[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

September 7




GLOBAL:

The death penalty in Indonesia, Nigeria, the world



The use of the death penalty is declining: more than 2/3 of countries have 
abolished or ceased to use it and executions continued to decrease in 2017, 
Amnesty International says. But capital punishment remains in place in 23 
countries, with China still believed to be the "world's top executioner", the 
group's 2017 report says.

Here is an overview:

Death penalty decline

Amnesty International says that at the end of last year, 142 countries - more 
than 2/3 - had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, with 106 
ending it in law for all crimes.

The latest were Guinea and Mongolia which in 2017 abolished capital punishment 
for all crimes, while Guatemala outlawed it for civil crimes only.

Sub-Saharan Africa made significant progress towards abolition with a big 
reduction in the number of death sentences throughout the region. Only Somalia 
and South Sudan carried out executions in 2017 compared with 5 countries in the 
region in 2016. Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya and The Gambia, meanwhile, took 
measures to end the use of capital punishment by adopting new legislation or 
introducing bills.

In Europe and central Asia, Belarus was the only country to have carried out 
the death sentence in 2017, with at least 2 executions down from at least 4 the 
previous year, Amnesty says. Kazakhstan, Russia and Tajikistan maintained 
moratoriums.

Still killing

There were 993 executions recorded in 2017 in 23 countries, a decrease of four 
percent from 2016 and 39 % from 2015, which was a peak year with 1,634 
executions.

Amnesty's numbers do not include the "thousands" it says are believed to have 
been executed in China, which classifies this information as a state secret.

Excluding China, Amnesty says Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan - in that 
order - carried out 84 % of all executions in 2017. Compared to the previous 
year, the figures were down by 31 % in Pakistan and 11 % in Iran.

In Iran, at least 31 executions were in public.

Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates took up executions again 
in 2017.

Conversely Amnesty recorded no executions in 5 countries that had applied the 
death penalty in 2016: Botswana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Sudan and Taiwan, though 
the latter did execute one man in August 2018.

For the 9th consecutive year the United States was the only country on the 
American continent to execute prisoners, with 23 recorded.

The United States and Japan, where there were 4 executions in 2017, were the 
only countries in the G8 group leading economies to carry out executions.

Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago meanwhile handed out death penalties. Countries 
carrying out the penalty last year used methods ranging from decapitation to 
hanging, firing squad and lethal injection, Amnesty says.

(source: vanguardngr.com)








IRAN:

Kurdish Political Prisoners in Imminent Danger of Execution



Reports from Iran indicate that the Kurdish political prisoners Zanyar and 
Loghman Moradi are in imminent danger of execution. They have been transferred 
to the solitary confinements and their families have been asked to visit them 
today. Ramin Hossein Panahi, another Kurdish political prisoner who was earlier 
transferred to the same prison remains in imminent danger of execution. Iran 
Human Rights (IHR) calls for immediate international reactions to stop the 
possible executions. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: 
"Zanyar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, and Ramin Hossein Panahi were all subjected to 
torture and sentenced to death following unfair trials. Their death sentences 
are illegal even according to the international and even the Iranian laws." 
Amiry-Moghaddam added: "Zanyar and Loghman's sudden transfer to solitary 
confinement, shutting down the phone lines of the prison, and the authorities' 
granting a prison visit to their family on a Friday, all indicate that the 
Iranian authorities are preparing Zanyar, Loghman, and Ramin's imminent 
executions. Immediate international reactions by the UN, EU, and countries with 
diplomatic relations with Iran can be the only hope to stop their executions 
which may take place already this weekend".

Loghman and Zanyar Moradi were sentenced to death on 22 December 2010 by branch 
15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of murdering the son of 
Marivan's Friday prayer Imam. They have denied the charges and said that the 
initial confessions were extracted under torture.

According to a statement by Ahmad Shaheed, the previous UN Special Rapporteur 
for the human rights in Iran issued in March 2012, "Zanyar and Loghman Moradi 
were compelled to confess to allegations of murder after being severely beaten 
and threatened with rape." The statement also said: "... no evidence or 
witnesses were brought against these men, and that they did not have reasonable 
access to their legal counsel."

