[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 17




JAPAN:

Death-row inmate jailed for killing 4 people in 2002 dies of illness



A death-row inmate convicted of killing 4 people in 2002 has died of illness at 
a Tokyo detention center, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.

Tetsuo Odajima, 74, was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Saturday after losing 
consciousness. He had suffered esophageal cancer and been treated at the 
detention facility, the ministry said.

Odajima and an accomplice strangled the wife and daughter of Takaichi Mabuchi, 
who at the time was president of Mabuchi Motors, after breaking into their home 
in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, in August 2002.

After stealing hundreds of thousands of yen in cash and jewelry items, Odajima 
set fire to the house.

Odajima and Katsumi Morita also killed a 71-year-old dentist in Meguro Ward, 
Tokyo, in September 2002, and the wife of a discount ticket shop operator in 
Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, in November of that year in murder-robbery cases.

According to the ministry, Odajima was diagnosed with esophageal cancer around 
January this year. As he refused medical treatment, he had been receiving 
nutritional support and administered pain relief medication.

The Chiba District Court handed down the death penalty to Odajima in March 
2007. Although he once appealed to a high court, he dropped the motion in 
November that year and the ruling was finalized.

The district court also sentenced Morita to death in December 2006, and the 
decision was upheld by the Tokyo High Court in March 2008.

K (source: japantimes.co.jp)








VIETNAM:

Death row inmates arrested after a week on the run in Vietnam----Suspicion is 
hanging over the prison guards who allowed them to escape.



Vietnamese police have arrested 2 death row convicts who escaped from a Hanoi 
prison a week ago.

Nguyen Van Tinh, 28, was arrested in Hoa Binh Province which neighbors the 
capital in the early hours of Sunday.

His accomplice Le Van Tho, 37, was arrested 8 hours earlier while taking a taxi 
in Hai Duong Province, around an hour's drive from Hanoi.

Tinh was sentenced to death in April for heroin trafficking. Tho received the 
death penalty in May for drug trafficking, murder and fraud. Both have appealed 
their sentences.

They shared a cell in Thanh Oai District on the outskirts of Hanoi which they 
broke out of on the night of September 10 during heavy downpours.

An investigation found they managed to unlock their cuffs, make a hole in the 
wall of their cell and climb out of the prison using rope.

They took a motorbike from a relative in Hanoi and fled the city, and were 
first spotted in Ha Long 3 nights later.

Vietnam's top prosecutors have ordered an investigation into the role the 
prison guards played in the breakout.

(source: vnexpress.net)








IRAN----execution

Man Hanged on Murder Charges, Authorities Silent



A prisoner by the name of Abuzar Ghadami was reportedly hanged at Shiraz's Adel 
Abad Prison on murder charges.

According to the human rights news agency, HRANA, the execution was carried out 
on the morning of Monday September 11.

Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and state-run media, have not 
announced Abuzar Ghadami's execution.

(source: Iran Human Rights)








IRAQ:

Iraqi Prime Minister: German Teen Runaway Could Face Death Penalty



Iraq's prime minister says the teenage German girl found in Mosul last month 
who ran away from home after communicating with Islamic State group extremists 
online is still being held in a Baghdad prison.

Speaking to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Saturday, Haider 
Al-Abadi says Iraq's judiciary will decide if the teen will face the death 
penalty.

"You know teenagers under certain laws, they are accountable for their actions 
especially if the act is a criminal activity when it amounts to killing 
innocent people," he said.

16-year-old Linda W. ran away last summer from her hometown of Pulsnitz in 
eastern Germany. She was found in the basement of a home in Mosul's Old City by 
Iraqi forces who are driving IS militants from the city.

(source: Associated Press)








EGYPT:

Criminal court set to sentence Libyan Da'ish members to death penalty



Cairo Criminal Court referred the papers of 7 defendants in the "Da'ish Libya" 
case, Saturday, to Grand Mufti Shawky Allam, before sentencing them to the 
death penalty.

The court set the final verdict date as October November 25 for the 20 
defendants.

A referral to the mufti is required in the Egyptian court system ahead of death 
sentences, even though the mufti's opinion is advisory not binding.

Prosecution referred the defendants to trial court last year for forming a 
terrorist cell affiliated to the "Islamic State (IS)" faction in Libya, 
alleging that a number of the defendants were involved in the beheading of 21 
Egyptian Coptic Christians.

The defendants face accusations of "violence and vandalism, resisting 
authorities and possession of firearms, which led to a public security threat."

