June 23
SAUDI ARABIA:
Religious Thinker on Trial for His Life----Criticized ‘Extremism’ in School
Curriculum
Saudi prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a Saudi religious
reformist thinker on a host of vague charges relating to his peaceful religious
ideas, Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi authorities arrested Hassan Farhan
al-Maliki in September 2017 and have detained him since, finally bringing
charges in October 2018.
Prosecuting al-Maliki for peacefully expressing religious ideas appears to
contradict Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s statement in October 2017that he
wanted to “revert” the country to “a moderate Islam open to the world and all
religions.” The Public Prosecution reports directly to the Saudi royal court.
“Mohammed bin Salman has consistently pledged to support a more ‘moderate’
version of Islam while his country maintains a prosecution service that seeks
the death penalty against religious reformers for expressing their peaceful
ideas,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
“Saudi Arabia’s real road to reform lies in allowing religious thinkers like
al-Maliki to express themselves without fear of arrest and possible execution.”
A Saudi activist told Human Rights Watch that the Specialized Criminal Court,
Saudi Arabia’s terrorism court, has held at least three trial sessions on
al-Maliki’s case, but the next hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Human Rights Watch reviewed al-Maliki’s charge sheet, which consists of 14
charges, nearly all with no resemblance to recognized crimes. The first two
charges relate to his peaceful expression of his religious opinions about the
veracity of certain sayings of the prophet and his criticism of several seventh
century Islamic figures. Other charges include “insulting the country’s rulers
and the Supreme Council of Religious Scholars, and describing them as
extremist,” and accusing Gulf countries of supporting ISIS.
Prosecutors also charged al-Maliki with praising Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan
Nasrallah, and “having sympathy” for the Houthi group in Yemen, and expressing
his religious views in television interviews, attending discussion groups in
Saudi Arabia, writing books and studies and publishing them outside of Saudi
Arabia, possession of banned books, defaming a Kuwaiti man by accusing him on
Twitter of supporting ISIS, and violating the country’s notorious cybercrime
law.
The charge sheet also accuses al-Maliki of crossing illegally from Saudi Arabia
into northern Yemen for research about his family origins and history in 2001,
after Saudi authorities had banned al-Maliki from travel abroad. Saudi Arabia
does not have a comprehensive written penal code and only a limited number of
written criminal regulations. Charges not based on a written text, which
include all but one of al-Maliki’s, do not have a statute of limitation.
Evidence cited by prosecutors in the charge sheet consisted entirely of
al-Maliki’s alleged confession, his Tweets, and material confiscated from his
home and electronic devices. It says that he allegedly confessed to “calling
for freedom of belief, and that it is the right of any person to adopt beliefs
that he sees as correct, and it is not permitted to restrict these [beliefs] or
impose certain beliefs,” as well as his denial that the crime of apostacy
should be punishable by death, “seeing that there is no truth to it legally.”
He also allegedly confessed to saying that “those [clerics] who ban singing or
music in all its forms are extremists, as there is no evidence for banning it
and that the prophet [peace be upon him] listened to it.”
“Prosecutors are seeking to put a man to death in part for criticizing any
cleric who bans music, while Saudi leaders are paying millions to public
relations companies to show how ‘progressive’ they are for allowing public
concerts by major Western artists in the country,” Page said.
Prosecutors also cited excerpts of an alleged confession by al-Maliki’s son,
Abbas, whom the charge sheet indicates is also detained, though Saudi activists
do not know his status.
The charges do not qualify as crimes for which capital punishment can be
justified under international human rights law. International standards,
including the Arab Charter on Human Rights, ratified by Saudi Arabia, require
countries that retain the death penalty to use it only for the “most serious
crimes,” and in exceptional circumstances. In 2012, the United Nations special
rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions stated that where
used, the death penalty should be limited to cases in which a person is
intentionally killed.
Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and under all
circumstances. Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it
is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.
Since 2017, Saudi authorities have undertaken mass detentions, including of
human rights activists, independent clerics, and academics. Authorities held
many for months without charge and referred some to trial on charges solely
tied to their peaceful statements or beliefs. Saudi prosecutors are also
seeking the death penalty against a prominent cleric, Salman al-Awda, on a host
of vague charges related to his political statements, associations, and
positions.
Other prominent detainees arrested in September 2017 include Essam al-Zamil, an
economist; Mustafa al-Hasan, an academic; Abdullah Al-Malki, a writer; and
dozens of other clerics including Awad al-Qarni, Ibrahim al-Nasser, and Ibrahim
al-Fares. Authorities imprisoned Abdulaziz al-Shubaily and Issa al-Hamid, human
rights activists, around the same time. Both had lost appeals of convictions
for their human rights work following unfair trials.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
IRAN----execution
CIA agent formerly working for defense ministry executed
Iran announced Sat. that a contract employee formerly working with the
aerospace organization of the defense ministry has been executed on charges of
spying for the US government.
