April 21
INDIA:
Death penalty for rapists of children below 12 years
The Centre on Saturday approved the ordinance to award death sentence to the
rapists of children below the age of 12.
Following a meeting of the Union Cabinet here, the government cleared the
amendment in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
In the wake of the gang-rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and
Kashmir's Kathua district, Union Minister for Women and Child Development
Maneka Gandhi had earlier expressed her ministry's intention to amend the POCSO
to make provision for death penalty in such cases.
Soon after, the Centre submitted its report while responding to a public
interest litigation (PIL) filed by Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava in the
Supreme Court, seeking maximum sentence of death penalty to those offenders
involved in the rape and brutal murder of children between the age group of 0
to 12.
(source: aninews.in)
PAKISTAN:
Supreme Court fixes hearing on plea of mentally-ill convicted
The Supreme Court fixed the review petition of Imdad Ali, allegedly
mentally-ill person challenging his death sentence, for hearing on April 21.
The hearing of the case was fixed after Ali's wife Safia filed an appeal at the
top court's human rights cell.
The court summoned advocate general, prosecutor general and Ali's counsel on
April 21 at the Supreme Court Lahore Registry.
Mentally-ill Imdad Ali was sentenced to death in 2001 over a cleric's killing.
The inmate's condition has continued to worsen over time. Ali has repeatedly
been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the petition read. In 2016, the
Supreme Court had upheld death penalty for Ali, ruling that schizophrenia was
"not a mental illness" but a "recoverable disease".
(source: urdupoint.com)
MYANMAR:
President grants general amnesty for 8541 prisoners
President Win Myint granted a general amnesty for 8541 prisoners including 36
prisoners of conscience and 51 foreign ones to mark Myanmar New Year day which
falls on April 17.
A total of 8490 prisoners were released on the presidential amnesty according
to the notification No 17/2018 with the purpose of enabling the people to feel
peace of mind and giving special attention to humanitarianism.
The president released 51 foreign prisoners granting a general amnesty
according to the notification No 18/2018 with the intention of marking Myanmar
New Year day, paying special attention to foreign relations and respecting
humanitarianism. The foreign prisoners were deported back to their native
countries they had come from.
Among the prisoners released on the presidential amnesty were 27 elderly
persons of 80 years old and above, 25 elderly persons of 75 to 80 years old, 14
persons of ill health, 44 foreigners, 1462 persons of narcotic drug section 15,
3220 persons of narcotic drug section 16 (C), 1680 persons of narcotic drug
section 15/16 (C), 141 persons of police disciplinary punishment, 36 prisoners
of conscience, a female local prisoner and 2 Vietnamese prisoners, cited the
writing from the Facebook of Zaw Htay, Director General of the State Counsellor
Office.
A total of 58 prisoners were released from Thayawady Prison, northern part of
Bago Region. Three prisoners of conscience including Ye Baw Than Gyoung, who
got four death sentences and life sentence, were also released. Three prisoners
of conscience are Ye Baw Than Gyoung, Major Win Naing Kyaw and Kyaw Hlaing.
"I can't believe that I am released. It is too early to say comments as I don't
know how I stand," Ye Baw Than Gyoung said.
Ye Baw Than Gyoung is the person who got 4 death sentences and life sentence.
Major Win Naing Kyaw is the person who got a death sentence and jail term for
28 years.
A total of 64 prisoners from Dawei Prison, Taninthayi Region were released on
the presidential amnesty. There were 58 male prisoners and 6 female prisoners.
"Dawei Prison released a total of 64 prisoners as they were granted an amnesty.
Before releasing the prisoners, the departmental officials gave advice to them.
K 1000 was provided to each prisoner. I was not authorized to say which
prisoner got what punishment," said the responsible person of Dawei Prison.
Pakokku Prison released a total of 22 prisoners as they were granted an
amnesty. Similarly, Meiktila Prison released 64 prisoners, Myitkyina Prison,
470 prisoners, Paungte Prison, 15 prisoners, Monywa Prison, 41 prisoners,
Pathein Prison, 47 prisoners, Katha Prison, 107 prisoners, Hpa-an Prison, 156
prisoners, Thayet Prison, 44 prisoners, Lashio Prison, 162 prisoners, Orebo
Prison, 460 prisoners, Sittwe Prison, 87 prisoners, Myeik Prison, 293
prisoners, Hinthada Prison, 23 prisoners, and Buthidaung Prison, 58 prisoners
including 23 Bangladeshis.
