[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 3



INDIA:

Rediscovering Noose----The gruesome incident in Kathua in which a minor was 
kidnapped and brutally gang-raped has pushed the government to issue an 
ordinance that makes capital punishment mandatory in the rape of U-12 minors. 
In this backdrop, Masood Hussain tries to trace the evolution of hanging as a 
punishment in Kashmir



There were 22 boys, Kashmir's most known raconteur, Zareef Ahmad Zareef 
remembers as if it was yesterday. "We were rounded up by the police and held 
responsible for pasting posters on the walls," he said. "We all were in the 
Central Jail Srinagar."

Also jailed was a soldier, a resident of Gurgaon. He was an atheist and he had 
killed some of his colleagues and had faced the law of the land. He would make 
interesting speeches to us but the one he made for the last time was impressive 
and I still remember it, Zareef said. "He prayed for our Azaadi and was pretty 
emotional because he was to be hanged a day later."

The jailers also told the inmates that the man is being hanged and preparations 
have started. "For 3 days prior to the hanging the hangman would come and make 
preparations," Zareef said. "I watched him making the preparations, getting the 
rope, using various oils, pulling and straightening it and finally wrapping it 
around the pole." The public executioners' real name was not known but the 
jailers would know him as Beadh Watul. "He was residents of either Shopian or 
Kokernag and I remember the jail staff telling us that his family was in the 
profession of public execution for at least 3 generations, right from the 
Maharaja era." An execution would fetch him Rs 50 and many other things.

"It was the intervening night of June 15 and 16, 1965, that the jail staff told 
us that we will not be permitted to move out during wee hours," Zareef said. 
"That morning the soldier was hanged and we were permitted out only around 8 
am."

Death by hanging has been a penalty for various crimes and it was in vogue for 
centuries together. In fact, every summer would witness a couple of hangings 
for most of the Sikh, Afghan and Dogra era.

"I saw the body of a man hanging to a tree, apparently executed that morning. I 
asked who he was, and why he had been hanged, but all the passengers seemed so 
indifferent to the spectacle that no one knew more about it than myself," 
Victor Vincelas Jacquemont wrote in his April 23, 1831 dispatch from Kotli (now 
in PaK). On May 15, he wrote again from Sheikhbagh in Srinagar: "There were a 
dozen suspended on trees near my camp (Sheikhbagh Srinagar), on the banks of 
the river. When the governor visited me, he told me, with a very careless air, 
that in the 1st year of his government he had hanged 200, but that now, one 
here and there was sufficient to keep the country in order."

The death penalty was continued by Dogras as well. Public hanging has remained 
the most chosen option with the despots because they loved 'object lessons'.

"I went out this morning in my boat, and we sailed towards the open plain 
beyond the precincts of the city, where two gibbets were standing, garnished by 
horrible squelettes of men in chains hanging, propped up (by wires) in wooden 
cages," Mrs Havery wrote in her The Adventures of a Lady in Tartary, Thibet, 
China, & Kashmir: With an Account of the Journey that was published in 1853, 
not many years after Kashmir was sold to the Dogra chieftain Gulab Singh. She 
lived in Sheikhbagh in August 1853. "Their clothes were still on them, and 
these ghastly skeletons looked very revolting, bleaching in the bright 
sunlight. They have been hanging for 2 or 3 years; their crime was murder. The 
family of 1 of the 2 lives close by." It was much later that the hanging noose 
moved from public squares into the jails. But Zareef says there was not any 
hanging in Srinagar after 1970. "The last person who was hanged to death was 
Wahab Tabardar, a resident of Khanyar," Zareef said. "He was convicted for the 
killing of a tourist in Dalgate's Embassy Hotel."

While he was killed for the murder, Zareef says the fate was sealed by his 
conduct and everybody was praying for his death. The reason was his notoriety 
in disturbing people when they would use public toilets! "Since then, I do not 
remember any other hanging in Kashmir," Zareef said. But one person was hanged 
in Jammu somewhere around 1988.