Iran’s Judiciary Organization of the Armed Forces said Sat. that death penalty
of Jalal Hajizavar, the ex-employee of the Defense Ministry, was carried out
after he had been convicted of spying for the CIA and the US government.
According to the report, Jalal Hajizavar was sentenced to death penalty after
he confessed to spying for and receiving money from the CIA and that relevant
documents and spying equipment had been discovered at his home.
The death sentence of the ‘treacherous element’ had been confirmed by the
country’s Supreme Court after observing legal procedures, the statement added.
The Judiciary Organization of the Armed Forces’ statement further noted that
all legal standards had been observed at different levels of investigation on
his case from the start to his death penalty during proceedings before the
court.
Furthermore, his wife is also spending a 15-year jail term for her partnership
in his crime.
(source: mehr news)
********************
Despite international outcry, Iran keeps executing children----In the past 30
years, Iran has executed twice as many juvenile offenders, some as young as 12,
than any other country.
Iran must abolish a “blatantly unfair” judicial system that has seen the
country obtain the record for executing the biggest number of child offenders,
Amnesty International said.
Amnesty International said that, in the past 30 years, Iran has executed twice
as many juvenile offenders, some as young as 12, than any other country. The
group cited serious concerns for children — perhaps as many as 90 — on death
row who were under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged offences. Many,
the organisation said, were not given a fair trial.
“Amnesty International believes that the death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and
degrading punishment and its use is horrendous in absolutely all circumstances
but is even more appalling when it is used as punishment against people who
were under 18 when the crimes took place and within a judicial system that is
blatantly unfair,” said Nassim Papayianni, senior campaigner for the Iran team
at Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa regional office.
“The Iranian authorities have a horrific track record of putting juvenile
offenders to death in flagrant violation of international law and their own
human rights obligations. (Iran) is a state party to the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, which is unequivocal in its absolute prohibition on the
use of the death penalty for crimes committed by people below 18 years of age.
“It is also well-established in the principles of juvenile justice that
individuals under 18 years of age are categorically less mature and culpable
and should never, therefore, face the same penalties as adults.”
The use of the death penalty for crimes committed by people younger than 18 is
prohibited under international human rights law, yet some countries execute
child offenders.
From 1990-2018, Amnesty International documented 145 executions of child
offenders in China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan,
South Sudan, Sudan, the United States and Yemen. Iran has executed more than
twice as many child offenders — 97 — as the other countries combined.
Some were of pre-teenage age when they were accused of their alleged crimes.
Arman Mohammadi was arrested when he was 12 and spent 6 years in prison before
his execution. The crime he was charged with has not been revealed. Nor has it
been in the case of Makwan Moloudzadeh, who was 13 at the time of his alleged
offence. He was executed in 2007.
Other cases include the arrests and executions of 2 17-year-olds this year.
Papayianni said cousins Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat were executed on
April 25. “Both were arrested aged 15 and convicted on multiple rape charges
following an unfair trial,” she said.
Information published by Amnesty International stated the teenagers were
unaware they had been sentenced to death until shortly before their executions
and both teenagers had lash marks on their bodies, indicating they had been
flogged before they died. The two were reportedly forced to confess under
torture.
Their families and lawyers were not informed about the executions in advance
and were “shocked to learn of the news,” Papayianni said.
Held at a Shiraz child correction centre since 2017, the two boys were
transferred to Adelabad Prison on April 24 and visited by their families. The
next day, Iran’s Legal Medicine Organisation reportedly informed the families
that the boys had been executed and asked them to collect the bodies.
“We are particularly disturbed by reports that one of the alleged child
offenders, Mehdi Sohrabifar, had an intellectual disability and had spent
nearly 10 years in a special education centre,” said UN experts in a statement.
“Although evidence of the child’s disability was presented during his trial,
the courts failed to use their discretion to request an assessment of the
maturity of the child, in line with Article 91 of Iran’s amended Penal Code, in
clear breach of his right to a fair trial.”
A Wikipedia entry states that crimes punishable by death in Iran include
murder, rape, child molestation, drug trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping,
terrorism, burglary, paedophilia, homosexuality, incestuous relations,
fornication, prohibited sexual relations, sexual misconduct, prostitution,
plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime, political dissidence, sabotage,
arson, rebellion, apostasy, adultery, blasphemy, extortion, counterfeiting,
smuggling, speculating, disrupting production, recidivist consumption of
alcohol, producing or preparing food, drink, cosmetics or sanitary items that
lead to death when consumed or used, producing and publishing pornography,
using pornographic materials to solicit sex, recidivist false accusation of
capital sexual offences causing execution of an innocent person, recidivist
theft, certain military offences (e.g., cowardice, assisting the enemy),
“waging war against God,” “spreading corruption on Earth,” espionage and
treason.