(source: elevenmyanmar.com)
IRAQ:
Iraq gives death sentence to Islamic State 'judge'
An Iraqi court has given the death penalty to a man who acted as a legislative
judge in Mosul for the Islamic State (IS) when the group was in control of the
city, said a judicial spokesman on Thursday.
The defendant, whose name was not specified, was reported to have been in
charge of marriage contracts in Mosul and surrounding areas.
"The Nineveh Criminal Court sentenced an Islamic State militant to death," said
Abdul Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesperson for Iraq's Higher Judicial Council, in a
statement. "The convict used to work as a judge in the marriage contracts
court, within the so-called legislative courts of Islamic State in Mosul."
1 day before, al-Birqdar and another judicial official announced that, since
the beginning of the year, over 300 suspects have been handed death sentences
for crimes related to IS membership.
The cases, being heard in federal courts in Baghdad and Nineveh provinces, also
resulted in several hundred lesser sentences, including life imprisonment.
The rise of executions in the country has led the UN mission in Iraq, the EU,
and international human rights groups to criticize Iraq for a lack of
transparency in its courts.
"These executions follow rushed trials of ISIS suspects which are riddled with
due process violations, including convictions based solely on confessions which
are sometimes extracted by torture," said HRW senior Iraq researcher Belkis
Wille in a press release on Tuesday.
The death penalty in Iraq was suspended on June 10, 2003, but was reinstated
the following year. Critics say that the country's flawed and confession-based
criminal justice system in which torture is routinely used to extract
confessions is incompatible with so final a sentence as capital punishment.
Iraq's Justice Ministry announced on Monday that it had executed 13 convicted
prisoners, 11 of them over charges of terrorism.
Last year, Iraqi forces arrested tens of thousands of those accused of being
Islamic State (IS) members and affiliates, most of whom await sentencing.
(source: kurdistan24.net)
EGYPT:
Egyptian Court Approves Listing 46 Defendants as Terrorist
Egypt's Court of Cassation rejected on Thursday appeals submitted by 46
defendants over their placement on the terror list for their involvement in the
assassination of former Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat in June 2015.
The court decision called for seizing the defendants' funds, canceling their
passports, putting their names on the watch list and freezing of their funds.
Barakat was killed in 2015 when a bomb targeted his motorcade as it was passing
through Cairo. Several guards and civilians were killed in the attack.
Cairo's Criminal Court had issued a decision to blacklist 56 defendants as
terrorist based on a memorandum issued by the Attorney General.
46 have appealed the ruling.
The terror list includes a number of leaders of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
In July 2017, the Cairo Criminal Court had issued sentences against 66 suspects
in the case. 28 were given the death penalty, 15 were ordered to serve 25 years
in jail, while the rest were sentenced to 15 years in maximum security prison.
According to investigations, the defendants belong to Muslim Brotherhood group,
which is classified as a terrorist organization. They are accused of contacting
fugitives leaders of the group abroad to prepare and target official Egyptian
figures and attempting to create chaos and instability in the country to
overthrow of the state.
(source: Asharq Al-Awsat)
IRAN:
Prisoner Executed in Northwestern Iran
A prisoner was hanged at Zanjan Central Prison on murder charges.
According to a close source, a prisoner who was sentenced to death on murder
charges was executed on the morning of Sunday, April 15.
The prisoner was identified as Sabah Amani from Naqadeh. In 2011, he was
arrested on the charge of murdering a taxi driver in Zanjan and had been in
prison ever since.
A close source told IHR, "Sabah Amani worked at a gas station in Zanjan. He had
sold 230 kilograms wheat to a taxi driver named Taher H., whom he knew for a
long time, but Taher couldn't pay his money and Sabah murdered him."
The execution of this prisoner has not been announced by the state-run media so
far.
According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the
517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. There
is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in
issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and
intent.
(source: Hindustan Times)
****************
Students Advocate for Academic Sentenced to Death
Ahmadreza Djalali, a 45-year-old Iranian-born Swedish resident and specialist
in disaster medicine, has been imprisoned and sentenced to death by Iranian
officials in what Amnesty International called "a grossly unfair trial."
