[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

December 15




IRAN:

Billionaire To Be Hanged After Government Collects Its Money



A senior official of Iran’s Judiciary has said on December 13 that former 
tycoon, Babak Zanjani will be executed after he returns what he owes the 
Islamic Republic.

Zanjani who was arrested in 2013 on charges of embezzling money earned from 
black market oil exports sanctioned by the government, was sentenced to death 
in 2016.

Hadi Sadeghi, a deputy to the all-powerful Judiciary head told reporters in 
city of Bojnourd, that part of Zanjani’s money is abroad and currently it is 
not possible to repatriate it, according to major Tehran news agencies.

“People should not be impatient with carrying out Zanjani’s death penalty. The 
Judiciary does not want to lose the connection to his assets abroad.”

It is not clear why the government is unable to collect Zanjani's money abroad. 
Is he refusing to pay or the funds are out of reach because of U.S. banking 
sanctions on Iran.

Zanjani was a middleman, selling Iranian oil through companies, mainly 
affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), in the years when 
international sanctions restricted Iran oil exports and banking relations, 
during Ahmadineja’s second term, 2009-2013.

Under international sanctions, ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 
with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s blessing, allowed the private sector, as well as 
security organizations such as the police to sell oil in international markets, 
as proxy to the embattled Islamic Republic of Iran.

Zanjani and other individuals set up elaborate networks for selling oil and 
laundering the money around the world, including in Turkey, United Arab 
Emirates, Indonesia and Central Asia.

But in many cases the scheme turned into a fiasco, as many plots were 
uncovered, and people were pursued by the United States. In Zanjani’s case, it 
was the Iranian government that went after him, because he allegedly pocketed a 
lot of the money from the oil sales instead of returning it to the government.

The amount of money involved is in billions of dollars, but no one exactly 
knows how much. The Iranian government fixed the amount at $2.7 billion for 
Zanjani and confiscated his assets in Iran, but apparently that covered only 20 
% of the debt.

President Hassan Rouhani’s Oil Ministry has accused Zanjani of receiving “1 
million barrels” of oil from Iran’s National Oil Company (NIOC) for more than 
$3 billion, but only payed back $190 million, pocketing the rest.

Zanjani’s debt was earlier estimated roughly at $1.8 billion. Nevertheless, 
Iran Oil Ministry officials have demanded a compensation for “damages”, as 
well.

Oil Minister, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said in July, “Zanjani’s total debt, 
including its interests, amounts to $3.5 billion.”

Given Zanjani’s high-level connections and the involvement of the IRGC, many 
Iranians believe there is more to this case that meets the eye. Who else in the 
upper echelons of Iran’s leadership benefited from the sanction-busting 
schemes? Will Zanjani ever be hanged if he has compromising information on 
powerful people?

The Islamic Republic’s prosecutor-general insisted in July that Zanjani will 
“definitely” be hanged. But these kinds of statements should be seen in their 
political context.

Iran has been rocked by serious protests since last December and one major 
grievance of protesters has been corruption. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei 
has repeatedly called for punishing speculators and those who harm the economy 
by illegal activities.

Dozens of forex traders have been arrested and 2 were hanged in October; but no 
one from the powerful state or military elite, despite widespread belief that 
state officials and institutions are mired in corruption.

(source: radiofarda.com)








BELARUS:

Lukashenko: Decision on capital punishment should be made by people



Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko spoke about the topic of death penalty 
at the meeting with representatives of the Russian media on 14 December, BelTA 
has learned. According to Alexander Lukashenko, he is keeping an eye on the 
situation in western countries where they say that the death penalty issue 
should not be put to a referendum. However, in a conversation with the 
Belarusian leader representatives of the West acknowledge that 2/3 of the 
population would have supported the application of death penalty in certain 
cases.

"They are used to saying that it is not up to people to decide. But I believe 
it is,” the president stressed. He reminded that there was a referendum in 
Belarus, and the majority of people voted against the abolition of death 
penalty. “There was a referendum in Belarus. I cannot abolish death penalty,” 
Alexander Lukashenko added. In his opinion, people in Russia, where a 
moratorium on death penalty is implemented, would have also been against the 
abolition of this form of punishment.

The head of state said that the most difficult documents he has to sign are 
those concerning capital punishment. Before making a decision, the president 
studies criminal case files. Alexander Lukashenko tells his western partners 
about some of them when they start a conversation about the abolition of 
capital punishment. He asks them if they want something like that to happen to 
their close ones.

Read full text at: 
https://eng.belta.by/president/view/lukashenko-decision-on-capital-punishment-should-be-made-by-people-117359-2018/

(source: eng.belta.by)

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

Urgent Action

2 PRISONERS AT RISK OF EXECUTION

There is grave concern that the only two known prisoners on death row in 
Belarus, Aliaksandr Zhylnikau and Viachaslau Sukharko, are at risk of imminent 
execution.

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

* Urging the Belarusian authorities to halt the executions of Aliaksandr 
Zhylnikau and Viachaslau Sukharko;

* To Immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to 
abolishing the death penalty;

* To commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment.

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

Contact these 2 officials by 25 January, 2019

Chair of the Parliamentary Working Group on the Death Penalty

Andrei Naumovich

Ul. Sovetsakaya d.8

231291 Lida Belarus

Email: naumovich at house.gov.by

Salutation: Dear Mr Naumovich

Chargé d´Affaires Mr. Pavel Shidlovsky, Embassy of Belarus

1619 New Hampshire Ave NW

Washington DC 20009

Phone: 1 202 986 1606 I Fax: 1 202 986 1805

Email: us at mfa.gov.by

Salutation: Dear Ambassador

(source: Amnesty International)








INDIA:

Man awarded death penalty for 'waging war against country'



A district court on Saturday sentenced Sheikh Abdullah Nayeem alias Sk Samir, 
who had links with terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, to death for "waging war 
against the country".

