July 18
IRAN:
Imprisoned Founder of Spiritual Group Awaits Clarification on His
Sentence----May Still Face Death Penalty for Peaceful Practice of Beliefs
Uncertainty surrounds the sentence of Mohammad Ali Taheri, the imprisoned
founder of a spiritual healing and cultural group. The Judiciary spokesman says
he has been sentenced but his lawyer says this is "incorrect."
"I went t the court on Tuesday July 14 and no sentence has been issued. If a
sentence is issued, they will first inform me and my client. I'm sure
[Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni] Ejei has been given the wrong
information," Taheri's lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaee, told the
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Ejei had stated in a press conference on July 13 that Taheri had been sentenced
at the initial stage and that he could request an appeal. Yet Ejei did not
reveal what the sentence was.
Mohammad Ali Taheri, founder of the "Erfan-e Halgheh" spiritual arts and
healing group, is facing the charge of "Corruption on Earth" which carries the
possibility of the death penalty. On June 20, 2015, his lawyer had expressed
concern that the judge had issued the death penalty but the next day this was
denied by the Judiciary.
Taheri established the Erfan-e Halgheh institute in Tehran during the 2000s,
and, using healing concepts, treated patients with psychological and medical
conditions. He was arrested in 2010 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards on
charges of "acting against national security" and was held in solitary
confinement for 67 days before he was released.
On May 4, 2011, he was arrested again and on October 30, 2011, Branch 26 of the
Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced him to five years in prison for
"blasphemy," to 74 lashes for "touching the wrists of female patients," and 900
million toman in fines (approximately $300,000) for "interfering in medical
science," "earning illegitimate funds," and "distribution of audio-visual
products and use of academic titles."
The authorities in Iran do not formally acknowledge Taheri's group, Erfan-e
Halgheh, but in addition to imprisoning Taheri and prosecuting him on a charge
that potentially carries the death penalty, its institute has been closed down.
The authorities take a harsh view of any individual who promotes alternative
spiritual beliefs in Iran. They are seen as national security threats,
especially if they attract Shia Muslims. As such, the authorities also severely
prosecute Baha'is who propagate their faith, Gonabadi Dervishes, and
evangelical Christians who seek converts to Christianity, demonstrating the
continued systematic denial of freedom of religion in the Islamic Republic.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
NIGERIA:
Traditional Rulers Want Death Penalty, Special Courts For Terrorism Acts
As part of measures to curb the rising spate of insurgency and other violent
crimes in the country, the National Association of Royal Traditional Rulers of
Nigeria (NARTN) has called on the Federal Government to approve the
introduction of military training for members of the National Youth Service
Corps (NYSC) to enable them complement the efforts of the army, police and
other security agencies in the country.
The association, after its 99th National Conference in Abuja yesterday, also
renewed its call for the Federal Government to give a constitutional role to
traditional rulers, arguing that that would empower them to fully play active
role in identifying and helping the government to fight insurgency in the
country.
In a communique, which was read at the Congress by its chairman, Eze Thomas
Obiefule, NARTN, which advocated for the return of death penalty for offences
like terrorism, called on the National Assembly to amend the Constitution to
that effect.
"The nation's Constitution is not helping the country in the fight against
insurgency.For instance,if someone uses explosives to wreck havoc, killing so
many people, the killer will only bag a life imprisonment, if convicted. This
is the most unfair and unfortunate. Therefore, we want to urge the National
Assembly to amend the Constitution to carry death penalty. Cases involving
terrorists should not exceed three months for judgment to be delivered, as it
is the case in other countries. Special courts should be put in place to handle
cases of terrorism for quick dispensation of justice," the statement said.
(source: The Guardian)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan's Hypocritical Season of Mercy
Pakistan's state executioners have taken a rare breather this past month after
a death penalty spree that has killed 176 death row prisoners since the end of
December 2014.
But Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made clear that the pause in that horrific
body count is strictly temporary, until the conclusion of the holy month of
Ramazan. His daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, praised the temporary suspension of
executions as an act of reverence for "human dignity". That was a welcome
admission that the death penalty offends human dignity. But it comes as no
comfort to the 8,000 people on death row in Pakistan who face execution as soon
as the government's death penalty suspension ends next week.
The Pakistani government's death penalty spree has become a barbaric
assembly-line. On March 17, Pakistan executed 12 people, the highest number of
executions in a single day in almost a decade. The government broke that record
on April 21 by executing at least 15 people that day.
Along with the use of military courts against civilians and coerced
repatriations of Afghans living in Pakistan, these executions are part of the
government's response to the horrific December 16, 2014 attack by the Pakistani
Taliban splinter group Tehreek-e-Taliban on a school in Peshawar in
northwestern Pakistan that left at least 148 dead - almost all of them
children.
