[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 5




PAKISTAN:

Army chief ratifies death sentences for 11 terror convicts: ISPR



Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa ratified death sentences handed down 
to 11 militants and prison sentences given to 3 others, an Inter-Services 
Public Relations (ISPR) press release said on Saturday.

The convicts, who were tried by special military courts, were found guilty of 
attacks on the army, law enforcement agencies, academic institutions including 
Malakand University and the murder of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) MPA Imran Khan 
Mohmind and other civilians.

"On the whole, [the convicts] were involved in the killing of 60 persons 
including 36 civilians, 24 armed forces/Frontier Constabulary/police officials 
and injuring 142 others," the statement read.

All 14 convicts, who were members of proscribed organisations, admitted their 
offences before a magistrate and the trial court, and were subsequently awarded 
death sentences, the military's media wing said.

Burhan Uddin s/o Umar Daraz, Shaheer Khan s/o Rehman Uddin, Gul Faraz Khan s/o 
Wasli Khan

All 3 convicts were involved in an attack on a funeral service of a civilian in 
Mardan, which resulted in the killing of 30 people including KP MPA Mohmind 
while 100 others were injured. All convicts were awarded death sentences.

Muhammad Zeb s/o Muhammad Nawab

Zeb was found guilty of killing 5 army men including Naib Subedar Muhammad 
Hanif, Havildar Muhammad Naseer, Havildar Muhammad Qayyum as well as injuring 6 
others. He also possessed firearms and explosives. He was awarded death 
sentence.

Saleem s/o Abdul Mateen

He was involved in attacks on armed forces and civilians that resulted in the 
deaths of 3 of the latter. He was sentenced to death.

Izat Khan s/o Ajib ul Bahar

He was involved in an attack on Malakand University that led to the deaths of a 
civilian and four police officials and injured seven others. He was also 
involved in attacks on 3 other academic institutions and possessed firearms and 
explosives. He was awarded death sentence.

Muhammad Imran s/o Hazrat Umar

The convict was involved in attacks on the armed forces which resulted in the 
deaths of Naik Ghulam Hassan, Naik Ifitkhar Ali and a soldier. 4 other soldiers 
were injured as well. He was awarded death sentence.

Yousaf Khan s/o Ahmed Jan

He was involved in attacking the armed forces, causing the deaths of 2 soldiers 
and injuring f4 others. He was sentenced to death.

Nadir Khan s/o Amir Rehman

He was involved in attacking the armed forces which resulted in the deaths of 
Havildar Muhammad Ismail and a soldier. He was also found in possession of 
firearms and explosives. He was awarded death sentence.

Muhammad Arif Ullah Khan s/o Zareen Gul

He was involved in attacking the armed forces which resulted in the deaths of 2 
soldiers and caused injuries to s7 others. He was awarded death sentence.

Bakht Muhammad Khan s/o Ghawas Khan

He was involved in the murder of 1 civilian as well as attacks on armed forces 
that resulted in the killing of 2 soldiers and left 2 others injured.

Military courts

Military courts were disbanded on January 7, 2017, after the expiration of a 
sunset clause included in the legal provisions under which the tribunals were 
established.

However, on March 31, President Mamnoon Hussain gave his formal assent to the 
Pakistan Army Act 2017 and the 23rd Constitutional Amendment Bill - the 2 
pieces of legislation aimed at granting legal cover to military courts - after 
they were cleared by the parliament.

The courts were subsequently revived for 2 years and given legal cover from the 
day of their disbandment.

(source: dawn.com)








INDIA:

Death penalty is cold-blooded killing, argue Nirbhaya convicts



The Supreme Court on Friday reserved the petitions filed by 2 of the 4 
condemned convicts for a review of its 2017 verdict upholding the death penalty 
awarded to them in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.

The court had on May 5, 2017, upheld the verdict of the Delhi High Court and 
the trial court awarding the capital punishment to 4 convicts - Mukesh, 29; 
Pawan Gupta, 22; Vinay Sharma, 23; and Akshay Kumar Singh, 31 - in the brutal 
gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student on December 16, 2012, 
in Delhi.

'File submissions'

A special Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R. Banumathi and 
Ashok Bhushan reserved its order after hearing arguments on behalf of the 
convicts Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta, who sought a review.