In between, there was a major hanging that was executed in Tihar jail. It was 
that of JKLF co-founder Maqbool Bhat that took place on February 11, 1984. The 
death penalty was awarded by a district and sessions judge in Srinagar, Neel 
Kanth Gunjoo. It was executed in Tihar jail and the black warrants were 
actually signed by the then Chief Minister.

Though the death penalty was awarded to Bhat in case of a police man's murder, 
the fact is that the execution was political in nature. This hanging was a key 
factor in changing Kashmir altogether. Even the trial court judge was 
assassinated by JKLF after the militancy broke out in Kashmir.

Afzal Guru was hanged on February 8, 2013, in the same jail and his corpse was 
also not returned to his family. Though he was a Kashmiri, his trial and the 
offence in which he was convicted took place in Delhi.

But the death penalty is constitutionally and legally valid. In murder cases 
and even in rarest of the rare cases of sexual violence, trial courts do award 
death penalties. It is only during the appeals that the superior courts convert 
the death penalties into life imprisonments.

The capital punishment is back in debate after the state government issued J&K 
protection of children from sexual violence ordinance 2018 that makes capital 
punishments mandatory in cases of rapes of minors, below the age of 12. The 
ordinance, expected to become a law in the next assembly session, denies bail 
to the accused, offers an in-camera trial to the victim, gives 2 months to the 
investigators and 6 months to the trial court. The onus of proving innocence is 
now on the accused. The punishment for sexual offences against women between 13 
to 60 years stands enhanced to 20 years or life imprisonment.

The ordinance was issued in wake of massive public reaction over the abduction, 
gang-raping and murder of an 8-year-old Kathua girl by a group of people who 
wanted to scare away the microscopic Muslim nomadic minority from their area. 
The case brought India into instant disrepute as the case was globally reported 
and even commented upon by United Nations and the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF).

The ordinance has been generally welcomed by the lawyers and the commoners. "I 
support it and in fact I want it to be severe," Sana Din Majid, a junior 
advocate said. Her colleague Siyaab Samaira added: "It should be a public 
hanging so that deterrence is created."

"The criminality in Kashmir is negligible because there is thrust on moral 
education as part of the upbringing," leading lawyers Zaffar A Shah said. "But 
enhanced punishment in such heinous crimes is a welcome step." His colleague 
Mohammad Ishaq Qadri, who was the advocate general of the state for 6 years, 
said the ordinance was delayed.

But the difference of opinion is there. A major section of the practitioners of 
law insists that the new law will continue to be as useless as the earlier one 
if the state government fails to take the prosecution lightly. "It is good that 
timelines are there but it is more important that there are competent people in 
investigation and prosecution who will take these cases seriously in the 
special courts," Shah said. "The absence of all these things had made the 
convictions the lowest ever."

Even a High Court judge told a gathering of police that he was personally 
shocked after going through a case file in which a woman was raped 9 times by 3 
men and still the accused was seeking bail. He said the prosecution was weak 
and vague.

A small section of lawyers, however, insist that the ordinance was not 
required. "The existing law is competent enough to tackle and even award death 
penalties in rarest of rare cases," Syed Faisal Qadri said. "The problem is 
that there is a lax investigation and the accused get away because there are 
loopholes."

Recently during an address at a police function, High Court judge, Justice M K 
Hanjura, mentioned a case of 13-year-old girl who was sexually exploited 
repeatedly.

"A few days back, I went through a case of a girl child who was gang-raped for 
22 days. When I went through the file, I realized how the prosecutor had 
identified the girl while recording the statement," said Hanjura.

Ironically, her statement was recorded 3 days before the accused filed 
application for bail in the court. The police officer had deliberately 
suppressed the fact that she was exploited for 22 days. "The prosecutor too 
concealed this fact, although he had identified her in the court. With the 
result, the judicial magistrate going through the case had also not taken note 
of it," lamented Hanjura. "There was a hue and cry over the Kuthua incident. 
But such matters are not prosecuted properly."

