[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 10



LUXEMBOURG:

Asselborn pursues universal abolition of the death penalty



The Minister of Foreign Affairs maintains anti-death penalty stance in response 
to Christian Social People's Party MP Laurent Mosar.

Foreign Affairs Minister Asselborn reaffirmed his ambition concerning the 
abolition of the death penalty beyond European borders. The issue came up in 
relation to the fate of Murtaja Qureiris, imprisoned since the age of 13 in 
Saudi Arabia.

"The youngest prisoner in Saudi Arabia" had been facing the death penalty but 
was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison for taking part in an 
anti-government demonstration. However, as deputy Laurent Mosar pointed out, 
even if Murtaja Qureiris’ life was no longer technically in danger, the problem 
remained as relevant as ever, with initiatives such as the United Nations 
Children's Fund regularly denouncing Saudi Arabia’s continued execution of 
minors.

How then, asked Mosar, was the Luxembourgish government going to react? And 
how, he continued, would they address the case on both European (EU) and 
international (UN) levels?

Jean Asselborn maintained that Luxembourg seized every possible opportunity to 
underline its unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, especially when in 
relation to minors. Going beyond the issue at hand, the minister called for the 
suspension of "all executions" in order to achieve "a complete and universal 
abolition of the application of the death penalty".

Returning to the case of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Asselborn assured that the European 
Union would not hesitate to raise the subject with the Saudi representatives 
and insisted that Luxembourg would continue to commit in favour of universal 
abolition of the death penalty in every way possible.

We can only hope that despite a clear risk of a global regression on the issue, 
Mr Asselborn's appeal will be heard. If the Qureiris case has taught us 
anything, it is that international pressure can change things.

(source: rtl.lu)








PAKISTAN:

Death penalty in Pakistan: A colonial residue----Capital punishment was used 
extensively in colonial India by the British Empire to control its colonial 
subjects.



The following is an excerpt from Justice Project Pakistan’s (JPP) book, The 
Death Penalty in Pakistan: A Critical Review, to be launched on July 11, 2019 
in Islamabad. A culmination of 10 years of JPP’s work, the book documents the 
many ways in which Pakistan's application of the death penalty intersects with 
legal, social and political realities.

It focuses on how capital punishment impacts some of the most vulnerable 
populations: juveniles, the mentally ill, persons with physical disabilities, 
low-wage migrant workers imprisoned in foreign jails and the working class.

Relying on public records for multiple JPP clients sentenced to death, nearly a 
decade of experience in the field, as well as extensive experience with 
legislation and advocacy, this book tracks the many junctures at which 
violations occur, from arrest to sentencing to execution.

***

Colonial India (1858-1945)

As the Mughal Empire fell, the British took control and established the Indian 
subcontinent as its colony until both Pakistan and India gained independence in 
1947. Most of the laws and structures currently in place in Pakistan including 
those related to criminal justice and the legal system date to colonial times. 
While the British altered the modes of carrying out death sentences and made 
hanging the norm,19 they also made it so that capital punishment was 
administered more readily and frequently. Whereas the Mughals did not have many 
formal prison systems, the building of new and improved prisons marked the 
entry of the British into the Indian subcontinent.20 In her book Prisoner 
Voices from Death Row, Reena Mary George indicates, ‘Prisons continue to be 
located and structured more or less as they were in colonial times. Any change 
that has been made has been incorporated somewhat clumsily into the old system 
that basically served the triple colonial aims of order, economy and 
efficiency’.21

The first formal placing of capital punishment in the legal system, though, 
came when the Governor-General of the India Council enacted the Indian Penal 
Code in 1860.22 The law, drafted by a group of Britishers making up the Law 
Commission, did not attempt to integrate any traditional Indian legal systems 
and instead, as the historian David Skuy notes, ‘the entire codification 
practice represented the transplantation of English law to India, complete with 
lawyers and judges’.23 Since English law at the time was not itself uniform, 
this was a first attempt to create such a standard body of law. The current 
Code of Criminal Procedure was introduced in 1898 but draws from the very first 
code of 1861 that followed the 1857 Indian rebellion.24 Its intent was to 
control Indians. Some of the provisions in these laws are termed as ‘draconian 
or black laws’.25

In fact, these codes made the death penalty the automatic punishment for murder 
with life imprisonment as the exception rather than vice versa.26 The primary 
justification of the death penalty itself today stems from the time [the parts 
that now constitute] Pakistan was still a colony, namely ‘the belief that 
common people can be made to obey the law only through fear instilled by harsh 
punishment’.27 This belief persists despite reputable empirical evidence to the 
contrary and influences public opinion on the death penalty to this day.

