[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 11



VIETNAM:

Vietnam arrests oil refinery officials as investigation into banking graft case 
widens----Officials from a PetroVietnam subsidiary allegedly accepted $840,000 
in excessive interest payments from OceanBank.



Police in Vietnam arrested two oil officials on Thursday for allegedly 
accepting illegal deposit interest payments from the scandal-hit OceanBank.

Nguyen Hoai Giang, 50, chairman of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. 
(BSR), and the company's chief accountant Pham Xuan Quang, 38, are facing 
charges of abuse of power to appropriate property, according to the Ministry of 
Public Security.

BSR is a subsidiary of the state-owned oil giant PetroVietnam and the operator 
of Vietnam's first oil refinery Dung Quat.

Their arrests are part of the 2nd phase of the investigation into banking 
violations at OceanBank. Last month, the investigation also netted BSR's deputy 
general director, Vu Manh Tung, 44.

In addition to the refining subsidiary, Vietsovpetro (VSP), a joint venture 
between PetroVietnam and Russia's Zarubezhneft, and PetroVietnam Exploration 
Production Corporation (PVEP) are also under investigation.

According to the investigation, OceanBank paid its major customers over 
VND1.576 trillion ($69.4 million) in excessive interest payments between 2010 
and November 2014 under policies set by former board chairman Ha Van Tham, with 
BSR receiving over VND19 billion ($840,000).

OceanBank then colluded with BSR, VSP and PVEP to wipe the payments from their 
books, investigators said.

At a trial that wrapped up last September, Tham was sentenced to life 
imprisonment after being held mainly responsible for offering deposit rates 
above those set by the central bank to various customers, resulting in major 
losses. He claimed it was part of a strategy to attract funds and keep the 
business afloat, but his argument was dismissed.

Nguyen Xuan Son, the bank's former general director and former board chairman 
of PetroVietnam, received the death penalty for appropriating VND246 billion 
from the bank in excessive interest payments.

An appeal court in Hanoi last week rejected Tham and Son's appeals but said it 
would ask the Supreme Court to commute their sentences.

The 2nd phase of investigation into OceanBank is among the major cases the 
Communist Party and the government are "determined" to pursuit and bring to 
court, according to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who is 
spearheading Vietnam's anti-corruption campaign.

Trong, 74, has described the sweeping campaign as being at an "all-time high," 
and has urged authorities to keep up the momentum.

(source: vnexpress.net)








BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh to oppose gay rights and abolishment of death penalty at UN



Bangladesh will take a strong stance against gay rights and the abolishment of 
the death penalty at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council.

Last February, Bangladesh presented its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to the 
UN Human Rights Council. The review highlighted the country's human rights 
achievements and challenges from 2013-2017. The hearing of the UPR will be held 
on May 14.

The team representing Bangladesh will be led by Law Minister Anisul Huq. During 
the review Rwanda, Afghanistan, and Ukraine will be present as rapporteurs.

Regarding the matter, an official said: "Bangladesh does not believe in 
following popular doctrine. We sheltered the Rohingyas purely on human rights 
basis. This is a big challenge. Our human rights record is excellent.

"There are allegations against our country regarding human rights. We are ready 
to answer their questions.

"It is true that we have limitations. Every country has its limitations; the 
other countries want to know if we are trying to overcome it to the best of our 
ability."

Bangladesh first submitted a UPR in 2009. The latest UPR was submitted in 2013.

At the hearing of the 2013 UPR, several nations made 196 suggestions to 
Bangladesh and the country accepted 191 of them. The remaining 5 were regarding 
gay rights and the abolishment of the death penalty; Bangladesh did not take 
those suggestions.

The official also said: "37 countries of the world do not support gay rights 
and Bangladesh is one of them. Our society is not ready for this yet."

According to the latest report, between the years 2013-2017, several lower 
courts gave the execution orders to 1,119 criminals. However, the High Court 
stayed the execution of 130 people. Only 17 people were hanged in those 5 
years.

At the hearing, the government of Bangladesh will have to answer to questions 
about issues such as women's rights, freedom of speech, police brutality, and 
extrajudicial killings.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)








IRAQ:

Iraq puts Belgian IS jihadist on trial



An Iraqi court on Thursday began the trial of a Belgian Islamic State group 
jihadist who threatened attacks against the West in propaganda videos. Tarik 
Jadaoun - known by his nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Beljiki - pleaded "not 
guilty" to charges including carrying out attacks on Iraqi troops that could 
see him handed the death penalty.

