Feb. 27
YEMEN:
Houthis Sentence Baha'i Man to Death----Drop Charges, End Persecution of
Religious Minority
Houthi authorities should drop all charges against a Baha'i man who was
sentenced to death on January 2, 2018 because of his religious beliefs, Human
Rights Watch said today. The Houthis should unconditionally release Hamed Kamal
Haydara and the 6 other Baha'i men who appear to have been detained for
practicing their faith.
The Houthis should cease all persecution of the Baha'i religious minority in
areas of Yemen under their control, Human Rights Watch said.
The Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa, Yemen, sentenced Hamed Kamal Haydara,
detained since December 2013, to death on January 2, 2018, apparently on
account of his religious beliefs and practice of the Baha'i faith.
"Hamed Kamal Haydara's persecution and death sentence are emblematic of the
Houthis' broader attack on the Baha'i community," said Sarah Leah Whitson,
Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Rather than continue these grave
injustices, the Houthis should allow Haydara and other wrongfully held Baha'i
men to return home to their loved ones."
The Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa, the capital, sentenced Haydara to
death on unsubstantiated charges of communicating with Israel and related
offenses. Between April and October 2017, the Houthis arrested 5 other members
of the Baha'i community - Akram Ayash, Wael Al-Ariqi, Walid Ayyash, Badi'u'llah
Sanai, and another man. Keyvan Qadari, an Iranian national who was born and has
lived all his life in Yemen, has been detained since August 2016, the last of 5
dozen Baha'is arrested en masse on August 10, apparently on account of their
religion. All seven remain in custody.
Before the Houthis took over Sanaa in September 2014, Yemen's National Security
Bureau arrested Haydara in December 2013 and held him in a detention center in
Sanaa for nearly a year. Officers allegedly beat him and subjected Haydara to
electric shock and other forms of torture and ill-treatment. He was held
incommunicado for nine months before being transferred to Sanaa's Central
Prison.
On January 8, 2015, the Specialized Criminal Court prosecutor issued an
indictment against Haydara. The authorities accused Haydara of unlawfully
communicating with Israel, but most of the charges against him related to his
practice of the Baha'i faith. Haydara's lawyer told Human Rights Watch that the
only evidence the prosecution presented in court to demonstrate Haydara had
communicated with Israel was messages sent to all members of the Baha'i faith
from the Baha'i supreme governing institution. This institution is based in
Haifa, Israel, and has been the Baha'i faith's administrative headquarters
since 1868, when the city was under Ottoman rule. The court claimed Haydara had
confessed, but the sentencing hearing did not clarify exactly to what and its
significance in the judge's decision, his lawyer said. Family members told
Human Rights Watch in 2015 that while in detention Haydara had been mistreated
and forced to sign documents without being allowed to review them.
During his trial, Haydara was prevented from attending a number of court
hearings, including the January 2 session when his sentence was announced. The
court found Haydara guilty of communicating with Israel and forging official
documents, ordered the seizure of all his assets, and sentenced him to death,
according to Mwatana, a leading Yemeni human rights organization that monitored
the trial, examined court documents, and attended the sentencing hearing.
A month after sentencing Haydara to death, and despite repeated requests,
Houthi authorities had not provided Haydara or his lawyer with a copy of the
judgment or other critical files the prosecution put forward, which they
requested to prepare an appeal.
Over the past 3 years, the Houthis have detained, forcibly disappeared, and
abused scores of people, including perceived political opponents, students,
journalists, activists, and members of the Baha'i community. While many people
are held without charge or have been forcibly disappeared, others have been
prosecuted in Sanaa-based criminal courts.
The Houthis have frequently harassed and arbitrarily detained members of the
Baha'i community, which the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or
belief described as a "persistent pattern of persecution." Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International, and Mwatana have repeatedly called for Haydara's release
and an end to the persecution of Yemen's Baha'i community.
Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an
inherently cruel form of punishment. It is unique in its cruelty and finality,
and it is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and
error.
3 weeks after sentencing Haydara, the Specialized Criminal Court on January 30
sentenced a woman and 2 men to death for allegedly aiding the Saudi-led
coalition, the Houthi-run Saba news network reported. The defendants, Saeed
Mahfoud, Ahmed Abdullah Bawazir, and Asmaa Al-Omeissy, a 22-year-old mother of
2, had been forcibly disappeared, mistreated and subjected to a "patently
unfair trial," Amnesty International reported.
"The Houthis should immediately release Hamed Kamal Haydara and all other
members of the Baha'i religious community who are being detained for their
religious beliefs," Whitson said. "They should quash the sentences of all those
convicted after unfair trials and end the use of the death penalty."
(source: Human Rights Watch)
INDIA:
Rudraksh kidnap, murder case: Mastermind gets death penalty
A court in Kota handed death sentence to Ankur Padia, the mastermind in
Rudraksh abduction and murder case, on Monday.
The court gave life imprisonment to Ankur's elder brother, Anoop Padia, 4-year
imprisonment to co-accused Mahaveer Sharma and 2-year jail to another accused
Karanjeet Singh.
The mother of the victim Shraddha Handa spoke to reporters after the verdict
and said, "I want to thank everyone who supported us, especially the BAR
association. We can be at peace now".
Special judge, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocity),
Kota, Girish Aggarwal announced the punishment.
On October 9, 2014, Ankur Padia had kidnapped 7-year-old Rudraksh, son of a
bank manager, from a park in Talwandi area near his house in Kota City. The
abductors had demanded a ransom of 2 crore from the boy's parents for his
release.
After the boy's parents informed the Kota city police about the abduction,
police recovered the victim's body from a canal in Jakhmund in Bundi district
the next day.
Police arrested the main accused Ankur Padia and his elder brother, Anoop from
Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on October 27, 2014.
(source: aninews.in)
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