Zanyar and Loghman Moradi (cousins) have been at imminent danger of execution 
before, but thanks to international reactions their executions have been 
postponed.

Zanyar's father, Eghbal Moradi, who played an important role in creating 
awareness about the situation of these prisoners was assassinated in the Iraqi 
Kurdistan in July 2018. It is believed that the agents affiliated to the 
Iranian authorities were behind this assassination.

According to close sources, Loghman and Zanyar were transferred to solitary 
confinement in the Ward 8 of the Rajaishahr Prison on Wednesday, September 5. 
This ward belongs to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is used 
for political and security-related prisoners. Reliable sources have also 
informed that Loghman's mother and Zanyar's brother have been asked by the 
prison authorities to visit Loghman and Zanyar at the Rajaishahr on Friday, 
September 7. This is rather unusual since the prison is closed for regular 
visits on Fridays which are public holidays in Iran. On the other hand, all the 
phone lines belonging to the wards neighboring the Ward 8 have been shut down. 
These unusual events strengthen the possibility of Zanyar and Loghman's 
imminent executions.

Ramin Hossein Panahi, another death row political prisoner, who was recently 
transferred to the Rajaishahr Prison, has been told that he will be executed in 
the coming days. His lawyers recently issued a statement warning about his 
execution.

It is possible that the Iranian authorities have planned the executions of the 
3 Kurdish prisoners on the same day. This is a rather common practice by the 
Iranian authorities to carry out the execution of several political prisoners 
on the same day.

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

Prisoner Scheduled to Be Executed in Zahedan



1 prisoner who was sentenced to death on murder charges was transferred to the 
solitary confinement of Zahedan Central Prison. Mehdi Sarani, who was 
transferred to the solitary confinement on Wednesday, returned to his cell 
after his execution was stopped.

According to a close source, on the morning of Thursday, September 6, a 
prisoner was transferred to the solitary confinement of Zahedan Central Prison. 
The prisoner, sentenced to death on murder charges, is identified as Rashid 
Sandakzehi. He spent 6 years in prison and was transferred to the solitary 
confinement from ward 4 of Zahedan Central Prison.

The prisoner was transferred to the solitary confinement once before but 
returned to his cell by asking for time from the plaintiffs.

Another prisoner, named Mehdi Sarani, was also transferred to the solitary 
confinement on Wednesday, September 5. The execution of this prisoner was 
stopped for unknown reasons and he returned to his cell.

Since the death penalty for murder depends on the decision of the plaintiffs, 
long waits accompanied by fear of execution and hope for forgiveness and 
sometimes transference to solitary confinement several times are some sort of 
psychological torture.

According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the 
517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. There 
is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in 
issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and 
intent.

(source for both: Iran Human Rights)

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

Rights group fear son, nephew of assassinated activist may be executed



Human Right groups fear that the Moradi cousins will be executed in Iran after 
the father of one, who fought for several years for their release, was 
assassinated in Iraqi Kurdistan in July.

The 2 men, political prisoners Loghman and Zaniar Moradi, were recently 
summoned under the pretext they were to meet with a prison official. They were 
instead transferred to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) ward at Raja'i Shahr 
prison, raising fears they could be executed, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center 
(ABC) said on Thursday.

A source close to Loghman and Zaniar Moradi, Kurdish political prisoners 
sentenced to death, has told ABC that prison officials have contacted the 
family by phone and asked them to report to Raja'i Shahr Prison for visitation 
Friday morning.

The 2 were also sentenced for participating in armed activities with Komala, a 
Kurdish opposition group.

"Eghbal Moradi, father of Zaniar and uncle of Loghman, fought to save the pair 
from execution and called on international human rights groups to help end the 
execution of all political prisoners in Iran," ABC said.

Moradi on July 17 was assassinated in Penjwin and had 3 bullet wounds. Many 
local observers suspect Iran's involvement.

