[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 23



INDIA:

Nirbhaya rapists to hang: Supreme Court has ordered death sentence to the 4 
convicts



Finally. Today humanity has won its combat. The apex court has ordered to hang 
4 out of 6 convicts of Nirbhaya rape case. This heinous crime was executed by 6 
people in 2012, and the girl lost her life. These 4 men are Vinay, Pawan, 
Akshay, and Mukesh. Ram Singh who was 1 the 6 accused hanged himself in prison. 
Another of them who was a juvenile that time was sent to reform home in August 
last year.

The Supreme Court while delivering the order said that this murder case was the 
rarest one. We are bound to give them the extreme punishment to ensure justice. 
This is a really a marvelous decision taken by the honorable court. In fact, 
such steps will stop similar incidents from happening in the future. When the 
court read out its verdict, an echo aroused. The crowded courtroom was filled 
with applauds.

Back in March 2014, the convicts of the rape case appealed the Delhi High Court 
when the trial court ordered to hang them in 2013. Delhi High Court also 
rejected their plea. Later, they approached Supreme Court but failed to secure 
their life.

Today, Nirbhaya's parents are surely on top of the world as their daughter has 
got justice. The criminals who have committed this brutal, barbaric crime don't 
really deserve any leniency. Not just Nirbhaya's father but the whole nation 
has similar feelings. The order is appreciated by the whole country.

6 men raped a 23-year old medical student in a moving bus in Delhi. Her 
intestine was pulled out. After the rape, she and her male friend were thrown 
out of the bus. She was sent to AIIMS for immediate treatment. But because of 
her critical condition, she was moved to Singapore hospital On December 29th; 
there she lost her battle for life. The accused really deserve this punishment. 
The only thing that makes us sad is why this decision is taken so late. They 
were to be hanged immediately. Unfortunately, we are bound by laws and 
regulations.

Nirbhaya's parents have similar feelings. Before the hearing this morning, her 
mother, Asha Devi said that not just the apex court, even supreme God would not 
forgive such people. They must be sentenced to death. She said that only death 
penalty was the right punishment for these criminals.

Talking to media, she said that they had full trust in the judiciary system and 
they were sure that the apex court would order the death sentence. She added 
that Supreme Court would surely do justice to their beloved daughter and would 
set an example for the world.

When media approached the defending lawyer of these criminals, he said that it 
was not fair to give death sentence just to set an example for the society. Mr. 
AP Singh who is fighting the case of these convicts added that justice was not 
done. They would file a review petition against this order.

Today court has praised the work of Delhi Police for arresting the criminals. 
The SC added that the probe done by Delhi police was commendable and fair. It 
has passed all tests of fairness and reliability. Based on the medical 
evidence, the death sentence is fairly justified.

5 years back this rape case had shocked everyone. Everyone was moaning when 
they have heard this brutal rape story. But today Nirbhaya has got justice; her 
soul may now rest in peace.

(soruce: brinkwire.com)

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

Malaysian state-linked media left scrambling after polls upset----The pace of 
the trial, the intensifying push for speedy hearings in rape cases, and 
questions about the legal defence provided to Gadke - who pleaded not guilty - 
have raised concerns among some legal rights advocates.



Naveen Gadke was arrested on April 20 and charged with the rape and murder of a 
baby girl in central India.

3 weeks later a court sentenced the 26-year-old odd-job man to death in the 
fastest such trial known to have happened in modern India, a nation where 
public outrage is running high because of a series of rapes and related 
killings.

Police, prosecutors and the district court in the city of Indore worked at a 
furious pace to get the conviction quickly, amid a backlash on the streets, 
including marches in this city of about 2 million, 550 miles south of Delhi.

This is in a country where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government last month 
introduced the death penalty for rapes of girls under 12 years in response to 
public pressure but which has a notoriously slow court system, with cases 
taking at least six years on average to the final ruling, according to 
governance tracking group Daksh.

But the pace of the trial, the intensifying push for speedy hearings in rape 
cases, and questions about the legal defence provided to Gadke - who pleaded 
not guilty - have raised concerns among some legal rights advocates.

They are fearful there will be wrongful convictions and hangings when a 
defendant cannot afford to hire a good lawyer.

"While expeditious trials are ideal, these should not be at the cost of fair 
trial safeguards like the right to adequate time to prepare a defence and the 
presumption of innocence," said Leah Verghese, senior campaigner at human 
rights group Amnesty International India, in an email response to questions.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Rebecca John said she was concerned. "As a 
principle, I am opposed to rushing through investigative processes and trial 
processes" she said.

But reflecting the mood of the nation, well-known Supreme Court lawyer Dushyant 
Dave, a vocal supporter of capital punishment, said India "needs to send at 
least 500 people to death in the next one year to end this endemic" of rape.

