[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 29







INDIA:

Death for 3 in Kopardi minor rape-murder case



The 14-year-old girl belonging to the Maratha community was found raped and 
murdered on a field on July 13, 2016

More than 16 months after the rape-murder of a minor in the remote village of 
Kopardi in Ahmednagar sent shockwaves across Maharashtra, a special court on 
Wednesday pronounced the death sentence for the 3 accused.

The tension was palpable in the courtroom as Jitendra Shinde (25), Santosh 
Bhaval (36) and Nitin Bhailume (26) were produced. All the 3 stood with 
impassive faces as Additional Special Judge Suvarna Kevale awarded the death 
sentence to each of them.

The proceedings began at 11:25 a.m. as a massive crowd gathered outside the 
court amid heavy security.

A roar was heard outside the courtroom after the sentencing was passed.

"I had full confidence in the court and knew that justice would be served...we 
have waited every single day for nearly 1 1/2 years for this judgement," said 
the victim's father.

All three convicts can appeal against the judgement in the Bombay High Court.

Earlier, high security was put in place by the district administration before 
the commencement of the proceedings, with flying squads of police personnel 
stationed at every possible pocket in Kopardi as well as in various parts of 
Ahmednagar district. Nearly 1,000 policemen were deployed with entry restricted 
to the courtroom.

While concluding the arguments on the verdict on November 23 last, Special 
Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam urged the special court to award maximum 
punishment to the three offenders, given the particularly gory and brutal 
nature of the crime that occurred on July 13 last year.

"Extremely cold-blooded murder"

Mr. Nikam, who had dubbed the murder as "extremely cold-blooded", touched upon 
13 points in the crime to argue that the accused deserved capital punishment. 
The convicted trio "remained unrepentant of their crime" before and after the 
tragedy, showing no contrition. A criminal conspiracy was hatched by the trio 
to rape and murder the victim between July 11 and 13, he had said, adding that 
"society would get a wrong message if the death sentence was not awarded in so 
gory a case".

Counsels for the accused, while pleading for mitigation of their sentences, had 
said that a death sentence judgement could intensify social tensions between 
communities.

The victim as well as the accused hail from the same area.

The case, which has been closely tracked by political parties and social 
outfits, had acquired a peculiar urgency owing to the potentially explosive 
nature of the crime in creating acute social divisions.

The incident has been likened to the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case in the extent of 
its brutality, with medical reports suggesting that violence of a particularly 
feral nature was inflicted on the minor victim.

Here is a timeline of the case:

July 13, 2016: The 14-year-old girl belonging to the Maratha community is found 
raped and murdered on a field.

July 15, 2016: The Ahmednagar police arrest accused number 1, Jitendra Shinde 
from the Shrigonda Taluk.

July 16, 2016: Santosh Bhaval (accused no. 2) is nabbed from the Karjat Taluk.

July 17, 2016: Nitin Bhailume (accused no. 3) is arrested in Pune.

All 3 are believed to have worked as contractual workers in private companies 
or at construction sites.

July 24, 2016: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visits the kin of the victim 
amid intense clamour for speedy justice on the part of Maratha outfits and 
various social organisations and political parties across the State.

October 7, 2016: Nearly 3 months after the crime, a 350-page charge sheet is 
filed by the prosecution in the Ahmednagar district and sessions court under 
sections 302 and 376 (a) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

October 17: Prosecution frames charges against the 3 accused.

May 24, 2017: Prosecution closes its evidence after examining a total 31 
witnesses.

November 18, 2017: A special court holds the accused guilty of raping and 
murdering the minor.

November 21, 2017: Counsels for Shinde and Nitin Bhailume begin arguments on 
the verdict, urge for mitigation of sentence.

November 22: Counsel for Bhaval finishes arguments on the verdict; Mr. Nikam 
pushes for the death sentence in his arguments.

November 29: Ahmednagar Sessions court awards the death sentence to the 
accused.

(source: thehindu.com)








BANGLADESH:

Mass Death Sentences Confirmed----Mutiny Trials Rife With Procedural Flaws, 
Torture Allegations



The Bangladesh government should agree to new trials meeting international 
standards for members of the former Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) accused of mutiny 
and murder, including 139 whose death sentences were upheld on November 27, 
2017, by the High Court, Human Rights Watch said today. The court also upheld 
life sentences for another 146 people.

