[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 15


GLOBAL:

China remains the world’s top executioner-Amnesty International



Global executions fell by almost one-third last year to the lowest figure in at 
least a decade, Amnesty International said in its 2018 global review of the 
death penalty published today.

The statistics assess known executions worldwide except in China, where figures 
thought to be in their thousands remain classified as a state secret.

In Southern Africa, Botswana resumed executions after a break in 2017. In March 
2018, Zimbabwe commuted the death sentences of prisoners who had been on death 
row for more than 10 years. The country has not carried out any executions 
since 2005.

Following a change to its anti-narcotics laws, executions in Iran – a country 
where the use of the death penalty is rife – fell by a staggering 50%. Iraq, 
Pakistan and Somalia also showed a significant reduction in the number they 
carried out. As a result, execution figures fell globally from at least 993 in 
2017, to at least 690 in 2018.

“The dramatic global fall in executions proves that even the most unlikely 
countries are starting to change their ways and realize the death penalty is 
not the answer,” said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“Despite regressive steps from some countries, including Botswana, the number 
of executions carried out by several of the worst perpetrators has fallen 
significantly. This is a hopeful indication that it’s only a matter of time 
before this cruel punishment is consigned to history, where it belongs.”

Reinstating the death penalty

However, it wasn’t all good news. Amnesty International found increases in 
executions in Belarus, Japan, Singapore, South Sudan and the USA. Thailand 
carried out its first execution since 2009, while Sri Lanka’s President 
Maithripala Sirisena declared he would resume executions after more than 40 
years, posting an advert seeking executioners in February 2019.

“The positive news of 2018 has been marred by a small number of states who are 
shamefully determined to buck the trend,” said Kumi Naidoo.

“Japan, Singapore and South Sudan reported their highest levels of executions 
in years, and Thailand resumed executions after almost a decade; but these 
countries now form a dwindling minority. To all the countries that still resort 
to the death penalty, I challenge you to act boldly and put a stop to this 
abhorrent punishment now.”

Noura Hussein, a young Sudanese woman, was sentenced to death in May 2018 for 
killing the man she was forced to marry as he tried to rape her. After global 
outrage, including major campaigning efforts from Amnesty International, her 
death sentence was over-turned, and she was instead given a 5-year prison 
sentence and asked to pay financial compensation, customarily known as Diya or 
“blood money” of 337,500 Sudanese pounds (around US$8,400) to the victim’s 
family.

Noura told Amnesty International:

“I was in absolute shock when the judge told me I had been sentenced to death. 
I hadn’t done anything to deserve to die. I couldn’t believe the level of 
injustice ­– especially on women. I’d never imagined being executed before that 
moment. The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘How do people feel when they 
are executed? What do they do?’. My case was especially hard as at the time of 
sentencing, my family had disowned me. I was alone dealing with the shock.”

The world’s top executioners

China remained the world’s top executioner – but the true extent of the use of 
the death penalty in China is unknown as this data is classified as a state 
secret. Amnesty International believes thousands of people are sentenced to 
death and executed each year.

In an unprecedented move, death penalty figures were made publicly available by 
authorities in Viet Nam, who reported that at least 85 executions took place in 
2018. This tally confirms its place within the world’s top five executing 
countries: China (1000s), Iran (at least 253), Saudi Arabia (149), Viet Nam (at 
least 85) and Iraq (at least 52).

H? Duy H?i, convicted of theft and murder after he says he was tortured into 
signing a “confession”, was sentenced to death in 2008. He remains at risk of 
execution on death row in Viet Nam. The stress of a pending death sentence has 
had a hugely detrimental impact on his family.

His mother, Nguy?n Th? Loan, told Amnesty International:

“It has been 11 years since he was arrested and our family was torn apart. I 
can no longer bear this pain. Just thinking about my son suffering behind bars 
hurts me so much. I would like the international community to help reunite my 
family. You are my only hope.”

Despite a significant decrease in the number of executions it carried out, Iran 
still accounted for more than 1/3 of executions recorded globally.

Amnesty International was also concerned about a sharp spike in the number of 
death sentences that were imposed in some countries over the course of the 
year.

In Iraq, the number quadrupled from at least 65 in 2017, to at least 271 in 
2018. In Egypt, the number of death sentences handed down rose by more than 
75%, from at least 402 in 2017, to at least 717 in 2018. This rise can be 
attributed to the Egyptian authorities’ appalling track record of handing out 
mass death sentences after grossly unfair trials often based on “confessions” 
obtained under torture and flawed police investigations.

Global trend towards abolition

Overall, 2018’s figures show that the death penalty is firmly in decline, and 
that effective steps are being taken across the world to end the use of this 
cruel and inhuman punishment.

