[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 13




IRAN----execution

Man Hanged at Mahabad Prison



“In an extraordinary event, Veis’s execution was carried out at the prison’s 
courtyard. Prisoners could see and hear everything,” the source told IHR.

A prisoner was hanged at Mahabad Prison’s courtyard this morning. Other 
prisoners could watch the execution scene from their cells’ windows. Mahabad 
city is located in northwestern Iran.

According to the IHR sources, on the early morning of Tuesday, July 9, a 
prisoner was hanged at Mahabad prison. The execution took place at the prison’s 
courtyard and other prisoners were able to watch the scene. IHR can confirm the 
identity of the executed prisoner as Veis Alipour, a resident of Shamat 
village.

“In an extraordinary event, Veis’s execution was carried out at the prison’s 
courtyard. Prisoners could see and hear everything,” the source told IHR.

His execution is not announced by Iranian media or authorities so far.

According to the Iran Human Rights statistic department, at least 273 people 
were executed in Iran in 2018. At least 188 of them executed for murder 
charges.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

This gay teen lost his asylum appeal & will be sent back to Iran where ‘they 
will execute me’----Immigration officials say there's no "proof" that he's gay 
beyond living together with his boyfriend and testimony on his behalf from 
LGBTQ organizations.



A gay teen from Iran was told he has three weeks to leave Sweden after his 
asylum claim was rejected. Mehdi Shokr Khoda, 19, is Christian and said that he 
fears for his life if he is forced to go back to Iran.

“I cannot live open as a gay in Iran,” Khoda told Gay Star News. “They won’t 
understand something about you. They will just kill you first.

Last year, the Migration Board in Sweden rejected Khoda’s asylum claim, saying 
that he there wasn’t enough evidence that he is gay and Christian.

In appealing the decision, Khoda’s boyfriend of 18 months Carlo Rapisarda, 22, 
appeared before the board.

“We live together, we love each other, we’ve known each other a long time. 
Isn’t that evidence enough?” Rapisarda asked.

Related: Austria tells a teenager that he’s not stereotypically gay enough to 
get asylum

But apparently that wasn’t enough, since, he said, there’s no foolproof test 
for whether someone is gay.

“There’s not a scientific way. You can’t hook him up to cables and check.”

The Swedish Federation for LGBT Rights also wrote a letter on Khoda’s behalf.

“There’s no doubt,” the letter said. “Mehdi is gay and in need of protection.”

The Migration Board rejected Khoda’s appeal, saying that he was unable to 
explain his coming out process.

Khoda signed a paper saying that he had three weeks to leave the country. Even 
though he will not be forcibly put on a plane, he will have to live as an 
undocumented person in Sweden if he stays.

Now that his case has gotten international media attention, he is sure that 
Iranian authorities will figure out that he’s gay.

Authorities in Iran “will absolutely figure it out,” Khoda said. “They’ll ask 
questions.”

“If they find out I’m Christian or I’m gay or I tried to seek asylum, they will 
not understand that,” he said. “They will execute me.”

While he and Rapisarda could get married, they can’t organize a marriage in 
such a short time in Sweden.

There are an estimated 300,000 Christians in Iran and there have been 
Christians in Iran for almost 2,000 years. Recently, though, the government has 
cracked down on converts to Christianity, which can be punished with ten years 
in prison.

Khoda was baptized in Sweden, and the Migration Board said that his “thoughts 
and reflections” on Christianity weren’t good enough to prove that he is really 
Christian.

They are planning to appeal this decision, saying that international media 
attention will make it impossible for Khoda to return to Iran. They have 
started a GoFundMe to help with legal fees.

(source: lgbtqnation.com)








EGYPT:

In the Name of the People: The Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Egypt----A 
report on death sentences issued in 2018 and an analysis of the application of 
the death penalty in Egyptian courts.



Today the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Adalah Center for 
Rights and Freedoms issued a joint report titled “In the Name of the People,” 
the second annual report on the death penalty in Egypt, covering the period 
from January to December 2018.

