Feb. 6
SOMALIA:
Somali Military Court Sentences Al-Shabab Members for Role in Deadly Blast
A military court in Mogadishu on Tuesday sentenced Al-Shabab member to a death
penalty for Mogadishu truck bomb, the court chairman Hassan Nuur Shuute
announced.
The court also sentenced 2 men to prison, 1 life imprisonment, while w others
were released due to lack of evidence.
More than 500 people were killed in truck bomb blast in Mogadishu on October
14, 2017, which was the deadliest blast in Somalia.
(source: allafrica.com)
MALAYSIA:
Gopi Kumar is 6th victim of minister's delay in bringing into force amended law
Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) notes that despite the
Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2017 receiving royal assent on 27 December
2017, which effectively abolishes the mandatory death penalty for drug
trafficking, the failure of the minister to what is necessary to bring the law
into force has resulted in Malaysian judges still having no choice but to
sentence convicted drug traffickers to death.
"Since there is only one sentence provided for under Section 39B of the Act,
the court hereby sentences all the accused to death," he [Judge Datuk Ghazali
Cha] said. (theSun, 22 January 2018).
Until the new Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2017 comes into force, judges
continues to have no discretion but to sentence those convicted to death.
The most recent victim was Malaysian lorry driver S Gopi Kumar, 33, who was
sentenced to death (theSun, 24 January 2018).
Earlier, on 17 January 2018, it was reported that five others, Malaysian A
Sargunan, 42, and four Indian nationals (Sumesh Sudhakaran, Alex Aby Jacob
Alexander, Renjith Raveendran and Sajith Sadanandan ) were convicted and
sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court that day for drug trafficking
under Section 39B (1)(a) Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (The Star, 17 January 2018).
As not all cases get reported by the media, there may be many others who have
been sentenced to death, who otherwise might not have been if not for this
ministerial delay.
A perusal of the Malaysian official e-Federal Gazette website on 25 January
2018 shows that the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2017, which received royal
assent on 27 December 2017, has still not come into force.
In comparison, other laws that received royal assent on the same day like the
Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2017 came into force on 30 December 2017. Even some
laws that received royal assent later on 29 December 2018, like the Malaysian
Maritime Enforcement Agency (Amendment) Act 2018, have already come into force
since 11 January 2018.
When the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2017 comes into force, it will finally
abolish the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking, which has existed
since 1983. Judges, will then have the discretion to impose a sentence for drug
trafficking other than the death penalty, ie imprisonment with whipping of not
less than 15 strokes, for the offence of drug trafficking.
Section 3(2) of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2017 states:
(2) Any proceedings against any person who has been charged, whether or not
trial has commenced or has been completed, and has not been convicted under
section 39b of the principal Act by a competent Court before the appointed
date, shall on the appointed date be dealt with by the competent Court and be
continued under the provisions of the principal Act as amended by this Act.
This means that any person even already on trial for drug trafficking (section
39B), so long as they have not yet been convicted, can still enjoy the benefits
of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2017.
But until the minister does what is necessary to ensure this law comes into
force, judges will continue to have no discretion but to impose the mandatory
death penalty on those convicted before the new law applies.
The new law, sadly, does not provide any remedy to those already convicted or
for the 800 or more currently on death row after having been convicted for drug
trafficking.
Hence, as of today, Gopi Kumar and possibly 5 or more who have already been
convicted by the High Court before the new law comes into force are victims of
a great injustice and may be hanged to death.
As it stands now, under even the new law, after conviction and being sentenced
to death by the High Court, the Appellate Courts also will not have the
capacity to change the death sentence to imprisonment, unless they choose to
acquit them of drug trafficking or possibly elect to convict them for for a
lower offence that does not carry the mandatory death penalty.
In light of the inadequacies of the new upcoming drug law, Malaysia must table
another new law that will result in the commuting of the sentence of all those
currently on death row after having been convicted of drug trafficking - and
even other offences that carry the mandatory death penalty. This will be just
for the 2 Malaysians and 4 foreigners sentenced in 2018.
This new law could be tabled in the coming parliamentary session this March
2018. This is the most reasonable approach, considering that there are more
than 800 on death row, and judicial review of the sentence of so many may be a
difficult or near impossible task.
It must also be reminded, that Malaysia was looking at abolishing the death
penalty, especially the mandatory death penalty. While the new Dangerous Drugs
(Amendment) Act 2017 will do away with the mandatory death penalty for just 1
offence - drug trafficking - the mandatory death penalty still exists for
murder and so many other offences, some of which are offences that do not
result in any grievous injury or death to victims.
