[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 13



BANGLADESH:

5 teachers arrested over death of Chattogram madrasa boy



The father of Md Habibur Rahman, an 11-year-old boy whose body was recovered 
from a mosque inside a madrasa in Chattogram, has initiated a murder case.

Police showed 5 people, including the madrasa's teacher Tarekur Rahman and 
Principal Abu Darda, arrested in connection with the case on Friday.

The 3 other arrestees are madrasa teachers Md Zubayer, Md Anas Ali, and Md 
Abdus Samad.

Habibur's father Anisur Rahman started the murder case under Section 302 of the 
Penal Code, Bayezid Bostami Police Station OC Ataur Rahman Khondaker said.

The accused face maximum death penalty if found guilty.

Anisur named Tarek and Abu Darda along with 7 others as suspects in the case.

"We had brought 5 suspects, including the madrasa's principal and Tarek, to the 
police station for questioning. We have arrested all 5 of them after recording 
the case," the OC said.

Habibur's body was found hanging from the grills of a window at a mosque inside 
Omar Faruk al-Islamia Madrasa and Orphanage in Wazedia area of the port city on 
Wednesday.

Some injury marks were found on his knees, police said.

The madrasa authorities claimed the boy had taken his own life, but the family 
allege he was murdered and later his body was hanged.

His father Anisur pulls rickshaw in Chattogram City. The family from Dighinala 
in Khagrhachharhi live in Shershah area of the port city while Habibur was a 
residential student of the madrasa.

(source: bdnews24.com)








THAILAND:

Businessman could face death penalty for DUI murder of policeman



A leading Bangkok businessman faces the death penalty after being charged with 
murder for the death of a top Crime Suppression Division policeman and his wife 
last Thursday night.

Pol Col Jatuporn Ngamsuwitchakun died at the scene in his Suzuki Swift. His 44 
year old wife Nutchanat died later in hospital. Their 16 year old daughter 
Piyapha remains in a serious condition.

They were involved in a collision with a Mercedes Benz driven by 57 year old 
Somchai Werotphiphat, the owner of a major automotive parts factory.

Daily News reports than he had been playing golf not far from the scene of the 
collision and had consumed 4-5 bottles of beer before farewelling his friends 
and driving home at around 11pm.

He allegedly told police he was so drunk that he couldn’t remember anything 
until he was surrounded by airbags in his car.

Gen Wirachai said that this was not just a case of drink driving and negligence 
causing death. He said the charges carry anything from 15 years to life 
imprisonment or even the death penalty.

Somchai remains in custody in Taling Chan, western Bangkok.

Gen Wirachai said that the Thai police nationwide are set to charge anyone with 
murder who causes death while drink driving.

“If people are injured in DUI cases drivers will face attempted murder charges 
instead.”

(source: The Thaiger)








NORTH KOREA----executions

Fortune tellers executed in North Korea to ‘maintain social order’



North Korea have publicly executed 2 women and jailed another for life because 
they were fortune tellers. The trio had allegedly formed a collective named the 
Seven Star Group and claimed a ‘spirit oracle’ could be channelled through 2 
children, aged 3 and 5, to tell the future.

A source within the country told Radio Free Asia that the execution was ordered 
to ‘maintain social order’ over fears fortune telling had become too 
widespread.

They added: ‘Even high-ranking officials and the families of judicial 
authorities often visit fortune tellers before arranging weddings or making 
business deals.’

Thousands of people reportedly attended the execution of the 2 women in 
Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province.

In 2013, Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of his own uncle, Jang Song-thaek, a 
high ranking government official, after accusing him of trying to increase his 
own power.

The full extent of the use of capital punishment in North Korea is not fully 
known, but its criminal code states the death penalty can be applied for 
vaguely defined offences such as ‘crimes against the state’ and ‘crimes against 
the people,’ according to the a report published by the UN.

It added: ‘The policy of regularly carrying out public executions serves to 
instil fear in the general population.’ An amendment to the law in 2007 
extended the death penalty non-violent offences such as smuggling, and 
authorities are able to order a person’s execution if they deem the crime to be 
‘extremely serious’.

North Korean defector Gim Gyu Min previously told Metro.co.uk about being 
forced to attend public executions from the age of 6. He said: ‘Officials would 
usually announce an execution was taking place about a week before it happened 
and notices would be put up in the neighbourhood. ‘Everyone had to attend and 
workers would be rounded up and brought as a group to the execution site. There 
would be a little stage or a clearing, with a stake in the middle where the 
person would be tied up with their friends and family standing closely nearby. 
‘The condemned would be taken behind a curtain and have their head smashed to 
knock them out, so when they were tied up they wouldn’t resist. ‘Guards would 
then tie them up, take aim, and shoot.’

