July 8
EGYPT:
The persistence of the death penalty in Egypt: why courts insist on 'an eye for
an eye'
Given the rise of death sentences issued by Egyptian courts over the past 4
years - typically for members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group and
criminals proven to have perpetrated offensive crimes - many politicians and
both local and international human rights organizations have echoed the
necessity to suspend the death penalty in Egypt, and replace it with a life
imprisonment sentence.
However, other politicians, such members of the Parliament, have refused to
suspend the death penalty, as they consider it a deterrent for criminals who
threaten people's lives and state national security.
The History of the Death Penalty in Egypt
The death penalty in Egypt stems from Islamic Sharia law - a main source of
legislation for the Egyptian constitution.
As there is no documentation indicating the introduction of the death penalty
to Egyptian courts, it is hard to specify exactly when the 1st application of
that penalty took place; however several human rights organizations' data trace
the death penalty in Egypt as far back as 1906.
According to the aforementioned data, Egyptian courts have executed more than
1,500 death sentences since 1906, 1,168 of which were issued by criminal courts
for murder crimes, while 182 verdicts were issued for political crimes such as
espionage, assassination and establishing outlawed secret organizations.
The Parliament's Stance
International human rights organizations have urged Egypt to reconsider
suspending the implementation of the death penalty, to which the head of the
Parliament's Human Rights Committee, Alaa Abed, issued a statement in response
showing clear refusal, arguing that Islamic Sharia law dictates it.
"The death penalty is only sentenced to those who kill innocent people," Abed
said in the statement.
'"If we suspended it, victims' rights would suffer."
"Given that the death penalty comes from Sharia law and Quranic verses, there
is no one - no matter their position in the state - has the power to suspend
it," Professor of Al-Azhar University Bakr Zaki told Egypt Independent.
However, Bakr noted that Islam regards human life more than any human rights
organization could, and hence grants the victim's family the right to pardon
the killer or receive financial compensation.
Conversely, he claims that sentencing murderers to death is only "fair",
claiming that, "Islam dictates that anyone who kills an innocent person should
also be killed. Why do human rights organizations want us to take into
consideration the killer's psychological status and ignore the victim's and
their family's rights to seek justice?"
Implementation of death verdicts in Egypt
The issuance of the death penalty in Egypt passes several stages before being
accredited as a judicial verdict. According to the constitution, the judge who
issued the verdict should first seek advice from the Egypt's Mufti on the
sanction. The Mufti - a 'Grand Muslim Cleric' - is to assert that the verdict
is consistent with the rules of Islam, and that the convicted person has the
right to appeal against it.
However, death sentences issued by military courts affiliated with the army do
not give the convicted person the right to appeal.
The verdict is then referred to the president for ratification; however, the
president may grant a lighter sanction, such as a life sentence, or even pardon
the defendant.
If the the verdict is ratified, a written order from Egypt's general prosecutor
is issued in order to proceed with the execution, as stipulated by article
number 470 of the criminal measures code.
On implementation day, the convicted is brought to the place of the execution,
and the verdict document is narrated in the presence of a prosecutor, a doctor
from the prison and the prison director.
The execution differs for those sentenced by a military court, and those who
received the sentence from civil court. According to the rules of military
courts, those who are sentenced to death are to be shot with machine guns,
whereas sentenced by the civil court are to be hung.
(source: Egypt Independent)
SOMALIA:
Court Sentences Three Alleged Al-Shabab Members to Death in Puntland
A military court in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland on Thursday sentenced
3 alleged Al-Shabab members to death for planning to carry a terror plot in
Puntland. According to the Bosasso-based Military Court chief Awil Ahmed Farah,
among the 3 was a Bosasso-resident businessman whose truck was caught with
explosives-making material on May 30, 2017. The 2 others were the driver of the
truck and a 2nd man detained from Galkayo and charged with terrorism.
The lorry from Southern Somalia regions and transporting explosives-making
material, military fatigue and communication devices hidden under fruits was
seized in a police checkpoint in Bosasso.
3 other suspected members of ISIS (Daesh) militant group were sentenced to life
prison, while the court postponed the hearing of a case against 3 defendants
brought to the court for charges related to terrorism as their case needed more
preparation enough to be charged.