According to investigations, the 20 defendants received military training at IS 
camps in Syria and Libya.

The defendants made an agreement with Libyan IS leaders to establish a group in 
Egypt's Matrouh governorate, which would embrace the ideas of ISIS, according 
to the investigations.

The group had planned to target the head of security in Matrouh, governorate 
police officers and sheikhs, who disapproved of Takfiri fundamentalist ideas.

Egypt listed the IS groups and their affiliates as "terrorist organizations" 
per a court ruling in November 2014.

(source: Egypt Independent)








INDIA:

HC commutes mans death penalty to life term in double murder



The Madras High Court has commuted the death sentence awarded by a Tirupur 
court to 1 of the 5 accused in a double murder case to life imprisonment.

A division bench of justices PN Prakash and CV Karthikeyan yesterday commuted 
the death sentence awarded by the Tirupur Mahila Court to Selvam alias Koolai 
Selvam to life term.

It also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on the convict and said if he failed to pay 
the amount, he would have to undergo another year of rigorous imprisonment.

The 2 prison terms would run consecutively and not concurrently, the court 
said.

The court said there was no evidence against another accused, Rangaraj, who too 
was awarded death penalty by the lower court, and acquitted him of all the 
charges.

The court, which also set free 2 other accused in the case -- Nagaraj and 
Anandan -- however, upheld the life sentence of another accused, Deivasigamani.

According to the prosecution, a dispute had arisen between Selvam and one 
Thangavelu over a financial transaction in 2015 and subsequently, the latter 
was killed by a gang, led by the former.

Investigations revealed that both Thangavelu and his daughter, Mahalakshmi, 
were burnt to death at different places under the Mangalam police station 
limits in Tirupur and Vadavalli police station limits in Coimbatore, by the 
gang.

Reducing the sentence, the bench said, "Insofar as Selvam (A1) is concerned, 
the sentencing must address his concerns in relation to judicial discretion and 
there must be an equal treatment of similarly situated convicts."

It observed that though it held Selvam guilty of the murders of Thangavelu and 
Mahalakshmi, the question which had to be addressed was, whether his act 
warranted capital punishment or whether life imprisonment, "which would act not 
only as a retribution for his crime, but also, to some extent, hopefully reform 
him", would be sufficient.

"However, had this motive been removed or had this entire incident not surfaced 
in the life of Selvam, the court should also ask the question whether he would 
still have pushed himself to commit a grisly crime of murder.

"If the answer is yes, then certainly, he would deserve capital punishment, 
but, if there is a doubt that he might not have exhibited the same conduct, 
then it is only just that the court also recognises the fact and awards him 
life imprisonment," it said.

(source: Press Trust of India)








SAINT LUCIA:

Francis: Death penalty will not solve 'murder crisis'



Attorney at Law, Mary Francis, has dismissed a statement Thursday by National 
Security Minister, Hermangild Francis, in support of capital punishment, 
asserting that implementing the death penalty will not solve the 'murder 
crisis' in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean.

"If the issue of the death penalty was not such a serious matter, I would say 
that his comments are laughable to me," Mary Francis told Saint Lucia Times.

The National Security Minister had complained that criminals were being given a 
slap on the wrist by the courts, and announced plans to visit the gallows at 
Bordelais Correctional Facility (BCF) to ensure that the mechanisms were in 
working order.

But Mary Francis has declared that she cannot not see how, in this 21st 
century, implementing the death penalty will address the problem of murder.

Saint Lucia has so far recorded 37 homicides.

"We are fooling ourselves into believing that if you send people to the 
gallows, automatically it is going to be a deterrent," the outspoken Human 
Rights Activist asserted.

She said there is no factual basis to prove that executions deter violent 
crime.

The Coordinator of the National Centre for Legal Aid and Human Rights recalled 
that there was a recommendation some years ago that Saint Lucia abolish the 
death penalty because it is a barbaric, inhuman measure which goes against the 
right to life - the most important human right.

"If you take away that right, what other human rights are there?" The Attorney 
at Law remarked.

"If the state is saying killing is wrong, the state cannot commit a wrong. 2 
wrongs don't make a right," Mary Francis argued.

She explained that the issue of gang violence and murders is rooted in the 
drugs trade and socio-economic problems including improper parenting.

While making it clear that she does not condone crime, Francis explained that 
the problem of criminal behaviour is multi-faceted.

"You just cannot simply talk about visiting the gallows and the death penalty. 
In this day and age these things sound almost laughable," she told St Lucia 
Times.

(source: Saint Lucia Times)