May 12



SAUDI ARABIA----execution

Saudi beheads 80th person this year



Saudi Arabia Tuesday carried out its 80th beheading of the year, edging closer to the 87 executions it carried out during all of 2014, according to AFP tallies.

The interior ministry said a Saudi citizen, Rabie al-Sai'ari, had been convicted of trying to smuggle hashish into the kingdom.

He was executed in Najran, a district on the border with Yemen, a ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for its use of the death penalty despite criticism from human rights watchdogs.

Amnesty International ranked Saudi Arabia among the world's top 3 executioners of 2014.

On a visit to Riyadh this month, French President Francois Hollande said that capital punishment "should be banned," and his country is campaigning around the world for its abolition.

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Islamic sharia law.

(source: The Daily Star)








INDONESIA:

Indonesian lawyer: Mary Jane Veloso's death sentence can still be canceled or commuted



The Indonesian lawyer of Mary Jane Veloso said on Tuesday the cancellation of the death penalty on the convicted overseas worker is still possible.

Atty. Rudyantho, who is in the country along with 2 other Indonesian lawyers, made the statement at the Department of Justice (DOJ), where they met with DOJ Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar and chief legal counsel Ricardo Paras to discuss Veloso's case.

"The cancellation of the death penalty is still possible," Rudyantho said, adding that it is their intent to have the death penalty canceled or commuted.

"I am a lawyer. I have to be optimistic to help my client," he further said.

The Indonesian lawyers, who are to return to Indonesia Thursday, said they decided to come to Manila even without a formal invitation from the Philippine government, to gather evidence and documents that would help permanently save Veloso from the death penalty.

"I came here to try to find out how to help Mary Jane. We will try our best to help her, to find out the real story, including what happened in Malaysia when Sergio recruited her and sent her to Indonesia," he added.

The impending execution by firing squad of Veloso was interrupted by a last-minute reprieve from Indonesian President Joko Widodo last month.

The Indonesian government said the reprieve was to allow Veloso to testify against the case of her illegal recruiters in the Philippines.

This developed as DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima disclosed more alleged victims of Veloso's recruiters, Ma. Cristina Sergio and her live-in-partner, Julius Lacanilao, have also approached the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) while still others were referred to them by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

De Lima said some of the victims have sent handwritten letters to the NBI detailing their harrowing experiences with Sergio.

De Lima said the cases are now being investigated by the NBI.

"The DFA referred to us the additional cases for verification or validation, and these were automatically assigned to the NBI for investigation," she explained.

Earlier, 10 others, aside from Veloso and Lorna Valino, Ana Maries Gonzales and Jenalyn Paraiso, came forward and filed charges of illegal recruitment and human trafficking before the NBI.

(source: interaksyon.com)








AUSTRALIA:

Executioners, Song, Silence



Just after midnight a few days ago, a small crowd gathered in a jungle clearing on Nuksakambangan, a prison island in Indonesia.

It was an awful, terrifying moment. And so powerful it seemed strangely holy.

A row of 8 men, tied to wooden crosses, with arms outstretched and feet bound, faced a firing squad. The men wore white shirts. A black cross was taped on the chests of the condemned to show where their hearts were.

All 8 refused blindfolds, choosing instead to look their executioners in the eye. As they waited for the gunfire, the men - from Australia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil and Ghana; all convicted of offenses related to drug smuggling - sang hymns. A pastor who was present, Karina de Vega, said that even though they were not all Christians, they sang like a choir: "It was breathtaking."

Brintha Sukumaran, a sister of Myuran Sukumaran, an Australian man on death row, as she arrived at a prison island to visit her brother ahead of the executions in Indonesia on Tuesday.

2 Australians, Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 34, led the group. Former ringleaders of what became known as the "Bali 9" drug operation, the pair had undergone a transformation in the decade they had spent in jail. Mr. Chan had been ordained a minister, while Mr. Sukumaran had become an accomplished artist.