"After the court saw testimonies and evidences brought against the three
defendants, it was clear enough how the terror plot they involved was dangerous
enough. They are sentenced to death penalty." the judge Farah said after the
court sitting ended.
Thursday's court proceedings conducted under closed door session and there were
no members of the press allowed to witness the proceedings.
Puntland military court executed 7 Al-Shabab members on June 30, after they
were convicted a week earlier.
-(source: somaliupdateonline.com)
IRAN----executions
2 Prisoners Hanged on Murder Charges
2 prisoners were reportedly hanged at Maragheh Prison (East Azerbaijan
province, northwestern Iran) on murder charges.
Close sources say the executions were carried out on the morning of Wednesday
July 5. Iran Human Rights has obtained the identities of these prisoners: Hojat
Imani, 34 years of age, and Jafar Seyed Rasouli, 36 years of age.
These two prisoners were reportedly among a group of four who transferred to
solitary confinement on Monday July 3 in preparation for their executions. The
other 2 prisoners, Ali Siadat and Soleiman Shahsavari, were reportedly returned
to their cells after their execution sentences were postponed by the
complainants in their cases.
Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and the media, have not
announced these 2 executions.
*****************
MPs Urge Judiciary to Halt Executions for Minor Drug Convictions Until Death
Penalty Law is Amended
The Iranian Parliament's Legal and Judicial Affairs Committee is calling on the
judiciary to halt executions of prisoners convicted of petty drug offenses
until a pending amendment to the law that could save thousands of prisoners on
death row is passed.
"We expect the amendment to the Law Against Drug Trafficking will pass with a
high number of votes because the majority of MPs are in favor of it," said the
committee's Deputy Chairman Mohammad Kazemi during an interview with Shargh
newspaper on July 5, 2017.
"Until the amendment's final ratification, the lives of some prisoners will be
in the balance," he added. "Their lives could be spared when the [new] law is
applied retroactively. For this reason, we have requested the judicial branch
to halt these executions."
Iran has one of the highest per-capita execution rates in the world. At least
567 people were executed in 2016, down 42 % from the 977 who were in executed
in 2015. The vast majority of executions were for petty drug-trafficking
crimes, including for carry small amounts of illegal drugs.
A proposal that could dramatically reduce execution rates for drug-related
crimes has been floating in Iran's legislature since 2015. A final vote
scheduled on June 7, 2017 was postponed until after the summer recess in
mid-July after anonymous "security and government agencies" requested a delay.
If approved by Parliament and the Guardian Council, the revised law could save
the lives of up to 5,000 prisoners on death row in Iran for drug-trafficking
and related crimes. The new law would make the death penalty only applicable
for "organized drug lords," "armed traffickers," "repeat offenders" and "bulk
drug distributors."
According to Deputy Chairman Kazemi, the Legal and Judicial Affairs Committee
is currently working on last minute changes in response to complaints from the
judiciary that the amendment should be clearer on what quantity of drugs
constitutes trafficking.
Mohammad Ali Pourmokhtar, another member of the committee, told Shargh he was
certain the amendment would be passed, but until then, "it needs to be hammered
out a bit."
Many judicial authorities have opposed limits on the death penalty, claiming
such an action would weaken Iran's resolve in the fight against the country's
growing drug crisis.
The latest opposition came from the head of the prosecutor's office in Khorasan
Razavi Province, Ali Mozaffari, who accused Parliament of trying to appease
Western governments that have criticized Iran's high rate of executions.
"The Western governments will not stop their animosity towards the Islamic
Republic of Iran even if you make a thousand changes to the law," said
Mozaffari at a drug enforcement conference in Mashhad on July 5.
"The death penalty for drug crimes is on the basis of punishments for
'Corruption on Earth' commanded by the Quran and Islamic law," he added. "It is
in the interest of human society."
General Mohammad Masoud Zahedian, the head of the Anti-Drug Police Force, also
told the conference he was opposed to the proposed amendment.
"Eliminating the death penalty for drug criminals is not going to be
beneficial," he said. "It will cause some problems."
