[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

January 13




IRAN----executions

Iran publicly executes 3 men for armed robbery



Iran on Sunday hanged 3 men sentenced to death for armed robbery, all of them 
executed in public in front of a crowd of onlookers, Iranian judiciary’s 
website Mizan reported.

It took place on January 13, in the city of Yasuj, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad 
Province.

The victims were identified by the state media as Keykavous Jamal Sirat, Rostam 
Rezaei, and Abdullah Johari.

It followed Thursday’s hanging of a 31 year old man on sodomy charges in the 
southwestern city of Kazeroon.

In August 2018, Iran hanged 6 men convicted of stealing 10kg of gold jewelry 
using cold weapons, according to the state media.

Iran is the world’s leading executioner per capita, with many hangings carried 
out in public. At least 285 executions including 11 in public were carried out 
in the period spanning December 2017 to December 2018. The real numbers were 
likely to be much higher as use of capital punishment in Iran is often shrouded 
in secrecy.

Most of those executed during the period in question were sentenced to death 
for smuggling, narcotics, and murder. However, human rights groups say capital 
punishment is not limited to violent crimes. Adultery, non-violent drug 
offenses, sodomy (consensual or otherwise), apostasy (conversion to another 
religion from Islam), insulting the Prophet Muhammad, and vague national 
security crimes like ‘sowing corruption on Earth’ are all punishable by death.

International human rights organizations have repeatedly condemned Iran for its 
high rate of executions.

The UN General Assembly in December 2018 approved a resolution criticizing 
Iran’s human rights record.

The resolution had condemned the systematic violations of human rights and 
fundamental freedoms by the regime and the alarmingly high number of 
executions, as well as torture and cruel treatment in prisons.

(source: Iran Human Rights)








SYRIA:

Gardai believe Irish citizen arrested for fighting for IS in Syria ‘facing 
execution’



An Irish citizen arrested fighting for IS in Syria could face the death penalty 
there, gardai believe.

Alexandr Ruzmatovich Bekmirzaev, 45, was 1 of 5 men detained by the US-backed 
Syrian Democratic Forces in the east of the country on December 30. Bekmirzaev, 
originally from Belarus, moved to Ireland in 2000 but left in 2013 when he took 
his family to the Middle East. He was an associate of a Jordanian man deported 
from Ireland in 2016. The State had dubbed him the “main recruiter of Islamic 
State in Ireland”.

Gardai, who trailed Bekmirzaev for months following his radicalisation, also 
believe he was pals with suicide bomb flop Khalid Kelly, who blew himself up in 
March 2016.

Cops expect Bekmirzaev will now face an extended spell in a Syrian prison, or 
even face the death penalty at the hands of the US-backed Kurdish-Arab Syrian 
Democratic Forces.

A source said: “He will spend some time in prison there — you can be sure of 
that. He could even face the death penalty. It’s hard to know at this stage.”

Kurdish officials are desperate to send captured fighters back to their home 
countries to stand trial as Kurdish ­prisons and ­displacement camps housing 
suspected IS fighters and their families are already ­overstretched.

Abdel Karim Omar, co-chair of the Kurdish administrative centre in Syria, said: 
“Each country must be pressurised to repatriate its own citizens, and prosecute 
them on their own soil.”

Bekmirzaev, who could face ten years in jail if convicted here, was on a garda 
watch-list and under constant surveillance. However, he was seen as “harmless” 
during his stay here.

“He was harmless while here but that changed when the Jordanian and Kelly 
started chipping away at him.

“Once he was radicalised, he was mad to get away and go off and fight.

“If anything, he is a good example of how a normal person can be radicalised by 
dangerous preachers.”

(source: thesun.ie)








SOMALIA:

Somali Soldier Given Death Sentence for Murdering Civilian



Somali military court has sentenced an army officer to the death penalty after 
he was found guilty of intentionally killing a civilian identified as Dayah 
Iman Hassan on 21st October last year near Seybiyano locality in Hodan 
district, Mogadishu on Saturday.

The judge of the court, col. Hassan Ali Nuur Shute said the decision of the 
court was based on the evidence provided by the witnesses before the court and 
thus the accused was sentenced to death.

"After seeing the medical report that proved the main cause of the deceased 
death and the evidence provided by 5 witnesses who were on aboard the vehicle 
of the accused, the court has sentenced Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed to death for 
killing the late Dayah Iman Hassan, " said the judge.

The court also said that the convicted person can apply for an appeal if he is 
not satisfied with the verdict.

The deceased Dayah Iman Hassan graduated from Plasma university in Mogadishu 
before his death.