The report reviews and documents death sentences issued in Egypt throughout 
2018 and attempts to analyze patterns of handing down death sentences verdicts 
by Egyptian courts, tracking quantitative and qualitative shifts in the 
application of the death penalty—the maximum penalty in criminal law and the 
only irreversible penalty. The report is divided into two parts: the first part 
reviews death sentence verdicts issued in 2018; the second part details rights 
violations of defendants sentenced to death during prosecution and trial and 
post-decision, on death rowand during execution. These violations raise serious 
doubts about the integrity of the investigations and trial procedures that end 
in death sentences for defendants.

Part 1 of the report offers a chronological review of death sentences issued in 
2018 by both civil and military courts based on court records collected by the 
research team from first-instance criminal courts, the Cassation Court, and the 
Supreme Military Appeals Court. This section includes reviews some of these 
cases with detail, including three cases in which the Cassation Court upheld 
death sentences issued by lower courts, five cases of death sentences issued by 
first-instance civil criminal courts, and one case in which the Supreme 
Military Appeals Court upheld death sentences against civilian defendants.

Part 2 investigates rights violations experienced by defendants sentenced to 
death during prosecution and trial, dividing these violations into six types: 
enforced disappearance, torture and other forms of cruel and degrading 
treatment, violations of the right of defense, the court’s excessive reliance 
on anonymously sourced police investigation reports, and the filming and the 
broadcasting of defendants’ confessions before and during trial, and even after 
the handing down of death sentences. Finally this section also looks at 
violations after sentencing, while the condemned prisoners are awaiting 
execution and during execution. According to our count, 65 people were on death 
row awaiting execution in 2018. While this report was in production, the 
authorities executed 15 people in 3 cases and accepted the petition of two 
defendants to reduce the sentence in a military case in February 2019.

Based on the data analysis conducted by the research team since 2017, there has 
been a notable increase in the recourse to the death penalty, and this increase 
continued in 2018. Death sentences in both political as well as ordinary 
criminal cases increased last year, but 2018 saw a particularly steep rise in 
ordinary criminal cases unrelated to crimes or charges of terrorism, or crimes 
and charges classified in the penal code as crimes doing harm to government or 
state security internally or externally, or other cases that have a political 
nature. This upward trend was matched by another, more worrying trend, of the 
Cassation Court, the highest civilian court in the country, increasingly 
upholding death sentences. This suggests that courts are abandoning their 
historically cautious position on the death penalty, and, based on our analysis 
of 2018 data, that this increasingly less cautiousapproach to the application 
of anirreversible penalty has extended to all parts of the criminal justice 
system.

The report makes the following recommendations:

Issue an immediate moratorium on the death sentence, even temporary, to allow a 
societal debate on abolition, in line with the Egyptian government’s proposal 
made during voting on the death penalty in the 36th session of the UN Human 
Rights Council (6th amendment, L41).

Sign and ratify the second optional protocol to the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.

Sign and ratify the optional protocol to the International Convention against 
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The Egyptian government should fulfill its obligations toward the Convention 
against Torture, which it has signed and Article 2(1) of which states, “Each 
State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other 
measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.” 
The Egyptian government must therefore take action to adopt a dedicated law 
that criminalizes torture.

Sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons 
from Enforced Disappearance.

The parliament should review the Penal Code and laws on terrorism, military 
sentences, and drug crimes to reduce the number of crimes that carry the death 
penalty. Such a penalty should only be used for the most serious crimes and 
within the narrowest scope. The law on critical facilities should also be 
amended to disallow the referral of defendants charged in crimes that carry the 
death penalty to any exceptional or military tribunal for any reason.

Review the Code of Criminal Procedure to plug loopholes that allow the 
violation of defendants’ rights and the right of defense and to make it 
consistent with the Egyptian constitution. We specifically demand the amendment 
of Article 124, which gives interrogators the right to begin questioning 
suspects immediately absent a lawyer in cases of crimes caught in the act or 
due to fears of the loss of evidence. We demand that defendants facing a charge 
carrying the death penalty be entitled to competent legal services and to have 
the right to choose their attorney.

In their judgments and sentencing, the judicial authorities should not rely on 
police investigation reports unless they are supported by irrefutable evidence 
and not merely desk reports. Investigating bodies should be required to refer 
defendants to a forensic pathologist if they allege torture or any external 
injuries are apparent on their bodies during questioning. , timely and 
questioning of the responsible parties should ensue.. Defendants’ allegations 
of enforced disappearance and unlawful detention should also be investigated.