The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, and the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, had pleaded for stays of execution, in vain. And, over the final weeks, Australians had been galvanized into unexpected protests.

As the members of the firing squad cocked their rifles, the strains of "Amazing Grace" were heard in the darkness. The drug smugglers were singing a hymn written by a former slave ship captain, John Newton, also a wretch who wanted to be saved.

Then the bullets came.

And an amazing thing happened: Australia, a proudly secular, cynical country, stopped. Even those who did not weep were silent; a curious stillness infected the country the day after the shooting. 2 of them were ours, and they had been shot dead.

In the hours before the executions, thousands held candles at vigils, lay sleepless in their beds or woke early, fumbling for the news on their phones.

The appeals for clemency had been a tortuous, protracted process, and we grew accustomed to the faces of the condemned on our screens and newspaper pages. Now their lives were snuffed out and many felt anguished and distressed.

According to a recent poll, almost 1/2 of Australians are atheists: 48 % of respondents said they had never believed in a "classical creator God" or no longer did; and 60 % think the Bible is a book of myths.

Yet the story of redemption in an Indonesia jail persuaded my country to rethink its attitude toward the death penalty. Mr. Abbott called the executions "cruel and unnecessary," pointing to the fact that the men were "fully rehabilitated." After the executions, he announced that Australia would withdraw its ambassador to Indonesia.

Australia is officially opposed to the death penalty - the last person to be executed was hanged in 1967 - but polls have shown us to be conflicted and inconsistent on the question. We don't favor it here, but Australian public opinion is more sympathetic toward it in other countries or if it is used against terrorists (like those responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians). A recent poll found that 52 % agreed that fellow Australians who had been convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death in another country should be executed.

Yet almost the same number (53 %) objected to the executions of Mr. Chan and Mr. Sukumaran. The 2 also drew support from both sides of Parliament and across the media.

Perhaps it was because the former traffickers had genuinely reformed. They had become figureheads within the prison, helping inmates and leading church services. It was also reported that Mr. Chan and Mr. Sukumaran had risked their own safety to protect women's quarters when a riot broke out in 2012.

Mr. Chan converted to Christianity during a stint in solitary confinement when he realized his death sentence was likely to be carried out. To ensure that his prison ministry would continue, Mr. Chan trained others to be leaders. "Jesus set me free," he said.

Sincerity is judged exactingly in Australia; we have crude words for those who try to pull the wool over our eyes, for fraudsters or pretenders. We are also deeply suspicious of piety. But we believed these men as they cried for another chance. (A poll taken after the executions found 71 % of Australians thought the death penalty should not be used against drug traffickers, and just over half thought Australia should take a more aggressive stance on the subject globally.)

And this is why their long trek to a brutal death became somehow sacred. It made many of us reconsider the possibility of change, the potency of mercy and the terrible finality of taking another's life. In the run-up to the executions, Simon Smart, the director of the Center for Public Christianity, asked: "Why do we long for redemption stories? Where do we find hope in the midst of struggle and disappointment? The short, beautifully tragic lives of these young men seemed to point to something of an answer. Were they on to something as they sang their way to their graves?"

On top of those questions, more are now being asked: Should we make stronger efforts globally to lobby against the death penalty? How should we respond to the fact that Indonesian officials continue to ask for clemency for their own citizens on death row in other countries - slam them as hypocrites or fight with them? If Mr. Chan and Mr. Sukumaran forgave their persecutors, can we?

The Rev. Christie Buckingham was with the men before they died. Their last hour, the pastor said, was one of their finest: "giving comfort to all around them, including the guards who had become fond of them."

If there are any moments that should compel a country to pause and think, this was one.

