[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

The next news posting to this list will be either Friday or Saturday, Oct. 27th 
or 28th


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Oct. 25



KENYA:

Kenyan husband facing the death penalty as he's accused of executing his 
Australian wife, 40, with a single gunshot to the neck



The estranged husband of Australian teacher Gabrielle Maina could face the 
death penalty in Kenya if he is charged and convicted of her murder.

The 40-year-old mother of 2 boys, aged 8 and 4, was killed by a single gunshot 
to the neck in the upmarket Nairobi suburb of Karen last Thursday.

Her husband Cyrus Bernard Maina Njuguna and another man, John Njuguna Waithira, 
were arrested over the shooting and faced court on Tuesday.

The investigation is still in the early stages and charges have not been laid 
against the arrested men.

The Kenyan judiciary has warned the pair could face a 'mandatory death penalty' 
if charged and convicted.

Their lawyer Wilfred Nderishu told the ABC his clients were innocent and there 
was evidence to show neither was at the scene of the killing.

'There is evidence that is capable of corroboration by many people, as many as 
10, that Cyrus was in his office at the time that the murder took place,' Mr 
Nderishu said.

'Therefore, there is no way he can be placed at the scene.'

The court granted police a request to hold the two men in custody for another 
seven days while they gather evidence. They are next due to appear on October 
31.

Before Tuesday's court hearing Ms Maina's lawyer, George King'ori, who became 
her legal representative ahead of her death, said the couple was in the midst 
of divorce proceedings in the Kenyan courts.

The head teacher at Hillcrest Prepatory School in Karen was granted a 
restraining order against her husband in April.

'She feared he had become irrational,' Mr King'Ori told AAP.

Karen police have confirmed to Kenya's The Standard that Mr Maina was being 
held as the prime suspect in Ms Maina's murder.

'We believe he has information that can help us know how and why she was 
murdered,' Karen OCPD Cunningham Suiyanka told the newspaper.

'He is here with another suspect for interrogation.'

Police have also seized and are checking Ms Maina's phone, which was taken by 
one of her alleged attackers.

Investigators believe she was accosted by three men while walking home after 
dropping off one of her sons at a friend's home.

A post-mortem revealed she was shot in the neck, with the bullet exiting 
through her back, authorities said.

Because of the angle of the bullet and marks on her knees, investigators 
believe she was kneeling at the time.

Ms Maina moved to Nairobi from Sydney in 2015 so her 2 sons could experience 
another culture and grow up near her husband's extended family, a friend told 
AAP.

She had taught English and drama for almost 5 years at Sarah Redfern High 
School in Sydney.

(source: dailymail.co.uk)








INDIA:

Dr Noose? Spare us - Doctors want no part in hangings



India's largest private body of doctors has taken the stand that physicians 
should not be asked to participate in executions, iterating a resolution passed 
by a global confederation of medical associations 5 years ago.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has asked the country's medical regulators 
to revise conduct codes to prevent doctors from playing any role in executions, 
in line with a 2012 resolution passed by the World Medical Association.

Under the existing protocol, prison doctors are expected to attend hangings to 
examine the convicts for signs of life and to pronounce death.

"No doctor should be present during the process of execution. This would be a 
violation of medical ethics and should be deemed professional misconduct," 
Krishan Kumar Aggarwal, senior cardiologist and IMA national president, said. 
He, however, clarified that a doctor may be requested to examine a body after 
an execution for certification of death.

In 2012, the World Medical Association had said in a resolution that it was 
"unethical for physicians to participate in capital punishment, in any way, or 
during any step of the execution process, including its planning and the 
instruction and/or training of persons to perform executions".

Aggarwal said the IMA was a member of the world body and, therefore, a 
signatory to all its policies and resolutions.

"We believe the (2012) resolution should be adopted in India and we have 
written to the Medical Council of India on this," he told The Telegraph.

A team of doctors from the Mumbai-based Forum for Medical Ethics had earlier 
taken the matter up with the National Human Rights Commission in 1994, arguing 
against doctors' presence at executions.

"It's good the IMA is finally taking a position on this," said Amar Jesani, 
physician and editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics who had been among 
the doctors who had met the rights panel.

What if a doctor examines a just-hanged convict at the execution site and finds 
him still alive, Jesani asked. "Should the doctor say, 'Continue with the 
hanging'? How can a doctor ever say that?"

Aggarwal said the IMA had decided to take the matter up after Bangladeshi 
representatives complained at a conference of medical associations in Japan 
last month that doctors in their country had been forced to participate in 
executions.

