Oct. 25
IRAN----executions
5 Prisoners Executed on Drug Charges----Iranian authorities hang 5 prisoners
early Tuesday morning for alleged drug related offenses, but Iranian official
sources are silent about these executions.
5 prisoners were reportedly hanged early morning on Tuesday October 25 for
alleged drug related offenses. Close sources say the execution sentences may
have been carried out at either Karaj Central Prison or nearby Ghezel Hesar
Prison.
Iran Human Rights is aware of the names of 3 of the prisoners: Saeed
Pourhassan, Mehrshad Kalhori, and Milad Beigdeli. These 3 prisoners along with
the other 2 were reportedly transferred to solitary confienement cells at Karaj
Central Prison on Saturday October 22 in preparation for their execution.
"If they gave us until 2 in the afternoon, we could have stopped Saeed's
execution. [Mehrshad Kalhori and Milad Beigdeli] had claimed to authorities
that Saeed was guilty, but they wrote a letter retracting their claim stating
that their confessions were false and given out of spite. They thought if they
gave the names of others to the authorities that they all would be issued light
prison sentences. We gave the letter to authorities and pleaded with them to
postpone Saeed's execution for several hours. But, they threw the letter away
and even attempted to run us over with a car," the brother of Saeed Hassanpour
tells Iran Human Rights.
Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and the media, have been
silent about these 5 executions.
********************
4 Prisoners Executed in Iran
2 prisoners with drug related charges were reportedly hanged at Salmas Prison
(West Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran) and 2 prisoners with murder
charges were reportedly hanged at Sepidar Ahwaz Prison (Khuzestan province,
western Iran).
According a report by the the state-run news site, Rokna, 2 brothers charged
with murder were hanged at Sepidar Ahwaz Prison on the morning of Monday
October 24. The report identifies the prisoners as "Hassan" and "Mohsen".
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network and information received by
Iran Human Rights, 2 prisoners, identified as Bakhtiar Khaledi and Shoresh
Mizrapour, were hanged at Salmas Prison on Monday October 24 for alleged drug
related offenses.
********************
3 Prisoners Executed in Southern Iran
3 prisoners were reportedly hanged in Shiraz on kidnapping and rape charges.
The exact location of the executions is not known at this time.
According to a report by the Judiciary in the Fars province, the executions
were carried out on the morning of Monday October 24. The report says one of
the prisoners was initially arrested on drug related charges.
The report identifies the prisoners as Reza N., Mohammad A., and Hashem P.
Their execution sentences were reportedly issued by branch 4 of the criminal
court in Fars and were confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court.
(source for all: iranhr.net)
SAUDI ARABIA:
'Gruesome' execution warrant casts light on Saudi death penalty
An execution warrant in Saudi Arabia was published to social media on Tuesday,
providing a rare insight into how the death penalty is implemented in the
secretive kingdom.
The warrant, posted to Twitter, ordered an unnamed prisoner to be executed in
"Retribution Square" in the northern town of Qurayyat at 9am (0700 GMT).
Translation of tweet: Saudi Arabia returns to performing executions in public
on Tuesday 9am according to a letter (top secret/urgent and important) with an
accused in a drugs case after it (execution) was performed in prison.
The order was signed by the local police chief Mufdhi bin Abdallah al-Khamees
and it instructed the Qurayyat General Hospital to "carry out the necessary
procedure upon receipt of the prisoner's corpse" after the execution had taken
place.
A doctor was also ordered to be present at the execution, which in Saudi Arabia
is typically a public beheading carried out by a masked executioner with one
blow to the neck with a long curved silver sword.
The doctor was required to attend the beheading to confirm the prisoner's
death.
British human rights group Reprieve said they had information the execution was
carried on Tuesday as ordered.
Reprieve said the publishing of the execution warrant exposed the nature of
human rights abuses in the kingdom.
"It is chilling to see the Saudi execution procedure laid bare," Reprieve
director Maya Foa said in a statement. "The gruesome details contained in this
warrant only serve to highlight the shocking abuses that continue in the
kingdom."
Prior to the latest executions, Human Rights Watch reported on 19 October that
Saudi authorities have executed 134 prisoners so far in 2016.
Many of those executed in Saudi Arabia are convicted of drug charges, while
other crimes that carry the death penalty include murder, and less commonly
apostasy, adultery and homosexuality.
Earlier this month Saudi authorities executed a prince for the 1st time in over
40 years, after the royal had been convicted of murdering another man during a
brawl.