(source: Opinion; Julia Baird, a journalist and television presenter with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, is working on a biography of Queen Victoria----New York Times)



IRAN----executions

Public Executions Scheduled in Iran's Ethnic Region



3 people are scheduled to be hanged publicly in the town of Hamidiyeh (Southwestern Iran), reported the Iranian state media. Quoting the head of the judiciary in Khuzestan, Farhad Afsharnia, the report said that these people were involved in the shootings in early April in Hamidiyeh where 3 security officers were killed. Several people were arrested in connection with the shooting but none of them have been identified by name and no further details have been provided by the edam4authorities.

The public hangings are scheduled to take place in the coming days. Khuzestan province is the home of Iran's Arab minority where there have been several protests against the authorities in the past few months. In the past few days there have also been protests in Kurdistan, home to the Kurdish ethnic group.

IHR strongly condemns the scheduled public hangings in Hamidiyeh. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: "The public executions are meant to spread fear in the society. It seems that the scheduled public executions are the authorities' response to the recent protests in Khuzestan and Kurdistan. We call on the international community to react to the violent crackdown in the ethnic regions of Iran."

(source: Iran Human Rights)

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

6 prisoners hanged



The Iranian regime's henchmen hanged at least 6 men in the northwestern city of Orumiyeh on Thursday.

Prisoners Shahin Salehi, Haji Abbassi, Ahmad Shiri, Latif Alizadeh, Abdolaziz Fouladi and Hassan Bina all were executed in the city's main prison.

Also on Saturday a prisoner was hanged in public in the city of Rasht.

UN human rights experts condemned the recent surge in executions in Iran, the majority of which are unreported.

Reports received from Geneva on 8th May 2015 from United Nations Special Rapporteurs involving the situation of human rights in Iran by Ahmed Shaheed and on extrajudicial executions by Christof Heyns have condemned the drastic increase in executions since the past few weeks.

In many cases executions have gone unreported by official sources and the names of those being executed have not been disclosed to the public.

"When the Iranian government refuses to even acknowledge the full extent of executions which have occurred, it shows a callous disregard for both human dignity and international human rights law," Mr. Shaheed stressed.

Between the 9th and the 26th of April as many as 98 prisoners are reported to have been executed at an average of 6 per day.

"We are alarmed by the recent surge in the number of executions, which has occurred despite serious questions about fair trial standards," Mr. Heyns noted.

(source: NCR-Iran)

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

Iran summarily executed 98 people in a month: U.N. report



The United Nations expressed its condemnation of the latest figures of executions carried out by the Iranian authorities during the past few months.

According to a report documented by Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, and Christophe Heinz, the Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions, Iranian authorities executed 98 prisoners in April.

Shaheed said that the Iranian government refuses to acknowledge the number of arbitrary executions that took place last month.

"This is a complete contempt for human dignity, and the international principles of human rights," he added.

On the other hand, Heinz expressed his "shock" about the high number of executions in Iran.

The report pointed out that since the beginning of January, 340 people were executed in Iran, including dozens of political prisoners, seven of them were women, including activist Rehana Jabari.

At least 15 cases were subject to public executions, according the U.N.

The report also indicated that some 852 people were executed in Iran in 2014, including women and minors.

Heinz and Shaheed appealed to the Iranian authorities to abolish the death penalty and abide by international conventions.

In the meantime, peaceful protests swept the Kurdish city of Mahabad, and expanded to other cities in northwestern Iran where Kurds constitute majority following decades of suppression.

The Iranian security forces started taking more repressive measures against angry Kurdish protesters, who started taking to the street after the 23-year-old Kurdish girl, Farinaz Khosrawani, committed suicide following a sexual harassment by an Iranian security officer last Thursday.

Last February, the Kurdish political activist Saman Nesim was executed in the jail of the city of Urmia, in western Iran, on charges of participating in armed activities of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan against the Iranian government.

The Iranian government is facing severe criticism from the United Nations and the international organizations for violations against human rights, especially after the documentation of dozens of summary executions of opponents, journalists and civil rights activists.

(source: aranews.net)

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

Iran hardliners cling to death penalty



The jailing of a well-known campaigner against the death penalty and a sharp rise in executions has once again put Iran's poor human rights record in the spotlight.

