[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARIZ., CALIF., USA
April 28 ARIZONA: Court consideration challenge that Arizona's death penalty law too broad, applied arbitrarily A judge has scheduled a May 8 hearing for arguments on a challenge that contends Arizona's death penalty law is unconstitutionally arbitrary. The Arizona Republic (http://goo.gl/wf0EuA) reports that the challenge contends the law is unconstitutional because it lists numerous possible circumstances when the ultimate penalty could apply, giving prosecutors too much leeway. The motion being considered in Maricopa County Superior Court cites a 1972 ruling in which the U.S. Supreme Court said states' laws must distinguish between cases for which a death sentence can be sought and ones in which it can't. Arizona's so-called aggravated factors that could make a defendant subject to a possible death sentence have gradually increased to 14. According to the defense motion, nearly all first-degree murder cases now fit under one factor or another. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: After 13 years on death row, Redding man's sentence overturned; guilty verdict stays After nearly 13 years on death row, a Redding man's sentence was overturned Monday by the California Supreme Court, which ruled that he was improperly barred from calling an expert witness. The court upheld the 2002 murder conviction of Paul Gordon Smith Jr. but said his death penalty sentence was improper. Because we cannot say, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the penalty determination would have been the same had the jury heard from defendant's expert, we must reverse the penalty judgment, said the 7-member court in a unanimous 58-page opinion authored by Justice Carol A. Corrigan. The Shasta County District Attorney's Office now has the option of retrying the trial's penalty phase or allowing Smith, now 37, to serve the rest of his life in state prison. Smith, who has been on death row at San Quentin State Prison, was found guilty of the gruesome torture and prolonged beating death of 20-year-old Lora Sinner while they were camping in 1998 in the Trinity Alps. 3 others camping with Smith and Sinner were charged, but they confessed to the killing and testified against Smith at his 2002 trial. Kathy Moreno, the Berkeley defense lawyer who argued for Smith before the high court, said Monday, It is a really deserving case. Any court would have reversed that penalty based not only on the exclusion of evidence but the strong case in mitigation. She was referring to the testimony of numerous witnesses who detailed Smith???s difficult life as a child, including prolonged molestation at a very young age by his father and his subsequent journey through multiple placements in the social services system, where he encountered further physical abuse and repeated disappointment in seeking a stable family environment. At his trial, prosecutors argued that Smith should be executed, citing Smith's long history of brutal behavior, including the savage beating of a guard and escape attempt from Shasta County jail on the eve of his trial. Smith has shown himself to be violent and dangerous in every setting, and he will continue to be so now and into the future, a prosecutor stated in closing arguments. Smith's lawyers in 2002 tried to rebut the argument by calling James Park, a former San Quentin associate warden, as an expert witness to testify that life-without-parole prisoners are watched at all times by an armed guard from a secure location, that no guard enters prisoner areas unless accompanied by another guard, and that prisoners who behave in a dangerous manner are placed in solitary confinement. But Shasta Superior Court Judge James Ruggiero sustained the prosecution's objection to allowing Park to testify. The judge ruled that evidence of what it's like to be in prison was not admissible, including state prison security measures. Ruggiero reasoned that the evidence had no relevance to the issues of Smith's character and culpability or to any aggravating or mitigating circumstances. However, the Supreme Court said Monday that evidence of prison life is admissible if offered for the purpose of rebutting the prosecution; it ruled that Park should have been allowed to testify. Keeping Park off the witness stand significantly enhanced the impact of the prosecution's evidence on Smith's future dangerousness. Such an unfair advantage on the critical question of penalty offends the fundamental principles of due process, the justices declared. (source: Sacramento Bee) * Prosecutors to seek death penalty against man accused in Suisun City girl's 2013 slaying Solano County prosecutors announced Monday they will seek the death penalty against a Fairfield man accused in the February 2013 slaying of a young Suisun City girl. The announcement, made by prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray, came during a brief hearing in