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman published a report
that presented in-depth research on the execution of child offenders in Iran,
including targeted and detailed recommendations addressed to the Iranian
parliament, judiciary and other key stakeholders, outlining steps to end the
practice.
It said Sohrabifar and Sedaghat were not isolated cases.
“We are very concerned that some specific cases of individuals who were under
the age of 18 at the time of the offence are at risk of execution now,”
Papayianni said.
The sobering list includes Mohammad Kalhori, who was 15 when he was arrested in
December 2014 over the fatal stabbing of one of his schoolteachers. He was
found guilty of murder in March 2016.
He was sentenced to 3 years in prison and ordered to pay diya — blood money —
to the victim’s family. In its verdict, the court relied on a state medical
opinion that concluded that the boy did not have “mental growth and maturity”
at the time of the crime.
However, the verdict was overturned on appeal by the Supreme Court and, in
January 2017, a court dismissed arguments about Kalhori’s “mental growth and
maturity,” convicted him of murder and sentenced him to death. At least two
judicial reviews of his case since then have been rejected.
Papayianni also pointed out the case of Barzan Nasrollahzadeh, who was arrested
by Ministry of Intelligence officials at the age of 17 in May 2010. He was held
for several months in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Sanandaj
without access to his family or a lawyer.
He has said he was tortured, including with an electric-shock device, by being
suspended upside down and beaten.
After his trial in August 2013, he was sentenced to death after being convicted
of “enmity against God.” His request for judicial review of his case has been
rejected, which means his death sentence could soon be implemented.
Hamid Ahmadi was sentenced to death in August 2009 following an “unfair trial”
before in Gilan province in connection with the fatal stabbing of a young man
during a fight among a group of boys in 2008, Papayianni said.
The court relied on “confessions” he made at the police station after his
arrest when he did not have access to a lawyer or his family.
Papayianni said Ahmadi’s “confessions” were obtained under torture and police
officers held him for 3 days in a filthy, urine-stained cell; tied his hands
and feet together and pushed him face down on the cell floor; tied him to a
pole in the yard; kicked his genitals; and denied him food and water.
Reportedly, the pain inflicted was so severe that he was willing to confess to
anything to end it. Authorities are not known to have investigated his torture
allegations.
“In Amnesty International’s annual death penalty report this year, which looks
at the use of the death penalty worldwide in 2018, we have said that seven
people in Iran and at least 1 person in South Sudan were executed for crimes
committed when they were younger than 18 years of age,” said Papayianni. “The
organisation also recently issued a document on which countries the
organisation has recorded using the death penalty against individuals who were
under the age of 18 at the time of the offence.”
In recent years, Iranian judicial authorities often waited until a child
sentenced to death had turned 18 before executing him, claiming he was no
longer a child.
“There is no justification for executing children,” said Michael Page, deputy
Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Until Iran bans the death penalty,
Iranian judges should use the legal authority they already have and stop
sending children to be killed by the state.”
Amnesty International recorded about 51,000 adult and juvenile executions from
1990-2018, however, data from China have been unavailable since 2009.
(source: The Arab Weekly)
***********************
Power Games In Iran Involve A Billionaire On Death Row
A parliamentary leader in Iran demands to know why a group of Iranian lawmakers
would meet a billionaire in prison who is convicted of massive corruption.
A member of the board of directors of Iran’s parliament has called upon the
Islamic Republic Judiciary to investigate meetings that he claims some of the
country's legislators have recently had with Babak Zanjani, sentenced to death
for embezzling billions of dollars of smuggled oil.
Citing one of President Hassan Rouhani's ministers, Alireza Rahimi twitted on
June 21, "Some of the members of parliament have recently met with Babak
Zanjani behind bars."
Rahimi has not named the lawmakers who have allegedly met with the 45-year-old
Zanjani but insisted, "It will be a good idea if the Judiciary briefs
parliament's board of directors about these ambiguous meetings."
Zanjani was a middleman, selling Iranian oil through front companies, mainly
affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), in the years when
international sanctions banned Iran oil exports and banking relations, during
hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second term, 2009-2013.
These non-transparent operations led to many cases of embezzlement and
misappropriation of state funds. Most of the financial corruption cases have
something to do with failing or refusing to repatriate revenues from the
illicit sale of oil and oil products.