Why has President Hassan Rouhani and his team failed to meet hopes for reform at home despite making gains on the international stage?

"They took my mummy to Evin prison again," says 8-year-old Kiana.

In their short lives, Kiana and her twin brother, Ali, have seen many arrests and raids on their home.

Their mother is Narges Mohammadi, a well-known human rights lawyer and campaigner, who has been in and out of jail on charges related to her work, for much of the past 5 years.

In 2012, after suffering severe ill-health, Ms Mohammadi was granted leave to serve the remainder of a 6-year prison sentence at home.

But last week while the children were at school, intelligence officials came to the house, with no warning or explanation, and took her back to jail.

One of the charges levelled against Ms Mohammadi was that she was running an "illegal group" campaigning against the death penalty.

It is a tough cause to fight in a country that has the second highest rate of executions in the world, after China.

When President Rouhani swept to power in 2013, there were hopes his more moderate stance would mean improvements in human rights.

But since he took office, the number of executions carried out in Iran has actually risen.

President Rouhani is thought to be a moderate influence

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights organisation says Iran executed 735 people in 2014 - a 10% increase on the previous year.

In April the group said it had documented 43 judicial killings in Iran in just 3 days.

It is impossible to independently verify these numbers, but most human right observers say they are credible.

The majority of executions carried out in Iran are for drugs-related offences And in a country with a serious addiction problem, they elicit little public sympathy.

But in the past 2 years, there have been a number of high-profile death row cases - mainly involving juvenile offenders or women - which have struck a chord with the public, prompting appeals for clemency.

But President Rouhani has so far kept silent about the death penalty.

The main reason is that constitutionally he has very little room to act.

Although he is the elected president, Iran's complex power structure means Mr Rouhani has no power over the judiciary, which answers instead to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Internal suspicion

The judiciary is dominated by hardliners deeply suspicious of the overtures Mr Rouhani has been making to old adversaries such as the US.

The more ground the president gains on the international stage, the more resistance the hardliners will put up to any change to the status quo at home. line

--

Executions in Iran:

In the 18 months since the election of President Rouhani in June 2013, Iranian authorities executed more than 1,193 people. This is an average of more than 2 executions every day.

The number of executions in that period was 31% higher than the number in the 18 months before President Rouhani assumed power.

The number of juvenile offenders executed in 2014 was the highest since 1990.

[source: Iran Human Rights (March 2015)]

--

"There is an internal conflict going on now between the hard-line judiciary and Rouhani's moderate administration," says Iranian human rights campaigner Taghi Rahmani.

Taghi Rahmani says the authorities are trying to silence dissenting voices

"And it's the activists who are paying the price."

Mr Rahmani is married to Narges Mohammadi, and like his wife a veteran of the Iranian prison system. He has spent 14 years in jail for his political activities.

Ms Mohammadi is not the only campaigner to make the headlines.

In recent weeks, there has been outcry on Iranian opposition social-media sites over the judiciary's treatment of a number of well-known activists.

Ahmad Hashemi is a respected former government official in his 60s who was jailed for supporting the opposition protests in 2009.

In early May, he was allowed out of prison to visit his terminally ill wife only to discover that she had already died and he was in fact going to her funeral.

At the same time Majid Tavakoli, a charismatic student activist, was also given leave towards the end of a 4-year prison sentence.

But after just 3 days at home with his mother, he was suddenly recalled to serve out the remaining 2 weeks of his sentence.

As Iran prepares to hold a general election in February 2016, the stand-off between moderates and hardliners is expected to intensify, and there are fears that this will lead to a further crackdown on opposition activists, journalists and campaigners.

Taghi Rahmani told the BBC his wife's detention was a warning shot.

"By arresting her, they are trying to send a signal to others to stay quiet," he said.