Release and make available the annual reports of the Dar el Ifta’ in regard to 
the Grand Mufti’s opinions on the death penalty; such reports have not been 
published since 2012.

Finally, the Interior Ministry should refrain from publishing videos of 
defendants filmed during questioning, which constitutes a basic violation of 
the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.

(source: goodmenproject.com)








IRAQ:

Kurdistan Region debates merit, ethics of using the death penalty



The recent kidnap and murder of a child by a man who was later sentenced by 
death has reignited capital punishment debate in the in the Kurdistan Region, 
as some question whether the penalty should be carried out after it was 
suspended temporarily in the previous presidency.

Duhok Criminal Court handed down a death sentence to man convicted of the 
murder, kidnap and attempted rape of 10-year-old Dlin Ahmed during Ramadan on 
June 5.

It is however uncertain whether the convicted will actually face execution if 
the verdict and sentence stays. While many death sentences have been handed 
down by the Kurdistan Region, it generally avoids implementing them unless 
under extreme circumstances.

The Kurdistan Region's president has full jurisdiction over whether or not a 
death sentence is carried out. Former President Masoud Barzani officially 
suspended the implementation of capital punishment in 2007. In June, Nechirvan 
Barzani was sworn in as the president of the Kurdistan Region.

Human rights organizations and judicial officials along with the public have 
different sentiments as to whether the death sentence law should be practiced.

“I am one of those who support capital punishment in the Kurdistan Region for 
those who commit very heinous crimes,” judge Omed Mohsein, the acting head of 
Kurdistan Region’s Union of Judges, told Rudaw’s Legel Ranj Program on 
Thursday.

Mohsein said they should take into account the environment and social context 
in deciding whether the law should be implemented, arguing the death sentence 
will preserve social order and deter criminals.

“I think implementing capital punishment, which is a deterrent force, protects 
peace in the Kurdistan Region,” he said. “There are some people who cannot be 
reformed.”

Ramzi Karim, the head of legal affairs for Kurdistan Region’s reformatory 
prisons, said the death sentence law was introduced by former militaristic 
authorities of Iraq and its application should therefore be reconsidered.

“The [capital punishment] law was passed in 1969, one year after the Baathists 
emerged in Iraq. Those who drafted the Iraqi penal code had a militaristic 
mentality who ruled Iraq for 35 years,” he said on the program.

Human rights groups in the Kurdistan Region also oppose the practice and call 
for its abolishment, arguing its application will not only decrease crimes but 
lead to more violence.

“Violence leads to violence. Capital punishment is an extreme sentence,” 
Hoshyar Malo, the head of Kurdistan Human Rights Watch, Inc. (KHRW), said on 
the program.

Malo urged the authorities to instead conduct sociological and psychological 
research investigating why crimes are committed, repeated, or increase.

“We should look into the factors that lead to the emergence of criminals,” he 
said. “We as the countries of this region as a whole have chosen the easy way 
[capital punishment]. The difficult task is to engage in analysis, 
psychological research as to why crimes are committed, how to create an 
environment where media, education, and mosques play their own role in this 
matter.”

Malo urged the creation of an environment marked with high morals where people 
avoid committing crimes on principle, not because of fear of punishment.

“We should try to reach a level where we don’t commit crimes, not because of 
the fear of being executed, but because of our education and values,” he added.

Public opinion is also as polarized as the judiciary and rights groups on this 
matter.

“I don’t support capital punishment. But there should be justice. This way 
crime rates will fall. Crimes are a result of the injustices of authorities in 
the world. It is better to have life sentence than capital punishment, which is 
not a solution because crimes will continue to be perpetrated anyway,” a 
resident of Erbil told the program.

Another argued that “Inmates should be educated not executed.”

Other residents disagreed, arguing death sentences should be handed down to 
“murderers” to deter criminals and minimize crimes.

“I hope capital punishment is implemented in both Iraq and the Kurdistan 
Region. Crime rates have recently risen sharply. The number of crimes will 
increase if a limit is not put to them,” one resident said.

Another said: “I think implementing capital punishment is a good thing. Its 
implementation will deter tens of people from committing crimes.”

Hundreds of people in the Kurdistan Region are believed to be on death row.

