[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 19




BANGLADESH:

5 get death sentence, 2 jailed for life in Natore----After examining all the 
records and witnesses, the Natore additional district and session judge passed 
the verdict


5 people have received the death penalty and 2 others got lifetime 
imprisonment, by a court in Natore, for killing a man in Singra upazila in 
2004.

After examining all the records and witnesses, Natore additional district and 
session judge Mohammad Saifur Rahman Siddiq passed the verdict.

According to the prosecution, the convicts picked up lessee Abdul Kader Dudu 
from his house, on February 3 in 2004, because of a former disagreement. After 
that, they gunned him down and stabbed him to death at a local market.

The victim's wife filed a murder case to Singra Police Station the next day, 
reports UNB.

The guilty have been identified as: Hafizur Rahman, Bulu, Khalilur Rahman, 
Majibur Rahman Majid, and Monir Hossain - while the lifers are Abdul Hakim and 
Nazrul Islam.

Among the convicts, 4 are still on the run from the law.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)






PAKISTAN:

Life After Death: Why Capital Punishment Does Not Work in Pakistan----After 
juvenile offenders, mentally ill and innocent people were found to have 
confessed to crimes under duress, questions are being raised if the death 
penalty is being awarded to the right people.

(see:https://thewire.in/south-asia/pakistan-capital-punishment-does-not-work)

(source: thewire.in)






INDIA:

Madhya Pradesh to 'reward' prosecutors when courts grant death penalty, lifer: 
The Indian Express----The system is likely to encourage them to facilitate 
speedy trials and quick convictions in rape cases.


The Madhya Pradesh government has come up with a "reward system" to encourage 
state prosecutors to facilitate speedy trials and quick convictions in rape 
cases, The Indian Express reported on Sunday. The prosecutors are now awarded 
1,000 points for a death sentence, 500 for life imprisonment and 100 to 200 for 
the maximum punishment in a lower court.

The prosecutors also receive tags like "best prosecutor of the month" and 
"pride of prosecution", for those who have collected over 2,000 points a month. 
However, those who receive less than 500 points will get a strict warning. The 
assessments will be carried out through the eProsecution MP App, which was 
launched 8 months ago.

"Now that the prosecutors are required to keep a daily account of their 
activities, the conviction rate has improved," Director of Public Prosecution 
Rajendra Kumar told The Indian Express. "With the reward system in place, 
prosecutors now go the extra mile to log more points. Though there's no 
monetary award yet, these achievements will be recorded in their annual 
confidential report."

Asked what would happen if the higher court disagrees with the lower court's 
ruling, Kumar said, "Only if the high court passes strictures, we will take a 
call on punishing the prosecutors." He claimed that prosecutors were competing 
with each other since the new system was introduced 2 months ago.

In December, the Madhya Pradesh Assembly passed a bill that awards death 
penalty to rapists who assault minors aged 12 or below. But it remained pending 
with the Centre. In July, Parliament passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 
providing for similar penalty.

Over the last 6 months, courts in Madhya Pradesh have handed down 10 death 
sentences. The high court has confirmed 1 so far.

(source: scroll.in)

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

Man sentenced to death for raping and crushing a woman's head with stone


A local court has awarded death penalty to a man for raping and killing a woman 
while he was out on bail after being convicted earlier for a murder

A local court has awarded death penalty to a man for raping and killing a woman 
while he was out on bail after being convicted earlier for a murder. While 
sentencing him to death, Prakash Lahase (34) on Friday, Sessions Judge of 
Special Court Rajesh Nandeshwar observed, "The case falls in the category of 
the rarest of rare cases. Such persons are like gangrene in society which has 
to be removed from the body to save it." Quoting the judge, public prosecutor 
Shantaram Wankhede said, "The judiciary has a duty to remove the accused from 
the society. Criminals will have a free run if they are not punished properly, 
and the fear in them of deterrent will end."

The public prosecutor said that judge Nandeshwar sentenced Lahase to death 
under Section 302 (murder) and awarded him life imprisonment on 2 different 
counts - Section 376 (2) (sexual assault) and 364 (kidnapping to kill) of the 
Indian Penal Code (IPC). In 38 days, the court examined 38 witnesses before 
pronouncing the verdict, he said. Prosecutor Wankhede said that Lahase had 
kidnapped the 30-year-old victim on May 17 this year from Khadkod village, some 
8 kilometres from the district headquarters. "He raped the woman at a deserted 
place and killed her by crushing her head with a stone. He then disposed of the 
body in a well," Wankhede said.