Some of the amendment's supporters responded that the death penalty will not be
completely eliminated as an option in the fight against drug trafficking.
"The proposal does not remove capital punishment entirely," said MP
Pourmokhtar. "Instead our emphasis is on eliminating excessive punishments that
victimize small-time dealers rather than major traffickers."
Some conservatives have conceded that the death penalty has failed as a
preventative measure against drug trafficking.
"We are looking to see what punishments can replace executions with greater
effectiveness for certain criminals," said Justice Minister Mostafa
Pourmohammadi on October 29, 2016.
"Of course, the death penalty will still be enforced, but not to the extent we
have today," he added.
On the other hand, Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani has not only opposed
reducing the death penalty for drug crimes, he has also asked judges to
expedite execution orders.
"We don't think that the laws concerning drug trafficking are revelations from
God," said Larijani on September 29, 2016. "They are man-made laws that have
not had perfect results. But it's wrong to say that executions have had no
effect."
"If the judiciary had not been strict, we would have been in a far worse
situation," he added.
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
PAKISTAN:
Facebook Meets With Pakistani Officials Over Blasphemy Death Sentence
A senior Facebook official met with Pakistan's interior minister on Friday to
discuss a demand that the company prevent blasphemous content or be blocked.
The meeting comes after a Pakistani counter-terrorism court sentenced a
30-year-old man to death for making blasphemous comments on Facebook, part of a
wider crack-down.
Joel Kaplan, Facebook's vice president of public policy, met Interior Minister
Nisar Ali Khan, who offered to approve a Facebook office in Pakistan, which has
33 million users of the network.
Khan said Pakistan believes in freedom of expression, but that does not include
insulting Islam or stoking religious tensions.
"We cannot allow anyone to misuse social media for hurting religious
sentiments," Khan said.
Facebook (fb, +1.76%) called the meeting "constructive".
"Facebook met with Pakistan officials to express the company's deep commitment
to protecting the rights of the people who use its service, and to enabling
people to express themselves freely and safely," the company said in an email.
"It was an important and constructive meeting in which we raised our concerns
over the recent court cases and made it clear we apply a strict legal process
to any government request for data or content restrictions."
Pakistan's social media crack-down is officially aimed at weeding out blasphemy
and shutting down accounts promoting terrorism, but civil rights activists say
it has also swept up writers and bloggers who criticize the government or
military.
1 of 5 prominent writers and activists who disappeared for nearly 3 weeks this
year later told a U.N. human rights event in March that Pakistan's intelligence
agencies had kidnapped him and tortured him in custody.
Others' families said right-wing and Islamist parties had filed blasphemy
accusations against them to punish them for critical writings.
Anything deemed insulting to Islam or the Prophet Muhammad carries a death
penalty in Pakistan, and sometimes a mere allegation can lead to mob violence
and lynchings. Right groups say the law is frequently abused to settle personal
scores.
In April, a Pakistani university student, Mashal Khan, was beaten to death by a
mob after being accused of blasphemous content on Facebook. Police arrested 57
people accused in the attack and said they had found no evidence Khan committed
blasphemy.
(source: Reuters)
***************
Pakistan is using death penalty as a political tool, says report----The Justice
Project Pakistan document said Islamabad had executed 44 people in 2017 so far.
A human rights group has ranked Pakistan the "5th most prolific executioner" in
the world, AP reported. Islamabad has awarded death sentences to 464 prisoners
since it reinstated capital punishment after a Taliban attack on a school in
2014.
Justice Project Pakistan said the country followed China, Iran, Saudi Arabia
and Iraq on the list of nations that executed the most number of people. The
document said Islamabad had executed 44 people in 2017 so far and that 8,200
people were on death row. The province of Punjab had the highest number of
executions, Dawn reported.
"Pakistan's troubling and continued use of the death penalty has continuously
fallen short of meeting its international human rights commitments and fair
trial standards, as well as our own domestic laws," JPP Executive Director
Sarah Belal told PTI.
Demands from rights groups had prompted Pakistan to stop executions in 2008.
"The use of the death penalty has failed to curb crime, including terrorism,
but it is exceedingly used as a political tool, sometimes even as a jail
overcrowding solution,' the report said.