(source: rudaw.net)








BARBADOS:

AG: Death penalty can be imposed



The Constitution has been amended to allow courts to impose the death penalty 
if warranted, says Attorney General Dale Marshall.

He was responding to reports from the Court of Appeal that the Constitution had 
not been amended in keeping with the recommendations of the Caribbean Court of 
Justice (CCJ).

The matters, outlined in the story headlined Judges In A Bind in yesterday’s 
Daily Nation, pertained to the Constitution and the conduct of criminal trials.

(source: nationnews.com)








MALAYSIA:

Law minister: Bill to repeal mandatory death penalty to be tabled in October



The bill to repeal the mandatory death penalty is expected to be tabled in 
Parliament in October once the government decides on appropriate prison terms 
for 11 serious criminal offences covered by it.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said a task 
force will soon be set up to study the matter.

“This will involve a major shift in policy and as such, the government needs 
more time to study it and make a decision,” he told a press conference here 
today.

Liew said the task force will also review the life imprisonment penalty and 
look into the possibility of reducing jail terms to between 10-30 years.

Currently, the 11 offences fall under 2 acts — 9 under the Penal Code, 
including murder, waging war against Yang di-Pertuan Agong and committing 
terrorist acts, and 2 under the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971.

In a separate development, Liew said the government this Tuesday will be 
tabling the bill amendment on lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 to be 
automatically registered as voters.

If the bill is passed, about 3.8 new voters, including those aged 18, are 
expected to be eligible to vote in the 15th General Election.

Liew said the government on Wednesday will be tabling the bill to add 13 new 
seats in the Sabah state legislative assembly in addition to the existing 60.

(source: malaymail.com)








SINGAPORE:

Singapore to hang 4 Malaysians next, says lawyer



4 Malaysians are among 10 on Singapore’s death row scheduled to be executed 
after their clemency petitions failed, local lawyer N. Surendran said today.

The adviser for Malaysia human rights group Lawyers for Liberty — part of a 
legal team acting to save the life of another Malaysian inmate in Changi Prison 
P. Pannir Selvam who recently received a last-minute reprieve — sought to 
highlight the shocking wave of clemency rejections by the Singapore government.

“We can confirm that over the past week up to 10 prisoners have had their 
clemency petitions rejected by the President of Singapore.

“This is a record number. We believe the actual number of rejections may be 
even higher than the information we have received so far,” Surendran said in a 
statement.

He said four of the 10 prisoners are Malaysian men convicted for drug-related 
offences, naming them as Datchinamurthy Kataiah, Gobi Avedian, Abdul Helmi Ab 
Halim and Rahmat.

Explaining the process in Singapore, Surendran said the Singapore government’s 
rejection of a clemency petition from a prisoner who had been sentenced to 
death “is usually followed soon after by the prisoner’s execution”.

“Hence, it is probable that these prisoners will be executed within weeks from 
now,” he said.

Saying that Malaysians form the largest group of foreign nationals in 
Singapore’s Changi prison now facing execution, Surendran urged the Malaysian 
government to urgently speak to Singapore on behalf of the four who are facing 
imminent execution.

Surendran described the large and sudden number of clemency rejections by as 
“unprecedented and shocking”.

“It indicates that Singapore is preparing for an execution binge, in total 
disregard of international legal norms and decent world opinion,” he claimed, 
adding that this was despite evidence that the execution of drug mules do not 
deter drug trafficking syndicates.

Surendran said the unusually high number of clemency rejections raise serious 
questions on whether the Singapore Cabinet and Singapore president had 
appropriately considered each of the prisoner’s case.

“It is the constitutional right of each prisoner that their clemency petitions 
be considered adequately, properly and in accordance with established legal 
principles,” he said.

Surendran also suggested that Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K. 
Shanmugam’s comments in May had already “jeopardised” the right of prisoners to 
a proper consideration of their clemency petitions.

He highlighted Shanmugam’s remarks on May 24, 2019 regarding drug offenders and 
death penalty in Singapore, including “how do we go easy on Malaysians in the 
face of these statistics”.

Shanmugam had reportedly said 1 in 5 of those who carried drug amounts that 
attracted the death penalty are Malaysians.