The book will be launched on July 11, 2019 in Islamabad

Along with increasing the number of convicts and prisons and instating harsh 
laws, the British increased the number and frequency of executions in the 
country significantly. In fact, by the 1920s, fearing that they were losing 
their grip on the Empire, the British executed an average of 3 people every 
day.28 According to one scholar, Anderson, ‘capital punishment was used 
extensively in colonial India by the British Empire to control its colonial 
subjects and reinforce its sovereignty’, particularly ‘given to the lower caste 
and class’.29 This discriminatory trend persists to this day such that a vast 
majority of those on death row are from marginalised communities with poor 
socio-economic backgrounds. Time and again, scholars indicate that executions 
helped ‘consolidate imperial rule and eradicate resistance against it’.30 These 
often took the form of public spectacles to dissuade dissenters and others from 
rising up. One example is the blowing up of Indian soldiers by cannons for 
mutiny.

These public displays, in fact, sometimes drew from the harsh means of 
executions used by the Mughals before them. Other than these public spectacles, 
hangings for common crimes from murder to theft to refusal to work were also 
used to teach the colonised a ‘lesson’.31 While the actual number of executions 
was roughly the same in Britain and India, the difference was that these deaths 
were public and directly a way to assert dominance and repress insubordination 
to curb challenges to the British Raj. And though there are multiple cases 
where the British commuted capital punishment, they often did this in face of a 
worse punishment of transportation and indentured servitude elsewhere, 
believing that forcing Indians to move would severely affect their religious 
practices, funerary rights, and caste structures, and thereby constitute a form 
of social death.32 Often, the British would use the bodies of dead prisoners 
for research – medical or otherwise. These routine post-mortems became one of 
the sets of grievances that led to the Great Indian Rebellion of 1857.33

At the same time, the British put in place numerous due process guarantees. As 
part of several reform movements in 1837, the Colonial Office sought to 
reconcile law on capital punishment in England with that in the colonies, but 
inconsistencies remained.34 As Britain sought to prove its ‘civilizing’ 
mission, the push for reforms intensified, but in many ways, this did not reach 
the colonies they were intended to benefit and the ‘theater of execution’ 
continued in the Indian subcontinent.35 When makeshift gallows were proved 
prone to botched executions, the British, under heavy criticism, set up new and 
improved ones. However, problems persisted: ‘the drop was often too short, and 
criminals were on occasion hanged weighed down with heavy fetters on their 
legs’.36

The death penalty in England itself was inherently problematic. Seeing its rise 
in the industrial era, a sentence of death was the penalty for hundreds of 
offences from pickpocketing to cutting down a tree to being out at night with a 
black face to rape and murder.37 It was only after sustained activism that the 
death penalty was narrowed down by 1861 from 200 offences to 4.

Footnotes

19 Treating Indians as automatically of a lower class, they did not consider 
beheading which in Britain itself was reserved for upper class men and women.

20 Reena Mary George, Prisoner Voices from Death Row Indian Experiences, (New 
York: Routledge, 2016).

21 Id.

22 Divya Metha, ‘Capital Punishment in India: Life, Death and Rebirth?’, Brown 
Political Review, November 29, 2016.

23 David Skuy, ‘Macaulay and the Indian Penal Code of 1862: The Myth of the 
Inherent Superiority and Modernity of the English Legal System Compared to 
India’s Legal System in the Nineteenth Century’, Modern Asian Studies Vol. 32, 
No. 3 (July, 1998): pp. 513-557.

24 TNN, ‘CrPC was enacted after 1857 mutiny’, The Times of India, May 5, 2008.

25 George, Prisoner Voices.

26 Id.

27 C. Mohan Gopal, ‘Colonial Legacy’, Frontline, March 8, 2013.

28 Id.

29 Clare Anderson, ‘Execution and its Aftermath in the Nineteenth Century 
British Empire’, University of Leicester, last accessed August 17, 2018.

30 Id.

31 Anderson, ‘Execution’.

32 Id.

33 Id.

34 Id.

35 Id.

36 Id.

37 ‘A brief history of capital punishment in Britain’, Historyextra, March 27, 
2018.

(source: dawn.com)








BANGLADESH:

Verdict on plea against Azharul’s death penalty any day



The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict any day on the appeal filed by 
Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam against the death penalty given to him 
by a war crimes tribunal.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed 
Mahmud Hossain kept the appeal as CAV (Curia Advisari Vult, which means that it 
will announce the verdict on any day) after concluding hearing on it.

