[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 4



SOUTH KOREA:

South Korean student once lined up for death penalty now acquitted after cop 
lied



A South Korean student, once in line for an automatic death sentence for drug 
trafficking, has seen a reversal in fortunes after he was acquitted today. The 
ruling occurred after the suspect???s defense team was able to prove that the 
police officer had lied several times while under oath.

Kim Yun Soung was subsequently freed by Seremban Judge Abu Bakar Jais, after 
being held in remand for nearly a year.

Kim had been charged with trafficking 219 grams of cannabis from an apartment 
in Bandar Baru NIlai, an hour outside of Kuala Lumpur, last October 19.

Earlier, the prosecution had asked Judge Abu Bakar for a discharge, making the 
case a contender for re-opening at a later date.

However, Kim's attorney, Gobind Singh Deo, successfully argued that after a 
year in lock-up, his client should not have the charge looming over his head.

Deo had proved that the police officer who led the raid was no longer a 
credible witness, after having been caught red-handed in contempt of court 
lying about who was present at the time of the arrest. When challenged with a 
potential charge after CCTV footage contradicted his version of events, the 
inspector buckled under pressure and admitted to lying.

Video clearly showed that another individual had been handcuffed - though never 
arrested - despite the fact that throughout the trial, the police officer had 
maintained only Kim had been handcuffed.

Lessons learned all-round! Don't sell drugs out of your apartment, and also, 
don't lie under oath.

(source: coconuts.co)








SAUDI ARABIA:

STOP EXECUTION OF JUVENILES IN SAUDI ARABIA

Ali, Dawood and Abdullah are facing imminent execution. They were arrested 
after allegedly participating in pro-democracy protests and sentenced to death. 
They were all children at the time. They were all tortured into 'confessions' 
and convicted in secret trials.



Executioners Wanted: 5 alarming facts about executions in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has been 1 of the 5 top executing countries in the world for more 
than a decade. So far this year, the Saudi authorities have put 100 people to 
death. Last year they killed 154 people. The year before that, 157 people.

Here are 5 incredible facts about one of the world's most prolific executors:

1. In 2015 Saudi Arabia advertised for 8 new executioners to cope with the rise 
in executions.

The advert specified no special qualifications and described the main role as 
"executing a judgment of death". Performing amputations on those convicted of 
lesser offences was also part of the role. That year, the authorities executed 
157 people.

2. Saudi Arabia's main method of execution is beheading with a sword.

Some reports suggest that executions can be carried out by 'crucifixion', which 
involves beheading and public display of the body on a cross.

3. The death penalty in Saudi Arabia is regularly imposed for offences 
including attendance at political protests.

The Kingdom retains the death penalty for non-lethal 'crimes' like adultery, 
drug offences and sorcery. In 2015, a Palestinian poet was sentenced to death 
for apostasy for publishing a book of poetry.

Ali al-Nimr, just 17 when sentenced to death by beheading. He was accused of 
participation in an illegal demonstration and other offences such as 
"explaining how to give first aid to protesters"

4. Executions are either carried out in complete secrecy or in public.

One of the locations in Riyadh for executions is known locally as 'Chop-Chop 
Square'.

5. In January 2016, the Saudi authorities carried out a mass execution.

The Saudi authorities killed 47 people in just one day. Among them were at 
least 4 juveniles, including Ali al-Ribh, who was arrested at his school, 
tortured into a false 'confession' to protest-related charges, and beheaded. 
His body was never returned to his family for burial.

(source: repireve.org.uk)

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

'5 people put to death per week': Saudi Arabia carries out 100th execution this 
year----Ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia has one of the world's highest rates of 
execution, with suspects convicted of terrorism, homicide, rape, armed robbery 
and drug trafficking facing the death penalty.



A Saudi was executed in Riyadh on Monday bringing the number of people put to 
death in the kingdom so far this year to 100.

The man was sentenced to death for murdering another Saudi man and an appeals 
court upheld the ruling, the official SPA news agency reported, without 
elaborating.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International condemned what it called Saudi 
Arabia's "execution spree".

"Since July 2017, the Saudi Arabian government has been on an execution spree 
with an average of 5 people put to death per week. This sets the country firmly 
on track to remain one of the most prolific executioners on the planet," said 
Lynn Maalouf, director of research for Amnesty in the Middle East.

"If the Saudi authorities are truly intent on making reforms, they must 
immediately establish an official moratorium on executions as a first step 
towards abolishing the death penalty completely."