On February 25 and 26, 2009, members of the BDR mutinied against their 
commanding officers at the central Dhaka headquarters, killing 74 people, 
including 57 army officers. A number of women relatives of the officers were 
sexually assaulted. Human Rights Watch research has found that many of the 
accused were tortured in custody and most were denied access to proper 
representation.

"We have long said that the atrocities that took place during the mutiny need 
to be investigated and prosecuted, but this should not be done through unfair 
mass trials after the use of torture," said Brad Adams, Asia director. 
"Particularly when the death penalty is involved, expediency cannot take 
priority over justice."

The BDR mutiny took place soon after the new Awami League government led by 
Sheikh Hasina won elections in December 2008. Under great pressure from the 
army and amid fears of a coup, the government responded to the mutiny by 
rounding up nearly 6,000 members of the BDR. Many were tried in mass trials 
before closed military courts. A separate civilian prosecution team chose to 
try nearly 850 members of the BDR in a single mass trial in 1 courtroom.

In July 2012, Human Rights Watch released a report, "'The Fear Never Leaves 
Me': Torture, Custodial Deaths, and Unfair Trials after the 2009 Mutiny of the 
Bangladesh Rifles," which provided a detailed account of the mutiny and the 
authorities' response. Human Rights Watch documented serious abuses by the 
authorities in the aftermath, including at least 47 custodial deaths and 
widespread torture of BDR members by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and other 
security forces. The government has claimed that all deaths in custody were due 
to natural causes.

Human Rights Watch documented how the mass trials of hundreds of the accused 
left most without adequate counsel, adequate time to prepare a defense, or 
notice of the charges or evidence against them. Crucially, many made 
confessions under torture. The chief prosecutor claimed that no confession 
obtained under duress would be used in court, but legal teams eventually 
assigned to some of the cases showed Human Rights Watch documentation 
demonstrating that coerced confessions had been used as evidence.

"Families of those killed and injured in the mutiny need justice and closure, 
but the answer is not through flawed trials," Adams said. "True justice comes 
only through sound procedures that comply with the rule of law, and the 
families of the victims deserve better answers than this mass roundup."

The Bangladeshi authorities should establish an independent investigative and 
prosecutorial task force with sufficient expertise, authority, and resources to 
rigorously investigate allegations of human rights abuses after the mutiny. All 
those subject to unfair trials should be given a new trial.

The November 27 judgment was in response to an appeal of the trial judgment. As 
with those sentenced to death, the trials against the mutineers sentenced to 
life in prison were rife with due process concerns, including coerced 
confessions. Similarly, few of the accused sentenced to life in prison had 
access to lawyers or information about the case against them.

"The death penalty is a cruel and irreversible punishment that should never be 
used," Adams said. "Bangladesh should join the international movement to 
abolish it, particularly in cases like these in which suspects were tortured, 
nearly 50 died in custody, and due process failed."

(source: Human Rights Watch)

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

Husband, girlfriend sentenced to death for killing wife



A Dhaka court on Tuesday awarded death penalty to a man and his girlfriend for 
killing his wife and slicing the body into pieces in 2012, reports UNB.

The condemned convicts are Mukul Hossain and his girlfriend Lovely Akhter 
Nilufa.

Dhaka district and session's judges court judge SM Kuddus Jaman passed the 
order.

Mukul was present on the dock when the verdict was pronounced, but Nilufa has 
been on the run.

According to the prosecution, Mukul with the help of his accomplice 
strangulated his wife Shamima Akhter Happy to death on 7 January 2012 following 
his extramarital affairs with Nilufa.

Later, Mukul sliced the body into 3 pieces and dumped those in Keraniganj.

(source: prothom-alo.com)








INDONEISA:

Indonesia's fatal war on drugs



Under President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), Indonesia's war on drugs has taken on a 
deadly edge. Initially, Jokowi focused on judicial executions, declaring in 
December 2014 that his government would empty death row of its 64 prisoners 
sentenced on drugs charges in order to tackle a 'drugs emergency'. Action 
followed quickly - his government executed 14 narcotics prisoners within 6 
months.