"Our system is archaic and extremely inefficient," he added.

Such views have resonated with the mother of the dead 3-month-old girl as she 
sat on the front yard of a 200-year-old palace where her homeless family sleeps 
in the open.

She told Reuters she was happy with the swift verdict but her daughter would 
get justice only when Gadke is hung to death, just as quickly.

"Once such men are hanged, no one will dare to do anything like this to any 
girl," she said.

Rape victims and their families cannot be identified under Indian law.

Gadke could not be contacted as journalists are not allowed to speak with 
convicts in jail as per a home ministry directive. Sachin Verma, Gadke???s 
lawyer, said his client told him that his estranged wife "framed" him, but said 
little else.

Reuters could not trace Gadke's wife to seek comment.

Slapping and Shoving

At trial, the mother, police officers and the prosecution lawyer said security 
cameras showed Gadke taking away the infant as she lay asleep by her parents. 
15 minutes later, he was seen coming out of the basement of a nearby building, 
where her blood-smeared body was found, police said.

Medical tests, completed quickly under instructions from government officials, 
confirmed she was raped, and the semen from a vaginal swab was found to be a 
DNA match with Gadke, according to court documents reviewed by Reuters.

Gadke's lawyer Verma, who specialises in matters related to crimes against 
children, said he reluctantly took the case on state government orders.

That was after 4 other lawyers refused to defend Gadke, Verma said. In a sign 
of how high temperatures were rising in the community, around a dozen lawyers 
attacked the defendant outside the court when he first arrived, slapping and 
shoving him, according to police.

Prosecutors presented 29 witnesses, including police and shopkeepers who found 
the victim's body, and "everybody supported the prosecution", said Verma. He 
presented no witnesses for Gadke's defence.

Verma said he could have done better if he had more time to prepare for the 
case.

"They had to create a story and they had to decide quickly," said Verma, who is 
expecting to receive 4,000 rupees (RM 232.82) from the state government for 
representing Gadke. "My client told me: 'Everyone has already decided I am 
guilty. What's the point of all this?'"

Special prosecutor Mohammad Akram Shaikh said that they had "conclusive 
evidence" against Gadke.

Judge Varsha Sharma, who deals with matters related to crimes against children 
and ruled on the case, declined to comment.

Sending Message

Police pressed charges against Gadke within 7 days of the crime, said Police 
Inspector Shivpal Singh Kushwah.

"All of us wanted to send a message that the law can work fast, and we 
succeeded," he said.

The court sat for seven straight working days to hear the case, unusual in 
India where one court is often dipping in and out of several cases on the same 
day. A government-run laboratory conducted tests on forensic evidence within 4 
days of a police request. This usually takes more than a month, Kushwah said.

After hearing details of his crime from Shaikh and the witnesses, Judge Sharma 
found Gadke guilty and ordered his death by hanging.

"This falls under the rarest of rare case and it would be appropriate to hand 
such a criminal the toughest punishment," the judge declared.

The sentence has to be confirmed by a higher court, for which Gadke will be 
provided a different lawyer by the state government. The court's decision can 
be challenged in the Supreme Court. An appeal to India's president is the last 
resort. The entire process can take years.

Acceleration Demanded

Even before Gadke's trial, there were growing calls to speed up child rape 
trials.

Lower courts take an average of 5 years to complete cases of prisoners 
sentenced to death, high courts 1 year and 4 months, and the Supreme Court 2 
years and 1 month, according to a 2016 report by the Centre on the Death 
Penalty in the National Law University of Delhi.

The university study found that 74% of 373 death row prisoners they interviewed 
were economically vulnerable. The majority were from low castes and religious 
minorities. In the Indore case, Gadke did various jobs like cleaning utensils 
in eateries.

By contrast, trials involving India's rich and powerful sometimes take more 
than 10 years. Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a wealthy self-styled godman who had many 
followers, was convicted last year on charges of raping 2 followers - 15 years 
after the case was registered.

Government statistics show that since 2012, when a young woman was gang-raped 
in a moving bus in Delhi igniting national uproar, reported rape cases have 
climbed 60% to around 40,000 in 2016 - about 1 every 15 minutes - with child 
rape accounting for about 40%.

(source: freemalaysiatoday.com)








ALGERIA:

Blogger facing death penalty for online posts



The trial of an Algerian blogger who faces the death penalty on trumped-up 
espionage charges based on online posts is yet another stain on the country's 
human rights record, Amnesty International said today ahead of the opening 
hearing on 24 May.

Merzoug Touati faces charges relating to a Facebook post and YouTube video that 
authorities claim encouraged civil unrest. He has been in detention since 
January 2017.