Narges MohammadiNarges Mohammadi had been released on the grounds of ill health

With international talks over Iran's nuclear programme now approaching a crucial June deadline, President Rouhani is focusing all his efforts on reaching a final agreement.

To clinch a deal, he needs the support of the country's supreme leader. And observers say this means that right now he has neither the time nor the will to address human rights reform or the death penalty.

Mr Rahmani says whatever happens, he and his wife are not planning to give up their political activities.

But it is clear they and their family are paying a heavy price.

Mr Rahmani now lives in self-imposed exile in France and has only seen his children once in the past 3 years.

With his wife back in jail, Kiana and Ali are now living with their grandmother.

"The one thing I really worry about," he told the BBC.

"Is that one day, my kids might question our decision to take a stand."

(source: BBC news)

***********

Iran Rejects UN Human Rights Report on Executions



Iran's Foreign Ministry rejected as "downright lie" a recent report prepared by the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, and Christof Heyns, the UN rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

The report on the alleged unreported executions in Iran or the execution of political prisoners is a downright lie, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Sunday, stressing that such untrue claims run counter to the professional responsibilities of Shaheed and Heyns.

Her comments came after the two UN staffers in a May 8 report condemned what they called a sharp increase in executions in recent weeks in Iran, alleging that many executions have gone unreported by official sources, and the names of prisoners have not been published.

Maldivian Shaheed and South African Heyns have also alleged that 98 prisoners "are reported to have been executed" in Iran between April 9 and 26, including at least 6 political prisoners and 7 women.

In reaction, Afkham underscored that the allegation of a rise in the death penalty and "reliance on the estimated figures without any source or sources that are not authentic" nullify such a report.

"It's a great pity that the trend of the (UN) special rapporteur's (Shaheed's) activities suggest that he does not seek credible evidence, and despite the reports and documents issued by Iran, such claims are continuously repeated with quite political purposes," she noted.

The spokeswoman explained that Iran's law hands out capital punishment only for "the most serious crimes, including narcotics trafficking".

"The Islamic republic of Iran calls on the special rapporteur not to include traffickers, murderers and those who have committed terrorist crimes in the list of the political prisoners," she pointed out.

(source: Tasnim News)








NORTHERN IRELAND:

Couple incarcerated on death row while wrongly accused of murder set to share their experiences in Belfast ---- The pair attribute yoga and meditation practices developed in prison for much of their strength and their ultimate survival

Peter Pringle and Sunny Jacobs - who both faced the death penalty after being convicted of murders they didn't commit - are coming to Belfast.

Before they met, Sunny and Peter faced the death penalty for separate crimes.

In 1976, Sunny was placed on death row in Florida for the murder of 2 police officers.

4 years later, in Dublin, Peter was sentenced to death for the murder of 2 officers in the Republic.

Sunny served 17 years and Peter 15 years behind bars.

But were victims of wrongful convictions and after lengthy battles for justice were exonerated.

They met in 1998 when Sunny travelled to Ireland to speak at an Amnesty International event.

Peter was one of the last people in Ireland to be sentenced to death in 1980.

Capital punishment was only abolished in 1990.

2 weeks before he was due to be killed, Peter was told he would instead spend 40 years behind bars.

He began to study law and his case was reopened in 1992. He was subsequently cleared.

The couple attribute yoga and meditation practices developed in prison for much of their strength and ultimate survival.

It took the confession of another, 15 years after her conviction, for Sunny's long-maintained innocence to be realised. During her incarceration awaiting execution, Sunny was placed for 5 years in solitary confinement in a cell 6ft by 9ft.

Despite the years they lost in prison and everything they have been through, they are not bitter.

Peter said: "Life has turned out beautifully.

"Sure, it's not without its difficulties. We have no money. But we do good work.

"We are at peace. And we have a great life together. We look forward, and we live in the moment."

The couple will visit the Yoga Fellowship on Saturday.