For example, Burkina Faso abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 
June. In February and July respectively, Gambia and Malaysia both declared an 
official moratorium on executions. In the US, the death penalty statute in the 
state of Washington was declared unconstitutional in October.

During the United Nations General Assembly in December, 121 countries – an 
unprecedented number – voted to support a global moratorium on the death 
penalty. Only 35 states voted against it.

“Slowly but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of 
the death penalty. Amnesty has been campaigning to stop executions around the 
world for more than 40 years – but with more than 19,000 people still 
languishing on death row worldwide, the struggle is far from over,” said Kumi 
Naidoo.

“From Burkina Faso to the US, concrete steps are being taken to abolish the 
death penalty. Now it’s up to other countries to follow suit. We all want to 
live in a safe society, but executions are never the solution. With the 
continued support of people worldwide, we can – and we will – put an end to the 
death penalty once and for all.”

At the end of 2018, 106 countries had abolished the death penalty in law for 
all crimes and 142 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or 
practice.

Background

There were at least 356 people known to be under the death sentence in Southern 
Africa at the end of 2018. Botswana was the only country in southern Africa to 
execute 2 people after they were convicted of murder.

(source: newsghana.com.gh)








VIETNAM:

5 arrested for smuggling 19 kilos of meth from Cambodia



The police have arrested five people for allegedly trafficking meth and ecstasy 
from Cambodia to the southern province of An Giang.

The police and border guards stopped a car and arrested Trinh Cong Nghia, 41, 
and Du Quoc Cuong, 29, at the border in the province’s An Phu District on 
Saturday and seized 25,000 ecstasy pills weighing around eight kilograms and 
18.2 kilograms of methamphetamine from the vehicle.

This is the largest drug haul ever in the province.

Cuong told the police he was hired by a Vietnamese named Phuong in Cambodia to 
carry the drugs to Ho Chi Minh City, more than 5 hours away.

A day later the police arrest three more suspects, Nguyen Thanh Hai, 41, Nguyen 
Thanh Phuong, 52, and Tuyen Khoa, 33, in HCMC.

This time they found 6,850 ecstasy pills and 1 kilogram of meth.

Hai, Cuong and Khoa also tested positive for drugs.

The police have concluded that the gang transported drugs from Cambodia across 
the Mekong Delta to customers in Saigon.

Tens of kilograms of drugs were seized.

On March 27 the HCMC police arrested 2 Taiwanese men and a Vietnamese driver 
who were allegedly transporting more than 300 kilos of heroin produced in 
Myanmar in a truck in Hoc Mon District on the outskirts.

On March 20 a bust by hundreds of officers and border guards ended with the 
seizure of a truck with around 300 kilograms (661 pounds) of meth in HCMC. The 
drugs were on their way to Taiwan.

The cases have prompted top police officers to warn that HCMC is growing into a 
transit point for drugs thanks to its logistics infrastructure.

Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of 
possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or more than 
2.5 kg of methamphetamine could face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal 
narcotics is also punishable by death.

(source: vnexpress.com)








BANGLADESH:

3 to die for murder of RU teacher Shafiul----The court also acquitted 8 other 
accused in the case

A Rajshahi court has awarded the death penalty to 3 people in a case filed over 
the killing of Rajshahi University teacher Prof Dr AKM Shafiul Islam in 2014.

Judge Anup Kumar of Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal passed the order around 
12:30pm on Monday.

The court also acquitted eight other accused in the case as the prosecution 
failed to produce sufficient evidence against them.

The death penalty recipients are - Abdus Samad Pintu, Ariful Islam Manik and 
Sabuj Sheikh. Of them, Sabuj Sheikh is on the run. All of them were involved in 
BNP's politics.

Those who were acquitted are- Rajshahi District BNP Joint Secretary Anwar 
Hossain Ujjal, Sirajul Islam, Al Mamun, Arif, Sagar, Jinnat Ali, Ibrahim Khalil 
and Nasrin Akhter Reshma.

Public Prosecutor Entajul Haque Babu confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.

After the verdict, victim's son Soumin Shahrid said: "I have no comments in 
reaction to the verdict. However, I have confusion over the transparency of the 
case's investigation."

On November 15, 2014, unidentified assailants stabbed Prof Shafiul to death 
when he was returning home in Choddopai area of Rajshahi city.

The next day, the incumbent RU registrar filed the murder case accusing unknown 
persons.

On November 30, 2015, Inspector Rezaus Sadik of police's Detective Branch 
submitted the charge sheet accusing 11 people in the case.

(source: Dhaka Tribune)








KUWAIT:

Duo sentenced to death for killing sheikh, 2 others



The court of cassation yesterday sentenced 2 Iranians to death for killing a 
ruling family member, another Kuwaiti and an Indonesian woman in an armed 
robbery in 2016. The victims were found inside an apartment in Salwa with their 
hands and feet tied and their mouths gagged.