40 % of the executions carried out so far this year were related to 
drug-related offences, which do not fall into the category of "most serious 
crimes". The use of the death penalty for such offences violates international 
human rights law, Amnesty added.

Death penalty as a tool

At least 33 members of Saudi Arabia's Shia Muslim community currently face the 
death penalty, the rights group reported. Among them are Ali al-Nimr, Abdullah 
al-Zaher, Dawood al-Marhoon who were arrested for alleged offences committed 
when they were under 18 and who said that they were tortured in order to make 
them "confess". They were accused of activities deemed a risk to national 
security.

On 11 July, Yusuf al-Mushaikhass, along with 3 other Shia men, were executed in 
the country's eastern province of Qatif for terror-related offences in 
connection with their participation in anti-government protests between 2011 
and 2012. Amnesty says Mushaikhass was convicted following a grossly unfair 
trial which hinged largely on a "confession" obtained through torture.

"Saudi authorities have been using the death penalty as a tool to crush dissent 
and rein in minorities with callous disregard for human life. They should 
immediately quash these sentences and ensure that all trials meet international 
fair trial standards without recourse to the death penalty," Maalouf added.

Ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia has one of the world's highest rates of 
execution with more than 2,000 people executed between 1985 and 2016. Suspects 
convicted of terrorism, homicide, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking face 
the death penalty.

(source: alarby.co.uk)








BANGLADESH:

Woman gets death penalty for killing stepdaughter



A Dhaka court has sentenced a woman to death for killing her 6-year-old 
stepdaughter in the capital's Jatrabari area in 2014.

The convict, Sumaya Islam Sharmin, 30, was present at the court when Judge 
Shamim Ahmed of Dhaka Special Judge???s Court 8 delivered the verdict on 
Tuesday.

The court also fined her Tk1 lakh. 9 witnesses testified in the case during the 
trial.

According to the case, the victim, Maymuna Akhter, used to live with her father 
Razzak Hawlader, his 2nd wife Sumaya and their 2 children in Dhalpur, 
Jatrabari.

On October 10, 2014, Maymuna's body was recovered from a bathroom in their 
residence.

Her father Razzak, a storekeeper at Dhaka Wasa, was visiting their village home 
in Madaripur when the incident took place.

When he learnt of his daughter's untimely death, Razzak filed a case with 
Jatrabari police station accusing Sumaya of killing her.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)








CHINA:

China votes against UN resolution to condemn death penalty for gays and 
lesbians



In 2005, Mahmoud Asgari, 16, and Ayaz Marhoni, 18, were publicly hanged after 
being convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy. Critics of the decision have said 
that the 2 were executed for consensual homosexual sex.

On September 29th, China joined 12 other countries in voting against a United 
Nations resolution aimed at condemning countries for executing people for 
having gay sex.

The Human Rights Council resolution asked countries in which the death penalty 
is legal to ensure that it is not applied "arbitrarily or in a discriminatory 
manner" or imposed against those under the age of 18, pregnant women, or for 
adultery, blasphemy and consensual same-sex relations.

Despite China's nay vote, the resolution passed with 27 members of the council 
voting for, 13 against and 7 abstaining from the vote.

In its opposition to the resolution, China was joined by Bangladesh, Botswana, 
Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United 
Arab Emirates and the United States.

Afterward, a US State Department spokesperson said that the US "unequivocally 
condemns" the application of the death penalty to homosexuality, adultery, and 
religious offenses, explaining that their vote against the resolution was 
really only a vote for the death penalty.

"We voted against that resolution because of broader concerns with the 
resolution's approach in condemning the death penalty in all circumstances, and 
it called for the abolition of the death penalty altogether," the spokesperson 
said.

The Human Rights Council resolution actually calls upon states that have not 
already abolished the death penalty to "consider doing so." You can read the 
full resolution here.

China's rationale for voting against the resolution was likely very similar to 
America's. The country has not abolished the death penalty, in fact, it 
executes more people each year than the rest of the world combined, though it 
keeps these statistics secret. Additionally, on the international stage, China 
is always quick to support giving countries the freedom to handle their own 
affairs inside their own borders with their own laws, allowing Beijing to brush 
off criticism regarding human rights abuses from the UN or US.

Back in 2010, China voted against a UN General Assembly resolution aimed at 
reinserting "sexual orientation" into a resolution condemning extrajudicial, 
summary and arbitrary executions, casting its "nay" vote alongside countries 
like Benin, Saudi Arabia, Malawi, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

There are currently 6 countries where the death penalty is used for people in 
same-sex relationships: Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Sudan. Gay 
people in areas of Iraq and Syria that are controlled by ISIS are also at risk 
of being executed.