Only 4 further prisoners have faced the firing squad for drugs crimes since, 
with no executions now for 15 months. But as judicial executions have receded, 
fatal shootings of narcotics suspects have surged. Indonesian human rights 
monitor Kontras estimates police and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) 
fatally shot 106 drugs suspects between September 2016 and September 2017, with 
the vast majority of these shootings taking place in 2017. The shootings have 
continued since the release of their data, with at least a further 6 drugs 
suspects shot dead during October.

As with the judicial executions, this uptick in killings has coincided with 
hardline rhetoric from Jokowi and his senior law enforcement officials. Jokowi 
himself was one of the first to speak approvingly of shootings, calling on 
police on World Anti-Narcotics Day in 2016 to shoot narcotics criminals if the 
law allowed it (before noting it was fortunate the law did not). National 
police chief Tito Karnavian was one of those to echo the president's call. In 
January, he held a press conference at the police mortuary, telling drugs 
distributors they would end up there if they resisted arrest.

In October 2017 alone, BNN Chief Budi Waseso was reported to have questioned 
whether those criticising fatal shootings are themselves part of the drugs 
mafia, said drugs criminals should be cut up and fed to crocodiles, and joked 
that angels in the afterlife would forgive his officers for killing drugs 
distributors since they have killed thousands themselves. It is easy to see how 
such statements could create a permissive environment for extrajudicial 
killings.

Several common threads run between these two manifestations - judicial 
executions and extrajudicial killings - of Indonesia's deadly response to 
drugs. Although the Indonesian government has insisted it is simply enforcing 
the law in both instances, its position is tenuous. Certainly, the death 
penalty remains on the books for narcotics crimes in Indonesia. But drugs 
executions have become anomalous internationally, conducted only by a handful 
of mostly authoritarian states.

Even as a retentionist state, the lawfulness of narcotics executions under 
Jokowi has come under criticism. For example, the Indonesian Ombudsman in July 
criticised the Attorney General's Department for executing a prisoner who had 
submitted a plea for clemency, an action it judged to be in violation of 
Indonesia's Clemency Law. Questions of bias have also been raised over the high 
proportion of foreigners among those executed and on death row for drugs 
crimes. 15 of the 18 people to face the firing squad under Jokowi have been 
foreign citizens.

The legality of fatally shooting drugs suspects appears more tenuous still. As 
Jim Della-Giacoma has pointed out, police regulations in Indonesia permit the 
use of fatal force only 'if strictly necessary to preserve human life'. He 
notes that regulations allow officers to use firearms only when facing 
extraordinary circumstances, for self defence against threat of death and/or 
serious injury, or for the defence of others against threat of death and/or 
serious injury.

This is a much more restrictive set of provisions than the encouragement police 
have received, including from their own commanders, to fatally shoot drug 
suspects if they simply resist arrest. Moreover, more than 1/3 of fatal 
shooting in the 1st half of 2017 took place well after the initial arrest, 
often at a secondary location. It seems extremely unlikely that circumstances 
satisfying the above conditions would so often arise well after a suspect had 
been taken into custody.

Both judicial executions and fatal shootings of drugs suspects serve the 
political interests of powerful actors. Jokowi's turn to drugs executions at 
the beginning of his term provided both him and his beleaguered attorney 
general the appearance of a quick win, and allowed Jokowi to present himself as 
a firm leader. The government appeared surprised by the international furore 
these executions stirred up. The attorney general has subsequently justified 
the more limited use of executions as reflecting the need to focus on economic 
development.

Human rights lawyer Ricky Gunawan, head of the Jakarta-based Community Legal 
Aid Institute, sees fatal drugs shootings as similarly allowing the government 
to maintain a hardline image on drugs, but without the furore the executions 
created. 'Jokowi is less likely to receive international pressure because the 
numbers [of fatal shootings] are much lower if compared to Duterte,' he told 
SBS in July.

The government has not been able to present any convincing evidence that 
executions or fatal shootings have curbed drugs crime. Yet its 'drugs 
emergency' rhetoric remains undiminished, with the scale of the drugs problem 
allegedly justifying the continuing use of lethal measures. Indonesia's fatal 
war on drugs is yet to approach the scale of the Philippines, even if its 
rhetoric and methods are increasingly similar. But nor is there any sign of it 
receding.