Following his death, Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) on July 20 claimed 
responsibility for the killings of at least 10 soldiers belonging to the 
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Marivan in Iran's 
Kurdistan Province.

The PJAK statement said the attack was a revenge attack for the killing of 4 of 
its fighters in Mariwan and Paveh, as well as the assassination of Moradi.

Several armed Kurdish groups have clashed with Iranian government forces over 
the past few months, including the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan 
(PDKI), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), and the PJAK.

On Thursday, Iranian armed forces shelled PDKI bases on the border between 
Iranian Kurdistan and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Amjad Hossein Panahi, the brother of another Kurdish prisoner on death row, 
Ramin Hossein Panahi, earlier told the Centre of Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) 
that he is worried the clashes could worsen the situation for Kurdish political 
prisoners.

"The prison officer told Ramin that there's a great chance that his sentence 
would be carried out because prisoners are not kept in solitary confinement for 
a long time without a reason," Amjad Hossein Panahi, told the CHRI on September 
3, 2018.

"When there are protests or armed confrontations in Kurdistan [Province] or 
other places, chances that death sentences are carried out increase in order to 
intimidate and cause fright," Amjad added in an interview from exile in 
Germany.

In April 2018, Iran's Supreme Court ratified Ramin's death sentence for his 
alleged membership to the "outlawed" Kurdish nationalist group, Komala, and for 
drawing a weapon on IRGC agents during clashes.

Earlier, Amjad told Kurdistan 24 that Ramin had gone on hunger strike in the 
Rajaei-Shahr prison in Iran's Karaj city and that his condition was worsening 
after a hunger strike of 12 days. He was transferred from Sanandaj to the new 
location in mid-August.

Ceng Sagnic, Coordinator of the Kurdish Studies Program at the Moshe Dayan 
Center in Israel, told Kurdistan 24 that such a tactic being used by the 
Iranian government should not come as a surprise.

"Iran is known for using Kurdish prisoners as a bargaining chip for indirect 
negotiations with Kurdish parties. Therefore, yes, I also believe that expanded 
Kudish Peshmerga attacks on Iran is one of the factors for increased risk of 
new executions," he said.

(source: kurdistan24.net)








JAPAN:

Japan's death penalty, a cruel and unusually popular punishment----It can take 
decades for the condemned to meet their fate, and guards - not professionals - 
do the 'unbearable' task. So why is capital punishment so popular here?



Years waiting on death row, inmates told their fate just hours before their 
execution, and guards paid US$180 to do an "unbearable" job - Japan's capital 
punishment system is criticised as cruel and secretive yet remains popular.

Unusual for an major industrialised power, capital punishment in Japan enjoys 
broad public support with few calls for its abolition.

Inmates are executed not by professionals but by ordinary prison staff who may 
have been guarding the condemned for months or even years, and who receive 
extra an 20,000 yen (US$180) each.

"It's awful, the body bounces like a 70kg object on a nylon rope," said Toshio 
Sakamoto, who witnessed noosed inmates plunge to their deaths, and described 
the process as "unbearable".

Blindfolded convicts, usually serial murderers, are led to a spot with their 
feet bound and hands cuffed. Then, a trapdoor opens below.

The mechanism is triggered by a button in an adjacent room, pressed 
simultaneously by several officers, although none is told which button is the 
"live one" that will cause the prisoner's fall.

The guards assigned to carry out the executions "remember the [inmates'] body 
temperatures, their breathing, their words ... But they must do most of the 
work," Sakamoto said.

And they receive no counselling. They are expected to "digest" the execution 
themselves, Sakamoto explained.

"There is no worse job," he said. "The cost of a human life is 100,000 yen."

Japan is the only major industrialised democracy other than the United States 
to carry out capital punishment.

The system was thrust into the international spotlight in July when the country 
hanged 13 doomsday cultists responsible for a deadly sarin gas attack in 1995 
but the secretive methods have come under fire for being cruel for criminals, 
families and guards.

Under law, the death sentence should be carried out 6 months after confirmed by 
the top court.

In reality however, prisoners languish on death row for many years - Japan has 
a total of 110 awaiting execution.

