[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 26



LEBANON:

Beirut judge calls for death penalty for man who murdered ex-wife



Beirut's First Investigative Judge Ghassan Oueidat issued an indictment 
Wednesday for a man who allegedly killed his ex-wife, fled to Syria, and later 
came back and handed himself in, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Ouiedat issued the indictment for the murder of Nada Bahlawan, "at the hands of 
her ex-husband," NNA said.

Bahlawan, born in 1975, was shot and killed on Jan. 22 on the street in 
Beirut's Ras al-Nabeh by a man identified by eyewitnesses and via CCTV as her 
husband, Fadi Ghazi Askar, born in 1967, a security source told The Daily Star 
at the time.

In his decision, Oueidat called for the death penalty for Askar, on the grounds 
that he committed a felony under Article 549 of the Penal Code, as well as an 
offense under Article 73 of the Weapons Act for the transfer of an unauthorized 
hunting gun.

The NNA report revealed new details about the crime, saying the defendant fled 
the scene after committing it, leaving his car parked at the roadside in 
Baabda's Falougha, with the murder weapon inside. He then took a series of 
buses to Syria, where he stayed for some time, before returning in February to 
hand himself in to Lebanon's General Security, NNA reported.

(source: The Daily Star)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Executions for Drug Crimes----Crown Prince Signals Possible Limit on Non-Murder 
Executions



Saudi Arabia has executed 48 people since the beginning of 2018, 1/2 of them 
for nonviolent drug crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. Many more people 
convicted of drug crimes remain on death row following convictions by Saudi 
Arabia's notoriously unfair criminal justice system.

Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said in an interview with Time magazine on 
April 5, that the Saudi authorities have a plan to decrease the number of 
executions, but that they would not limit executions to people convicted of 
murder. Nearly all executions in Saudi Arabia that are not for murder are for 
non-violent drug crimes. The prince said the country would consider changing 
the penalty from death to life in prison in some cases, but not in murder 
cases.

It's bad enough that Saudi Arabia executes so many people, but many of them 
have not committed a violent crime," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East 
director at Human Rights Watch. "Any plan to limit drug executions needs to 
include improvements to a justice system that doesn't provide for fair trials."

Saudi Arabia has carried out nearly 600 executions since the beginning of 2014, 
over 200 of them in drug cases. The vast majority of the remainder were for 
murder, but other offenses included rape, incest, terrorism, and "sorcery."

In Saudi Arabia, death sentences for murder are usually based on the Islamic 
law principle qisas, or eye-for-an-eye retributive punishment, while judges 
hand down death sentences for drugs at their own discretion (the Islamic law 
principle ta'zir). Judges rely on a 1987 fatwa by the country's Council of 
Senior Religious Scholars prescribing the death penalty for any "drug smuggler" 
who brings drugs into the country, as well as provisions of the 2005 Law on 
Combatting Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, which prescribes the 
death penalty for drug smuggling. The law allows for mitigated sentences in 
limited circumstances.

International standards, including the Arab Charter on Human Rights, ratified 
by Saudi Arabia, require countries that retain the death penalty to use it only 
for the "most serious crimes," and in exceptional circumstances. In 2012, the 
United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary 
executions stated that where used, the death penalty should be limited to cases 
in which a person is intentionally killed and not used to punish drug-related 
offenses.

Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases in which Saudi courts 
sentenced defendants to death following unfair trials. In one such case, a 
Saudi court sentenced a Jordanian man, Waleed al-Saqqar, to death in December 
2014 for smuggling drugs across the Saudi border from Jordan in his truck.

The judgment following al-Saqqar's trial reveals that the trial lasted only 1 
day, and a source with direct knowledge of the case told Human Rights Watch 
that the entire trial lasted about 5 minutes. The source said that a judge 
asked al-Saqqar to confirm his identity and state whether the truck belonged to 
him, then issued the death sentence. Al-Saqqar did not have a defense lawyer.

