[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

This webpage will next be updated on March 18




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IRAN:

Faith Healer's Death Sentence Replaced By 5-Year Prison



After almost 8 years of legal battle, the outspoken faith healer Mohammad Ali 
Taheri has been sentenced to 5 years.

Taheri, charged with "corruption on Earth", was twice condemned to death by 
primary Revolutionary Courts.

One of Taheri's attorneys, Ahmad Khosravi told Radio Farda's Mahtab Vahidi Rad, 
today, "The death verdict against my client has been replaced by a 5-year 
prison term. The new verdict was delivered to Mr. Taheri on Saturday, March 3.

The Islamic Republic's Supreme Court had already rejected the death sentence 
against the faith healer, calling it "incompatible with the country's current 
penal code".

Taheri was initially arrested in 2010 but later released after spending 67 days 
in solitary confinement. He was rearrested in 2011, reportedly held in solitary 
confinement, and convicted on several charges, including acting against Iran's 
national security, blasphemy, and touching the wrists of female patients, which 
is said to be forbidden in Islam.

Taheri, 61, established an organization called Erfan-e Halqeh, or Circle of 
Mysticism, in 2001, where he used to practice Iranian supplementary medicine, 
faith healing, and scientology.

The outspoken "faith healer" was initially allowed to freely preach and teach 
in public. His classes and healing sessions were attended by hundreds of people 
from all walks of life, including government officials and the Islamic 
Revolution Guards Corps' top commanders. Several of his books were also 
published with permission from the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry.

The Islamic Republic;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei then stepped in, 
warning against what he called "false mysticism that might lure people away 
from Islam."

Khamenei's allies had already labeled the Circle of Mysticism a "deviant sect" 
while saying Taheri had amassed an illicit fortune through his teachings.

Taheri and his followers have repeatedly dismissed these allegations as 
baseless.

Condemning Taheri to death triggered a widespread negative response all over 
the world.

The U.S. State Department on September 1, 2017 announced that the charges of 
founding a religious cult and "corruption on earth" violate Tehran's 
obligations to respect and ensure freedom of expression and religion.

The statement added that the death penalty should be used only for the most 
serious of crimes.

"We call on the Iranian government to take whatever steps necessary to reverse 
Taheri's conviction and death sentence," it added.

Amnesty International has also insisted that Taheri is a prisoner of conscience 
and condemned Iran's use of capital punishment "for vaguely worded or overly 
broad offenses, or acts that should not be criminalized at all."

Tehran dismissed such criticism as part of an effort from the West to heap 
political pressure on the Islamic Republic. But now the death sentence has been 
reduced to a 5-year term, if the case takes no other twists and turns.

(source: radiofarda.com)








UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Court Sentences Best friend, Wife to Death Over Murdering Man in Dubai



The wife was also sentenced to death for aiding and abetting the crime.

A man who set his lover's husband on fire after running him over with his car, 
was sentenced to death on Tuesday.

The Court of First Instance found the 33-year-old from the Comoros Islands 
guilty of a premeditated murder charge and also passed down the capital 
punishment to his lover, 23-year-old Comoros Islands passport holder, on the 
charge of aiding and abetting him in the murder crime.

Public Prosecution records show the main defendant was having an affair with 
his friend's wife and together had planned to get rid of the husband.

The court referred the duo to the Court of Misdemeanors on charges of illicit 
sex and consuming alcohol without a licence.

On October 14, 2016, the wife intentionally started a heated argument with her 
husband, following which his friend (her lover) offered to reconcile them.

That night, the first accused lured the victim out for a little talk about the 
latter's marital problems. Shortly thereafter, he picked him up in his car, 
tied up his feet and hands, punched then struck his head with a concrete block 
outside his car.

According to the record, the defendant was constantly updating his lover that 
her husband was still alive. He put the victim inside the car again, banged his 
head against the car's door, then set him on fire.

The victim's 86-year-old father said he did not hear from his son throughout 
the day of the incident.

"My son and his wife had been married for four years. They had 2 children. She 
first told me he went to the beach, then that he was not answering his phone."

The Dubai Police Operation Room was alerted after 11:00pm on October 14, 2016, 
by two guards about a body had been set ablaze near a warehouse in Al Qusais 
industrial area.

A police major said the body was discovered at the same time the victim was 
reported missing. "We summoned his friends and family, including his wife. She 
admitted she had been cheating on him with his friend for 2 years.

"Around 3am, she called her lover to tell him that she had intentionally 
provoked her husband. The man came and took her husband out," the major said.

"He kept his friend tied up in his car. At 8pm, he bought some fuel from a 
station before driving to Al Qusais. After he hit the victim's head repeatedly 
against the car's door, he pulled him out of the car and ran him over. After 
making sure he was dead, he poured fuel and set his body on fire."

The wife and her lover confessed to the murder.

Forensic reports showed the victim's body sustained several cranial and facial 
fractures.

The court ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.

(source: albawaba,.com)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi execution rate doubles under MBS, says rights group



Saudi Arabia's execution rate has doubled since Mohammed bin Salman was 
appointed crown prince in 2017, according to the anti-death penalty rights 
group Reprieve.

The group said 133 executions have taken place in the 8 months since his 
appointment last June, compared with 67 in the 8 months before.

There have been 33 executions so far this year, roughly split between people 
convicted for murder and drug dealing.

Reprieve said Saudi Arabia was on track for a record 200 executions in 2018 if 
that accelerated rate continues. It said several of those on death row in Saudi 
Arabia were convicted of crimes while still children.

Maya Foa, the group's director, said: "The doubling of executions under the new 
crown prince reveals that, beneath his glossy public image, Mohammed bin Salman 
is one of the most brutal leaders in the kingdom's recent history.

"Protesters, including some who were children at the time, have had the death 
penalty confirmed despite allegations of torture and forced confessions.

"When she meets the crown prince, Theresa May should urge him to commute the 
sentences of all child protesters facing execution."

The prime minister was on Wednesday forced during questions in parliament to 
defend Britain's relationship with Saudi Arabia. Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition 
leader, asked May: "As she makes her arms sales pitch, will she also call on 
the crown prince to halt the shocking abuse of human rights in Saudi Arabia?"

May responded: "The link we have with Saudi Arabia is historic, it is an 
important one, and it has saved the lives of potentially hundreds of people in 
this country. I will be raising concerns about human rights when I meet him."

Reprieve said 18 young men are currently facing imminent execution for 
protest-related offences under Saudi Arabia's wide-ranging "anti-terrorism" 
laws. 8 of those were children at the time of their alleged offences.

It pointed to assurances by the former British prime minister, David Cameron, 
that the issue of child prisoners on death row would be addressed.

"In October 2015, Cameron pledged, in an interview with Channel 4 News, that he 
would intervene in the case of 3 Saudi protesters, Abdullah Hasan al-Zaher, Ali 
al-Nimr and Dawood al-Marhoon, who were facing beheading despite being children 
at the time of arrest," the group said.

"The then foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, later told the House of Commons he 
had received assurances Ali and others would not be executed. Despite this, the 
3 still have not had their death sentences commuted and face imminent 
execution. Reprieve is aware of 5 other juveniles in the same position."

(source: Middle East Eye)








SOUTH AFRICA:

9 hanged PAC members' remains exhumed



2 elderly sisters said they were grateful that their father was found after he 
was hanged in 1963 by the apartheid government.

2 sisters stood highly emotional in front of the open grave of their father 
Joseph Bhazalele Mqhitsana, who was 1 of 9 members of the Pan Africanist 
Congress' armed wing, Poqo, who were exhumed yesterday in the Mamelodi West 
cemetery, east of Pretoria.

They were all hanged in the apartheid years and buried in unmarked graves.

Mqhitsana shared a grave in the Mamelodi West cemetery with Aaron Kinki 
Njokwana, 23. Both men were hanged in Pretoria on 11 December 1963 for the 
killing of 3 young women who had transgressed Poqo rules.

Victoria Mangesi, 65, and her sister Ntombizanele Mqhitsana, 59, stood silently 
staring at their father's picture and the open graves, with his bones visible 
to them.

"Finally. We are so grateful that out father has been found," Mqhitsana said.

"I do not hate anyone. It won't help and it won't do any good," Mangesi said, 
as she recalled that the last time she saw her father was when he said he was 
going to work.

The TRC Unit in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, 
together with the Missing Persons Task Team (MPTT) in the National Prosecuting 
Authority, also exhumed the remains of Maqadaza Magushe, 32, Goduka Gelem, 38, 
and Mcdonald Mgweba, 30, who were hanged on May 30, 1967.

They were among 9 people hanged for the killing of shopkeeper Maurice Berger. 
Titus Tembekile Nyovu, 29, was hanged on October 14, 1963, for the killing of a 
white resident of Paarl, Renschia Vermeulen, and Jonathan Sogwagwa, 30, was 
hanged on September 27, 1963, for killing of a Poqo member, George Tshisa, who 
was suspected of giving information to authorities. Another PAC member, Vanele 
Matikinca, 35, was hanged on October 14, 1963, for the killing of a suspected 
informer, Klaas Hoza, and Poqo member George Tshisa, who was suspected of 
giving information to authorities. These exhumations form part of the Gallows 
Exhumation Project launched by Minister Michael Masutha in 2016, aimed at 
recovering the remains of the political prisoners who were hanged prior to the 
suspension of the death penalty in 1990. The TRC's Thapelo Mokushane, who 
personally oversaw each of the ceremonies, said today they will be exhuming the 
remains of Nkosencinci Maseti at the Rebecca Street cemetery in Pretoria West. 
Maseti was hanged on September 26, 1967, also for the killing of Hoza.

Mokushane said at least 60 PAC members were hanged in the 1960s.

"The 9 PAC members to be exhumed this week arise out of the period of intense 
political protest in Paarl in 1962 when members of Poqo based in the single 
men's migrant worker hostels in Mbekweni township undertook a series of 
campaigns and attacks on suspected informers and white residents.

"The period of protest culminated in a mass night time march on the white town 
of Paarl in November 1962 in which 2 whites were killed.

"In all, 9 people were killed by the PAC protesters that year. A total of 5 PAC 
protestors were shot dead by police," Mokushane said.

(source: citizen.co.za)