(source: allafrica.com)








ZIMBABWE:

Zimbabwe moving towards abolishing death penalty



The issue of 'capital punishment' might once again come under the spotlight 
with the Ministry of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs hinting that if the 
country is to amend the Constitution, then the abolishing of the death sentence 
might be discussed.

Zimbabwe's Constitution allows the death penalty but the country has not 
executed anyone for the past 14 years despite there being convicted murderers 
on the death row.

Since the year 2005, the country has not carried out any executions despite the 
courts of law sentencing convicted murderers to the gallows.

The Constitution that came into effect in the year 2013 allows for capital 
punishment but the actions appear to suggest Zimbabwe is moving with times and 
might do away with the death penalty.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi confirmed 
that abolishing capital punishment will in the future be discussed if the 
Constitution is to be amended.

Harare lawyer Mr James Makiya said the right to life must be absolute if the 
Constitution is to respect the sanctity of human life.

It is the duty of legislators to amend the Constitution and follow other 
progressive nations in removing the death sentence, said Mr Makiya.

South Africa, a country with a very high rate of murder, the death sentence was 
abolished on the 6th of June 1995 after the famous state versus Makwanyane 
constitutional application.

In Zimbabwe, some, however, believe the death sentence can deter would be 
offenders.

Despite the assertions that the death penalty deters would be murderers, 
research shows otherwise.

There are no scientific facts that prove that imposing the death penalty 
reduces the cases of murder in any country.

Another worrying fact is that Amnesty International has recorded 55 cases in 5 
countries namely China, Maldives, Nigeria, USA and Zambia whereby prisoners who 
had been sentenced to death were later exonerated.

At least 21 919 people were known to be on death row worldwide at the end of 
2017.

In Zimbabwe, the Constitution does not allow for the execution of people under 
the age of 21, those above the age of 70 and women.

(source: bulawayo24.com)








UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Death penalty for Pakistani boy's rapist-killer submitted to UAE President for 
approval----His death sentence was upheld last year by the court.



The killer of Azan - the Pakistani child who was raped and murdered - has been 
sentenced to death, according to a decision upheld by the Abu Dhabi Court of 
Cassation.

The ruling was submitted to the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin 
Zayed Al Nahyan, for approval.

The court has also cancelled a previous decision that asked the convict to pay 
the blood money and the execution will be implemented based on Islamic laws, 
according to a report by Al Khaleej.

In June 2018, the convict - who wore a burqa, disguised as a woman - had raped 
and murdered the 11-year-old Azan.

(source: Khaleej Times)

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

Child killer will face death penalty, Abu Dhabi court rules----Man who raped 
and murdered his sister’s step son awaits execution



A man who raped and strangled an 11-year-old boy on the roof of an apartment 
building in Abu Dhabi will be sentenced to death, the Court of Cassation has 
ruled.

Athan Janjua was returning from a mosque across the street from his home when 
he was brutally attacked by Mohsen Bilal in May, 2017.

Bilal, who disguised himself as a woman by wearing an abaya, lured the boy to 
the rooftop of the apartment block, where the victim lived with his family.

The Pakistani defendant tried to rape Athan, who was his sister’s step son, but 
the boy resisted and begged his attacker to respect the copy of the Quran lying 
next to him, prosecutors said based on the defendant’s confessions.

When Athan continued to resist, his attacker strangled him with a laundry rope.

Both the criminal court and appeals court sentenced the Pakistani man to death 
and - with the court of cassation upholding the sentence - the verdict is now 
final.

During the court case, prosecutors produced CCTV footage that showed the 
defendant walking into the building wearing women’s clothes.

They said he tricked the boy into following him to the roof before he sexually 
assaulted him.

The boy’s body was discovered the next day by maintenance workers.

Both public prosecution and the boy’s Russian mother and Pakistani father 
insisted on the death sentence against Athan’s killer.

(source: thenational.ae)








PAKISTAN:

Pakistan's Top Court Stays Execution Of Mentally Ill Man



The Supreme Court of Pakistan has suspended the execution of a former police 
officer who is mentally ill.

A two-judge panel is set to hear a petition to save Khizar Hayat's life by his 
mother on January 14, the court said.

Hayat was sentenced to death in 2003 over the shooting of a police officer and 
was first diagnosed as a schizophrenic in 2008 by prison medical authorities.

The man was scheduled to be executed on January 15.

Pakistan is a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with 
Disabilities, an international convention guaranteeing the dignity of 
individuals with disabilities.

The country lifted a 6-year moratorium on the death penalty after Islamist 
militants killed more than 150 people at a school in the northwestern city of 
Peshawar in December 2014.

(source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty)