[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

January 31




INDIA:

On death row, prisoners turn over a new leaf



Datta was 20 when he was arrested for the rape and murder of a minor girl. 
Following a trial, he was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. He has 
been serving time awaiting his execution ever since. He is now 32.

For most people, serving time in jails awaiting death is a scary proposition. 
However, Datta is using this time on death row to fulfil his childhood ambition 
of attending school. Also the youngest prisoner in the barrack, he spends most 
of his time studying and working. He goes to school every day in the morning at 
8 and returns to his barrack by the evening. He is proud of the fact that he 
has learnt so much despite being an inmate in a prison. According to a report 
released by the National Law University, Delhi, Datta has learnt to read and 
write Hindi and is satisfied that he can now write his own name. He is 
currently enrolled in Class 5.

Like Datta, Harkishan also was convicted for rape and murder and sent to the 
gallows. He is currently lodged in a jail awaiting execution. When he was 31, 
Harkishan attempted suicide in his cell. The report says that he was very 
disturbed at the thought of his imminent but unclear death after the President 
rejected his mercy plea. He had slashed his genitals with a tile claiming that 
he preferred death over execution for a crime he had not committed.

However, in the 12 years that he has been on death row, Harkishan has had a 
renewed sense of life. He told the authors of the report in an interview that 
he wanted to work hard now till his execution so his family remembers him for 
good deeds. He works in the jail’s carpentry department and library. A graduate 
dropout, he has taken to reading in a big way and says his only wealth today is 
the knowledge he has garnered working in the jail library.

Lawyers say that convicts on death row generally either accept their fate or 
work with renewed strength. “In the case of the infamous serial killer Ted 
Bundy, who confessed to killing and raping 36 women a day before his execution, 
most death row convicts do the same. There are some others like Datta and 
Harkishan who accept their fate and look at life in a different perspective,” a 
senior lawyer, requesting anonymity, said. She said that the death penalty is 
given taking into account reform ability of the convict.

(source: The New Indian Express)








SRI LANKA:

Death for drug traffickers soon - President



President Maithripala Sirisena said he will ensure the death sentences passed 
on drug offences are carried out soon.

Addressing the Matara district national programme on drug prevention themed 
Mathin Nidahas Ratak held at the Sanath Jayasuriya stadium last morning (30), 
the President said the death penalty is carried out for drug offences in the 
Philippines. It is also carried out in India and even in America. “Sri Lanka 
will follow suit very soon,” he said.

The President also said he had entrusted the Armed Forces and the Police to 
eradicate the narcotics menace as they had destroyed the LTTE.

The President said the main reason for holding the programme in Matara was 
because the largest detections of narcotics in the recent past had been made in 
the Southern Province and mainly in Matara.

The Southern Province leads the other provinces when it comes to education and 
health but is sadly in the largest detections of narcotics.” Students are the 
main target of narcotic dealers and therefore we conduct awareness programmes 
in schools,” President Sirisena said.

He said that when the ‘National drug eradication week’ was announced, a student 
had questioned at one of these programmes if the drug menace could be 
eradicated in one week. Another student had wanted to know why the government 
does not ban the sale of Alcohol and Tobacco while another had said that it was 
because the government earns a revenue from taxes imposed.

“Sadly all these students are correct,” he said.

The Presidential Task Force, together with the Navy and Armed forces conducted 
drug prevention awareness programmes in five districts at 51 schools and the 
President handed over certificates of appreciation to the best contributors. 
The Ruhuna University received a cash award for establishing a research unit to 
eradicating narcotics.

The President said that the mobile phone has become a challenge to eradicate 
the nation of drugs and narcotics and emphasised that parents should pay more 
attention on how their childrens use the device.

The Presidential task force for drug prevention has been conducting programs 
for drug prevention since 2015 under the guidance of President Maithripala 
Sirisena and 11 conferences have been held district wise to make the public 
aware.”Narcotic eradication units should have been established in every state 
institution by now if the programmes have been implemented properly and those 
students would not have posed those questions,” the president said.

Since last October a series of programmes regarding eradicating drugs has been 
conducted in the Matara district since last October under which all the 650 
Grama Niladhari Divisions of the district carried out programs rurally.

Matara District Secretary Pradeep Rathnayake said people of Matara appreciated 
the President’s effort to eradicate tobacco and narcotics and pledged their 
fullest cooperation.

