[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

August 10




NIGERIA:

Ekiti court sentences 2 robbers to death by hanging



An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti yesterday sentenced 2 people to 
death hanging for robbery and illegal possession of firearms.

The convicts, Adewa Sunday and Adedayo Amos, robbed Mrs. Abosede Oyeyemi Malomo 
at Ilogbo Ekiti in Ido-Osi Local Government Area of the state on June 4, 2015, 
during a night robbery.

The offence, according to the charge sheet, is contrary to Section 1(2) (a) of 
the Robbery and Firearm Special Provisions Act, 2004.

They robbed Malomo with guns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons, thereby 
inflicting bodily injuries on her.

The Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, convicted the 2 men.

He said: “I found the accused persons guilty of armed robbery as laid down 
before me and they should face the supreme punishment for the offence.

“Therefore, the sentence of the court upon you is that you be hanged by the 
neck until you are dead.

"May the good Lord have mercy on your souls."

The hearing into the case began on March 27, 2017 with 2 -count charge 
bordering on robbery and illegal possession of firearms.

During hearing, the prosecution counsel, Mr. Gbemiga Adaramola, from the 
Ministry of Justice, called 2 witnesses and also tendered a cut-to-size pistol, 
iPad and the victim’s statement on oath, as exhibits.

The lawyer to the defendants, Mr. Adeyinka Opaleke, didn’t call any witness.

The victim was said to be reading at night when they broke into her apartment 
and robbed her at gunpoint.

During the operation, one of the convicts was said to have made a mistake of 
calling the actual name of his colleague, which served as a veritable lead for 
the police to carry out their investigations.

(source: newtelegraphng.com)








SOMALIA----executions

2 Al-Shabab Members Executed By Government



The Federal Government of Somalia has executed 2 members of Al-Shabab for their 
role in multiple attacks in Mogadishu.

The 2 were found guilty for activities carried in 2017/18 and were executed 
through the firing squad.

Anshour O. Abukar (in green) 23, Mohamed A. Borow, 25 were convicted for role 
in multiple attacks including attacks which resulted death of journalist Awil 
Dahir Salad and General Sec. of Somali women Anab A Hashi.

Meanwhile 2 Al-Shabaab militias surrender to Govt forces in Dinsor, Bay region, 
according to officials. One of the men once served as a driver to Moallim 
Geeddow, AS's shadow Governor for Bay and Bakool regions.

(source: allafrica.com)








GAMBIA:

Gambia’s Former Justice Minister Defended Execution Of Death Row Prisoners



A former Gambian Attorney General and minister of Justice, Lamin Jobarteh, has 
justified the enforcement of the controversial death penalty by then APRC 
government of Yahya Jammeh.

9 death row prisoners including Dawda Bojang, Malang Sonko, Ex-Lieutenant Lamin 
Jarjou, Ex-SGT Alieu Bah, Ex-SGT Lamin F Jammeh, Tabara Samba, Buba yarboe, 
Lamin BS Darboe and Gebe Bah were in August 2012 removed from the State Central 
Prisons in Banjul and suffocated with plastic bags before their bodies were 
dumped in a disused well by members of former President Yahya Jammeh’s hit 
squad, The Jungulars.

The Jammeh regime had told Gambians that said the prisoners were executed by a 
‘firing squad’ on Sunday 26th August 2012 after they were tried by the Gambian 
courts of ‘competent jurisdiction’ and have exhausted all their legal rights of 
appeal as provided by the law.

But a group of soldiers who admitted carrying out the executive directives said 
none of the prisoners were shot nor did they hear the sound of gunshots from 
the time the prisoners were picked up at Mile Two Prisons until they were 
killed

Addressing a delegation of elders from the West Coast Region, who had called on 
the Vice President, Isatou Njie-Saidy, to appeal to the government to spare the 
remaining death row inmates, Jobarteh -who was reportedly present when the 
prisoners were dragged out their prison cells to be killed and was also at the 
military firing range in Brikama where the dead bodies were counted before 
being taken for disposal- said it was legal and in line with the laws of the 
Gambia.

Tabara Samba is among the executed prisoners

"Yahya Jammeh is not carrying out the death sentence because he wants to do it 
but he is under an obligation to do it according to the laws of the land," 
Jobarteh told the delegation.

He said the executed inmates had committed heinous crimes and were tried and 
found guilty by the courts. Citing the case of the Senegalese woman, Tabara 
Samba, as an example, Jobarteh said the executed woman ‘poured hot oil in the 
ear of her husband whose body was burnt and scorched by the substance’.

"What country will allow people to commit such crimes with impunity?” he asked.

