[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 16





INDIA:

Kashmir bar association seeks death penalty for accused, calls for transferring 
Kathua case to High Court

Qayoom said atmosphere is not “conducive” in Kathua for holding trial in the 
case.


Saying death sentence should be awarded to the guilty by court in Kathua minor 
rape and murder case, Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association President Mian Qayoom 
on Monday said “High Court should transfer case to itself”.

Qayoom said atmosphere is not “conducive” in Kathua for holding trial in the 
case.

“We are not in favor of transferring case. Our demand is that the atmosphere at 
Kathua is not conducive for holding fair trial of the case. So, High Court has 
a wing in Jammu, we have a wing in Srinagar. This case should be transferred to 
HC itself ... They should nominate a judge for this purpose and that judge 
should be given exclusive task of trail of this case as quickly as possible”.

Demanding harsh punishment for the guilty in the case, Qayoom said quantum of 
punishment in the case should not be less than “death”.

Qayoom also said that Bar is ready to provide legal assistance to the victim’s 
family. “If somebody approaches us, we will see how we can help them legally. 
Till today nobody has approached us.  But if they come to us and say we need 
some kind of legal assistance, we are here; we can provide legal assistance to 
them,” he said.

(source: greaterkashmir.com)





EGYPT:

Court upholds death sentences against 4 over forming terrorist cell


The Court of Cassation has rejected Sunday appeals by 4 defendants against 
death sentences in the case known as “Awsim Terrorist Cell.”

The court also rejected appeals against sentences of 15 years imprisonment 
against 14 other defendants, and upheld life imprisonment (25 years) for other 
defendants in absentia.

In February, Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 4 defendants to death and 12 others 
to life imprisonment in the “Awsim Cell” case.

The defendants in the “Awsim Cell” case are accused of forming terrorist cells 
to incite chaos, attack public and private facilities and target security and 
army personnel.

They are also charged with attempted arson and placing fake explosive devices 
outside the Awsim Town Council and the local electricity company, as well as 
detonating an explosive device outside the home of Judge Fathy Bayoumi while he 
was inside.

On Saturday, Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld a life imprisonment sentence 
against former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie over charges of 
inciting violence in the “Rabaa Operation Room” case.

Earlier this month, the Court of Cassation accepted on Tuesday the appeals 
against sentences imposed on 5 defendants in the case publicly known as the 
“Warraq [terrorist] Cell” case, ordering the retrial of the defendants before 
another criminal court.

The defendants had faced various sentences, including the death penalty, life 
imprisonment and five years in prison.

(source: Egypt Today)





SOUTH SUDAN:

South Sudan: One of just two executing states in sub-Saharan Africa in 2017


South Sudan is 1 of just 2 countries in sub-Saharan Africa known to have 
carried out executions in 2017, going against a clear trend by other countries 
in the region to move forward towards abolishing the death penalty, Amnesty 
International’s Global Report on Death Sentences and Executions 2017 revealed.

South Sudan carried out 4 executions in 2017, 2 of those who were put to death 
having been juveniles at the time of the commission of the crime, in flagrant 
violation of international law. The other country that executed people in 
sub-Saharan Africa is Somalia, which carried out 24 executions in the same 
period.

“With governments in the region continuing to take steps to reduce and repeal 
the death penalty well into 2018, the isolation of the remaining executing 
countries could not be starker. Now that 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa 
have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, it is high time that the rest 
follow their lead and consign this abhorrent punishment to the history books,” 
said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Salil Shetty.

South Sudan continues to hand down death sentences and execute people. In 
February 2018, 2 men were sentenced to death - James Gadet, former SPLM-IO 
Spokesperson, and South African William Endley, a former advisor to rebel 
leader, Riek Machar.

Amnesty International calls on the South Sudan Government to immediately 
establish an official moratorium on executions, and quash the convictions of 
Gadet and Endley and grant them a new trial that meets international fair trial 
standards.

Background

Amnesty International’s Global Report on Death Sentences and Executions 2017 
finds that sub-Saharan Africa is a ‘beacon of hope’, having made positive steps 
towards abolishing the death penalty.

(source: Amnesty International)




IRAN:

Iran Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence For Kurdish Opponent


A branch of Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a Kurdish 
citizen, his lawyer said in an exclusive interview with Radio Farda’s Mahtab 
Vahidi Rad.

In a statement on February 5, Amnesty International (AI) said, “Ramin Hossein 
Panahi, from Iran’s Kurdish minority, started a hunger strike on January 27 
after he learned that he had been sentenced to death in connection with his 
membership in the armed Kurdish opposition group Komala.”

According to AI, “Panahi’s trial, which took place on January 16, was grossly 
unfair and lasted less than an hour. His family told Amnesty International that 
he appeared before the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj with obvious torture 
marks on his body, but the court failed to order an investigation.”

Panahi, 24, was arrested in June 2017 in Sanandaj after being wounded in an 
ambush by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) forces of the outlawed 
Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, an armed separatist organization.

3 other Komala activists who were present -- Sabbah Hossein Panahi, Hamed Seif 
Panahi, and Behzad Nouri -- were killed in the attack.

Panahi was the only survivor of the attack and has maintained he was unarmed at 
the time of the IRGC’s ambush.

His lawyer, Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, told Radio Farda that the court sentenced his 
client to death for “taking up arms against the state” based on his membership 
in Komala but provided no evidence linking him to acts involving intentional 
killing, which is the required threshold under international law for imposing 
the death penalty.

According to Ahmadi Niaz, his client has never taken up arms against the 
Iranian regime.

“Courts are expected to be impartial, fair, and independent,” he said. “How can 
a court be independent when it is part of the ruling system?”

Panahi’s lawyer also insisted his client has testified about being tortured and 
the court should have investigated his allegation before upholding the death 
sentence.

Meanwhile, Ahmadi Niaz argued that when his client and his three companions 
entered Iranian territory from neighboring Iraq, they were under IRGC 
surveillance.

“Nothing happened until my client and his companions’ vehicle entered the city 
of Sanandaj, where a trap laid by IRGC forces was waiting for them,” he said. 
“There, the IRGC personnel ambushed their vehicle with a barrage of gunfire. 3 
were dead; Ramin was wounded and passed out, while none of the IRGC forces was 
hurt. This shows that the whole clash was a one-sided shooting.”

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reported, “Panahi was 
only allowed one brief meeting with his lawyer, which took place in the 
presence of intelligence officials. This violates the right to consult with 
one’s lawyer in confidence. The judicial authorities also refused to disclose 
to either him or his lawyer the details of the evidence brought against him 
before the hearing. His lawyer is planning to appeal his sentence.”

Ahmadi Niaz noted, “On January 31, an Intelligence Ministry official visited 
him in prison and said his death sentence would be commuted to imprisonment if 
he agreed to make televised confessions denouncing Kurdish opposition groups as 
terrorists. When he refused, the intelligence official apparently became 
enraged and said he would pay with his life for his stubbornness.”

In his interview with Radio Farda, Ahmadi Niaz also said, “If being a member of 
Komala is a crime, its punishment is imprisonment not a death sentence.”

Komala describes itself as an Iranian-Kurdistan political party that stands for 
a democratic, secular, pluralist Iran where the rights of Iranians and Kurds 
are preserved and safeguarded.

(source: radiofarda.com)