[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 21




IRAN:

Iran's Abuse of the Death Penalty Remains Largely Unchanged



On Monday, the Associated Press reported upon the death sentence that had been 
handed down for a member of the Sufi religious minority who was responsible for 
the deaths of 3 policemen during a large protest demonstration last month. 
Mohammad Salas claimed he had not intended to ram into the policemen with the 
bus that he was driving, but was instead trying to flee from the clashes 
between protesters and security forces.

The demonstrations turned violent after members of the Sufi order known as 
Gonabadi dervishes assembled in response to speculation that their leader Nour 
Ali Tabandeh was slated for arrest as part of the government's crackdown on 
political activists in the wake of nationwide protests in December and January. 
By some accounts, security forces did attempt to gain access to Tabandeh's home 
but were blocked by the masses of dervishes. In addition to the 3 deaths 
attributed to Salas, 2 members of the basij civilian militia were killed in a 
separate stabbing incident. 300 dervishes were arrested in the midst of the 
clashes.

Despite Salas denying that he willfully killed the 3 police officers, there 
appears to be no dispute about whether he was behind the wheel of the bus that 
also injured 30 others. He now has 20 days to appeal the verdict, but if the 
death sentence stands it will be among the minority of death sentences in Iran 
that arguably rise to the level of the "most serious crimes" for which the 
death penalty is deemed acceptable under international human rights 
conventions.

But Iran, consistently the nation with the world's highest rate of executions 
per capita, has frequently thumbed its nose at some conventions, even those 
codified in documents to which Iran is a signatory. By executing non-violent 
drug offenders and certain types of political prisoners, the Iranian regime has 
rejected the international limits regarding the severity of capital crimes. 
Additionally, Iran is among the small handful of countries that continues to 
execute juvenile offenders in defiance of the United Nations' absolute 
prohibition on the practice.

In its recent annual report on the death penalty in the Islamic Republic, the 
website Iran Human Rights noted that at least 5 juvenile offenders were 
executed in the year 2017. Each incident spurred international outcry and 
letter-writing campaigns by human rights organizations, yet Iran's commitment 
to the practice appears to only be intensifying. Three more juvenile offenders 
have already been put to death since the start of 2018.

On the other hand, Iran Human Right called attention to the possibility that 
domestic and international pressure are proving effective in the case of death 
penalties for non-violent drug offenders. Last year, the Iranian parliament 
passed legislation which lightened the minimum sentences for certain crimes in 
that category. This led to speculation that death sentences could be commuted 
for thousands of prisoners, although it also raised questions as to whether 
Iranian courts would fully implement the changes.

Data on this subject appears inconsistent so far. The report by Iran Human 
Rights finds that 65 fewer drug offenders were executed in 2017 than in 2016. 
This represents a reduction of about 22 %. However, few drug-related death 
sentences have actually been commuted and there were reports last year which 
indicated that the execution dates had been moved up for some of the people who 
might have been spared by the legal change, especially Sunnis and members of 
other minority groups.

Additionally, Iran Human Rights notes that the judiciary seems to have 
compensated for the reduction of drug-related executions by carrying out more 
hangings of persons convicted of murder. Overall, at least 517 inmates were 
executed in 2017, and this is comparable to the figures for the previous year. 
Naturally, those figures do not account for extrajudicial killings or 
executions that the government managed to conceal from the public. Of the 517 
known executions during the past year, 406 of them were not officially 
announced.

Extrajudicial killings may prove to be an even more serious issue than before, 
once statistics for the current year begin to be tabulated. Violent crackdowns 
on perceived threats to the clerical regime are a familiar phenomenon, but the 
recent targeting of environmental activists indicate that these may have 
further expanded in scope. Several such individuals were arrested last month 
and one of them, the Iranian-Canadian Professor Kavous Seyed-Emami, died 
suspiciously while in police custody.

Prison officials attempted to claim that Seyed-Emami had confessed to spying 
for Western governments and then committed suicide, but their subsequent 
efforts to silence his family and prevent an independent autopsy suggest that 
there has been a cover-up. That conclusion is made stronger by the fact that 
the regime has made virtually identical claims about a number of people who 
have died in police custody, especially since the mass protests in January.

As reported by the Center for Human Rights in Iran on Thursday, a slightly 
different cover story has been applied to the latest suspicious death, that of 
nursing student Taleb Basati, who was arrested for taking photographs and video 
of the protests. His arrest reportedly took place at his home on February 18 as 
security forces continued to round up persons linked to the demonstrations or 
to anti-government activism in general. His body was released to his family on 
February 25, after which authorities asserted that his death had been the 
result of a stroke.

In view of the fact that Basati was only 26 years old, it seems unlikely that 
he would have suffered a stroke unless it was brought on by other factors, such 
as torture. As with other deaths, including that of Seyed-Emami, the deceased 
student's family was cautioned against speaking to the media, asking questions 
about his death, or requesting an autopsy. Sources indicate that Basati's death 
certificate did not specify a stroke but referred only to head trauma.

CHRI identifies Basati as the 5th person to die in police custody in 2 months. 
But the National Council of Resistance of Iran has determined that at least 14 
people have died while being tortured in police custody since the start of 
protests in late December. Early this month, the NCRI identified Ghobad Azami 
of Kermanshah Province as the 14th victim. His family was reportedly told that 
he too had committed suicide in prison.

(source: Iran News Update)








PAKISTAN:

1 jail inmate to be hanged at Central Jail Bahawalpur on March 22


1 jail inmate would be hanged at Central Jail Bahawalpur on the morning of 
March 22. According to the Superintendent Central Jail Bahawalpur, Mohsin 
Waseem was awarded death penalty in a case of Shehar Fareed Police Station 
Okara Cantt. Special Judge of Anti Terrorism Court Lahore has issued death 
warrants of Mohsin Waseem.

(source: urdupoint.com)