The court asked senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing the Delhi 
police, to file written submissions. Advocate A.P. Singh, for the convicts, 
argued that the death penalty was "cold-blooded killing." Mr. Singh will also 
file submissions by Tuesday.

The court had earlier reserved its verdict on Mukesh's review petition. Akshay 
has not filed a review petition yet. The student was gang-raped on the 
intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi. She 
died on December 29, 2012.

Another accused in the case, Ram Singh, died in Tihar Jail and a convicted 
juvenile was released from the reformation home after serving a 3-year term as 
per the Juvenile Justice Act.

(source: The Hindu)

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

Jamaat demands death penalty for every rapist irrespective of age



Welcoming the government ordinance awarding death penalty to those convicted of 
raping girls below the age of 12 years, Jamaat-e-Islami has demanded death 
penalty for every rapist irrespective of victim age.

Talking to media persons Secretary General of JIH, Muhammad Salim Engineer 
said: "Jamaat supports the Ordinance as it allows the setting up of new 
fast-track courts and installation of special forensic kits in all police 
stations and hospitals to expedite investigation in rape cases. Jamaat feels 
that capital punishment is necessary to deliver justice to the victim and also 
act as a deterrent for such heinous crimes. It has been demanding death penalty 
for every rapist irrespective of the age of the victim".

Jamaat also demanded a complete ban on alcohol and pornographic videos, as they 
"too aid and abet the growing incidents of crime against women."

Responding to a question on the ongoing trouble in AMU, the JIH Secretary 
General said: "it is a ploy by fascist elements to polarize society on communal 
lines. They hope to divert people's attention from the real issues and hide the 
failure of the government on all fronts".

(source: The Indian Awaaz)

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

Nirbhaya case: Death penalty is cold-blooded killing, convicts tell SC----Top 
court reserves verdict on review petitions of death row convicts



Convicts in the December 16, 2012, gang-rape case on Friday pleaded for mercy 
before the Supreme Court which reserved its verdict on the review petitions of 
2 of the 4 convicts staring at the gallows.

Requesting a 3-judge Special Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra 
to spare them the gallows, their counsel AP Singh said, "Death penalty is 
cold-blooded killing in the name of justice."

Singh, who represented convicts Vinay Kumar and Pawan Kumar, pleaded that they 
were young men coming from poor families who should be given a chance to 
reform. "Execution kills criminals and not the crime," he submitted.

"They are not habitual offenders and have no past criminal records...The court 
must allow them to be reformed," Singh told the Bench, which also included 
Justice R Banumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan.

Singh's submission was countered by senior counsel and Special Prosecutor 
Siddharth Luthra who said it was the rarest of the rare case and the convicts 
should be sent to the gallows.

The top court had on May 5, 2017, upheld a Delhi High Court verdict confirming 
the death penalty awarded by the trial court Mukesh Kumar (29), Pawan Kumar 
(22), Vinay Sharma (23) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) for raping a 23-year-old 
para-medical student inside a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012.

The girl was returning home along with her male friend after watching a movie. 
They had beaten up her friend before taking turns to rape her. She had later 
died in a hospital in Singapore due to injuries inflicted on her private parts 
by them.

There were 6 accused in the case. Bus driver Ram Singh had allegedly committed 
suicide in Tihar jail, while the lone juvenile accused was tried before a 
juvenile court and sent to a reformatory for 3 years. He has since been 
released from the reform home. The rest 4 were convicted and sentenced to 
death.

While the top court reserved verdict on review petitions of Vinay and Pawan on 
Friday, it has already reserved its verdict on review petition of convict 
Mukesh. Akshay hasn't filed any review petition.

While reserving its verdict, the Bench asked Luthra and Singh to file their 
written submissions by Tuesday.

As Singh said death penalty had been abolished in many countries. The CJI 
replied: "Death penalty exists on the statute book."

Timeline

December 16, 2012: 6 men, including a juvenile, gang-rape a 23-year-old 
para-medical student in a moving bus; insert rod in her private parts and throw 
her on road

December 29, 2012: Victim succumbs to her injuries in a Singapore hospital, 
triggering nationwide protests

March 11, 2013: Main accused Ram Singh commits suicide in Tihar jail

August 31, 2013: Juvenile Justice Board finds lone juvenile accused guilty of 
rape and murder; sentences him to 3-year stay in a reformatory.