(source: Dave McRae is a senior lecturer at the Asia Institute, University of 
Melbourne. He also co-hosts the Talking Indonesia podcast----eastasiaforum.org)








PAKISTAN:

The recent reduction in terrorism has got nothing to do with reinstating the 
death penalty



On 16th December 2014, a deadly and horrific attack took place in the army-run 
Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan which killed 141 people including 137 
children. The incident shocked the entire world. In response to the tragic 
event, Pakistan increased operations throughout the country particularly in the 
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), authorized military courts to try 
civilians and lifted the moratorium on the death penalty.

While there's a drop in terrorist incidents due to strict measures taken up by 
the Pakistani government and the military, bringing back the death penalty has 
little to nothing to actually do with it.

Initially, after the horrific Peshawar incident it was thought that the death 
penalty was only reserved for those who have been committed of serious 
terrorist offences. But that is unfortunately not the case. According to a 
report by Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a non-government organization (NGO) 
working for prisoner rights about 483 prisoners have been put to death which 
includes mentally challenged people and juveniles and about 8,200 people in the 
country are on death row. Aftab Bahadur Iqbal was convicted when he was only 15 
in 1993 and was forced to confess to a crime he did not commit, according to 
human rights groups. Despite his lawyer's efforts into bringing new evidence, 
he was executed on 10th June 2015 after 22 years since his arrest. Similarly 
Zulfiqar Ali, a former physical training instructor at the Pakistan Navy was 
arrested in 1998 after shooting 2 armed robbers in self defense. He did not 
have enough money to afford a lawyer and a court-appointed attorney represented 
him who abandoned the case when he was unable to pay him additional money. His 
appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2002 and he was executed on 5th May 
2015. These are just some of the examples which show that death penalty is a 
cruel act where there will always be cases of people who are either innocent, 
mentally challenged or have not reached the legal age yet.

In its report titled Trial and Terror: the Overreach of Pakistan's 
Anti-Terrorism Act by the JJP, it explains the loopholes in the Anti-Terrorism 
Legislation, which includes an unclear definition of terrorism, extraordinary 
police powers, torture and forced confessions. The Pakistani justice system is 
quite flawed. The police are more concerned about solving cases quickly rather 
than actually trying to properly investigate. The executions are also seen as 
case of trying to prevent overcrowding in prisons. Yet it has failed to serve 
its original and main purpose which was to stop terrorism.

Despite the belief that death penalty is the solution to stop terrorism or 
other forms of crime, there is no actual evidence to support that. In fact 
quite the contrary, countries that do not have the death penalty such as 
Sweden, Denmark and Norway have a really low crime rate as opposed to countries 
like Iran and Iraq that have the death penalty. According to Harm Reduction 
International, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to educate the 
negative aspects of drug use and human rights impact regarding drug use Iran 
has some of the toughest drug use laws including the death penalty and a high 
prevalence of injection drug use as opposed to Sweden which does not have the 
death penalty has really low rates of problematic drug use.

The death penalty is not an effective punishment and in Pakistan has done 
nothing to stop terrorism. It's also a violation of human rights when people 
accused happen to be either innocent, mentally challenged or young. Life 
imprisonment is a more effective solution, as the torture of being confined in 
a single room for prisoners long enough is a huge amount of torture for people 
committed of serious offences. The Pakistani justice system needs reforms, so 
the Police and other relevant organizations are able to do their job more 
properly. Prisoners should not be forced or tortured into giving false 
confessions and more effective methods should be brought up in bringing the 
culprits to justice. The death penalty is an outdated law which has no place in 
the society today. It is also a violation of human rights and needs to be 
abolished.

(source: dunyanews.tv)

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

SHC strikes down Jatoi's death sentence in Shahzaib murder case, orders fresh 
trial



The Sindh High Court (SHC) has revoked the punishments awarded to Shahrukh Khan 
Jatoi and 3 others in the Shahzeb Khan murder case.

After hearing a criminal review application filed by Shahrukh Jatoi's lawyer, 
Advocate Farooq H. Naek, the SHC ordered a re-trial of the case in a sessions 
court.

