[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

December 11



PAPUA NEW GUINEA:

Father gets death penalty for murder of boy, 14



A father of 3 has been given the death penalty after being convicted of killing 
a 14-year-old boy in a revenge attack in West New Britain 3 years ago.

In the the National Court in Kimbe, acting Judge Nicholas Miviri described the 
killing by Wesley Yanduo as “merciless and horrific”.

“West New Britain and Kimbe is riddled with killings as if there is no rule of 
law and sanctity of lives even though it is predominately a Christian 
province,” Miviri said.

“The court will not downplay nor will it pass this as an ordinary case. Rather, 
the act and circumstances are extreme and call for a stern deterrent and 
decisive sentence that is enough.

“It is a brutal killing committed in cold blood upon an innocent, defenceless 
14-year-old boy. A very sharp knife was used and this is not the first time the 
veracity of this weapon was used against a helpless young boy.”

The court on Oct 18 had convicted Yanduo, from Kubalia, East Sepik, for the 
wilful murder of Naegel John Las at Galai Oil Palm settlement on Dec 6, 2015.

Yanduo first cut the victim on the wrist then continued cutting him on the 
head, causing him to bleed to death.

The court heard that Yanduo attacked Las in retaliation to the fatal assault of 
a youth by the name of Issac Vitalis, who was attacked by boys from Section 16.

Afterwards, a meeting was held for compensation to be paid to the relatives, 
but when the compensation was not paid, a fight started.

Las and others were escaping when he was ambushed by Yanduo, who was hiding in 
bushes.

“It would appear that he laid in ambush ready as they came,” Justice Miviri 
said. “He (Yanduo) tried correcting another criminal wrong with another 
authored by him. Two wrongs do not make a right.”

(source: The National)








SRI LANKA:

President makes push to impliment death penalty on drug traffickers



President Maithripala Sirisena says necessary steps should be taken immediately 
to implement the death penalty against persons who continue to engage in drug 
trafficking even after they had been convicted and sentenced to death.

President Sirisena said that a failure by the relevant institutions to submit 
the required documents related to the convicts on death row still engaged in 
drug trafficking has resulted in a delay to implement the death penalty.

He said that an investigation will be launched in this regard in the near 
future.

He made these remarks during a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat, 
yesterday (10) on making the necessary changes to the laws to control of drug 
trafficking and minimize criminal activities.

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasooriya, Secretary for the President Udaya R. 
Senevirathne, Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Hemasiri Fernando, Inspector 
General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, Commissioner General of Excise Department 
and secretaries of ministries were present at the meeting.

(source: menafn.com)

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

Failure to submit documents of death row inmates: Prez to launch probe



President Maithripala Sirisena today said an investigation will be launched to 
look into the failures of several institutions to submit relevant documents 
relating to those will be facing death penalty should be implemented.

He said this failure has delayed the decision to implement the death penalty. 
The President made these remarks during a meeting held at the Presidential 
Secretariat today to discuss about instituting necessary changes to the laws to 
control drug trafficking and minimizing criminal activities.

He said necessary steps should be instantly taken to implement the decision to 
enforce death penalty against the convicts who are still engaged in drug 
trafficking in spite of being sentenced to death.

“No one should weaken the laws to suppress drug trafficking. It is important to 
enforce laws without having any loopholes that allow the smugglers to escape,” 
he said.

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasooriya, Secretary to the President Udaya R. 
Senevirathne, Secretary of the Ministry of Defence Hemasiri Fernando, Inspector 
General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, Commissioner General of Excise Department 
and secretaries of ministries were present in this event.

(source: Daily Mirror)

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

Reason for the delay to execute capital punishment on drug racteteers revealed



President Maithripala Sirisena said that the execution of the death penalty on 
convicted drug racketeers, who operate the racket from prison cells, has been 
delayed due to the lackadaisical approach of the relevant institutions to 
provide the necessary documents in time.

Addressing a meeting held at his office, President Sirisena said that he 
expects to initiate an investigation soon to such delays.

The discussion was held with regard to introducing new laws to overcome 
narcotic rackets and related crimes.

Addressing the relevant officials, President Sirisena said that all 
institutions coming under the purview including the Excise Department should 
work in cooperation to prevent narcotic rackets in the country.

(source: hirunews.lk)








INDIA:

Those on Death Row are Most Vulnerable and Marginalised----The India Exclusion 
Report 2017-18 found that fair trial rights and guarantees are reduced to a 
nullity and seeks to breach the citadel of the collective silence.