Born in 1988, Jadaoun - who was captured in ex-IS bastion Mosul in August - 
appeared before the Baghdad court dressed in a beige prison uniform with a 
shaved head and bushy moustache.

"I was not a fighter, I was in charge of a group of IS nurses. I took care of 
everybody," he told the court. "I got lost and I appeal to your kindness." 
Jadaoun, who has Moroccan roots, said he was forced by "one of the top IS 
commanders" to appear in videos threatening attacks against Belgium and France. 
The footage saw Jadaoun earn the moniker "the new Abaaoud", after his 
compatriot Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the organisers of November 2015 attacks 
in Paris.

Earlier, investigators alleged Jadaoun was in charge of the "cubs of the 
caliphate" - about 60 children aged 8 to 13 who received intensive fitness and 
weapons training.

There was no mention of those accusations at the court session on Thursday.

The judge postponed the next hearing until May 22, with a judicial source 
putting the delay down to a lack of diplomatic representation for the accused.

Belgium does not have an embassy in Iraq, but the source said the foreign 
ministry in Baghdad had sent a letter to representatives from the country.

In total, Iraqi courts have sentenced to death more than 300 people, including 
dozens of foreigners, for belonging to IS, judicial sources said last month.

Since January, some 100 foreign nationals have been sentenced to death in 
Baghdad and around 185 to life in prison, officials said.

Thousands of foreign fighters from across the world flocked to the black banner 
of the jihadists as the group seized swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Their self-declared "caliphate" has since been reduced to a rump territory of 
desert in the east of war-torn Syria.

The fate of those who survived ferocious onslaughts by various forces against 
IS has been a major headache for their home governments, which are often 
against seeing them return.

(source: nation.com.pk)








IRAN:

Iran's Dark Times Are Brought to Light



A new investigative report was released by Amnesty International on Monday. It 
looks at the ways that signs of mass graves of political prisoners who were 
executed in Iran in 1988 are being wiped out.

The report states, "Today, it is still not known exactly how many prisoners 
were extra-judicially executed in 1988, although minimum estimates are between 
4,000 and 5,000."

AP reports, "International rights groups estimate as many as 5,000 people were 
executed, while the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq puts the number at 30,000."

Mass graves have been gradually leveled to escape any possible future 
accountability, report adds, "The account identifies 7 suspected or confirmed 
mass grave sites that have faced destruction between 2003 and 2017. They are 
located in or near Behesht Reza cemetery in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi province; 
Behesht Abad cemetery in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province; Vadieh Rahmat cemetery in 
Tabriz, East Azerbaijan province; Golestan Javid cemetery in Khavaran; Tazeh 
Abad cemetery in Rasht, Gilan province; the Baha'i cemetery in Qorveh, 
Kurdistan province; and the grounds of the former premises of the Revolutionary 
Court in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province."

A 1990 Amnesty report stated, "Some who appeared were asked to identify 
themselves. Those who responded 'mujahedeen' were sent to their deaths, while 
others were questioned about their willingness to 'clear minefields for the 
army of the Islamic Republic'."

AI called for an enquiry commission to probe the officials of the "Death 
Commission", as it was known among former Iranian political prisoners, many of 
whom, according to the AI report, still hold offices in the Iranian regime. The 
report added that no Iranian official has been investigated or brought to 
justice.

2 high profile examples are Ebrahim Raisi a challenger to Hassan Rouhani in 
last year's presidential election and now the custodian of the wealthiest Imam 
Reza Foundation in Mashhad, and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, Iran's Justice Minister 
in Rouhani's 1st cabinet. Rouhani also chose Alireza Avii, another member of 
the Death Commission to head the Justice Ministry in his 2nd cabinet.

The Death Commission oversaw the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the 
summer of 1988, who were mostly members and supporters of the opposition 
People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK). Raisi and Pour-Mohammadi 
were 2 of the 4 members of the Death Commission.

Reportedly, Khomeini issued a fatwa, a religious decree, authorizing the 
massacre that occurred in the summer of 1988. The Commission allegedly handed 
down some 30,000 death sentences. Courts lasted an average of 3 minutes. Some 
of the political prisoners who survived the slaughter have written or spoken of 
their ordeals.

The judges asked only one question, "Do you still believe in Mojahedin?" 
Gruesome accounts of survivors, especially female prisoners, often leave the 
listeners in shock.

