[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

December 10




MALAYSIA:

Death penalty: Get public feedback first, urges Perkasa



Perkasa has urged the Pakatan Harapan government to obtain public feedback 
regarding its move to abolish the death penalty.

Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's 
administration should not rush to abolish the death penalty as this has caused 
concern among the rakyat.

"The government should actually be focusing on efforts to lessen the rakyat's 
cost of living as they promised.

"The government should not bow down to the voice of the minority and that is 
why we suggest they hold a referendum or a survey so that the community can 
voice their opinion about the abolition of the death penalty.

"Through the survey, anyone can campaign (to support or not) [...] the Bar 
Council can also campaign," Ibrahim told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur 
today.

Home Minister Muhyidddin Yassin said on Oct 27 that the government was 
currently collecting feedback from various parties before finalising its 
decision on the abolition of the death penalty.

"We are getting feedback from all parties. The media has also done their 
research, some agreed, some don't. The final decision has yet to be made.

"This matter will be brought to the attorney-general to be examined and after 
that to the cabinet before being brought to the Parliament stage.

"So we do not have a final decision yet," Muhyiddin said.

The abolition of the death penalty is one of the promises in Pakatan Harapan's 
election manifesto.,P> Ibrahim said the suggestion to have a survey is aligned 
with democratic principles where the voice of the majority should be accepted.

He said efforts to abolish the death penalty in the name of "humanity" would be 
unfair towards the families of fatal crime victims.

He also believes that abolishing the death penalty would "encourage" people to 
commit crimes without worry.

"Currently there are 1,281 convicts waiting to face the death penalty. Every 
month, RM19.2 million is spent and in 30 years, it would be RM575 million.

"Imagine that RM500 million being used for the benefit of the rakyat," Ibrahim 
said.

On a separate issue, he also insisted he was not a racist as portrayed by 
certain parties.

To back his point, he said that his business partner was a Chinese and his 
driver an Indian.

"I am a good person. To know Ibrahim Ali is to fall in love with Ibrahim Ali," 
he argued.

(source: malaysiakini.com)








IRAN----executions

Prisoner Hanged at Karaj Central Prison



A prisoner was hanged at Karaj Central Prison (Nedamatgah) on murder charges. 
He was denying the accusation during the whole trial process.

According to the IHR sources, Behzad Adib was hanged at Karaj Central Prison on 
the morning of December 4, 2018.

“Mr Adib had denied the accusations all the time during the trial. He and the 
supposed victim were injecting drugs together at the time of the incident. Adib 
told the court that his friend was died because of the drug overdose,” the 
source told IHR.

IHR had previously received a couple of reports reflecting the same story. In a 
similar case, there were 2 addict friends helping each other in injecting 
drugs, and one died of an overdose. In the end, the court sentenced the 
injector to death on the charge of murder.

There is a lack of a clear classification of murder by degree in Iran which 
results in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of 
intensity and intent.

The Iranian media outlets have not published news related to the aforementioned 
execution so far.

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

Prisoner Hanged at Qazvin Prison----An unnamed prisoner was hanged on the rape 
charges on the morning of December 9, 2018.



A prisoner was hanged at Qazvin Central Prison yesterday.

According to Iranian media outlets reports, an unnamed prisoner was hanged on 
the rape charges on the morning of December 9, 2018.

According to the Qazvin chief prosecutor, Mohammad Qasemi, there are 5 
defendants in the case and the first defendant was sentenced to death for rape 
and robbery. “The rest of the defendants were sentenced to flogging and 
long-term prison terms,” Qasemi said.

(source for both: Iran Human Rights)

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

Supreme Court upholds death verdict against Baqeri Darmani



Iranian Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje'i announced on Sunday 
that the Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence against Hamid 
Baqeri-Darmani for bribery and fraud which was issued in a lower court.

In October, the Judiciary announced that Baqeri-Darmani and Vahid Mazloumin, a 
mogul known as the lord of gold coins in Iran, had been sentenced to death. 
Mazloumin was executed in November.

Speaking at a press conference, Mohseni Eje'i also said the special courts for 
economic crimes have handed down prison sentences to a number of individuals 
for disrupting the economy, ISNA reported.

(source: Tehran Times)








SOUTH SUDAN

Presidency rejects Amnesty’s report on increasing executions in South Sudan



South Sudan’s presidency sternly denied a recent report by Amnesty 
International saying that Juba government executed seven people including a 
child in 2018.

In a report released on 7 December, the human rights group said alarmed by the 
increase of executions in South Sudan for the 1st time since the impendence in 
2011.

"Amnesty International has established that at least 342 people are currently 
under the sentence of death in South Sudan, more than double the number 
recorded in 2011," further said the report.

In response, South Sudanese Presidential Spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny, rejected 
the report, saying no one had been executed in South Sudan since 2011 pointing 
that his country is a signatory to the Charters that prohibit the death 
penalty.

"I don’t know where Amnesty International got this information," Ateny said. 
"There is no execution because we have put a moratorium on the death penalty 
since 2013."

The presidential spokesperson further commented on the reported execution of a 
child saying that a child cannot be executed in South Sudan if the capital 
punishment was implemented in the county.

"The culture of South Sudan cannot accept it," he stressed.

The report said that South Sudan executed four people in 2017 including 2 who 
were children at the time of the crimes for which they were convicted.

Amnesty International, also, said it interviewed a 16-year-old boy, who is 
languishing on death row at Juba Central Prison, after being convicted of 
murder.

The human rights group, in addition, said concerned for the lives of 135 people 
on death row, who have this year been rounded up from other prisons across the 
country to" 2 prisons notorious for executions".

But the presidential media official minimized the move saying the transfer of 
prisoners is a normal administrative measure when a prison has reached its full 
capacity.

"It is a routine transfer because the prison-like Juba is full. It was meant 
for only 1,500 inmates, it now has more than 15,000. You cannot put them in 
packed prison like that and you cannot release those who have committed 
crimes," said Ateny.

(source: Sudan Tribune)