September 13, 2013: 4 accused sentenced to death by a Delhi Sessions court

March 13, 2014: A Division Bench of Delhi HC upholds trial court verdict 
awarding death penalty to convicts

March 15, 2014: SC stays execution of convicts after they allege denial of fair 
trial

May 05, 2017: SC upholds death penalty awarded to the 4 convicts by Delhi high 
court in 2014

May 4, 2018: SC reserves verdict on review petitions of 3 of them who sought 
leniency.

(source: tribuneindia.com)








VIETNAM:

Court upholds sentences for 3 former leaders of OceanBank



The High-level People's Court in Hanoi on May 4 upheld the charges and 
sentences for three former leaders of the Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank 
(OceanBank) ruled at the first-instance trial for their wrongdoings at the 
bank.

Accordingly, the court upheld the verdict on Ha Van Tham, former Chairman of 
the Board of Directors of OceanBank, who was sentenced to life imprisonment. 
The sentence includes 19 years in prison for "deliberately violating State 
regulations on economic management causing severe consequences", 18 years in 
prison for "breaching lending regulations of credit institutions", life 
imprisonment for "property embezzlement", and 20 years in prison for "abusing 
positions and power to appropriate assets."

The death penalty for Nguyen Xuan Son, former Director General of OceanBank, 
was also upheld. He received 17 years in prison for "deliberately violating 
State regulations on economic management causing severe consequences", death 
punishment for "property embezzlement", and life imprisonment for "abusing 
positions and power to appropriate assets."

Within 7 days since the appeal trial announced its verdict, Son has the right 
to submit a plea for clemency to the State President.

Considering Son's sincere confession, his family's compensation for 
consequences at the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group resulted by his "property 
embezzlement", and some other factors, the jury proposed the Chief Justice of 
the Supreme People's Court, the Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's 
Procuracy and the State President to consider converting Son's punishment from 
death penalty to life imprisonment as regulated in Point c, Clause 3 and Clause 
4 of Article 40 in the 2015 Penal Code.

The jury also took into consideration the unstable financial market when Tham 
committed irregularities, his sincere confession and other mitigatory factors. 
It asked authorised agencies to apply mitigatory conditions to reduce Tham's 
punishment from life imprisonment to fixed-term imprisonment.

The 22-year imprisonment was also kept for former General Director of OceanBank 
Nguyen Minh Thu. She will be imprisoned for nine years for "abusing positions 
and power to appropriate assets" and 13 years for "deliberately violating State 
regulations on economic management causing severe consequences."

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Hoan, former Deputy General Director of OceanBank, will 
be sentenced to 20 years in prison (down 2 years from the 1st-instance trial's 
verdict) for "abusing positions and power to appropriate assets" and "breaching 
lending regulations of credit institutions."

6 other defendants accused of "deliberately violating State regulations on 
economic management causing severe consequences" also received reductions in 
their imprisonment sentences.

During the investigation and at the trial, Nguyen Thi Thu Ba (former director 
of the retail client division) and Do Dai Khoi Trang (former director of the 
individual client division) said their wrongdoings had been made under the 
direction of Deputy General Director Tran Thanh Quang. Therefore, jury asked 
the investigation police agency of the Ministry of Public Security to launch 
criminal proceedings against Quang to probe into his involvement.

According to the court's verdict, when working as Chairman of the Board of 
Directors of OceanBank, Tham and his accomplices committed a series of 
violations of credit regulations, causing losses for the bank and seriously 
affecting the State's monetary policy. Their violations resulted in losses of 
nearly 2 trillion VND (equivalent to 87.7 million USD at present) for 
OceanBank.

Son was found to coordinate with Tham to charge customers additional fees, 
triggering a loss of nearly 69 billion VND (3.02 million USD) for the bank and 
customers. Meanwhile, Nguyen Minh Thu instructed the bank's branches to pay 
interest rates outside the mobilising deposit contracts, causing losses of 
1.576 trillion VND (69 million USD).

(source: Vietnam News Agency)








MAURITANIA:

Mandatory Death Penalty For Blasphemy: Law Passed As Country Hosts African 
Human Rights Body



Mauritanian authorities should reverse the recent adoption of a law on apostasy 
related crimes making the death penalty mandatory for "blasphemous speech" and 
"sacrilegious acts", 21 national and international non-governmental 
organizations said today.