20-year-old Shahzeb was gunned down in Karachi on December 24, 2012 after a 
heated argument with one of Jatoi's servants; who had harassed his sister.

Shahruk Jatoi and Siraj Talpur were awarded with a death penalty for Shahzeb's 
murder by an accountability court (ATC) in 2013.

In today's hearing, Jatoi's lawyer urged the court to order a retrial of the 
case in a juvenile court arguing that his client was a juvenile[teenager] at 
the time of the murder.

The case cannot be trialed under the anti terrorism laws as Shahzeb's murder 
was the result of a personal enmity, Farooq argued

"Section 6 of Anti-Terrorism Act was misapplied by the police," he added.

After hearing the arguments, court decided on a fresh trial of the case in 
sessions court and revoked the punishments previously handed to the accused.

(source: Daily Times)




LIBYA:

Mass Extra-Judicial Execution----Need for Investigation, Accountability



Armed groups loyal to Libyan National Army forces (LNA) appear to have 
summarily executed dozens of men in the LNA-controlled town of al-Abyar, Human 
Rights Watch said today.

On October 26, 2017, local police forces discovered the bodies of 36 men, all 
of them executed, close to a main road south east of al-Abyar, 50 kilometers 
east of Benghazi. Authorities transferred the bodies to a hospital, where 
families came to identify them. Relatives of 6 of the victims told Human Rights 
Watch that the men had been arrested on various dates by armed groups loyal to 
the LNA in Benghazi or in other areas controlled by the LNA.

This incident comes after a series of unlawful killings and summary executions 
in Benghazi that prompted the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to 
issue an arrest warrant against an LNA special forces commander on August 15.

Following the discovery of the 36 bodies in al-Abyar, Gen. Khalifa Hiftar, the 
LNA chief, ordered the military prosecutor of the eastern region on October 28, 
to conduct an investigation. The LNA and the military prosecution have yet to 
announce any investigation results.

"The Libyan National Army's pledges to conduct inquiries into repeated unlawful 
killings in areas under their control in eastern Libya have so far led 
nowhere," said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at 
Human Rights Watch. "The LNA will be condoning apparent war crimes if their 
pledge to investigate the gruesome discovery in al-Abyar proves to be another 
empty promise."

Human Rights Watch met with relatives of 2 of the victims in Tripoli and 
interviewed relatives of 4 others by telephone in October and November. All of 
them said that their family member had been arrested earlier in 2017, some only 
2 days before the bodies were found, and had not been heard from again.

All said their relative bore one or more gunshot wounds, and that their hands 
were tied behind their backs, based on information they obtained from family 
members who identified the bodies at the Benghazi Medical Center, also known as 
Hospital 1200. Most interviewees did not have access to a medical report. All 
relatives also said that armed groups from Benghazi prevented families from 
putting up tents in front of their Benghazi homes to receive guests during the 
traditional 3-day mourning period.

The relatives said that all 6 victims were civilians seized from their homes, 
in the presence of their families, by armed groups linked with the LNA. None of 
the armed groups presented an arrest warrant. Human Rights Watch reviewed 
multiple lists containing a total of 25 names of the men found at al-Abyar, but 
could not verify which were civilians and which, if any, were fighters 
affiliated with forces opposing the LNA.

Human Rights Watch also reviewed photographs of the bodies, including two 
apparent group photos of the victims, posted on social media sites by 
unidentified sources on October 26. The group photos show at least 35 bodies in 
an open field. Researchers also reviewed close-up photos of 23 of the victims 
and corroborated them with the group photos and with photos sent by relatives.

Most of the 23 victims photographed in close-up had their hands tied behind 
their backs with plastic handcuffs. Each was lying in what appeared to be a 
pool of blood. The majority had visible gunshot wounds to the head, neck or 
face.

Stefan Schmitt, a forensic investigator who reviewed the photos, said the 
injuries were consistent with executions at point blank range at the location 
where the bodies were discovered. The bodies appeared not to have been 
disturbed between the time of execution and the time of discovery. He said the 
photos were most likely taken within several hours of the killings, as the 
blood appeared not to have fully congealed.

