[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 21



INDIA:

Death penalty for rapists of children below 12 years



The Centre on Saturday approved the ordinance to award death sentence to the 
rapists of children below the age of 12.

Following a meeting of the Union Cabinet here, the government cleared the 
amendment in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

In the wake of the gang-rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and 
Kashmir's Kathua district, Union Minister for Women and Child Development 
Maneka Gandhi had earlier expressed her ministry's intention to amend the POCSO 
to make provision for death penalty in such cases.

Soon after, the Centre submitted its report while responding to a public 
interest litigation (PIL) filed by Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava in the 
Supreme Court, seeking maximum sentence of death penalty to those offenders 
involved in the rape and brutal murder of children between the age group of 0 
to 12.

(source: aninews.in)








PAKISTAN:

Supreme Court fixes hearing on plea of mentally-ill convicted



The Supreme Court fixed the review petition of Imdad Ali, allegedly 
mentally-ill person challenging his death sentence, for hearing on April 21.

The hearing of the case was fixed after Ali's wife Safia filed an appeal at the 
top court's human rights cell.

The court summoned advocate general, prosecutor general and Ali's counsel on 
April 21 at the Supreme Court Lahore Registry.

Mentally-ill Imdad Ali was sentenced to death in 2001 over a cleric's killing. 
The inmate's condition has continued to worsen over time. Ali has repeatedly 
been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the petition read. In 2016, the 
Supreme Court had upheld death penalty for Ali, ruling that schizophrenia was 
"not a mental illness" but a "recoverable disease".

(source: urdupoint.com)








MYANMAR:

President grants general amnesty for 8541 prisoners



President Win Myint granted a general amnesty for 8541 prisoners including 36 
prisoners of conscience and 51 foreign ones to mark Myanmar New Year day which 
falls on April 17.

A total of 8490 prisoners were released on the presidential amnesty according 
to the notification No 17/2018 with the purpose of enabling the people to feel 
peace of mind and giving special attention to humanitarianism.

The president released 51 foreign prisoners granting a general amnesty 
according to the notification No 18/2018 with the intention of marking Myanmar 
New Year day, paying special attention to foreign relations and respecting 
humanitarianism. The foreign prisoners were deported back to their native 
countries they had come from.

Among the prisoners released on the presidential amnesty were 27 elderly 
persons of 80 years old and above, 25 elderly persons of 75 to 80 years old, 14 
persons of ill health, 44 foreigners, 1462 persons of narcotic drug section 15, 
3220 persons of narcotic drug section 16 (C), 1680 persons of narcotic drug 
section 15/16 (C), 141 persons of police disciplinary punishment, 36 prisoners 
of conscience, a female local prisoner and 2 Vietnamese prisoners, cited the 
writing from the Facebook of Zaw Htay, Director General of the State Counsellor 
Office.

A total of 58 prisoners were released from Thayawady Prison, northern part of 
Bago Region. Three prisoners of conscience including Ye Baw Than Gyoung, who 
got four death sentences and life sentence, were also released. Three prisoners 
of conscience are Ye Baw Than Gyoung, Major Win Naing Kyaw and Kyaw Hlaing.

"I can't believe that I am released. It is too early to say comments as I don't 
know how I stand," Ye Baw Than Gyoung said.

Ye Baw Than Gyoung is the person who got 4 death sentences and life sentence. 
Major Win Naing Kyaw is the person who got a death sentence and jail term for 
28 years.

A total of 64 prisoners from Dawei Prison, Taninthayi Region were released on 
the presidential amnesty. There were 58 male prisoners and 6 female prisoners.

"Dawei Prison released a total of 64 prisoners as they were granted an amnesty. 
Before releasing the prisoners, the departmental officials gave advice to them. 
K 1000 was provided to each prisoner. I was not authorized to say which 
prisoner got what punishment," said the responsible person of Dawei Prison.

Pakokku Prison released a total of 22 prisoners as they were granted an 
amnesty. Similarly, Meiktila Prison released 64 prisoners, Myitkyina Prison, 
470 prisoners, Paungte Prison, 15 prisoners, Monywa Prison, 41 prisoners, 
Pathein Prison, 47 prisoners, Katha Prison, 107 prisoners, Hpa-an Prison, 156 
prisoners, Thayet Prison, 44 prisoners, Lashio Prison, 162 prisoners, Orebo 
Prison, 460 prisoners, Sittwe Prison, 87 prisoners, Myeik Prison, 293 
prisoners, Hinthada Prison, 23 prisoners, and Buthidaung Prison, 58 prisoners 
including 23 Bangladeshis.