Judge Nandeshwar, while delivering his verdict, also said that women were 
feeling "extremely helpless and insecure" following a spurt in rape cases, 
Wankhede said. At least 10 rapists have been awarded the death sentence by 
various courts in the state since February this year. Under fire for growing 
number of rape cases, the MP government had brought a Bill in December last 
year, a first for the country, prescribing the death penalty for those 
convicted of raping minors below the age of 12. It also set up 50 fast track 
courts to speed up the trial of those accused of rape. According to statistics 
of the National Crime Records Bureau released in November last year, MP 
accounted for the the highest number of rape cases at 4,882 out of a total of 
38,947 recorded nationwide in 2016. The figure of 4,882 included 2,479 cases 
involving minor victims. Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of rape 
cases (4,391) in 2015 too, according to the NCRB report.

(source: thelivemirror.com)






IRAN:

Rights group urges Iran to delay execution of alleged PJAK member


Amnesty International is calling on Iranian authorities to re-examine a 
decision to execute a Kurdish man from Rojava, or Syrian Kurdistan, who has 
been charged with being a member of the PKK. The individual, Kamal Hassan 
Ramezan, denies being in Iran when Kurdish opposition groups killed an IRGC 
member in 2011.

"Halt any plans to execute Kamal Hassan Ramezan, quash both his convictions and 
death sentence, and grant him retrials in line with international fair trial 
standards without recourse to the death penalty," wrote Amnesty in a recent 
report.

The Iran Human Rights Monitor (IHRM) reported that Ramezan was transferred 
"unexpectedly" on Monday to the Urmia IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) 
Detention Center, where he faces an "imminent execution."

IHRM added that recent clashes between Kurdish opposition groups in Paveh, 
Mariwan, and Oshnavieh may be the impetus for the transfer.

Ramezan was arrested by the IRGC in August 2014 in Urmia by the IRGC. Amnesty 
reports that "he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated and told to make a 
'confession' in front of a video camera." He has also been denied legal 
representation.

While in prison, Iranian authorities convicted and sentenced a person named 
"Kamal Soor" in his absence for "enmity against God," and they now believe Soor 
and Ramezan are the same person.

Soor was convicted of killing IRGC units in 2011 as a member of the Party for 
Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), the Iranian extension of the PKK.

"Kamal Hassan Ramezan has a goitre (a swelling in the neck resulting from an 
enlarged thyroid gland) and needs specialized medical care outside prison, 
which he has so far been refused by the authorities," added Amnesty.

2nd only to China, Iran carries out the most capital punishments in the world. 
The Kurdish minority in Iran comprise a disproportionate % of those executed.

(source: rudaw.net)






AFRICA:

Death penalty from an African perspective


Death penalty is a contentious issue for an assortment of reasons not only in 
Zimbabwe but in most nations across the globe.

Fainos Mangena and Jonathan O. Chimakonam's book, "The Death Penalty from an 
African Perspective", seeks to explore this subject, fusing views from 
Zimbabwean and Nigerian philosophers.

The issue of moral propriety or otherwise of the death penalty is one of the 
most perplexing questions that has divided scholars into theoretical camps in 
Western philosophy and in this book, African philosophers are no less in 
consensus on their cultural perceptions and arguments.

The Zimbabwean and the Nigerian perspectives presented in this book reflect not 
only the voices of the authors, the nuances of their cultural worldviews such 
as the Igbo, the Yoruba, the Shona, and the Zulu, but also the existing views 
of stakeholders in several other African countries on the death penalty.

In introduction, Mangena highlights that death penalty is a prickly issue.

This, he argues, is because opinion is divided when it comes to whether this 
form of punishment deals decisively with the crime of murder.

"Recent developments from around the globe seem to point towards the direction 
of the total abolition of the death penalty," he says.

He further states that in Zimbabwe and Nigeria, human rights organisations such 
as Amnesty International have done a lot of advocacy to have the death penalty 
removed from the constitutions of these 2 countries.

Some of the reasons cited include the observation that most progressive nations 
have abolished the death penalty at law and in practice with Zimbabwe and 
Nigeria being among the few African nations left with it.

In the chapter that explores the issue from the Zimbabwean perspective, a 
collaborative effort between Mangena and Francis Machingura, the writers try to 
demonstrate that the death penalty is not relevant to the interests and 
aspirations of Africans in general.

The views are from various stakeholders, including the Christian community, 
civil society, academics, the legislature and traditional leaders.

The writers argue there are other means to deliver justice to wrong doers.

"We also argue that death penalty has no place in Zimbabwe because it is not a 
product of African law, which allows for the settling of disputes through 
restorative arrangements that are both communal and spiritual and are focused 
on benefitting both the perpetrator of murder and the victim," goes the text.

This particular chapter points out that the majority view from various sections 
saw no value in the retention of the death penalty in Zimbabwe's Constitution 
as it was a violation of cultural values as well as the right to life.

There are many other theories brought up in the book that will give readers a 
better understanding of the subject matter.

While this might not be everybody's cup of tea, those who practice law or are 
in the Social Sciences department will find it helpful.

(source: sundaymail.co.zw)