Homosexuality is not a crime in China. In 2001, it was removed from the 
country's list of psychiatric disorders. Though, China remains far from a 
gay-friendly place to live.

(source: shanghaiist.com)








PAKISTAN----executions

Pakistan executes 3 militants convicted over terror attacks



Pakistan's military says authorities have executed 3 militants sentenced to 
death by military courts after being convicted of carrying out terror attacks 
in recent years.

A statement from the military says the executions took place at a prison in the 
country's northwest on Wednesday.

The executions came day after a rights group, Justice Project Pakistan, 
expressed concern over the multitude of executions taking place, saying that 
the country has sent 477 prisoners to the gallows since 2014.

The group also announced a weeklong public awareness campaign against 
executions ahead of World Day Against the Death Penalty, Oct. 10.

Pakistan halted executions in 2008 due to pressure from rights groups but 
reinstated capital punishment after the Taliban attacked a school in the city 
of Peshawar, killing 150 people, mostly schoolchildren.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Pakistani Christian On Death Row Among Nominees For Sakharov Prize



Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have presented their nominations for 
this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought -- including Asia Bibi, a 
Christian woman sentenced to death in 2010 under Pakistan's blasphemy law.

Polish MEP Anna Fotyga of the conservative ECR group in the European Parliament 
said on October 2 that Bibi's "behavior in prison, the dignity she has shown 
during all these years is the best proof of her being able to represent the 
dignity of a defender of human rights in the face of the worst fate."

Fotyga spoke at a joint meeting of the foreign affairs, development, and human 
rights committees in Strasbourg.

Bibi has been on a death row for almost 7 years and her appeal to Pakistan's 
Supreme Court has been postponed to an undetermined date.

She was convicted and sentenced to hang after an argument with a Muslim woman 
over a bowl of water. Her supporters maintain her innocence and insist it was a 
personal dispute.

Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam can be 
sentenced to death. Rights groups say blasphemy laws are often abused to carry 
out personal vendettas, mainly against minority Christians.

Bibi is among 6 nominees for the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov 
Prize, which honors individuals and organizations defending human rights and 
fundamental freedoms.

The others nominees are Guatemalan human rights defender Aura Lolita Chavez 
Ixcaquic; Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, co-chairs of a pro-Kurdish 
party in Turkey; a group of people representing the Venezuelan opposition; the 
Swedish-Eritrean prisoner of conscience Dawit Isaak; and Pierre Claver 
Mbonimpa, a human rights defender from Burundi.

On October 10, the European Parliament's foreign affairs and development 
committees are scheduled to vote on a shortlist of 3 finalists and the laureate 
is to be announced on October 26. The award ceremony will take place at the 
parliament in Strasbourg in December.

(source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty)








VIETNAM:

Vietnam-Laos drug trafficking ring member arrested



Police of Vietnam's central Nghe An province have detained a local man, member 
of a ring which has smuggled drugs from Laos to Vietnam, local media reported 
on Tuesday.

Pham Van Tung, 27 from Nghe An, was caught red-handed transporting 20 cakes of 
heroin, 1kg of methamphetamine, and 12,000 pills of lab-made drugs, daily 
newspaper Tien Phong (Pioneer) quoted the provincial police as reporting.

He is a member of the ring which has illegally traded large volumes of drugs in 
Laos and Nghe An.

According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of 
heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine are punishable by death. 
Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also 
faces death penalty.

(source: xinhuanet.com)




PHILIPPINES:

Nearly 1/2 of Pinoys believe drug use punishable by death - SWS survey



Nearly 50 % of Filipinos believe that drug use is punishable by death, said a 
Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted amid the government's deadly war 
on drugs.

The survey conducted from June 23 to 26 this year, released on Tuesday, said 47 
% of Filipinos believe drug use is punishable by death and 53 % "correctly 
responded that it is not true."

The SWS said the survey had 1,200 adult respondents, 300 each from Metro 
Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

It has sampling error margins of + or - 3% for national percentages, + or - 6% 
each for each areas.

The SWS said respondents from Mindanao and Visayas have "higher belief" that a 
drug user can be meted the death penalty.

Majority of respondents from Metro Manila or 61 %, meanwhile, responded 
correctly to the survey question: "As far as you know, is it TRUE or NOT TRUE 
that using banned drugs is a crime punishable by death?")