Debate will continue. The global human rights watchdogs that have been against 
the capital punishment, throughout have started their campaign against the 
ordinance. But the fact is there are 2 cases of brutal rapes of minors in 
Kashmir which are going through the appeal. In both cases, the trial courts 
have awarded death penalties.

Soon, there will be infrastructure issues. Right now, district jail in Jammu is 
the only place across the state where the hanging pole exists. All other jails 
have undone the noose as hanging was out of fashion. Has the circle of history, 
made a restart?

(source: kashmirlife.net)








MALAYSIA:

Drug trafficking: Death penalty no longer mandatory; but give judges full 
discretionary powers



Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) is pleased that the 
Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act 2017, which received royal assent on 27 December 
2017, has finally, after much delay, come into force on 15 March 2018.

The 8 March gazette notification appointing the date of coming into operation 
of this new law - which will abolish the mandatory death penalty for drug 
trafficking, giving judge's discretion to be able to sentence those convicted 
of drug trafficking to an alternate sentence of life imprisonment with not less 
than 15 strokes of the whip - was signed by the minister of health. It was odd 
that it was not the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Azalina 
Othman, the de facto law minister or the home minister.

It must be pointed out that this still unexplained delay has resulted in grave 
injustice to at least 10 individuals who had been sentenced to the mandatory 
death penalty this year until 15 March 3018, because judges still had no 
discretion to consider and impose any other sentence other than death penalty 
until the date the Act came into operation. (It must be noted that not all 
those convicted and sentenced to death for drug trafficking would have been 
reported by the media.

This 10 media-reported cases include give Malaysians and 5 foreign nationals, 
being:

S Pragasam, 30 - Ipoh High Court (Malay Mail, 9 February 2018)

Ong Cheng Yaw, 33, and San Kim Huat, 38 - Kuala Lumpur High Court (The 
Malaysian Insight, 8 February 2018)

Jonas Chihurumnanya (Nigerian) - Kuching High Court (The Borneo Post, 30 
January 2018)

S Gopi Kumar, 33 - KL High Court (The Sun Daily, 24 January 2018)

A Sargunan, 42, and 4 Indian nationals, namely Sumesh Sudhakaran, 30, Alex Aby 
Jacob Alexander, 37, Renjith Raveendran, 28, and Sajith Sadanandan, 29 - Shah 
Alam High Court (The Sun Daily, 22 January 2018)

This new law, when it came into force, will only benefit those who had not yet 
been convicted by the High Court. If already convicted and sentenced to death 
before the law came into force, then even the appellate courts will not have 
the power to review the death sentence, and impose an alternative sentence for 
drug trafficking.

The only way that those already sentenced to death can escape the death penalty 
is if the appellate courts set aside the conviction for drug trafficking.

Even after the amending Act came into force, there are still serious flaws, 
including limitation on the factors that judges could consider when imposing 
the appropriate just sentence after conviction. The law now states, that judges 
"may have regard only to the following circumstances" being a limited list of 4 
matters.

In criminal trials generally, judge will consider all relevant factors and 
circumstances of the case and/or the relevant convicted persons, including also 
age and whether he or she is a 1st time offender, before imposing a just and 
appropriate sentence.

At present, there is also mandatory requirement "that the person convicted has 
assisted an enforcement agency in disrupting drug trafficking activities within 
or outside Malaysia" before a judge can impose a sentence other than death.

This is unjust for it affects an individual's right to a fair trial, for an 
innocent person, when convicted at the High Court, may be forced to incriminate 
himself truthfully and/or falsely simply to avoid the death penalty. This 
'admission' will also affect his or her right of appeal against conviction and 
sentence to the appellate courts, be it the Court of Appeal and/or the Federal 
Court.

The new amendments also failed to deal with the 800-plus persons currently on 
death row for drug trafficking, including also others who had already been 
convicted before the amending Act came into force.