Many countries have witnessed debate on the subject, with some doctors 
suggesting that physicians can help reduce unnecessary suffering during 
executions.

A US-based anaesthesiologist had a decade ago argued in a medical journal that 
"if state administration of capital punishment is legal and ongoing, humane 
methods of executions should be sought and applied".

Such arguments had emerged after medical experts in 2005 claimed that the 
anaesthesia methods used in lethal-injection executions, practised in America, 
were "flawed" and may have led to "unnecessary suffering".

A Cornell Law School website tracking the death penalty worldwide lists 4 
hangings in India since 2004: Yakub Memon (1993 Bombay blasts), Afzal Guru 
(2001 Parliament attack), Ajmal Kasab ((2008 Mumbai attacks) and Calcutta 
security guard Dhananjoy Chatterjee (rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl).

(source: The Telegraph)

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Death by hanging is cruel and barbaric, feel most panelists



The latest edition of India Legal show deliberated on the contentious issue of 
death penalty by hanging and whether death penalty should be abolished or not.

Rajshri Rai, Editor in Chief, APN anchored the show. The panellists included:

Rai started the debate by asking Malhotra who has filed a PIL in the Supreme 
Court asking for alternative systems other than hanging in death. She asked 
Malhotra that his main prayer in the PIL is to allow other alternatives for 
death penalty "What is your basis for filing this PIL? Is it based on law 
commission reports or on any other information?" Rai asked.

Malhotra replied: "The law commission report came at around 2012-2013. But 
before that in 1996, a Supreme Court constitution bench in Gyan Kaur case had 
categorically noted that Right to Die also means Right to Die with Dignity. And 
Right to Die with Dignity is also a fundamental right. So my contention is when 
law commission in its 187th report has categorically said that hanging is a 
barbaric, cruel method to execute somebody so certainly this undermines the 
line of argument of law commission."

Tulsi disagreed with Malhotra. He said: "There is no painless death. And the 
most painless death is by hanging. The scientists have regarded hanging as the 
best form of death penalty. It is better than shooting, lethal injection and 
various other systems which mutilates the body and make people suffer. I really 
think considering the resources in Indian jails, this is the best alternative."

Justice Mathur held contrarian view and adjudged that the lethal injection was 
the best alternative. Justice Mathur pointed out: "I think, all panelists on 
this show have agreed that death penalty by hanging is cruel. I think lethal 
injection is most appropriate."

(source: indialegallive.com)

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High Court sets aside death penalty of 'Cyanide' Mohan



The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday set aside the 2nd death penalty imposed 
by a trial court on Mohan Kumar - who argued his case personally - and 
acquitted him of the charges of murdering a woman by making her consume a 
liquid mixed with cyanide after sexually abusing her.

The court, however, convicted him of the robbery charge as he had escaped with 
jewellery of the woman, and sentenced him to 5 years rigorous imprisonment. The 
court did not find evidence for any other charges levelled against him.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice John Michael 
Cunha passed the order while partly allowing Kumar's appeal and rejecting the 
reference made by the trial court in Mangaluru for confirming the death 
penalty.

The trial court had convicted him of various charges, including kidnap, rape, 
and murder of a 32-year-old-woman, who was a native Bantwal taluk in Dakshina 
Kannada district.

Kumar, who hails from Dakshina Kannada, has been portrayed as a serial killer 
by the investigating agency as he has been charge-sheeted in 20 cases of 
murdering women by using cyanide.

He has been convicted in 4 cases - he has been sentenced to death by the trial 
court in 3 cases, and to life imprisonment in 1 case.

The High Court has now turned down death penalty in 2 cases. In another case, 
the High Court on October 12 reduced the sentence to imprisonment for life 
without any provision for remission. In 2 cases, Kumar presented arguments 
personally by discontinuing service of an advocate.

(source: The Hindu)








UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

UAE court commutes death penalty of 5 in murder case



A Sharjah (UAE) court has commuted the death sentence of 5 Indians, including 4 
Punjabis, to 3-year imprisonment in a murder case.

In a video message sent from Dubai, SP Singh Oberoi, managing trustee of Sarbat 
Da Bhala Charitable Trust, said all of them would be released soon as they had 
already been in jail for 6 years.

Varinder Chauhan of Azamgarh district (Uttar Pradesh) was killed in a clash 
between groups involved in the illicit liquor trade in Sharjah on November 4, 
2011.