The al-Abyar police chief, Col. Jalal al-Huweidi, spoke with Human Rights Watch 
by phone on November 27. He said that all 36 bodies were found at the same spot 
in al-Kassarat, a desert area southeast of al-Abyar. He said that his forces 
were alerted to the presence of the bodies, all of the people executed at the 
same spot, and had found them at around 1:30 p.m. on October 26. He said his 
forces, together with the Red Crescent, removed the bodies and transferred them 
to the hospital in Benghazi known as 1200, after the criminal investigation 
department and the attorney general???s office investigated the crime scene.

Human Rights Watch met with al-Siddiq al-Sur, head of investigations at the 
General Prosecutor's office in Tripoli, on October 28, who said that 35 bodies 
were discovered in the location in al-Abyar and 1 more in the al-Qwarsha area 
in Benghazi. Al-Sur said his office had opened an investigation into the 
al-Abyar killings and was in contact with the Benghazi attorney general about 
it.

Armed conflict, insecurity, and political divisions have plagued Libya since 
May 2014, when General Hiftar declared war on "terrorism" in Benghazi and 
announced his Operation Dignity. As part of this operation, LNA-aligned forces 
battled fighters affiliated with the extremist group Islamic State (also known 
as ISIS), which has since withdrawn from Benghazi, and an alliance of militias 
and individuals known as the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council (BRSC). 
Armed groups loyal to the LNA control large swathes of eastern Libya, with the 
exception of Derna, and some parts of the south.

Forces aligned with the LNA include regular army units, army special forces, 
neighborhood militias known as Sahawat, and a militia known as the Avengers of 
Blood or Katibat Awliya' al-Dam, whose family members were killed fighting 
"terrorists" in Benghazi. Some LNA units include adherents of the strict 
Salafist Madakhla ideology that view Hiftar as their "ruler" to whom they owe 
"obedience." On July 5, Hiftar announced the complete "liberation" of Benghazi 
from holdout elements of the BRSC, although fighting in the city's downtown 
area of Sidi Khreibish continued until early November.

As a result of armed conflicts in both eastern and western Libya, central 
authority collapsed and three competing governments emerged, now reduced to 
two. These are the Interim Government based in the eastern city of al-Bayda, 
which is aligned with the LNA and supported by the House of Representatives, 
and the UN-backed, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord. Key 
institutions, most notably law enforcement and the judiciary, are dysfunctional 
in most parts of the country, and basic services have collapsed.

All parties to a conflict are required to abide by the laws of war. Certain 
serious violations of the laws of war, when committed with criminal intent, 
such as executions of civilians or enemy fighters who had been captured or had 
surrendered, are war crimes. Anyone who commits, orders, or assists, or has 
command responsibility for war crimes, can be prosecuted by domestic or 
international courts. Commanders may be criminally liable for war crimes of 
their subordinates if they knew or should have known of the crimes and failed 
to take measures to prevent them or hand over those responsible for 
prosecution.

"Senior army commanders who do not act resolutely to stop gross violations in 
areas under their control, and hold those responsible to account, should face 
criminal prosecution for complicity in war crimes," Goldstein said.

The Families' Accounts

Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed family members of victims of the 
al-Abyar incident between October 28 and November 13, in person in Tripoli, as 
well as by phone.

Ayman al-Sahati, who met with Human Rights Watch in Tripoli on October 28, said 
his brother Ahmed al-Sahati, 42, who was married with four children, was 
detained late on the night of October 25 by a large group of masked, uniformed 
men who stormed the family home in al-Laithi district in Benghazi, shouting, 
"We are looking for Ahmed." The family spent the next day looking for him at 
militia and armed forces camps around Benghazi. Ayman said:

The minute my brother Ahmed walked down the stairs to the first floor after 
hearing the commotion, the uniformed fighters jumped on him and started kicking 
him and beating him with the butts of their weapons. My father demanded to 
know, "Who are you? Where are you taking him? What did he do?" One responded, 
"We are the army," another said, "We are from internal security." The fighters 
who remained outside of the house were shooting in the air.