An audio tape that was published on his website by Ayatollah Hossein-Ali 
Montazeri???s son in August 2016 brought much of this into the light. Montazeri 
objected to the mass executions in 1988. He spent the rest of his life under 
house arrest and died in 2009. Montazeri can be heard on the audio tape telling 
a meeting of the Death Commission that they are responsible for a crime against 
humanity. "The greatest crime committed during the reign of the Islamic 
Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed by you. Your 
names will in the future be etched in the annals of history as criminals," he 
said.

(source: NCR-Iran)



MAURITANIA:

AU rights body urges Mauritania 'review' blasphemy law----African Commission on 
Human and Peoples' Rights calls on Mauritanian government to review draft law 
that applies death penalty for blasphemy.



The African Union's human rights body has called on Mauritania to "review" a 
draft law that applies the death penalty for blasphemy as global outrage grows 
over the imprisonment of a young blogger.

Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir has been detained for more than 4 years 
despite his death penalty being downgraded to a 2-year sentence in November.

The decision by an appeals court to spare Mkheitir's life, which caused clashes 
and outrage in the conservative Muslim nation, came after he repented for 
charges of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a blog post.

Later in November the government moved to harden up religious laws so that 
showing repentance for blasphemy and apostasy could no longer prevent the death 
penalty.

But the text of the bill has not yet been promulgated by President Mohamed Ould 
Abdel Aziz, without official explanation.

The head of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Soyata Maiga, 
called on the government to reconsider the bill in the capital Nouakchott on 
Wednesday.

"The African commission uses the occasion of its current session in Mauritania 
to urge the highest authorities to review this legislation," she said.

"This review must be done in accordance with the guidelines and efforts of the 
African commission's working group on the death penalty and extrajudicial 
killings in Africa."

The African Union-backed group, whose decisions are not binding, advocates for 
the death penalty to be abolished.

Mauritanian authorities have not commented on Mkheitir's fate since November.

Some 20 NGOs have since asked the country's authorities to end the "secrecy" 
and guarantee the safety of the blogger, who is in his thirties.

The case contributed to Mauritania falling 17 spots in Reporters Without 
Borders' 2018 World Press Freedom Index, the biggest drop of any African 
nation.

The death sentence has not been applied in Mauritania since 1987.

(source: middle-east-online.com)








KENYA:

Kenya to fast-track laws to make wildlife killing capital offense



Kenya will fast-track laws to make wildlife poaching a capital offense as part 
of the country's bid to conserve flora and fauna, a senior government official 
said late Thursday.

Najib Balala, the Minister for Tourism and Wildlife, said that once the laws 
are enacted, the offenders of the wildlife crimes will face the death penalty 
in accordance with the laws of the land.

"We have in place the Wildlife Conservation Act that was enacted in 2013 and 
which fetches offenders a life sentence or a fine of 200,000 U.S. dollars. 
However, this has not been deterrence enough to curb poaching, hence the 
proposed stiffer sentence," Balala remarked during the official launch of the 
northern white rhino commemorative stamps at Ol Pejeta Conservancy located in 
Laikipia County on the slopes of Mount Kenya.

The initiative to issue a set of stamps to celebrate the northern white rhino 
was instigated by the Postal Corporation of Kenya in honor of "Sudan", the 
remaining male northern white rhino that died on March 19 after suffering from 
age-related health issues and from a series of infections.

Richard Vigne, the CEO of Ol Pejeta Conservancy that was home to Sudan, said 
the tragic story of the northern rhino will be captured forever as a signal to 
the world. He added that whilst Kenya remains a global leader in conservation, 
there are nonetheless many species across the planet that face a similar 
plight.

Vigne said that once Sudan's condition worsened significantly and he was unable 
to stand up, and obviously suffered a great deal, the decision to euthanize the 
mammoth was made by his veterinary team. This left Najin and Fatu as the two 
remaining northern white rhinos on the planet.

"Despite the extremely low numbers remaining, Ol Pejeta and Kenya Wildlife 
Service are working closely with the scientific community to try to recover 
this species from imminent extinction," Vigne noted, adding that the only way 
this can be done is through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

The conservationist said that because scientific practice has never ever been 
done in rhinos before, it will require the removal of eggs from the ovaries of 
the 2 remaining females to be fertilized using semen stored from males over the 
last few years to create viable mature embryos for storage in liquid nitrogen.