During the hearing, Azharul’s lawyer Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain prayed 
to the Supreme Court to acquit his client of the charges saying that his client 
was innocent and he is not involved in any crime.

The state has failed to prove any allegation of crime against humanity and war 
crimes against Azharul Islam, he argued.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the apex court to uphold 
the International Crimes Tribunal’s verdict that sentenced Azharul to death. 
The AG told the Court that charges brought against him proved beyond reasonable 
doubt.

The ICT-1 on December 30, 2014 sentenced Azharul, assistant secretary general 
of Jamaat, to death for committing crimes against humanity during the 
Liberation War. Later on, Azharul filed an appeal with the SC challenging the 
verdict.

In the appeal, he prayed to the Appellate Division to acquit him of the 
charges, claiming to be innocent.

On February 24, 2016, the apex court had concluded hearing on the appeal of 
Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali, challenging his death penalty given by a tribunal 
for committing crimes against humanity and the war crimes during the country’s 
Liberation War in 1971.

The SC upheld his death penalty on March 8, 2016 and he was executed on 
September 3 the same year.

Around 25 such appeals are pending with the SC at present.

(source: The Daily Star)




MALAYSIA:

An eye for an eye? Inside the death penalty debate in Malaysia



As Malaysia's government deliberates on the future of capital punishment, we 
meet families on both sides of the debate.

A life for a life. An eye for an eye.

It is a deeply divisive issue, and for the 1,281 Malaysian prisoners on death 
row, it is literally a matter of life and death.

As the government deliberates on the future of the death penalty, 101 East 
meets the grieving families on both sides of the debate.

Yan, Kedah - In January 2019, 4-year-old Nurul Hanim and her younger brother, 
1-year-old Mohamad Hafiz, were stabbed to death in their beds.

Their parents, Idris and Shila, are still reeling from the tragedy and want the 
alleged murderer to hang.

Malaysia currently has the death penalty for 33 crimes. Murder is one of the 11 
crimes that carry a mandatory sentence.

But as the country considers abolition, or potentially giving judges discretion 
in sentencing, Idris and Shila fear they may be denied justice for their 
children's murders.

For them, and many others following Islamic law, capital punishment is both 
sanctioned and supported.

"My friends and I all want him dead," says Idris. But if there is no more death 
penalty in Malaysia ... if he gets to be free and he gets to come back ... We 
can also murder him."

Sibu, Sarawak - The death of a loved one is heart-breaking, but the often 
drawn-out process of a murder case can amplify a family's grief.

Stephen Wong, a 31-year-old bank manager, was stabbed to death in his bedroom.

After a police investigation, his wife was charged with abetting the murder and 
sentenced to death by hanging. She is appealing the verdict.

But while the government reconsiders capital punishment, Stephen's family 
believe only a death sentence will give them justice.

Ipoh, Perak - The families of death row inmates, especially those claiming 
wrongful convictions, are also suffering.

Ah Wai was just 19 when he was arrested for kidnapping and murder.

According to court documents, the evidence against him is circumstantial and 
during the trial, his mother testified that he was home when the crime 
allegedly took place.

He was sentenced to death and has now exhausted all avenues for appeal.

"My heart hurts for him," says his mother Ng Ah Kwai. "He was such an active 
child. But he's been locked up for more than 10 years. It feels terrible. When 
I'm unwell, I get scared. Scared that I'll die and that no one will visit him 
any more."

Gombak, Selangor - "An eye for an eye" is often used to justify capital 
punishment in murder cases. But more than 900 of Malaysia's death row inmates 
are there for drug-related crimes.

In 2007, Razali Ahmad was found guilty of trafficking 858 grams of cannabis and 
given the mandatory death sentence.

He has been on death row for 12 years.

But the possibility of a change to the law has given him and his family a 
glimmer of hope.

"It's only hopefully ... this is the way for my son to come back," says his 
mother Siti Zebedah. "Let him take me to the mosque. I want to hold him."

(source: aljazeera.com)








INDIA:

POCSO (Amendment) Bill 2019: Cabinet may consider proposal seeking death 
penalty for aggravated sexual assault of children



The Union Cabinet may consider a proposal seeking death penalty in cases of 
aggravated penetrative sexual assault of children, irrespective of gender, in 
its meeting on Wednesday, sources said.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was 
presented in Parliament earlier this year, but was not passed in either of the 
Houses.

