[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

September 10



EGYPT:

UN urges Egypt to reverse 'unfair trial' death sentences



An Egyptian court's confirmation of 75 death sentences was not based on a fair 
trial and should be reversed to avoid an "irreversible miscarriage of justice", 
the UN said Sunday.

New United Nations rights chief Michelle Bachelet said she was "extremely 
concerned" at the decision handed down by the Cairo Criminal Court Saturday in 
one of the largest mass trials since the 2011 uprising.

"The evident disregard of basic rights of the accused places the guilt of all 
those convicted in serious doubt," she warned in a statement.

Bachelet, who took the reins of the UN rights office less than a week ago, 
urged Egypt's appeals court to "review this verdict and ensure that 
international standards of justice are respected by setting it aside."

The 75 people who initially received their death sentences in July were among 
739 defendants on trial in the same case -- most of them facing charges of 
killing police and vandalising property during clashes in 2013 between security 
forces and supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

"The 739 people were tried en masse, and were not permitted individual legal 
representation before the court," Bachelet noted out in a statement.

"In addition, the accused were not given the right to present evidence in their 
defence, and the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to prove 
individual guilt," she said.

In light of the obvious unfairness of the trial, she warned that "the 75 death 
sentences affirmed yesterday, if implemented, would represent a gross and 
irreversible miscarria ge of justice."

In addition to the death sentences, 47 people were sentenced to life behind 
bars, while the remainder were handed prison terms of varying length.

They included award-winning photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, who was sentenced 
to 5 years behind bars.

On August 14, 2013, one of the bloodiest days in Egypt's modern history, a 
month after the army ousted Morsi, police moved to disperse a sprawling 
Islamist protest camp at Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Cairo.

The military crackdown "is alleged to have led to the killing of up to 900 
mostly unarmed protesters by members of the Egyptian security forces," the 
United Nations said.

Despite the large death toll, the United Nations noted that no state security 
personnel have ever been charged in relation to the so-called Rabaa massacre.

Bachelet pointed to the stark contrast between the many mass trials since then 
and a law passed in July effectively bestowing complete impunity on security 
personnel for offenses committed in the period after the overthrow of Morsi's 
government on July 3, 2013.

"Justice must apply to all, no one should be immune," she insisted.

"Attempts to bestow immunity from prosecution for crimes allegedly committed by 
members of the security forces merely promotes impunity," she warned.

(source: al-monitor.com)

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

Egyptian death sentences a 'gross miscarriage of justice': UN human rights 
chief



An Egyptian court's confirmation of 75 death sentences on Saturday has been 
condemned by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as 
being the result of an unfair trial.

Ms. Bachelet expressed her extreme concern at the decision which, if carried 
out, would amount to "a gross and irreversible miscarriage of justice".

The trial is one outcome of the military crackdown on Muslim-Brotherhood led 
protests in the Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares in Cairo on 14 August 
2013.

It is alleged that up to 900 mostly unarmed protesters were killed by members 
of the Egyptian security forces.

The Government later claimed that many protesters had been armed, and that a 
number of police were killed.

Subsequently, charges were brought against a total of 739 people during a mass 
trial at the Cairo Criminal Court.

These charges included murder and incitement to violence, membership of an 
illegal group, participation in an illegal gathering, and other crimes.

? In addition to the death sentences, 47 people were sentenced to life 
imprisonment, while the remainder were handed jail terms of varying length.

There have been several mass trials in Egypt, involving hundreds of cases being 
heard at the same time, and raising many of the same issues about due process 
and fair trial standards.

"The conduct of the trial in the Cairo Criminal Court has been widely 
criticised," Bachelet said. "And rightly so. The 739 people were tried en 
masse, and were not permitted individual legal representation before the court. 
In addition, the accused were not given the right to present evidence in their 
defence, and the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to prove 
individual guilt. The evident disregard of basic rights of the accused places 
the guilt of all those convicted in serious doubt. I hope that the Egyptian 
Court of Appeal will review this verdict and ensure that international 
standards of justice are respected by setting it aside".

Ms. Bachelet also pointed to the stark contrast between Egypt's mass trials and 
a recent law that effectively grants members of the security forces complete 
immunity for crimes they may have committed.

In July this year, the Egyptian Parliament approved a law that will effectively 
bestow immunity from prosecution on security force personnel for any offences 
committed in the course of duty between 3 July 2013 - the date the military 
overthrew the Government of President Morsi - and 10 January 2016.

"Justice must apply to all - no one should be immune," the High Commissioner 
said. "Attempts to bestow immunity from prosecution for crimes allegedly 
committed by members of the security forces merely promotes impunity, and 
undermines the faith of the Egyptian people in the Government's capacity to 
deliver justice for all. I urge the Government of Egypt to ensure that justice 
will be done, according to law, in relation to any individuals - including 
members of the State security forces - who are suspected of committing a 
crime."

To date, no State security personnel have been charged in relation to the 
so-called "Rabaa massacre".

(source: un.org)








IRAN----executions

Iran executes 2 Peshmerga shortly after wounding them in battle



An Iranian Kurdish (Rojhilati) party on Sunday claimed the regime's forces had 
executed 2 of their Peshmerga fighters, announcing it a day after Iran launched 
missile strikes on the headquarters of opposition groups deep within the 
Kurdistan Region.