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 28 SAUDI ARABIAexecution Saudi Executed for Murder Saudi Arabia beheaded a citizen on Tuesday after convicting him of murdering a compatriot, the interior ministry said. Faris al-Qahtani was found guilty of shooting dead Hadi al-Yami and stealing his money and car, the ministry said in a statement carried by official Saudi Press Agency. His execution in the southwestern province of Abha was the 69th in the kingdom so far this year. That compares with 87 in the whole of 2014 in what Amnesty International has called a macabre spike in the kingdom's use of the death penalty. The London-based human rights group ranked Saudi Arabia among the top 3 executioners in the world last year. Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law. (source: Naharnet.com) SOUTH KOREA: South Korean ferry captain's sentence revised to life in prison for homicide Revised sentence follows November verdict of 36 years for captain of Sewol, which sank last year with the deaths of more than 300 people A South Korean appeals court has handed down a toughened sentence of life in prison to the captain of the Sewol ferry which sank last year with the deaths of more than 300 people. The revised sentence follows a November verdict by a district court that sentenced Lee Joon-seok to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning passengers in need. Victims??? relatives criticised that sentence at the time, saying it was too lenient. Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Lee. Lee's sentence was increased on Tuesday because the Gwangju high court convicted him on homicide charges, according to court spokesman Jeon Ilho. In the November ruling Lee was acquitted of homicide. The appellate court sentenced 14 other navigation crew members to 18 months to 12 years in prison, Jeon said. In November they had received sentences of 5 to 30 years in prison. Jeon said both prosecutors and the crew members would have one week to appeal the verdicts. Most of the victims were teenagers traveling to a southern island for a school trip. A total of 295 bodies have been retrieved but 9 others are missing. Many student survivors have said they were repeatedly ordered over a loudspeaker to stay on the sinking ship and that they didn't remember there any evacuation orders made by crewmembers before they helped each other to flee the ship. Lee has said he issued an evacuation order. A year after the April 2014 sinking, the South Korean government is still reeling from lingering public criticism of its handling of the incident, the country's deadliest maritime disaster in decades. Violence occurred during a Seoul rally led by relatives and their supporters earlier this month, leaving dozens of people injured. Last week South Korea formally announced it would salvage the ship from the ocean floor off the country's south-west coast, in an operation estimated by experts to cost US$91m-137m and take 12 to 18 months. Authorities blame excessive cargo, improper storage, botched negligence and other negligence for the sinking, and have arrested about 140 people. Critics say higher-level officials have not been made accountable. (source: The Guardian) HUNGARY: Hungary's Orban Revives Debate on Death Penalty After Murder Hungary should have a debate about the introduction of the death penalty, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, echoing the radical nationalist Jobbik party whose popularity has surged at the expense of Orban's Fidesz. Hungary should keep the death penalty on the agenda as life sentences and the introduction of a 3-strikes rule are proving to be insufficient deterrents, Orban told a news conference on Tuesday. He was responding to a question about the April 22 murder of a tobacco shop saleswoman, which local media covered extensively. Orban's embrace of a debate about capital punishment, which is illegal in the 28-member European Union, is the latest move embracing some of Jobbik's agenda to arrest its momentum, according to analyst Attila Juhasz of Political Capital. The premier has also advocated the use of the military to control immigration and denounced what he described as attempts by the EU's executive in Brussels to colonize Hungary. These sorts of moves are counter-productive because they only legitimize Jobbik's agenda for the mainstream, Juhasz, a Budapest-based analyst at the research institute, said by phone. Orban is latching on to an issue most Hungarians may support and hoping that this will boost his party's popularity. Support for Orban's party has declined since it won its 2nd 2/3 parliamentary majority in 4 years and triumphed in municipal and European Parliament elections last year. Fidesz has slid in polls as the government battled corruption allegations, faced street protests against a spate of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 28 INDONESIAimpending executions Bali 9: Indonesia tells Julie Bishop appeals will not delay executions Foreign affairs minister says a letter on Monday night from her Indonesian counterpart 'gave no indication that president Widodo would change his mind' and grant clemency Indonesia has told Australia it will execute the 2 Bali 9 ringleaders, despite desperate last-minute appeals by the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop. Bishop received a letter from her Indonesian counterpart on Monday night but it offered no hope of a reprieve for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who are believed to be living out their final 24 hours. They gave no indication that president [Joko] Widodo would change his mind and grant the clemency that we have sought, Bishop told the 9 Network on Tuesday. Indonesia has not said exactly when the pair will face the firing squad but it is understood the men's families have been told to say their last goodbyes by 2pm on Tuesday (5pm AEST) before the executions are carried out on Nusa Kambangan, central Java, after midnight. Bishop again pleaded with Indonesia to delay the executions after the constitutional court said it would hear an application by the pair, but not until 12 May. She said the men must not be executed until that case is heard, and until serious legal questions about the integrity of the men's trial were resolved. Both these legal processes could impact on the outcome, she said. They reflect the integrity of the sentencing process and the clemency process, and so we urge the Indonesian government to allow these legal processes to proceed, because of course executions are irrevocable. Bishop said she was in regular contact with the condemned men and their families in what was a