The Bill had also sought amendments to sections 4, 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act to 
provide the option of stringent punishment, including death penalty, for 
committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child.

The Act defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years and the 
amendments are aimed at discouraging the trend of child sexual abuse by acting 
as a deterrent.

Besides, Section 9 of the Act was also sought to be amended to protect children 
from sexual offences in times of natural calamities and disasters, and in cases 
where children are administered any hormone or chemical substance to attain 
early sexual maturity for the purpose of penetrative sexual assault.

The offender can be further penalised with a 3-year jail term or fine or both 
for transmitting, propagating and administrating such material, according to 
the POCSO Bill.

(source: firstpost.com)








PAPUA NEW GUINEA:

'I'm coming for you': PNG PM furious after children, pregnant women massacred



More than 20 people including pregnant women and children have reportedly been 
killed in tribal violence in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape said those responsible for the 
fatal attacks could face the death penalty, warning the perpetrators “I’m 
coming for you”.

“Today is one of the saddest day of my life, many children and mothers 
innocently murdered in Munima and Karida villages of my electorate by Haguai, 
Liwi and OKiru gunmen,” Marape said in a statement on his Facebook page on 
Wednesday.

The death toll and dates of the violence in the remote highland province of 
Hela varied in reports by the ABC and the Post-Courier newspaper.

Hela Governor Philip Undialu told ABC the latest violence took place on Monday 
when 16 people including women and children died at the village of Karida.

The killings were probably retaliation for an earlier attack that left around 7 
dead, Undialu said.

"This has escalated into the massacre of innocent women and kids," Undialu 
said.

The Post-Courier, based in the South Pacific island nation's capital Port 
Moresby, reported as many as 24 people were killed in the villages of Karida 
and Peta since Saturday.

6 people had been ambushed and killed near Peta on Saturday, Hela Police Chief 
Inspector Teddy Augwi told the newspaper.

The victims' relatives retaliated with rifles the next day, killing between 16 
and 18 people at Karida, including pregnant women, he said.

"This is not a tribal fight where the opposing villagers face each other on 
field," Augwi told the newspaper.

"This is a fight in guerrilla warfare, meaning they play hide-and-seek and 
ambush their enemies."

Many villagers had fled the violence, Hela Administrator William Bando told the 
newspaper.

It was not immediately clear if any suspects had been arrested. Papua New 
Guinea Police spokesman Superintendent Dominic Kakas did not immediately 
respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Tribal violence is common in Papua New Guinea's interior, where villagers 
avenge relatives in retaliation known as payback.

The country maintains the death penalty in law but there have been no 
executions since 1954. Parliamentarians for Global Action report 9 death 
sentences were imposed in 2018 and 20 people remained on death row.

(source: Brisbane Times)



NIGERIA:

Senate Mulls Death Sentence for Rapists



The Senate has initiated moves to actualise capital punishment for persons 
convicted for rape.

At its plenary yesterday, the Senate said that the need for stiffer penalties 
including death sentence for anyone convicted of rape-related offences, was 
imperative.

The senators warned that the rising cases of rape of minors and infants must be 
taken seriously by the federal government with majority of them canvassing 
death sentence.

They argued that stiffer penalties on rapists of minors and infants in Nigeria 
would help curb the menace.

The Senate came to the position following a motion of urgent public importance 
sponsored by Senator Rose Oko (PDP, Cross River North), entitled "Rising 
incidences of rape of minors."

After considering the motion, the Senate directed its committees on Judiciary, 
Police Affairs, Women Affairs and Social Development, when constituted to 
interface with the relevant stakeholders in order to evolve ways to enhance the 
enforcement and implementation of all legislations and policies aimed at 
protecting minors from rapists and other forms of violence.

The Upper House also directed the aforementioned committees to review the 
relevant legislations with a view to providing stiffer penalties against sexual 
abuse on infants and minors in the country.

The apex legislative chamber urged the police and other law enforcement 
agencies to conduct mandatory training for officers in dealing with rape cases 
and young victims of abuse.

It charged the judiciary to establish national sentencing framework for child 
sexual abuse cases and for judicial officers to impose the penalties permitted 
by law on the perpetrators of all forms of abuses against minors to serve as a 
deterrent to others.

The lawmakers also urged state governments to domesticate and robustly 
implement the Child Rights Act and Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 
2015 to check the abuse of babies and minors.

To members of the general public, the Red Chamber charged them to act as 
watchdogs and the voice of the voiceless as a way of curbing child sexual abuse 
and all forms of violent acts.