Madpet calls for a immediate amendment of the law to ensure full, unfettered 
discretion be given to judges when it comes to sentencing those convicted of 
drug trafficking. We also urge that judge's discretion when it comes to the 
imposition of imprisonment not to be simply limited to life imprisonment, but 
to be extended possibly by setting a more just and reasonable minimum sentence 
of not more than 5 to 10 years especially for 1st-time offenders;

Madpet also calls for the abolition of the mandatory death penalty for the 
about 11 remaining offences in Malaysia, and for the total abolition of the 
death penalty; and

MADPET also reiterates the call for a moratorium on executions pending 
abolition of the death penalty in Malaysia.

(source: aliran.com)








THAILAND:

Death sentence to Pattani blast defendants



The Pattani Provincial Court sentenced 6 men to death and 4 others to 
imprisonment in relation to a noodle shop explosion in the southern border 
province 2 years ago.

The death sentence went to Ibroheng Yuso, Amree Lueyo, Santi Chantarasakul, 
Ayub Polee, Isma-ae Tuyong, and Nironig Niday.

The death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment for Aubdulloh Haye-uma, 
Ruslan Waehayee and Masan Salae for their useful information during trial. 
Hamit Jehma was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Abdulkohar Awaeputeh, chair of the Muslim Attorney Centre Foundation in 
Pattani, said yesterday (May 1) that the foundation helped defend the 10 men 
and the rulings read on Monday (April 30) were based on Masan's confession and 
testimonies from interrogators and some suspects treated as witnesses.

The men were arrested in 2016 and 2017. Relatives of the convicted would appeal 
against the rulings.

The bombing occurred at a noodle shop in a municipal night market of Muang 
district, Pattani, at about 7pm on Oct 24, 2016. It killed a 60-year-old woman 
and injured 21 others including 5 children.

1 of the wounded, a Mathayom 6 student at the Prince of Songkla Demonstration 
School identified as Narisara Makchuchit, had 1 of her legs amputated and an 
eye removed by surgeons immediately after the bombing.

The blast was caused by a home-made bomb in a steel box detonated remotely by a 
mobile phone.

The incident took place a day before the 12th anniversary of the so-called Tak 
Bai tragedy in which 85 Muslim men died after being arrested and packed into 
trucks by army and paramilitary forces sent to Narathiwat's Tak Bai district to 
break up an anti-government protest.

(source: thephuketnews.com)








MALAWI:

Murder of man with albinism in Malawi sparks call for death penalty



The latest murder of a man with albinism in Malawi - the 22nd in 4 years - has 
sparked calls for their killers to be executed to deter a wave of attacks in 
the poor southern African nation.

The dismembered corpse of 22-year-old McDonald Masambuka was found buried in 
southern Malawi several weeks after he went missing in March. Several body 
parts were missing.

A Catholic priest, police officer and medical officer are among 11 people 
facing charges of conspiracy and murder, police spokesman James Kadadzera told 
the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Information minister Nicholas Dausi said international rights groups and donors 
were preventing the government from using the death penalty to deter such 
crimes in Malawi, where people with albinism are hunted down for their body 
parts.

"They are stopping us from enforcing capital punishment," Dausi was quoted by 
local media as saying at Masambuka???s funeral last month. "Yet in their 
countries they execute murderers. Is this fair?"

Malawi is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for people with 
albinism - a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes - who are targeted 
so that their body parts can be used in magical potions and other ritual 
practices.

The United Nations' top expert on albinism has said people with the condition 
risk "extinction" in Malawi due to relentless attacks fueled by superstitions.

President Peter Mutharika has since said Malawi should have an "honest debate" 
about whether to apply the death sentence to those found guilty of murdering 
people with albinism.

Malawi suspended capital punishment more than 20 years ago as it embraced 
democratic reforms. Although the death penalty still exists in law, it has been 
declared unconstitutional.

