Oct. 8
IRAQ:
At least 100 European Isis fighters 'to be prosecuted in Iraq, with most facing
death penalty'----Fate of militants' families remains uncertain
At least 100 European Isis fighters will be prosecuted in Iraq, with most to
face the death penalty, the country's ambassador to Belgium has reportedly
said.
Jawad al-Chlaihawi said Belgians were among those detained, along with
jihadists from Russia, Chechnya and Central Asia.
Fighters from around the world joined Isis's call to arms as the group
established its so-called caliphate across Iraq and Syria in 2014.
British fighters, including the notorious Mohammed Emwazi, also known as
'Jihadi John', were among them. He is believed to have been killed in a drone
strike in Raqqa, Syria in 2015.
Mr Chlaihawi told Belgium's RTPF there were around 1,400 family members of
foreign fighters, including children, of suspected Isis members being held near
Mosul.
Many are reportedly from Turkey, and former Soviet countries in Central Asia,
but there are also believed to be some French and Germans among them.
It is unclear what will happen to the families and children of members of Isis,
also known as Daesh.
"We are holding the Daesh families under tight security measures and waiting
for government orders on how to deal with them," Army Colonel Ahmed al-Taie
told Reuters.
He added: "We treat them well. They are families of tough criminals who killed
innocents in cold blood, but when we interrogated them we discovered that
almost all of them were misled by a vicious Daesh [Isis] propaganda."
(source: independent.co.uk)
INDIA:
Back To Godhra: Gujarat HC To Pronounce Verdict On 2002 Sabarmati Express
Carnage Tomorrow
The Gujarat High Court on Monday will pronounce its judgement on the 2002
Godhra train carnage. In the horrific incident, 59 passengers were charred to
death at the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002.
In 2011, the special court in its verdict had concluded that it is rarest of
the rare case had convicted 31 accused and acquitted 63 others including main
accused Maulana Umarji.
Out of 31 who were convicted, 11 were awarded death penalty and rest 20 were
sentenced to life imprisonment. The special court's verdict was challenged by
the state government in Gujarat High Court in April 2011.
Out of 31 convicts, 11 were awarded death penalty and the other 20 were
sentenced to life imprisonment.
The special court's verdict was challenged by the state government and the
convicts before the Gujarat High Court on April 06 2011. The state had appealed
for the confirmation of the special court order, whereas convicts had pleaded
for quashing of the convictions.
(source: Indiatimes.com)
****************
Convict facing death-sentence should die in peace, not pain: SC----SC seeks
response on alternatives to death penalty
The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Centre on a plea seeking
alternatives to death by hanging for convicts sentenced to death.
Observing that such prisoners must die in peace, it agreed to examine if
hanging could be replaced by less painful procedures such as death by lethal
injection or shooting.
The Centre was asked to respond within 3 weeks.
(source: newsbytessapp.com)
PAKISTAN:
On death row
FOR the thousands of prisoners on Pakistan's death row, Oct 10 will pass just
like any other day. They will just strike off one more day of their nearly
12-year average jail sentence. It does not fall on a Thursday this year, so
they will not have any family come visit them. Ostensibly, there is nothing
special about this date to them.
But beyond their literal prison, Oct 10 is World Day Against the Death Penalty
- an annual accounting of this punishment that is as irreversible as it is
inhumane. Activists around the world reflect on how many lives have been ended
by the state and for what, and how to continue the global trend towards
abolition.
I would like to think, knowing this day exists, that someone cares about what
happens to them; it would be heartening for those who remain in jails, waiting
to die.
But until December 2014, they had no reason to expect the arrival of their
warrants. Pakistan had a de facto moratorium in place for nearly 6 years.
Today, we have executed 480 prisoners in less than 3 years.
We are used to counting bodies in Pakistan. Sometimes in the tens, other times
in the hundreds; 480 is a significant death toll, if not a wholly unnecessary
one. The numbers are terrifying. The figure has included juvenile offenders,
the mentally ill. There are still more who have been executed only to have
their corpses acquitted a year later. Many have died waiting to die.
So in 2 days, as we take stock of the way the death penalty is implemented in
Pakistan, let's go back to the reasons why it was resumed in the first place.
No amount of time or commiseration can mitigate the horror of the attack on the
students and staff of the Army Public School, Peshawar. I will always stand
with the families of the victims of terrorist attacks, and it is my sincere
hope that their memories are honoured appropriately, with dignity.
But this cannot be the case if Pakistan continues to wrongfully execute
innocent individuals, the impoverished, juveniles and persons with mental and
physical disabilities in their name. In line with this year's theme, the
criminal justice system is rigged against those who need it the most.