Oko, in the lead debate, she brought through Orders 42 and 52 of the Senate 
Rule, drew the attention of the Senate to rising incidences of the rape of 
infants and minors in various parts of the country, describing the development 
as worrisome.

She claimed that 6 out of every 10 Nigerians were being raped on daily basis.

The lawmaker noted the shocking rape story of a 6-month-old baby in Kano as a 
case of a minor and others involving students by their teachers and lecturers 
in the nation's institutions of learning as concerns to the parliament.

She lamented that law enforcement agencies had not lived up to their 
responsibilities in checking the increasing wave of rape in the country, and, 
therefore, called on the Senate to evolve ways of providing stiffer measures to 
serve as deterrent to rapists.

Senator George Sekibo (PDP, Rivers), who seconded the motion, condemned the act 
and called for stiffer penalties against rapists, noting that the current law 
on rape was too mild to discourage offenders from the act.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos Central) frowned at the trend, describing 
the rape of minors as "extreme wickedness" that deserves the imposition of 
death sentence on offenders.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central), noted 
that the country has sufficient laws on rape but lacked the will power to 
enforce them.

He, therefore, called on the Red Chamber to review the existing laws, with a 
view to focusing on the sentencing guidelines of the extant laws.

Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North) said that the psychological and 
mental health of Nigerians had been called to question, going by the 
aggravating incidences of the rape of infants and minors in the country.

He also observed that not much was being done on sex education in the nation's 
public and private schools, for the purpose of educating the children on steps 
to take when they fall prey to rapists.

Utazi suggested the inclusion of sex education in the curriculum of schools and 
a review of the laws on rape.

Senators Chimaroke Nnamani, Abdulfatai Buhari, Ibrahim Oloriegbe and others 
concurred that raping a minor is tantamount to destroying that child. They 
described it as satanic and urged that steps be taken to end the vice.

... Nothing Will Stop Sen Abbo's Investigation

Meanwhile, the Senate has declared that nothing would stop it from going ahead 
with the investigation of Senator Elisha Abbo for assaulting a nursing mother 
in a sex toy shop in Abuja.

Consequently, the Senate has invited the owner of the shop where Abbo assaulted 
the victim to appear today before its committee investigating the incident.

Others to appear before the committee are the policeman shown in the video 
which went viral on the social media, the victim and others who were involved 
in the matter.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Sam Egwu (PDP, Ebonyi North) told 
journalists after a closed-door meeting with Abbo that the lawmaker explained 
what transpired in the past including what the video did not capture.

Egwu said: "We will continue tomorrow (today). All the witnesses, the police, 
the victim, the shopowner and all that were involved will appear before the 
committee. We want to assure you that nothing will be covered up."

At the beginning of the hearing, Abbo told the committee that the issue was in 
court and that he can't answer any question on camera.

"I cannot be speaking before this committee because that would be subjudice 
since the matter under investigation is before the court. So, why should I be 
facing the camera? he interjected when asked questions by the members.

But, Senator Remi Tinibu countered him when she: "Distinguished, we want to 
tell you that you are just joining us. We have a procedure. What we are doing 
is as a legislature. Everybody deserves a fair hearing. What is going on with 
you affects us as a body. That is why the Senate president constituted this 
committee. You can see the level and integrity of members of the committee. You 
don't come here and dictate to us the procedure we are supposed to follow. You 
are undermining us by trying to do that. You are not evening listening to us.

"Even if we are going beyond what you expect, you can't stop us. Do you want us 
to protect you, defend you or do you want to be on your own?" she queried.

While Abbo made efforts to interject by saying, "Distinguished Ma," Tinubu 
asked him to off his microphone.

She said: "Put off your mic and let me finish my point. Do you also realise 
that this committee can also suspend you? Off that mic; you are digging a hole 
for yourself. I am also another woman, you better be careful. We took the 
decision and you didn't even wait for us to tell you the method we wanted to 
adopt."

But Abbo retorted: "I will not sit down here and watch you threaten me with 
suspension. I am a senator like you. I take exception to that."

(source: allafrica.com)








MAURITANIA:

Mauritanian 'blasphemy' blogger repents again



The Mauritanian blogger Mkheitir, who is still being detained despite serving 
jail time for alleged blasphemy, has once more expressed repentance, a 
condition set by religious chiefs for his release, an official said on Tuesday.