MURDERS

But rights groups said the focus on the death penalty was misplaced and the 
government should step up its efforts to investigate unsolved murders and 
protect people with albinism.

"We never have any experience where the death penalty has been successful as a 
deterrent," said Overstone Kondowe, head of the Association of People with 
Albinism in Malawi (APAM), which helps about 3,400 people with the condition.

It has recorded 146 attacks in Malawi since 2014. About one in 20,000 people 
worldwide have the congenital disorder, with higher rates in sub-Saharan 
Africa.

Only 5 of 22 murders reported since 2014 are in court, said Kondowe, with 17 
unsolved.

"We don't have even have a suspect and nobody has been prosecuted," he said of 
the 17 cases, adding that the police should reopen them now that they have 
better equipment.

"We didn't have facilities of DNA testing to help with the investigation, so 
we're seeking that because the current capacity can help to shed light on who 
was responsible."

Rights groups called on the government to establish a commission of inquiry to 
find out who is behind the attacks, amid claims that they are organized by 
criminal gangs.

"There is a green light with the recent case where we have seen high profile 
people involved," said Timothy Mtambo, who heads the Centre for Human Rights 
and Rehabilitation, a charity.

"We believe a good investigation can open up our windows as to who is behind 
the trade ... We would be able to say we have unveiled the market and done 
(away) with the roots."

Mtambo also echoed a United Nations' call on the government to implement its 
own plan to strengthen protection measures, including buying sturdy locks for 
poor families at risk of attack, and for public education to eradicate 
superstitions.

"It should invest in preventative measures, not 'curing' the problem," he said. 
"It needs to understand where we have people with albinism, which can help in 
drawing security plans. Currently there is no proper program."

(soure: Thomson Reuters Foundation)

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

CSOs asks govt to abolish death penalty



Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the country have called on government to 
live up to its human rights commitments by abolishing the death penalty.

The CSOs made the call on Wednesday in Mauritania at the 62nd Session of the 
African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights. The CSOs are Centre for Human 
Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), Centre for Development of People (CEDEP) and 
Youth and Society (YAS).

Addressing the conference, CHRR Executive Director Timothy Mtambo reminded 
government of its commitments in both the constitution of Malawi and regional 
and international human rights treaties to abolish death penalty.

He said prisoners on death row in Malawi are confronted with the law's harshest 
penalty and live under the constant shadow of death.

"[They are] separated from those serving other sentences, for 14 hours each day 
and are locked in cells with barred windows that are too high to allow them 
even a glimpse of the outdoors," said Mtambo.

He then noted that the country has done well through the Kafantayeni project to 
resentence prisoners who were on death-row.

Malawi also has a moratorium on death penalty as no execution has been carried 
out since 1994.

But Mtambo observed that death penalty is still in the statues of Malawi which 
is regressive.

"It is not safe for the nation to continue relying on a moratorium and the 
goodwill of those in the office of the President on death penalty," he said.

The activist then called on government to commute the sentences of the 21 
prisoners remaining on death row.

He said commuting the sentences would be consistent with Malawi???s historical 
commitment to a moratorium and the practices of other African states.

"This would also relieve the suffering of those condemned to death and would 
spare their families and communities further anguish about their fate. Finally, 
it would reaffirm Malawi's commitment to a de facto moratorium, in line with 
other countries in the region and the rest of the world," he said.

(source: malawi24.com)








TANZANIA:

Reasons Why Death Penalty Should Be Put to an End



Rights groups advocating abolition of death penalty have outlined 10 reasons 
describing why the sentence should be abolished.

The reasons were documented by the Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM) 
which is a non-profit making non-governmental organization based in France in a 
document released during the third African Conference on death penalty held in 
Ivory Coast between April 8 and April 9, this year.

Titled: why does death penalty is not protecting you, ECPM says capital 
punishment violates the right to life, it was cruel, the sentence was inhuman 
and degrading, the punishment killed innocent people, it is discriminatory and 
it was used as a political repression tool.

