[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 27


SAUDI ARABIA:

Online petition calls for release of Saudi Salman Al-Ouda



The son of imprisoned Saudi sheikh, Salman Al-Ouda, has launched an online 
petition demanding for his father’s release. Abdullah Alodah, who lives in the 
United States, launched the petition calling for the release of his father and 
other sheikhs who were sentenced to death on the platform, change.org.

In the petition, which is directed to the US Department of State and Congress, 
the younger Al-Ouda wrote: “In September 2017, my father Salman Alodah, a 
prominent moderate Saudi scholar was arrested shortly after tweeting a prayer 
for reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbour Qatar, 3 months 
after Riyadh launched a blockade on the emirate.

“Al-Ouda remains imprisoned in solitary confinement in breach of international 
laws. Holding detainees for too long in solitary confinement is in itself 
slow-motion execution.”

Regarding the death sentence, he wrote: “The Saudi Attorney General is seeking 
the death penalty for him on bogus charges and in a secret trial.”

He said that his father was sent to a secret court hearing. “During the court 
hearing, the special prosecutor swiftly accused him with 37 charges, such 
Abdullah also noted to the detention of his uncle. “My uncle Dr Khaled Al-Ouda 
is imprisoned for breaking the news of my father’s detention. Dr Khaled also 
developed a heart problem due to deprivation of his medications.”

Abdullah, who is a US citizen, also said that “17 family members are banned 
from travelling. Moreover … I cannot do any paperwork with the Saudi embassy in 
Washington.”

He also mentioned the detention and death penalty for other sheikhs Awad 
al-Qarni and Ali al-Tarifi.

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

AOHR: Saudi Arabia must end executions



Saudi Arabia should abolish the death penalty and be investigated by an 
international body for the executions it has carried out, said the Arab 
Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR). They criticised the 
international community, including the UK and the US, for being silent in the 
face of Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations, encouraging them to “continue 
in their bloody policy of crushing dissidents.”

AOHR stated that 46 people are currently facing imminent execution, including 
three minors: Ali Al-Nimr, Dawood Al-Marhoun and Abdullah Al-Zaher. They added 
that those executed were often “subject to enforced disappearance and brutal 
torture such as electrocution and sexual assault to extract confessions.”

Under the rule of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 709 people 
have been executed, including seven children, according to AOHR. In April, the 
second largest mass execution took place in Saudi Arabia, killing 37 people, 
including 3 minors.

The Kingdom has the 3rd highest execution rate in the world and has frequently 
been criticised for executing people who were minors at the time of the crime.

AOHR called on countries all around the world to hold Saudi Arabia accountable 
for its deadly policies, saying that many more innocent people would lose their 
lives unless “strict and decisive measures to deter the Saudi regime were 
taken.”

(source for both: Middle East Monitor)








BANGLADESH:

War trial: Man gets death for killing Ranada Prasad Saha



A man from Tangail has been handed death penalty for abduction and killing of 
philanthropist Ranada Prasad Saha during the Liberation War.

International Crimes Tribunal-1 led by Justice Md Shahinur Islam found Mahbubur 
Rahman, a Jamaat-e-Islami follower, guilty in 3 charges in the verdict 
delivered this morning.

Mahbubur Rahman was present at the dock when the tribunal delivered the 
verdict.

The prosecution prayed for capital punishment of the lone accused Mahbubur 
Rahman, saying all 3 charges have been proven against him beyond reasonable 
doubt.

Defence counsel Gazi MH Tamim prayed for the accused’s acquittal saying that 
the prosecution failed to prove the charges brought against his client.

Mahbubur’s late father Abdul Wadud alias Wadud Moulana was the chairman of 
Mirzapur Peace Committee, an anti-liberation organisation, while he (Mahbubur) 
and his late brother were involved in Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force of the 
Pakistan army in 1971, according to investigators.

A Jamaat follower, Mahbubur ran for the chairman post of Mirzapur Union 
Parishad in Tangail as an independent candidate three times but never 
succeeded, they said.