The source said that the judge did not allow al-Saqqar a chance to explain the 
circumstances, which he viewed as a mitigating factor. The source said that in 
April 2013 al-Saqqar met a Saudi man at the Jordanian Free Zone near Zarqa city 
who offered to pay him 300,000 Saudi Riyals (US$80,000) to smuggle several bags 
of agricultural hormones to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi man said that his workers 
were urgently waiting for them and would need them before he could get 
permission from the Saudi Heath and Agricultural Ministries to legally import 
them. Al-Saqqar agreed to the arrangement.

On April 11, 2013, Saudi authorities stopped al-Saqqar after he entered Saudi 
Arabia from Jordan at the al-Haditha border crossing and searched the truck. 
According to the trial judgment, the authorities discovered 144,000 pills 
identified as captagon (fenethylline), a banned substance in Saudi Arabia. 
According to the official judgment al-Saqqar assisted Saudi authorities in an 
attempt to locate and apprehend the person inside Saudi Arabia responsible for 
receiving the drugs, but authorities were not able to apprehend him.

The source said that the case remains on appeal. The appeals court, the Saudi 
Supreme Court, and the Saudi royal court must approve the judgment before the 
sentence can be carried out. Al-Saqqar primarily is in Al-Qarrayat General 
Prison in northern Saudi Arabia.

In another case, a Pakistani man, Safdar Iqbal, told Justice Project Pakistan 
in December 2015 that men affiliated with the Pakistani agency that gave him 
his Saudi visa invaded his Karachi hotel room. He said the men forced him to 
swallow heroin capsules to smuggle into Saudi Arabia, beating him with guns and 
threatening to kill him and his family.

Saudi authorities apprehended him in February 2011 when he landed at Dammam's 
King Fahd International Airport. He said that a court convicted him after 4 
hearings, and that he did not dispute a 15-year sentence because it was better 
than the death penalty. Later, however, officials informed him that an appeals 
court had increased his sentence to death. Iqbal did not have a defense lawyer 
and said that the judges did not attempt to investigate his claim that he was 
coerced to smuggle the pills. He was held in Dammam prison and executed on 
October 18, 2017.

Human Rights Watch has documented longstanding due process violations in Saudi 
Arabia's criminal justice system that makes it difficult for a defendant to get 
a fair trial even in capital cases. In cases Human Rights Watch has analyzed, 
authorities did not always inform suspects of the charges against them or allow 
them access to evidence, even after trial sessions began.

Authorities generally did not allow lawyers to assist suspects during 
interrogation and often impeded them from examining witnesses and presenting 
evidence at trial. The problems were compounded for non-Arabic speaking 
foreigners, who in the absence of a lawyer face overwhelming obstacles to 
understanding court procedures and submitting defense documents.

The Death Penalty Worldwide Database, which collects information on executions 
across the globe, shows that Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution 
rates in the world and applies the death penalty to a range of offenses that do 
not constitute "most serious crimes," including drug offenses, adultery, 
sorcery, and apostasy. Saudi Arabia trails only Iran in the Middle East in in 
the number of its executions.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and under all 
circumstances. Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it 
is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.

In 2013, following similar resolutions in 2007, 2008, and 2010, the UN General 
Assembly called on countries to establish a moratorium on the use of the death 
penalty, progressively restrict the practice, and reduce the offenses for which 
it might be imposed, all with the view toward its eventual abolition. UN 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also called on countries to abolish the death 
penalty.

(source: Human Rights Watch)

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

Saudi Arabia executes 48 people in 3 months



Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia has executed 48 people so far in 2018, 
half of them for non-violent drug crimes.

Many more people convicted of drug crimes remain on death row following 
convictions by Saudi Arabia's notoriously unfair criminal justice system.

The Death Penalty Worldwide Database, which collects information on executions 
across the globe, shows that Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution 
rates in the world and applies the death penalty to a range of offences that do 
not constitute "most serious crimes," including drug offences, adultery, 
sorcery, and apostasy.

Saudi Arabia trails only Iran in the Middle East in in the number of its 
executions.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and under all 
circumstances. Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it 
is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.