Death is the most severe penalty cited in Republic Act 9165 or the 
Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, signed in 2002 or before the abolition of 
death penalty.

Section 11 of RA 9165 says possession of 10 grams of more of opium, morphine, 
heroin, cocaine, shabu, marijuana resin and 500 grams of marijuana is 
punishable by "life imprisonment to death" and a fine ranging from P500,000 to 
P10 million.

Possesion of 5 grams or more but less than 10 grams is pusnishable by 20 years 
to life imprisonment and possession of 5 grams of less is punishable by 12 
years to 20 years dangerous drugs.

The punishment of death could not be carried out because it had been abolished 
in 2006 during the time of former President and now Pampanga Representative 
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, or 4 years after RA 9165 was signed into law.

President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing for the revival of the death penalty.

Death for selling drugs?

Meanwhile, the same survey showed that 59 % of Filipinos also mistakenly 
believe that selling illegal drugs is a crime punishable by death.

The SWS said there was almost no difference in the belief that selling illegal 
drugs is punishable by death in the 4 surveyed areas: 61 % in Visayas, 59 % in 
Metro Manila, and 58 % each in Balance Luzon and Mindanao believed selling 
drugs can cost a drug retailer's life.

In the same survey, SWS found 56 % of surveyed Filipinos do not know of any 
rehabilitation program for drug users.

Metro Manila had the highest proportion of those who know of rehabilitation 
programs for surrenderees at 62 % followed by Balance of Luzon at 43 %, while 
40 % of respondents from Visayas and Mindanao, answered in the affirmative to 
the survey question.

The SWS in recent weeks released results of surveys related to illegal drugs or 
the administration's war on drugs.

Some of these results showed a majority of Filipinos believed drug suspects 
were killed despite surrendering, and that more than 50 percent of Filipinos 
believed that many of those killed by police did not really put up a fight, 
contrary to the usual police line.

Malacanang had slammed the SWS' survey questions, calling them "leading" and 
"pointed."

(sources: ALG, GMA News)








INDONESIA:

Barrister Alex Wilson reveals how the death of Bali 9 duo----Melbourne 
barrister Alex Wilson will never forget the desperate final attempt to save 2 
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. She couldn't.



When Melbourne barrister Alex Wilson accepted the job of trying to stop the 
execution of Bali 9 duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, she knew the case 
would be the toughest of her career.

It was 2008 when Mrs Wilson accepted the call from fellow lawyer, Julian 
McMahon, to assist in getting Chan and Sukumaran off death row. It was a battle 
that left her emotionally traumatised, and the a case she described as the 
"hardest" of her career.

"I hadn't ever been involved in a pro-bono case prior to this one," Mrs Wilson 
told news.com.au.

"I didn't quite understand what I'd be involved with. I was interested in the 
death penalty, and I'd written letters to Amnesty International about it when I 
was a student.

"But I'd never done anything like this before."

Ms Wilson, who is now a partner at Lethbridges Barristers & Solicitors, 
explained that she and the legal team never intended on getting Chan and 
Sukumaran acquitted or their sentence reduced.

"Our goal was to get them off the death penalty. We wanted to get them life in 
prison, and not death," she said ahead of her appearance on Insight on SBS on 
Tuesday.

"But ultimately my view is that this was not a legal challenge, it turned in to 
a political one."

Convicted drug traffickers Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 34, were shot dead on the 
prison island of Nusakambangan in April 2015, after being arrested 10 years 
prior for trafficking heroin. Both men were the co-ringleaders of a 
heroin-smuggling operation from Indonesia to Australia.

But despite their conviction, the men started to reform while behind bars - 
which Ms Wilson hoped would assist in getting the pair off death row.

"These boys had reformed ... there's no question," she said.

Mrs Wilson, who found out about the execution of her clients while on board a 
flight from Jakarta to Melbourne, said lawyers will often face the risk of 
vicarious trauma after being exposed to confronting stories, clients and 
evidence. She said that the effects of a criminal trial can go far beyond the 
courtroom.

"Bali 9 was the hardest case of my career," she said.

"Others have been emotionally pressing, but nothing compares to when your 
clients are killed, because the ultimate outcome is so final and forever.

"I had a fair few things come up in my life at the time of the execution. I'd 
lost my mum, and also a close friend at work, so I was surrounded by death at 
that stage.

"This is not an easy job, because often we are criticised as defence lawyers 
because people think we condone what our client has done.