Human rights groups have long been campaigning on behalf of Cheikh Ould Mohamed 
Ould Mkheitir, who was sentenced to death in December 2014 for allegedly 
insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

He repented after being given that sentence, prompting an appeal court on 
November 2017 to downgrade the punishment to a two-year jail term, a decision 
that sparked protests in the conservative Saharan nation.

His lawyers say he should have been released immediately, having already spent 
4 years behind bars. But he remains in custody, a situation confirmed – and 
defended – by outgoing President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz last month.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mkheitir had expressed 
his repentance on his Facebook page late last Thursday, shortly after a meeting 
last Monday between Abdel Aziz and religious leaders to "launch a process of 
preparing national opinion" for his release.

Mkheitir – also spelt Mkhaitir – is expected to be freed swiftly at the end of 
this process, the source said, without giving a date.

The meeting ended with a decision requiring Mkheitir to express "public 
repentance on social media and social networks," the official said.

"As I announced in early 2014 and as I have repeated on every available 
occasion in court, I hereby reaffirm my repentance before Allah, the Lord of 
the Worlds," his Facebook posting, his first since 2014, said in Arabic.

He was also expected to show repentance on Tuesday on public and private media, 
the source said.

A commission of ulemas – guardians of Islamic doctrine – has been set up to 
"monitor" the process leading to Mkheitir's release, the official said. A 
meeting with him will take place where he is being held, in a fortress in the 
capital Nouakchott, the source said. There was no word about when the meeting 
would take place.

Mkheitir's lawyer, Fatima Mbaye, said, "This is a good process that is underway 
if it leads to the young man's release."

"He should have been free a long time ago, but we know and I have always said, 
that only Ould Abdel Aziz can do this," she said. "We now have to wait and see 
how things develop."

On 20 June, Abdel Aziz, who is stepping down in August at the end of a maximum 
2 terms in office, defended Mkheitir's continued detention, saying it was 
justified by "his personal security as well as the country's."

"We know that from the point of the view of the law, he should be freed, but 
for security reasons, we cannot place the life of more than 4 million 
Mauritanians at risk," he said. "Millions of Mauritanians took to the streets 
to demand his execution. His release would mean that chaos would be allowed to 
take root in the country," he added.

In an open letter published the following day, 10 rights groups, including the 
media watchdog Reporters without Borders, called on Abdel Aziz to use his final 
weeks in office to end the "illegal detention". Failing to resolve this problem 
would greatly overshadow his legacy, they said.

Mkheitir, believed to be aged in his mid-thirties, was accused of challenging 
decisions taken by the Prophet and his companions during holy wars in the 
seventh century.

The appeal court decision triggered angry protests, prompting the government in 
April 2018 to harden religious laws so that showing repentance for blasphemy 
and apostasy could no longer prevent the death penalty.

The law was approved despite an appeal by the African Union's human rights body 
for the government to review the bill.

(source: qantara.de)








EGYPT:

Egypt president appoints top judges after constitutional amendments



Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi swore in the heads of 2 top judicial 
bodies over the weekend following constitutional amendments passed in April 
that granted the president increased power over the selection process allegedly 
as part of his ongoing fight against terrorism.

In June parliament approved 2 laws granting the president the power to select 
heads of the military judiciary and the 5 other judicial bodies in the country. 
Previously the president was only allowed to appoint the most senior judge and 
courts selected their own chiefs.

Though many Egyptian judges are pro-regime and have issued death sentences en 
masse to members of the Brotherhood and other members of the opposition, 
including to children, they are not completely under the president’s command.

In January 2017 the Court of Cassation upheld a decision to reject Al-Sisi’s 
attempts to transfer the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, 
initially won the previous June but appealed by the government.

In the past Al-Sisi has complained that “the arm of justice is being chained by 
the law” and that long appeals were delaying executions. The judiciary’s 
attempts to appear independent have also irked the president.

At the time Al-Sisi’s move to consolidate power was contested by Egypt’s 
supreme judicial bodies for violating the independence of the judiciary 
guaranteed in the constitution. The Egypt Judges’ Club urged the president to 
reject the amendments; some judges threatened to strike, others said that they 
would not supervise parliamentary elections.

On Saturday, Judge Abdallah Amin Asr was sworn in as the head of the Court of 
Cassation, a position that Judge Anas Omara was widely tipped to win. But Omara 
had drawn disapproval from authorities after he overturned mass death penalty 
sentences, including for members of the Brotherhood.

Yehia Al-Dekroury issued the ruling blocking the government’s decision to 
transfer the Red Sea islands, and it is widely observed that the constitutional 
amendments have been designed to block Omara and Al-Dekroury from taking up 
high-ranking positions.