According to ECPM, capital punishment wasn't a warning, rather it increases the 
insecurity of the society, applied not only to people who have committed crimes 
other than violent crime and that it targeted the poor, the illiterate and 
people who are unable to defend themselves.

Furthermore, the NGO established that the punishment created new victims and 
that it denied an individual with rehabilitation ability.

According to the document, stakeholders said death penalty violated rights to 
life stipulated by Article three of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
and that, everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person and 
that life wasn't something people could earn.

Furthermore, ECPM argues in the document that punishment ruling out the 
people's hope was in reality torture and that those sentenced to death lived in 
constant fear of being killed.

The document says in a number of countries such people were isolated throughout 
their life and they were living in conditions of extreme deprivation and 
torture.

"For instance, in 2016, the execution date for, Mr Tommy Arthur, who was 
sentenced to death in Alabama was postponed at the last minute for the seventh 
time in 15 years," reads the document in part, adding

"Therefore, Mr Arthur spent his last night on earth for 7 times. He said 
goodbye to his family 7 times and experienced terror of his imminent execution 
for seven times, justifying that capital punishment was an act of cruel, 
inhuman and degrading."

According to the ECPM, death penalty applied differently among suspects 
depending on the level of corruption among law enforcement organs and the 
country's judicial systems and the whims of investigations.

The document cited 156 people sentenced to death in the United States since 
1976, noting that the judgement on 56 % people based on false statement of the 
witnesses, while 36 % others based on false eye witnesses and that the behavior 
of investigation was to blame at 46 %.

The ECPM document questioned that the number of people who were not exonerated 
in time, in the United States and the rest of the world remained a question to 
be answered by the society during its abolition movement.

The document suggested that death penalty was used against people belonging to 
stigmatized minority in particular immigrants, homosexuals, ethnicity, 
religious groups and people with mental illness, strongly proving that the 
judgement was always discriminatory.

The ECPM document said capital punishment was used by most countries as a 
political and religious repression tool that could fell on political rivals and 
people going against imposed restrictions such as demonstration and criticisms 
on the government policies.

"Mr Ahmed Haou, who spent 15 years on death row in Morocco, was sentenced for 
protesting against King Hassan II regime by writing a slogan in a wall. Since 
independence, 54 people have been executed in Morocco over political reasons," 
reads the document.

Furthermore, the document says when a State rules out that life isn't sacred, 
the message is spread among inhabitants and that violence leads to violence.

The ECPM says at the end countries using death penalty have been ranked higher 
in crime rates as compared their abolitionist counterparts, citing Texas in the 
US as a living example.

The Global Peace Index (GPI), according to the document shows that only two 
retention countries (Japan and Singapore) appeared in the list of the world's 
safest countries, indicating that punishment wasn't guaranteeing safety.

It was noted that death penalty wasn't issued for violent crime because things 
considered crime in some countries were even not offenses in other countries.

The advocacy NGO referred to the 2006 death sentence issued to Iranian citizen, 
Sakineh Mohammedi Ashtiani over adultery, before the extensive international 
mobilization prompted for her release in 2014.

The document further says instead of relieving the suffering of the first crime 
victim, capital punishments extended the sufferings and trauma to families of 
the prisoners sentenced to death.

"I had to explain to my grandchildren that their mother had been sentenced to 
death. The oldest is 14. He is finding school difficult because his classmates 
have been mocking him. His work is going downhill, he is destroyed, he is 
suffering," Ms Celia Veloso, mother of Marie-Jane Veloso sentenced to death in 
Indonesia had told the NGO.

Give a dog a bad name and hang it ECPM believes that death penalty wasn't 
issued to protect the society from repeat offender monsters who raped the 
children.

Rather death row was mainly faced people whose lives were worthless in the eyes 
of the judges because of their poverty because of discrimination and political 
reasons.