In 2013, following similar resolutions in 2007, 2008, and 2010, the UN General 
Assembly called on countries to establish a moratorium on the use of the death 
penalty, progressively restrict the practice, and reduce the offences for which 
it might be imposed, all with the view toward its eventual abolition. UN 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also called on countries to abolish the death 
penalty

In an interview with Time Magazine last month, reformist Saudi Crown Prince 
Mohammed bin Salman said in a few areas Saudi laws can be changed to life in 
prison sentences instead of executions.

"We are working for 2 years through the government and also the Saudi 
parliament to build new laws in that area. And we believe it will take 1 year, 
maybe a little bit more, to have it finished," he told Time Magazine.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW, said: "Any plan to limit drug 
executions needs to include improvements to a justice system that doesn't 
provide for fair trials."

Saudi Arabia has gone through a series of reforms in the last year, but 
international human rights groups urge the kingdom to make changes to its 
treatment of human rights advocates, to stop executions and cancel its 
pervasive system of male guardianship.

Saudi Arabia has carried out nearly 600 executions since the beginning of 2014, 
over 200 of them in drug cases, HRW said.

(source: tvcnews.tv)

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

Nepali in death row in Saudi Arabia: Pakistani family agrees to grant clemency



A Nepali man convicted in Saudia Arabia for a murder of a Pakistani national 
has been given clemency by the victim's family. Umesh Yadav, of Dhanusha 
district, has been doing time in Saudia Arabian Jail.

The victim's family agreed to grant clemency to Yadav after Saroj Raya, who 
went to Faisalabad in Pakistan to seek pardon on behalf of Umesh, reached a 
settlement to pay blood money following amicable talks. It has been learnt that 
the assailant's side agreed to pay the blood money. However, the amount of 
blood money has not been disclosed.

Yadav was accused of murdering Pakistani man Mohammad Lucky Asif 11 years ago. 
6 years ago a local court of Saudi Arabian had sentenced Yadav to death.

Mohammad's elder brother Safik said they decided to pardon Yadav despite the 
agony of his brother's death. "We are suffering our brother's loss, and it was 
really bad for us. But we still granted pardon in the name of Allah," he said.

Pakistani lawyer Mohamed Nawas, who play a role in the reconciliation between 
the 2 families, said the victim's family have shown their big heart. "We 
Pakistanis are people with big heart. This has been proven by the victim's 
family," he said.

Saroj Raya, who reached Faisalabad in Pakistan to negotiate a settlement with 
the victim???s family, expressed his joy, saying that his mission has been 
accomplished.

"Finally, we have been able to save Umesh from death penalty. The victim's 
family has accepted blood money," he said. "I express my gratitude to all the 
friends who helped in this endeavour."

(source: Kathmandu Post)








YEMEN:

Yemeni Court Sentences 8 to Death for Cooperating with Saudi-Led Coalition



A court in Yemen's capital sentenced 8 people to death Wednesday for 
cooperating with Saudi-led coalition forces, according to Yemen's official SABA 
news agency.

The Houthi-run news agency reported that a criminal court in Sanaa ordered the 
death penalty after convicting them of cooperating with "enemy forces".

Spying for Saudi Arabia was also among the charges they faced, it added.

Impoverished Yemen has remained dogged by violence since 2014, when Houthi 
rebels overran much of the country, including Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies 
launched a massive air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen.

The ongoing violence has devastated Yemen's public infrastructure, including 
water and sanitation systems, prompting the U.N. to describe the situation as 
one of "the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times".

(source: albawaba.com)








IRAQ:

Iraqi court sentences 5 foreign women to death for joining IS



An Iraqi court on Thursday sentenced 5 foreign women to death for joining the 
Islamic State (IS) terror group, a judicial spokesman said.

"The Central Criminal Court sentenced to death by hanging 3 female Kyrgyz 
citizens and 2 female Azerbaijani citizens for joining the terrorist IS 
organization," Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial 
Council, said in a statement.