(source: aliran.com)
PERU:
Death Penalty Talk Revives Criticism of Human Rights Court
The arrest of a man who has confessed to raping and killing an 11-year-old
girl, and burning her remains, has revived the call among some members of
Congress to reinstate the death penalty.
Under the 1979 Constitution, the death penalty was abolished except for crimes
of treason during times of war, and in 1993 Congress added the crime of
terrorism. The last death sentence was issued in 1979, against a
non-commissioned Air Force officer charged with spying.
The president of the Judiciary, Duberli Rodriguez, said the global trend shows
that the death penalty is not the answer to crime, and instead there should be
stronger emphasis on the need for prevention and for stiffer sentences. He also
noted that reinstating the death penalty would require amendments to the
Constitution and to the Criminal Code.
It would also affect the country's standing in the hemisphere's legal
institutions.
"We would have to leave the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and I believe
that is not legally convenient," Judiciary president Rodriguez said.
That fact is not lost on some of the lawmakers proposing the death penalty.
Daniel Salaverry and Hector Becerril, leading members of Keiko Fujimori's
Fuerza Popular party, believe opting out of the Inter-American Commission of
Human Rights, IACHR, should be part of the death penalty debate.
Salaverry said he hoped "this generalized indignation that we feel" would drive
the Congress to seek solutions to "aggressions against children." Admitting
this would jeopardize the country's standing with the Inter-American Court, he
questioned the value of its work. "What is the point of this institution? Only
to liberate terrorists," he said to RPP radio.
Becerril also criticized the Court. "It has only caused economic and moral harm
to the country by approving the liberation of terrorists."
The IACHR held a hearing last week to review President Kuczynski's pardon of
former President Alberto Fujimori, which is considered unjustified by the
United Nations, by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The review is
at the request of the families whose spouses, children or siblings were
murdered by the Colina death squad at the teaching university in La Cantuta and
in the low-income district of Barrios Altos in 1992. Both assassinations were
known and approved by Fujimori.
Meanwhile, and even though reinstating the penalty would not be a speedy
process that could be done in the heat of the moment, the enthusiasm for harsh
treatment has led several news sources to bring up the once-famous case of a
death sentence gone wrong.
In 1954, a black pickpocket was charged and convicted of the murder of a
3-year-old boy who had been found in the Armendariz ravine, between Miraflores
and Barranco (now the access road from the expressway to the Costa Verde
beaches). Jorge Villanueva was dubbed by the press as the Monster of
Armendariz, which became a household name. He had only been known as a petty
thief but 1 witness, an ice cream vendor, had seen him near the ravine. He
claimed he was innocent even when he stood to face his firing squad. Years
later, he was proved innocent when forensics found that the child's fatal
injuries were consistent with being run over by a vehicle and not from violence
caused by another human.
(source: Peruvian Times)
IRAQ:
In Iraq, death-row jihadists 'confess' on prime-time TV
Every Friday in Iraq, a gripping show on state television beams the alleged
confessions of death-row jihadists into homes around the country.
At peak viewing time, it broadcasts gruesome images of their purported crimes
before interviewing the convicts, who appear clad in orange or yellow
jumpsuits.
Baghdad declared victory against the Islamic State group in December, after
years of fighting to regain vast stretches of territory the jihadists seized in
2014.
Iraq has detained thousands of suspected members of IS, a group infamous for
deadly attacks, mass killings and the execution of detainees in orange
jumpsuits.
Once a week, a show titled "In the grip of the law" escorts convicted jihadists
back to the scene of their crime under heavy security.
By spotlighting IS atrocities, the show aims to stamp out any remaining support
for the jihadist group's ideology, its presenter says.
"I get tipped off by the interior ministry, the defence ministry or national
security, who captured them," Ahmad Hassan, 36, says.
"They choose the case to highlight and I ask the justice ministry for
permission to interview the convict," says Hassan, whose show is aired by state
channel Al-Iraqiya.
The programme is up to its 150th episode, he says, and not about to end any
time soon.
"Even if IS has lost militarily, its ideology still exists," he says.
"Its supporters view others as non-believers and will continue to murder as
long as its ideology lives on."
'Detective agency'
Dressed in a beige suit and brown tie, on a set meant to evoke a detective
agency, Hassan starts his show each week with shocking images.
1 episode opens with a photo of dozens of Sunni tribesmen lying in a pool of
their own blood, after their 2014 execution by IS in the town of Heet,
northwest of Baghdad.
It then introduces Mithaq Hamid Hekmet, 41, one of those condemned over the
massacre, who recounts the killings in chilling detail -- even citing the names
of others who took part.
On the show's set, a mahogony desk, stacks of papers, maps of Baghdad and
mugshots of the day's convict seek to create an intriguing atmosphere to draw
in viewers.