Once this has been achieved, a technique to reintroduce the embryos into 
surrogate southern female, because the 2 are infertile, with the aim of 
achieving pure bred northern white pregnancies.

"This effort will cost a huge amount of money, but is a noble effort to reverse 
at least one of the wrongs that mankind has wreaked upon other species that 
inhabit this planet with us," Vigne stated.

Patrick Omondi, the Director of Research in the Ministry of Tourism and 
Wildlife, said plans were underway to build a wildlife conservation museum that 
will feature wildlife icons, adding that the remains of Sudan will be displayed 
in a national conservation museum.

(source: Xinhua)








SUDAN:

Death sentence for raped teenager is an intolerable cruelty



A Sudanese court's sentencing today of a 19-year-old woman to death for killing 
her rapist husband in self-defence highlights the failure of the authorities to 
tackle child marriage, forced marriage and marital rape, Amnesty International 
said today.

Noura Hussein Hamad has been held in the Omdurman Women's Prison since May 
2017, and was today handed the death sentence for killing the man her father 
forced her to marry when she was 16 years old.

"Noura Hussein life-long wish was to become a teacher but she ended up being 
forced to marry an abusive man who raped and brutalized her. Now she has been 
slapped with a death sentence by a court which refused to recognize the 
existence of rape within marriage. Noura Hussein is a victim and the sentence 
against her is an intolerable act of cruelty,' said Seif Magango, Amnesty 
International's Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the 
Great Lakes.

"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and 
to apply it to a rape victim only highlights the failure of the Sudanese 
authorities to acknowledge the violence she endured. The Sudanese authorities 
must quash this grossly unfair sentence and ensure that Noura gets a fair 
retrial that takes into account her mitigating circumstances."

Noura Hussein was married against her will to Abdulrahman Mohamed Hammad at the 
age of 16. The 1st marriage ceremony involved the signing a marriage contract 
between her father and Abdulrahman. The 2nd part of the marriage ceremony took 
place in April 2017, when she was forced to move into Abdulrahman's home upon 
having completed high school. When she refused to consummate the marriage, 
Abdulrahman invited 2 of his brothers and a male cousin to help him rape her. 
Sudanese law allows children over the age of 10 to marry.

On 2 May 2017, the three men held Noura Hussein down while Abdulrahman raped 
her. The next morning he tried to rape her again but she managed to escape to 
the kitchen where she grabbed a knife. In the ensuing scuffle, Abdulrahman 
sustained fatal knife wounds.

Noura then fled to her family home, but her father handed her over to the 
police, who opened a case against her. A medical examination report from the 
fight with Abdulrahman indicated she had sustained injuries including a bite 
and scratches.

At her trial in July 2017, the judge applied an outdated law which did not 
recognize marital rape. Noura Hussein was charged under the Criminal Act (1991) 
and found guilty of intentional murder on April 19, 2018 at the Central 
Criminal Court of Omdurman.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception 
regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or 
other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to 
carry out the execution. As of today, 106 countries have abolished the death 
penalty for all crimes and more than 2/3 of the world's countries are 
abolitionist in law or practice.

(source: Amnesty International USA)

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

Amnesty slams death penalty for raped Sudanese teenager



Rights group Amnesty International on Thursday slammed a Sudanese court's 
sentencing of a teenager to death for killing her rapist husband in 
self-defence.

19-year-old, Noura Hussein Hammad was handed a death sentence by a Sudanese 
court for killing the man her father forced her to marry, the rights group said 
in a statement.

"Noura Hussein is a victim and the sentence against her is an intolerable act 
of cruelty," Amnesty International's deputy regional director Seif Magango said 
in the statement.

"The Sudanese authorities must quash this grossly unfair sentence and ensure 
that Noura gets a fair retrial that takes into account her mitigating 
circumstances."

Hammad was married against her wish to Abdulrahman Hammad at the age of 16, 
with the 1st marriage ceremony involving the signing of a marriage contract 
between her father and her husband, Amnesty International said.

In April 2017 the 2nd part of the marriage ceremony took place when she was 
forced to move to her husband's home after completing high school.

Sudanese law allows children over the age of 10 to marry. When she refused to 
consumate the marriage, her husband invited 2 of his brothers and a male cousin 
to help him rape her, the rights group said.

"On 2 May 2017, the 3 men held Noura Hussein down while Abdulrahman raped her," 
Amnesty International said.