(source: Middle East Monitor)



SAUDI ARABIA:

SO MUCH FOR MODERATION… Saudi Arabia executions DOUBLE in 2019 with 122 people 
– including kids – put to death this already this year



Saudi Arabia has executed 122 people - including children - during the first 6 
months this year, making it one of the bloodiest in the kingdom in 5 years, 
according to a new report.

Among the slain were 6 who were arrested as minors, 3 women and 51 were facing 
drug charges that would be considered minor offences elsewhere in the world.

More than 100 people have been executed so far in 2019 in the oppressive Arab 
KingdomCredit: Rex Features

The latest figure of executions from the oppressive Arab Kingdom is more than 
double from same period last year - when 55 people were put to death.

The bloodshed comes despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's pledge to reduce 
the use of the death penalty.

The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, an activist group, released 
the figures adding they "raise serious concerns about the extent to which the 
Saudi government will expand capital punishment this year".

In 2016, the regime executed 41 people in the 1st half of 2017, 88 during the 
same period in 2016 and 103 for the first 6 months of 2015.

If this trend is repeated for the 2nd half of this year then it would mark the 
bloodiest year for Saudi executioners, the group said.

They added it was aware of at least 23 pending cases for which the death 
penalty is possible, including at least 3 children.

It is not clear if the cases involving the minors are still children or were 
under 18 when they were arrested.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Among the executed, 58 were foreign nationals and most were accused of 
spreading Shia Islam - a crime in the Sunni Arab state.

There were 21 Pakistanis, 15 Yemenis, 5 from Syria and 4 from Egypt.

2 Jordanians, 2 Nigerians, a Somalian and 2 from unidentified nations were also 
included in the figures.

On April 22, a horrific mass execution was carried out by the savage regime 
involving 37 men being killed including 1 being crucified and another having 
his head impaled on a spike.

Those killed during the beheading bloodbath had all been convicted of 
"terrorism offences" in the hardline kingdom.

However, one of those beheaded was Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, who was arrested while 
attending an anti-government protest when he was aged just 16.

He was convicted of being a "terrorist" in a trial branded a "farce" by Amnesty 
International.

He had his head cut from his body in front of a baying, bloodthirsty crowd 
along with 36 other men in the medieval country.

At least 1 of the bodies were reportedly crucified and put out on display after 
the execution.

'SHAM TRIAL'

Sentencing a person to death who is aged under 18 is banned under international 
law.

Another victim, Mujtaba al-Sweikat, was a teenager who was set to start a new 
life in the US, studying at Western Michigan University, when he was arrested 
for attending an anti-government protest.

The then-17-year-old – who had enrolled in English language and finance - was 
badly beaten including on the soles of his feet before he “confessed” to crimes 
against the state.

Human rights charities claim he was also tortured into confessing and convicted 
in a "sham trial."

The alarming figures come despite Bin Salman's pledge to "minimise" the use of 
capital punishment.

In an interview with Time magazine in 2018 he said: "There are a few areas we 
can change (or lower the sentence) from execution to life imprisonment.

"So we are working for two years through the government and also the Saudi 
parliament to build new laws in that area.

"And we believe it will take one year, maybe a little bit more, to have it 
finished... We will not get it 100 %, but to reduce it big time."

Countries that have the death penalty include:

Afghanistan

Antigua and Barbuda

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belize

Botswana

Chad

China

Comoros

Cuba

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Dominica

Egypt

Equatorial Guinea

Ethiopia

Guyana

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Japan

Jamaica

Jordan

Kuwait

Lesotho

Libya

Nigeria

North Korea

Oman

Pakistan

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Somalia

South Sudan

St Kitts and Nevis

St Lucia

St Vincent and the Grenadines

Sudan

Syria

Taiwan

Thailand

Trinidad and Tobago

Uganda

United Arab Emirates

United States of America

Vietnam

Yemen

Zimbabwe

(source: thesun.co.uk)








ISRAEL:

Vandals graffiti Palestinian town demanding death for freed rape 
suspect----Cars also damaged in hometown of Mahmoud Qadusa, released from 
custody last month when charges he assaulted 7-year-old girl in nearby 
settlement were dropped over lack of evidence



Threatening graffiti messages were discovered Wednesday in the home village of 
a Palestinian man who was arrested in connection with an alleged rape of a 
7-year-old Israeli girl, before charges were dropped and he was released.