raw and difficult time. She defended Tony Abbott, after celebrities produced a video calling on him to show leadership, step up and save our boys, and travel to Indonesia to apply pressure on Indonesia. Clearly, if travelling to Indonesia would make a difference, we would have gone there, Bishop said. But that's not the advice that we receive from people who sadly have been involved in these situations before, and so I will continue to do what our experts say is the best we can do - to make representations to my counterpart. She said the prime minister had spoken to Widodo about the case on a number of occasions, most recently in Singapore. (source: The Guardian) * Execution date won't be announced - Indonesia The Indonesia Attorney General's Office (AGO) has said it will not officially announce the date of the planned execution of nine death row inmates until it has taken place. The AGO has discussed it and we have decided that announcing the execution date before it is conducted would disturb officials assigned to carry out the process. The execution date will be announced afterwards, AGO spokesperson Tony Tribagus Spontana told reporters at the AGO headquarters in South Jakarta. Tony explained that before the executions, the families of the 9 convicts were given the opportunity to visit them on the Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, every day until 8 p.m. Furthermore, he said the AGO had already received the convicts' wishes regarding where they would like to be buried; only Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines and the 2 Australian Bali 9 drug ring members, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, wished for their bodies to be returned to their home countries. (source: inquirer.net) * Mother of death row Australian says he'll be executed at midnight The mother of an Australian drug trafficker on death row in Indonesia said on Tuesday he would be executed by firing squad at midnight. I won't see him again. They are going to take him at midnight and shoot him, Raji Sukumaran, the mother of Myuran Sukumaran, tearfully told reporters. Sukumaran is one of eight foreigners due to be put to death imminently in Indonesia. Nationals from Brazil, the Philippines and Nigeria are also among the group. Preparations are under way for the executions on the prison island of Nusakambangan, where Jakarta puts condemned prisoners to death, but authorities have refused to disclose when the executions will take place. I am asking the government not to kill him. Please, president, don't kill him today, she said, appealing to Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who has been a vocal supporter of using the death penalty against drug traffickers. Call off the execution. Please don't take my son. (source: news24.com) ** Indonesia To Execute 4 Nigerians Early On WednesdayIndonesian court finally ruled a decision to execute 4 Nigerian citizens, ignoring pleas from the UN head, Amnesty International and foreign leaders. Inmates will be executed this week early on Wednesday, together with 5 other foreigners sentenced
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., ALA., MO., OKLA.
April 28 TEXASimpending execution Texas inmate asks US supreme court to block execution over lack of evidence Robert Pruett alleges he was framed by other inmates in killing of guard Daniel Nagle but prosecutors said Pruett was upset over disciplinary infraction A Texas inmate who was convicted of murder based on testimony from other prisoners has asked the US supreme court to block his scheduled execution on Tuesday night. No physical evidence linked Robert Pruett to the murder of Daniel Nagle, a corrections officer stabbed with a sharpened metal shank inside his office in a prison near Corpus Christi in 1999. Not a single iota of physical evidence connected Mr Pruett to this crime, lawyer David Dow said in a federal court filing. But several inmates testified that they either saw Pruett attack Nagle or heard him talk about planning the assault. Some were granted favourable treatment including recommendations for early parole as a reward for their testimony. Prisoners willing to testify on Pruett's behalf backed out for fear of reprisals. Only 2 weeks earlier, Nagle had addressed a rally at the Texas statehouse and demanded a pay raise for corrections officers, warning that staff shortages were so acute that lives were in danger. Pruett, now 35, argued that he was framed by others who wanted Nagle dead because they feared he was about to expose a drug smuggling and money laundering ring at the prison. 3 days after the murder there was an 80-strong riot in the prison. The following month, 3 guards at the same unit were charged with money laundering on behalf of inmates. The Texas Observer wrote in 2000: About a month before his death, Nagle's name was reportedly discovered on a 'kite', a clandestine note from 1 inmate to another. The warden reportedly warned Nagle that the note was a hit list, and that one or another prison gang wanted the officer dead. The prosecution contended that Pruett killed Nagle in a fit of pique because the officer disciplined him for eating a packed lunch in an unauthorised area. The torn-up disciplinary report was found next to his body. DNA testing on the murder weapon was inconclusive. Pruett had a cut on his hand, which he said came from a gym accident. He was 20 at the time of the murder and serving a 99-year sentence for being an accomplice, aged 15, in a killing committed by his father. He was convicted and sentenced to death by a jury in 2002 and has mounted numerous unsuccessful appeals. The federal 5th circuit court denied an appeal last Friday, but acknowledged that trial testimony had disclosed problems with the inmates' credibility. The case has attracted