(source: metro.co.uk)








AUSTRALIA/BRUNEI:

Solidarity protest against death penalty for LGBTI people in Brunei



More than 100 LGBTIQ+ activists and supporters attended a rally in Brisbane on 
April 13 targeting the Royal on the Park hotel. The hotel is owned by the 
Sultan of Brunei, who recently introduced the death penalty for homosexuality, 
adultery, blasphemy and apostasy.

The Rally across the street from the hotel is the 1st of many large-scale 
actions in Australia to oppose the sultanate’s draconian new laws.

Speakers at the rally called for a boycott of the hotel in an effort to put 
pressure on the Sultan’s business interests and help force the repeal of the 
draconian laws.

The laws in Brunei have drawn condemnation from across the globe, and sparked 
grassroots campaign fora boycott of the Sultan’s hotels overseas.

Speakers at the rally said it was vital for the campaign to continue and for 
people to do all they could to stop the slaughter of innocent people since 
Brunei is a country in our region, and a member of the Commonwealth.

Speakers made it clear that the campaign was not an attack on Islam, as most of 
the victims of the new laws would be Muslim citizens of Brunei. The rally heard 
that the corrupt regime in Brunei is perverting the holiness and the sanctity 
of religion for base political reasons.

Speaking at the rally, a spokesperson for the Parents and Friends of Lesbians 
and Gays, Shelley Argent, said the situation in Brunei is a human rights 
emergency in our region.

“On Australia’s doorstep, people can now be murdered by their government simply 
for being gay, or for adultery, blasphemy or apostasy,” she said. “We owe it to 
our neighbours in Brunei to stand up for their rights.”

(source: Green Left Weekly)








UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

8 ALLEGED MURDERERS TO PAY DH 200,000 BLOOD MONEY



The Sharjah Sharia Court of First Instance has ordered 8 men accused of murder 
to pay Dh200,000 as blood money to the victim's family, and sentenced them to 3 
years and 6 months' in jail followed by deportation, Khaleejtimes reported on 8 
April 2019. The convicts were found guilty of robbing and stabbing to death a 
compatriot. Court records show that the incident took place when the accused, 
all Asians, attacked the victim while he was walking on a highway in Sharjah. 
After assaulting and stabbing him, they stole his money and fled. The victim 
was rushed to Al Qasimi hospital, where he succumbed to his fatal injuries.The 
court confronted the defendants with premeditated murder charge for stabbing 
the man to death. But the accused denied all the charges. The lawyer of the 
defendants, who was appointed by the court, requested the acquittal of the 
accused and use clemency in the trial. The victim's parents accepted the blood 
money and dropped their request for capital punishment.

(source: handsoffcain.info)








SAUDI ARABIA:

Amnesty: Saudi uses death penalty to crush opposition



Saudi Arabia systematically uses the death penalty to crush opposition figures, 
Amnesty International has said, noting that the country’s Public Prosecution is 
planning to execute more activists.

Saudi’s Public Prosecution is planning more executions of those who call for 
freedom of expression, the rights group said, noting that prominent preacher 
Sheikh Salman Al-Owdeh is one of those targeted for execution, Al-Sharq 
reported yesterday.

According to Amnesty, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq and Iran topped its list of 
countries which carry out executions, which has increased 75 % compared to last 
year. Four new activists are facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia over 
their participation in protests calling for reform in the country’s Eastern 
Province.

Saudi Arabia has carried out a new campaign against activists, bringing the 
number of those in prison to 14. All of these activists are male, with the 
exception of two females, one of whom is pregnant. Two of these latest 
prisoners hold US passports. Though most are not prominent opposition figures, 
they have expressed their support for women’s rights and other reforms which 
has led to their detention.

Many prisoners inside Saudi facilities were arrested without charge but have 
since faced extortion, with some asked to pass part of their properties to the 
Kingdom or face long prison terms.

Some of these prisoners are members of the Saudi royal family, such as 
multi-billionaire businessman Al-Walid Bin Talal who was released after 
conceding a portion of his property to the Kingdom.

(source: Middle East Monitor)








EGYPT:

Egypt inmates dread noose as executions rise under Sisi



After years of anxiously waiting in cramped prison cells, appointments with the 
noose can come fast to the many on Egypt’s death row.