"The next morning he tried to rape her again but she managed to escape to the 
kitchen where she grabbed a knife. In the ensuing scuffle, Abdulrahman 
sustained fatal knife wounds."

Hussein fled to her family home after the incident but her father handed her to 
the police, Amnesty International said.

During her trial in July 2017, the court found her guilty of "intentional 
murder" after applying an outdated law that does not recognise marital rape, it 
added.

"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and 
to apply it to a victim only highlights the failure of the Sudanese authorities 
to acknowledge the violence she endured," Magango said.

Hammad, whose dream had been to become a teacher, has been held in a women's 
prison since May 2017.

In recent years, women and children's rights activists have increasingly 
campaigned against forced marriages of girls and marriage of underage girls, a 
widespread phenomenon in Sudan given that Sudanese law allows children over the 
age of 10 to marry.

(source: The Express Tribune)

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

Teenager who killed husband after he raped her is sentenced to death in 
Sudan----Activists in last-ditch effort to save 19-year-old condemned to death 
for stabbing the man she was forced to marry as he assaulted her



A 19-year-old Sudanese woman has been condemned to death by a court in Omdurman 
for stabbing to death the husband to whom she was forcibly married, who she 
says raped her with assistance of his family.

The death penalty for Noura Hussein was confirmed by a judge on Thursday after 
her husband's family rejected the possibility of financial compensation and 
instead asked for her to be executed.

The case has attracted widespread attention on social media, where a campaign 
Justice for Noura has been trending on Twitter.

Her legal team now has 15 days to appeal the sentence.

After her initial sentence, Hussein told supporters: "It was a shocking moment 
when the judge convicted me with murder. I knew then that I [would] be 
executed, leaving my dreams unfulfilled."

The case, which once again highlights the issue of forced marriage and marital 
rape in a number of countries, is striking for its shocking details.

Married by her family at 16, Noura fled to take refuge at an aunt's house for 3 
years before she was tricked into returning home by her own family, who then 
handed her over to her husband's family.

According to her supporters - including the activist group Equality Now, which 
is backing a petition organised on her behalf - Hussein had been with her 
husband for 6 days when he raped her with the assistance of his brother, a 
relative, and a witness, who held her down.

"She would not have sex with the man," Sarah ElHasan, an activist supporting 
Hussein's case, told al-Jazeera. "He recruited some of his cousins and brought 
them [to his] home where they held her down while her husband raped her."

When he attempted to rape her again the following day, she stabbed her husband 
to death before going to her own parents, who handed her over to police.

Muawya Khidir, a member of Hussein's defence team, told local media that the 
death penalty was not appropriate since Hussein was defending herself at the 
time of the killing and was mentally and psychologically disturbed as a result 
of rape.

One supporter, who attended the hearing, posted details on Twitter: "They 
allowed us to enter the courtroom and I got to sit in the front with a 
colleague of mine. We waited at least 20 minutes until the judge came and 
[asked] Noura to enter. Noura was alone [and] no one from her family came with 
her.

"There was a good amount of supporters that were on her side. They reintroduced 
the case and so the judge eventually asked the rapist's family what they want 
to happen. The judge also did mention that they should forgive her. But the 
family chose execution.

"When I left the court house the rapist's family were clapping with joy and had 
smug looks on their faces - I was disgusted."

Following confirmation of the sentence on Thursday, Equality Now, which has 
taken up Noura's case, said it would be writing to the Sudanese president, Omar 
al-Bashir, to ask for clemency.

"We are also calling on people around the world to sign the change.org petition 
in support of Noura," said Tara Carey of Equality Now.

"Noura is not a criminal, she is a victim - and should be treated as such. In 
other countries, victims of rape and domestic violence like Noura would be 
provided services to ensure that they overcome the trauma of their experiences.

"Criminalisation of Noura for defending herself from assault and, in 
particular, a death sentence, would violate her rights under the Sudanese 
constitution and international law.

"Noura has been subjected to both physical and mental abuse by her family and 
husband, and this is a violation of Articles 14 (protection of children) and 15 
(no marriage without free and full consent) of the constitution.

"The constitution further provides that the 'state shall protect women from 
injustice and promote gender equality', and that 'all persons are equal before 
the law and are entitled, without discrimination, to the equal protection of 
the law.'"

(source: The Guardian)








PAKISTAN:

Peshawar High Court suspends death sentence of military court convict



The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday suspended the death sentence handed 
to a man convicted for terrorism by a military court.

