August 23
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh HC endorses death penalty of 3 army officers, 12 others
Bangladesh's High Court on Tuesday upheld a trial court verdict sentencing to
death 15 people including 3 army officers and a gangster, who had fled to India
after the gruesome killing of 7 people 3 years ago.
The abducting and killing of 7 people, including councillor Nazrul Islam and
lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar, in suburban port town of Narayanganj shocked the
nation.
"The High Court upheld the death sentence of 15 and commuted death penalties of
11 others to life imprisonment while the trial court had handed down death
penalties to 26 accused," a spokesman of the attorney general's office said.
The judgement awarded death penalty to 2 sacked military and a navy officers, a
gangster and 11 ex-servicemen posted in elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB).
The 3 officers, a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major and a Lieutenant Commander of
navy were also serving the RAB at the time of the gruesome simultaneous murders
in 2014.
A 2-judge bench comprising Justices Bhabani Prasad Singha and Mustafa Zaman
Islam delivered the entire verdict that took hours, contrary to normal
practices when the court pronounces the operative or abridged part of the
judgment.
The 3 officers were found to be bribed to assassinate the city councillor and 6
others. The councillor, the lawyer and 5 others were abducted on April 27, 2014
from the port town and their nearly decomposed bodies were retrieved later.
According to the proceedings, a key accused of the case gangster Nur Hossain,
himself a city councillor, had bribed the RAB officials to eliminate councilor
Nazrul Islam in exchange of Taka 6 crore.
Soon after the murder Hossain fled to India as he was found to be the
mastermind of the plot but Indian police eventually tracked him down in West
Bengal and deported to Bangladesh in November 2015.
Investigations revealed 23 RAB personnel, including an army lieutenant colonel
and 2 navy officers, were involved in abduction and killing of the 7 people.
Sacked Lt Col Tarek Sayeed, the son-in-law of a cabinet minister, was the
senior most of the three officers who was serving as the RAB commander in
Narayanganj at the time of incident. The 2 others - Major Arif Hossain and Lt
commander MM Rana - were serving under his command.
The officers were immediately sacked on orders of their superior authorities
while police arrested them.
(source: The Hindu)
MALDIVES:
Maldives to reintroduce death penalty despite international criticism
The UN and Amnesty International have urged the government not to reintroduce
the death penalty by hanging.
Despite international pressure, the Maldives will reintroduce the death penalty
after a 60-year moratorium to try and reduce the rising number of murders and
stop drug trafficking, a senior advisor to President Abdulla Yameen said on
Tuesday.
The UN and Amnesty International have urged the government not to reintroduce
the death penalty by hanging, citing concerns whether some inmates facing the
death penalty had had fair trials.
"It is to be used as a deterrent," Mohamed Hussain Shareef, a senior advisor to
Yameen and head of foreign relations of the ruling Progressive Party of
Maldives told Reuters in an interview in Colombo.
"At the moment, overwhelmingly the people of Maldives are in support for
implementation. It is a difficult decision for any government. But as a
government, you have to safeguard the lives of innocent people."
He said there had been more than 50 murders reported in Maldives during the
last decade.
The UN has said 20 prisoners, including at least 5 juvenile offenders, had been
sentenced to death, and 3 men convicted of murder were at imminent risk of
execution, despite concerns over whether they had had fair trials.
Shareef said the 3 convicted murderers would face capital punishment "soon" and
the victims' families are being now given an option to consider if the convicts
could be forgiven according to Islamic Sharia law.
The hangings will not be carried out in public, Shareef said, with the
government constructing a special execution chamber on Maafushi island where
the country's main prison is located from 27 km (16 miles) from capital Male.
A UN human rights expert early this month said the Maldives will make a big
mistake if it reinstates the death penalty, while Amnesty International has
said the executions are a ploy by the government to distract attention from its
own problems and ensure its political survival.
The largely Muslim island chain, which has a population of 400,000, has a
reputation as a tourist paradise, but it has been mired in political unrest
since Mohamed Nasheed, its first democratically-elected president, was ousted
in 2012.
The opposition is trying to unseat speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed, alleging
President Yameen's administration is trying to cover up corruption, including
money laundering. The government has denied the accusations.