The execution of Prince Turki bin Saud bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabeer brought
praise in some quarters within the kingdom, with government supporters stating
the sentence demonstrated no one is above the law in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has come under increasing criticism for abuses as the kingdom
stands for re-election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
As well as highlighting a lack of women]s rights, Human Rights Watch said on
Monday that Saudi Arabia should not be allowed to sit on the council because of
its ongoing war in Yemen, where its military has been accused of committing an
array of war crimes.
(source: Middle East Eye)
KENYA:
South Rift lawyers call for abolition of death penalty
The lawyer says a death sentence has become known as an "academic sentence" in
legal circles because though Kenya allows capital punishment, the last
execution was in 1986.
Senior lawyers in the South Rift have called for amendments to the penal code
to abolish capital punishment.
Giving their views on the matter a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta commuted
the death sentences of all 2,747 convicts on death row to life imprisonment,
Law Society of Kenya South Rift Branch chairman Erastus Orina and former Rift
Valley LSK chairman Kipkoech Ngetich said it was time for the death penalty to
be scrapped.
Mr Orina noted that though the President's decision was an act of clemency, the
courts would continue to sentence more people convicted of serious crimes to
hang because they have no other option under the law.
Under the current laws, convictions on robbery with violence, treason and
murder attract the death sentence.
"It would be good if the same is embedded on legal premise. Some people may
view the President's move to commute the sentences to life imprisonment as
having gone in conflict with existing laws.
"I believe our penal code must be amended to abolish the death sentence," said
Mr Orina.
The long-serving lawyer noted that around the world, many countries have done
away with the death penalty in favour of long prison terms, including life
imprisonment.
"Most nations which have taken the move are of the view that killing a person
does not change others and that no government has the right to take away
anyone's life. For them, life sentences serve better in deterring crime than
the death penalty," he said.
Mr Ngetich, for his part, noted that a death sentence has become known as an
"academic sentence" in legal circles because, though Kenya allows capital
punishment, the last execution happened in 1986.
"The death sentence is an academic sentence. It is enshrined in our law and we
retain it for the fear of the unknown and nothing else. It should not last a
day more in our statute books," said Mr Ngetich.
The last people to face the hangman's noose were Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras
Okumu, who were executed in 1986 for treason after being convicted of
involvement in the 1982 attempted coup.
The debate over whether the capital sentence is still necessary has come up
before, with human rights organizations calling for its abolition.
(source: The Nation)
PAKISTAN:
Take Action! - Halt Imminent Execution Of Man Harshly Sentenced
HALT IMMINENT EXECUTION OF MAN HARSHLY SENTENCED
The Supreme People's Court approved a death sentence which could result in the
execution of Jia Jinglong at any time. According to lawyers, mitigating factors
of his case were not taken into account during sentencing.
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet urging the authorities to:
* Halt any plans to execute Jia Jinglong and commute his death sentence without
delay;
* Establish an official moratorium on all executions as a first step to
abolishing the death penalty, as provided by five UN General Assembly
resolutions, most recently resolution 69/186 of 18 December 2014;
* Commute all existing death sentences.
Contact these 2 officials by 6 December, 2016: Important note: Please do not
forward this Urgent Action email directly to these officials. Instead of
forwarding this email that you have received, please open up a new email
message in which to write your appeals to each official. This will help ensure
that your emails are not rejected. Thank you for your deeply valued activism!
Minister of Justice
Wu Aiying Buzhang
Sifabu
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020
People's Republic of China
Fax: +86 10 65292345
Email: pfmas...@legalinfo.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Minister
Ambassador Cui Tiankai
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
3505 International Place NW,
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 495 2138 I Phone: 1 202 495 2266
Email: chinaembpress...@mfa.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
(source: Amnesty International USA)
INDIA:
Jigisha murder case: Delhi High Court seeks death row convicts response----It
is mandatory for a trial court to refer a death penalty case to a high court
for confirmation of the sentence within 30 days of the pronouncement of the
verdict.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the reply of two death row convicts in
the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case, whose case file has been sent by the trial
court here for confirmation of capital punishment. A bench of justices Gita
Mittal and P S Teji also sought personal presence of convicts Ravi Kapoor and
Amit Shukla, who were handed down death penalty by the trial court.
The bench, which has fixed the matter for further hearing on November 24, also
issued production warrants to the 2. The sessions judge had sent the case
record relating to the conviction and death sentence of Kapoor and Shukla to
the high court.