Amnesty International has reviewed the court documents which list as "evidence" 
the posts published by Touati before his Facebook account and website were 
deleted, and found that there was no incitement to violence or advocacy of 
hatred, rather his posts were covered by freedom of expression in relation to 
his work as a citizen-journalist. Amnesty International therefore considers 
Merzoug Touati a prisoner of conscience held solely for expressing his peaceful 
opinions.

"Every day Merzoug Touati spends in prison is one day too many, and is a 
further stain on Algeria's human rights record. It is ludicrous that a Facebook 
post expressing peaceful opinion could lead to the death penalty. Touati 
represents the broken dreams of a generation in a country where freedom of 
expression has been repeatedly undermined," said Heba Morayef, Middle East and 
North Africa regional director at Amnesty International.

"Algeria must immediately free Touati, a prisoner of conscience, awaiting trial 
solely for expressing himself online."

Merzoug Touati has been in detention since 22 January 2017 and is currently 
held in El Khemis prison in the northern city of Bejaia. He has conducted at 
least 3 hunger strikes to protest against his extended detention. His trial is 
scheduled to begin tomorrow (Thursday 24 May).

Merzoug Touati is a university graduate who was unemployed at his time of 
arrest. He was not affiliated to any political party or association. In 2015, 
he began to run a Facebook page and a blog called alhogra.com, since deleted, 
writing mostly about political and human rights developments in Algeria.

During his interrogation, Merzoug Touati told the investigative judge that the 
interviews he had conducted with diplomats, human rights defenders and 
activists from different religious and political backgrounds were solely for 
documentation purposes for his online articles.

Background

Police arrested Merzoug Touati on 18 January 2017 after he published a post on 
Facebook and a video interview on his YouTube channel.

In the 1st post on 2 January 2017 he called for Bejaia residents to protest 
against a new Finance Law. In the 2nd post on YouTube on 8 January 2017, 
Merzoug Touati interviewed an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson in which he 
disputes accusations by the Algerian authorities that the Israeli authorities 
were involved in protests in Algeria.

On 22 January 2017, the investigative judge in the Bejaia Tribunal ordered 
Merzoug Touati's pre-trial detention pending investigation on charges including 
incitement to violence and also espionage.

On 24 October 2017, the Indictment Chamber of the Bejaia Court formally 
referred the case to the Criminal Court charging Merzoug Touati with 
"incitement to take up arms against the authority of the state", "incitement to 
non-armed gathering", "foreign intelligence aiming at harming diplomatic ties", 
as well as "incitement to gatherings and sit-ins in public spaces".

In November 2017, defence lawyers appealed the indictment decision before the 
Supreme Court, but in April 2018, Merzoug Touati asked his lawyers to drop the 
appeal for fear that it would take longer than the verdict of the Criminal 
Court.

Merzoug Touati's lawyer Salah Dabouz told Amnesty International that "the 
blogger's detention has been extended on 2 occasions for 4 months, the 2nd of 
which expired on 22 January 2018. However, the investigative judge failed to 
order another renewal since then". Article 59 of the Algerian Constitution 
states that provisional detention should be exceptional and that arbitrary 
arrest is punished by law.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception 
regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or 
the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. The death penalty is a 
violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading 
punishment.

(source: Amnesty International)



BAHRAIN:

Bahrain court upholds death, life sentences----Defendants charged with murder 
of police officer



Bahrain's Cassation Court on Monday upheld the death sentence for 2 men 
convicted by lower courts on the charge of the premeditated murder of a police 
officer.

The court also upheld life in prison for 3 defendants and jail terms for the 
others varying from 3 to 10 years.

Only 1 of the 13 defendants was acquitted in the case where they faced charges 
of premeditated murder, attempted murder, forming a terror group, harbouring 
fugitives, failing to report a terrorist plot and possessing incendiary 
devices.

The public prosecution said it received information on April 14, 2016, from the 
police directorate in Manama about a group of terrorists who used Molotov 
cocktails to set a police patrol vehicle ablaze to kill officers.

Investigations revealed the terrorists had ambushed the patrol in Karbabad and 
doused it with petrol before setting it alight. 1 man burned to death and the 
other 2 suffered burns.

On June 5, 2017, the high court sentenced 2 defendants to death, 3 to life in 
jail, 3 to 10 years, 1 to 7 years, 1 to 5 years and 2 to 3 years. 1 suspect was 
acquitted.

The court of appeals on February 27 upheld the sentences.

(source: Gulf News)

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

Bahrain court issues death sentences against 2 activists, revokes citizenship 
of none others



Bahrain has upheld death sentences against two activists as the ruling Al 
Khalifah regime intensifies its crackdown against political dissidents and 
pro-democracy campaigners in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.