In Late 2013, Babak Zanjani was arrested and accused of withholding $2.7
billion of oil ministry money. He was convicted of corruption, sentenced to
death in 2016 and is currently awaiting execution.
Many Iranians believe that Zanjani is perhaps a "fall guy" for many corrupt
officials and corruption schemes in Iran.
A senior official of Iran's Judiciary said on December 13, 2018, that the
former tycoon will be executed after he returns what he owes the Islamic
Republic.
While many ordinary criminals are swiftly put to death in Iran, Zanjani's
sentence has not been carried out and there are many theories as to why it is
being delayed.
Hadi Sadeqi, a deputy to the all-powerful Judiciary head told reporters that
part of "Zanjani's money is abroad, and currently not possible to repatriate
it," major Tehran news agencies reported at the time.
"People should not be impatient with carrying out Zanjani's death penalty. The
Judiciary does not want to lose the connection to his assets abroad," Sadeqi
asserted.
After months being out of the spotlight, Rahimi's tweet has once again
highlighted the case of the controversial tycoon.
Reacting to the tweet, Zanjani's attorney has denied that his client met
several MPs, noting, "There was only one meeting held in the presence of the
representatives of the government, Ministry of Intelligence, National Iranian
Oil Company (NIOC), and Tehran's deputy Prosecutor-General."
The meeting, the attorney has insisted, was held to follow up Zanjani's case,
and discuss his debt to the NIOC, as well as studying ways to pay it back.
Meanwhile, a lawmaker named as one of the legislators who have allegedly met
with Zanjani, has asserted that he knows nothing about such a meeting.
"I have not heard anything about a meeting between Zanjani and several MPs,"
conservative representative of the city of Najafabad to Majlis, Abolfazl
Aboutorabi (Abu Torabi) affirmed.
Aboutorabi is the same member of parliament who claimed recently that
intelligence agents had discovered three credit card readers with one trillion
rials (approximately $23.7 million) cash flow, and some hard currencies in
cash, as well as some gold at the oil minister's office.
The Ministry of Petroleum has dismissed Aboutorabi's allegations as baseless
and has filed a legal complaint against him.
The oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh belongs to President Hassan Rouhani’s
political circle and a target for Iran’s hardliners. Several analysts believe
that the imprisoned tycoon is being used or is playing a role in the latest
string of attacks on the oil minister.
(source:radiofarda.com)
PAKISTAN:
Mental health, psychological counseling imperative to curb child abuse: Valerie
Khan
Group Development Pakistan Executive Director Valerie Khan said mental health
and psychological counseling of individuals is imperative to curb child abuse
cases.
Valerie in an exclusive talk with APP said that there was dearth of education
and basic knowledge on child abusive and harassing activities which should be
imparted to children at the Primary level so that they might identify and
resist to such acts.
She added that the implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) would
definitely have decreased the level violence, ignorance and alleviated
extremism. "The incumbent government including its minister for human rights
has noble intent to end human rights violation at every level across the
country whereas they lack proper research on social problems and modern crisis
along with technical and psychological experts which would have eased their
endeavors," Valerie suggested.
She raised her concerns over capital punishment for perpetrators of child
abuse; however there was serious need for psychological treatment of both the
victim and accused of child abuse.
"There are trauma centers for psychological treatment of the victims of child
abuse but no one has ever paid attention to focus mental treatment of the
convicted which is regrettable and demands urgent attention of the
stakeholders," she added.
Valerie Khan expressed that early child marriage practice should be shunned at
every level as it was putting the lives of mothers in perils resulting into
increased mortalities and socio-economic pressure over the families.
"Pakistan has 2 way forwards: 1 to concentrate family planning and 2nd is to
reform education system including revalidation of both student and teacher in
order to yield desired development outcomes," she added.
To a question, she said, "Good governance demands contribution and efforts both
from civil and military institutions where no endeavour in silos could produce
any output and it is quite unethical and unjust to poke criticism one
institution for intervening in governance and state affairs." Referring to
minority rights, Valerie said the Constitution of Islamic Republic was the most
rigid one as it had incorporated rights of all the factions of the society
which required implementation to overcome the prevailing crisis.
She added that child labour should be banned where unemployed youth to be given
job opportunities where it was not the responsibility of the juvenile to bear
the burden of the economic needs. "There is need to understand that poverty
alleviation is only possible with the implementation of the existing laws,
socioeconomic empowerment, welfare budget and inclusion of non tax paying
cohort to the national exchequer," she maintained.
Valerie Khan went on to say that the provision of justice to human rights
violation victim in remote areas was possible through Union Council's
incorporation and police reforms in the process of reporting the incidents
would help ensure swift and required justice.
(source: urdupoint.com)
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