It is mandatory for a trial court to refer a death penalty case to a high court
for confirmation of the sentence within 30 days of the pronouncement of the
verdict. The trial court had on July 14 held the duo guilty for murder of
28-year-old IT executive Jigisha Ghosh and other counts.
While sentencing the 2 to death on August 22, the trial court had said the girl
was killed in a "cold-blooded, inhuman and cruel manner" and "brutally mauled
to death". It had said the magnitude and brutality exhibited by the convicts
made the case 'rarest of rare', warranting capital punishment for Kapoor and
Shukla. The 3rd offender Baljeet Malik was given reprieve from the gallows for
his good conduct in jail.
The 3 have challenged their conviction and order on sentence awarded by the
trial court, on which the police were asked by the high court to file their
response. Kapoor and Shukla in their appeal have said the trial court has
"wrongly held that the case falls in the category of rarest of rare".
Malik, challenging his conviction and sentence of life term through his counsel
Amit Kumar, has said the trial court judge has "failed to appreciate that there
were contradictions and discrepancies in the depositions of prosecution
witnesses (PWs) and, therefore conviction and the sentence awarded to him is
liable to be set aside". Shukla said the trial court has committed grave error
by awarding death penalty to him, simply on the basis of biased jail/probation
report about his client.
The trial court had imposed varying fines on the convicts. While Kapoor was
slapped a fine of Rs 1.2 lakh due to his inability to pay, Shukla and Malik
were directed to pay Rs 2.8 lakh and Rs 5.8 lakh respectively as the
pre-sentencing report had suggested they were financially strong. The trio are
also facing trial for the murder of TV journalist Soumya Viswanathan, killed a
year before Jigisha.
It had also directed that out of the total fine of Rs 9.8 lakh, Rs 6 lakh be
paid to the parents of the victim, and an adequate compensation amount be
decided by the District Legal Service Authority (South).
The trial court had held the 3 guilty under several sections of IPC, including
302 (murder), 364 (abducting for murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 394
(voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 468 (forgery for purpose of
cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document). It, however, held that
the charge of criminal conspiracy (120-B of IPC) could not be proved against
them.
The police had filed the charge sheet in the case in June 2009, stating that
Jigisha's post-mortem report revealed that she was killed by smothering. The
trial in the case began in April 2010. Recovery of the weapon allegedly used in
Jigisha's murder had led to cracking of the murder case of Soumya Vishwanathan,
who was a journalist with a news channel.
Soumya was shot dead on September 30, 2008 while she was returning home in her
car from office in the wee hours. The police had claimed robbery as the motive
behind the killings of both Jigisha and Soumya.
(source: Indian Express)
********************
Day before hanging, SC stays execution of 2 convicts
The execution of 2 death-row convicts, who were found guilty of kidnapping and
killing a Hoshiarpur boy Abhi Verma in 2005, was stayed by the Supreme Court on
Monday - a day before their hanging.
A special 3-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan
while hearing a petition for reviewing death sentences of Vikram Singh and
Jasbir Singh stayed the execution while reserving the judgement.
The 2 were to be executed at 9 am on Tuesday and the Patiala central jail
administration had made all arrangements and even brought a hangman from Uttar
Pradesh. "We have received the court???s stay order and the execution has been
put off," said Bhupinderjeet Singh Virk, superintendent of Patiala central
jail.
Talking to HT, the counsel of 2 accused Balwant Singh Billowria, who had filed
the latest review petition, said he had pleaded that there is need to revisit
the decision of death sentence as the trial court has overseen some evidences.
Abhi, 16, son of a goldsmith, was kidnapped and murdered by Jasbir Singh, his
wife Sonia and her brother Vikram Walia in February 2005 for a ransom of Rs 50
lakh. He died with an overdose of anaesthesia.
On December 21, 2006, the Hoshiarpur district and sessions judge had awarded
death penalty to the three accused. The Punjab and Haryana high court had
upheld the sentence but the Supreme Court had commuted Sonia's sentence to life
imprisonment. Jasvir and Vikram had filed a mercy petition with the President
after a 3-member bench of the apex court had rejected their review petition in
August 2015.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has also deferred hearing of the convicts'
petition seeking commutation of their sentences to November 3.
(source: Hindustan Times)
CHINA:
Will Public Outcry Spare Jia Jinglong From Controversial Death Sentence?
