[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 29



RUSSIA:

60 Russian Women Wait Trial in Iraq over ISIS Membership



At least 60 Russian women are awaiting trial in Iraq over illegal entry, 
membership in the ISIS Takfiri terrorist group and involvement in acts of 
terror across the war-ravaged Arab country.

Ziyad Sabsabi, a Russian senator and Deputy Chairman of the Senate's Foreign 
Relations Committee, said the suspects face sentences that could amount to 
death penalty, noting that most of the women deny their charges.

He pointed out that nearly a dozen of them will stand trial on Sunday, stating 
that there are children, who are less than 3 years of age and staying in jail 
with their mothers.

On April 17, the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq announced in a statement that 
the Central Criminal Court had sentenced three Azerbaijani women and a female 
Kyrgyz citizen to death over affiliation to ISIS terror outfit.

The court also handed life sentences to 2 Russian nationals and 1 woman from 
France.

On April 2, the Central Criminal Court sentenced 6 Turkish women to death and 
handed down a life term to another.

The women, all accompanied by small children, told the court they had entered 
Iraq to join their husbands, who were fighting within the ranks of the terror 
outfit.

(source: albawaba.com)








IRAN----execution

Prisoner Hanged at Bandar Abbas Prison



A prisoner was hanged at the southern city of Bandar Abbas Central Prison on 
murder charges.

According to a close source, on the morning of Tuesday, April 24, a prisoner 
was executed at Bandar Abbas Central Prison. The prisoner, identified as 
Mohammad Jafar Shirzad, 41 from Khorramabad, was sentenced to death on murder 
charges. A close source told Iran Human Rights, "Mohammad Jafar Shirzad 
committed murder at his workplace in February 2015, and he failed to win the 
consent of the plaintiffs."

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.

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.

(source: Iran Human Rights)








NIGERIA:

Nigerian Shiite leader faces new criminal charges



The Nigerian Shiite leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, is facing new criminal 
charges by the local government, the AFP News Agency reported this afternoon.

According to the AFP report, Sheikh ZZakzaky is facing 8 criminal charges from 
the High Court of Justice of the Kaduna State.

The Shiite leader is facing charges of committing culpable homicide, disturbing 
the peace, and unlawful assembly.

According to court documents, his supporters were armed with dangerous weapons 
- such as pistols, cutlasses and axes - and killed a soldier.

IMN spokesperson Abdullahi Yola told AFP the charges were "absurd".

"Why is it that the charges keep coming after keeping the Sheikh (Zakzaky) in 
an illegal detention for 2 1/2 years?" he asked.

If found guilty for culpable homicide, he could face the death penalty.

(source: almasdarnews.com)








EGYPT:

Egypt court sentences 6 to death over 2013 violence----Death penalty for 6 
people over violence in wake of ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi cannot 
be appealed



Egypt's highest appellate court on Saturday confirmed the death penalty for 6 
people in connection with violence in the wake of the ouster of former 
President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The Court of Cassation upheld the death sentences against the 6 after being 
convicted of storming a police station in Minya in central Egypt and killing a 
security official, a judicial source said on condition of anonymity because he 
was unauthorized to speak to media.

The court also commuted the death sentences handed down against 6 other 
defendants to life in prison, the source said.

The appellate court also confirmed life sentences against 59 defendants and 
cleared 47 other people in the same case, according to the source.

Saturday's verdicts are final and cannot be appealed.

Egypt was roiled by violence when the military deposed Mohamed Morsi, the 
country's 1st freely elected president, in a military coup in 2013.

Following Morsi's overthrow, Egyptian authorities launched a harsh crackdown on 
dissent, killing hundreds and sending thousands behind bars on charges of 
committing violence.

(source: admin.aa.com.tr)








INDIA:

Man gets death for minor's rape, murder



A city court awarded death sentence to a man for the rape and murder of a 
6-year-old girl, on Saturday. The girl was raped and murdered on April 21, 
2017.

The girl was first reported missing from her grandmother's house. 2 days later, 
neighbours broke open the locked house of Anil Balagar after a foul smell 
started emanating there, only to find a highly decomposed body of the girl 
under the cot. Balagar was charged under various sections of the POCSO Act, 
2012. The court convicted him for both rape and murder, awarded him death 
penalty for murder, and 10 years rigorous imprisonment for rape. It also 
ordered the State government to pay the parents of the victim 2 lakh.

(source: thehindu.com)