow."

The mutiny that continued for 2 days 8 years ago, a month after a new 
government took office, sent shock waves across Bangladesh and to the rest of 
the world.

74 people, including 57 army officers, were brutally murdered by the mutineers 
on Feb 25-26 in 2009.

In November 2013, a special court of an additional metropolitan sessions judge 
awarded the death penalty to 152 soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the 
erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles or BDR for the massacre.

The court sentenced 161 others to life in prison and 256 to 3 to 10 years in 
jail. It acquitted 277.

Never before had so many accused, 850 in total, been tried in a single case in 
the history of Bangladesh.

4 of the accused died during the trial while BNP leader Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu 
died after conviction.

After the mutiny, some suggested deeper conspiracies behind the rebellion, but 
police investigators concluded that the BDR personnel's grievances led them to 
revolt.

The trial court, in its verdict, observed that the mutiny was orchestrated with 
the motive to destroy the military security system and might have been 
engineered to weaken the economy.

It said involving the border guards in market activities like 'Operation Dal 
Bhat', introduced by caretaker government, had been 'unwise'.

The court believed there were intelligence 'gaps' that held back critical 
information of a brewing mutiny.

(source: bdnews24.com)








IRELAND:

Entertainment Book Reviews



The man of persuasion who changed history----Politics: John Hume In America: 
>From Derry to DC, Maurice Fitzpatrick, Irish Academic Press, hardback, 208 
pages, 26.49 euros



Martina Devlin on a new book that advances the case that John Hume's US 
connections proved to be a game-changer in the Northern conflict.

'Bring back hanging" was one of Margaret Thatcher's tactics for dealing with 
the Troubles. In 1983, a vote was held at Westminster on reintroducing the 
death penalty for murder "resulting from acts of terrorism" - the IRA was its 
target.

That capital-punishment debate in the House of Commons, one of several during 
her premiership, is an example of how persistently she misunderstood Ireland. 
Fortunately, John Hume was at his eloquent best, warning: "If the House wants 
the IRA to win, then hang them."

Thatcher voted in favour of the death penalty, while DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley 
described it as wholly necessary. By contrast, his SDLP counterpart warned MPs 
it would increase violence rather than eradicate it: "What is now a disaster in 
Northern Ireland would, if the death penalty were introduced, become an 
unmanageable calamity throughout Ireland. There would be many more deaths, both 
in Britain and Ireland."

Jogging the Tory government's memory about its disastrous handling of the Long 
Kesh hunger strike 2 years earlier, Hume went on: "That hatred, the instability 
and the macabre display at that time are as nothing compared with the reaction 
that would take place in Ireland if Irish men or women were hanged under 
British law."

What would have happened to the Guildford 4 and Birmingham 6 under an execution 
policy? Fortunately, such a scenario was never put to the test because the 
majority of MPs agreed with Hume and the motion fell. It is a reminder of how a 
conviction politician who is a persuasive orator can change the course of 
history, as Hume undoubtedly did throughout his lengthy career.

His progress from civil rights activist to nationalist leader to international 
statesman is an example of 'cometh the hour, cometh the man' (or woman). The 
Derryman, who won a Nobel Peace Price for his unswerving allegiance to 
non-violent methods, transformed politics on this island. His legacy is the 
Good Friday Agreement of 1998 - he is one of the primary architects.

This new book, John Hume in America: From Derry to DC, charts his outstanding 
skills in building alliances and making the case for a just settlement. It also 
reminds readers of how he earned huge respect and influence internationally in 
the seats of powers in London, Washington and Europe.

Until the civil-rights movement began in 1968, politics in the Republic ignored 
the North. Politicians representing the nationalist minority - one third of the 
population - protested in vain against systemic discrimination, while the 
unionist majority blocked all reforms. As for Britain, which had allowed the 
state to be set up with a unionist veto and without protections for 
nationalists, its political leaders shrugged their shoulders.

Hume changed all that. He devised a constitutional path and showed how it could 
work. He realised that three sets of relationships needed to be constructed: 
between the two communities in the North, between North and South and between 
Ireland and Britain. It sounds obvious today, but he was the first to 
articulate it and form partnerships that would eventually deliver it.

Hume-speak, as it came to be called, is embedded in the Good Friday Agreement. 
Respect for difference is at its core. He was often teased about his single 
transferable speech but his message is an important one: co-operate, there's 
strength in diversity, spill sweat and not blood.

Hume has been an outstanding political leader, according to biographer Maurice 
Fitzpatrick, and few could disagree. But he has, perhaps, been a leader too 
large for his SDLP party.

Much time was spent in Washington, which he rightly identified as pivotal to 
nudging Britain towards agreeing a solution on the North. Thatcher said 
privately later that US pressure made her accept the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement 
- a climbdown from her famous "out, out, out" eruption.

The stoical Seamus Mallon, who was to become Deputy First Minister, remembers 
that Hume's absences were unsettling for the party he co-founded.

"He went on solo runs which was sometimes very disturbing for other members," 
the book quotes him as saying, while he also acknowledges that Hume's close 
work with the White House, Capitol Hill and the EU was pivotal in delivering a 
solution.

Elsewhere, some in the Republic feared Hume would drag the rest of Ireland into 
civil war. Conor Cruise O'Brien, who wrote for this newspaper, was a persistent 
critic.

What I find contradictory about the former government minister's position is 
that he is characterised as an intellectual, yet he used draconian censorship 
laws (section 31 of the Broadcasting Act) to impose his case rather than rely 
on the logic or fluency of his arguments. Hume, by comparison, always operated 
on the basis of moral argument.

The book, written to coincide with the author's film In the Name of Peace: John 
Hume in America, at times has a disjointed feel. It can read as if interviews 
to camera were simply transferred to the page. Yet much of the information is 
useful, undeniably.

It advances the case that Hume's US connections proved to be a game-changer. He 
convinced key Irish-American figures, including Speaker Tip O'Neill and Senator 
Edward Kennedy, that his analysis and solution were the way forward. In turn, 
they helped him to gain access to the White House under a succession of 
leaders, from President Carter to President Reagan to President Clinton.

The Anglo-Irish Agreement followed, building a platform for the peace process 
and winning US investment for the North and border region through the 
International Fund for Ireland.

It gave Dublin a formal role in the Six Counties for the 1st time. The Irish 
Government posted diplomatic representatives to the North, establishing the 
Maryfield Secretariat (known as the bunker) which could make recommendations to 
London. Before going, their were fingerprinted, and had their dental records 
and footprints filed, a grim reminder of the risk taken by the civil servants. 
If targeted, their remains might be difficult to identify.

After the agreement, Hume embarked on the biggest gamble of his career - 
dialogue with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. But his view was that if talking 
saved even one life, he would talk. Even within his own party, he began to be 
doubted. But despite personal vilification he pressed ahead, and the 1994 IRA 
ceasefire resulted.

The book includes a thought-provoking quote from Congressman Bruce Morrison: 
"We all know that violence is wrong, unfortunately sometimes it is effective. 
Politics is right but it is often ineffective."

With Hume, politics operated highly effectively. And everyone on this island is 
a beneficiary.

(source: independent.ie)