[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

October 26




IRAN:

5 Iranian environmentalists facing death penalty



5 environmentalists in Iran have been charged with national security crimes 
that carry the death penalty, something that the UN environment head has called 
deeply troubling.

These activists from the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation were arrested in 
January, along with at least four other people, and accused of espionage, 
something that international human rights campaigners and Iran's own government 
say there is no evidence for. Thus, the Iranian Regime changed the charges to 
"corruption on earth", which is punishable by execution.

UN Environment head, Erik Solheim, said that the UN is deeply troubled by these 
cases and that the latest development gives them "even greater cause for 
alarm".

The 5 environmentalists are Houman Jowkar, Taher Ghadirian, Morad Tahbaz, 
Sepideh Kashani and Niloufar Bayani. Tahbaz, who is Iranian-American, is CEO of 
the PWHF, while Bayani who has worked with the UN, only returned to Iran last 
June to join the group.

One source familiar with the Iranian Regime said that its intelligence 
apparatus is suspicious of NGOs, especially those with dual nationals involved, 
because it sees them as threats to the status quo of the Regime.

Meanwhile, Iran is plagued by environmental challenges, including water 
shortages and air pollution, which have been triggers for the nationwide 
protests in Iran that sprang up in December, but the people most equipped to 
help are being jailed by the mullahs.

In January, the Revolutionary Guards Corps arrested at least 9 members of the 
PWHF, 1 of whom has already died in jail. Professor Kavous Seyed-Emami, a 
celebrated Canadian-Iranian environmentalist, died in February and the Regime 
claimed it was suicide, but many disagree.

The Regime accused Seyed-Emami of being a CIA-Mossad agent and claimed that the 
PWHF had used surveys of endangered Asiatic cheetahs as a cover for spying on 
missile test sites. However, they produced no evidence for that.

The source said: "After the death in custody of Seyed-Emami, the Revolutionary 
Guards went on defensive and to extremes to prove that something was wrong, 
especially when the government is saying they haven't done anything wrong."

Solheim explained that the UN was kept in the dark about Seyed-Emami's death 
and the new charges against the environmentalists.

He said: "This sends an extremely ominous message to Iran’s environmentalist 
community."

The Regime also arrested Kaveh Madani, the deputy head of Iran’s environmental 
protection organisation, and held him for 72 hours. Following his release, he 
fled the county.

The 3 other environmentalists who were not charged with corruption on earth, 
but whose fate is still unknown are Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi and 
Abdolreza Kouhpayeh.

(source: irannewsupdate.com)

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

Environmentalists Face Capital Charges----Detained for 9 Months; No Access to a 
Lawyer----A campaign poster showing environmental activists, Taher Ghadirian, 
Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Houman Jokar, Sam Rajabi, Sepideh 
Kashani, Morad Tahbaz and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, who have been in detention for 6 
months.



Iranian authorities have issued indictments against 8 detained environmental 
activists that could lead to the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. 
Iranian authorities should immediately release these activists who have been 
arbitrary detained for nine months unless they can produce evidence to justify 
the charges against them and guarantee a fair trial.

On October 24, 2018, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, said at a 
news conference that the authorities had finalized indictments for the 
activists, who have been held since January and February. He said that 4 face 
the charge of "sowing corruption on earth," which includes the risk of the 
death penalty. He justified the charge based on a claim that the activists were 
"seeking proximity to military sites with the cover of the environmental 
projects and obtaining military information from them."

"Iran's judiciary appears determined to pursue serious charges against these 
environmental activists no matter how ridiculous the allegations of wrongdoing 
are and despite the continuing denial of the defendants' right to see a lawyer 
of their choice," said Michael Page, deputy Middle East deputy director at 
Human Rights Watch. "With the judiciary serving as one of the main cornerstones 
in Iran's apparatus of repression, there is a major risk that they won't get a 
fair trial."

When the law is applied in such a vague way that people cannot predict which 
acts are crimes and detainees suffer major violations of due process rights, 
prosecutions are arbitrary, Human Rights Watch said.

