[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 12




IRAN:

Iran's top diplomat says his country executes gay people because of 'moral 
principles'



Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Monday cited "moral principles" when 
asked why Iran executes homosexuals for their sexual orientation, as he also 
attacked the US and Israel for "violating human rights."

At a press conference in the Iranian capital with his German counterpart, Heiko 
Maas, Zarif was asked by Bild reporter Paul Ronzheimer about the death penalty 
for gay people in the Middle Eastern country.

"Our society has moral principles, and according to these principles we live," 
Zarif responded. "These are moral principles regarding the behavior of people 
in general. And that's because the law is upheld and you abide by laws."

In late January, a 31-year-old man was publicly hanged in Iran after being 
found guilty of violating the country's anti-gay laws, according to The 
Jerusalem Post.

As of March 2019, there were 70 UN member states that have laws on the books 
criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual acts, according to a report from the 
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). Of 
these countries, 6 impose the death penalty on consensual same-sex sexual acts: 
Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Sudan, and Somalia.

(source: businessinsider.com)








EGYPT:

Good news: Reprieve beneficiary in Egypt Hatem Zaghloul has been pardoned and 
freed!



I am writing to share the great news that Hatem Zaghloul, who was sentenced to 
death as a child in Egypt in 2014, has now been pardoned and is back with his 
family. I recently visited Hatem and his father in Egypt just after he returned 
home. They were both so grateful for the efforts of Reprieve supporters– so, 
from Hatem and his father, thank you to the whole Reprieve community.

Hatem was taken from his bed in the middle of the night. He was falsely accused 
of being involved in an attack on a police station. He was sentenced to death 
in a mass trial of 545 people.

That’s when Reprieve’s lawyers, investigators, campaigners and supporters 
became involved in proving his innocence. His sentence was eventually reduced 
to a 10-year prison term, and now – after more than 5 years away from his 
family – he has been pardoned and freed by the Egyptian President.

So many people campaigned for Hatem as part of Reprieve’s work to stop children 
from being sentenced to death in mass trials in Egypt. This is a huge victory 
for all of us who champion human rights. We should celebrate this great news!

End death sentences for children in Egypt

Since 2013, Egyptian courts have recommended initial death sentences for at 
least 10 children convicted in mass trials. Sign our petition calling on the 
Egyptian Government to release all children unlawfully sentenced to death, 
close the child death penalty loophole and end the use of mass trials.

(source: Sherif Azer, reprieve.org.uk)








ALGERIA:

Former Algeria PM Faces Corruption Trial as 3 Officers Sentenced to Death



Algeria’s prosecutor said Tuesday that 45 people, including former Prime 
Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and senior officials connected to the case of the 
Algerian automobile tycoon Mahieddine Tahkout, are being investigated in 
corruption cases.

The prosecutor announced that the Undersecretary at Sidi Amhamed Court in 
Algiers opened a judicial investigation against 45 people on suspicion of 
involvement in the case.

The investigating judge decided to place 19 of the accused in provisional 
detention and conditionally release 7 suspects. The 19 others under 
investigation remained free without restrictions.

Tahkout, his son and 2 of his brothers, along with 38 civil servants and 3 
business employees, are being prosecuted.

The detainees are accused of money laundering, concealing the illicit transfer 
of goods obtained through corruption and squandering public funds.

Separately, the military tribunal sentenced to death three officers of the 
dissolved Intelligence and Security Service in cases related to the disclosure 
of state secrets and communicating with foreign parties, reported the German 
news agency (dpa).

Al-Jazair al-Youm news agency quoted a source close to the military 
establishment as saying that the 1st death sentence was issued against the 
former adviser to the head of foreign intelligence for disclosing state 
secrets.

The 2nd was against a lieutenant of the Information and Coding Service on 
charges of leaking information and communicating with foreign parties and the 
3rd was issued against the deputy head of foreign intelligence in the case of 
conspiracy against the state and the disclosure of secrets and communication 
with foreign parties.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahim Bouteflika, brother of former Algerian President 
Abdulaziz Bouteflika, was removed from his government post after 37 years of 
service.