The prosecution on January 10 last year pressed 3 charges against Mahbubur, 
including abduction and killing of Ranada Prasad, his son Bhabani Prasad, and 5 
others.

2 other charges are: killing 33 Hindu people in Shahapara, Mirzapur and killing 
22 Hindu men from different villages in the upazila.

(source: The Daily Star)








VIETNAM:

3 sentenced to death in Hanoi for drug trafficking



The Hanoi People’s Court sentenced three Vietnamese to death on Tuesday on 
drugs charges.

It found Vo Van Nam, Ngo Thi Cham and Chu Van Thang guilty of "illegal trading 
of narcotic substances."

In April last year Nam and Cham asked an unknown woman who lives in Laos to 
sell them methamphetamine at VND600 million ($25,690) per kilogram.

The woman arranged for 2 kilograms of the drug to be placed beneath an electric 
pole on Nguyen Van Cu Street of Hanoi's Long Bien District and for Thang to 
collect and deliver them to Nam. But Nam only had money for one kilogram and 
Thang was returning with the rest when he was arrested.

Vietnam had more than 222,000 drug addicts as of the end of 2017, with an 
increasing number of them, especially young partygoers, using synthetic drugs 
like meth, ecstasy and ketamine, according to the police.

Drug use is strictly prohibited in the country and users are fined and sent to 
rehab centers. Producing or distributing drugs is a crime that attracts the 
death penalty.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, an 
intersection of China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar that is the world's second 
largest drug producing area after the Golden Crescent in South Asia.

(source: vnexpress.net)








SRI LANKA:

Sri Lankan prison awaits Sirisena’s execution order



Prison officials in Sri Lanka Thursday said they were yet to receive the 
documents related to President Maithripala Sirisena’s signed death warrants to 
hang 4 drug convicts.

President Sirisena Wednesday signed the death warrants to hang 4 drug convicts, 
ending a four-decade-long moratorium on the capital punishment in Sri Lanka. 
The last execution in Sri Lanka was 43 years ago.

A senior prison official told reporters they have not received any written 
instructions for the hanging until Thursday morning.

“The president’s secretary must write to the secretary to the ministry of 
Justice and Prison Reforms. Then the ministry secretary must intimate in 
writing to the Commissioner General of Prisons,” said the official who wanted 
to stay anonymous.

He said the four convicts would be informed in writing of their death sentence 
and if they are currently housed in any other prison, then they would have to 
be brought to the Welikada prison in the capital Colombo.

Sirisena said Wednesday he was committed to bringing back capital punishment 
for drug offenders, months after vowing a tougher line on spiralling 
narcotics-related crime.

This was despite Sri Lanka having become a party to the UN moratorium on death 
penalty and voting in favour of the moratorium just 6 months back.

The international condemnation of decision to resume capital punishment has 
been coming since the President made his announcement.

The British government in a statement condemned the move, saying the decision 
would have implications on many areas including counter-terrorism cooperation. 
The decision would hamper Sri Lanka’s reputation as a tourist destination, the 
statement added.

The New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in April that 
some 1299 Sri Lankan prisoners, including 84 women are on death row.

“Imposing the death penalty for drug offences would violate Sri Lanka’s human 
rights obligations,” the HRW said.

Sirisena’s signing of death warrants came during the ongoing ‘Drug Prevention’ 
week from June 23 to July 1. He said he would sign death warrants only for the 
drug convicts.

All of Sirisena’s predecessors as Presidents had refused to sign the death 
warrants to carry out capital punishment. The death sentences have been 
commuted to life terms which usually last 20 years.

The last hanging came in June 1976 when Siripala alias Maru Sira, a noted 
criminal was hanged for murder and Sri Lanka’s last hangman quit in 2014 
without ever having to execute anyone, citing stress after seeing the gallows 
for the first time. Another hangman hired last year never turned up for work.

Justice Ministry in March said there were over 450 prisoners in Sri Lankan 
jails, including 5 women. Out of that at least 48 are drug convicts. While 30 
of them appealed against their death sentence, 18 of them could be hanged.