In another episode, former IS finance official Mohammad Hamid Omar, nom de
guerre Abu Hajjaj, describes his speciality: extorting funds from pharmacies,
schools, real estate agencies, petrol stations and doctors.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
IRAN:
Urgent Action
KURDISH MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH AFTER UNFAIR TRIAL
Iranian Kurdish prisoner Ramin Hossein Panahi has been on hunger strike since
27 January in protest of being sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial
that followed four months of enforced disappearance. He has been transferred to
solitary confinement in reprisal. His conviction and sentence violate
international law and must be quashed.
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:
* Ensure that Ramin Hossein Panahi's death sentence and conviction are quashed
and release him unless there is sufficient evidence not obtained through
torture or other ill-treatment to charge him with a recognizable criminal
offence and grant him a fair trial, without recourse to the death penalty;
* Stop using the denial of medical care as a form of punishment and ensure that
he is immediately granted access to adequate medical care outside prison;
* Order a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into his prolonged
solitary confinement and allegations of torture and other ill-treatment,
bringing to justice anyone found responsible, including those with superior
responsibility, in fair trials and without recourse to the death penalty.
Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of
forwarding this one!
Contact these 2 officials by 19 March, 2018:
High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
Esfaniar Boulevard, Niayesh Intersection
Vali Asr Avenue, Tehran, Iran
H.E. Gholamali Khoshroo
Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 687-2020 -- Fax: (212) 867-7086
Email: i...@un.int
Salutation: Dear Excellency
*******************
At Least 10 Prisoners Scheduled to Be Executed
At least 10 prisoners, most of whom charged with murder, were transferred to
solitary confinement at Rajai Shahr Prison.
According to a close source, on the morning of Sunday, February 4, at least 10
prisoners were transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison. The prisoners, most of whom
are sentenced to death on murder charges, will be executed if they fail to win
the consent of the plaintiffs.
It should be noted that executions at Rajai Shahr are usually carried out on
Wednesdays.
According to Iran Human Rights (IHR) annual report on the death penalty, 142 of
the 530 execution sentences in 2016 were carried out for murder charges. There
is a lack of any classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in
issuing a death sentence for all types of the murder, regardless of intensity
and intent.
***********************
Iranian Hardline Cleric Says Protesters Should be Sentenced to Death
A Friday prayer leader in Tehran has called for the death penalty to be issued
to citizens who participated in the weeklong protests that erupted across Iran
in December 2017.
"In our theology, the ruling against those who pour into the streets in
opposition to a just Islamic ruler, cause fires or kill people ... is death,"
said Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami during a sermon on February 2, 2018.
Khatami is a member of the chairing committee of the Assembly of Experts, the
constitutional body that select's the country's ruler.
He continued: "If you want to show mercy, that's fine. But don't give us the
impression that you just want rioters to go free. There???s a time for mercy
and there's a time for rage. You have to be firm against the leaders of the
riots, like Imam Ali."
Shia Muslims regard Ali (601-661 AD) as the successor to the Prophet Muhammad.
"Those who were played and fooled should be chastised and woken up and should
pledge not to commit mischief again by acting as mercenaries for agitators,"
added Khatami.
At least 25 people were killed and thousands arrested in Iran's December 2017
protests.
According to information obtained by the Center for Human Rights in Iran
(CHRI), some protesters arrested in Hamadan and Khuzestan provinces were
already facing charges that are punishable by death before Khatami's fiery
sermon.
"Some of them have been investigated, interrogated and charged with
'rebellion,'" said a legal source in the city of Izeh, Khuzestan Province, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons.
"The families of the freed detainees have been threatened a lot and are too
afraid to talk," added the source. "Most of them say that they are being
slapped with serious charges and if they do anything wrong, they could be given
heavy sentences."
According to Article 279 of Iran's Constitution: "Moharebeh (rebellion) is
defined as drawing a weapon against the life, property or chastity of people or
to cause terror as it creates the atmosphere of insecurity."
According to Article 286: "Any person, who extensively commits felony against
the bodily entity of people, offenses against the internal or international
security of the state, spreading lies, disruption of the economic system of the
state, arson and destruction of properties, distribution of poisonous and
bacterial and dangerous materials, and establishment of, or aiding and abetting
in, places of corruption and prostitution [on a scale] that causes severe
disruption in the public order of the state and insecurity, or causes harsh
damage to the bodily entity of people or public or private properties, or
causes distribution of corruption and prostitution on a large scale, shall be
considered as mofsed-e-fel-arz [corrupt on earth] and shall be sentenced to
death."
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
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