On January 24 and 25, the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence organization 
arrested Houman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, 
Sam Rajabi, Taher Ghadirian, Kavous Seyed Emami, and Morad Tahbaz, all members 
of a local environmental group, the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. On 
February 25, authorities arrested another environmentalist, Abdoreza Kouhpayeh, 
who remains in detention alone with seven other activists.

During 9 months of pretrial detention, none of the detainees have had access to 
a lawyer of their choice and authorities have not set a trial date. On 
September 30, family members said on social media that judicial authorities had 
told them that the environmentalists can only be represented by lawyers from a 
pre-approved list of 20 that the judiciary had published in June.

The authorities have not allowed Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer chosen by 
Rajabi and by Ghaderian's family to represent them, to see his clients, Aghasi 
told Center for Human Rights in Iran. On October 22, Aghasi had told the Iran 
Wire news website that 5 of the detained activists faced the "corruption on 
earth" charge.

On February 10, family of Kavous Seyed Emami, an Iranian-Canadian university 
professor who was arrested with other activists, reported that he had died in 
detention in unknown circumstances. Iranian authorities claimed that he 
committed suicide, but they have not conducted an impartial investigation into 
his death and have placed a travel ban on his wife, Maryam Mombeini.

2 sources who have close knowledge of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation 
and preferred to remain anonymous told Human Rights Watch that all of the 
foundation's projects, including their wildlife monitoring projects, were 
carried out with required permission from relevant authorities.

Several senior Iranian government officials have said that they did not find 
any evidence to suggest that the detained activists are spies. On May 22, 
Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported that Issa Kalantari, the head of 
Iran's Environmental Institution, said during a speech at a biodiversity 
conference that the government had formed a committee consisting of the 
ministers of intelligence, interior, and justice and the president's legal 
deputy, and that they had concluded there was no evidence to suggest those 
detained are spies.

On October 22, when asked about the charges, Kalantari told ISNA that the 
committee could no longer intervene in the case and the Intelligence Ministry 
had announced its decision about these activists.

Article 48 of Iran's 2014 criminal procedure law says that detainees charged 
with various offenses, including national or international security crimes, 
political, and media crimes, must select their counsel from a pre-approved pool 
selected by Iran's judiciary during the investigation. The list of lawyers 
published in June did not include any women or human rights lawyers.

Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to 
which Iran is a state party, the authorities are required to ensure that anyone 
facing criminal charges has access to a lawyer of their choosing. Anyone 
arrested should be promptly informed of any charges against them, and detention 
before trial should be an exception, not the rule. Anyone detained is entitled 
to a trial within a reasonable time or release.

Under article 286 of Iran's penal code, "Any person, who extensively commits a 
serious crime against people's physical safety, offenses against internal or 
international security of the state, spreading lies, disruption of the economic 
system of the state, arson and destruction of properties" can be considered 
among the "corrupt on earth' and sentenced to death if the court finds "the 
intention to cause extensive disruption in the public order, or creating 
insecurity, or causing vast damage or spreading corruption and prostitution in 
a large scale, or the knowledge of effectiveness of the acts committed." 
Otherwise, the sentence can be between 6 months and 5 years.

(source: Human Rights Watch)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Activist's Father Hopes Scrutiny of Riyadh Will Save Daughter From Execution



Saudi Shiite human rights activist Israa al-Ghomgham will face a judge Sunday 
who will decide whether she will be sentenced to death for "anti-establishment 
activities." The 28-year-old’s father hopes the increased scrutiny on the Saudi 
kingdom due to the Jamal Khashoggi affair will lead the state to spare his 
daughter's life.

The Saudi human rights advocate who hails from Qatif has been under arrest 
since 2015, when she was detained along with half a dozen others on charges 
relating to their documentation of and participation in Shiite protests against 
the Saudi government.