At the time, the interior ministry’s media and public relations department had 
said in a statement the suspects were arrested after intense investigations and 
information from eyewitnesses. The suspects, Iranian nationals Mohammad 
Abdulredha Nawasser and Ali Mohammad Al-Bughaibesh, committed the crime using a 
handgun, said the statement. Before escaping, the 2 suspects stole KD 276,000 
and 3 guns belong to the house owner, the statement added.

(source: Kuwait Times)








IRAQ:

Iraq begins trial proceedings for 900 jihadist suspects



Iraq has begun trial proceedings for nearly 900 Iraqi suspected members of the 
Islamic State group caught fleeing jihadist territory in neighbouring Syria, a 
judicial source told AFP on Sunday.

They were handed over to Iraqi authorities by the US-backed Syrian Democratic 
Forces, which ousted IS from swathes of eastern Syria including territory 
bordering Iraq.

"We received the interrogation files of nearly 900 Iraqi Daesh (IS) members 
coming from Syria," the court official said, speaking anonymously because he 
was not authorised to talk to the media.

"The specialised terrorism court has begun setting dates for their trial in 
batches," the source added.

The nearly 900 suspected jihadists were transferred by the SDF to Iraqi custody 
in recent months as the remnants of IS' once sprawling self-declared 
"caliphate" collapsed in neighbouring Syria. Additional Iraqi suspects are in 
SDF custody and awaiting transferral, a security source told AFP Sun day.

"They will be handed over in batches on the Syrian-Iraqi border. They include 
very influential leaders, but IS had sought to keep them hidden," the security 
source said. One of those destined to be handed over was deeply involved in IS' 
efforts to develop chemical weapons, he said.

Iraq has already tried thousands of its own nationals arrested on home soil for 
joining IS -- including women -- and has sentenced hundreds to death. The 
country remains in the top five "executioner" nations in the world, according 
to an Amnesty International report released last week.

The number of death sentences issued by Iraqi courts more than quadrupled from 
65 in 2017 to at least 271 in 2018.

But fewer were actually carried out, according to Amnesty, with 52 executions 
in 2018 compared to 125 in 2017. In addition to locals, Iraq has also tried 
hundreds of foreigners, condemning many to life in prison and others to death, 
although no foreign IS members have yet been executed. Among those awaiting 
trial in Baghdad are 12 accused French IS members, who were caught in Syria and 
transferred to Iraqi custody in February. Baghdad has offered to try all 
foreign fighters in SDF custody -- estimated at around 1,000 -- in exchange 
for millions of dollars, Iraqi government sources have told AFP.

Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have criticised these trials, which 
they say often rely on circumstantial evidence or confessions obtained under 
torture.

(source: al-monitor.com)








IRAN----executions

2 Men Executed at Adel-Abad Prison



2 prisoners were executed on charges related to murder and drug offenses at 
Adel-Abad, the main prison of the Iranian city of Shiraz. The 2 were sentenced 
to death, both for murder and drug offenses. However, it seems the executions 
were related to the qisas (retribution in kind) for murder cases.

According to the IHR sources, prisoners Taha Shirdookht and Kazem Minaei, were 
executed on the morning of Thursday, April 11, at Adel-Abad prison. Both men 
were from the northern city of Rasht.

A well-informed source had previously told IHR about the case of prisoners, 
“they were sentenced to death at the Revolutionary Courts for having 11 
kilograms of Methamphetamine and Heroin. But they were also charged with a 
murder case.”

Taha Shirdookht and Kazem Minaei were arrested in the Iranian city of Mashhad 
around 5 years ago. They were held at Isfahan Central prison but for some 
reason, they had been transferred to Adel-Abad Prison along with 4 other 
prisoners last Sunday. The fate of the other 4 is not known.

The aforementioned executions have not been reported by Iranian media so far.

According to the Iran Human Rights statistic department, the majority of 
executions in 2017 and 2018 in Iran was for murder charges. At least 188 
prisoners were executed for murder charges in 2018. Only 33% of executions were 
announced by Iranian authorities in 2018.

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)








BRUNEI:

It's not you, it's me: Brunei and Shariah----Boycotts and sanctions are 
unlikely to persuade the tiny country to scrap its draconian anti-gay and 
adultery laws



Brunei is usually a quiet and tranquil country: crime is virtually unknown, 
traffic is light and its political scene is among the most stable in the 
region. Yet in recent weeks the small nation has been in the international 
spotlight over the introduction of draconian anti-homosexual and anti-adultery 
laws that had been delayed for some time.