"Anyone with a capacious mind would know that what the government has done is 
what should be done. You cannot just allow people to kill people and they get 
away with it. If it were your relative who was the victim of such a grotesque 
crime, what would you do if the perpetrator is allowed to go free?" he further 
asked.

(This is article was first published in September 2012 by JollofNews)

(source: jollofnews.com)








SRI LANKA:

Supreme Court dismisses petitions in favour of bill to abolish death penalty

The Supreme Court Friday (Aug 9) dismissed 3 petitions which had been filed in 
favour of the private member's bill submitted in Parliament seeking to abolish 
the death penalty.

The petitions had been dismissed after the Attorney General had raised 
objections citing that the Supreme Court did not have the jurisdiction to hear 
petitions filed under Section 120 and 121 of the constitution.

Professor Kamina Gunaratne and lawyer Radhika Coomaraswamy were among the 
petitioners who sought a court order declaring that the bill could be 
considered as a legal document.

The petitioners argued that the bill submitted by government parliamentarian 
Bandula Lal Bandarigoda had been prepared in keeping with the constitution and 
that it could be passed with a simple majority in Parliament.

The petitions had been put forward to court in the wake of President 
Maithripala Sirisena's remarks this week that the Attorney General had informed 
him that the bill was unconstitutional.

(source: sundaytimes.lk)








CHINA:

Rules to better guard rights of prisoners on death row



Convicts on death row soon will be able to meet not only with their close 
family members but also with other relatives or friends, according to a new 
guideline released by the top court on Friday to better protect the rights and 
interests of those to be executed.

China's Criminal Procedure Law has permitted death convicts to have contact 
with their close family members such as a spouse and children before execution, 
but starting Sept 1, when the guideline takes effect, those about to be 
executed may also meet with other relatives or friends with a justifiable 
reason.

The 13-article guideline from the Supreme People's Court aims to better 
regulate procedures for review of death sentences and the execution.

Under the guideline, courts should inform those on death row that they have the 
right to those meetings, and they must tell the defendants if the people that 
the inmates wish to see refuse the meeting.

If someone applies to meet with his or her child under the age of 18, courts 
should first ask for approval from the child's guardian. A video meeting will 
be arranged if courts, after a review, believe a face-to-face meeting would 
affect the children's physical or mental health, it said.

The last words of convicts facing the death penalty can be recorded by audio or 
video, it said.

Ruan Chuansheng, a law professor at the Shanghai Administration Institute, said 
such a guideline will unify different practices in the implementation of 
executions carried out by courts nationwide.

"We've had basic principles to carry out executions, such as informing of the 
right to meetings of convicts facing the death penalty, but what courts should 
do for the meeting and how to arrange the meeting are not specified," he said.

Ji Chunwei, a criminal lawyer from Guangdong province, said the new rule is a 
big step forward in human rights protection in the judicial sector.

"The guideline will prevent situations in which some people were informed after 
their family members had been executed, which has happened before," he said.

The guideline also clarifies some of the other legitimate rights of convicts on 
death row. It states that a local high court should inform the death penalty 
convict of the right to hire a defense lawyer to help him or her in the penalty 
review process. Under current laws, all death sentences in the country must be 
reviewed by the Supreme People's Court.

The defense lawyer can submit their findings or evidence either to the local 
high court or directly to the top court, according to the guideline.

(source: ecns.cn)








IRAQ:

Death sentences for European ISIS members will be carried out: Iraqi PM



Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, in an interview released by his media 
office on Friday, refused calls to not carry out death sentences on European 
Islamic State militants found guilty in Iraqi courts.

In response to a question from a journalist, he said, "Europe has abolished the 
death sentence, and we appreciate that. However, in Iraq, it is still legal."

As of 2019, the death penalty for both civilian and military crimes has been 
abolished in all European states except Belarus, which is not an EU member 
state.

Abdul Mahdi added, "This subject is constantly debated between us, but as they 
are willing to protect their interests and their peoples' interests, we are as 
well protecting our country and our people's interests."

He also said that his government, "did not promise any country not to carry out 
the death sentence on foreign Islamic State militants," echoing statements made 
in June by Iraq’s judiciary when it denied reports that Baghdad had reached a 
deal with France for the reversal of death penalties handed down to 11 French 
nationals for their membership in the extremist group.

"There is no deal between the Iraqi government and the French government to 
reduce the death penalty against those convicted," said a spokesperson, noting 
that decisions of Iraqi courts "are subject to the scrutiny of the Court of 
Cassation only, which has the power under the law to approve or change the 
penalty according to the circumstances of each crime, and not based on dealings 
between governments."

