[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

Thu Sep 26 08:53:05 CDT 2019

Sept. 26

IRAN----executions, including female

Leila Zarafshan 95th woman to be executed in Iran under Rouhani

In the morning of Thursday, September 26, 2019, Leila Zarafshan was hanged in 
the Central Prison of Sanandaj.

Leila Zarafshan is the last woman who became the victim of the death penalty 
during Rouhani’s presidency and under the misogynistic rule of the mullahs. She 
had been imprisoned for five years for murdering her husband in the Central 
Prison of Sanandaj.

As in previous cases, the execution of this woman has not been published in the 
clerical regime’s state-run press and media. Research done on women who murder 
their husbands indicate that they were victims of domestic violence.

The Iranian regime is the top executioner of women and holds the record on per 
capita executions in the world. It deploys the death penalty as a tool for 
maintaining its grab on power and for silencing a disgruntled populace the 
majority of whom live under the poverty line. The inhuman verdicts of 
execution, flogging sentences and long term prison sentences particularly for 
Iranian women are carried out at the end of a non-standard and illegal due 
process.

With the execution of Leila Zarafshan, the number of women executed during 
Rouhani’s presidency reaches 95. 7 of these women have been executed only in a 
3-month period since the beginning of summer.

A 38-year-old woman was executed in Mashhad Central Prison, on August 25, 2019. 
Four women were executed in eight days in July. They Maliheh Salehian was 
hanged in the central prison of Mahabad, Zahra Safari Moghadam, 43, was hanged 
in the Prison of Nowshahr, and Arasteh Ranjbar and Nazdar Vatankhah who had 
already spent 15 years in prison, were hanged in the Central Prison of Urmia.

The actual number of executions are much higher because the majority of 
executions in Iran are carried out secretly, away from the public eye where 
only the masterminds and perpetrators are witness to them.

(source: ncr-iran.org)

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At Least Five Prisoners Executed at 1 Prison

At least 5 prisoners were hanged this morning at Rajai-Shahr prison near the 
Iranian capital, Tehran.

According to IHR sources, on the morning of Wednesday, September 25, 2019, At 
least 5 people were executed at Rajai-Shahr prison near the Iranian capital, 
Tehran. 4 of them were sentenced to death for murder charged and 1 for 
drug-related charges.

However, at least 9 prisoners had been transferred to the solitary confinement 
of the prison for execution on Monday. IHR is investigating the other death-row 
prisoners’ whereabouts. Therefore, the number of Wednesday executions might be 
higher than reported here.

Prisoner Mostafa Bakhti was among the executed people. “Some civil activists 
were present outside the prison to ask the plaintiffs not to execute Mostafa. 
Even former Iranian National Football Team’s Capitan, Ali Parvin, was among the 
activists. But they could not win the plaintiff’s consent.”

Mostafa was sentenced to qisas for a murder during a street fight. According to 
the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (IPC) murder is punishable by qisas which means 
“retribution in kind” or retaliation. In qisas cases, the plaintiff has the 
possibility to forgive or demand diya (blood money).

In this way, the State effectively puts the responsibility of the death 
sentence for murder on the shoulders of the victim’s family. 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)

PAKISTAN:

Man sentenced to death for killing wife, children

A model court here on Wednesday sentenced to death an accused in a triple 
murder case.

The accused, Mohammad Raed of Malakand Payeen, was convicted for axing his 
wife, son and daughter on December 19, 2018. Judge Kulsoom Azam sentenced him 
to capital punishment after he failed to prove his innocence.

According to police, the accused had axed to death his 35-year-old wife, 
18-month-old son Huzaifa and three-year-old daughter Haseeba in his house in 
the limits of Balambat police station.

He was arrested by police in a dramatic move as he had shut himself in a room 
with arms. Police had fired tear gas shells near his room and arrested him half 
conscious. According to the court verdict, the accused was convicted under 
Section 302 CrPC and 311 CrPC. It said that the verdict should not be executed 
till rectification of the penalty by the apex court.

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

Man acquitted in blasphemy case after 18 years in prison

The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted a man who had been condemned to death 
in a blasphemy case in 2002 and had consequently remained behind bars for 18 
years.

A 3-judge bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, exonerated Wajih-ul-Hassan 
from blasphemy charges under Section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc., in 
respect of the Holy Prophet [Peace Be Upon Him]) of the Pakistan Penal Code 
(PPC) for want of concrete evidence against him.

The court observed that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable 
doubt that the letters, which became the basis of blasphemy allegations against 
Mr Hassan, were actually written by him, and consequently rejected the case.

Additional Prosecutor General (APG) of Punjab Mohammad Amjad Rafiq pleaded the 
case against Mr Hassan through a video link from Lahore.

Elaborating, the APG told Dawn that the allegations stemmed from the letters 
the accused had allegedly written to a senior lawyer namely Ismail Qureshi 
after the latter succeeded in getting a favourable judgement from the Federal 
Shariat Court (FSC).

The lawyer had sought amendments to the PPC by raising the plea that the 
government should be directed to delete the sentence of life imprisonment from 
the law and instead maintain the death penalty as the only punishment for 
committing the grave offence.

Consequently, the FSC in 1991 ordered the government to bring amendments to the 
law by April 30, 1991, otherwise it would be deemed to have been amended by 
proposing only capital punishment for committing blasphemy.

The APG said that the accused had written five letters to Advocate Qureshi in 
1998 while using the name of Hassan Murshid Masih. “The first letter was burnt 
by the lawyer for being too sacrilegious, but he received a series of letters.