The authorities should also end the arbitrary detention and guarantee the 
safety of a blogger, Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, whose case appears to be 
related to the timing of the law. Mkhaitir was convicted of apostasy and 
sentenced to death in December 2014 before a court reduced his punishment to 2 
years imprisonment. Although his sentence has expired, the authorities continue 
to detain him.

The National Assembly passed a law on April 27, 2018 that replaces article 306 
of the Criminal Code and makes death penalty mandatory for anyone convicted of 
"blasphemous speech" and acts deemed "sacrilegious". The new law eliminates the 
possibility under article 306 of substituting prison terms for the death 
penalty for certain apostasy-related crimes if the offender promptly repents. 
The law also extends the scope of application of the death penalty to "renegade 
acts."

The law also provides for a sentence of up to 2 years in prison and a fine of 
up to 600,000 Ouguiyas (approximately EUR 13,804) for "offending public 
indecency and Islamic values" and for "breaching Allah's prohibitions" or 
assisting in their breach.

The National Assembly passed this law as the African Commission on Human and 
Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) held its 62nd Ordinary Session in Nouakchott, the 
capital. The ACHPR has repeatedly said that countries should abolish the death 
penalty or establish a moratorium in line with the continental and global 
trend. In particular, the ACHPR emphasized: "In those States which have not yet 
abolished the death penalty it is vital that it is used for only the most 
serious crimes - understood to be crimes involving intentional killing. (...) 
Those sentenced to death have the right to seek clemency, pardon or commutation 
through a transparent process with due process of law."

In addition, the United Nations has repeatedly stated that the mandatory 
imposition of the death penalty, even for the most serious crimes, is 
prohibited under international human rights law.

Mauritania has not carried out any execution since 1987. It has ratified 
numerous international human rights treaties including the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and the 
African Charter on Human and Peoples??? rights that protect the right to life. 
The adoption of the law making the death penalty mandatory for certain apostasy 
related crimes is a huge step backward from the abolition of the death penalty.

The timing of the law appears to be related to the Mkhaitir case. In 2014, a 
Nouadhibou court sentenced Mkhaitir to death for apostasy under article 306 for 
posting an article online denouncing the use of religion to legitimize 
discriminatory practices against the blacksmith caste in Mauritania with which 
he identifies.

However, on November 9, 2017, the Court of Appeals of Nouadhibou commuted 
Mkhaitir's death penalty to a 2-year prison term and a fine, after recognizing 
his repentance. A week later, the Council of Ministers approved the draft law 
to repeal and replace article 306.

Since Mkhaitir had already served almost 3 years in detention by the time that 
the Court of Appeals reduced his sentence, he should have been released. 
However, he remains in incommunicado detention. On May 2, 2018 the Mauritanian 
authorities informed the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial 
Discrimination (CERD) that Mkha???tir was in "administrative detention for his 
own safety".

Throughout the legal proceedings against Mkha???tir, thousands of protesters 
took to the streets in several towns, including Nouadhibou and Nouakchott, 
demanding that Mkhaitir be sentenced to death and executed. He continued to 
receive death threats when he was in prison. His relatives, friends and 
supporters also received death threats.

In addition to Mkhaitir, other Mauritanians who speak out against slavery and 
discrimination in Mauritania risk reprisals, including arbitrary arrests, 
torture and other ill-treatments, bans on their activities or their 
organizations.

SIGNATORY ORGANIZATIONS Action des Chretiens pour l'abolition de la Torture 
France ; Amnesty International; Anti-Slavery International; Association des 
Femmes Chefs de Famille (Mauritanie); Association Mauritanienne des Droits de 
l'Homme (Mauritanie); Committee to Protect Journalist; Comite de Solidarite 
avec les Victimes des Violations des Droits Humains (Mauritanie); Ensemble 
Contre la Peine de Mort; Federation internationale des ligues des droits de 
l'Homme; Forum des Organisations Nationales des Droits de l'Homme en Mauritanie 
(Mauritanie); Freedom Now; Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches sur la Democratie 
et le Developpement Economique et Social (Mauritanie); Human Rights Watch; 
Initiative de la Resurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste (Mauritanie); 
International Humanist and Ethical Union; PEN America; PEN International; 
Reporters Sans Frontieres; SOS Esclaves (Mauritanie); Touche pas a ma 
nationalite (Mauritanie); World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

(source: modernghana.com)