Dharmendra of Chhapra district (Bihar), Ravinder Singh of Ajnala (Amritsar), 
Ranjit Ram of Zeensra village (Nawanshahr), Dalwinder Singh of Mahilpur 
(Hoshiarpur) and Sucha Singh of Jasso Majra village (Patiala) were convicted of 
murder.

The parents of the accused contacted Oberoi, who got in touch with Chauhan's 
family in UP. After the payment of Rs20 lakh as blood money, the family gave 
its consent for pardoning the accused. The agreement was made last month.

Oberoi said the youths would be brought back to India once they got police 
clearance. "We will approach the Indian Consulate to arrange their air tickets. 
In case it can't help, the Trust will bear the expenses of their return," he 
added. He has saved 88 persons so far by paying blood money.

(source: tribuneindia.com)








IRAN:

At least 10 Prisoners Transferred to Solitary Confinement for Execution



At least 10 prisoners of Rajai Shahr Prison were transferred to solitary 
confinement yesterday. Most of the prisoners were sentenced to death on murder 
charges and all of them are scheduled to be executed on Wednesday October 25..

According to a close source, at least 10 prisoners from different wards were 
transferred to solitary confinement on October 23. These prisoners are 
sentenced to qisas (retribution death penalty) for murder charges, and if the 
plaintiffs don't give consent or accept to postpone the execution, the 
prisoners will be executed on the morning of Wednesday.

According to Iran Human Rights (IHR) sources, the identities of some of the 
prisoners are: Iman Rasekhi, Mojtaba Ghiyasvand, and Majid Nazifi from ward 1, 
Mahmood Khayyeri, Hamidreza Shojaiy, and Ne???mat Segundaz from ward 6.

Mojtaba Ghiyasvand had previously been transferred to solitary confinement 
twice, but each time he asked for time and was returned to his cell. Earlier, a 
close source told IHR, "Mojtaba has been sentenced to death on the charge of 
murdering someone in a tribal dispute. Although he insisted on his innocence at 
all stages of the proceedings, he was sentenced to death anyway."

According to IHR annual report on the death penalty, 142 of the 530 execution 
sentences in 2016 were implemented due to murder charges. There is a lack of a 
classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in issuing death 
sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and intent.

(source: Iran Human Rights

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Iran Sentences 'Mossad Agent' to Death Over Scientist Killings



Iran has sentenced to death a person found guilty of providing information to 
Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists, Tehran's 
prosecutor said on Tuesday.

At least 4 scientists were killed between 2010 and 2012 in what Tehran said was 
a programme of assassinations aimed at sabotaging its nuclear energy programme. 
Iran hanged 1 man in 2012 over the killings, saying he had links to Israel.

On the latest conviction, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told the 
judiciary's news agency: "The person had several meetings with (Israeli 
intelligence agency) Mossad and provided them with sensitive information about 
Iran's military and nuclear sites in return for money and residency in Sweden."

The headline of the report described the convicted person as a "Mossad agent".

Dolatabadi did not identify the defendant, but Amnesty International said on 
Monday that Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor who studied and taught in 
Sweden, had been sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges.

Amnesty said the court verdict states that Djalali worked with the Israeli 
government and that it subsequently helped him obtain a residency permit in 
Sweden.

Neither Iran nor Amnesty said when the verdict was issued.

Sweden condemned the sentence and said it had brought the matter up at 
high-level meetings with Iranian representatives in Stockholm and Tehran.

"We condemn the use of the death penalty in all its forms. The death penalty is 
an inhuman, cruel and irreversible punishment that has no place in modern law," 
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in an emailed comment.

Djalali was arrested in April 2016 and held without access to a lawyer for 7 
months, 3 of which were in solitary confinement, according to London-based 
Amnesty.

"Djalali was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial that once again 
exposes not only the Iranian authorities' steadfast commitment to (the) use of 
the death penalty but their utter contempt for the rule of law," said Philip 
Luther, Amnesty's Middle East advocacy director.

The United States has denied Iran's accusation that it was involved in the 
scientists' deaths, while Israel has a policy of not commenting on such 
allegations.

Dolatabadi said the convicted person gave Mossad information about 30 nuclear 
and military scientists including Massoud Ali Mohammadi, who was killed by a 
remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle outside his home in Tehran.

The judiciary said the defendant was also linked to the assassination of 
nuclear engineer Majid Shahriari, killed in a bomb attack in November 2010.

Djalali's wife Vida Mehrannia, who lives in Sweden with their 2 children, has 
told Amnesty that his physical and mental health has sharply deteriorated since 
he was detained.

"We are calling for his release because he has not committed any crime," 
Amnesty quoted her as saying.

(source: Reuters)