(source: news.az)
YEMEN:
Houthi justice: Yemenis flock in thousands to Sanaa public executions
The people had gathered in their thousands by the time Muhammad al-Maghribi, a
man in his 40s, was led from a prison van by armed police, hands tied behind
his back, and moved to a clearing in Sanaa's Tahrir square.
There, as police held back a surging crowd, Maghribi was led to a carpet, held
face down, and shot several times in the back with an automatic rifle. His
public execution was the 1st in what the Houthi movement says is a new
crackdown on hardened criminals.
The 2nd came a few days later. Hussein al-Saket, 22, was shot in the back in
the same square and in the same manner, but this time his lifeless body was
hoisted into the air by a crane and left to hang for all to see.
And while the vast majority at the executions backed the punishment of Maghribi
and Saket - both were accused of raping and murdering children - the methods
used and the potential for escalation could see a new wave of state-sponsored
violence, targeting dissidents as well as criminals.
Maghribi's crime
It was late June, and the Eid al-Fitr festival was bringing some much-needed
distraction from the war on Yemen. But for the family of 3-year-old Rana, any
joy was soon to be shattered, when her body was found in a nearby house.
She had been raped and murdered, and blame was soon directed at the owner of
the house in which she was found.
Immediately, protests erupted outside of the house - in the Beit Meyad area of
Sanaa - with locals demanding the arrest and execution of the owner.
Around the country, people began sharing a photograph of the alleged culprit,
Maghribi, who had already fled south towards Dhamar province.
2 days later, residents there, with the help of security forces, tracked him
down and arrested him.
Maghribi admitted his guilt, and he was then taken to appear in court in Sanaa.
Protesters soon surrounded the court building, again demanding that Maghribi
face capital punishment.
Abdul Hamid Ahsan, a pharmacist, was one of the hundreds of protesters who
turned up that day, demanding Maghribi be executed.
"What happened to Rana al-Matari was bad enough, but the fact it happened
during Eid, and that the criminal deprived her family from celebrating the
festival, meant that the crime provoked a unique reaction from people," Ahsan
told MEE.
While such court cases used to crawl through the judicial system - from the
court of first instance, to the court of appeals and then the criminal court -
Maghribi's trial was sped up, as the protesters threatened to surround the
building were the trial to be delayed at all.
"One day the court of appeals tried to delay the trial to the next week," Ahsan
added, "but we weren't going to allow that to happen and tried to storm the
court, but then soldiers confirmed that the judges would announce their verdict
the same day, which they did."
The trial was much faster than in normal cases, and the entire procedure,
through 3 different courts, took 1 month in total.
After he was sentenced to death, Maghribi was whipped in a public square, and
then shot dead by a soldier.
Crowds poured in from across the city to witness the first public execution
during the reign of the Houthis.
Both supporters and opponents of the Houthi rebel group - in power in Sanaa -
welcomed the execution, with many believing it will act as a deterrent for
similar crimes in the future.
"This was a humanitarian issue and people from different sides welcomed it as
there is seen to be nothing wrong with such executions. For me, I will keep
protesting to demand the execution of criminals who harm children," Ahsan said.
Maghribi was well known in central Sanaa, and renowned for being mentally
unstable, locals say. But any psychological issues were not taken into
consideration by the courts.
In 2014, Maghribi was shown on Yemeni TV, opening a cultural centre in Sanaa,
after the minister of culture declined the invitation - it was intended as a
dig at the minister, replacing him with a local character.
Children's issues prioritised
Rana's father, Yahya al-Matari, believes that his daughter's case might have
triggered a wave of support for public executions, and courts will now be
encouraged to seek similar punishments.
"My child's case stirred the stagnant water, and I think we will now see more
of the same such punishments, in the cases of crimes against children," he told
MEE.
A week after Maghribi was executed, the courts in Sanaa sentenced a child
rapist to 25 years in prison.
And then another child-killer, Hussein al-Saket, 22, was executed and hung from
a crane in the same square that Maghribi was executed in.
He had been found guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 5-year-old child
2 years ago.
Matari is grateful to those Yemenis who campaigned for his child's killer to be
executed, and who ensured his trial was sped up, turning it into a matter of
public debate.
He now feels crimes affecting children have become a priority for the courts.
He did not bury Rana until after her killer was in the ground.
"It is difficult to bury the dead body of my child while her killer is still
alive. Retribution is the law of Allah and I hope to see more criminals meet
their punishments."