Illinois Wesleyan University 1st-year students and members of the Advocacy Risk
Seminar, Jonathan Panton '21 and Tatum Zsorey '21, advocated for Djalali's
release at the second annual Student Advocacy Day in Washington D.C., March
8-9.
Sponsored by the IWU Center on Human Rights and Social Justice, the Advocacy
Seminar is affiliated with Scholars at Risk, a non-profit organization that
advocates for academics being held in foreign countries. At the beginning of
each academic year, Scholars at Risk sends a list of potential scholars who are
prisoners of conscience to university organizations who advocate for academics
abroad. Although Zsorey said it was difficult to choose one scholar, members of
IWU's Advocacy Seminar ultimately chose to advocate for Djalali, who was
arrested in Iran while attending a business trip.
"I became particularly passionate and thankful that I could advocate for Dr.
Djalali when I learned of the horrible conditions he has been facing in prison,
the unfair justice system that Iran has used to prosecute him and the unjust
sentencing he has received," said Zsorey, an international studies major and
environmental studies minor. "After understanding the complex implications of
Dr. Djalali's case, I became more and more ardent about wanting to help him."
Arrested by Iranian authorities on April 25, 2016, Djalili was denied access to
a lawyer for 7 months and held in solitary confinement for three months,
according to Amnesty International. Although Amnesty said no evidence has ever
been presented to show that Djalili is anything other than "an academic
peacefully pursuing his profession," he has been accused of being a spy and
threatened with the death penalty. Amnesty said Iran is using Djalali's work as
a doctor in disaster medicine, his studies and teachings in Europe, and his
residency to fabricate these claims.
Djalali Family Ahmadreza Djalali has a wife and 2 children.
"Our defense on behalf of Dr. Djalali was that he was simply a professor of
disaster medicine who is unlawfully incarcerated in Iran. He was convicted of
collaborating with Israel, which does not make any sense considering that he
does not have any ties to Israel," said Panton, a business administration
major. "We hope that Dr. Djalali is released because he has a wife and 2
children back home."
Working together with seminar participant Emma Cottrell '21, Panton and Zsorey
compiled a research case file defending Djalali and presented their findings
before staff members in the offices of Congressmen Danny Davis and Rodney Davis
in Washington D.C. on Advocacy Day.
"I personally had an amazing time in D.C.," Zsorey said. "There's a vibrant
atmosphere that surrounds the city that made me feel as though the work I was
doing was real and actually mattered."
Zsorey said she and Panton received positive responses in D.C. She said the
aids agreed to pass on Djalali's case file and talk with the Congressmen about
possible measures of action that could be taken to support Djalali.
"We are currently working with both offices to draft a joint letter in support
of the Swedish government, who has done a lot to help get Dr. Djalali freed,"
Zsorey said.
In addition to lobbying their case, Panton and Zsorey, along with 30 students
from over 8 universities, heard advice on international human rights advocacy
work from experts at the State Department and other non-governmental
organizations. Panton said these presentations helped students gain a better
understanding of advocacy.
"The most important thing that I learned about advocacy is that you need to tie
your mission to their interests - give them a reason to support your cause,"
Panton said.
Advocacy Group Students gathered for Student Advocacy Day in Washington D.C.
"One of the most important things I learned was that being an advocate means
being active," Zsorey said. "You have to actively seek out those who can
support you and care about what you???re doing, whether they be members of
Congress, NGOs, or other advocacy groups. Advocacy isn't easy, and nothing
magically happens unless you put in the time and effort."
Zsorey said organizations such as IWU's Advocacy Seminar have given her the
opportunity to be active, as they are "widely applicable beyond the classroom."
"Even though I am only a 1st-year student, I feel as though I've always been
more aware of the injustices plaguing the world more than the typical person my
age. However, I always believed that there wasn't much I could do as a
student," Zsorey said. "The Advocacy Day allowed me to realize that there is so
much work one student or one group of students can do in advocating on behalf
of others."
Panton said the real-world experiences he has gained as a member of Advocacy
Seminar have allowed him to make a real difference.
"I believe events such as Advocacy Day and clubs such as Advocacy Seminar are
important because they spread awareness to issues that would otherwise go
unnoticed," Panton said. "It is incredible to have this real-world experience
as a freshman because I am doing whatever I can to protect another human being.
The fact of the matter is that Dr. Djalali is a person, and as a person, he
deserves all of the inalienable human rights that everyone else deserves."
(source: iwu.edu)
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