Legal analysts and experts in China say that the fate of a 30-year-old Chinese
man, sentenced to death for his murder of a village chief in a forced
demolition dispute, is still up in the air.
This despite a growing public outcry to stay his execution.
Jia Jinglong from Hebei province of northern China was convicted of murder
after he resorted to violence and shot his village chief to death with a
modified nail gun in early 2015. This was 2 years after his house was allegedly
demolished by force, after he was said to have exhausted all means to appeal
his case.
The Supreme Court recently ratified Jia's death sentence, which is expected to
be carried out as early as Monday.
That was when Jia's family rushed to petition both the Supreme Court in Beijing
and the Intermediate Court in the province's capital city of Shijiazhuang for a
reprieve as well as a retrial. Many legal professionals have blamed the court
for having turned a deaf ear to evidence in favor of Jia, which may qualify him
for a lesser sentence.
So far, neither a reply nor an order to carry out the execution has been
finalized, which Jia's sister, Jia Jingyuan, took as a good sign.
There's still hope
So far, she told VOA, the family has heard nothing regarding the petition.
"There's still hope," she added, explaining that her family will be allowed to
meet Jia in person if he is to be executed.
According to her, Jia's life was torn apart overnight after the wrecking team,
led by the village head, flattened the house he had carefully renovated in
preparation for his marriage. His fiance later left him - a tragedy that
devastated the young man.
For now, Jia appears to have dodged a bullet, but that doesn't mean he is out
of the woods, says legal studies scholar Zhang Yaojie, one of the few legal
observers who have been keeping an eye on the case.
"In the short term, it's unlikely [that Jia will be executed]," Zhang said.
"But shall his death verdict fail to be reversed, a surprise order can still
arrive later to close his case when attention from both the media and the
public dwindles. This is the biggest fear."
Unjust ruling
Last week, many well-renowned law professors, including Liu Hong of East China
University of Political Science and Law, He Haibo of Tsinghua University Law
School, and Zhang Qianfan of Peking University Law School, presented legal
opinions online in defense of Jia, who they said shouldn't have been convicted
as a capital murderer.
They argued that evidence shows Jia had attempted to turn himself in, although
he was intercepted and beaten up by relatives of the victim minutes before
reaching the police station. The village head, they added, should have been
held accountable for his failure to secure a court order prior to the house
demolition, a misstep that only intensified the dispute. For all of these
reasons and more, the legal experts said, Jia's death penalty should be ruled
out.
Professor Zhang of Peking University urged the court to "exercise prudence in
applying death penalties," while his colleague He Weifang added that China
should abolish the capital punishment for good.
Even state media, including China Daily and Global Times, raised concerns about
the controversy.
(source: voanews.com)
PHILIPPINES:
Death penalty will work under my watch, Duterte tells Pinoys in Tokyo
President Duterte made a fresh pitch for the return of the death penalty as he
faced the Filipino community in Japan, and brushed aside criticism that it had
not served as a deterrent to crime when it was prevailing in the Philippines.
Critics of the return of the death penalty don't understand, Mr. Duterte said.
With him as President, it would work, he said.
"[They ask] why I want to bring it back. Fool ... I was not the President at
that time. If I had been the President at that time, we wouldn't be talking
about this thing now," he said.
On comments that there are many criminals in jail, he commented: "Then let's
get roasting."
The return of the death penalty is one of the measures he had pushed for
shortly after coming into power as President.
Speaking of his abhorrence of crime, Mr. Duterte said he could not accept it
that criminals would just take away what Filipinos had worked so hard to
attain.
He also castigated against illegal drug manufacturers and pushers, who sell
illegal substances that destroy children's lives.
His campaign against illegal drugs has been the centerpiece program of his
administration, but it has been heavily criticized because it has given rise to
the extrajudicial killing of thousands of drug suspects.
In his speech in Tokyo, Mr. Duterte also justified his anti-drug war, saying
the Philippines has nearly 4 million addicts and is in the grip of drug lords.
"We are already into the narcopolitics," he said.
He said almost all of the barangay captains were involved in the trade, because
it's easy money. So are members of the police, mayors, governors, and judges.
He also took the chance to take another jab at Sen. Leila de Lima, one of his
fiercest critics who, he alleged, was linked to the illegal drug trade in the
national penitentiary when she was the Justice Secretary.
"With the election of De Lima, the national portals of narcopolitics have
entered the political life," he said.
(source: Philippine Inquirer)
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