"But we are simply on the other side of justice ... that's our job, and I don't 
have problems sleeping at night for what I do."

Mrs Wilson, who had to seek counselling following their execution, said she 
hopes to successfully have the death penalty abolished worldwide in the near 
future through the work with charity organisation, Reprieve.

"We had advocated for so many years to get them [Chan and Sukumaran] off death 
row, so the outcome just felt unbelievably crushing," she explained.

"But these boys were being made an example of by the Indonesian president, Joko 
Widodo.

"They were doing so much for so many, but that meant nothing in the end."

Alex Wilson will appear on Tuesday night's episode of Insightat 8.30pm, which 
will be discussing the impact on lawyers who work on criminal trials.

(source: news.com.au)








ETHIOPIA:

Boris Johnson urged to intervene to save Briton on death row in Ethiopia



Boris Johnson has been urged by the heads of both branches of the legal 
profession to call for the release of a Briton who was abducted in Yemen and is 
now on death row in Ethiopia.

The president of the Law Society, Joe Egan, and the chair of the Bar Council, 
Andrew Langdon QC, have written to the foreign secretary to ask him to 
intervene more forcefully in the case of Andargachew Tsege.

Johnson has said he will "not interfere in the legal systems of other 
countries" and that calling for his release would not "be helpful at this 
stage".

Tsege, known as Andy, was kidnapped in 2014 and forcibly flown to the Ethiopian 
capital, Addis Ababa, and is an opponent of the regime. He holds British 
citizenship. His partner, Yemi Hailemariam, and their 3 children are also 
British and live in the UK. She has not spoken to him for nearly 3 years.

Tsege, 63, had previously been secretary general of Ginbot 7, a political 
opposition party that called for democracy, free elections and civil rights in 
Ethiopia. He first came to the UK in 1979.

Tesge was travelling from Dubai to Eritrea in June 2014 when his flight stopped 
over in Yemen. It is believed Yemeni security staff handed him over to the 
Ethiopians.

The letter to Johnson from Egan and Langdon says they are very concerned about 
the situation of Tsege, who is "unlawfully detained on death row". It points 
out that he was tried in absentia, without notice and sentenced to death in 
2009.

"He was hooded, shackled and rendered at night to Ethiopia where he was held 
incommunicado for over 50 days and has been detained ever since," the letter 
continues. "We understand that, in 3 years, he has been permitted a single 
phone call to his wife and children, and that the UK government has yet to 
secure effective consular access. Mr Tsege has now been unlawfully held on 
Ethiopia's death row for over 1,000 days."

Egan and Langdon say that Tsege's conviction violates international law 
standards. Their letter to Johnson concludes: "We are deeply concerned about 
these flagrant violations of a UK citizen's rights and hope you will make 
representations to the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that [they] ... release 
Mr Tsege without delay and enable him to return to the United Kingdom."

Hailemariam told the Guardian: "The foreign secretary is saying we should 
accept kidnapping. It's illogical and it's heart-breaking. The Ethiopian 
government refuses to let me travel to see him."

Hailemariam had a meeting with Johnson at the Foreign Office earlier this year. 
"The British government needs to do more," she said. "The last thing that Boris 
told me was that I had left him 'with a lot to think about'. But I don't know 
what that means. There's no political will and that's really the problem."

Maya Foa, the director of Reprieve, which is campaigning for Tsege's freedom, 
said: "[He] has suffered extreme abuses at the hands of the Ethiopian 
government, from kidnap to torture to an unlawful death sentence imposed for 
his political views while he was living with his family in London.

"By failing to secure Andy's return to his partner and three children in the 
the UK, Boris Johnson is failing to stand up for British values and the rights 
of a vulnerable British citizen."

In a public letter to the foreign secretary earlier this year, 2 former justice 
secretaries and a former DPP - Dominic Grieve QC, Lord Falconer QC and Lord 
Macdonald QC - also urged Johnson to call for Tsege's "immediate release" in 
"the light of the international law violations".

In an open letter published in August on the Foreign Office website, Johnson 
said he had raised Tsege's case with the Ethiopian government on numerous 
occasions.

He added: "Britain does not interfere in the legal systems of other countries 
by challenging convictions any more than we would accept interference in our 
judicial system.

"We do, however, lobby strongly and consistently against the application of the 
death penalty ... Neither calling for his release nor reducing our commitment 
to the Ethiopian people would be helpful at this stage. It could, in fact, 
damage the progress we have made in this case, including consular access to Mr 
Tsege."

(source: The Guardian)