President Sirisena together with other dignitaries and all others present 
pledged to rid the nation of the use of tobacco and narcotics. Finance and 
Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Southern Province Governor Keerthi 
Tennakoon, Chief Minister Shan Wijelal de Silva, Deputy Minister Buddika 
Pathirana, MPs, Provincial Councillors, senior officials and a large gathering 
of students were present.

(source: dailynews.lk)








MALAYSIA:

'Disgusting, heartless' - lawyers slam Penang MCA's pro-death penalty campaign



Penang MCA's campaign against the abolition of the death penalty has courted 
flak from lawyers.

Among them is Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) advisor N Surendran, who had some 
strong words against the BN component party.

"Wow! A campaign to continue hanging people. Very humane & compassionate! Can 
MCA think of no other decent way to crawl out of the deep hole of utter 
irrelevance that they've fallen into?" he tweeted this evening.

LFL executive director Latheefa Koya tweeted: "What kind of sentiment is being 
expressed by MCA just before the CNY celebrations! Heartless!".

Latheefa's predecessor in the lawyer's group, Eric Paulsen (photo, below), also 
joined the chorus of condemnation.

Taking to Twitter, he called MCA's move disgusting.

"Disgusting. MCA total loss of moral compass (sic)," he said.

Earlier today, Penang MCA chief Lim Siew Bok said party members had been 
carrying out a signature campaign against the abolition of death penalty, in 
several local markets on the island and mainland since last week.

The campaign has thus far, garnered 4,000 signatures, and the response has been 
good, he was quoted saying.

On Jan 18, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong had said 
that the federal government is yet to finalise the decision on the abolition of 
the death penalty.

While human rights NGOs have consistently been advocating the abolition for 
decades, others such as former inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor, 
had criticised Putrajaya's decision as being "too hasty".

MCA took its campaign a notch higher during the Cameron Highlands by-election, 
where party members badgered DAP senior advisor Lim Kit Siang to sign their 
petition.

(source: Malaysiakini.com)








BANGLADESH:

Brothers to walk gallows for killing man in Fatikchhari



A Chattogram court yesterday handed down death penalty to 2 brothers, on 
charges of killing an expatriate in Fatickchhari upazila in the district over a 
land dispute in 2011.

The convicted are Md Jahedul Alam alias "Loha Jahed" and Khorshedul Alam Kalam 
alias "Jongi Kalam", from Dhali Kata of Chattogram's Fatickchari upazila.

Chattogram Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge Md Abul Halim delivered the 
verdict against the duo, after the court found them guilty beyond doubt 
examining all records and witnesses, said Public Prosecutor of the tribunal 
advocate Ayub Khan.

Both accused were tried in absentia, said the PP.

According to the case statement, the convicts had longstanding feud with Yunus, 
an expatriate to India, of the same area over a piece of land. Yunus and his 
cousin Hasan erected a fence on the land boundary, triggering an altercation on 
April 11, 2011. The 2 brothers called Yunus and Hasan to come to their house to 
settle the issue. When Yunus and Hasan entered their residence, Jahed and Kalam 
started hacking them with sharp weapons, locking the gate.

Hearing their cry for help, neighbours rescued the injured and informed police, 
who arrested the 2 after the incident. Yunus died on the way to hospital.

Yunus' wife Khotiza Akter filed a case accusing the duo, while police pressed 
the charge sheet against them June 5, 2011.

The complainant's lawyer advocate Tarun Kishor Deb said a total of 13 witnesses 
out of 20 testified in the case.

(source: The Daily Star)



PAKISTAN/MAURITANIA:

Blasphemy Cases at T2 Ends of the Muslim World



Thanks to inhumane blasphemy laws, 2 former death row inmates living at distant 
ends of the Muslim world have much in common.

Aasia Bibi spent eight years on Pakistan’s death row after a court sentenced 
her to death for “blasphemy.” A Christian, Bibi allegedly disparaged Islam 
after her neighbors objected to her drinking from their glass because she was 
not Muslim.

On January 29, Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld its October 31 ruling that 
quashed her conviction, finally clearing the way for her to seek safety, and 
asylum, abroad.

Pakistani authorities should now let Bibi travel. She should not have to 
endure, as Mauritanian blogger Mohammed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir has, a long wait 
to regain freedom after winning in court.

