[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 2



INDIA:

Mumbai: Prosecution seeks death for 29-year-old in physiotherapist rape, murder 
case



Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakare submitted before the court that the 
manner in which the crime was committed showed the “total depravity” of 
Debashish Dhara, who was found guilty last week of charges including murder, 
rape and unnatural offences.

The prosecutor added that the victim had a bright future and academic 
aspirations for herself as well as her younger sister.

A week after a special court in Dindoshi found a 29-year-old man guilty of 
raping and murdering a 24-year-old physiotherapist, the prosecution on Tuesday 
sought the death penalty for him, citing the brutality of the offence. Special 
Judge A D Deo will decide on the quantum of punishment on October 4.

Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakare submitted before the court that the 
manner in which the crime was committed showed the “total depravity” of 
Debashish Dhara, who was found guilty last week of charges including murder, 
rape and unnatural offences. Thakare said that the crime was so brutal that it 
had shocked the conscience of the society.

Dhara had entered the victim’s home on the intervening night of December 5 and 
6, 2016, while she was sleeping. He then strangled her with a pair of jeans and 
raped her. Before leaving, he kept books and clothes on the victim and set her 
on fire to destroy evidence.

Thakare told the court that the brutality of the crime could be seen by the 
fact that a witness, who was part of the inquest panchnama, could not even 
describe the injuries of the deceased when she came to depose. He further said 
that it could not be looked at as a case of murder alone as the accused has 
also been found guilty under Section 376 A (punishment for causing death or 
resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim) of the Indian Penal Code, 
which like the murder charge also carries the maximum punishment of death.

The prosecutor added that the victim had a bright future and academic 
aspirations for herself as well as her younger sister. Thakare also sought 
compensation for the victim’s family.

Dhara, who was brought before the court on Tuesday, claimed that he was 
assaulted by other inmates after he returned to prison following his conviction 
last week. He sought leniency, stating that he is the only breadwinner of the 
family and had unmarried sisters to look after. Dhara also sought that he 
should be transferred to a prison in his native village in West Bengal, so that 
he could remain in touch with his family.

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

Beant Singh’s kin to move SC if Centre commutes death penalty



A special court had in July 2007 awarded the death sentence to Rajoana, along 
with another terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara, in the Beant Singh assassination 
case.

The family of slain Punjab chief minister Beant Singh will challenge in the 
Supreme Court any decision by Centre to commute his assassin Balwant Singh 
Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment, the leader’s grandson and Punjab 
MLA Gurkirat Singh Kotli Tuesday said.

The Union Home Ministry is yet to officially confirm if Rajoana’s death 
sentence is being commuted, even as politics has heated up in Punjab over 
reports on such a move.

“We will challenge the Centre’s decision in Supreme court,” Kotli said. “We are 
taking legal opinion on what grounds it will be challenged. One of the main 
grounds for challenging the Centre’s decision will be that Rajoana himself had 
never apologised and had never moved any mercy petition for commuting his death 
sentence,” he added.

Kotli, who is an All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and an MLA from 
Punjab’s Khanna, termed the Centre’s decision unfortunate and politically 
motivated. “The Modi government should make it clear whether it is with 
peace-loving people or with those who want to vitiate the atmosphere,” he said.

Kotli alleged that the Centre took the decision as Rajoana had appealed for 
votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal during 
the last Lok Sabha elections. He claimed that Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur 
had posted this appeal on her Facebook page.

Another grandson of the assassinated leader and Congress MP Ravneet Singh 
Bittu, who had earlier warned that “Centre was playing with fire”. Tuesday said 
he has sought time from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit 
Shah to discuss matter. “Why this double standard by the PM? On one hand, he 
talks about fight against terrorism and on the other, he is all set to release 
the most dreaded terrorist. If a sitting chief minister’s killers can be set 
free, how can a common man expect justice,” Bittu said in Ludhiana.

He said he will be writing individually to all the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha 
MPs and “tell them about the BJP’s stand on terrorism”. “If they are thinking 
of gaining Sikh votes, they are living in a fools’ paradise,” he added.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday had distanced his 
government from the issue, saying that the Congress party’s stand on Beant 
Singh’s killers had “always been clear and consistent — that they should serve 
their full sentence” — even as he said that he is personally against capital 
punishment.

A special court had in July 2007 awarded the death sentence to Rajoana, along 
with another terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara, in the Beant Singh assassination 
case. In 2010, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had commuted the death 
sentence awarded to another accused Jagtar Singh Hawara by a Chandigarh court 
after Hawara challenged the death penalty.

Rajoana was to be hanged on March 31, 2012, but the Centre stayed the execution 
after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) submitted a mercy 
petition to the President.

Members of the Sri Hindu Takht Tuesday burnt posters of Prime Minister Narendra 
Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and slain Punjab CM Beant Singh’s assassin 
Balwant Singh Rajoana. State campaigner of Sri Hindu Takht, Varun Mehta, said 
Modi and Shah were trying to play politics politics on terrorism in the name of 
550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. He said, “16 others had died along 
with Beant Singh. On one hand, Modi talks about taking strong stand to 
eliminate terrorism while on the other hand, death sentence of Balwant Singh 
Rajoana is being commuted to life imprisonment.”

(source for both: indianexpress.com)








PAKISTAN:

Model Court awards capital punishment to convicted police constable in murder 
case



The Model Criminal Trial Court Judge Ayaz Mustafa Jokhio conducted trial of a 
murder case of 22 years old Waheed Jakhro registered in Hussainabad police 
station on 22 May 2013.

According to the case accused police constable Qurban Ali Jakhro had killed 22 
years old Waheed Jakhro with official SMG rifle (Kalashnikov).