We didn't hear from Ahmed until his photo showed up among the 36 dead in 
al-Abyar. A relative who went to the hospital to identify him told us he saw a 
gunshot wound to the head and some torture marks. My brother was a civilian and 
not a fighter. He did not participate in the 2011 revolution, or fight in the 
conflict that started in 2014. In order to be able to live in Benghazi, you 
have to be a part of them [LNA] - or else.

Human Rights Watch met on October 30 in Tripoli with a relative of another 
al-Abyar victim, Hatem al-Oreibi, 32, who was married with 2 children. The 
relative, who asked to remain anonymous, said that al-Oreibi was 1 of 2 
brothers arrested on September 9 at about 4 a.m., at their family home in 
al-Laithi district in Benghazi. The other brother, Imad al-Oreibi, 39, also 
married with 2 children, was still missing.

The family searched for the 2 brothers unsuccessfully in all known prisons, 
military camps, and militia headquarters around Benghazi. Family members made 
contact with the investigation and arrest apparatus linked to the LNA central 
command, under the control of Brig. Gen. Aun al-Farjani, and were told that the 
brothers were in a safe place, that they would be interrogated and then 
released. After some weeks, however, al-Farjani stopped responding to inquiries 
from the family. Hatem's relative said:

2 family members who went to the morgue to identify Hatem and perform the 
traditional Muslim cleansing of the body before burial said that Hatem had 
multiple gunshot wounds to the head and thigh, and that some of his ribs were 
broken. They said that his hands were broken and the joints of his arms were 
dislocated. My 2 brothers, Hatem, who is now dead, and Imad, who is still 
missing, were not fighters. No one in our family fights with Hiftar, and now we 
are accused of being with "Daesh" [Islamic State] and against Hiftar.

In a follow-up call on November 21, the relative said that he had filed a 
complaint at the General Prosecutor's office in Tripoli on November 14. He said 
the family had heard through personal contacts that Imad was at Kweifiyah 
prison in Benghazi, but that 3 days after the killing of Hatem and the others 
in al-Abyar, he was moved to an unknown location. Given their fear of 
reprisals, he said, the family decided to flee Benghazi and sell their home 
there.

Human Rights Watch spoke by phone on October 31 with a relative of another 
al-Abyar victim, Ali Rheil al-Werfalli. The relative asked to remain anonymous 
for fear of reprisals. He said a mixed group of LNA members, one member of the 
Salafist Madkhali militias, and armed men from the neighborhood forced their 
way into the family home in al-Laithi neighborhood at 3 a.m. on September 7, 
2017. They detained al-Werfalli, an unmarried 29-year-old nurse, who was still 
wearing his swimming trunks from a visit to the beach earlier in the day. The 
family heard through personal contacts that he was being held at Kweifiyah 
Prison in Benghazi but was unable to confirm this. The relative said:

During the arrest, Ali's mother asked, "Where are you taking him?" One of the 
armed men responded, "None of your business. If he didn't do anything, then 
there is no problem." The family heard nothing about him until he was found 
dead in al-Abyar. 2 relatives who went to the hospital in Benghazi said that he 
was still wearing the same shorts he was arrested in, and that his head was 
split from the back. They also saw a burn mark on the left shoulder as they 
prepared the body for burial.

The death certificate stated that the cause of death was a 9mm gunshot wound to 
the back of the neck, and that the perpetrator was "unknown." The relatives, 
who also saw the bodies of other victims, said some appeared to have bite marks 
from stray dogs .... Ali was not a fighter, but he was against this [LNA] 
Dignity Operation, and he was religious, which made the armed groups suspicious 
of him.

The relative also said that members of the Avengers of Blood militia warned the 
family against holding a traditional three-day mourning ceremony.

Abd al-Salam al-Tarhouni, 37, married with 2 children, another victim, was 
seized from his family home in al-Laithi, on September 15 at 3 a.m., said his 
brother-in-law, Ahmed Khalifa, who spoke with Human Rights Watch by phone on 
November 13. He said a masked armed group forcibly entered the family home in 
Benghazi asking for Abd al-Salam. They identified him and took him to an 
undisclosed location. Khalifa said:

When the news of the al-Abyar killings became known, Abd al-Salam's father 
asked 2 relatives to go to the morgue to check if Abd al-Salam was among the 
dead. The relatives found him there, wearing the same clothes as when detained. 
They said he looked emaciated. When they prepared him for burial, they saw 1 
gunshot wound to the forehead, 1 in his leg, and a 3rd in the shoulder that had 
caused the bones to shatter. Abd al-Salam was not a fighter. He did not 
participate in the 2011 uprising or the conflict that started in 2014.