Abdul Rahim, known as Nasser, had been retired from his position as 
secretary-general of Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment, according 
to a source close to the Bouteflika family.

Nasser personally submitted his resignation, saying it was related to the 
family’s current situation after his elder brother, Abdulaziz, resigned in 
April and the younger brother, Saeed, was imprisoned on charges of “harming the 
army's authority and plotting against state authority.”

Abdelaziz Bouteflika stepped down from his post following weeks of popular 
protests against his decision to run for a 5th term in office.

Zuhur, the younger sister, was also removed from her position as presidential 
adviser, which she occupied since 1999.

The family, including the former president, are currently residing in their 
deceased mother's house in Algiers.

(source: aawsat.com)








PAKISTAN:

Beyond the noose



After each terrible case involving the assault and quite often murder of small 
children after sexual abuse, we call for public executions or other severe 
punishment. This happened after 10-year-old Farishta was raped and then 
murdered on the outskirts of Islamabad in May this year. Last year, according 
to the child abuse watchdog, Sahil, 3,832 children, boys and girls, were 
subjected to sexual abuse. Ninety-two of them were murdered after the act. The 
assumption that the number of cases will fall if there are more executions or 
if these are meted out in public does not hold up. The rape and murder of 
seven-year-old Zainab in January last year was followed by the execution of the 
perpetrator. There is no evidence from the figures from 2018 that this had a 
significant deterrent effect.

According to Sahil, an average of ten children are abused every day in the 
country. Among the latest cases to be reported were two from Karachi on Sunday, 
with a small girl and boy sexually abused in the Korangi area of the city. Like 
the many other similar cases which occur across the country, many carried out 
by individuals well known to the victims, there is no guarantee that those 
guilty of the assault will be punished. In most cases, the perpetrators get 
away scot-free.

This is where the heart of the problem lies. Crime analysts around the world 
have found that the knowledge that punishment will come in a majority of cases 
involving crime, and that it would be fairly meted out, is more significant in 
bringing down the rate of crime rather than the severity of the punishment. In 
the US, of 25 states where the murder rate is the highest, 20 use death as 
punishment. In the 25 states where the murder rate is the lowest, 14 have 
abolished the death penalty. Similar figures are available from around the 
globe. The lowest rates of crime often come from countries where there is no 
provision for execution. Findings also show that the death penalty, even more 
so when it is carried out in public, brutalises society and can contribute to 
an increase in violent crime. These statistics deserve discussion. We must not 
assume that simply hanging people or punishing them in other ways will end 
crimes such as rape, sodomy, and murder. To bring down the number of such 
offences, particularly when committed against children, it is essential that we 
continue to promote the reporting of crime and make more efforts to improve our 
system of police investigation and judicial trial so that a greater number can 
be brought to book. The knowledge that they will not get away with their crime 
may be the most important factor in preventing offences from being committed. 
It is this end we need to work towards.

(source: thenews.com.pk)








INDIA:

PDP demands death penalty for life-term convicts



People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader and MLC Mohammad Khurshid Alam has 
demanded death penalty for the life-term convicts in the heinous Kuthua rape 
and murder case, stating that mere life imprisonment wouldn’t be enough to heal 
the wounds of people.

Alam in a statement said when the guilty in the 2012 Death rape case were given 
death sentence, “why a different yardstick has been adopted here.”

“On 10 September 2013, 4 adult defendants in Delhi rape case were found guilty 
of rape and murder. All the 4 were given death penalty by the court,” he said, 
adding that similar sentence needed to be given to the convicts in the Kathua 
case.

“The rape and murder of the 8-year old Kathua girl was most heinous, inhuman 
and devilish act that shammed the entire humanity. Giving the culprits mere 
life imprisonment wouldn’t be enough in any way. Death penalty is must for 
sending out a strong message,” Alam said.