Ghomgham spent 32 months in al-Mabahith prison in Dammam, the capital of her 
native Eastern Province. The province contains both most of Saudi Arabia's oil 
resources as well as most of its Shiite population, who are repressed by the 
Sunni government in Riyadh, which follows Wahhabism, one of the strictest and 
most militantly anti-Shiite sects of Islam.

The friction between the prosperity of Eastern Province and the lack of 
participation in that prosperity by the Shiite population, which forms between 
1/3 and 1/2 the province's population, has driven recurrent protests for 
decades, only intensifying after the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 - a rising 
tide of resistance in which Ghomgham played a part.

She was sent to Riyadh in August for a trial in the notorious Specialized 
Criminal Court (SCC), which the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights 
(ESOHR) said at the time was "under total control by the king, and therefore 
many of these trials are merely show trials and have pre-determined outcomes 
which serve the narrative of the state."

"[T]he call of the public prosecution for a death sentence for the detainee is 
a dangerous indicator that the trial outcome will lead to a death penalty 
sentence being issued," ESOHR said August 15, "because the Saudi mechanisms 
involved in the prosecution process are not independent and serve the needs of 
King Salman directly... Israa is being subjected to an unfair trial, which uses 
flawed laws and can be regarded as a 'show trial.'"

Now Ghomgham is due to appear in court once more on Sunday - an appearance that 
could see her formally handed the death sentence according to the Saudi public 
prosecutor's August recommendations, Middle East Eye reported Thursday.

If she is sentenced to death and executed, she will be the 1st female Saudi 
activist to meet such a fate in the kingdom. However, she would be far from the 
first Shiite to do so: the majority of Saudi Arabia's political prisoners on 
death row are Shiite, and most of the executions carried out this year have 
been of Shiite activists. ESOHR reported that 93 people in total have been 
executed this year on political and drug-related charges, and another 62 face 
the death penalty, including eight minors. Amnesty International noted that 38 
of those yet to be executed are Shiites, a proportion that far exceeds their 
representation in the Saudi population, which is roughly 10 %.

Ali Adubisi, director of ESOHR, said that Ghomgham's father had hoped that the 
dramatically increased international scrutiny directed at the Saudi state due 
to the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was critical of the Saudi 
government, might stay the government's hand and spare his daughter's life. 
However, now he, too, has been summoned for interrogation and accused of 
"inciting public opinion against the state" and could potentially share the 
same fate as his daughter.

The SCC was established in 2008 to handle terrorism cases, but the Arab Spring 
in 2011 caused rifts to erupt in Saudi society: Shiites, but also moderate 
Sunnis associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, both began to criticize Riyadh 
for its policies, and the Saudi state responded by dramatically ramping up its 
political repression. Increasingly strong "anti-terrorist laws," the first of 
which was passed in 2014 but with a major replacement and expansion law coming 
into force in late 2017, have swept up scores of activists ranging from women's 
rights activists to Shiite protesters to Muslim Brethren, hitting many of them 
with terrorism and related charges for what often amounted to little more than 
social media commentary critical of the government.

Other victims apart from Ghomgham include prominent Sunni scholar Salman 
al-Odah, arrested last month for tweets supporting reconciliation with Qatar, 
and perhaps Khashoggi as well, who like Odah was a Muslim Brother who 
criticized the Saudi state. Saudi Arabia last week admitted that Khashoggi had 
been killed in its consulate in Istanbul - the result of a fight gone wrong, 
the official explanation said. Earlier today, however, the Saudi prosecutor 
general said Khashoggi's murder had been premeditated.

Ghomgham's case has prompted international outcry, with a panel of United 
Nations experts expressing "acute concern" for her case and decrying her lack 
of legal representation. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human 
Rights told Middle East Eye it had contacted Saudi authorities, but that their 
communications would "remain confidential for 60 days once they have been 
sent."