Additional district sessions judge of Bongaon fast track court, Binoy Kumar 
Pathak, passed the death sentence after finding Samir guilty of the charges 
against him.

In April 2007, BSF had apprehended four persons, including Samir, on suspicion 
of being members of a terror outfit and handed them over to the local police.

The West Bengal CID, which took over the probe, had charged them with waging 
war against the country and procuring arms and explosives, apart from other 
charges.

The 3 others -- Mohd Younis, Sk Abdullah and Muzaffar Ahmed Rathore -- had been 
sentenced to death in 2017 by the same court.

Samir had escaped police custody in 2014 during transit when being taken to 
Mumbai in connection with the trial in a different case in Maharashtra.

He was again arrested in 2017 by NIA from Delhi and was handed over to the West 
Bengal CID.

The court, which declared Samir guilty on Tuesday, was scheduled to announce 
quantum of sentence on Saturday.

Apart from the death sentence, the court also imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000 on 
Samir

(source: theweek.in)

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

Death-row convicts should be entitled to meet family, lawyers: SC----A bench 
headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said this while dealing with an application 
which had said that prisoners sentenced to death by any court have a right to 
be treated at par with other convicted prisoners and should be provided all 
similar facilities as are provided to others in jail.



The Supreme Court Thursday said death-row convicts should be entitled to meet 
family members, lawyers and mental health professionals so that their rights 
are adequately protected at all stages.

A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said this while dealing with an 
application which had said that prisoners sentenced to death by any court have 
a right to be treated at par with other convicted prisoners and should be 
provided all similar facilities as are provided to others in jail.

The application had also sought a direction that solitary confinement of death 
row convicts or their separate and cellular confinement be struck down as 
unconstitutional.

The bench requested the Justice (retd) Amitava Roy committee, constituted by 
the apex court to look into aspects of jail reforms across India, to look into 
the issues raised in the application in “greater depth”.

The bench, which also comprised Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, 
observed that the issue as to when a convict should be considered as a “death 
row prisoner” must be dealt with in a “humanitarian and compassionate manner”.

Referring to an earlier verdict of the apex court, the bench said the law laid 
down in this regard was quite clear that a prisoner under sentence of death can 
only mean a prisoner whose capital punishment has become final, conclusive and 
indefeasible and which cannot be annulled and voided by any judicial or 
constitutional procedure.

“In other words, a prisoner can be said to be a prisoner on death row when his 
sentence is beyond judicial scrutiny and would be operative without any 
intervention from any other authority. Till then, such a prisoner cannot be 
said to be under a sentence of death in the context of Section 30 of the 
Prisons Act, 1894,” the bench noted in its order.

“In our opinion, the decisions of this court have quite clearly defined when a 
prisoner could be said to be on death row and have also taken care of the 
rights of prisoners on death row as well as those who are a security risk. No 
further elucidation is necessary,” the court said.

The bench said rights of prisoners, as enunciated by the apex court, should be 
available in all the states and union territory administrations and they must 
modify the prison manuals, regulations and rules accordingly.

“With regard to the entitlement of a prisoner on death row to have meetings and 
interviews with his lawyers or members of his immediate family or even mental 
health professionals, we are of opinion that such meetings and interviews 
should be permitted,” the bench said.

It referred to earlier verdicts delivered by the top court and noted that a 
death-row convict was entitled to move within the confines of prison like any 
other convict undergoing rigorous imprisonment.

“However, certain restrictions may be necessary for security reasons, but even 
then, it would be necessary to comply with natural justice provisions with an 
entitlement to file an appeal,” the bench noted in its order.

On September 25, the apex court had constituted a 3-member committee, headed by 
Justice (retd) Roy, to look into the aspect of jail reforms across India and 
make recommendations on aspects, including overcrowding in prisons.

The court had said the committee would also comprise Inspector General of 
Police of Bureau of Police Research and Development and Director General 
(Prisons) of Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

The court had passed the order while hearing a matter relating to inhuman 
conditions in 1,382 prisons across India.

It had earlier taken strong exception to overcrowd of jails across the country 
and said prisoners also have human rights and cannot be kept like “animals”.

(source: indianexpress.com)








INDONESIA:

Malaysian caught smuggling drugs in Bali faces death penalty



A Malaysian entrepreneur is facing the death sentence after he was caught 
trying to smuggle cannabis and ecstasy pills at Bali Ngurah Rai International 
Airport, Indonesia, on Dec 8.

Indonesian news portal Medcom.id quoted a Bali police spokesman as saying that 
the 40year-old male was arrested when Customs officers found 14.76g of 
cannabis, in the form of cigarettes in a cigarette box in his backpack.

Using an X-ray scanner, the report said, officers also found 3.8g of ecstasy 
pills in his bag.

“The authorities found another cigarette box containing 13 cannabis cigarettes 
and another plastic packet filled with 0.35g of green powder, believed to be 
ecstasy powder,” the report quoted the Bali police spokesman as saying.

“The ecstasy pills were in various colours. There were 7 green pills; 2 red 
pills, 1 orange pill and 1 yellow pill.”

The spokesman said the suspect was facing a mandatory death sentence under Law 
No 35 of 2009 on Narcotics.

Malaysian federal police narcotics criminal investigation department assistant 
principal director Senior Assistant Commissioner Zulkifli Ali today confirmed 
the arrest.

(source: nst.com.my)