Surendran claimed that Shanmugam’s statements suggest that Malaysian prisoners 
are being “targeted”, and that the Singapore government “has already decided 
not to spare any drug offenders from execution”.

“This is illegal, as each clemency petition must be considered upon its 
individual merits.

“We urge the government of Singapore to halt these potentially illegal and 
unconstitutional executions and impose a moratorium upon all executions pending 
a thorough review of all the clemency rejections,” he said.

(source: malaymail.com)








INDIA:

Rajya Sabha: Congress member brings bill to abolish death penalty



A private members bill seeking abolition of death penalty was moved in the 
Rajya Sabha Friday by a Congress member.

Moving the bill, Pradeep Tamta said that countries around the world were moving 
away from awarding capital punishment and India should also follow the suit. 
“Around 140 countries have abolished capital punishment around the globe. There 
are only 53 countries which currently award death penalties. Most of these 
countries do not have democratic governments,” he added.

He said that in many cases, people are awarded the punishment due to faulty 
investigations and later such sentences are revoked by the higher judiciary.

“If it (death penalty) has to be retained then we have to see that it is given 
after proper contemplation. The more important part is the need to check the 
circumstances which force people to commit such hienous crimes,” Tamta said. He 
added that many people from minorities and SC/ST communities suffer in the 
judicial process as they do not get proper legal aid.

Tamta said that instead of awarding death penalty the country should look at 
other options like keeping a criminal behind the bars for his entire life.

Law Commission had earlier recommended abolition of death penalty, except in 
cases of terrorism. The government is yet to take a decision on it.

Harshvardhan Singh Dungarpur (BJP) of BJP opposed the bill. He said the 
countries with big populations like China and the US have retained the 
provision of death penalty. He added that demand for capital punishment has 
been going up in the country due to rise in heinous crimes like child rapes and 
acts of terrorism.

Chhaya Verma of Congress and Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP) supported the bill 
saying that the government should look at rehabilitation and reforming 
criminals. Citing Kathua rape case, Sanjay Singh of (AAP) said that 
perpetrators of such heinous crimes should be awarded the death penalty.

(source: thehindubusinessline.com)








SRI LANKA:

Sri Lanka lawmaker tables Private Member's Motion to abolish death penalty



A lawmaker of the ruling party of Sri Lanka government today tabled a Private 
Member's Motion in parliament to abolish the death penalty.

The motion was presented to Parliament by United National Party Parliamentarian 
Bandula Lal Bandarigoda.

Non-cabinet Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution Dr. Harsha de 
Silva tweeted that motion can be challenged in courts by anyone once it is 
gazetted.

"We tabled UNP MP Bandulal Bandarigoda private members motion to abolish death 
penalty in Sri Lanka. Now once it's gazetted anyone can challenge it in Courts. 
If so, once we get it cleared from Courts, we can debate in Parliament and if a 
majority supports, make it law."

The bill proposes the reference in any law to the imposition of the death 
penalty or, punishment by death, to be construed as punishment by imprisonment 
for life from and after the coming into force of the Act.

Further, "any person, in respect of whom a sentence of death has been imposed 
prior to the coming into force of this Act, shall be deemed to be a person 
sentenced to imprisonment for life in respect of such offence."

"Any person who has committed, prior to the coming into force of the Act, an 
offence punishable with death, but in respect of whom a sentence of punishment 
has not yet been imposed by Court, shall be deemed to have committed an offence 
punishable with imprisonment for life."

Sri Lanka courts hand out death sentences to convicts of serious crimes 
according to the current laws but the island nation has not carried out any 
executions since 1976.

Following President Maithripala Sirisena's adamant decision to execute only 
prisoners on death row convicted for drug related crimes, several fundamental 
rights petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court requesting the apex to 
issue an interim injunction preventing the implementation of the death 
sentence.

The top court in response has issued an interim order staying any executions 
until October 30.

The President's decision has been condemned by various local as well as 
international parties including the US, EU, UK, Canada and human right 
organizations.

The Sri Lankan government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, pointing out 
that Sri Lanka in December 2018 voted in favor of a global moratorium on the 
use of the death penalty at the UN General Assembly, as well as the Opposition 
led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had announced their opposition to 
implementing the death sentence after a 43-year moratorium.

(source: colombopage.com)