(source: elevenmyanmar.com)








IRAQ:

Iraq gives death sentence to Islamic State 'judge'



An Iraqi court has given the death penalty to a man who acted as a legislative 
judge in Mosul for the Islamic State (IS) when the group was in control of the 
city, said a judicial spokesman on Thursday.

The defendant, whose name was not specified, was reported to have been in 
charge of marriage contracts in Mosul and surrounding areas.

"The Nineveh Criminal Court sentenced an Islamic State militant to death," said 
Abdul Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesperson for Iraq's Higher Judicial Council, in a 
statement. "The convict used to work as a judge in the marriage contracts 
court, within the so-called legislative courts of Islamic State in Mosul."

1 day before, al-Birqdar and another judicial official announced that, since 
the beginning of the year, over 300 suspects have been handed death sentences 
for crimes related to IS membership.

The cases, being heard in federal courts in Baghdad and Nineveh provinces, also 
resulted in several hundred lesser sentences, including life imprisonment.

The rise of executions in the country has led the UN mission in Iraq, the EU, 
and international human rights groups to criticize Iraq for a lack of 
transparency in its courts.

"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 in a press release on Tuesday.

The death penalty in Iraq was suspended on June 10, 2003, but was reinstated 
the following year. Critics say that the country's flawed and confession-based 
criminal justice system in which torture is routinely used to extract 
confessions is incompatible with so final a sentence as capital punishment.

Iraq's Justice Ministry announced on Monday that it had executed 13 convicted 
prisoners, 11 of them over charges of terrorism.

Last year, Iraqi forces arrested tens of thousands of those accused of being 
Islamic State (IS) members and affiliates, most of whom await sentencing.

(source: kurdistan24.net)








EGYPT:

Egyptian Court Approves Listing 46 Defendants as Terrorist



Egypt's Court of Cassation rejected on Thursday appeals submitted by 46 
defendants over their placement on the terror list for their involvement in the 
assassination of former Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat in June 2015.

The court decision called for seizing the defendants' funds, canceling their 
passports, putting their names on the watch list and freezing of their funds.

Barakat was killed in 2015 when a bomb targeted his motorcade as it was passing 
through Cairo. Several guards and civilians were killed in the attack.

Cairo's Criminal Court had issued a decision to blacklist 56 defendants as 
terrorist based on a memorandum issued by the Attorney General.

46 have appealed the ruling.

The terror list includes a number of leaders of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

In July 2017, the Cairo Criminal Court had issued sentences against 66 suspects 
in the case. 28 were given the death penalty, 15 were ordered to serve 25 years 
in jail, while the rest were sentenced to 15 years in maximum security prison.

According to investigations, the defendants belong to Muslim Brotherhood group, 
which is classified as a terrorist organization. They are accused of contacting 
fugitives leaders of the group abroad to prepare and target official Egyptian 
figures and attempting to create chaos and instability in the country to 
overthrow of the state.

(source: Asharq Al-Awsat)








IRAN:

Prisoner Executed in Northwestern Iran



A prisoner was hanged at Zanjan Central Prison on murder charges.

According to a close source, a prisoner who was sentenced to death on murder 
charges was executed on the morning of Sunday, April 15.

The prisoner was identified as Sabah Amani from Naqadeh. In 2011, he was 
arrested on the charge of murdering a taxi driver in Zanjan and had been in 
prison ever since.

A close source told IHR, "Sabah Amani worked at a gas station in Zanjan. He had 
sold 230 kilograms wheat to a taxi driver named Taher H., whom he knew for a 
long time, but Taher couldn't pay his money and Sabah murdered him."

The execution of this prisoner has not been announced by the state-run media so 
far.

According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the 
517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. There 
is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in 
issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and 
intent.

(source: Hindustan Times)

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

Students Advocate for Academic Sentenced to Death



Ahmadreza Djalali, a 45-year-old Iranian-born Swedish resident and specialist 
in disaster medicine, has been imprisoned and sentenced to death by Iranian 
officials in what Amnesty International called "a grossly unfair trial." 
Illinois Wesleyan University 1st-year students and members of the Advocacy Risk 
Seminar, Jonathan Panton '21 and Tatum Zsorey '21, advocated for Djalali's 
release at the second annual Student Advocacy Day in Washington D.C., March 
8-9.

Sponsored by the IWU Center on Human Rights and Social Justice, the Advocacy 
Seminar is affiliated with Scholars at Risk, a non-profit organization that 
advocates for academics being held in foreign countries. At the beginning of 
each academic year, Scholars at Risk sends a list of potential scholars who are 
prisoners of conscience to university organizations who advocate for academics 
abroad. Although Zsorey said it was difficult to choose one scholar, members of 
IWU's Advocacy Seminar ultimately chose to advocate for Djalali, who was 
arrested in Iran while attending a business trip.

"I became particularly passionate and thankful that I could advocate for Dr. 
Djalali when I learned of the horrible conditions he has been facing in prison, 
the unfair justice system that Iran has used to prosecute him and the unjust 
sentencing he has received," said Zsorey, an international studies major and 
environmental studies minor. "After understanding the complex implications of 
Dr. Djalali's case, I became more and more ardent about wanting to help him."

Arrested by Iranian authorities on April 25, 2016, Djalili was denied access to 
a lawyer for 7 months and held in solitary confinement for three months, 
according to Amnesty International. Although Amnesty said no evidence has ever 
been presented to show that Djalili is anything other than "an academic 
peacefully pursuing his profession," he has been accused of being a spy and 
threatened with the death penalty. Amnesty said Iran is using Djalali's work as 
a doctor in disaster medicine, his studies and teachings in Europe, and his 
residency to fabricate these claims.

Djalali Family Ahmadreza Djalali has a wife and 2 children.

"Our defense on behalf of Dr. Djalali was that he was simply a professor of 
disaster medicine who is unlawfully incarcerated in Iran. He was convicted of 
collaborating with Israel, which does not make any sense considering that he 
does not have any ties to Israel," said Panton, a business administration 
major. "We hope that Dr. Djalali is released because he has a wife and 2 
children back home."

Working together with seminar participant Emma Cottrell '21, Panton and Zsorey 
compiled a research case file defending Djalali and presented their findings 
before staff members in the offices of Congressmen Danny Davis and Rodney Davis 
in Washington D.C. on Advocacy Day.

"I personally had an amazing time in D.C.," Zsorey said. "There's a vibrant 
atmosphere that surrounds the city that made me feel as though the work I was 
doing was real and actually mattered."

Zsorey said she and Panton received positive responses in D.C. She said the 
aids agreed to pass on Djalali's case file and talk with the Congressmen about 
possible measures of action that could be taken to support Djalali.

"We are currently working with both offices to draft a joint letter in support 
of the Swedish government, who has done a lot to help get Dr. Djalali freed," 
Zsorey said.

In addition to lobbying their case, Panton and Zsorey, along with 30 students 
from over 8 universities, heard advice on international human rights advocacy 
work from experts at the State Department and other non-governmental 
organizations. Panton said these presentations helped students gain a better 
understanding of advocacy.

"The most important thing that I learned about advocacy is that you need to tie 
your mission to their interests - give them a reason to support your cause," 
Panton said.

Advocacy Group Students gathered for Student Advocacy Day in Washington D.C.

"One of the most important things I learned was that being an advocate means 
being active," Zsorey said. "You have to actively seek out those who can 
support you and care about what you???re doing, whether they be members of 
Congress, NGOs, or other advocacy groups. Advocacy isn't easy, and nothing 
magically happens unless you put in the time and effort."

Zsorey said organizations such as IWU's Advocacy Seminar have given her the 
opportunity to be active, as they are "widely applicable beyond the classroom." 
"Even though I am only a 1st-year student, I feel as though I've always been 
more aware of the injustices plaguing the world more than the typical person my 
age. However, I always believed that there wasn't much I could do as a 
student," Zsorey said. "The Advocacy Day allowed me to realize that there is so 
much work one student or one group of students can do in advocating on behalf 
of others."

Panton said the real-world experiences he has gained as a member of Advocacy 
Seminar have allowed him to make a real difference.

"I believe events such as Advocacy Day and clubs such as Advocacy Seminar are 
important because they spread awareness to issues that would otherwise go 
unnoticed," Panton said. "It is incredible to have this real-world experience 
as a freshman because I am doing whatever I can to protect another human being. 
The fact of the matter is that Dr. Djalali is a person, and as a person, he 
deserves all of the inalienable human rights that everyone else deserves."

(source: iwu.edu)