[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

September 27




GLOBAL:

Top Vatican diplomat calls for universal abolition of death penalty



Abolishing the death penalty worldwide would reflect the brave and hope-filled 
belief that crime can be dealt with without capital punishment and that a 
criminal should be given the chance to reform, a top Vatican diplomat told 
world leaders.

"Respect for the dignity of every human person and the common good are the two 
pillars on which the Holy See has developed its position" of advocating for an 
end to the death penalty, Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Vatican foreign 
minister, said Sept. 25 at the United Nations in New York, where he led the 
Vatican delegation at the 73rd session of the U.N. general assembly. The 
Vatican released a copy of his speech Sept. 26.

Speaking at a high-level U.N. side event on the death penalty and the role of 
poverty and the right to legal representation, the archbishop said that the 
universal abolition would be a "courageous reaffirmation" that humanity can 
successfully deal with crime while also refusing "to succumb to despair before 
evil acts, offering the criminal a chance to reform."

The archbishop cited Pope Francis' recent revision of the Catechism of the 
Catholic Church, which states that "the death penalty is inadmissible because 
it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person" and the church 
"works with determination for its abolition worldwide."

The catechism's paragraph on capital punishment, 2267, had been updated by St. 
John Paul II in 1997 to strengthen its skepticism about the need to use the 
death penalty in the modern world and, particularly, to affirm the importance 
of protecting all human life.

The original text recognized "the right and duty of legitimate public authority 
to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of 
the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty."

However, as Pope Francis recently highlighted, there have been steady 
improvements of the penal system, and countries have the capability to protect 
the public order and safety with means other than the death penalty.

Additionally, the pope has warned against the possibility of judicial error and 
the misuse of capital punishment in totalitarian and dictatorial regimes as a 
way to suppress political opposition or to persecute religious and cultural 
minorities.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center based in Washington, D.C., 56 
countries still retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes. The remainder of 
countries have abolished it, either in law or practice.

China, Iran and Saudi Arabia executed the most people in 2016, according to 
Amnesty International figures. Amnesty says that China carries out judicial 
killings in the thousands every year, reporting the country as "the world's top 
executioner."

In 2016, the United States dropped out of the top 5 executioner countries for 
the 1st time since 2006. The U.S. put 20 people to death, which was the lowest 
number since 1991, according to Amnesty.

(source: cruxnow.com)








EGYPT:

Egypt executed 32 people since military coup



Egyptian authorities have executed 32 people since the army overthrew the first 
democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

According to the New Khaleej, Egyptian authorities have executed 32 people in 
nine cases since the coup d’état while 64 people are awaiting the death penalty 
in 13 other cases.

There is no precise count of the number of death sentences pending appeals in 
Egypt, however human rights organisations say they amount to hundreds.

Since 2013, Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds to death, with most of the 
sentences appealed, while few were carried out.

While Cairo denies having political detainees in its prisons, human rights 
organisations have estimated the number of detainees to be tens of thousands. 
In September 2016, the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information 
said that the number of political detainees in Egypt has exceeded 60,000 
individuals.

(source: Middle East Monitor)








IRAN----execution

Prisoner Hanged at the Northern City of Tonekabon's Prison



A prisoner was executed at Nashtarud-Tonekabon Prison on murder charges this 
morning.

According to a report by HRANA, on the morning of Tuesday, September 25, one 
prisoner was executed at Nashtarud-Tonekabon Prison. The prisoner, sentenced to 
death on murder charges, was identified as Majid Pili, 41. He was married and 
had a 9-year-old child.

The prisoner was transferred to the solitary confinement a day before.

The execution of this prisoner has not been announced by the state-run media so 
far.

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: Iran Human Rights)