Leila’s brother Amr was hanged in February.

The news of his impending execution — one of many carried out under incumbent 
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — shook her.

“I found out at night that he would be hanged the next day,” Leila told AFP, 
which has used pseudonyms in this story to protect families’ identities.

“We were all in shock. My mother was hysterical,” Leila said.

“It was a very tough night. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone”.

Amr was accused, along with eight others, of assassinating former prosecutor 
general Hisham Barakat, who was killed in a car bomb in June 2015.

Leila said Amr was preparing to get married — buying suits and readying a new 
home — when he was arrested in February 2016, in the family residence in a 
major southern Egyptian town.

She alleges he disappeared for two weeks, and that the family only found out 
where he was thanks to lawyers, and relatives of other prisoners.

Amr said she saw signs of torture, including scars, on her brother’s body 
during jail visits.

Executions — always by hanging — have risen sharply under Sisi, who won a 
second term in March last year.

So far this year, 15 people have been executed in 2 separate trials, 
calculations by AFP show.

And between early 2017 and late 2018, Egypt executed 92 people, according to a 
recent report by local rights groups Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights 
and Adalah for Rights and Freedoms.

These numbers are far higher than for previous governments, including that of 
former dictator Hosni Mubarak, who was deposed in the 2011 Arab Spring 
protests.

A total of 11 people were executed in the last 3 full years of Mubarak’s rule, 
according to Amnesty International.

– ‘Arbitrary killings’ –

At a February summit with European Union leaders in the resort town of Sharm El 
Sheikh, Sisi vehemently defended use of the death penalty.

“You are not going to teach us about our humanity…respect our humanity…as we 
respect yours,” he said.

The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on executions Agnes Callamard told AFP 
the increased “use of the death penalty … (constitutes) arbitrary killings” 
that are designed to crush dissent.

AFP spoke to families of men executed, and others who are on death row.

After the Sisi-led military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 
2013, experts note Egyptian judges have been more authoritarian, in line with 
an ongoing government crackdown which has incarcerated thousands.

“We are witnessing a rise in death sentences from tens per year before 2011 to 
hundreds per year after 2013,” Sahar Aziz, a law professor at Rutgers 
University, told AFP.

London-based rights group Reprieve estimates that at least 2,159 individuals 
were provisionally sentenced to death between 2014 and 2018.

Hundreds of sentences have subsequently been commuted, but many remain on death 
row.

In March 2014 — just prior to Sisi’s elevation to the presidency in June that 
year — the UN said Egypt’s mass death sentences contravened international law.

The Egyptian legal system is based on Islamic sharia law, which legitimises 
capital punishment.

A high level Egyptian judicial source with knowledge of the death sentences 
handed down said “there is no politicisation of these cases whatsoever”.

“We are implementing Islam according to its laws and you’re getting upset? If 
you are a terrorist who killed, then you must also be killed,” he told AFP.

He preferred not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

An Amnesty report this week ranks Egypt sixth globally in the number of people 
executed in 2018 behind China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Iraq.

Many of the death sentences were handed down at mass trials involving hundreds 
of defendants and lasting just days.

– ‘Taste of injustice’ –

“How many court sessions are needed to ensure that every prisoner is given a 
fair trial to explain their side of the story?” said Osama.

His father Abbas Al Minyawi is on death row (names have again been changed to 
protect identities).

He was one of 183 defendants accused of storming a Cairo police station and 
killing 11 policemen and 2 civilians.

Minyawi and 19 others in the ‘Kerdasa massacre’ case do not know when they will 
be executed.

“My dad was sentenced to death — and also my mother in a way was also condemned 
to die with this news,” Osama told AFP.

“The taste of injustice is bitter,” he added.

The “troubling speed” at which the death penalty has been used indicates that 
Egypt’s legal process has been politicised as part of the authorities’ 
crackdown, law professor Aziz contended.

UN special rapporteur Callamard said “the circumstances leading to the 
imposition of these sentences and their execution are a great matter of 
concern”.

She also blamed international powers for failing to hold Egypt accountable over 
its flagrant use of capital punishment.

“This (international) deafening silence has become an integral part to the 
spiralling human rights violations in Egypt”.

For the relatives of those executed, such as Leila, painful memories endure.

“He wasn’t the same person I remember when I saw him in the morgue,” Leila said 
of her brother.

“He was so beautiful. He was sleeping peacefully.”

(source: siasat.com)