The government reacted by lifting a four-year unofficial death penalty
moratorium for non-military personnel "in terrorism-related cases". On March
10, the government lifted the death penalty moratorium for all capital crimes,
including kidnapping and murder. The government's motivations for its death
penalty reinstatement have been a matter of populist pandering rather than
pursuit of justice. In the province of Punjab alone, there are at least 62
people scheduled to be executed once the government's Ramazan-imposed seasonal
tolerance for "human dignity" comes to an end.
Those whose lives are at risk include Kaneezan Bibi, convicted of murder in
January 1991. Despite compelling evidence that Bibi has a psychosocial
disability, President Mamnoon Hussain rejected her mercy petition. Bibi is
scheduled to be the 9th woman to be hanged in Pakistan's history. Khizar Hayat
is also scheduled for execution post-Ramazan, despite a 2008 diagnosis of
paranoid schizophrenia. According to his lawyers, by 2012 Hayat had become so
delusional that prison authorities isolated him from the general prison
population by moving him to the prison hospital, where he has spent the last 3
years.
The looming execution of individuals with psychosocial disabilities is more
than an affront to human dignity. It is an appalling violation of international
human rights law, including obligations under the United Nations disability
rights treaty, which Pakistan ratified in 2011. The UN Commission on Human
Rights adopted resolutions in 1999 and 2000 urging countries that retain the
death penalty not to impose it "on a person suffering from any form of mental
disorder". Section 84 of Pakistan's Penal Code excludes from criminal
punishment any person demonstrating "disorder of his mental capacities".
Yet another death row prisoner facing execution post-Ramazan is Shafqat
Hussain, who was allegedly 14- or 15-years-old when sentenced to death in 2004
for allegedly kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old boy. Hussain remains on death
row despite compelling allegations that law-enforcement officers obtained his
confession through torture. The Pakistani government's death penalty spree has
already involved multiple violations of the rights of those it has executed
since December.
Take the case of Zulfiqar Ali, executed on January 13. Unable to afford a
lawyer, the court-appointed lawyer who represented Ali never met with him once
outside of court. Aftab Bahadur could also speak volumes for the Pakistan
government's disregard of human dignity. Bahadur was reportedly 15-years-old
when convicted of murder in 1992. He maintained his innocence and said that he
was prosecuted and convicted only because he was unable to afford a hefty bribe
demanded by police who arrested him. He was executed on June 10, 2015.
Pakistan has ratified both the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which specifically
prohibit capital punishment of anyone who was under 18 at the time of the
offence.
The prohibition is absolute. In July 2000, Pakistan issued a Juvenile Justice
System Ordinance banning the death penalty for crimes by people under 18.
However, the ordinance requires the existence of dedicated juvenile courts and
other mechanisms not provided for by law in all parts of Pakistan, leaving
juvenile offenders at risk of trial as adults in capital cases.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has an obligation to safeguard the fundamental
rights of the citizens of Pakistan, particularly their right to life. He should
do so by immediately reinstating an indefinite death penalty moratorium and
move towards abolition. For inspiration, he can reflect on the words of Aftab
Bahadur in a letter published hours before his execution. Bahadur wrote, "While
the death penalty moratorium was ended on the pretext of killing terrorists,
most of the people here in Kot Lakhpat prison are charged with regular crimes.
Quite how killing them is going to stop the sectarian violence in this country,
I cannot say. I hope I do not die on Wednesday, but I have no source of money,
so I can only rely on God and on my volunteer lawyers. I have not given up
hope, though the night is very dark."
The government of Pakistan has a choice. It can act to defend fundamental human
rights and consign the death penalty to the dustbin of history. Or it can end
this brief season of "human dignity" and condemn Kaneezan Bibi, Khizar Hayat
and thousands of others to the darkness of a vindictive death penalty policy
with no end in sight.
(source: Saroop Ijaz; The writer is a lawyer and the Pakistan Researcher for
Human Rights Watch----Express Tribune)
BRITAIN:
David Morrissey and Reece Shearsmith to star in Martin McDonagh's Hangmen ----
The Royal Court production is McDonagh's 1st play in a decade, following film
success with In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths; meanwhile, Kim Cattrall also
joins the theatre's new season
The lead cast has been announced for Hangmen, Martin McDonagh's new play at the
Royal Court in London, with Reece Shearsmith and David Morrissey at the top of
the bill.
The play is McDonagh's 1st in a decade, following a brace of successful films:
In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. Opening on 10 September, it follows an
executioner on the day that Britain announces the abolition of the death
penalty. The Royal Court's artistic director Vicky Featherstone has described
it as "dark and surreal and shocking and challenging".
Shearsmith, known for The League of Gentlemen among many other film and TV
roles, is no stranger to the London stage, having appeared in As You Like It,
The Producers, and Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends in recent years. Most
recently he appeared in the Grease musical sequel Cool Rider.
Morrissey, meanwhile, began his career with stints at the Royal Shakespeare
Company and the National Theatre, later peppering his film work with runs in
the likes of Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House, Richard Greenberg's Three Days
of Rain, and a 2011 production of Macbeth at the Everyman theatre.