The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also blasted Riyadh for Ghomgham's 
detention and trial, with ministry spokesperson Adam Austen saying on August 
22, "Canada is extremely concerned by the arrests of women's rights activists," 
and adding, "These concerns have been raised with the Saudi government. Canada 
will always stand up for the protection of human rights, including women's 
rights and freedom of expression around the world," Sputnik reported.

(source: sputniknews.com)








SINGAPORE----execution

Malaysian drug courier dies on Singapore gallows, family's lawyer confirms



Malaysian Prabu Pathmanathan, 31, was executed at dawn in Singapore's Changi 
Prison today, lawyer N. Surendran said in a statement.

Surendran who represents Prabu's family also confirmed that they have collected 
his body for cremation later today, but called the hanging by Singapore a 
lawless act that disregarded the due process.

"The execution was an unlawful, and brutal act, carried out in breach of due 
process and in defiance of the appeals made by neighbouring Malaysia," he said.

Prabu was convicted of smuggling 227.82 grams of diamorphine from Malaysia into 
Singapore in 2014.

Surendran who is also adviser for civil group Lawyers for Liberty claimed the 
Singapore authorities gave less than a week's notice on Prabu’s execution to 
his family even as they and the Malaysian government sought to commute his 
death sentence.

He said the Singapore President's Office also rejected petitions for clemency 
and gave its reply to the family late last night, then questioned the entire 
manoeuvre which he called "underhanded".

"It is a flagrant breach of due process for the Singapore President to reject 
the family's clemency petition without even considering it. It was thus a 
lawless act.

"Prabu's parents and siblings are devastated by the execution of their son and 
brother," the lawyer said.

Surendran conveyed the family's gratitude to the Malaysian government and other 
anti-death penalty advocates in the country and outside for their support.

Groups like Lawyers for Liberty, Amnesty International, We Believe in Second 
Chances and Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign were among those who voiced 
their opposition to Prabu's hanging.

Malaysia has equally strict laws as Singapore with regards to drug trafficking 
but the Pakatan Harapan government recently announced that it would abolish the 
mandatory death penalty as part of its promised legal reforms after taking 
power in the May elections.

De facto law minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong told reporters Wednesday that he 
would issue a letter to the Singapore government asking that Prabu be given a 
2nd chance.

(source: malaymail.com)

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

Singapore hangings spur fresh calls by rights groups to scrap death penalty



Singapore on Friday hanged a Malaysian convicted of drug trafficking, the 
latest in what rights groups said was a series of executions prompting them to 
renew calls for the wealthy city-state to abolish the death penalty.

Singapore has some of the world's toughest anti-drugs laws, and airport customs 
forms warn arriving travelers of "death for drug traffickers" in no uncertain 
terms.

Human rights group Amnesty International and the U.N. Human Rights Office have 
urged Singapore to halt executions and follow the example of neighboring 
Malaysia, where a newly elected government has vowed to end capital punishment 
by year-end.

"The execution was an unlawful and brutal act, carried out in breach of due 
process and in defiance of the appeals made by Malaysia," N. Surendran, the 
lawyer for the executed man, said in a statement.

Prabu N Pathmanathan, the Malaysian citizen, was hanged at dawn in the city 
state’s Changi prison, he added.

(source: Reuters)

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

Death penalty – S'pore must refer to Court of Three Judges



I refer to the Malaysiakini report 'Unlawful' of S'pore to hang Prabu - lawyer.

Malaysian lawyer N Surendran has a valid point that Singapore has breached due 
process when its president replied that the clemency process had concluded, in 
her refusal to consider the latest clemency petition.

Filing 2nd round clemency petitions are absolutely permitted under the 
Singapore constitution and must be considered by the president when they are 
filed.

I recall that in 2016, a 2nd clemency petition was also filed on behalf of 
another Malaysian, Kho Ja Bing a few days before his execution.

At that time, the then president, Tony Tan, whilst acknowledging Kho's 
intention to file a new clemency petition, had acknowledged that he would look 
at the latest position and consider it.

However, in the end, he took the position that his decision to reject the 
previous clemency petition in October 2015 "still stands".

