[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 16



TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:

T&T Death Penalty Conviction Being Reviewed in UK



5 British judges will this week consider whether a prisoner who may be mentally 
ill should remain on death row after a Caribbean court convicted him of 
murdering another inmate. Trinidad and Tobabgo, along with Barbados, are the 
only 2 Caribbean nations with mandatory death penalties for murder.

Although Jay Chandler is unlikely to meet the hangman in Port of Spain, the 
case will have international repercussions for countries that still carry out 
executions and those that recognise the far-reaching jurisdiction of the UK's 
judicial committee of the privy council (JCPC).

The hearing in London on Tuesday comes amid concern over the spiralling murder 
rate in Trinidad and Tobago, which has reinvigorated calls for the death 
penalty to be enforced. Last year 494 people were murdered in the Commonwealth 
state, which has not hanged anyone since 1999.

Trinidad is 1 of more than 30 overseas territories, dependencies and 
Commonwealth states that rely on the JCPC as their ultimate court of appeal, 
sending cases from around the world to hearings before justices of the UK's 
supreme court in Westminster.

A 1993 landmark ruling at the privy council in the case of 2 Jamaican 
prisoners, Pratt and Morgan, who were on death row, established the principle 
that delays of more than 5 years between sentence and execution are degrading 
and inhuman punishment. That decision resulted in hundreds of inmates having 
death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

More recent privy council cases have established legal precedents against 
imposing capital punishment on those who have intellectual disabilities such as 
extremely low Iqs.

Trinidad and Tobago, with more than 30 people on death row, is 1 of only 2 
Caribbean countries (the other being Barbados) that retains a mandatory death 
penalty for murder - a hangover from British colonial rule.

Chandler, who is 40, was sentenced to death in 2011. He had been convicted of 
stabbing another prisoner, Kern Phillip, with a homemade knife in October 2004. 
The two men were said to have quarreled during visiting hours at the Remand 
Yard prison in Arouca, Trinidad. Chandler was seen chasing Phillip across the 
compound. The victim died from his injuries in the prison's infirmary. 
Postmortem examination showed that his heart had been punctured. Chandler has 
denied having the weapon or attacking Phillip.

Lawyers for Chandler will present a report from a forensic psychologist who has 
diagnosed him as suffering from episodes of psychosis - fresh evidence, it is 
argued, that casts doubt on the safety of his conviction and sentence. The 
appeal will be heard by Lords Kerr, Sumption, Reed, Carnwath and Lloyd-Jones.

Saul Lehrfreund, co-executive director of the Death Penalty Project, based at 
the London law firm Simons Muirhead and Burton, who visited Chandler, on death 
row in October, said: "This is yet another example of someone being sentenced 
to death who has never been assessed by mental health experts.

"Without proper assessments, people who are potentially mentally disabled 
inevitably slip through the net and it is all too common to find prisoners with 
severe mental health issues on death row.

The mandatory death penalty is of great concern as the judge has no discretion 
over whether the death penalty should be imposed. Trinidad and Tobago is one of 
the last countries in the Caribbean to retain this colonial relic, in violation 
of its international obligations.

"The backdrop to this case is the clear prohibition on the execution of 
individuals with mental disorder under international law. The legal safeguards 
are there - the problem is with their implementation in practice."

Last month the release of a confidential prime ministerial file to the National 
Archives revealed that in the 1970s the government had to send a British 
gunboat when politicians defied local courts' capital punishment rulings.

The UK's abolition of the death penalty in 1969 was not extended to British 
overseas dependent territories for decades and the disparity caused repeated 
political tension.

In December 1980 the then foreign secretary, Lord Carrington, wrote a letter to 
the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, explaining: "Local feeling in those 
territories which retain the death penalty is generally strongly in favour of 
its use. In 1978 a frigate was sent to the British Virgin Islands in 
expectation of disturbances when the governor decided to commute [the death 
sentence]."