It said the government has cited lifting the moratorium on the death sentence
as a deterrent to "terrorist threats", PTI reported.
On May 18, the ICJ had ordered Pakistan not to executed Indian naval officer
Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a military court on charges of
espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
(source: Scroll.in)
LEBANON:
Officials divided as calls to reinstate death penalty grow
The murder of 24-year-old university student Roy Hamoush on his birthday on
June 7 sparked a new wave of calls from politicians and Lebanese to reinstate
the death penalty. 3 days later, 17 families of murder victims in Lebanon that
made headlines in local media took to Martyrs' Square in Downtown Beirut to
demand justice for their lost relatives; some were adamant about bringing back
the death penalty.
Among the most vocal was the family of George al-Rif, who was beaten and
stabbed in Beirut's Gemmayzeh neighborhood in broad daylight 2 years ago.
During a demonstration in July 2015, his wife and children demanded that the
man who killed him, Tarek Yatim, be sentenced to death.
Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk has been the most senior politician to voice
support for the death penalty following the murder of Hamoush. He told
Hamoush's father after paying his respects to his family that he hopes "that
the death penalty is implemented again and that it becomes a lesson to all
others."
Machnouk told the media following the visit that he would discuss the matter
with President Michel Aoun, and that he knows Prime Minister Saad Hariri's view
on the matter.
Nicholas Sehnaoui, a former telecommunications minister and current vice
president of the Free Patriotic Movement, echoed Machnouk's words on his
Twitter account.
"In light of all the crimes happening around us, we must ask the judiciary to
speed prosecutions and intensify punishments, leading to returning the
implementation of the death penalty," he said.
The death penalty, while legal in Lebanon, has been under a moratorium since
2004.
Aoun and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, also of the Free Patriotic Movement,
have not expressed their views on the matter.
Other Lebanese politicians have looked to the death penalty as a way to deter
crime.
"I think it [the death penalty] is a deterrent," Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya MP Imad
Hout told The Daily Star. "I am all for it, but with lots of regulations and
conditions to make sure it is [effective] as a deterrent."
Future Movement MP Ammar Houri refused to comment on the matter when The Daily
Star reached out to him.
However, an adviser to MP Bahia Hariri said that the Sidon MP does support the
death penalty, though the Future Movement as a whole does not have a position
on the issue yet.
"Bahia Hariri considers restoring the death penalty as a deterrent [to crime]
... to only be implemented in exceptional conditions," the adviser said,
explaining that these cases must be "extreme" and that "the [nature of the]
crimes should be taken into consideration."
"We want to solve the problems from the root," he added. "We don't want this to
become a regularly implemented policy."
However, the adviser said that once the Future Movement takes an official
stance on the matter, Hariri will endorse the party's position.
The last public execution that took place in Lebanon was in 1998 in the public
square of the coastal town of Tabarja, north of Beirut. Wisam al-Nabhan and
Hasan Abu Jabal were hung for the murder of 2 siblings.
A video of the execution shows that it was botched.
The executioner tried to push both men off the platform simultaneously - 1 with
each hand - only to lose control of 1 man who stumbled, choking before he was
finally pushed from the platform.
A sister of the 2 murder victims told Death Penalty Lebanon in the video,
"Believe me, I was disturbed the way I was disturbed before, when they [her
siblings] [died]."
"The way my siblings [died], I saw it again with my own eyes," she said. "I saw
how they were in pain, and felt the same feelings [watching the execution]."
Some politicians remain firm on their opposition to the death penalty, despite
the surge in reported crimes, including the head of Parliament's Human Rights
Committee, MP Michel Musa.
"There is a security problem - there are many murders - and the general public
sees this as a huge issue," the Liberation and Development bloc MP said. "All
studies show worldwide that execution has not prevented murder.
"There is information that needs to be revisited in schools, politics and the
community," he said. "The judiciary needs to provide a harsh punishment for
those who murder - for example a life sentence, as it's within the law."
Musa added that his position on the death penalty is his personal view, and
does not represent Parliament's Human Rights Committee or the Liberation and
Development bloc, which is headed by Speaker Nabih Berri.