Sri Lanka in March advertised to recruit 2 hangmen to carry out executions. 
There were over 100 applications received by February 25 deadline.

(source: orissapost.com)

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

President Maithripala Sirisena Signs Execution Warrants for 4 Prisoners, Plans 
Shrouded in Secrecy



Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena must immediately halt his plans to 
execute 4 prisoners, Amnesty International said today.

Amnesty International is shocked by President Sirisena’s announcement that he 
has signed the execution warrants of four death row prisoners convicted of 
drug-related crimes, and that they will be hanged in “the near future.”

While the President has confirmed signing the death warrants, no names have 
been revealed and no details have been shared about any scheduled executions or 
information on the cases. The lack of transparency makes it impossible to 
ascertain whether these prisoners have exhausted clemency appeals or if all 
safeguards were followed in their conviction or sentencing. There is also no 
confirmation that the four prisoners, or their families, have been alerted to 
their imminent execution.

The executions would be the 1st time Sri Lanka has implemented the death 
penalty since 1976.

“We are outraged that the President has signed the 1st execution warrants 
issued by Sri Lanka in 43 years. In one stroke, he will undo all the country’s 
progress in putting a stop to the use of the ultimate cruel, inhuman and 
degrading punishment,” said Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty 
International.

Earlier, Amnesty International had learned that there are 13 prisoners who are 
at grave risk of imminent execution. It is unclear if their execution warrants 
have also been issued and signed or that they will be in the future.

Executions for drug-related offences are unlawful. They do not meet the 
threshold for “most serious crimes” - i.e. intentional killing - to which the 
use of the death penalty must be restricted under international human rights 
law and standards.

“At a time when other countries have come to the realization that their drug 
control policies are in need of reform, and are taking steps to reduce the use 
of the death penalty, Sri Lanka is bucking the trend. This will be devastating 
to the country’s international reputation and we hope that President Sirisena 
will reconsider his decision,” said Biraj Patnaik.

States have a duty to ensure all proceedings have complied with international 
standards for a fair trial, including respecting the right to appeal, and to 
apply for clemency, and ensuring that the prisoners, their families and legal 
representatives are given adequate notice of any plans to carry out the 
execution.

Amnesty International absolutely opposes the death penalty in all 
circumstances. The human rights organization calls on the Sri Lankan government 
to halt its current execution plans and establish an official moratorium on the 
implementation of death sentences, with a view to abolishing the death penalty 
altogether.

Background

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on President Sirisena to halt his 
plans to resume executions, making clear that the death penalty does not have a 
unique deterrent effect on crime. The human rights organization absolutely 
opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, regardless of the crime 
committed or method of execution.

In the briefing, Sri Lanka: Halt Preparations to Resume Executions, Amnesty 
International highlights how the death penalty in Sri Lanka is being used in 
circumstances that violate international law and standards, has failed to act 
as a unique deterrent to crime in other countries, could claim the lives of 
people who may have been convicted through unfair trials, and could 
disproportionately affect people from minority and less advantaged 
socio-economic backgrounds.

Sri Lanka is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights, which sets the abolition of the death penalty as the goal to be 
achieved by countries that still retain this punishment. Instead of resuming 
executions, the Sri Lankan authorities must take measures to erase the death 
penalty from the country’s laws. (source: Amnesty International)






PAKISTAN:

Supreme Court Maintains Deaths Sentence Of A Murder Convict



The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed the acquittal appeal of a murder convict 
Imran Khan and maintained his death sentence.

The trial court awarded capital punishment under Pakistan Penal Code Article 
302 and Anti-terrorism Act to Imran Khan alias Mana over murder of 2 persons in 
district Narowal in 2007.

The Lahore High Court also maintained the trial court verdict.

A 3-member bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and 
comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, the chief justice remarked that according to 
the FIR accused Imran first killed Arshad and later with his accomplices killed 
Muhammad Amin.

He observed that it was a matter of enmity and imposition of Anti-terrorism Act 
charges on accused Imran was beyond his understanding.

The court while removing anti-terrorism charges maintained the death sentence 
of Imran Khan.

(source: urdupoint.com)