The file shows Douglas Hurd, who later became foreign secretary, believed 
reform was needed. He wrote to John Major, by then prime minister, saying 
something had to be done because there were 12 capital punishments cases 
pending and in the Caymans a "new gallows had just been completed and graves 
have been dug."

In 1991 the British government extended an order in council to its Caribbean 
territories abolishing capital punishment for murder. Independent Caribbean 
Commonwealth countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, were not affected by that 
legal change and retain the death penalty.

(source: stkittsnevisobserver.com)








BOTSWANA:

Death penalty tops agenda as UN grills Botswan



The Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Edwin Batshu and a 
delegation of high-ranking government officials will tomorrow face off against 
a United Nations panel probing the country's human rights record.

The Geneva, Switzerland meeting is the 3rd cycle of reviews under the United 
Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Peer Review. Batshu and other 
officials left last Friday and will present a country report before answering 
questions from countries and various NGOs.

According to written questions already submitted ahead of tomorrow's 
presentation, Batshu will again be forced to defend the country's retention of 
the death penalty. Several European countries have already tabled queries 
demanding to know what progress Botswana has made in instituting a national 
debate on the death penalty.

"As a strong opponent of the death penalty, Belgium regrets that Botswana 'as 
only country in the SADC region' retains the death penalty in law and in 
practice."

"Is Botswana considering to hold public consultations, in a participatory 
manner together with civil society, about the desirability and long-term 
effectiveness of the use of the death penalty as a deterrent," the Belgian 
government has asked.

The Swedish government has asked: "In its mid-term report from 2016 the 
Government of Botswana announced its intention to undertake dialogue on the 
issue of the death penalty and was commissioning a study on the issue. How 
(are) these plans proceeding and does the Government of Botswana intend to 
initiate a public debate?"

As stated by the report Batshu is due to present tomorrow, government appears 
unmoved by the pressure coming from Europe on the death penalty.

"The government has not been able to hold public debates in regard to the 
question on the death penalty since the last review cycle," the report reads in 
its only mention of the matter. The last review cycle was in 2013.

(source: mmegi.bw)








IRAN----impending juvenile execution

A Juvenile Offender to Be Executed on Wednesday



Abolfazl Chezahi Sharahi, an underage offender who is sentenced to death on 
murder charges, has been transferred to solitary confinement and is scheduled 
to be executed at Qom Central prison on Wednesday. IHR calls on the 
international community to react before it is too late.

According to a close source, the authorities informed Abolfazl Chezahi 
Sharahi's family that his execution would be carried out on the morning of 
Wednesday, January 17. He is sentenced to death on the charge of murder during 
a street fight.

Abolfazl Chezahi Sharahi, son of Asghar, was born on January 16, 1999, and he 
was only 15 at the time of committing the crime on December 26, 2013.

Abolfazl's public defender asked for a checkup by the forensics on July 20, 
2014, and the forensics report states, "The 15-year-old defendant committed 
murder last winter and is mentally mature and aware of his action (murder)."

As a result, the court issued a death sentence and sent the case to the Supreme 
Court after Abolfazl objected to the verdict. The Supreme Court rejected the 
verdict based on the defendant's age and the forensic reports and sent the case 
to a parallel court.

The 2nd court also issues death sentence and this time the Supreme Court 
approves the verdict.

According to the latest reports, Abolfazl Chezahi Sharahi has been transferred 
to solitary confinement at Qom Central Prison, and he is scheduled to be 
executed.

Another juvenile offender was executed on January 8.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) calls for an immediate halt of execution of Abolfazl 
Chezahi Sharahi and a retrial based on Iran???s international commitments.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights (IHR), says: 
"The European governments should not be indifferent to the execution of 
juveniles, especially those who have a closer economic and political 
relationship with Iran."

Amiry-Moghaddam insists: "We demand the European governments to force Iranian 
authorities to immediately halt the execution of Abolfazl Chezahi Sharahi and 
put a stop to the execution of juveniles."

According to the Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 5 
juveniles have been executed in 2017. The international laws ban the execution 
of juveniles.

IHR calls on the international community to react before it is too late.

(source: Iran Human Rights)