"Nobody on the Human Rights Committee should be supportive of the death
penalty," Musa said.
Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra also expressed his disdain for the death
penalty.
"God gives life, and he takes it," Zahra said. "It's not up to us, regardless
of the crime."
"People react quickly [to crimes] and call for hanging the perpetrators, but
who said that hanging people will deter crime?" he added.
Zahra said that his position, along with that of the Lebanese Forces, is to
"prevent crime through implementing the law and mobilizing the judiciary."
"We can't talk about how modern we [Lebanese] are if we take steps back like
reinstating the death penalty," he said. "Perhaps security forces and the
Lebanese Army are prioritizing counterterrorism - and rightly so - but this is
perhaps a sign that we need to also focus on organized crime, drug dealing and
so on."
Human rights organizations in Lebanon have been outspoken in expressing their
concern over calls to reinstate the death penalty, especially from Machnouk.
George Ghali, programs manager of local human rights organization Alef, said
that calls for the death penalty are tied to the public's frustration due to
"corruption and lack of the rule of law."
"If the death penalty would really solve the issue of crime, then crime would
have ended in ancient Mesopotamia under Hammurabi," he said.
Ghali said that "proper investigations need to take place after a crime" and
that crime prevention will happen once people see a proactive security
apparatus that holds both criminals and law enforcement personnel accountable
for their actions under the law."
He also called on prosecutors to be more proactive, adding that he takes
politicians' positions with a grain of salt because they have an agenda based
on their respective constituencies and political parties.
Human Rights Watch Lebanon researcher Bassam Khawaja urged Lebanon to not
"tarnish" its human rights record by reinstating the death penalty.
"It's understandable that people may feel that the death penalty could be a
magical solution to end crime, but evidence proves otherwise," Khawaja said.
"If people don't trust the government and courts to hold people accountable,
then why would we trust the same body to accurately decide who should live and
who should die?"
"In a more sophisticated court system, such as in the United States, [there
are] over 150 cases of people sentenced to death [who were] then later found
not guilty and removed from death row," he added. "There are suspicions that
innocent people have been executed."
In June, Machnouk said that he expects backlash from opponents of the death
penalty, but is not fazed by the criticism.
"I know we would have European, Western or even international opposition," the
interior minister said. "But we have a situation of deranged people carrying
weapons."
(source: The Daily Star)
SUDAN:
Human Rights Defenders Detained, Face Death Penalty----Authorities Should
Release all in Arbitrary Detention, Drop Charges
Sudanese authorities have been unjustly holding Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Hafiz
Idris, and Mobarak Adam Abdalla, 3 human rights defenders, and have charged
them with crimes against the state which carry the death penalty, 25 human
rights groups said today. Dr. Mudawi Ibahim Adam and Hafiz Idris have been held
for approximately 7 months, and Mobarak Adam Abdalla for over 3 months.
Authorities should immediately release the men and drop the bogus charges
against them, the groups said.
Authorities are also holding seven other human rights activists in detention,
some apparently solely because they are alleged to have had contacts with
international human rights organizations. These individuals also face criminal
charges in a related case. A trial date has not yet been set. Sudanese
authorities should also immediately drop all criminal charges related to their
legitimate human rights work and release the group.
Sudanese national security officials arrested Mudawi and Hafiz on December 7
and November 24, respectively, and held both men in detention in Khartoum for
over 5 months without charging them with any offence. Mobarak, a student at El
Fashir University who participated in the 15th Creative Student Festival in
Khartoum, was arrested on 25 March 2017. Credible sources report that Hafiz and
Mobarak were severely beaten, and that Hafiz was given electric shocks and
forced to make a confession. Dr. Mudawi has been denied essential medication.
All three men are currently being held in Kober prison. The next court session
for Mudawi, Hafiz and Mobarak will take place on July 20.
On March 26, the prosecutor called for Mudawi and Hafiz's release on bail, but
the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) refused to release them.
Instead, on May 11 the Attorney General charged both men with crimes under the
1991 Criminal Act: article 21 (Joint acts in execution of criminal conspiracy),
article 50 (Undermining the constitutional system), article 51 (Waging war
against the State), article 53 (Espionage against the country), article 64
(Provoking hatred against or amongst sects), article 65 (Criminal and terrorist
organizations), and article 66 (Publication of false news). 2 of the charges
carry the death penalty.