A judge in the court in Sanaa told MEE that after the protests last month, any
crimes in which children have been victims have now been prioritised, and all
outstanding cases are being addressed as soon as possible.
He spoke to MEE on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to
the media.
"During the last month, the courts in Sanaa have issued three judgments on
crimes involving children, including two which were punished with execution.
"The courts have not executed any convicted criminals over the last 2 years,
but we have now started to do that, since last month. And we will conduct fair
trials," the source said.
Despite the courts facing criticism to the contrary, he stated that they were
working independently and that the protests outside the courts were influential
in encouraging the judges, catalysts for capital punishment being handed down.
The source confirmed: "The judges decide the kind of punishment and the methods
according to the crime, so no one can decide the kind of punishment that the
criminal deserves but the judges."
The death penalty is deemed cruel, inhuman and degrading by human rights
groups.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, told MEE that
while the rights group had not yet been able to examine the cases in detail, it
was opposed to the death penalty in any instance.
"As you can imagine, we oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and would
be particularly wary of any death penalty sentence in a context such as Yemen,
where it is difficult to obtain a fair trial even in peacetime."
Amnesty also opposes the death penalty at all times, regardless of who is
accused, the crime, guilt or innocence or method of execution.
Lack of trust in courts
Nabil Fadhel, head of the Yemen Organisation for Combating Human Trafficking,
said his NGO has monitored many crimes against children, and that often
families of victims are ashamed to go public with the cases due to societal
views on rape, often allowing victims to escape justice.
"The main reason that Rana al-Matari's killer's trial was so fast was due to
the campaign on social media and the protest outside of the courts - we are not
used to seeing trials finishing up within one month," Fadhel said to MEE.
"Moreover, the relatives of victims usually avoid complaining to police because
police often do not arrest criminals, and if they do the courts delay the issue
so long that trials take years to start, so people often prefer to bury their
children without complaining."
Also, he said, societal perceptions lead the rape of children to be a seen as a
source of shame for the victim's family, so many families prefer to keep it
secret.
Fadhel added: "The organisation tried to follow some cases of rape and killing
but the trials were delayed for such a long time that the relatives of victims
gave up any hope of seeing the perpetrators being punished."
Amid the praise for the public executions among much of the Yemeni public,
there have also been fears that the extreme punishment will soon be meted out
against political opponents.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a social activist in Sanaa told MEE that
there is growing disappointment in the Houthis as the humanitarian situation
lurches from bad to worse. He believes the Houthis are trying to send a message
that they are still strong and in control, by ruling with an iron fist.
"This period is sensitive and people are starting to lose trust in the Houthis,
as crime levels are increasing and public employees have gone without salaries
for over 10 months," he said.
"We fear that the Houthis have started with the execution of criminals, and
they will then move on to executing their opponents."
(source: middleeasteye.net)
IRAN----executions
2 more Prisoners Hanged on Drug Charges
2 prisoners were reportedly hanged at Isfahan Central Prison and Kashmar Prison
on drug related charges.
Close sources say one of the prisoners was hanged on the morning of Monday
August 21 at Isfahan Central Prison. The prisoner's name is reportedly
Abdolkarim Shahbakhsh and he was sentenced to death on drug related charges.
Mr. Shahbakhsh was reportedly taken to solitary confinement on Saturday August
19 in preparation for his execution.
"Karim had no criminal record, but he was sentenced to death after being
arrested and charged with 120 kilograms of heroin and 140 kilograms of opium,"
an informed source tells Iran Human Rights.
A report by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network says the other prisoner was
executed on Sunday August 20 at Kashmar Prison (Razavi Khorasan province). The
prisoner, who the report identifies as Mojtaba Heydari Abbasali, was reportedly
sentenced to death on drug related charges, and transferred to solitary
confinement on Saturday August 19 in preparation for his execution.
Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and state-run media, have not
mentioned these 2 executions.
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
*********************
Young Prisoner Hanged in Public
On the morning of Monday August 21, a young prisoner was hanged in public on
murder and rape charges. The execution was carried out in the city of Nasrabad
in Isfahan on the morning of Monday August 21. According a report by the
state-run news agency, IMNA, the prisoner - which the report does not mention
his name - was arrested on January 3, 2017 at the age of 25 for the charge of
raping and murdering a 15-year-old teenage girl.
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
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