Convicts on death row in India belong to groups marginalised along the axes of 
caste, religion, economic vulnerability and educational deprivation, and their 
fair trial rights, though a part of the Right to Life guaranteed by the 
Constitution, are invariably non-existent, a survey of 371 out of the 385 
persons living under the death sentence and their families has revealed.

The right to fair trial – one of the most basic and statutory of constitutional 
guarantees, and the right against custodial torture and self-incrimination are 
routinely violated in death penalty cases, and the exclusion from the public 
good of fair trial rights takes place across different stages of the legal 
process in capital cases, and a complex set of institutional factors contribute 
to such exclusion.

These are the findings of the India Exclusion Report 2017-18 which was recently 
released by the Centre for Equity Studies, a research and advocacy organisation 
based in Delhi.

Rampant Torture

Over 80 % of the convicts admitted to having suffered custodial torture. Out of 
22 who were convicted and sentenced to death for terror offences, 16 revealed 
they had been tortured under custody. Out of the 92 who said they had confessed 
in police custody (and these confessions were used to convict them despite the 
statutory prohibition under the Evidence Act), 72, i.e., 78.3 % admitted to 
making confessions due to torture.

The torture methods mirrored the torture in the notorious Guantanamo Bay - 
forcible anal penetration, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, tying one to a 
table while a venomous snake was left inside the room, electric shocks to 
private parts, severe beating, and the like.

False Pretexts, Abysmal Legal Representation

Many prisoners alleged malicious prosecution and false implication, Akira Begum 
(location not disclosed to protect privacy) said, "I left my sleeping son at 
home because the police called me to sign certain documents. I never got to go 
home after that.” Vatsal Singh narrated how he was called for questioning on an 
alleged bank robbery charge, and subsequently charged with murdering 6 members 
of a family.

Atmaram, a death row convict from Maharashtra, narrated his woeful plight. 
After he was arrested on a murder charge, his pregnant wife and his children 
were picked up (without any legally valid reason) and locked up in a police 
station for 4 days and weren't allowed to communicate with anyone. The 
experience turned out to be so traumatic that his wife underwent an abortion 
immediately after being released.

In other cases, prison officials and personnel demand sexual favours from the 
wives of those condemned to death, in order to grant them their right to a 
weekly mulaqat (visit).

Of the 191 prisoners who shared information regarding access to a lawyer at the 
time of interrogation, 185 (97 %) said they were not allowed to consult a 
lawyer. Of these 185, 82.6 % who spoke about their experience in custody said 
they had been subjected to torture.

As for the quality of legal representation, 132 (36.6 %) were represented by 
legal aid lawyers at the trial court, while 227 (70.6 %) had access to a 
private lawyer. At the Supreme Court stage, this dropped to 71.4 % and 29.9 % 
respectively, thus showing how tough it is to access quality legal 
representation. In the study, even though there were some positive opinions on 
lawyers, they were far outnumbered by narratives of the lawyers’ lack of 
interaction with prisoners and their families, repeated demands for exorbitant 
sums of money and dereliction of duties by defence lawyers.

(source: newsclick.in)

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

Delhi HC to Hear Appeal of '84 Anti-Sikh Riots Convict Challenging His Death 
Sentence



The Delhi High Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a convict challenging the 
trial court judgement. Yashpal Singh was sentenced to death by the trial court.

Life imprisonment was handed out to Naresh Sherawat and the trial court had 
held that Yashpal Singh’s offence fell under the “rarest of rare” category 
warranting the death penalty.

The duo was convicted for killing Hardev Singh and Avtar Singh in Mahipalpur 
area of South Delhi on November 1, 1984, during the riots that had taken place 
after Indira Gandhi was assassinated at her residence by the 2 Sikh bodyguards 
a day before.

A mob of about 500 persons, led by the 2 convicts, had encircled the house of 
the victims and had killed them. It was just one of the may incidents in Delhi 
which saw around 3,000 people being killed in riots.

The Delhi Police had closed this case in 1994 for want of evidence.

Meanwhile, the state and police have also approached the high court for 
reference of his capital punishment. The high court has now fixed December 19 
for hearing in both the cases.

There have been 2 verdicts in the anti-Sikh riots case in 10 days, including 
death penalty to a convict for the killing of two men.

The Delhi High Court upheld the conviction of 70 out of the 89 people, who were 
awarded 5-year jail term by a trial court, for rioting, burning houses and 
violation of curfew in Trilok Puri area here during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Of the remaining 19 persons, 16 had died during the pendency of their appeal 
against the trial court’s August 27, 1996 decision and the appeals of three 
others were dismissed after they absconded, the high court noted in its 
judgement.