Mobarak was only added to the case at an unknown date in late May. Authorities
alleged that Mudawi, Hafiz, and Mobarak assisted in the production of the
Amnesty International report "Scorched Earth, Poisoned Air: Sudanese Government
Forces Ravage Jebel Marra, Darfur", which alleges the Sudanese Government used
chemical weapons in Jebel Marra. This attempt to implicate them in Amnesty's
work on chemical weapons is another cynical ploy to punish them for their
legitimate work. The charges are baseless, and should be dropped.
Our organizations are concerned that Sudanese authorities cannot guarantee a
fair trial. In a recent example, employees of TRACKs who faced similar
trumped-up charges were sentenced to a year in prison and a fine after 24 court
sessions. They were detained 86 days without charge. The trial proceedings did
not comply with international fair trial standards including the right to a
public hearing. The defendants were not given a written list of the charges
they faced, or copies of the evidence for the alleged crimes in order to
prepare a defence for court. We are also concerned about Sudan's long record of
abuse of detainees. Our organisations have reported on patterns and cases of
torture and ill-treatment in state custody, including sexual violence.
We call on the Government of Sudan to guarantee the safety and physical and
psychological well-bring of all detainees, and to immediately release Mudawi,
Hafiz, and Mobarak and all other human rights defenders detained on trumped up
political charges. In the event that the authorities fail to drop the bogus
charges against them, we also affirm the rights of Mudawi, Hafiz and Mobarak to
a fair trial before an impartial, independent, and competent tribunal.
Background
International organizations have repeatedly called for release of Mudawi and
Hafiz and expressed concern about the conditions of detention. The European
Union and the United Nations Independent Expert on the human rights situation
in Sudan, Aristide Nononsi, have both issued statements concerning Hafiz and
Dr. Mudawi's ongoing detention.
Hafiz Idris, a human rights defender from North Darfur, was arrested by the
National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) from Dr. Mudawi's home in
Khartoum on 24 November 2016. Dr Mudawi, winner of the 2005 Front Line
Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, was arrested by the NISS
from the University of Khartoum, where he is a professor in Mechanical
Engineering, on 7 December 2016 alongside his driver, Adam El-Sheikh Mukhtar.
Both men's families were not officially alerted to their arrest by the NISS
until 1 week later.
Mobarak Adam Abdalla was arrested by the NISS in Khartoum on 25 March 2017
after participating inthe 15th Creative Student Festival in Khartoum. He was
held incommunicado at Kober prison without access to his family or lawyers from
25 March - 20 June 2017, and subjected to daily interrogations at the NISS
offices in Shande. He was added to Mudawi and Hafiz' case at an unknown date in
late May. Very little is known about his case, other than that he is alleged to
have provided information to Hafiz.
Adam El Sheikh Mukhtar was released without charge on 13 March 2017 after being
detained for over 4 months, though his present legal situation remains unclear,
alongside a number of other individuals detained and subsequently released
because of their alleged links to Dr. Mudawi. 7 others are currently facing
criminal charges in a related case which does not yet have a trial date,
including Abu Bakar Omar Ishag, Abdelhamid Abdelkareem Abdalla, Mukhtar Ishag
Abakar, Naser Aldeen Oshar Adam, Musa Ahmed Siraj, Adam Ahmed Al Bashir Abdel
Bahri, and Sidig Ahmed Abdallah. It is believed that Hafiz will also stand
trial in this case.
Both Mudawi and Hafiz were held incommunicado without charge or access to their
lawyers until 15 February, when they were transferred from a NISS detention
facility near Shandi Bus Station to a wing of Kober prison. Their transfer came
shortly after Dr. Mudawi went on a hunger strike in late January and February
protesting his continued detention without charge.