Joining them for the Court's winter season is Kim Cattrell - the Sex and the
City star is to take the lead in Linda, a new play from Penelope Skinner about
a woman going through a mid-life crisis. It begins on 25 November at the
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.
(source: The Guardian)
INDIA:
Mumbai blasts execution: Noose is barbaric, serves no purpose
Every high-profile execution in India is invariably preceded by loud and
fervent debates on the pluses and minuses of such state-sponsored killing. This
is the case with Yakub Memon, the accused mastermind of the 1993 serial Mumbai
blasts that left about 350 people dead and 1000-odd wounded or maimed for life.
Memon is likely to hang on July 30. The scheduled execution is stirring deep
resentment insofar as India, a country where Mahatma Gandhi once propagated
non-violence, is included in a shrinking group of nations that still sends men
to the gallows.
India's Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for the hanging. The President of
India has rejected his appeal for mercy, and if Memon's last-ditch petition for
a review of the death penalty is turned down as well, he will be hanged in a
prison in Maharashtra.
Strangely, of the 11 convicted in the 1993 Mumbai explosions, the sentences of
10 have been commuted to life. Only Memon will walk to his death. Stranger by
far is the fact that only Muslims convicted of similar crimes have been
executed. In 2012, Ajmal Kasab, 1 of the 10 killers sent into India by
Pakistan's ISI and Lashkar-e-Toiba to kill innocent men and women in the 26/11
Mumbai terror attacks, was executed. 3 months later, Afzal Guru, found guilty
of being part of the 2001 attack on India's Parliament, was also hanged and
with unfeeling haste. His family was not allowed to meet him one last time.
However, 1 other terrorist, whose crime was as heinous as Kasab's and Guru's,
is still living - though he is on death row. Balwant Singh Rajona, who
assassinated a former Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh, was spared the
death penalty after political pressure was applied. And what's more, 3 Sri
Lankan men - Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan - who masterminded the murder of
one of India's most charismatic prime ministers, Rajiv Gandhi - escaped the
gallows after their sentences were commuted by the Supreme Court, because it
found that their mercy petitions had been delayed too long. The Tamil Nadu
Government of India's Tamil Nadu state, which is brazenly sympathetic to Sri
Lankan Tamils (language being a cementing force), pulled strings to let these 3
convicts live.
It is apparent that unlike Rajona or the 3 Sri Lankans, Kasab or Guru or Memon,
do not enjoy political support or popular sympathy. So Kasab and Guru died.
Memon too may not live.
This brings us to a larger and extremely vexing question of the relevance of
capital punishment. Throughout history, there have been protests against what
many decried as "a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye" policy. Even in the
15th century, when Joan of Arc was accused of being a heretic and burnt alive,
there were murmurs of dissent. 5 centuries later, when the Vatican canonized
her, it seemed too late to right a wrong.
Ever since those times, there have been innumerable instances of men and women
escaping the noose before it did its work. A 1987 study found that 350 people
condemned to die in the US between 1900 and 1985 were actually innocent. Most
lived, but 23 lost their lives.
Sadly, despite several UN General Assembly resolutions calling for a global
moratorium on executions, many countries still have this barbaric law on their
statute books. The US is one, and along with China, Indonesia and India, still
puts men to death. What is worse is that 60% of the world's population live in
these regions. One need not even talk about Saudi Arabia or Japan where capital
punishment is frequently carried out.
It goes without saying that in a nation like India notorious for a corrupt
judiciary and poor policing, errors of judgment are quite possible. Added to
this, we have a community divided on caste and class lines. As one US Supreme
Court judge said famously, capital punishment is for those without capital. It
is no different in India, where life can be bought with money, and life is lost
for want of money.
Although India applies the death penalty "only in the rarest of rare cases,"
there can be no denying that such punishment is no deterrent. Many, many
studies have proven that the death sentence has never cut down the number of
capital crimes. Some American states did away with the electric chair, but
found no significant rise in murders or rapes. And when they reintroduced it,
there was no drop in major misdemeanors.
In fact, how do you prevent a crime of passion? No law can stave it off. Is it
possible to stop a suicide bomber in his tracks - pushed as he is into a
murderous mission by religious fanaticism or an intolerant partisan view?
Indeed, advocating death under government supervision may be as foolish as
suggesting that stockpiling nuclear weapons serves as a safeguard for peace.
Certainly, India and the others must understand that capital punishment has no
place in a civilized society, and administrations must also realize that modern
dilemmas and contradictions must be resolved with dignity, and not through
easier options like the noose or poison prick.
(source: Gautaman Bhaskaran is an author, commentator and movie critic, who has
worked with 2 of India's best regarded daily newspapers, The Statesman in
Kolkata and The Hindu in Chennai for 35 years, and who now writes for the
Hindustan Times, the Gulf Times and The Seoul Times----Asia Times)
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