(source: india.com)

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

15th death sentence this year in Madhya Pradesh: ‘He behaved like a beast’: Man 
gets death penalty for rape and murder of minor----The body of the victim had 
been found in a plastic bag abandoned in a dry well at Chargawan village under 
Sleemanabad Police Station in Katni district on June 6 this year.



In the last 11 months, various courts in the state have handed down 18 death 
sentences, probably the highest in the country.

A 22-year-old man was awarded death penalty Monday by a POCSO court in Katni 
for raping and murdering a 7-year-old girl on June 5, taking the number of 
cases in which rapists of minor girls have been given death sentences this year 
in Madhya Pradesh to 15.

The body of the victim had been found in a plastic bag abandoned in a dry well 
at Chargawan village under Sleemanabad Police Station in Katni district on June 
6 this year.

District prosecution officer Dharmendra Taran told The Indian Express that the 
farm labourer had kidnapped the girl when she had gone out to buy tobacco for 
her father. The accused, who was arrested the next day, confessed that he had 
raped and murdered the girl as the victim’s father had scolded him for 
molesting another minor girl earlier.

Additional Sessions Judge of Katni, Madhuri Raj Lalji held that the crime met 
the rarest of rare criterion because the accused not only raped the girl, but 
also killed her in a barbaric manner. “He behaved like a beast,’’ the judge 
said while handing down the death sentence.

In the last 11 months, various courts in the state have handed down 18 death 
sentences, probably the highest in the country. In 15 of these cases, the 
victims were minor girls, who were either raped or raped and murdered.

(source: indianexpress.com)








PAKISTAN:

Accused Gets Capital Punishment In Jhang



A court awarded death penalty to an accused involved in a murder case of 
Shorkot City police station.

As per prosecution, accused Waseem Iqbal had shot dead Abrar Hussain and 
injured another citizen in Janobi Shorkot over land dispute in 2001.

After observing evidences and witnesses, additional district and sessions judge 
Ghulam Mujtaba Baloch awarded capital punishment to Waseem Iqbal and ordered 
him to payfine of Rs 200,000.

(source: urdupoint.com)








CHINA:



Urgent Action



RISK OF IMMINENT EXECUTION FOR HONG KONG CITIZEN

The death sentence of Hong Kong citizen Wu Zongxi is currently under review by 
the Supreme People’s Court. If approved, the authorities will sign an order to 
carry out his execution, placing him in imminent risk. Wu Zongxi’s family is 
gravely concerned about his physical and mental state, as they have not been 
allowed to meet him since he was detained more than 4 years ago.

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

* Halt plans to carry out Wu Zongxi’s execution;

* Ensure that Wu Zongxi has regular, unrestricted access to family and lawyers 
of his choice, and is not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment;

* Establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death 
penalty, in line with six UN General Assembly resolution adopted since 2007 and 
commute all existing death sentences.

Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of 
forwarding this one!

Contact these 2 officials by 21 January, 2018:

Chief Justice Zhou Qiang

Supreme People’s Court

No. 27 Dong Jiao Min Xiang

Beijing Shi, 100745

People’s Republic of China

Email: yzxx at court.gov.cn

Salutation: Dear Chief Justice

Ambassador Cui Tiankai

Embassy of the People's Republic of China

3505 International Place NW

Washington DC 20008

Phone: 202 495 2266 | Fax: 202 495 2138

Email: chinaembpress_us at mfa.gov.cn

Salutation: Dear Ambassador

(source: Amnesty International)



IRAQ:

Sentence of death against the Germans in Iraq: foreign office switches in the 
case of Levent Ö.



Levent Ö. 33-years old, a German citizen and should have worked according to 
the Iraqi authorities as a trainer for the terror militia “Islamic state” in 
the city of Rakka. The Foreign office is now seeking to have the case of those 
sentenced to death Ö.

The Federal government is in close contact with the Iraqi authorities. The 
MIRROR reported at the weekend, a criminal court in Baghdad to have the 
33-year-old Levent Ö. in the past week due to active participation in 
hostilities sentenced to death.

Kurdish fighters had taken from Gladbeck ordinary man ends in November 2017, in 
the Iraqi-Syrian border area. He was then turned over to U.S. forces, the him 
in April of 2018 to the Iraqi justice transferred.

Already in 2014 than threat

Levent Ö. denied the allegations against him in the proceedings in Baghdad. The 
German Embassy in Baghdad had given to him for the procedure a lawyer. They 
observed the procedure and care of the Condemned consular.

The man was traveling in 2013 with his wife in the civil war area. Because of 
its radicalism, the police in Gelsenkirchen in 2014 ranked him as the Islamist 
threat. The Federal government has informed the Iraqi side that it is in any 
case against the death penalty.