This clearly shows that the current president is in breach of the due process 
and the spirit of Article 22P of the Singapore constitution that governs the 
clemency process.

It is wrong to state that the clemency process once decided concludes 
indefinitely. When practising, I myself had filed second clemency petitions on 
behalf of my clients in the past and they were considered.

This is a grave matter of public concern as involves the lives of people on 
death row. It involves possible unlawful executions of nationals of other 
countries.

In view of the contradicting positions taken by the office of the Singapore 
president, and to prevent any escalation of diplomatic tensions between the two 
countries, I strongly urge the president of Singapore to exercise the powers 
vested to her under Article 100 of the constitution of the Republic of 
Singapore to refer the above constitutional question to the Court of Three 
Judges to determine the matter.

If the president does not exercise her powers under Article 100, this may 
result in further breaches of due process.

It is also in the interest of Singapore that she calls for the convening of the 
Court of Three Judges in view of the egregious breach of due process of the law 
under local and international human rights law.

The constitution demands clarification on the interpretations applied.

(source: M Ravi; The writer is an international human rights lawyer----Letter 
to the Editor, malaysiakini.com)

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

Drug courier who escaped gallows last year gets death penalty after Court of 
Appeal reverses decision



A Malaysian drug courier, who escaped the gallows last year after the High 
Court reduced his charge, was on Thursday (Oct 25) sentenced to the death 
penalty after the Court of Appeal overturned the earlier decision.

Security guard Gobi Avedian, 30, was charged with the importation of 40.22g of 
heroin, but a High Court judge believed his account that he did not know the 
bundles he was carrying contained heroin.

Then, Justice Lee Seiu Kin convicted Gobi on a less severe charge of attempted 
trafficking of a Class C drug, and sentenced him to 15 years' jail and 10 
strokes of the cane last year.

Following an appeal by the prosecution, the Court of Appeal convicted him on 
the original charge, ruling that Gobi had failed to rebut the statutory 
presumption of knowledge of the nature of the drugs he was carrying.

The apex court said Gobi should have done more to find out what exactly he was 
tasked to carry into Singapore, but he "simply did not bother".

The court imposed the death sentence on Gobi, who did not qualify for life 
imprisonment as he was not certified to have assisted the Central Narcotics 
Bureau in a substantive way, nor was his mental responsibility impaired.

Gobi's lawyer, Mr Shashi Nathan, told The Straits Times that he would be 
preparing a clemency petition to the President.

The case hinged on whether Gobi had rebutted the presumption of knowledge.

Gobi, who earned between $1,400 and $1,850 a month as a security guard, said he 
turned to transporting drugs because he needed money to pay for his daughter's 
medical fees.

He said he was offered RM500 for each packet of "chocolate drugs" delivered to 
Singapore.

He said he was told that he would face a fine or "light punishment" if caught.

At first, he declined, but agreed after being assured by his supplier and a 
friend that such drugs were not dangerous.

Gobi said he delivered drugs into Singapore "8 or 9" times before he was caught 
at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Dec 11, 2014.

During his trial, he contended that while he knew the bundles contained illicit 
drugs used in discos, he did not know that it was heroin.

The prosecution argued that Gobi did not take sufficient steps to satisfy 
himself that the drugs were not those that would attract the death penalty, 
such as probing the people who gave him assurances.

In its judgment, the Court of Appeal said that to rebut the presumption of 
knowledge, Gobi must give an account of what he thought was the drug.

It was not enough to state merely that he did not know what sort of drugs he 
was transporting.

If Gobi intended to refuse to carry drugs that attracted the death penalty, 
then it was incumbent on him to find out what drugs would lead to such a 
penalty and how he was to identify them. However, he did not take such steps.

While Gobi asked about the possible penalties, the court said this would not 
have helped him identify the drug.

In any event, the court, which comprised Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and 
Judges of Appeal Judith Prakash and Tay Yong Kwang, said it had "grave 
reservations" about Gobi's testimony on the assurances that he claimed he 
received.