Police said it had opened an investigation into the apparent hate crime.

An inscription saying “The death penalty is necessary for Mahmoud Qadusa” was 
sprayed on a wall in the West Bank village of Dir Kadis, referring to the 
formerly accused man.

The attackers also damaged several cars in the village.

Last month, 12 cars were found with their tires slashed and Hebrew hate slogans 
were spray-painted on walls in the nearby village of Sinjil. “We give them jobs 
and they rape” read one phrase daubed on a wall, in an apparent reference to 
the alleged attack on the child.

Qadusa, a 46-year-old maintenance custodian at the alleged victim’s school, was 
released in June after spending nearly two months in detention after the 
indictment against him came under fire for its lack of evidence.

The Haaretz daily reported Wednesday that police are currently not 
investigating any other suspects.

Qadusa told the Walla news site on Wednesday that he has not been contacted by 
police since his release.

According to the dropped charges, sometime “between the months of February and 
April” Qadusa dragged the girl from her school to a vacant home in the 
settlement, where he raped her as at least 2 of his friends pinned her down.

Shortly after the indictment was leaked, police came under fire for relying 
almost entirely on the testimony of the girl, forgoing forensic evidence in 
addition to being unable to determine the exact date that the alleged crime had 
taken place.

The 7-year-old’s parents have provided police with further evidence they say 
points to his guilt, according to Channel 13. The parents have reportedly given 
police a nude doll the mother said Qadusa gave her daughter, as well as 
drawings her daughter made which the mother said identified Qadusa as her 
attacker.

Last month the Israel Defense Forces’ military advocate general announced he 
was dropping the charges against Qadusa. The indictment against him had come 
under fire for its apparent lack of evidence, a fact that the military 
prosecutor, Sharon Afek, acknowledged in a statement to the press announcing 
the annulment of the charges.

The statement said that “the evidentiary infrastructure that underlies the 
indictment does not at this time amount to a ‘reasonable chance of conviction.’ 
Therefore, by law, the criminal process cannot continue, the indictment must be 
withdrawn and Qadusa released from custody.”

Only two months after the rape was believed to have taken place, police 
eventually arrived at the home of the alleged victim to collect her clothes for 
DNA testing, an official with knowledge of the investigation said.

An official also confirmed that the girl was only able to ID Qadusa in school 
after her mother pointed at him first and told her he was the man who had raped 
her.

Moreover, a failed polygraph test cited by the military court in successive 
decisions to extend Qadusa’s detention was carried out in Hebrew, rather than 
the defendant’s native Arabic, the official said.

(source: The Times of Israel)








YEMEN:

Yemen rebel court condemns 30 to death for spying



A court run by Yemen's Huthi rebels on Tuesday sentenced 30 academics, trade 
unionists and preachers to death for allegedly spying for the Saudi-led 
coalition, a judicial source said.

The men, among 36 defendants tried by the criminal court in the rebel-held 
capital Sanaa, have been in custody for at least the past year, the source told 
AFP.

"The criminal court today (Tuesday) issued a verdict condemning 30 people to 
death on charges of spying for the aggression countries," the source said, 
adding that the other 6 were acquitted.

He said the men were convicted of supplying the coalition with information on 
locations for air strikes.

Amnesty International condemned the verdicts, saying they had targeted 
"political opposition figures" in "sham trials".

Among those condemned to death was Yussef al-Bawab, a 45-year-old father of 
five and linguistics professor, who had been "arbitrarily arrested in late 
2016", it said in a statement.

"Since the Huthi de facto authorities assumed control of the justice system in 
2015, they have progressively utilised the Sanaa-based SCC (Specialised 
Criminal Court) to target persons they deem to be opponents or even just 
critics," said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty's Middle East research director.

The military coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015, a few months after 
the Iran-aligned Shiite Huthi rebels captured Sanaa.

The coalition backs the internationally-recognised government of President 
Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Since the Huthis took control of the capital in September 2014, their courts 
have issued several death sentences for spying.

In May last year, a Sanaa court sentenced two men to death for spying for 
Riyadh, while in January, the same court condemned to death 22-year old mother 
Asmaa al-Omeissy and two men on charges of aiding the United Arab Emirates, a 
key partner in the coalition.

On Tuesday, the supreme court commuted Omeissy's death penalty to 15 years in 
jail, a judicial source in Sanaa said. There was no decision yet on the 2 men 
sentenced with her.

Yemen's conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them 
civilians, relief agencies say, and left millions displaced and in need of aid.

(source: Agence France-Presse)