Mkhaitir should have walked out of prison 15 months ago, when an appeals court 
converted his death penalty to a 2-year prison term on the grounds he had 
repented his “blasphemy.” Mkhaitir, a Muslim, had at that point already spent 3 
years on death row for criticizing Mauritanians who invoked practices of the 
Prophet Muhammad to justify discrimination against certain groups today.

Some Islamist parties in both Pakistan and Mauritania demanded the execution of 
Bibi and Mkhaitir. In Pakistan, extremists murdered a provincial governor and 
government minister who had called for Bibi’s release. The leader of the 
Islamist Tehreek-i-Labaik party warned “there will be war” if she is allowed to 
go abroad. Mkhaitir’s lawyers have reported threats.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Bibi’s conviction in October, authorities 
have confined her to a “safe house.” Many others have been jailed on 
accusations of violating Pakistan’s blasphemy law, including Junaid Hafeez, a 
university professor, who remains in prison since March 2013 for a Facebook 
post.

After the Mauritanian appeals court commuted Mkhaitir’s sentence, he was 
transferred into secret detention, where he has been held ever since, without 
legal basis.

Mauritanian and Pakistani authorities doubtlessly fear a violent backlash if 
they press to reform blasphemy laws, or allow Mkhaitir or Bibi to go abroad. 
Yet these cases make clear keeping such legislation on the books also courts 
violence – not only the violence of capital punishment, but also mob violence 
fanned by political leaders.

The Quran does not command punishment for blasphemy. Leaders of both Mauritania 
and Pakistan should show leadership and uphold basic rights: free Bibi and 
Mkhaitir and begin dialing down the blasphemy laws.

(source: Human Rights Watch)








EGYPT:

Egypt’s cabinet approves death penalty for drug dealers



Egypt’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft law amending some provisions of 
Law No. 182 of 1960 on regulating the use of drugs and combating trafficking.

The draft amendment comes within the framework of a decisive response to the 
problem of the spread of narcotics in all forms, especially the new drugs that 
are not on the international watch lists or the tables attached to the national 
narcotics law.

Narcotics have recently become a dangerous phenomenon casting a shadow over the 
Egyptian society in general and youth in particular.

The draft amendment states that “everyone who brought or exported synthetic 
substances with an anesthetic effect, or harmful to mind, body, or 
psychological and neurological condition shall be punished by death, and 
everyone who possessed with the purpose of trafficking the substances mentioned 
shall be sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine not less than LE 100,000 and 
not more than LE 500,000.”

It adds that those convicted “shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment and 
a fine not less than LE 50,000 and not more than LE 200,000 if the possession 
was for the purpose of using, and with prison and a fine of not less than LE 
50,000 and not more than LE 100,000 if possession was without any of the 
purposes.”

The amendment also states that “everyone who managed or prepared a place for 
others to use synthetic substances or made it easy to use shall be punished by 
imprisonment and a fine of not less than LE 200,000 and not more than LE 
300,000. And shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of not less than 
one year and a fine of not less than LE 1,000 and not exceeding LE 10,000 for 
whoever was arrested in a place prepared for the use of drugs or synthetic 
substances while using them with his knowledge.”

(source: egyptindependent.com)








SAUDI ARABIA----female foreign national executed

Saudi Arabia executes 39-year-old Filipina helper



Saudi Arabia executed a 39-year-old Filipina household service worker found 
guilty of murder, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed Thursday, 
January 31.

The Filipina, whom the DFA did not identify, suffered the death penalty on 
Tuesday, January 29. The DFA sent its condolences to the family of the overseas 
Filipino worker (OFW).

"The Department regrets that it was not able to save the life of the Filipina 
after the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council classified her case as one in which 
blood money does not apply under Shariah law," said the DFA in a statement 
Thursday morning.

Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Adnan Alonto said the embassy "provided 
her with a lawyer to assist her in all stages of her trial, sent 
representatives to visit her, and provided her family in the Philippines with 
regular updates about her case."

The DFA said it "has informed the next of kin who have requested for privacy 
during their time of bereavement."

More than 10 million Filipinos work overseas to seek better opportunities and 
send back money to their families. Of this number, around 2.3 million work in 
the Middle East and Africa.

(source: rappler.com)








PHILIPPINES:

OFW's execution in Saudi shows PH can't adopt death penalty – 
Locsin----Reimposing the death penalty will make the Philippines 'lose the 
argument of respecting our culture,' says Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr

The recent execution of a 39-year-old Filipino worker in Saudi Arabia shows the 
Philippines cannot adopt the death penalty, said Foreign Secretary Teodoro 
"Teddyboy" Locsin Jr.

