[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 5




SRI LANKA:

Sri Lanka seeks international assistance in training new hangmen



The Sri Lankan government will seek international assistance in training new 
executioners, reports AFP, as the government gears towards re-implementing the 
death penalty.

A reported 47 applicants are being interviewed by the government, with Sri 
Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena stating this week that a date had been 
set to restart the death penalty.

However, the new recruits will need some foreign assistance, according to an 
official who spoke with AFP.

“Since there is no living person in Sri Lanka who has carried out an execution, 
we need to send the new recruits abroad for training,” said the official, who 
asked to remain anonymous.

“The rope (used for hangings) has not been used at all since it was imported 
(in 2015),” the official added. “It will have to be tested and certified.”

The latest announcement comes as organisations around the world have slammed 
plans to reinstate the death penalty, with Amnesty International warning this 
week that “racial, ethnic or religious minorities, are disproportionately 
vulnerable to being sentenced to death”.

Sirisena though has been staunch in his stance, pledging that capital 
punishment will return.

(source: The Tamil Guardian)








THAILAND:

Brit tourists threatened with DEATH PENALTY for taking selfies at Phuket 
airport as Thai officials say photos are distracting pilots----Holidaymakers 
pose for shots on the popular beach as planes take-off from the neighbouring 
airport

BRIT tourists snapping selfies while planes take off in Phuket have been warned 
they could face the death penalty for distracting pilots.

They then post their photos - featuring planes in the background - to Instagram 
and Facebook.

But furious airport bosses have vowed to close off the entire section of beach 
amid concerns it could cause an accident.

The executives have not explained how taking pictures of the aircraft could 
pose a danger, but it is believed to relate to the potential to distract pilots 
in the same way that drones and laser pens can.

'DISTRACTING PILOTS'

Officials told local media that the maximum punishment for distracting pilots 
with such devices is the death sentence.

Holidaymakers who breach the planned restricted area preventing pictures would 
be punished under the same law.

Wichit Kaewsaithiam, director of Phuket International Airport, said: "We want 
both the income from tourism and the aviation safety to co-exist.”

He said anyone found guilty of deliberately distracting the pilots could be 
punished under the Air Navigation Act.

Kaewsaithiam told the Bangkok Post: "The maximum penalty is the death 
sentence."

Less severe punishments include a fine of up to 40,000 baht (£950) or a jail 
sentence of up to 20 years.

Despite the warnings, footage taken this week at the popular selfie spot shows 
bikini clad women and men in their swimming trunks taking pictures while planes 
take off.

Officials said holidaymakers will be forced further down the beach with the 
area used by tourists for pictures being sealed off.

PLANE SELFIES

Vijit Keawsaitiam, the airport’s Deputy General Manager, said a "safety zone’’ 
was in the process of being put in place under the flight path to prevent 
tourists from taking pictures too close to the planes.

He said: "We are setting up a safety zone which will be categorised as a 
strictly prohibited area that does not allow people and tourists to take 
pictures.

"Aside from this area, local people and tourists can still come to take 
pictures as usual."

Airport bosses have also warned tourists about flying drones in the area and 
shining laser pens, which a report found had caused disturbances to pilots.

Monrudee Gettuphan, a director at the Phuket International Airport, previously 
told The Phuket News, that officials were ''concerned about the safety of 
residents and tourists'' who use the area while taking selfies near the planes.

The airport official said: ''People need to stay away from the restricted zone. 
We want to prevent any unknown object or material injuring people, or even 
their hearing being damaged by the noise of the aircraft’s engines.

''The penalty for anyone failing to comply with this regulation includes the 
death penalty, a life sentence, or a jail term of between 5 to 20 years, as per 
the Air Aviation Act 1978.''

(source: thesun.co.uk)








CHINA:

Family Worried Ethiopian Woman Detained in China Faces Death Penalty



Friends and family are fearing for the life of a 28-year-old Ethiopian woman 
who has spent more than three months in a Chinese prison on drug charges.