“Later Mr Qureshi received another letter from Umar Nawaz Butt who told the 
lawyer that he knew the writer who had allegedly committed blasphemy, and 
revealed his real name with his mailing address and a copy of his national 
identity card. Mr Butt also said he had dispatched copies of the letter to the 
then prime minister and the then chief minister of Punjab.

“Mr Qureshi approached Iqbal Town police station of Lahore’s Moon Market area 
to lodge an FIR against Mr Hassan. Initially the police showed reluctance by 
saying they would seek the opinion of the Ulema Board whether these letters 
fell under the purview of blasphemy or not.”

According to the lawyer, finally the police registered the case against Mr 
Hassan under Section 295-C of the PPC, on the charge of committing blasphemy, 
on March 31, 1999 when Advocate Qureshi filed a petition in the Lahore High 
Court (LHC). The police then raided the residence of the accused in Kot Abdul 
Malik, Sheikhupura district.

“On May 21, 2001, the accused confessed before Mohammad Waseem, the manager of 
a steel/iron factory where he worked, of having committed the crime,” the AGP 
said. Waseem and his friend Mohammad Naveed got Mr Hassan’s ‘extrajudicial 
confession’ on a paper and took him to the police station where he was 
arrested.

On May 28, 2001, a handwriting expert, after examining handwriting specimen of 
the accused, said in his report that the writing of the accused closely matched 
with the letters in question.

Accordingly, an additional district and sessions judge of Lahore convicted Mr 
Hassan and awarded him death sentence. The decision was later maintained by the 
Lahore High Court.

However, the Supreme Court has acquitted Mr Hassan on the grounds that the 
‘extra-judicial confession’ and corroboratory evidence — the handwriting 
expert’s report — were always considered weak evidence under the law and since 
there were no direct witness therefore the apex court had no option but to 
order release of the accused after exonerating him from all charges.

Currently, the accused is imprisoned in Kot Lakhpath Jail, Lahore, since the 
trial court had sentenced him to death under Section 295-C of the PPC and 
10-year jail term under Section 295-A of the PPC.

While deciding the case of Aasia Bibi — a Christian lady facing death sentence 
on blasphemy charges — the apex court on Oct 31, 2018, had held that it was not 
for individuals or a gathering (mob) to decide whether any act falling within 
the purview of Section 295-C had been committed or not because it was the 
court’s mandate to make such decisions after conducting a fully qualified trial 
on the basis of credible evidence.

“Presumption of innocence remains throughout the case until such time the 
prosecution on the evidence satisfies the court beyond reasonable doubt that 
the accused is guilty of the offence alleged against him, the judgement says.

“There cannot be a fair trial, which is itself the primary purpose of criminal 
jurisprudence, if the judges have not been able to clearly elucidate the 
rudimentary concept of the standard of proof that prosecution must meet in 
order to obtain a conviction,” the judgment says.

(source for both: dawn.com)

JAPAN:

Tokyo High Court opens appeal trial over 2017 murder of Vietnamese girl

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday began hearing an appeal against a lower court 
ruling convicting a man of the murder of a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl in 2017, 
with prosecutors calling for a death sentence and the accused seeking 
acquittal.

Yasumasa Shibuya, the 48-year-old former head of a parents group at an 
elementary school in the city of Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, pleaded not guilty 
at the first hearing of the appeal trial over the death of Le Thi Nhat Linh, 
who was a 3rd grader at the school.

In July last year, the Chiba District Court sentenced him to life in prison for 
abducting the girl into his vehicle, sexually assaulting her and strangling her 
before abandoning her body.

“If Linh were still alive, she would have been a sixth-grader. She could have 
made various plans for her future,” Le Anh Hao, the girl’s 37-year-old father, 
said before the start of the trial.

He has collected signatures from 1.34 million people seeking the death penalty 
for Shibuya.

After the hearing on Thursday, Le Anh Hao told a news conference in Tokyo that 
he was hoping for justice and a ruling in favor of capital punishment.

“I just hope the court will give a death penalty ruling soon,” he said.

Lamenting that he hasn’t yet received an apology from Shibuya, he said he could 
not accept the defendant’s claims of his innocence and thus could not accept 
the life imprisonment ruling from the lower court. He called for the judges to 
take into account inconsistency in Shibuya’s testimony, including claims 
concerning health issues that he believes could have left the jury unsure, 
potentially leading to a milder sentence.

“Put yourself in my position. If Yasumasa Shibuya kidnapped your child, would 
you forgive him?” he said.

He said the prolonged trial has added to his suffering. The trial is expected 
to continue until at least February, as the next hearings are scheduled for 
Nov. 29 and Jan. 31.

The father said the loss of his child was devastating for him and his wife.

“The memories are most painful when I’m commuting to work and I see Linh’s 
friends on their way to school. I keep asking myself: ‘Why can’t she be there 
anymore? Why did this all have to happen to her?'” he said. “I just don’t know 
what to do.”

The Mutsumi No. 2 Elementary School student went missing on March 24, 2017, and 
was found dead near a drainage ditch in the city of Abiko two days later. 
Shibuya was arrested the following month.

The district court convicted Shibuya on the grounds that DNA matching his was 
found on the victim’s body and that DNA in blood found in his vehicle matched 
the girl’s.

The defense argued that the DNA evidence might have been forged or 
contaminated.

In handing down a sentence of life in prison rather than the death penalty, the 
court said the murder was not premeditated.

Both the prosecutors and the defense appealed the ruling.

(source: Japan Times)