The statement followed reports in the media that claimed Iraq told France it 
would reconsider the sentences if Paris pays Baghdad millions of euros in 
exchange.

Iraqi courts have put on trial hundreds of foreigners, sentencing many to life 
in prison and others to death.

Human rights groups have long criticized massive institutional shortcomings in 
the judicial process in Iraq. Since the Islamic State was militarily beaten in 
late 2017, rights groups and the media have documented the prominence of unfair 
trials against large numbers of suspects in which there is often no evidence 
presented and where there have been credible claims that torture had been used 
to extract confessions.

After some of the French nationals claimed in court that Iraqi officials had 
tortured them, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on nations not to rely on Iraq, 
a country notorious for its security forces' use of torture as a tool of 
interrogation, for impartial justice.

Many nations in the European Union fear that due to the lack of evidence, 
Islamic State supporters could be quickly released once they appear in court 
after returning home. As such, the notion of an international criminal court to 
try them either in Iraq or Syria seems to be an attractive solution for them.

On July 29, the head of a UN team probing Islamic State crimes in Iraq called 
for an international tribunal similar to that in Nuremberg that prosecuted 
prominent Nazi figures after World War II.

Special Advisor Karim Khan heads the United Nations Investigative Team to 
Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh (UNITAD), tasked with 
collecting and preserving evidence of crimes perpetrated by the terrorist 
organization in Iraq after it took over large swaths of territory in 2014.

Khan and his almost 80-person team have been working in Iraq for about a year 
in this endeavor. According to AFP, they are analyzing up to 12,000 bodies 
exhumed from 200 mass graves left behind by the Islamic State, 600,000 videos 
showing the group’s crimes, and 15,000 "internal ISIS documents."

(source: kurdistan24.net)

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

Foreign jihadists on death row out of Iraqi govt hands: PM----Iraqi Prime 
Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said his government cannot interfere in court 
proceedings



The fate of hundreds of foreign jihadists sentenced to death or life terms in 
prison depends on Iraq's justice system, not the government, Prime Minister 
Adel Abdel Mahdi told AFP.

"We have made no promises to any country to lighten these sentences," Abdel 
Mahdi said in his 1st full-length interview with international media.

"The justice system does not allow the Iraqi state to pardon those condemned to 
death," he said.

It is up to Iraq's court of cassation to examine terrorism-related verdicts and 
either uphold, amend or scrap them.

Eleven French nationals figure among the non-Iraqis on death row, while three 
others have been sentenced to life in jail, having been found guilty of 
belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group.

So far, no executions have been carried out, and a German woman's death 
sentence was commuted to life in prison on appeal.

In Iraq, "the death sentence is legal -- Europe has abolished it, and we 
respect that position but we differ on it," Abdel Mahdi said in the Thursday 
interview shared with local television stations.

"We regularly discuss this subject. They defend their interests and those of 
their citizens and we defend our laws and the interests of our citizens."

He said: "There are discussions: will they be transferred, will they stay here, 
will they just stay a while in prison?"

Iraq has convicted more than 500 foreign men and women of joining IS since the 
start of 2018.

In early April, government sources said Iraq had offered to also put on the 
trial foreign jihadists held in neighbouring Syria in exchange for $2 million 
for each case, to be paid by their home countries.

Abdel Mahdi said it was "possible" that a number of them could be transferred 
to Iraq, due to the reluctance of many states to allow their return home.

'IS virus'

Iraq is also due to repatriate about 31,000 of its own nationals -- mostly 
wives and children of suspected jihadists -- from Kurdish-run refugee camps in 
northeast Syria.

But any such operation could only take place "with the utmost attention," Abdel 
Mahdi said.

Baghdad did "not want to transfer the IS virus to Iraq," where victory was 
declared over the jihadists at the end of 2017 after a 3-year bloody and 
destructive battle.

Sleeper cells of the Sunni extremist group, however, have kept up hit-and-run 
attacks in isolated parts of Iraq, targeting government checkpoints, public 
infrastructure and local officials.

Those repatriated to Iraq are to be housed in transit camps also being used by 
tens of thousands displaced by conflict.

Iraqi families of jihadist suspects would be held separately in the camps and 
barred from returning to their homes until security checks have been completed.

The subject often raises hackles among Iraqi politicians, especially Sunnis in 
the Shiite-majority country.

"It's true that the checks are sometimes exaggerated, that they are sometimes 
used for political ends," acknowledged the Iraqi premier.

Experts and human rights activists warn that such camps, as well as regions of 
Iraq left devastated by the fight against IS, could breed further 
radicalisation.

Neglect and the absence of central authorities and basic services were the very 
factors that contributed to the rise of IS in 2014, they point out.

(source: al-monitor.com)