"Prisoners are typically only given a few hours??? notice before execution, but 
some may be given no warning at all," Amnesty International said recently.

"Inmates are kept in isolation suffering the anguish of never knowing when they 
are going to be put to death, sometimes for decades," the group said.

Families are only informed after the execution.

Munehiro Nishiguchi, a convicted murderer whose appeal against the death 
sentence is being heard in the Supreme Court, said the news of the Aum cult 
executions came as "an indescribable shock".

"I feel I'm such a pathetically weak person," he wrote in a letter to Yo 
Nagatsuka, who filmed a documentary exploring public perceptions of capital 
punishment in Japan.

"I have realised the real punishment or agony from the death sentence is the 
fear you feel until the day comes," he also wrote.

Former guard Sakamoto notes that a high reliance on confessions and a 
conviction rate of much more than 90 % allows room for coercion and false 
charges.

The government cites broad public support as a reason to maintain capital 
punishment but there is little public debate as the whole process is veiled in 
secrecy.

The authorities have just once allowed a 30-minute media visit inside the 
glass-walled execution room in the Tokyo Detention House, arguably the 
best-kept among Japan???s seven facilities with gallows.

A 2014 government survey of about 1,800 people showed 80 % thought capital 
punishment was "unavoidable", with only 1 in 10 in favour of abolishing it.

But 38 % thought it should be abolished if Japan introduces life imprisonment 
without parole - something the penal code does not currently allow.

One 62-year-old businessman in Tokyo said it would be "insane" to think of 
scrapping capital punishment.

And Mika Koike, 29, an IT engineer, said: "Taking the victims and their 
families into consideration, I think there is no other clear, absolute way to 
punish the offenders." Kotaro Yamakami, 25, a politics student, said murderers 
should pay in kind.

"There is a saying, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.' I think it's 
unavoidable that those who committed heinous crimes are executed."

But he acknowledged there was an increasing number opposed to the death penalty 
and urged authorities to consider introducing life imprisonment with no parole.

For now, there is no sign that Japan's leaders are pondering any changes.

On July 5, the eve of executions of 7 Aum cultists, a smiling Prime Minister 
Shinzo Abe was photographed in a drinking party with fellow politicians, giving 
the thumbs-up for a collective snapshot with his justice minister who had 
signed off on the hanging orders.

(source: South China Morning Post)

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

Japanese boxer on death row keeps up the good fight----Japanese former 
professional boxer Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death for murder in 1966, and 
has been living under a death sentence for 50 years



Shuffling down the street sporting shorts, jacket and straw hat, 82-year-old 
Iwao Hakamada could be mistaken for any Japanese octogenarian going about his 
daily chores.

But the former boxer has had anything but an ordinary life: he has been living 
under a death sentence for half a century, thought to be the longest-serving 
condemned man.

The accused murderer finds himself in the extraordinary position of being 
sentenced to death but free awaiting a possible retrial.

Supporters say nearly 50 years of detention, mostly in solitary confinement 
with the ever present threat of execution looming over him, have taken a heavy 
toll on Hakamada's mental health.

He now walks the streets of Hamamatsu, southwest of Tokyo, for hours at a time, 
lost in his own world.

When AFP joined him on a sweltering summer day, the former boxer said he was 
"fighting a bout every day".

"Once you think you can't win, there is no path to victory," he said.

Though he was talking about boxing, there is a nod to his long battle for 
justice on death row.

Supporter Nobuhiro Terazawa says that "building his fantasy world" was 
Hakamada's way of surviving the fear he could be executed at any moment, as 
well as his decades-long confinement.

"Unlike before, he can walk around freely but mentally he still can't escape 
from the fears of execution and false charges," he said.

- 'Unbearably unjust' -

Hakamada's story began in 1966, when he was arrested on suspicion of robbing 
and murdering his boss, along with his wife and 2 teenage children, before 
burning their house.

He initially denied the accusations but later confessed following what he 
subsequently claimed was a brutal police interrogation that included beatings.