Family members who were allowed to see Dr. Mudawi at the NISS facility on 27
January reported that Dr. Mudawi appeared to be in poor health with visible
weight loss, and that the NISS had prevented him from receiving essential
medication for a pre-existing heart condition. Between 7 December and 15
February, Dr. Mudawi was allowed 3 brief visits from family members, all of
which were supervised by the NISS. Hafiz was not allowed visits by his family
until after his transfer to the Office of the State Prosecutor on 15 February.
Hafiz was also detained at the NISS facility then transferred to Kober. On 15
February 2017 Hafiz told his lawyer that he had been severely tortured,
including by beatings and electrical shocks, and forced to make a confession,
in which he falsely stated that he and Dr. Mudawi had received funds from the
American embassy in Khartoum. Hafiz also reported that he was repeatedly kicked
in the testicles until he urinated blood. Hurriyat newspaper also reported that
Hafiz was taken to the hospital in late December for treatment following
beatings received in NISS custody.
A British journalist held by the NISS for 2 months, Phil Cox, reported in April
on Channel 4 that he was detained next to Dr. Mudawi, and saw NISS officials
force him to sit in the sun for long periods and stated that Dr. Mudawi was
held in an overcrowded cell.
Since October 2016, international organisations have documented dozens of
arrests of political opposition members, trade union members, activists and
human rights defenders.
The NISS enjoys broad powers of arrest and detention under the National
Security Act 2010 (NSA), which provides that suspects can be detained for up to
4 1/2 months without judicial review. NISS officials often use these powers to
arbitrarily arrest and detain individuals, many of whom have been tortured or
subjected to other forms of ill-treatment. Under the same Act, NISS agents are
provided with protection from prosecution for any act committed in the course
of their work, which has resulted in a pervasive culture of impunity.
Signatories
Organizations
Act for Sudan
African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies
Al Khatim Adlan Centre for Enlightenment and Human Development (KACE)
Alkarama Foundation
Amnesty International
Arab Coalition for Sudan
Darfur Bar Association
DefendDefenders
Face Past for Future
FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human
Rights Defenders
Horn of Africa Civil Society Forum
HUDO Centre
Human Rights Watch
International Justice Project
International Refugee Rights Initiative
Investors against Genocide
Journalists for Human Rights
Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur
Never Again Coalition
Sudan Consortium
Sudan Democracy First Group
Sudan Social Development Organisation UK (SUDO UK)
Sudan Unlimited
Sudanese Rights Group (Huqooq)
World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Individuals
Mark van Dorp, the Netherlands
Asha Khalil Elkarib, Sudan
Najlaa Ahmed, human rights defender
Dr A. M. Girshab: Human Rights Consultant - MENA Region
Hajooj Kuku, Sudanese filmmaker
(source: Human Rights Watch)
JAPAN:
Ex-gang boss on death row charged with another murder
Police have charged a former gang boss on death row with the murder of a man in
1996, his 2nd indictment for murder since the finalization of his conviction
over a fatal shooting rampage in 2003, police sources said.
Osamu Yano, the 68-year-old former head of a group affiliated with the
Sumiyoshikai crime syndicate, was indicted in May on suspicion of murdering a
business owner in 1998, after his death sentence was finalized in 2014.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, Yano and three members of the
yakuza group murdered Shizuo Tsugawa, a 60-year-old real estate worker from
Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in a car in August 1996.
A senior member of the group instructed another ranked member to kill Tsugawa,
who was involved in a land ownership dispute with the gang, and a subordinate
member is suspected of having actually carried out the murder.
Yano allegedly ordered the 3 gang members, all of whom are now dead, to dump
the body immediately after the killing, suggesting his involvement in the
murder plan, although Yano has denied the allegations.
Tsugawa's family reported him missing to the Kanagawa prefectural police after
he answered the door to 1 of the gang members dressed as a delivery man.
After Yano sent 2 letters indicating his involvement in the murder to the
Shibuya Police Station between May and June 2015, the Tokyo police searched a
mountain in Isehara and discovered the body in April last year.
Tsugawa was apparently taken to the site by car immediately after leaving home.
The body was in the same clothes that Tsugawa was wearing when he was last
seen.
Yano was sentenced to death over the rampage in which a rival gangster and
three customers were killed at a bar in Maebashi, north of Tokyo, in January
2003.
(source: Japan Today)
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