He said that the court issued verdicts of life imprisonment for 5 more foreign 
females: 2 Russians, 2 Azerbaijani citizens and 1 French.

"The female convicts joined the IS terrorist organization and were involved in 
criminal acts against Iraqi forces," Biraqdar noted.

Despite defeat in Iraq in late 2017, many IS remnants remain at large in the 
hideouts of the Arab country.

The increase in executions in Iraq has sparked calls for abolishing capital 
punishment from the UN, the European Union and some international human rights 
groups, citing the lack of transparency in Iraqi courts.

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

(source: xinhuanet.com)








BAHRAIN:

Bahraini court upholds military tribunal death sentences



Bahrain's highest court has upheld the death sentences handed down by a 
military tribunal to 4 men accused of plotting to kill the head of the 
country's armed forces, concluding a secretive and unfair trial that has fallen 
far short of international standards of due process. They face imminent 
execution, along with 4 other men previously convicted and sentenced to death 
based on false confessions extracted through torture.

Telecoms engineer Sayed Alawi Sayed Hussain was abducted by Bahrain's security 
forces on 24 October, 2016. Another of the defendants, Fadel Radhi, was taken 
from his home on September 29, 2016. Both men were 'disappeared' for months: 
their families were not told where they were being held or what they were 
accused of.

In April 2017, Bahrain amended its constitution to enable military tribunals to 
try civilians accused of threatening the security of the state. Khalifa bin 
Ahmed Al Khalifa, supposedly the intended target of the plot, appointed the 
judges that convicted the accused plotters and sentenced them to death. Lawyers 
for the men have not been allowed to see the evidence against them, and a gag 
order prevents them from disclosing anything heard in court to the press. 
Requests from the US Embassy in Bahrain to monitor the trial were refused.

The upheld death sentences are the latest sign that Bahrain is prepared to 
ignore human rights in efforts to deter dissent. In January 2017, three men 
arrested following demonstrations against the regime and tortured into 
'confessions' were executed - the 1st Bahraini nationals to be executed since 
1996. Since these executions, Bahrain's death row has increased dramatically 
from 7 to 25, amid ongoing concerns over the unfair trials and the use of 
torture to obtain false confessions.

Maya Foa, Director of international human rights organisation Reprieve, said, 
"These verdicts, delivered in secret by an illegitimate military tribunal, are 
an egregious violation of human rights. The UK Foreign Office has spent 
millions of pounds training Bahraini police and prison guards, ostensibly with 
the aim of reforming the Kingdom's justice system. Torture and executions are 
not justice. If Prime Minister Theresa May's vow that Britain will take a 
'moral lead in the world' is to be more than cheap talk, she must demand that 
these men receive a fair trial."

Sayed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy of London-based NGO Bahrain Institute of 
Rights and Democracy: said, "Today's death sentences are patently illegal under 
international law - the men were subjected to prolonged enforced 
disappearances, sham military trials, without any respect for due process. The 
Court of Cassation has sanctioned Bahrain's human rights abuses by allowing 
these civilians to be sentenced to death in military tribunals. The UK has a 
responsibility to call on Bahrain to immediately review its use of the death 
penalty."

(source: ekklesia.co.uk)

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

Top Bahraini military court upholds death sentences against 7 anti-regime 
activists



Bahrain's highest military appellate court has upheld death sentences against 7 
anti-regime activists as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its 
heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the 
kingdom.

On Wednesday, Bahrain's Military Court of Cassation found Adel Mubarak Muhanna, 
Fadel Sayyed Abbas Hassan Radhi, Sayyed Alawi Hussein Alawi Hussain, Mohamed 
Abdulhassen Ahmed al-Matghawi, Mohammed Abdul Hussain Saleh al-Shihabi, 
Mohammed Abdul Wahid Mohammed Al-Najjar and Hussein Mohammed Ahmed Shihab 
guilty of attempts to assassinate Commander-in-Chief of Defense Force Field 
Marshal Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifah, Arabic-language Bahrain Mirror news 
website reported.