In December, Nazrawit Abera, a civil engineer, flew from Addis Ababa to Beijing 
to pursue a job opportunity and learn about home building materials, according 
to her older sister, Abby Abera.

But when she landed at Beijing Capital Airport, officials detained Nazrawit and 
inspected her luggage. They found five shampoo bottles filled with cocaine. 
Chinese police arrested Nazrawit on drug trafficking charges, which carry 
severe penalties in China.

Abby told VOA the bottles did not belong to Nazrawit, and that her sister had 
agreed to bring them as a favor to a friend from elementary school who had 
planned to accompany Nazrawit.

When the friend’s father died shortly before the trip, she allegedly asked 
Nazrawit to bring the bottles on her behalf. She told Nazrawit they contained 
expensive Brazilian shampoo, according to Abby.

Abby said what followed has been a nightmare for the family. They have been 
unable to speak to Nazrawit and have received scant details from 
representatives of the Ethiopian consulate, who met with Abby several times.

“We don’t have any information that says she will be released. What we know and 
what we have heard is whatever happens will be based on Chinese laws,” Abby 
told VOA by phone in Amharic. “So our guess is that, based on Chinese laws, 
there is a possibility that she could be facing the death penalty. She is 
getting ready to appear in court. All of the family is counting every single 
second and is stressed.”

Under Chinese law, drug smuggling can result in punishments ranging from 15 
years in prison to the death penalty.

In a March 26 statement in state-owned media, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry 
said it was closely monitoring the situation and cautioned the public against 
jumping to conclusions, saying Nazrawit had not yet been sentenced.

Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch, said cases like 
Nazrawit’s can result in dire outcomes. China is one of only a handful of 
countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, that executes people for 
drug crimes.

“I can tell you that the Chinese government has a particularly low tolerance 
for anything involving drug trafficking, particularly when it involves 
foreigners and tends to treat those kinds of cases fairly mercilessly,” 
Richardson said.

Richardson recalled an incident in 2009 when a British citizen, Akmal Shaikh, 
was persuaded by someone in Pakistan to smuggle drugs into China. Despite 
claims that had a mental illness, Chinese authorities denied him a psychiatric 
evaluation, convicted him and executed him by lethal injection.

“The government does not really live up to international standards on fair 
trial rights and the death penalty,” Richardson said. “There are still, I think 
it is 55 different charges under Chinese laws that can carry the death penalty, 
and many of those are not violent crimes.”

Marie Holzman, president of the Paris-based advocacy group Solidarité Chine, 
said cases involving foreigners can often be politicized and used to extract 
concessions from foreign governments.

“The law in China really depends more on what the [Communist] Party thinks than 
what the judges think,” Holzman said.

Holzman added that there's little transparency when the government implements 
the death penalty. Estimates on how many people are executed annually range 
widely, from 1,000 to 10,000, she said.

“We know they execute a lot. But we don’t know the quantities. And that’s a 
state secret that is very, very well kept,” she added.

(source: voanews.com)








IRAQ:

UN: Iraq should bring justice to ISIS victims, not only death penalties to 
militants



The death penalty is not enough to bring members of the so-called Islamic State 
to justice for their alleged war crimes and genocide against the civilian 
population in Iraq, a United Nations human rights official said on Thursday.

Speaking about a recent trial in Iraq where four men, two Iraqis and two 
Syrians, were handed the death penalty for their role with the Islamic State, 
UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes 
Callamard, said the trials should do more to “shed light on the inner workings 
of ISIS.”

Callamard called for “a judicial record of ISIS crimes against people,” and 
urged the Iraqi government to “take appropriate steps to prosecute the crimes 
perpetrated against the Iraqi people, including alleged genocide, crimes 
against humanity, and war crimes.”

“At the very least, the Iraqi prosecutors should have brought additional 
charges from the Iraqi penal code, such as charges of murder, torture or 
disappearance, against the defendants, for the purpose of accountability.”

The emergence of the Islamic State in 2014 and its violent assault on areas 
across Iraq led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of minority 
groups, notably the Yezidis (Ezidis) in Sinjar (Shingal). Most of them fled to 
the Kurdistan Region, while others resettled in neighboring countries in the 
region or Western states.

Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone, where they 
experienced atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the extremist group 
for years.

Militants subjected women and girls to sexual slavery, kidnapped children, 
forced religious conversions, executed scores of men, and abused, sold, and 
trafficked women across areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria.

Since declaring military victory over the Islamic State in late 2017 following 
a devastating 3-year war, Iraq has accelerated the pace of prosecutions against 
suspected members of the extremist group.

Authorities have yet to disclose the number of terrorism suspects in Iraqi 
prisons and the number of people facing execution or life imprisonment related 
to terrorism charges.

International humanitarian and human rights organizations, including the UN and 
Human Rights Watch, say efforts by Iraqi authorities to speed up the 
implementation of death sentences could lead to the execution of innocent 
people, especially with the nation’s poor standards of criminal justice.

(source: kurdistan24.net)








BRUNEI:

UN agencies urge Brunei to repeal new ‘extreme and unjustified’ penal code



New criminal laws in Brunei that impose the death penalty for same-sex 
relationships, adultery and childbirth out of marriage, “breach international 
human rights norms”, and should be suspended or repealed said the heads of two 
United Nations agencies on Thursday.

Underscoring that every person has the right to be “free from torture” and 
“cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment”, UNAIDS, the agency dedicated to 
tackling the virus, and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the sexual and 
reproductive health agency, warned the new penal code, which came into force in 
the south-east Asian monarchy on Wednesday, “will have a significant negative 
impact on overall health and well-being” there.

“These extreme and unjustified punishments will drive people underground and 
out of reach of life-saving HIV treatment and prevention services,” said Michel 
Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

The discriminatory laws further punish sexual orientation, same sex relations 
and reproductive health care. They will disproportionately impact women and 
create barriers to accessing health information and services, the agencies 
said.

Mr. Sidibé “strongly” urged Brunei to “suspend or repeal the amendments to the 
Shariah Penal Code”, which are based on an extreme interpretation of Islamic 
law, offering UNAIDS’ support to “ensure that laws are grounded in human 
rights, based on evidence and protect the most vulnerable”.

Further criminalizing same-sex activities not only negatively impacts public 
health, but also increases stigma and gives license to discrimination, violence 
and harassment, they added.

“Every person, without any distinction on any grounds, has an equal right to 
live free from violence, persecution, discrimination and stigma of any kind”, 
stated UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem.

The UN agencies cited evidence showing that criminalized communities are more 
vulnerable to violence, less likely to access necessary HIV and other health 
services, and less able to protect themselves against HIV infection.

Moreover, they pointed out that criminalizing minorities also works against 
reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), designed and agreed by 193 
Member States, to leave no-one behind.

“Human rights are universal”, reminded Ms. Kanem. “Cultural, religious and 
moral practices and beliefs, and social attitudes must not be invoked to 
justify human rights violations against any group regardless of gender or 
sexual orientation”.

Last December, Brunei called for improved data on key affected and higher-risk 
populations for greater outreach and better health-care provisions. The UN 
agencies criticized that Syariah Penal Code would undermine this endeavour.

A dangerous trend

Both UNAIDS and UNFPA expressed concern over increasing conservative and 
discriminatory policies in a number of countries that risk violence, stigma and 
discrimination against people on the basis of gender, gender identity and 
sexual orientation.

The noted that recent discussions with Governments in the Asia–Pacific region 
have highlighted the need to “put evidence-informed and human rights-based laws 
and policies in place”.

The UN agencies stressed the need to repeal criminal laws against consensual 
adult sex and decisions on reproduction, adding that health services, including 
sexual and reproductive health services, must be “accessible, affordable and 
acceptable”.

UNAIDS and UNFPA supported the calls of the UN High Commissioner for Human 
Rights and the open letter of the five UN Nations human rights mandate holders 
to “suspend the implementation of the revised penal code and urge all 
governments to protect the human rights of all people”.

International outcry

The harsh laws include stoning for sodomy and adultery, limb amputation for 
theft and public flogging for abortion also criminalizes exposing Muslim 
children to any religion other than Islam.

High-profile celebrities such as George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres and Elton 
John, have called for a boycott of Brunei-owned luxury hotels, including the 
Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles and the Dorchester in London.

(source: un.org)

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

Britain calls Brunei’s anti-gay law ‘backward step’



The British government on Thursday said Brunei’s introduction of harsh new 
sharia laws, including death by stoning for adultery and gay sex, was “a 
backward step” for the southeast Asian country.

“The imposition of a sharia penal code in this way is a backward step as far as 
Brunei is concerned,” junior foreign office minister Mark Field told 
parliament.

“If implemented we believe these extreme punishments would contravene Brunei’s 
international commitments to respect human rights and individual freedoms.”

The tough penal code in the tiny country on tropical Borneo island — ruled by 
the all-powerful Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah — came fully into force on Wednesday 
after several years of delay.

It has sparked a storm of global criticism from politicians, celebrities and 
rights groups, with actor George Clooney and pop star Elton John calling for 
Brunei-owned hotels to be boycotted.

The newly-enforced sharia laws — the first at the national level in the region 
and more commonly found in Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia — 
include the amputation of hands and feet for thieves.

Rape and robbery are also punishable by death under the code and many of the 
new laws, such as capital punishment for insulting the Prophet Mohammed, apply 
to non-Muslims as well as Muslims.

However, rulers in the country — a former British protectorate which still 
houses a UK military garrison — have been “surprised” by the international 
backlash, according to Field.

He added London had updated its travel advice on the new laws and was 
“negotiating a range of safeguards” for British nationals there, including 
serving military personnel and their families.

“We have the necessary protections in place with the government of Brunei,” he 
told MPs who raised concerns about British soldiers’ exposure to the penal 
code.

Field faced calls from some lawmakers for the Commonwealth, a bloc of former 
British colonies, to consider expelling Brunei over the code.

But the junior minister pushed back against the suggestion.

“Rather than making threats… a more positive way is to try to hold them close, 
recognize that there are very some strong connections there,” he said.

Field noted of the 53 Commonwealth members, 35 criminalize consensual same-sex 
relations while 30 still have the death penalty on their statute books.

“(That is) primarily as a result of colonial-era legislation,” he added.

(source: Agence France-Presse)

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

Deutsche Bank drops Brunei's Dorchester hotels over anti-gay law



Deutsche Bank said Thursday it had removed Brunei-owned Dorchester Collection 
group from the list of hotels its employees use, after the Asian nation adopted 
the sharia law, including the death penalty for gay sex.

"The new laws introduced by Brunei breach the most basic human rights, and we 
believe it is our duty as a firm to take action against them," said Stuart 
Lewis, the bank's chief risk officer.

Dorchester Collection hotel group is owned by Brunei's state-owned investment 
agency.

Deutsche Bank counts among the co-founders of the Partnership for Global LGBTIQ 
Equality consortium to promote greater inclusion for LGBTIQ in business.

The tough sharia penal code in the tiny country on tropical Borneo island -- 
ruled by the all-powerful Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah -- came into force Wednesday 
following years of delays.

The laws, including death by stoning for adultery and gay sex, make Brunei the 
first place in East or Southeast Asia to have a sharia penal code at a national 
level, joining several mostly Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia.

The decision to push ahead with the punishments has sparked alarm around the 
world, with actor George Clooney and pop star Elton John calling for 
Brunei-owned hotels to be boycotted.

The Australian arm of Richard Branson's Virgin Airlines has also cancelled a 
staff travel agreement with Brunei's national carrier over the Asian state's 
decision.

(source: menafn.com)








SOUTH AFRICA:

Anti-apartheid activists laid to rest in peace, 50 years on



Pulane Koboekae looked pensively at the 7 nooses suspended over a trap door in 
Pretoria Central Prison where her brother Richard Motsoahae was hanged by South 
Africa's apartheid regime in 1964.

Then she pulled out a white tissue and sobbed silently.