(source: straitstimes.com)








BAHRAIN:

Death row inmates get last-minute reprieve 'because of prison torture linked to 
UK'



2 men who were facing death by firing squad have been saved as questions were 
raised over the UK's involvement in the case, metro.co.uk has learned.

Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa were both prosecuted for killing police 
officers but their convictions have now been quashed.

Moosa was arrested in February 21, 2014, after he had attended a pro-democracy 
march.

Meanwhile, Ramadhan who was a police officer at Bahrain International Airport 
but attended peaceful marches was arrested for killing a fellow policeman on 
February 14, 2014.

At the time UK taxpayers cash had been spent improving the desert kingdom’s 
justice system, training officials and implementing procedures to prevent 
torture.

However, Moosa was left hanging from a ceiling at Jau prison, where UK 
instructors trained guards, for three days and beaten with batons and confessed 
under duress.

He was also told that his ‘real crime’ was attending pro-democracy 
demonstrations.

Ramadhan was blindfolded, stripped naked, beaten with iron rods and was 
threatened with rape against his family. Again a confession was extracted 
through torture and was the only evidence used against him.

A 3rd prisoner, Maher Al-Khabbaz was beaten with fists, metal wires and sticks, 
forced to stand for days and forbidden to eat or pray.

He was tortured so severely he was transferred to military hospital and signed 
false confession at gunpoint. He is still on death row.

Since 2012 more than 5 million pounds of British money has been used to help 
Bahrain's justice system.

Human rights group Reprieve say the UK Government could bare some 
responsibility as a result of its 'technical assistance'.

Deputy director Harriet McCulloch told metro.co.uk: 'While we welcome the 
quashing of these sentences, Mohamed and Husain could be sentenced to death all 
over again if their new trial is anything like the farce of their first, so the 
British Government should commit to attending each and every hearing as it has 
done in many other cases.'

Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy's director of advocacy, Sayed Ahmed 
Alwadaei, added: 'As victims of Bahrain's failed criminal justice system, 
Mohammed Ramadan and Husain Moosa have suffered enough.

'They were subjected to horrific acts of torture and then a wholly unfair 
trial, facilitated by ineffective Bahraini oversight bodies which receive 
UK-funded training. Only effective international monitoring, led by the British 
Government, can ensure their retrials are fair.'

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said today: ‘We welcome these 
retrials following the recommendation of the Special Investigations Unit and 
will continue to monitor the cases closely.

'We regularly attend court hearings in Bahrain and raise any concerns at a 
senior level with the Government of Bahrain.'

Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter has been demanding answers from the Foreign 
Office about the UK's involvement in Bahrain's criminal justice system.

He said: 'Much of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's assistance programme 
has gone to funding training for elements of Bahrain’s criminal justice system, 
from the police and prison guards to the Public Prosecution's Special 
Investigation Unit and the Ombudsman of the Ministry of Interior.

'During this training or after it, these Bahraini institutions were implicated 
in serious human rights violations against death row inmates. thumbnail for 
post ID 8076847Knives schoolgirls 'planned to kill classmates with before 
drinking their blood'

'The FCO has refused to release any of its human rights assessments for its 
work in Bahrain.' 'According to Reprieve all 3 were convicted based on false 
confessions extracted through torture.'

(source: metro.co.uk)








PAKISTAN:

European Parliament President calls for fair trial for Christian mother facing 
execution



The President of the European Parliament has warned Pakistan that it is making 
a 'big mistake' in its treatment of Asia Bibi, a mother-of-five facing 
execution for blasphemy.

President Antonio Tajani raised the case against Bibi during this week's 
plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, during which he 
called for a fair trial and urged Pakistan to end religious prejudice.

'I ask that she is guaranteed a fair trial and to stop this discrimination and 
religious prejudice,' he said.

He made further comments in answers to journalists, in which he spoke of his 
desire to see Bibi freed.