The army's media wing last week announced that Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar 
Javed Bajwa had ratified the death sentences of 11 militants, including 1 
identified as Burhanuddin. He was among 3 convicts sentenced to death for an 
attack on a civilian funeral service in Mardan, which resulted in the killing 
of 30 people, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MPA Mohmind, and left 100 others 
wounded.

The father of 31-year-old Burhanuddin, Umer Daraz Khan, challenged the military 
court's sentence through his lawyer Ziaur Rehman Tajik.

Tajik told a 2-judge PHC bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and 
Justice Afsar Shah that Bajaur Agency native Burhanuddin had been arrested on 
Jan 16, 2017, for his involvement in a bomb blast.

He claimed that Burhanuddin was mentally unfit and had been undergoing 
treatment before and throughout the duration of his custody.

Tajik said the family had been unaware of Burhanuddin's location and were 
informed of his sentencing through the media.

The petitioner wondered how a mentally disabled person could be involved in 
terrorism and awarded capital punishment, adding that the convict had not been 
given the opportunity of a fair trial.

Tajik added that the suspect's family claimed the man was innocent and not 
involved in any terrorist activity.

The bench accepted the family's plea and suspended the military court's 
sentence, asking the federal government and concerned departments to submit a 
report and record on the matter in the PHC and fixed May 15 as the date of the 
next hearing.

(source: dawn.com)








INDIA:

Prosecution seeks death for Thapa murder convicts



The prosecution in the 2012 murder of aspiring actress Meenakshi Thapa, on 
Thursday demanded capital punishment for the 2 case convicts - Amit Jaiswal, a 
lawyer-cum-junior artist and his girlfriend and junior artist, Priti Sunrin.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Thursday argued before sessions judge 
S.G. Shette that there were around 16 aggravating circumstances that put this 
case in the category of "rarest of rare" and hence, the convicts should be 
awarded the death sentence.

According to the arguments made by advocate Nikam, the accused committed the 
murder in a pre-planned manner and demanded ransom from Ms Thapa's family after 
killing her. "It was a brutal murder and the accused did not show any signs of 
remorse nor was there any possibility of their reformation," he said.

Advocate Nikam said that considering that they were a threat to the society, 
the court should award them capital punishment.

Jaiswal and Sunrin have been convicted of killing Ms Thapa, who appeared in a 
few films including Madhur Bhandarkar's Heroine. The defence lawyer on the 
other hand claimed that the case did not fall under the category of "rarest of 
rare" and that the court should show leniency to the convicts while awarding 
the sentence.

After hearing the arguments, judge Shette said that he would pronounce the 
quantum of punishment for both convicts on Friday. Since they have been 
convicted in a murder case, the court can award them either a death sentence or 
life imprisonment.

(source: The Asian Age)

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

Man gets death for killing 2 children----Was in live-in relationship with 
victims' mother



Ropar District and Sessions Judge BS Sandhu on Thursday awarded death penalty 
to a 28-year-old man for killing 2 children.

Convict Ashok Kumar alias Pintu, a native of Baveta village in Ghaziabad 
district of Uttar Pradesh, had killed 2 brothers Manav (10) and Shivam (6) on 
September 25 last year.

He was in a live-in relationship with Rajni, the mother of the children, at 
Uchha Khera mohalla of Ropar town. Both victims were students of Sanatan Dharam 
Secondary School at Ropar.

Rajni had informed the police that her children had left home for school in the 
morning on September 25, but they did not reach the school. So, a case of 
kidnapping was registered.

Prosecution lawyer Mohit Dhupar said that Rajni had got married 3 times in the 
past. Her first 2 husbands had died and she got a separation from her 3rd 
husband. The children were from her 2nd and 3rd marriages.

Following the separation from her 3rd husband, she started living with Pintu, 
who was putting pressure on her to have his children. As Rajni did not want 
more children, she refused, said Dhupar.

On September 25 last year, he took a motorcycle of one of his friends and took 
the children near Sutlej river at Katli village.

There, Pintu threw them into ditches filled with water. During the search for 
the children, Pintu - in an attempt to misguide the police - even tried to 
implicate some Manoj, who had been stalking Rajni in the past.

But a neighbour had spotted him with the children near Katli village. Later, 
Pintu's phone location was also found to be at that spot. Following these, the 
police nabbed him and recovered the bodies on September 28.

(source: tribuneindia.com)