He tried to retract his confession but was sentenced to death in 1968, the 
verdict confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1980.

Hakamada sought a retrial and in a rare about-face for the rigid Japanese 
justice system, the district court in the central city of Shizuoka granted this 
in 2014.

That ruling said investigators could have planted evidence and ordered him 
freed, adding it was "unbearably unjust" to keep him detained.

But the legal back-and-forth did not end there as Tokyo's High Court in June 
overturned the lower court's ruling, sending the case back to the Supreme 
Court.

For now, due to his advanced age, authorities have allowed him his freedom but 
supporters fear that he could be locked up again and potentially executed.

Last month, the top prosecutors' office wrote to the Supreme Court urging a 
prompt rejection of his appeal to "stop the situation in which the sentence is 
suspended unnecessarily."

- 'Gates of hell' -

Japan is the only major industrialised democracy other than the United States 
to carry out capital punishment, which still enjoys broad public support, 
although debate on the issue is rare.

The government recently hanged 13 members of the Aum doomsday cult responsible 
for a fatal gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995.

But Hakamada's sister Hideko, 85, vows to travel the length and breadth of 
Japan to proclaim her brother's innocence.

One key piece of evidence used to convict him was a set of blood-stained 
clothes that emerged more than a year after the crime.

Supporters say the clothes did not fit him and the bloodstains were too vivid 
given the time elapsed. DNA tests found no link between Hakamada, the clothes 
and the blood but the high court rejected the testing methods.

Hideko tries to relax her brother, feeding him fresh fruits and vegetables he 
could not have in prison.

"I let him live freely at his pace," she said.

However, she recalls her anger when the Supreme Court rejected her brother's 
appeal in 1980.

"Everyone looked like an enemy. All the people there, lawyers and supporters 
included, looked like enemies," she said.

"But Iwao was standing at the gates of hell. I had no choice but to keep 
going."

(source: Agence France-Presse)








INDIA:

Death Penalty For Man Who Raped, Murdered 11-Year-Old In Assam----The minor 
girl was gang-raped and set on fire when she was alone at her home in 
Dhaniabheti Lalung Gaon in Nagaon on March 23.



A court in Assam awarded death penalty to a man who was prime accused in the 
gang-rape of an 11-year-old girl in Nagaon in March this year.

Nagaon Chief Judicial Magistrate on Tuesday convicted 19-year-old Zakir and 
acquitted 5 others for lack of evidence. 2 other accused in the case were 
minors and they were being tried in juvenile court.

District and Session Judge Rita Kar sentenced Hussain (19) to death for the 
murder under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The court had convicted him and acquitted 5 others for lack of evidence on 
September 4.

The minor girl was gang-raped and set on fire when she was alone at her home in 
Dhaniabheti Lalung Gaon in Nagaon on March 23. The Class V student was rushed 
to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital where she succumbed to her 
injuries.

A case was filed in the Batadrava Police Station and the accused were arrested 
on charges of rape, house trespass, causing disappearance of evidence and 
murder under the IPC. The charge sheet was filed on April 28 against Zakir and 
7 others.

The incident had led to widespread protests across the state with the Assam 
government announcing in the Assembly that it will bring in a stringent 
anti-rape law in the next session of the House.

The government also announced to recruit women Sub Inspectors through a special 
drive to have 30 % women in the police force.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had launched a toll free helpline 
'181-Sakhi' for women in distress and the Gauhati High Court approved the 
proposal for setting up exclusive fast track courts for trial of cases related 
to rape and murder of women and children in Assam.

(source: ndtv.com)








THAILAND:

Group campaigns against death penalty



ORGANISATIONS campaigning to abolish the death penalty in Thailand have now 
drawn up a bill that aims to replace the ultimate punishment with life 
imprisonment.

"We are now in the process of gathering the opinions of stakeholders on our 
draft law," Gothom Arya, president of the Peace and Culture Foundation, said 
yesterday.

Gothom said the foundation and its allies had started drafting the "Life 
Imprisonment in Place of Death Penalty Bill" 3 months ago.