"It has opened up old wounds. I'm feeling mixed emotions. I feel sick, but also 
relieved," said Koboekae, 66, a retired nurse, her lips trembling.

"We've long been waiting for this," she said, on the day in August last year 
when her brother's remains were finally disinterred, 54 years after he was 
buried unceremoniously in an unmarked grave.

Motsoahae was an activist for the Pan Africanist Congress, an anti-apartheid 
movement which split from the African National Congress (ANC) in pursuit of a 
more radically "Africanist" agenda.

Motsoahae and three others -- the so-called Krugersdorp Four -- were hanged for 
killing a policeman -- among 135 political prisoners executed by the 
whites-only apartheid government that ended with the country's first democratic 
elections 25 years ago this month.

Those executed at the gallows were hastily buried, often anonymously, sometimes 
in mass graves.

Koboekae remembers the day of the execution of her 23-year-old brother "like it 
was yesterday". She was just 13.

"I was left alone at home and I was not allowed to come and visit" him in 
prison, she said softly. "I was sent to school and when I came back, I was all 
alone."

Next-of-kin such as Koboekae are finally getting a degree of closure decades 
later thanks to the Gallows Exhumation Programme, created to find the remains 
of hanged activists and return them to their families for burial.

- 'I was 5' -

The project is a spin-off of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up by 
the post-apartheid, ANC-led government to probe atrocities committed by the 
whites-only state.

The bodies of about 50 executed activists have been found and reburied so far.

Under the exhumation programme, bereaved families are invited on a visit of the 
prison and the gallows as part of the coming to terms with their loss.

Recently, relatives of seven hanged prisoners went to Pretoria Central Prison 
-- since renamed the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre -- which was the 
headquarters of capital punishment in apartheid South Africa.

The prison briefly also housed Nelson Mandela pending trial.

Guide Abram Rahlogo detailed the last walk of a prisoner, hands cuffed behind 
his back, from the cell to the gallows, passing the chapel on the way.

One of the visitors, 59-year-old Lazarus Molatlhegi, had pictures taken of him 
touching the nooses.

"I know those ropes aren't the ones that they used. But it's a rope exactly 
like that one that killed my brother. I was 5 at the time," he said.

Molatlhegi's brother Thomas, 31, was one of the Krugersdorp 4.

After the emotional hour-long visit to the prison and gallows which included 
them walking past the coffins that will receive their loved ones' remains, the 
families set off for the cemetery of Mamelodi, a township of Pretoria where 
black prisoners were buried.

The graves of 7 men lay exposed, freshly dug up, the soil carefully dusted from 
the bones.

Koboekae leaned over the grave to look at her brother's skeleton, of which only 
the leg bones remained intact.

- 'A strange feeling' -

"It's a strange feeling. I never thought I would see my brother's skeleton one 
day... It's a bit unreal. It's the kind of things you see on TV, things that 
happen to other people", she said.

The bereaved were offered special counselling before coming face to face with 
the mortal remains.

"The decomposition process... we tell them how it works," a member of the 
pathology team that carries out the exhumations told AFP on condition of 
anonymity.

"Some are worried or scared when they see the broken bones... They are afraid 
that their loved ones were tortured," the expert said.

In this case, there had been no torture.

"We know when the bones are broken before death. This is post-mortem. They 
(loved ones) are very interested in the explanations. It helps them. It's part 
of the closure," said the pathologist.

For Peggy Seloro, 77, the experience was nevertheless overwhelming.

She struggled to breathe, appeared close to fainting, and had to be supported 
and calmed by family members.

Her brother Petrus Ntshole was just 22 years old when he was executed -- 
another member of the Krugersdorp 4.

- 'Closing a chapter' -

Koboekae left the cemetery stoically, bracing for what would be a wait of 
several months for her brother's remains to be released to the family for 
burial.

On her way out, she passed a small pyramid-shaped monument on which her 
brother's name is engraved.

"I am proud of him. They were fighting for liberation," she said.

"I could not assist with his 1st burial, but at least I will be able to attend 
his 2nd. He will be buried with his family. That's important for us.