(source: newsarticleinsiders.com)



SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi Arabia seeks death penalty for preacher Awdah – activists, family



Riyadh's public prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against prominent 
Islamist preacher on terrorism-related charges, activists and his family said 
on Tuesday.

The 37 charges against the 61-year-old cleric in the Specialized Criminal Court 
include spreading discord and incitement against the ruler, according to 
London-based Saudi rights group ALQST and other activists.

Awdah's son, Abdullah, confirmed the court proceedings and said the accusations 
against his father included critical tweets and establishing an organisation in 
Kuwait for defending the Prophet Mohammad.

Amnesty International's Saudi Arabia campaigner Dana Ahmed called the reports 
“a disturbing trend in the Kingdom (that) sends a horrifying message that 
peaceful dissent and expression may be met with the death penalty.”

A government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for 
comment.

Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy where public protests and political parties 
are banned, has witnessed a crackdown on dissent, with dozens of clerics, 
intellectuals and activists arrested in the past year, even as the authorities 
enacted some high-profile social and economic reforms.

A roundup of senior royals, ministers and businessmen last November on charges 
of corruption sent shockwaves through the kingdom, stunning allies and foreign 
investors. Most of those detainees were released after reaching undisclosed 
financial settlements with the government.

Awdah, whom U.N. experts have described as a “reformist” and an influential 
religious figure who has urged greater respect for human rights within Sharia, 
was arrested in Sept. 2017.

He had previously criticised the government but more recently kept silent or 
failed to publicly back Saudi policies, including a rift with Qatar over 
supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Al Saud family has always regarded Islamist groups as the biggest internal 
threat to its rule over a country in which appeals to religious sentiment 
cannot be lightly dismissed and an al Qaeda campaign a decade ago killed 
hundreds.

In the 1990s, the Brotherhood-inspired Sahwa (Awakening) movement demanded 
political reforms that would have weakened the ruling family. Awdah, a Sahwa 
leader, was imprisoned from 1994-99 for agitating for political change. 
Criticism of the ruling family earned him praise from, whom he eventually 
denounced.

The Sahwa movement was later undermined by a mixture of repression and 
co-optation. Some clerics, however, maintained large followings through YouTube 
sermons. Awdah has 14 million Twitter followers.

In 2011, he called for elections and separation of powers, principles 
antithetical to strict Islamist ideology. He has since been largely quiet on 
issues of domestic reform.

The authorities recommended the death penalty last month for five human rights 
activists from the kingdom‘s Eastern Province, including Israa al-Ghomgham, the 
1st woman to possibly face that punishment for rights-related work.

(source: claytoncaller.com)








IRAN:

Nobel Laureates Urge Khamenei To Release Swedish Scientist



More than 100 Nobel laureates have called upon Iran's Supreme Leader Ali 
Khamenei, to allow ailing Iranian Swedish dual national, Dr. Ahmadreza Jalali 
(Djalali) to "return home" to his wife and children.

Jalali, 46, a resident of Sweden since 2009, is a physician and researcher 
focused on crisis management affiliated with the Karolinska Institute near 
Stockholm. While on an official academic visit hosted by Tehran University, 
Jalali was accused of “collaboration with a hostile government” and arrested in 
April 2016. Since then, he has been kept behind bars at Tehran’s notorious Evin 
prison.

In their letter, 121 Nobel Laureates have addressed Khamenei asking him to 
ensure that Jalali receives the “best possible medical care,” is “treated 
humanely and fairly,” and to “allow Dr. Jalali to return home to his wife and 
children and continue his scholarly work for the benefit of mankind.”

Jalali was tried by a notorious Judge, Abolqassem Salavati in a Revolution 
Court and sentenced to death for “corruption on Earth” on October 21, 2017. 
Salavati is well-known for issuing harsh sentences, especially in political 
cases.

Jalali’s family and colleagues initially kept news of the arrest under wraps in 
an attempt to prevent the situation from escalating but spoke out following the 
death penalty verdict.

Iranian Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in December 2017.

A few days later, Iran’s state television broadcast what it described as the 
confessions of Jalali who it said had provided information to Israel to help 
assassinate several senior nuclear scientists.

However, his wife, Vida Mehran Nia told Radio Farda at the time that her 
husband had been forced by his interrogators to read the confession.

Amnesty International (AI) also emphasized that “Jalali has been under pressure 
to sign documents, admitting that he had collaborated with a 'hostile 
government.'"

When Jalali refused, he was threatened with being charged with waging a “war 
against God,” which is punishable by death in Iran, AI noted, adding, “There 
has been no evidence showing Jalai has ever had any activity outside the 
academic domain.”