In reality, capital punishment is a tool of coercion used by people in power 
who mistrust those for whom they are responsible.

Therefore, opposing death penalty means saying no to State murder, no to 
torture. It means retaining humanity and dignity in the face of barbarity.

Finally, it means preserving the foundation of our liberty and democracy: 
refusing to give States the right to kill those they were looking after.

Global trend

At least 20,000 people were languishing on death row and more than 1,600 were 
executed in 2015.

These figures excluded death sentences in North Korea and China where 
sufficient information was unavailable. However, it is estimated that 5,000 
people were executed annually in the People's Republic of China alone.

The situation in Tanzania

The Tanzania Human Rights Report of 2017 released by the Legal and Human Rights 
Centre (LHRC) on April 25, this year dubbed; Unknown assailants, a threat to 
human rights, called for President John Magufuli's abolishment of the capital 
sentence in the country.

LHRC says execution of death penalty was a cruel and inhuman practice that 
constitutes torture and violations of fundamental rights to life. "LHRC 
commends President Magufuli for not executing the penalty to death row inmates 
and to the recent granting of presidential amnesty to 61 of them," reads parts 
of the report.

A media survey establishes however that the sentence was still issued in the 
country's judicial system, noting that at least 15 people were handed capital 
punishment between May and September, 2017.

Furthermore, LHRC says by June 2017, Tanzania had 465 death row inmates; 445 
male and 20 female.

(source: allafrica.com)



SYRIA:

Human bomb: ISIS terrorists reportedly turn captive into live missile in 
chilling execution



Islamic State (IS, former ISIS) militants have put a captive Syrian soldier to 
death by tying a bomb to his head and throwing him off a building, as pictures 
posted by the terrorist group's propaganda channels show.

The extremists can be seen fitting a helmet filled with explosives on the head 
of a captured Syrian Army soldier. The prisoner of war was bound tightly with 
ropes and tied to long wooden planks that kept him upright.

The man was then suspended over the ground and dropped from a height, 
head-first. The bomb tied to his head - and equipped with an impact detonator - 
exploded as he hit the ground, killing the captive instantly.

The brutal incident is believed to have taken place in the Yarmouk camp, a 
former Palestinian refugee camp located south of the Syrian capital Damascus. 
The area remains the last Islamic State stronghold near the Syrian capital. The 
execution also came as the Syrian Army, supported by the Russian Air Forces, 
continued its attack on the extremists. Syrian forces launched a massive 
offensive on the terrorists that were entrenched in Yarmouk, using tanks and 
artillery. Some 2,000 jihadists, who have been encircled in the area, maintain 
fierce resistance.

Meanwhile, the western media and officials still continue to blame the Syrian 
government for the situation in the war-torn country, even against the 
background of the gruesome crimes committed by extremists. The recently 
unveiled US plans for Syria, which were declared to be the final push against 
Islamic State, still seemed to be more focused on curbing the influence of the 
Syrian government than on fighting terrorists.

The US would ensure there is a "strong and lasting footprint" in Syria so that 
Islamic State cannot return and the liberated populations "are not exploited by 
the Assad regime or its Iranian supporters," State Department spokeswoman 
Heather Nauert said, announcing the US strategy.

The US will also work with Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon to "secure 
their borders" from Islamic State, she added. Last week, the US House of 
Representatives also passed the "No Assistance for Assad Act," which provides 
for US funds to be used for recovery, reconstruction and stabilization in Syria 
only if it met Washington's criteria of being a "democracy" or "in areas of 
Syria not controlled by a government led by Bashar al-Assad or associated 
forces."

(source: rt.com)








IRAN:

Execution of Kurdish activist Panahi halted 'for now,' lawyer reveals----Ramin 
Hossein Panahi was handed the death penalty by an Iranian court in Sina on Jan. 
15 for "acting against national security" and being a member of the Kurdish 
opposition group, Komala.