More worrying still, is the narrative connecting terrorism to resuming
executions in Pakistan. It is true that Pakistan has experienced a decrease in
terrorism in the past few years, but is it because we have been executing
terrorists? The data reveals that less than 17 % of all executions have been
for those convicted of terrorism-related charges. In fact, the majority of
death sentences have been issued by district and sessions courts that have no
jurisdiction over terrorism.
And looking at the courts that do, ie the anti-terrorism courts, this nexus
becomes even more doubtful. The Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, bears a definition of
terrorism so broad as to include any action or threat that may create a "sense
of fear or insecurity in society". ATCs have convicted 'terrorists' for
stealing cattle and even once, for flying a kite.
It is no wonder then, that research by Justice Project Pakistan has found that
88 % of all those convicted and 86.3 % of all those sentenced to death under
the ATA were for crimes bearing no connections to terrorism.
The ATA makes the death sentences it breeds even more difficult to stomach with
its required expedited trials, suspension of fundamental safeguards,
admissibility of confessions in police custody and restrictions on bail. Under
it, juvenile offenders are sentenced to death (like Iqbal was in Mandi
Bahauddin) and have been executed (like Aftab Bahadur was in 2015). Under it,
the victim's family's wishes are disregarded. If they do not want the defendant
to hang, it does not matter because ATA convictions are non-compoundable.
Until this law is reformed, death sentences and executions will always be near
impossible to justify. This was meant to happen in the 2 years before military
courts expired. Nothing happened, showing an inherent reluctance to actually
resolve the problem at hand and an apathy to the human rights abuses it
enables.
Pakistan must introspect. Who are the people in jail? What are the
circumstances that put them on death row? Would they be in danger of being
hanged if they had the means to adequately defend themselves? Is terrorism
being curbed because a mentally ill man was hanged? Does Pakistan want to go
against the global tide that wants to abolish the practice?
This reflection won't just take the one day. But World Day Against the Death
Penalty (Tuesday), would be a good time to start.
(source: Sarah Belal; The writer is executive director, Justice Project
Pakistan----dawn.com)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Death by firing squad - The day 3 Marines were executed on the Hoe----Public
execution was witnessed by some 50,000 people
It was 220 years ago that 3 men were marched out from their Citadel cells on to
the Hoe ??? carrying the coffins they would be taken away in again.
The last public execution of its kind to be held in Plymouth, it was attended
by about 10,000 military personnel and 40,000 civilians.
Supposedly shot by the men that provided evidence against them, the 3 Marines
from Stonehouse Barracks had all been found guilty of mutiny - traitors to the
admiralty.
With a full procession and military band, the men were lined up and shot in
ways designed to cause them maximum pain before they died - with gaping holes
left in their bodies.
A 4th perpetrator, whose sentence was lessened, was given 450 lashings on the
same day, until he passed out. The final 50 lashings were given when he
regained consciousness.
But it is the view of some that the men were not traitors at all, merely
"scapegoats" for a much larger group - who weren't planning anything
particularly malicious.
Keith Black of Plymouth Ocean City Tours has been exploring and researching
this exact story for 4 years, and has described the execution as "Plymouth's
dirty little secret".
And Wesley Ashton, a local military historian with Hidden Heritage, who has
spent time transcribing the original court documents from the hearings more
than 2 centuries ago, said it is only now the truth has emerged.
"I think opinions are changing now about the execution," said Mr Ashton. "There
was really no malice [in their mutiny plot] at all."
Mr Black added: "I do not identify the executed men as anything other than
scapegoats of a far larger group involved in behaviour against appalling and
delayed wages paid to sailors and Marines at the time.
"In this year of 1797 there had been numerous acts of mutiny along the south
coast of England. The demands of the sailors had been met for the 'shilling a
day', but unfortunately this news had not reached the sailors and Marines by
May 28, when the Marines were detained."
Robert Lee, who is thought to have been shot at least 8 times before he finally
died, was the main culprit in the whole affair.
Lee, who moved from Dublin to England to join the Marines after his brothers
allegedly stopped him from seeing his sweetheart, wrote a distressing letter
from his lonely prison cell on the morning of his execution to one of these
same siblings.
Beginning, 'My Dear Brother', it continues: 'Your exertions to save my life
cannot now avail, yesterday the order for my execution this day arrived. I have
but a few short moments to live, and, I trust, that, therefore, what I wish to
impart to you, will be received by you with that seriousness with which it must
come from the heart of a dying man.
'Like you l have been misled by the sophistications of those who deny the
truths of the Gospel, and deride the evidence of God's word. Like you I gave
them implicit confidence; but, the awfulness of my present state has induced a
candid examination of them; and the arguments of the enemies of Devine
Revelation, appear now to me in the vilest colours.