(source: greaterkashmir.com)

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

R'than court sentences man to death for raping, killing minor girl



A court in Rajasthan's Alwar district Wednesday awarded death penalty to a man 
for raping and killing a five-year-old girl in 2015 by smashing her face with a 
stone and mutilating her private parts, terming the crime "rarest of rare".

Special judge of POCSO court, Ajay Kumar Sharma, convicted the accused, 
Rajkumar alias Dharmendra Yadav, a resident of Rewali in Behror town, for 
raping and brutally killing the minor girl, special public prosecutor Vinod 
Kumar Sharma told PTI.

The court convicted Rajkumar under section 302 (murder) and 363 (kidnapping) 
and also sentenced him to imprisonment till last breath under section 376 
(rape), he said.

The court termed the case a "rarest of rare" crime that deserved maximum 
punishment, he added.

In February 2015, Rajkumar had lured the girl to an abandoned building on the 
pretext of for giving her a candy and raped her, Sharma said.

He then smashed her face with a heavy stone and cut her private parts using a 
sharp-edged tool. A case was registered against Rajkumar at Behror police 
station, he said.

(source: Press trust of India)

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

Acid attack: HC upholds man''s conviction, but commutes death penalty



The Bombay High Court Wednesday upheld the conviction of a 25-year-old man in 
the 2013 Preeti Rathi acid attack case, but commuted his death penalty to life 
imprisonment.

A division bench of justices B P Dharmadhikari and P D Naik partly allowed the 
appeal filed by convict Ankur Panwar, challenging the death penalty awarded to 
him by a special court in 2015.

This was the 1st instance of death penalty being awarded by a court in the 
country in a case of acid attack.

"The conviction under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 326 (b) (voluntarily 
causing grievous hurt by use of acid) is upheld. The death sentence is commuted 
to life imprisonment," the bench said.

Rathi, a 23-year-old nurse, who was to join the Navy hospital in Mumbai, died 
after an acid attack in May 2013 by her stalker Panwar.

On May 2, 2013, as Rathi got off the train from Delhi at the Bandra Terminus 
here, Panwar threw acid on her face.

Rathi lost her vision and received major injuries. She spent a month in 
hospitals, and on June 1 that year, she died of multiple organ failure at 
Bombay Hospital here.

(source: outlookindia.com)








INDONESIA:

Medan drug kingpin sentenced to death for smuggling methamphetamines from 
Malaysia



The Medan District Court has sentenced Junaidi Siagian to death for smuggling 
53.3 kilograms of methamphetamines from Malaysia.

At the same hearing, Junaidi’s associate Elpi Darius was sentenced to life for 
taking part in the smuggling. Earlier, prosecutors had demanded that the court 
sentence them both to death.

Presiding judge Gosen Butar-butar said the 2 defendants were found guilty of 
violating the 2009 Narcotics Law.

“There is nothing that mitigates the actions of the 2 defendants. Defendant 
Junaidi is sentenced with the death penalty and defendant Elpi Darius with life 
imprisonment,” Gosen said during the hearing on Tuesday.

Gosen said Junaidi was given a harsher sentence because he was found to be the 
mastermind behind the case.

(source: The Jakarta Post)








VIETNAM:

Vietnam arrests drug trafficker



Police of Vietnam's northern Son La province have detained a local woman for 
transporting 2 cakes of heroin, 0.8 kg of crystal methamphetamine and over 
1,900 pills of lab-made drug, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The police caught red-handed the 40-year-old woman named Vi Thi Thanh Huong 
from northern Lang Son province transporting the drug on Tuesday. The 
trafficker confessed that she had bought the drug from a stranger man in Son La 
and planned to transport it to the capital city of Hanoi for resale.

According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of 
heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making 
or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces 
death penalty.

(source: china.org.cn)