The defendants, Ahmad al-Abbar and Hussein Mahdi, were sentenced to death by 
the Bahrain Criminal Court after they made forced confessions, according to the 
Manama Post website. Their charges were not immediately known.

Another Bahraini court also sentenced 9 citizens to jail and revoked their 
citizenship.

Separately, a court in the capital Manama on Sunday also sentenced 20 activists 
to prison sentences ranging from 3 to 15 years after they were convicted on 
"terrorism" charges.

This came days after a Bahrain court on Tuesday revoked the citizenship of 115 
people at a mass terrorism trial.

The court ruling came as much of the Mideast was focusing on Israeli forces 
killing over dozens of Palestinian protesters as the US relocated its embassy 
from Tel Aviv to the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds the day before. Like much of 
the crackdown, it has quietly escaped attention.

The trials in Bahrain are often tainted with allegations of torture and coerced 
confessions. Hundreds have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Activists say the number of those who have lost their citizenship in Bahrain 
since 2012 has risen to over 700.

Rights groups have accused Manama of employing its anti-terror legislation to 
jail and torture regime critics.

Lynn Maalouf, Middle East Director at Amnesty International, said in a 
statement on May 16 that "the Bahraini government is using revocation of 
nationality - rendering many of its citizens stateless in the process - and 
expulsion, as tools to crush all forms of opposition, dissent and activism."

The right to a nationality is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which 
Bahrain is a state party.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in 
Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the 
country on February 14, 2011.

They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just 
system representing all Bahrainis be established.

Manama has spared no effort in clamping down on dissent and rights activists. 
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were 
deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown on 
peaceful protesters.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained 
injuries or got arrested as a result of Al Khalifah regime???s crackdown on 
anti-regime activists.

On March 5, 2017, Bahrain's parliament approved the trial of civilians at 
military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being 
tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.

Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional 
amendment on April 3 last year.

(source: abna24.com)








IRAN:

Urgent Action Update: Execution Looms for Iranian Kurdish Prisoner (UA: Iran 
171.17)



Iranian Kurdish prisoner Ramin Hossein Panahi, sentenced to death in January 
2018, is at imminent risk of execution. The Office for Implementation of 
Sentences has said that his execution will be carried out soon after the end of 
the Muslim month of Ramadan on 15 June. He was convicted and sentenced to death 
after a grossly unfair trial.

TAKE ACTION

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

Halt plans to carry out the execution of Ramin Hossein Panahi immediately;

Ensure that his conviction and death sentence are quashed and that he is 
released unless there is sufficient evidence not obtained through torture or 
other ill-treatment to charge him with a recognizable criminal offence and 
grant him a fair trial, without recourse to the death penalty;

Order a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into his enforced 
disappearance, prolonged solitary confinement and allegations of torture and 
other ill-treatment, bringing to justice anyone found responsible in fair 
trials.

Contact these 2 officials by 2 July, 2018:

High Council for Human Rights

Mohmmad Javad Larijani

Esfandiar Boulevard, Niayesh Intersection

Vali Asr Avenue, Tehran, Iran

Salutation: Your Excellency

H.E. Gholamali Khoshroo

Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Phone: (212) 687-2020 I Fax: (212) 867-7086

Email: iran at un.int

Salutation: Your Excellency

(source: Amnesty International LUSA)








SUDAN:

#JusticeForNoura: Will outcry overturn death penalty for Sudanese 
teen?----Activists urge Sudan to enact legal reform that would protect women 
and girls.



A 19-year-old Sudanese woman was sentenced to death by hanging for killing her 
husband after he allegedly raped her. Now, international groups including the 
UN are asking the Sudanese government to spare the life of Noura Hussein. Her 
story has generated outcry online and is being shared with the hashtag 
#JusticeForNoura.

Forced into marriage at 16, Noura Hussein rejected her husband and went into 
hiding for 3 years. Her father allegedly tricked her into returning home, and 
when she continued her refusal to consummate the marriage in April last year, 
her husband had male relatives hold her down while he raped her. When he tried 
to rape her again, Noura said she stabbed her husband in self-defence. In 
Sudan, marital rape and child marriage are not considered crimes.

Advocates for women's rights say Sudan's legal system often fails to protect 
the vulnerable and criminalises rape victims. In this episode, we'll discuss 
Noura's case and the challenges Sudanese women and girls face when seeking 
justice for sexual violence. Join the conversation at 1930GMT.

On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:

Mohamed Seifeldein @MoSeifeldein

International lawyer

moseif4council.com

Naitore Nyamu-Mathenge @NaitoreNyamu

Programme officer, Equality Now

equalitynow.org

Nahid Gabralla

Director, SEEMA Center

facebook.com/SEEMACenter

Hala al-Karib @Sihanet

Director, SIHA Network

(source: aljazeera.com)