"Damn. This is why we cannot adopt the death penalty; we lose the argument of 
respecting our culture which abhors the taking of a human life by a cold formal 
state justice system when we believe that a state exists to protect life," 
Locsin said in a tweet on Thursday, January 31.

Locsin tweeted this after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday 
confirmed that a 39-year-old Filipina helper in Saudi Arabia, who was found 
guilty of murder, was executed.

Saudi Arabia carried out the execution on Tuesday, January 29.

The Philippines has appealed for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on death row 
abroad, even as President Rodrigo Duterte has pushed for the reimposition of 
the death penalty in the Philippines. The proposal to reinstate the death 
penalty, however, has languished in Congress.

Buhay Representative Lito Atienza earlier warned that reimposing the death 
penalty in the Philippines will likely hurt the Philippines' efforts to save 
OFWs on death row.

"Should Congress reinstate the cruel and inhuman punishment, it would be 
extremely problematic for us to plead with other governments for compassion, if 
we ourselves are killing own convicts here – if we ourselves do not respect the 
value of human life," Atienza said.

(source: rappler.com)








IRAN----female execution

87th Woman Executed Under Rouhani in Iran



A woman was hanged on Wednesday, January 30, 2019, in Nowshahr Prison, in the 
northern Iranian province of Mazandaran.

The woman identified only as M.A, was convicted of “killing her husband.”

She had spent 6 years on death row.

The woman is the 87th woman who is executed under Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian 
regime’s president.

The Iranian regime is the world’s top record holder in execution of women while 
it has the highest per capita executions in the world.

Last month a young woman identified only as Noushin was executed in Iran, the 
state-run ROKNA news agency reported on December 22, 2018.

Noushin was convicted of murdering a man, Soheil, who had promised to marry 
her, but took advantage of her, and subsequently brutalized, blackmailed and 
forced her into having sexual relations with his friends.

She did this for a month before she decided to stop this situation by killing 
the man who was forcing her to do so.

It is worth noting that the horrific news of the execution of 24-year-old 
Iranian Kurdish woman Zeinab Sekaanvand in October 2018, triggered a bitter 
debate over the execution of violence victims in Iran.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, condemned the 
execution of Sekaanvand Lokran, by issuing a statement on October 5, 2018, 
calling it a “sheer injustice.”

She stressed that the UN Human Rights Office opposes the use of the death 
penalty in all circumstances, as no judiciary in any part of the world is 
mistake-free.

More women on death row

Dozens of women are on death row across Iran most of whom had committed murder 
in self-defense against domestic violence.

The names of 8 woman lingering in Urmia Central Prison on death row were 
previously announced as:

Chenar Salehi,

Yasna Sadeqi,

Arasteh Ranjbar,

Nazdar Vatankhah,

Tahmineh Danesh,

Farideh Hassanpour,

Shelir Khosravi,

Somayeh Ebrahimzadeh.

Another 11 death-row women prisoners are held in Qarchak Prison of Varamin. The 
names of the 11 women and duration of their detention in jail follows:

Azam Maleki, 8 years, charged with murder of her brother-in-law and 
nephew-in-law;

Narjes Tabaii, 3 years, charged with murder of her husband’s second wife;

Fereshteh Shirazi, 5 years, charged with murder of mother-in-law (sister of 
Assadollah

Lajevardi, the infamous warden known as the Butcher of Evin Prison);

Tahereh Noori, 12 years, charged with murder of her husband;

Roya Amirian, 14 years, charged with murder of a man harassing her on the 
street;

Mahtab Shafii, 3 years, charged with murder of her husband and mother-in-law;

Mahboubeh Rasouli, 7 years, charged with murder of mother-in-law;

Mahnaz Agahi, 7 years, charged with murder of her husband;

Soghra Eftekhari, 10 years, charged with murder during a conflict;

Eshrat Nazari, 6 years, charged with murder of her husband;

Samira Sabziyan.

Under the laws of the Iranian regime, the woman and the victim who has defended 
herself must face trials and retribution.

While the international community has adopted the Council of Europe Convention 
on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence 
(Istanbul, May 11, 2011) to protect women victims of violence, and while most 
countries endeavor to assist women victims of violence and protect them against 
the death penalty, the misogynous clerical regime in Iran does not protect the 
rights of women who are victims of violence, because misogyny has been 
institutionalized in the country’s laws and the Iranian regime is moving in the 
opposite direction.