"It is going to close a chapter -- this is closure."

Last month, Justice Minister Michael Masutha handed over Motsoahae's remains to 
his family, as well as those of 8 other executed activists.

"We hope the families of these activists who were hanged in the apartheid 
gallows will now find peace and closure," said Masutha.

"Rest in peace heroes!"

(source: france24.com)








NIGERIA:

Death sentence of killer boyfriend: Anxiety reigns in Ondo



2 landmark court judgements delivered by the same High Court Judge in Ondo 
State, Justice Samuel Bola have sent jitters down the spines of all convicted 
persons across the courts in the state.

Justice Bola had sentenced 2 killer boyfriends to death by hanging within a 
2-day interval.

While the 25-year-old killer boyfriend, Chukwudi Onweniwe of an HND student of 
Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Owo, Nifemi Adeyeoye, aged 22, got his death ticket on 
March 25, his co-traveller, Seidu Shakiru Adeyemi, 27 years, the killer 
boyfriend of the daughter of the former deputy governor of the state, Khadijat 
Oluboyo, 25 years, was 2 days later, March 27 precisely, equally sentenced to 
death by hanging by same law officer, Justice Bola. But the submission of the 
state Attorney-General and Justice Commissioner, Adekola Olawoye, after the 2 
court verdicts that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu was now ready to sign the death 
warrants, rekindled their hope that they have finally gotten justice.

But some pessimists doubt the political will of the governor to go ahead with 
the signing of the death warrants of convicted persons. In fact, many have 
concluded that the commissioner was playing to the gallery and that it was a 
political statement for temporary relief because of the personality of the 
father of one of the victims. Speaking on the backdrop of calls for the 
abolition of the death sentence in the state, Olawoye insisted that the state 
government had no such plan.

He said: ”Governor Rotimi Akeredolu would soon sign the death warrant of those 
who have been sentenced to death in the state. It was very imperative for the 
law to take its course, and that anybody who kills should also be killed.

“Life is not a property of anybody, nobody has the right to take the life of 
fellow men, except as allowed and permitted by the law.

“Even in advanced countries where they advocate the abolition of death penalty, 
they still kill people found guilty of murder. “Like the judgment we just heard 
today, somebody killed his girlfriend and removed her body parts and buried her 
in his room.

“How do you expect us to abolish death sentence with that? This is the rule of 
law; no sentiment about it. “When a case of this nature gets to the Supreme 
Court and it is confirmed that such a person should be killed, then the aspect 
of the governor, who has the constitutional right to confirm and sign the death 
sentence, will come into play.

“We have so many of them that have been convicted, but I want to assure you 
that my ministry will do things proactively to see that these convicts will be 
executed.”

Olawoye, however, declared that “Mr. Governor will sign their death warrant.”

Female lawyers back death penalties

Equally eager to see to the execution of the culprits, the International 
Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, has called on the state government to start 
assenting to death penalties that had been passed on convicted persons during 
criminal trials. Its chairperson in the state, Bola Joel Ogundadegbe said that 
the verdict will serve as a deterrent to others.

Meanwhile, the former deputy governor, Alhaji Lasisi has described the gruesome 
murder of his daughter, Khadijat, by her boyfriend as her fate.

He said: “I have accepted fate since the incident occurred and had left 
everything to God believing that the girl was destined to die the way she died.

“l believe that it is God that gives and it is God that takes, so whatever 
happens to human beings is destined. The verdict gladdened his heart as the 
killer did not go scot-free after he killed Khadijat for the money-making 
ritual.

“This judgement will serve as a deterrent to others. You cannot kill somebody 
and just go away free like that. The boy thought he would get away with the 
murder and that was the reason he did everything to cover his track.”

Court sentences killer boyfriend of former deputy governor's daughter to death

A High Court sitting in Akure, the Ondo state capital Wednesday sentenced 
Saidu-Shakiru Adeyemi, the boyfriend of the daughter of the former state deputy 
governor Miss Khadijat Oluboyo to death by hanging.

(source: vanguardngr.com)