(source: Belfastlive.com)








UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

UAE court orders revew of torture evidence in migrant worker death row case



Abu Dhabi's highest court has commissioned a new panel of doctors to review the medical evidence in the case of an Indian migrant worker sentenced to death on the basis of a 'confession' extracted under torture.

At a hearing in the case of Ezhur Gangadharan, sentenced to death in 2013, the Abu Dhabi Supreme Court ordered a panel of 3 new doctors to review all of the medical evidence in the case - including that of Mr Gangadharan's torture.

Gangadharan, a father of 3 who works in the UAE to support his family in Kerala, India, was arrested in 2013 in connection with the rape of a minor at the school where he worked for 32 years.

The legal charity Reprieve says that upon arrest, Mr Gangadharan was repeatedly tortured by police. He was reportedly told that if he did not confess to committing the crime, the abuse would continue. The injuries Mr Gangadharan sustained were detailed in 2 medical reports submitted at trial. There was no physical or DNA evidence linking Mr Gangadharan to the crime. A number of other Indian nationals were also detained and tortured in relation to the offence.

In February 2014, the Abu Dhabi Supreme Court vacated Mr Gangadharan's death sentence and ordered the Court of Appeal to re-consider the evidence of his torture at the hands of police. However, when reconsidering the case, the Court ignored this evidence, as well as expert testimony on the lack of DNA evidence, relying exclusively on his coerced confession to confirm the death sentence.

Indian embassy officials attended court today (11 May 2015), at which the judge set May 25th as the date for the next hearing.

Maya Foa, director of Reprieve's death penalty team, said: "Mr Gangadharan was sentenced to death primarily on the basis of nothing other than a 'confession' extracted after brutal police torture, despite a large amount of evidence pointing to his innocence. All of this evidence must be fully considered, and today's hearing suggests that the court agrees. It is understandable that victim's families seek justice, especially in a case of this nature, but scapegoating a man from one of the UAE's most vulnerable groups of people is not justice of any sort."

(source: ekklesia.co.uk)








MALDIVES:

2 sentenced to death over crimes committed as minors



The juvenile court has today sentenced 2 young men to death over a murder committed when the pair were minors, but the 2 are unlikely to face the death penalty.

The 2 unnamed 19-year-olds denied charges over the stabbing and death of Hussain Waheed in Male in December 2013. They were 16 at the time.

Waheed had died of heart failure due to the stab wounds to his chest.

Speaking at the UN human rights council last week, legal affairs secretary at the president's office, Aishath Bisham, said "it would be legally impossible to issue the death sentence" if the accused denies murder charges at any stage of prosecution.

1 of the suspects was charged with murder while the other was charged with being an accomplice to the murder. Another 14-year-old was arrested at the time and charged with assaulting an individual on the scene.

The juvenile court sentenced the pair based on testimony by 4 eyewitnesses. All 9 heirs of the victim have asked the court to implement the death penalty.

In 2014, the Maldives repealed a 6-decade-old de facto moratorium on the death penalty, ostensibly to tackle a surge in fatal stabbings. Over 30 people have been killed in violent crimes in the past 7 years.

Under the new regulations, individuals as young as 7 years of age can be sentenced to death if convicted of wilful murder.

The juvenile court has now sentenced a total of 4 young men to death for murders committed when they were minors. 2 young men convicted of wilful murder in the death of Abdul 'Bobby' Muheeth were also sentenced to death in May 2013.

The government says capital punishment can only be enforced if all 3 tiers of the judiciary find the accused to be guilty and if all heirs of the victim request the death penalty. Bisham also said the president is required to review if due process was followed before he enforces the death sentence.

The last person executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi, who was found guilty of practicing black magic in 1953.

The common practice has since been for the president to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment through powers vested in him by the Clemency Act. The new regulations has revoked president's authority.

Several countries at the Universal Periodic Review, including France, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Namibia, Spain, Australia and Montenegro expressed concern over Maldives' decision to end the unofficial moratorium on the death penalty.

(source: minivannews.com)

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