[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 18



IRAQ----4 new death sentences against women

Iraqi court sentences 4 foreign women to death for joining IS



An Iraqi court on Tuesday sentenced 4 foreign women to death and 3 to life in 
prison for joining the extremist militant group Islamic State (IS), the Iraqi 
judiciary said.

The Iraqi Central Criminal Court issued verdicts of death penalty for "3 
Azerbaijani women and a Kyrgyz woman for being members of IS group," the 
Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement.

The court also "sentenced a French woman and 2 Russian women to life 
imprisonment for joining IS group," the statement said.

The Iraqi judiciary frequently sentenced women of foreign nationals to death 
and imprisonment for joining IS militants, including 16 Turkish women, 
sentenced to death on Feb. 25.

After the Iraqi forces defeated IS in Iraq in 2017, hundreds of IS loyalists 
were killed or captured, while many others are still at large in hideouts in 
Iraq or abroad.

Tuesday verdicts came a day after the Iraqi Ministry of Justice said it had 
executed 13 Iraqi prisoners, 11 of them over charges of terrorism, despite 
international calls to end the death penalty.

The increase of executions in Iraq has sparked calls to stop capital punishment 
by the UN mission in Iraq, European Union and some international human rights 
groups, which have criticized the lack of transparency in Iraqi courts.

Death penalty in Iraq was suspended on June 10, 2003, but was reinstated from 
Aug. 8, 2004.

(source: xinhuanet.com)

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

Iraq reportedly sentences Kyrgyzstani woman to death for ties to ISIS



The Central Criminal Court of Iraq sentenced 7 foreign women, members of the 
ISIS terrorist organization, including a native of Kyrgyzstan, to life 
imprisonment and death penalty, RIA Novosti reported with reference to the 
Iraqi Al Sumaria TV channel.

A French woman and 2 Russian women were sentenced to life in prison for links 
to the ISIS.

According to the broadcaster, 3 women from Azerbaijan and 1 from Kyrgyzstan 
were handed a death penalty.

(source: akipress.com)

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

More than 300 sentenced to death in Iraq for IS links



Iraqi courts have sentenced to death a total of more than 300 people, including 
dozens of foreigners, for belonging to the Islamic State group, judicial 
sources said Wednesday.

The suspects are being tried by 2 courts, 1 near the former jihadist stronghold 
of Mosul in northern Iraq and another in Baghdad which is dealing notably with 
foreigners and women.

Since January in the capital, 97 foreign nationals have been condemned to death 
and 185 to life in prison, according to a judicial source.

Most of the women sentenced were from Turkey and republics of the former Soviet 
Union.

In January, an Iraqi court condemned a German woman to death after finding her 
guilty of belonging to IS while on Tuesday a French woman was sentenced to life 
in prison.

At the court In Tel Keif near Mosul, 212 people have been sentenced to death, 
150 to life in prison and 341 to other jails terms, Supreme Judicial Council 
spokesman Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar said in a statement.

"It has been proven that they carried out criminal actions at public hearings 
conducted in accordance with the law during which the convicts' rights were 
guaranteed," he said.

Iraq declared victory in December against IS -- also known as ISIS -- which at 
one point controlled 1/3 of the country.

On Monday the justice ministry said 11 people convicted of terrorism-related 
charges had been executed in Iraq, which according to New York-based Human 
Rights Watch is the world's number 4 executioner.

"These executions follow rushed trials of ISIS suspects which are riddled with 
due process violations, including convictions based solely on confessions which 
are sometimes extracted by torture," said HRW senior Iraq researcher Belkis 
Wille.

"Iraq's mishandling of the ISIS trials not only denies victims real justice, 
but also risks sending innocent Iraqis to their deaths."

(source: al-monitor.com)








PAKISTAN:

Death penalty awarded in murder case in Faisalabad



A court in Faisalabad awarded death penalty to a man convicted in a murder case 
of Thikriwala police station. After observing evidences and witnesses, 
Additional Session Judge Azfar Sultan Abrar awarded capital punishment to 
accused Javaid Iqbal under section 302-B of pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to prosecution, accused Javaid Iqbal had shot dead his neighbour on a 
minor dispute in 2011. The convict was directed to pay Rs.4 lakh as 
compensation to legal heirs of the deceased.

(source: UrduPoint Network)








INDIA:

1993 blasts death-row convict Tahir Merchant dead



M. Tahir Merchant, alias Tahir Takla, 1 of the convicts in the March 1993 
Mumbai serial blasts who was sentenced to death, died of a heart attack here on 
Wednesday, a police officer said.

Merchant, who was lodged in the Yerawada Central Jail here, suffered a heart 
attack in the prison around 3 a.m. and was rushed to the Sassoon Hospital.

However, he failed to respond to the treatment and breathed his last around 
3.45 a.m., said Additional DGP (Prisons) B.K. Upadhyay.

On September 7, 2017, he was awarded death penalty for conspiring, facilitating 
and knowingly commissioning acts of terror leading to the March 1993 serial 
bomb explosions which rocked Mumbai.

(source: Business Standard)

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

Clamour for death: On hanging rapists of minors



The anger is justified, but not the proposal to grant capital punishment for 
rape of minors

Each time a horrific sexual crime hits the headlines, there is a clamour for 
prescribing the death penalty for such offences. Given this, it is perhaps no 
surprise that the gang-rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and 
Kashmir has evoked a similar response. Union Minister for Women and Child 
Development Maneka Gandhi has said her ministry will seek an amendment to the 
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, to provide for death as 
the maximum punishment for the rape of those below 12. The anger is 
understandable but legislation ought to be a well-considered exercise and not a 
response based on a sense of outrage over particular incidents. The last time a 
ghastly crime led to legislative change was in 2013, following a national 
outcry over the gang rape and murder of a woman in Delhi in December 2012. That 
set of amendments to criminal law was a structured response, largely based on 
the recommendations of a committee of eminent jurists. In its January 2013 
report, the committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India J.S. Verma, 
decided against recommending the death penalty for rape, despite demands. It 
rightly took into account the possibility of awarding life sentences without 
remission for aggravated sexual assault, as well as "the current thinking in 
favour of the abolition of the death penalty". However, the Criminal Law 
(Amendment) Act, 2013, set the death penalty for rape in the event of it 
causing the victim's death or a persistent vegetative state, and for repeat 
offenders.

In recent months, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh have 
sought to amend the law to prescribe the death penalty for the rape of a minor 
below the age of 12. There is a clear dichotomy of views on the desirability of 
prescribing a death penalty. Enlightened public opinion would not approve of a 
vengeful state response to individual brutality, even if outraged public 
opinion clamoured for it. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that the death 
penalty has never been a deterrent against any sort of crime. There is little 
empirical evidence to show that those about to commit a capital offence would 
stop themselves merely out of the fear of being hanged. Further, there is a 
legitimate concern that the country's judicial system has not been consistent 
in awarding the death penalty. The Law Commission, while recommending abolition 
of the death penalty, except in terrorism-related cases, observed that it is 
difficult to operate the 'rarest of rare cases' principle without a hint of 
arbitrariness. It will be especially wrong to force judges to compare the 
relative 'merits' of rape victims based on their age and choose between death 
sentence and life. Lengthy prison sentences, constituting both well-deserved 
consequences for grave crimes and a life-long opportunity for penitence, will 
adequately meet the ends of justice.

(source: Editorial, The Hindu)