The fate of the 11 women imprisoned on death row in Qarchak calls for action by 
international human rights organizations to investigate the injustices of the 
Iranian Judiciary and inhuman prison conditions. It also highlights the need to 
abolish the death penalty in Iran.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

8 Iranian Environmentalists Accused Of Spying Go On Trial



8 Iranian environmentalists accused of spying appeared in a Tehran court on 
January 30 for a closed-door trial, local media report.

Mohammad-Hossein Aghasi, a representative of one of the accused, said that he 
was not present in court as the state designated its own handpicked lawyers to 
represent the defendants, according to the state news agency IRNA.

Four of the defendants were charged last year with “sowing corruption on 
Earth,” a charge that can carry the death sentence in Iran.

Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi has claimed the activists were 
“seeking proximity to military sites with the cover of the environmental 
projects and obtaining military information from them.”

3 other activists are accused of espionage and the last one has been charged 
with "conspiracy against national security," IRNA reported.

Human Rights Watch in October called the accusations against the eight 
environmentalists “ridiculous.”

“With the judiciary serving as one of the main cornerstones in Iran’s apparatus 
of repression, there is a major risk that they won’t get a fair trial,” the New 
York-based human rights watchdog said in a statement.

The environmental activists who went on trial are Taher Ghadirian, Niloufar 
Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Houman Jokar, Sam Rajabi, Sepideh Kashani, Morad 
Tahbaz, and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh -- all members of a local environmental group, 
the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation.

The 63-year-old managing director of the group, Kavous Seyed Emami, was also 
detained but died in prison under disputed circumstances.

The Judiciary said the Iranian-Canadian sociology professor committed suicide. 
The claim has been questioned by his family and acquaintances.

The Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation works to protect endangered animals 
and raise public awareness about the environment.

(source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty)



GLOBAL:

Inside The Last Meals Of Ancient Victims Of Sacrifice And Murder



Last meals of condemned prisoners are historically known to date back 
centuries, but the tradition is better known in the U.S. owing to both our 
continued use of capital punishment, which has been abolished in a majority of 
contemporary countries, and to a longstanding tradition of making the specifics 
of the last meal public record. While the last meal may trace its contemporary 
roots to the Christian Last Supper, archaeology shows us that the last meals of 
victims of sacrifice and murder can be recovered from ancient remains.

Preserved human remains are found around the world, but particularly in areas 
that are cold and dry like Andean or Alpine mountaintops or hot and dry like 
African deserts. These environmental conditions freeze and/or desiccate the 
body, preserving soft tissue and organs along with the skeleton. Another method 
of preservation is in a peat bog, found throughout Northern Europe. The cold, 
acidic water and oxygen-free environment of the bog naturally turn skin and 
organs into leather while dissolving the bones. These mummies and bog bodies 
have been investigated by archaeologists over the years to reveal the last 
foods - and drugs - that were consumed prior to violent death.

The 1st recorded discovery of a preserved human body in a peat bog was in 1640 
in Germany. As peat moss occurs naturally in many wetland environments and can 
be burned as fuel, people have been harvesting bogs for centuries -- but they 
have also been tossing bodies in them. The oldest bog body with preserved flesh 
dates back to about 2000 BC, but the majority of bog bodies date to the Iron 
Age of Europe, or about the 8th to 1st centuries BC.

Many of the bog bodies from northern Europe were found to have been murdered -- 
beheaded, stabbed, strangled, bludgeoned, or hanged. Evidence of torture has 
also been found - such as on Old Croghan Man, whose nipples were cut - but 
others may have been ritual sacrifices from the upper class. Given the 
fantastic preservation of internal organs in many of the bog bodies, 
archaeologists have learned quite a bit about the last foods consumed.

Among the bog bodies are both men and women, as well as adolescents. Huldremose 
Woman, found in Denmark and dating to the late Iron Age, had a rope around her 
neck and lacerations on her feet. A dietary analysis of her stomach contents by 
archaeologist Heather Gill-Robinson in 1999 revealed she ate a rye-based 
porridge before her untimely death. Zweeloo Woman, dating well into the Roman 
period in the Netherlands, had an inherited condition that made her forearms 
and lower legs shorter than average. According to studies in the early 1990s of 
her gut contents, Zweeloo woman also ate a porridge, but one made chiefly from 
millet along with a large amount of blackberries.

(source: forbes.com)