Meanwhile, the Bahrain Opposition Bloc in London (BOBL) has strongly condemned 
the rulings by Bahrain's top military court, stating that the verdicts against 
a group of civilians expose absence of an independent judiciary in the Persian 
Gulf kingdom.

"These verdicts clearly show the lack of an independent judiciary in Bahrain as 
the court relied on confessions extracted under torture and threats," the group 
said in a statement.

It added that Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah was "responsible 
for the announcement of these unfair verdicts."

The BOBL then called on the international community to intervene and halt their 
implementation.

(source: presstv.com)








IRAN----executions

3 Prisoners Hanged



At least 3 out of 12 prisoners who were transferred to the solitary confinement 
of Rajai Shahr Prison in last 2 days, were executed on Wednesday, April 25. 
Iman Hosseini Moqaddam is still in solitary confinement.

According to a close source, on the morning of Wednesday, at least 3 prisoners 
were hanged at Rajai Shahr Prison. The prisoners have not been identified so 
far.

The prisoners were transferred to the solitary confinement in a group of 12 on 
Sunday, April 22 and Monday, April 23.

1 of the prisoners was an Afghan named Amir Khalili from Ghezel Hesar Prison, 
and another one was named Amir Ahmadi from Khourin Prison in Varamin.

Iman Hosseini Moqaddam, who is sentenced to death on the charge of corruption 
on earth by rape which he denies, was 1 of the prisoners who were transferred 
to the solitary confinement. He is sentenced to public execution and is still 
held in the solitary confinement. It's possible that the authorities intend to 
carry out his execution in public.

A close source told IHR, "The authorities advised Iman to write a letter of 
repentance this morning. He refused and said that he didn't need to because he 
had not committed any sins."

Ahmad Sabet Ahmadi, Amrollah Ajdar, and Javad Sohrabi are 3 of the prisoners 
who were transferred to the solitary confinement. However, they were able to 
ask for time from their plaintiffs and returned to their cells on Tuesday, 
April 24.

According to statistical department of Iran Human Rights (IHR), at least 19 
prisoners were executed in Iran last week. IHR had earlier warned against a new 
wave of executions in Iran following the nationwide uprising.

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

Prisoner Executed in Zahedan



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

According to a close source, on the morning of Wednesday, April 25, a prisoner 
who was sentenced to death on murder charges was executed at Zahedan Central 
Prison. He was identified as Reza Sheykh.

Baluch Activists Campaign wrote that the prisoner had been held in prison for 7 
years.

Habibollah Sarbazi, Baluch human Rights activist, told IHR, "Reza Sheykh was 
executed this morning. He was 40 from Zabol and had been kept in ward 3 of 
Zahedan Central Prison."

Moreover, HRANA reported that Reza Sheykh was transferred to the solitary 
confinement on Tuesday.

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

According to statistical department of Iran Human Rights (IHR), at least 19 
prisoners were executed in Iran last week. IHR had earlier warned against a new 
wave of executions in Iran following the nationwide uprising.

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

8 Prisoners Including 2 Afghans Executed in Iran----Last Week's Execution 
Confirmed by Iranian Media



8 prisoners were executed at Rajai Shahr Prison last week. Some Iranian media 
confirmed 1 of the executions after 6 days.

According to Rokna, a prisoner who was sentenced to death on rape charges was 
executed at Rajai Shahr Prison a few days ago.

The prisoner, identified as Farhad, was charged with "raping 6 women and girls, 
kidnapping 15 people, robbery, and assault". The prisoner was charged with the 
abovementioned offenses in 2015.

IHR had earlier reported the execution of 8 prisoners at Rajai Shahr Prison on 
Wednesday, April 18. The execution of the other seven prisoners has not been 
announced by the state-run media so far.

Azim Fathi, Akbar Eftekhari, and Mohammad Saleh Dolatabadi are 3 of the 
executed prisoners whose execution was reported by IHR. The prisoners were 
executed on murder charges.

(source for all: Iran Human Rights)