'I have thought it necessary to seek the aid of a Minister of the Gospel, who,
I trust, as a witness to my conversion - to my regeneration - and will testify
it - as far as he can be supposed to place a confidence in the sincerity of it.
'On this subject I have no time to add more, than to exhort you to avail
yourself of the opportunity you have, to renounce those opinions, which were
near proving fatal to my external happiness here after, through the merits of
his dear son Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of mankind.
'The Gentleman who has been considerably instrumental in producing my
conversion, will I presume at my request, take up the pen to offer you such
arguments as his superior abilities and experience will dictate; and, I have no
doubt, if you investigate the truth with a due impartiality, your mind will
soon acknowledge that conviction I do, and your soul will be filled with it.
'Whatever family claims I have, I transfer to my sister Aldridge, and request
you will do all in your power to render the evening of her days as comfortable
as possible.
'For ever, Farewell dear brother, - remember my last, dying advice, and consult
your eternal welfare - recommend my affection to my sisters and brothers, and
all friends. Your sincere brother, Robert Lee.'
Mr Ashton believes this was simply a last-ditched attempt at saving his own
life by pretending he had converted from Roman-Catholicism to the Church of
England, but Mr Black believes different.
"You could not join the Marines if you were Roman Catholic," explained Mr
Black. "It was against the rules, but when taken on, they would never ask if
you were or not. The Marines were therefore riddled with Roman Catholics.
"When he came to Plymouth Lee's faith waned, and when he arrived at Stonehouse
Barracks he was a bit indifferent, which is when he ends up in communication
with Reverend Robert Hawker, who took Lee under his wing.
"When Lee was executed, he had converted to being a Protestant, and wrote to
his brother suggesting he did the same.
"He asked in the letter that anything he had left be given to his sister,
although she probably would not have got anything, and he was subsequently
wiped out the family history."
Keith is writing a novel of the events based on the facts known - and his
imagination of the unknown.
From the research he has conducted, including sifting through the National
Archives, Irish and Australian historical records and numerous other sources,
he believes he has enough of an understanding of the events and circumstances
leading to the public execution and beyond.
He said: "I do not see these men as traitors at all and hopefully will be able
to persuade otherwise in due course. I think this is Plymouth's worst event in
history with the Government and Admiralty of the time intent on making an
example of a few men, all Irish and all Catholic.
"Some of the witness testimony was at least dubious with financial reward and
advancement offered as inducement to provide testimony where none was
forthcoming."
Elaborating, Mr Ashton said: "The local myth is that the group was overheard
plotting by a drummer boy, but only 1 out of 22 witnesses suggested a callous
side to the plotting, including blowing up the barracks and freeing French
prisoners.
"All they were really guilty of was planning to refuse to take orders because
their friend was going to get a flogging. However, back then a new law said
anyone that took an oath faced the death sentence, which is where they went
wrong."
On the execution day itself - which was to act as a brutal example for all of
the other Marines, seamen and soldiers, saw the whole of the Hoe - then just a
bare cliff - awash with these military personnel and members of the public.
First came John Maginnis, the man who was to receive 500 lashings, followed by
the other 3 men later in the day, who were to meet their untimely deaths.
"It is one of the most disgraceful things that has ever taken place in our
city," said Mr Black. "It is Plymouth's dirty little secret."
Although there is some disagreement about who the three 'traitors' were shot
by, Mr Ashton, who has been posting a snippet of the sordid tale every day on
the Hidden History Facebook account, believes they were shot by the very same
men who gave evidence against them in court - men who they had taken the oath
with.
Describing the execution, he said: "They say one of them missed Lee's head on
purpose, to cause him more pain.
"The 3 killed were all under 30 years old. But Maginnis was allowed to live,
and was sent to live in Australia in 1799. He received 450 lashings on that day
before he passed out.
"By law you had to be conscious, so he was taken back to Stonehouse Barracks
where I expect he got some rest and recovered, before the other 50 lashings
took place.
"The real twist in the plot is the executioners were made up of co-accused guys
who were spared the death penalty.
"There were 12 shots altogether in the first round. Lee didn't appear to have
been hit, as they were all through his belly, which winded him and he slumped
forwards. The other 2 died instantly.
"The reserve line of men moved forwards and shot, and 1 of these shots hit Lee
in the head. He fell onto his coffin, still writhing in pain and twitching, and
it was then the officer in charge quickly put a pistol to his head.
"It took 8 balls to kill Lee. It was a proper bloody execution."
It is hoped Mr Black's book The Circle on the Hill will be completed by April
2018.
(soruce: plymouthherald.co.uk)
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