Sweden also condemned the sentence and said it had brought the matter up at 
high-level meetings with Iranian representatives in Stockholm and Tehran.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), which has published 
a copy of the letter, reported on Monday, "The letter was featured by 
supporters of Djalali at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm on 
December 10."

"We now hear that Dr. Jalali's medical condition is declining rapidly and he is 
in a hospital and in desperate need of the best possible medical care. In light 
of the evidence of which we are aware, he deserves a fair trial, which should 
lead to his release," the Nobel Laureates have asserted in their new letter.

On behalf of the signatories to the letter, the winner of 1993 Nobel Prize in 
Medicine, Sir Richard Roberts, has addressed Khamenei, saying, "In November 
2017, and again in February 2018 I wrote on behalf of a consortium of Nobel 
Laureates about the plight of a medical scholar, Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, who was 
arrested on an academic visit to Tehran in April 2016."

Furthermore, Dr. Roberts has noted, "We now have 121 Nobel Laureates supporting 
this cause, and we would urge you to attend to this case personally and make 
sure that Dr. Djalali is treated humanely and fairly and is released as soon as 
possible."

This is the 3rd letter signed by Nobel Laureates, calling for the unconditional 
release of Jalali.

(source: radiofarda.com)

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

Iran judiciary upholds another death sentence for economic corruption



Iran’s judiciary has sentenced dozens of individuals to prison for cases 
related to the fluctuation in the currency market earlier in the year.

A money changer holds US dollar banknotes as he counts other currency banknotes 
at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 14, 2017.

In an attempt to address economic issues and root out corruption, Iran’s 
judiciary has handed out another death sentence and dozens of long prison 
sentences for economic charges.

According to judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, Iran’s Supreme 
Court upheld the death sentence of Hamid Bagheri Darmani. He was originally 
arrested in 2014 and charged with “corruption on earth,” which carries the 
death sentence. Bagheri Darmani was accused of embezzlement at a number of 
Iranian companies, including at Jey Oil Refining Company, Bank Melli Iran, Iran 
Insurance Company and Tourism Bank.

Bagheri Darmani’s arrest was long before the latest crackdown by the judiciary 
to stamp out corruption in the exchange market and other general economic 
corruption. However, the announcement by the judiciary and headlines in Iranian 
media suggest it is being packaged in a manner that it is part of the 
judiciary’s heavy-handed measures to demonstrate that there will be little 
leniency with economic charges.

In relation to the cases stemming from the exchange rate fluctuation earlier in 
the year, Mohseni-Ejei announced 30 convictions in Tehran and Shiraz for 
“disturbing the economic system.” The sentences ranged from one year to 10 
years in prison, heavy fines, and confiscation of property and finances. In 
November, Iran hanged 2 men — 1 of them dubbed “Sultan of Coins” — after they 
were accused of manipulating the currency market. Their cases made 
international news.

Mohseni-Ejei said that in the last month there have been 36 new indictments 
related to the economic corruption cases that are being handled by special 
courts, and there are currently 7 branches of these special courts handling the 
economic corruption cases in Tehran, Bandar Abbas, Esfahan and Shiraz. He said 
the judiciary will pursue the economic corruption cases with “certainty and 
speed.”

While the judiciary continues to hand out heavy sentences in order to bring 
stability to the exchange markets and address other economic corruption issues, 
President Hassan Rouhani has been fighting a battle to bring about a bill that 
would bring some economic transparency to the country’s financial sector. 
During a Dec. 10 speech, Rouhani addressed the Financial Action Task Force 
(FATF) bills that some conservatives have opposed but administration officials 
claim are necessary to facilitate banking transactions with European countries. 
“Is it possible in today’s world to not work with international banks?” Rouhani 
rhetorically asked, adding, “Then some people come — and I don’t know where 
this idea comes from — but they provoke people and say that if such a contract 
or convention is signed or that if we work with this financial group then Islam 
will be lost."

Rouhani said, “How will Islam be lost? Only if you understood Islam.” He 
continued, “The costs must be told to the people that if we don’t do this, how 
much of the costs will come out of their pockets, and if we do it, then what 
conveniences have we provided for them."

Iranian parliamentarian Mohsen Koohkan denied the president’s comments that 
anyone had claimed the FATF bills endanger Islam. He accused the president of 
using the same harsh language to describe his opponents as he did when he was 
selling the nuclear deal to the public. “During that, there were a lot of 
attacks against opponents of the nuclear deal, but after the exit of the United 
States, he did not make even one small apology despite the fact that his 
opponents were right. And now he’s criticizing the FATF opponents with the same 
methods.”

(source: al-monitor.com)