There are now calls for boycotts and the withdrawal of Western honorary degrees 
and other honors that had previously been bestowed on Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, 
who is the last absolute monarch in Southeast Asia. However, the Brunei 
government remains resolute in insisting that this is an internal affair and 
that the law be implemented without external interference.

What exactly is behind this insistence in the face of international and 
celebrity condemnation? Commentators have pointed to the possibility that the 
monarch, who is the second longest reigning monarch in the world after Queen 
Elizabeth II of Britain, is preparing for abdication. Sultan Omar Ali 
Saifuddien III, the father and predecessor of the current sultan, abdicated in 
1967 and, in his capacity as adviser, guided his young successor at the 
beginning of his reign up to and beyond Brunei’s independence from Britain in 
1984.

Although such guidance would be invaluable for Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, 
who faces the daunting challenge of ruling after a long preceding reign, it 
does not really explain the phasing in of this severe interpretation of 
Shariah. It is more likely that rather than being preparation for Brunei’s 
post-Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah future, it should be seen more as part of 
preparing Brunei for its inevitable post-oil future.

Looking beyond black gold

Brunei’s economy and legendarily generous social services continue to be 
over-reliant on income from oil and gas exports, with up to 90 % of all exports 
in 2018 being from this sector. Brunei’s proven oil and gas reserves should 
last for some years yet, but it is likely that the demand and prices for these 
commodities will fall as the global economy turns increasingly toward renewable 
and alternative sources of energy.

In recent years, the Brunei government has attempted to diversify into other 
sectors to improve self-sufficiency and wean the population from reliance on 
oil. Sectors that have seen the most activity include tourism, logistics, halal 
food branding and even agriculture, but these ventures have yet to yield the 
expected results. There remains some concern over the nation’s long-term 
future.

Since 1984, the Brunei government has put the idea of Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB) 
at the center of its national philosophy — an expression of the intention to 
build a nation that is Malay, Islamic, with a monarch as ruler.

However, this philosophy does not really distinguish Brunei from its larger 
neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia. Both countries have commonalities in terms 
of the Malay and Islamic culture, as well as having sultans as local rulers, 
albeit with much more limited powers. Indeed, in the 1960s, there were 
discussions regarding Brunei’s possible integration into one of these 
countries. These moves failed, mainly due to the inability to find a 
satisfactory method to divide Brunei’s massive oil wealth.

However, with the diminishing importance of oil and gas, there is a risk that 
these dormant ideas may reawaken in the years ahead. Brunei probably does not 
view this reawakening favorably. The last time that these ideas ran rampant was 
in 1962, when the leftist Brunei People’s Party carried out an armed 
insurrection to prevent the nation from joining Malaysia. Although the 
insurrection failed, the incident ensured Brunei’s independence and triggered 
the policy of confrontation between Malaysia and Indonesia in the 1960s. Inside 
Brunei, a state of emergency was declared and the sultan’s absolute power still 
stems from this legal framework.

The ideology of MIB and the phasing in of Shariah can be viewed as part of an 
attempt to distinguish Brunei from its larger and more liberal neighbors, 
particularly in terms of putting Islam and the monarch at the absolute center 
of political, social and religious life. These measures serve not only to 
secure the status quo but also perhaps to ensure Brunei’s continuing 
independence in the long term.

The road ahead requires imagination

The current situation, therefore, should be seen in the context of how Brunei 
views its uncertain future. Undoubtedly, Shariah could be viewed as a useful 
tool to deal with political opponents. Yet, as a tool, its utility is 
questionable. Defendants will have to be caught in a particularly wild party in 
flagrante. The law, as it stands, requires a confession or at least four Muslim 
witnesses and, even if convicted, Brunei has not carried out an execution since 
1957 (when the country was still under British rule) despite maintaining the 
death penalty on its statute books.

More worrying perhaps is the chilling effect on the LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, 
bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex +) community, with Western news outlets 
reporting that LGBTQI+ Bruneians are seeking asylum abroad. Brunei has never 
really been a haven for this community. While the expression of this lifestyle 
is limited in Brunei, most affluent Bruneians can go to more liberal parts of 
Southeast Asia for a reprieve from restrictive laws.

In the meantime, boycotts may be useful in raising awareness of the issue, but 
they rarely lead to a useful outcome. Western boycotts of hotels will have 
little effect on Brunei, whose economy is more reliant on exports to East Asia 
rather than activities with the European Union and the United States. 
Historically, sanctions and boycotts have not really worked in the region. It 
was not punishing Western sanctions that opened Myanmar to the world but rather 
ASEAN’s close engagement and support of gradual reforms that succeeded in 
making progress.

If there is a genuine desire by external actors to resolve this matter, a more 
imaginative approach than the ones taken thus far will be required.

(source: *Will Summers is an alias used by the author who is a former diplomat 
and a long-time observer of Thai and international politics----ucanews.com)