'We need to save Asia Bibi. She is in prison only because she is Christian,' 
said Tajani, according to Evangelical Focus.

'This is a big mistake, it is against human rights. We want to defend human 
rights everywhere. For this, we need to save Asia Bibi.'

Bibi was sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010 after co-workers on a farm 
took offence over a shared cup of water and accused her of insulting Islam.

Pakistan's recently elected Prime Minister Imran Khan has defended the 
country's blasphemy laws in the face of criticism over the treatment of Bibi.

'I know this law is an inconvenience for some people like that poor woman Asia 
Bibi. But it is a law that is complete and I support it,' he said, according to 
The Express.

The Supreme Court reached a verdict on Bibi's appeal against the death penalty 
this month but has postponed the announcement. Extremists have since threatened 
to kill the judges if they free Bibi and have called on Muslims across Pakistan 
to paralyse the country with sit-in protests.

Her family is asking for prayers as they await the verdict but there are fears 
that even if she is freed, she will not be safe in Pakistan.

The chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, Wilson Chowdhry, 
said the UK and other Western countries must offer asylum if Bibi wins her 
appeal.

'The longer she is in Pakistan, the longer she is a trigger for unwarranted 
violence by extremists,' he said.

Open Doors has previously said that if the court upholds the death sentence, 
Bibi's only option will be to appeal for a pardon from President Arif Alvi.

(source: christiantoday.com)








BANGLADESH:

3 to die for killing school boy in Kushtia



A Kushtia court on Thursday awarded death penalty to 3 people for killing a 
schoolboy after kidnap in 2011

District and Sessions Judge Court Judge Munshi Md Moshiur Rahman pronounced the 
verdict.

The convicts are - Sabbir Khan, son of Gaffar Khan, Helal Uddin Dany, son of 
Azam Ali of Kalishankarpur area in the district town and Abdur Rahim alias 
Epier, son of Moslem Sheikh of Bheramara upazila.

Mutasim Bin Mazed alias Hridoy, 14, a class VIII student of Zila School and a 
resident of Mollategharia East Para, was kidnapped by the convicts on May 23, 
2011.

After 4 days of kidnap, the kidnappers demanded Tk 12 lakh as ransom from his 
mother Taslima Khatun over phone.

But after receiving the ransom money, the kidnappers didn't return Hridoy.
Then Taslima filed a case with Kushtia Women and Children Repression Prevention 
Tribunal.

(source: independentbd.com)








BELARUS:

Visit by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne


Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister of State attached to the Minister for Europe 
and Foreign Affairs, is visiting Minsk from October 25 to 26 to co-chair the 
3rd France-Belarus Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation alongside Oleg 
Kravtchenko, Belarus's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne will also meet with Igor Petrishenko, Belarus's Deputy 
Prime Minister notably responsible for economic relations with France. In 
addition, he will also take part in the 5th France-Belarus Business Forum where 
he will exchange views with French firms based in the country.

The minister of state will meet with leading figures from civil society ahead 
of his official meetings. During the bilateral meetings with the Belarusian 
authorities, he will discuss relations between Belarus and the EU as well as 
the human rights situation. He will reaffirm France's commitment to the 
abolition of the death penalty.

The 3rd France-Belarus Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation is an important 
event in terms of strengthening bilateral economic relations. Our exports are 
diversified (manufacturing industry, chemicals, perfumes and cosmetics, 
pharmaceutical products). Although trade between France and Belarus has 
increased by 50% over the last 2 years, its level remains below its potential. 
The minister of state will bring the concerns of French firms regarding market 
access to the attention of the Belarusian authorities and will outline ways to 
make the credit insurance policy of the Public Investment Bank (BPI) more 
flexible for the country. He will be accompanied by a delegation of firms 
operating in the Belarusian market.

Following the Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation, the minister of state 
will sign an intergovernmental agreement with the Belarus party on the 
international transport of passengers and goods by road.

(source: diplomatie.gouv.fr)