Khalifa said that once the family heard the news, they opened their house to 
mourners. Half an hour later, armed gunmen from their neighborhood who were 
loyal to the LNA descended on the house, which was full of people, including 
women and children, shooting in the air outside and shouting, "This is a Daesh 
house, this is the home of a terrorist. You are not allowed to mourn him. We 
are giving you a few minutes to empty the house." The family left the house 
after this incident and has not returned, fearing reprisals.

On November 13, Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with a relative of 2 brothers 
who were among the al-Abyar victims, Naji al-Zayani, 43, and Nasser al-Zayani, 
46. Both were detained on October 25, at 2 a.m., by armed masked men in a 
convoy of 7 or 8 cars who broke down the outer door of the family home in 
al-Muheishi area in Benghazi. The family had no news of them until they were 
found among the al-Abyar victims. The relative said:

During the violent arrest, one of the wives of the 2 men asked the forces where 
they were taking them. One of them raised his weapon and told her, "We will 
shoot you." They took both men still wearing the sweat suits they slept in. The 
forces, who refused to identify themselves, took the mobile phones of the 2 
brothers and of one of the wives. When family members went to the morgue to 
identify the 2 men, they were allowed to see only their faces. Family members 
of another victim told us that the 2 brothers were arrested by an LNA-linked 
armed group known as Tareq Bin Ziad. Neither of the brothers participated in 
the 2014 conflict. But the family is known for not supporting Hiftar and the 
LNA.

(source: Human Rights Watch)








ZAMBIA:

We can't win all cases - Lubinda



Justice Minister Given Lubinda has said that Zambians should not expect all 
prosecutions to result in convictions because the role of trials is to assist 
the courts in reaching a fair and just decision.

Reacting to criticism that the State has been losing a lot of cases through 
acquittals and dropping some through nolle prosequis, Mr Lubinda said it was 
not possible for the State to win all cases it presented before courts.

He said State advocates mainly depended on investigations done by investigative 
wings of Government in order to win cases.

Mr Lubinda said on average, State advocates attended to 36 cases per month, a 
move he described as unbearable.

He said government has now decided to move prosecutors from the 
Drug-enforcement Commission (DEC) and the police and place them under National 
Prosecution Authority in accordance with the Constitution.

Mr Lubinda disclosed that prosecutors at the Anti-Corruption Commission who 
have not yet been moved would also be moved to the National Prosecution 
Authority next year.

He said this in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when he was transiting to Rome to attend 
a conference for ministers of Justice themed 'A world without a death penalty, 
no justice without life'.

This is according to a statement issued by First Secretary Press and Tourism at 
the Zambian Embassy in Ethiopia Ing'utu Mwanza.

Mr Lubinda said that the lacunas in the Constitution were of concern to 
Government and to that effect, he would soon issue a ministerial statement to 
Parliament to give details on specific articles that would need to be reviewed 
in the Constitution.

He said a ministerial statement would also give a progress report on the 
process.

Mr Lubinda also said the conference in Rome was important because it would help 
broaden the debate in Zambia on the death penalty that had been retained in the 
2016 Amended Constitution.

Earlier, United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema 
said there was need to change the criminal justice system in the country due to 
the manner in which high-profile cases were being handled.

Mr Hichilema said there was no thorough and fair investigation done and this 
had led to people being in court longer than expected because of the hurried 
way of arresting selected people which ended in nolle prosequi, discharge or 
delayed judgment.

"You experience prosecution before receiving your judgment that is why dialogue 
is very important so that the criminal justice is restored.

"This will ensure that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and not now 
where you are deemed guilty before being prosecuted," Mr Hichilema said.

He was speaking at the magistrates' court in Lusaka after the discharge of his 
vice-president Geoffrey Mwamba and 19 others in an unlawful drilling matter.

(source: Times of Zambia)