[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

September 29



IRAQ:

2 sentenced to die for 'terror attack' in Iraq's Anbar----Defendants have 30 
days to appeal death sentences before Iraq's Court of Cassation



2 Iraqis were sentenced to death on Monday after being convicted earlier of 
killing 12 civilians in Iraq's western Anbar province.

According to Abdul-Sattar Bayrakdar, a spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial 
Council, a criminal court sentenced the pair to death earlier for killing 12 
civilians in Anbar's Al-Jazeera district in what the court described as a 
"terrorist attack".

A 3rd person was slapped with life behind bars for taking part in a separate 
attack in Diyala province.

The defendants now have 30 days in which to appeal the sentences before Iraq's 
Federal Court of Cassation.

(source: Anadolu Agency)








TAIWAN:

Keir Starmer visits Taiwan to lobby against death penalty----Labour 
frontbencher, a long-time campaigner against capital punishment, will meet 
senior judiciary and politicians



Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, flies out to Taiwan this weekend 
to lobby against the death penalty in an initiative also aimed at demonstrating 
the UK's continued commitment to international legal standards following the EU 
referendum.

His four-day trip, which is supported by the Foreign Office, will include 
meetings with the country's vice-president, minister of justice and senior 
judiciary. There are more than 40 prisoners on death row in the republic.

Starmer, who was formerly director of public prosecutions, has for many years 
been a director of the Death Penalty Project, which campaigns for abolition of 
capital punishment across the world.

According to Amnesty International's latest estimates, 142 countries have 
stopped imposing capital punishment in law and practice out of more than 190 
states globally. Asia remains one region where the death penalty is still 
widely used.

Taiwan adopted a moratorium on using the death penalty but on 31 August 31 Lee 
Hung-chi, who was convicted of murdering his ex-wife and daughter, was shot 
through the heart from behind - the country's routine method for carrying out 
executions.

Starmer, who visited Taiwan 2 years ago, told the Guardian: "The most important 
thing is to ensure that the moratorium stays in place. One of the most 
important points to emphasise after the referendum is the UK's continued 
commitment to international law ... across the world.

"For me personally, and the country, compliance with international human rights 
obligations has always been central and I have devoted much of my career to 
that cause ... Going to Taiwan is part of maintaining the UK's commitment to 
international human rights."

Saul Lehrfreund, a solicitor at the London law firm Simons Muirhead & Burton 
and co-founder of the Death Penalty Project, is accompanying Starmer to Taiwan. 
He said: "We will be raising the case of Lee. Taiwan has not said it will 
abolish the death penalty tomorrow but has stated that it's a long-term 
objective."

Lehrfreund has also been to talk to authorities in China about the death 
penalty. Chinese executions have declined in number: 25 years ago as many 
25,000 prisoners were being killed every year. The current figure is believed 
to be around 3,000 deaths.

"The reality is that miscarriages of justice are inevitable anywhere in the 
world. An individual on death row in Taiwan was exonerated recently after 
spending 10 years on death row."

The UK's commitment to opposing the death penalty has been questioned since the 
government signalled in July that it may allow two terror suspects, El Shafee 
Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, who have been detained in Iraq to be extradited to 
the US where they could face the death penalty.

The Foreign Office said: "It is a longstanding policy of the UK government to 
oppose the death penalty, in all circumstances, as a matter of principle."

The department said it worked closely, through the Magna Carta Fund, with 
abolitionist organisations such as the Death Penalty Project to reduce the 
number of executions and restrict use of the death penalty.

Asked about the Isis suspects, the spokesperson said: "We are clear that any 
foreign fighters who may be captured in an armed conflict should be treated in 
accordance with international humanitarian law and brought to justice in 
accordance with legal due process."

Starmer is due to return to the UK on Thursday after the end of the 
Conservative party conference. In an article he and Lehfreund have written for 
Taiwanese papers, they said: "The global experience shows that support for 
capital punishment dwindles after abolition as the punishment comes to be 
outdated.

"There are many unanswered questions about Lee's death that make it sit so 
uncomfortably with a commitment towards abolition, including that his original 
sentence of life imprisonment was increased to death on appeal, the lingering 
and serious concerns as to Lee's mental health and his apparent unwillingness 
to appeal or seek clemency ... It has been made repeatedly clear that the death 
penalty is not an effective deterrent to crime."

(source: The Guardian)








PAKISTAN:

Pakistan army chief approves death sentences for 11 Taliban



Pakistan's army chief has confirmed death sentences for 11 Taliban fighters, 
"hardcore terrorists" convicted by military courts for attacks in recent years 
that killed 69 people, including 20 soldiers.

Friday's statement says Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa also approved prison terms for 
four militants. It didn't say when the men would be executed.

Trials before Pakistani military courts are closed to the public but 
authorities say defendants are allowed to hire lawyers of their choice.

Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty after a 2014 militant attack 
on a school in Peshawar that killed more than 150 people, most of them 
schoolchildren.

(source: Associated Press)