Early Saturday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ambushed 
Peshmerga fighters on Kileh Shin Mountain, near a village of the same name in 
the Kurdistan Province's Saqqez County.

During the ensuing battle, 6 members of the Peshmerga were killed and 2 were 
wounded. Iranian forces allegedly captured the wounded fighters and 
subsequently executed them, Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported.

"Naser Azizi and Ahad Shabab had been wounded in an ambush and subsequently 
taken as prisoners of war," read a statement released by the Democratic Party 
of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) on Sunday.

The 2 "were executed by the IRGC, which is a flagrant violation of the Geneva 
Conventions," the statement argued.

Shortly after the ambush and 124 kilometers westward, Iranian missiles landed 
in strongholds of the PDKI and Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iran (KDP-I) in the 
Kurdistan Region's town of Koya, reportedly killing 18 and wounding 49.

The largest of its kind since 1996 on the 2 groups - then a single party - the 
attack was carried out using 7 short-range surface-to-surface missiles, 
according to Iranian media.

Iran executed 3 Kurdish prisoners on Saturday as well, drawing condemnation 
from rights group, and 1 more political activist, Kemal Ahmed-Nejad, was 
executed on Monday.

(source: kurdistan24.net)








CHINA:

Inside China's capital punishment system of forced confessions and secret 
executions



China likes to present itself as an alternative model to lead the world in 
development and governance, but critics say its justice system still has a very 
long way to go.

More people are executed in China each year than in the rest of the world 
combined, and it is believed some of them are being wrongly convicted because 
of fundamental flaws in the justice system.

The ABC has obtained secret mobile phone video of one execution that took place 
in northern China.

In the video, a man is taken into a field. Surrounded by dozens of security 
personnel, he is forced to kneel - and is then shot in the back of the head.

Families only find out after loved ones executed

Executions in China are classified as state secrets. Names of the people killed 
are not released, and families only find out after their loved ones have been 
put to death.

Zhen Lin is one of the few people inside China working to advocate against the 
death penalty.

She works for a small non-government organisation called China Against the 
Death Penalty.

"Our estimate, sourced from court judgement documents and related media 
reports, says 2,000 [people] were given the death penalty in the last year," 
she said.

"And that is a very conservative estimate."

At a cemetery in Jiangsu province in Eastern China, Zhu Jingru is inconsolable 
at her son's gravesite. Her pain is very great, as she believes her son was 
wrongfully convicted and executed for a murder that he did not commit.

Slumped over the gravestone and wiping back tears, Zhu Jingru tells her dead 
son: "Mum is here to visit you, my poor child."

"Mum and Dad will definitely seek justice for you, my child, wait for us."

Ms Zhu has devoted her life to clearing the name of her son, Yu Haidong, who 
was executed almost a decade ago on October 14, 2008.

She has obtained the original police interview transcripts and says the 
evidence speaks for itself.

She says her son was not present when the murder he was accused of took place 
after an argument in a bar.

Ms Zhu says her son's organs were harvested

Yu had gone to support a friend, but when he turned up at the scene, the crime 
had already been committed, Ms Zhu says.

Ms Zhu claims the police found a knife in Yu's car and used that to frame him 
for the murder.

According to the police forensic investigation, the real murder weapon was a 
much larger knife, more like a machete.

"They didn't find any bloodstain on his knife, there was no bloodstain on him," 
Ms Zhu said.

"They found none of the victim's DNA on him. They had no evidence."

The Chinese courts have refused Ms Zhu's repeated requests for a retrial.

Ms Zhu says it is a cover-up because the real killer paid a bribe to the judge, 
and because her son's organs were harvested.

"We demanded to see the remains of my son, but the court refused," she said.

"His father was a surgeon, we wanted to see whether my child's body was intact.

"They only gave us a slip of paper to collect his ashes the next day. It means 
they took his organs.

"My son was 28 when he died, he was tall at 1.8 metres and handsome. They would 
sell his organs easily. It's is a great catastrophe, we have lost our only 
child."

Confessions often coerced or extracted under torture

China banned the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners in 2015, but 
fundamental changes to the justice system still have to take place to stop the 
innocent being executed.

Experts say a confession, not evidence, is still the primary way to secure a 
conviction, and often that's coerced or extracted under torture. Once in court, 
there's little chance of a fair trial, and 99 % of cases are convicted.

Zhen Lin from China Against the Death Penalty said quotas also have to be 
reduced.

"At present there's still a focus on the rate of solving cases and the 
fulfilling [of] quotas.

"For example, for drug-related crimes they promise how many cases they'll solve 
in a year, how many drugs they'll destroy and how many will be convicted and 
executed."

Zhen Lin said the system has actually improved when you consider the number of 
executions has dropped from 10,000 a year a decade ago, and there have been 
some reforms.

Now, all death penalty cases have to be reviewed by a higher court - but she 
says much more has to be done.

"13 types of crimes for the death sentence have been abolished, but China still 
has 46 types of crimes for capital punishment," she said.

"We are pushing for non-violent crimes and drug-related crimes to be excluded 
too."

But that's no relief for Ms Zhu, who said she wants justice to be served on 
behalf of her son.

"I want the truth to be restored and I want those in the circle of the police, 
the prosecutors and the judges who were corrupted and abused the laws, who were 
involved in falsification and who fabricated the facts in my son's case, to be 
severely punished," she said.

"This is my demand, it's hard to say whether it can be achieved."

(source: abc.net.au)