Model Criminal Trial Court after hearing arguments of counsels of both the 
sides and convicted main accused police constable Qurban Ali Jakhro and awarded 
death penalty and ordered to pay fine of Rs. 500,000 while another accused 
Manzoor Jakhro was declared proclaimed offender.

The convicted accused Qurban Ali will undergo another 6 months imprisonment if 
failed to pay fine of Rs. 500,000.

(source: urdupoint.com)

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

Murder convict gets capital punishment



Additional District and Sessions Judge Ramzan Khichi awarded on Tuesday death 
sentence and a fine of Rs500,000 to murder convict Irfan Ali Jat of Chak 402 
JB.

The convict had shot dead his opponent Ishtiaq Ahmad Virk over irrigation water 
dispute in 2018. Court acquitted other accomplices of the convict giving them 
benefit of doubt.

Meanwhile, District Bar Association (DBA) General Secretary Rana Izahrul Haq 
Khan announced that lawyers will observe protest strike on Wednesday against 
District Headquarters Hospital staff over their misbehaviour with Bar President 
Choudry Tanweer Hussain and senior lawyers Mian Muhammad Ahsan,Raja Khalid 
Mahmood, Amer Chohan and Muhammad Hamza when they visited hospital for their 
personal matter.

(source: The Nation)








VIETNAM:

Vietnam busts drug trafficking ring



Vietnam has cracked down a drug trafficking ring that provided synthetic drugs 
for bars and clubs in Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities, seizing 
15 kg of ketamine and 50,000 pills of ecstasy, Vietnam News Agency reported on 
Wednesday.

The Investigation Police Department on Drug-related Crimes under the Vietnamese 
Ministry of Public Security, in collaboration with other agencies, last Sunday 
raided several bases of the ring, arresting the 34-year-old ringleader and 3 of 
his underlings.

The ring was reportedly transporting drugs from Laos to Vietnam and then 
selling them to bars and clubs in southern localities.

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: xinhuanet.com)








IRAN----execution:

Prisoner Hanged in Sanandaj Despite Civil Activists Call for Forgiveness----He 
was the father of a 3-year-old child.

Despite a mass gathering of civil activists in front of Sanandaj prison to win 
the plaintiffs’ consent, a 24-year-old prisoner was hanged for murder charges 
this morning. He was the father of a 3-year-old child.

Razgar Zandi, 24, was hanged this morning at Sanandaj Prison, Kurdistan 
province. Razgar Zandi was sentenced to death for murdering a person 4 years 
ago.

Civil activists tried their best to urge the plaintiffs to forgive Razgar. They 
even gathered in front of Sanandaj prison trying to win the plaintiffs’ 
consent, but they failed.

According to the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (IPC) murder is punishable by qisas 
which means “retribution in kind” or retaliation. In this way, the State 
effectively puts the responsibility of the death sentence for murder on the 
shoulders of the victim’s family. In qisas cases, the plaintiff has the 
possibility to forgive or demand diya (blood money). In many cases, the 
victim's family are encouraged to put the rope is around the prisoner's neck 
and even carry out the actual execution by pulling off the chair the prisoner 
is standing on.

Out of the 110 people who were executed in the first half of 2019, 83 were 
sentenced to qisas (retribution in-kind) for murder.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

Iranian Regime Continues to Execute Prisoners



It has been reported that the Iranian regime has been continuing to execute 
prisoners. Reports indicate that in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, authorities 
executed 8 prisoners on Wednesday 25th September 2019 – 7 male prisoners and 1 
female.

The female prisoner has not yet been identified. Someone with knowledge of the 
situation said that she had been moved to Gohardasht Prison from another 
prison, likely Kachouii or Shahr-e Ray (Qarchak) Prison. The state media, 
however, has not reported these executions.

The Iranian regime treats all murder as punishable by the death sentence and 
does not differentiate between murder as a result of self-defense and 
pre-mediated murder. A number of women in Iran have killed their abusers in 
self-defense, but they have still been charged with murder.

Since the so-called “moderate” president, Hassan Rouhani, has been in office, 
there have been at least 96 executions of women. Leila Zarafshan was hanged in 
the Central Prison of Sanandaj on Thursday 26th September 2019.

During the year 2016, 9 women were executed. During 2017, 10 women were 
executed, and 6 women were executed in 2018.

Iran executes the highest number of people per capita in the world and many 
human rights organizations have expressed their grave concern about the 
situation. Although it is impossible to know the exact figure because of the 
regime’s lack of transparency and its deception, it is estimated that there 
have been at least 3,800 executions since Rouhani took office.

The mullahs use the death penalty as a way to try to dissuade Iranians from 
dissenting, however, it is a strategy that is becoming less and less effective. 
The people of Iran, over the past few years, have risked everything – arrest, 
imprisonment, torture and even execution – to ensure that their voices are 
heard. The people are expressing their objection to the brutal regime and are 
calling for regime change.

The people are extremely angry that the regime has been plundering the nation’s 
wealth and more and more people are falling into absolute poverty. They are 
calling for regime change. The people know that there is no hint of moderation 
in the regime, and there never will be because its existence depends on 
domestic suppression, the export of terrorism and the spread of chaos across 
the region.

Over the past few weeks, the rate of executions being carried out is increasing 
and there is much concern for the political prisoners in Iran. Political 
prisoners, in particular, are subjected to tough prison conditions. Many have 
spoken about the intense torture – both physical and psychological – that they 
are put through. They are not given fair trials and there have been alarming 
reports recently about political prisoners being attacked and seriously injured 
by other violent inmates on the orders of prison authorities.

(source: irannewsupdate.com)