"We are now gathering the signatures of supporters. If at least 10,000 people 
sign the petition, we will propose it as a draft law to the National 
Legislative Assembly," he explained.

If the bill does not attract a huge number of supporters, then the network will 
consider handing it over to an agency interested in pushing it forward, he 
said.

He was speaking after attending a meeting yesterday on the draft bill at the 
Office of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Gothom told the meeting that international criminology studies had found that 
capital punishment was not an effective deterrent.

"It should also be noted that the United Nations at its general assembly 
resolved to suspend capital punishment," he said.

Ensuring justice

Also, there was no way to restore justice in case a wrongly convicted person is 
executed.

Gothom also views the death penalty as an infringement on people's most 
fundamental right - to live.

"I think the death penalty should be replaced by life imprisonment. We can move 
toward that step by step," he said.

Assoc Professor Srisobat Chokprajakcatt, a lecturer at Mahidol University, 
noted that some convicts on death row have said they preferred death to 
spending the rest of their lives in jail.

Gothom called on the Justice Ministry and relevant agencies to start a national 
discussion about capital punishment and its alternatives.

They could start by releasing the findings of studies on life imprisonment, the 
death penalty, crime prevention and remedial actions for the wrongly accused or 
convicted.

"With effective communication, the public will understand why we should make 
the change," he said.

Jiraporn Tamchu, a specialist at the Rights and Liberties Protection 
Department, told the same meeting that there had been several positive signs 
for change.

"Convicts on death row can petition for a royal pardon," he said.

"Another [good sign] is that we have already cancelled the use of the death 
penalty against convicts aged under 18, pregnant convicts and those with mental 
disorders."

Chuleeporn Dejkham, a senior official at the NHRC, said opponents might need to 
wait for the appropriate time to push to abolish capital punishment if they 
wanted to succeed.

(source: nationmu.timedia.com)








KENYA:

Robbery suspects reject state's legal assistance



A robbery with violence suspect has confessed to detectives that he visited the 
scene where he and his accomplice robbed and killed their victim when police 
were collecting the body.

Sammy Anyangu, 20, told the investigators he had Joseph Mburu's mobile phone, 
national ID and wallet, which he had robbed him the previous night jointly with 
his friend Ibrahim Esengwa in Kawangware.

He had been informed by his ex-wife that police had arrived to retrieve a body 
of an "unidentified man" found dead in the area and he immediately went to 
"witness" alongside others.

Anyangu and Esengwa allegedly robbed, strangled and pelted Mburu with stones 
before leaving him for dead on May 2 last year.

Officers from Kabete police station had arrived at Ndwaru road in Kawangware, 
Nairobi, to retrieve Mburu's body at 9am the following day after a report was 
made.

Anyangu told the detectives he borrowed Sh3,800 from M-Shwari and sent Esengwa 
to withdraw the money from M-Pesa using the deceased's ID after police left the 
scene.

Esengwa states that Anyangu only gave him Sh400 and informed him that the money 
he withdrew and the ID he used belonged to the man they had robbed. And that is 
when Esengwa learnt that their victim had died after they left him.

They made the confessions to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations 
Homicides Division's officers during the investigations.

The detectives had traced Anyangu to his Shiaka village in Butere, Kakamega 
county, where he had relocated after the incident.

The Criminal Intelligence Unit had established that Anyangu's Sim card had been 
inserted into Mburu's phone and started tracing him.

He was taken to Kawangware where he was instructed to call Esengwa to meet him 
before he was also arrested.

But yesterday, Anyangu and Esengwa, 23, denied charges of violently robbing and 
killing Mburu before chief magistrate Francis Andayi of Milimani law courts.

Andayi informed them that they are facing serious charges that attracts death 
penalty and have a constitutional right to have a lawyer provided by the state.

The magistrate wanted to direct the National Legal Aid Board to provide a 
counsel for them, but they refused.

They were released on Sh500,000 bond with one surety of like amount and 
alternative of Sh500,000 bail. Hearing of the case starts on October 2.

(source: the-star.co.ke)