The Iranian government has temporarily halted the imminent execution of Kurdish 
political prisoner Ramin Hossein Panahi, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, Panahi's lawyer, spoke to Kurdistan 24 via Skype where he 
revealed that the Kurdish activist's execution, planned for Thursday, had been 
halted "for now."

"I have good news for you, we have continued efforts to call for Ramin's 
freedom, and the execution date has been halted for now," Niaz stated.

"We continue to call on the Iranian government to end their unjust trial 
against Ramin as there is not enough evidence to prove the claims that they 
have made against him," the lawyer added.

Niaz noted that there are still fears that Panahi would be condemned to the 
death penalty, "but we are still working to end the sentence as Ramin is not a 
criminal, he is a child of Iran, a child of Kurdistan."

Lawyer Hossein Ahmadi Niaz spoke to Kurdistan 24 from the home of Ramin Hossein 
Panahi's parents.

Panahi's father was present during the lawyer's interview with Kurdistan 24 and 
said he hopes justice is served and his son is freed.

"I have not seen my son for 3 months, and I hope this [death] sentence against 
him is lifted. I hope those responsible for this do not succeed," he said 
referring to the Iranian regime.

Panahi was handed the death penalty by an Iranian court in Sina on Jan. 15 for 
"acting against national security" and being a member of the Kurdish opposition 
group, Komala.

Niaz said he hoped the Iranian government considers all the evidence that they 
have provided proving the Kurdish activist's innocence.

"Ramin is not a political person. He has never been involved in the crimes 
which they allege. It is clear that Ramin is innocent as the international 
community is behind him and has called for his freedom," he said.

Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Iran to cancel the death penalty 
charging that Panahi had received an unfair trial and was likely a victim of 
torture at the hands of the Iranian government.

(source: kurdistan24.net)

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

UN Rights Expert Urges Iran to Halt Imminent Execution of Ramin Hossein Panahi



A UN human rights expert has urgently called on Iran to halt the death sentence 
against Iranian Kurd Ramin Hossein Panahi amid reports he will be executed on 
Thursday.

"The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the execution of Mr. Panahi and 
annul the death sentence against him," said Agnes Callamard, the Special 
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Last month, UN human rights experts urged authorities to annul the death 
sentence, citing concerns about allegations Mr. Panahi had not received a fair 
trial and mistreated and tortured in detention. "I deeply regret that the 
authorities disregarded earlier calls to annul Mr. Panahi's death sentence, and 
to afford him a fair trial," Callamard said.

The Special Rapporteur noted that the only thing that distinguishes capital 
punishment from arbitrary execution is full respect for stringent due process 
guarantees which do not appear to have been met in this case. In this regard, 
she recalled reports that UN experts had received describing his incommunicado 
detention, torture and ill treatment, and denial of access to a lawyer and 
adequate medical care.

Mr. Panahi was arrested in June last year for alleged membership of the Kurdish 
nationalist group Komala, and was held in solitary confinement until January. 
His family received no information about his fate or whereabouts for 4 months 
after his arrest. He was convicted for taking up arms against the State and 
sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in January 2018.

"I have been in dialogue with the Iranian authorities regarding Mr. Panahi's 
situation," Callamard concluded.

ENDS

Ms. Agnes Callamard (France), Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or 
arbitrary executions, has a distinguished career in human rights and 
humanitarian work globally. Ms. Callamard is the Director of Columbia Global 
Freedom of Expression at Columbia University and has previously worked with 
Article 19 and Amnesty International. She has advised multilateral 
organizations and governments around the world, has led human rights 
investigations in more than 30 countries, and has published extensively on 
human rights and related fields.

Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the 
Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent 
experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council's 
independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific 
country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special 
Procedures' experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not 
receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or 
organization and serve in their individual capacity.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 
adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration - translated 
into a world record 500 languages - is rooted in the principle that "all human 
beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." It remains relevant to 
everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily 
influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we 
are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: 
www.standup4humanrights.org.

(source: iranhumanrights.org)