international attention and was featured in a BBC documentary, Life and Death Row. Pruett has a website on which he has posted his autobiography and repeatedly insisted he is innocent. Pruett would be the 7th inmate executed in Texas this year. His death had been expected to use up Texas's remaining supply of pentobarbital, a sedative it employs as the sole drug in its lethal injection protocol. The state has struggled to source fresh stocks this year but the planned execution of Richard Vasquez was stayed last week, suggesting that prison officials will be able to carry out Tuesday's judicial killing and the scheduled death of triple-murderer Derrick Charles on 12 May. The state's ability to proceed with the 2 executions it has scheduled in June is less certain. A spokesman for the Texas department of criminal justice declined to comment on drug supplies. (source: The Guardian) * Texas inmate asks US Supreme Court to block execution Attorneys for a man convicted of stabbing a Texas corrections officer to death over a disagreement about a peanut butter sandwich are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block his execution. 35-year-old Robert Pruett is scheduled for lethal injection Tuesday evening in Huntsville for killing Daniel Nagle in 1999. The 37-year-old officer was working at the McConnell Unit about 85 miles southeast of San Antonio where Pruett was serving a 99-year sentence for his role in a Houston-area killing. Evidence at Pruett's trial showed he was upset Nagle had written a disciplinary report after the prisoner tried to take a peanut butter sandwich into a recreation yard in violation of rules. Pruett's lawyers insist he's innocent and that another inmate or corrupt prison guards were responsible for Nagle's death. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Day 228 of Gov. McCrory denying justice to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown Monday marks the 228th day that Governor Pat McCrory has refused to grant a pardon of innocence to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, the two Robeson County men who both spent 31 years in prison for a rape and murder they did not commit. McCollum and Brown, both mentally disabled, were freed September 4 of last year after the N.C. Innocence
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 28 IRANexecutions 9 Prisoners Were Executed in Shiraz 9 death row prisoners were hanged in Adel Abad prison in Shiraz on Wednesday April 22. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), among these 9 prisoners, three were charged with murder and 6 others were charged with drug related crimes, three of whom were the citizens of Afghanistan. There is no information regarding the identity of these prisoners by the time this report is being edited and official authorities have not publicized anything regarding their identity, charges and execution of the sentences. (source: Human Rights Activists New Agency) INDONESIAexecutions 'Bali 9' pair among 8 executed for drug offences in IndonesiaAustralians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumuran among 8 executed as high-level campaign for clemency failed to sway Indonesian president The Indonesian government has executed 8 people for drug offences, including 2 Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumuran, who were the subject of a years-long campaign for clemency. The development marks the end of years of campaigning to spare the men, who were sentenced to death in 2006 for their part in the Bali 9 heroin-smuggling ring. Also executed were 4 Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian. All had been convicted of drug crimes. A 9th prisoner scheduled to face the firing squad, Philippines woman Mary Jane Veloso, received a last-minute temporary reprieve. Hundreds had gathered at the port of Cilacap on Tuesday to watch lawyers and families make their final visits to the prisoners. Police were forced to use dogs to clear the heavy media pack when Chan's and Sukumaran's visibly distressed relatives arrived. Sukumaran's sister, Brintha, collapsed in the melee and had to be carried into the port office by her father, Sam. Speaking after their visit, Sukumaran's brother, Chinthu, again urged Indonesia to show mercy. Please don't let my mum and my sister have to bury my brother, he said. Through tears, his mother, Raji, said: I won't see my son again and they are going to take him tonight and shoot him and he is healthy and he is beautiful and he has a lot of compassion for other people. Please president, please don't kill him today. Please don't. Call off the execution. Please don't kill my son. Please don't. Chan's brother, Andrew, said the family had gone through torture. I saw today something that no other family should ever have to go to. 9 families inside a prison saying goodbye to their loved ones, he said. There has to be a moratorium on the death penalty, no family should endure it. Because now the family is going to have a grieving process for the rest of their life. Angela Muxfeldt, cousin of the Brazilian, Rodrigo Gularte, said in the hours before his execution the 42-year-old was the calmest she had seen him in 3 months. He is calm. He doesn't want I cry and doesn't believe execution will happen, she said, visibly emotional. Lawyers for Gularte were still lodging an appeal on Tuesday, claiming he suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and had been unfit to stand trial when sentenced to death for cocaine smuggling in 2005. Chan and Sukumaran, too, have outstanding legal challenges, including a 12 May constitutional appeal on 12 May to a presidential decision in January to deny the men clemency, reportedly made without having even reviewed their files. The others to be executed who were executed were Raheem Agbaje Salami (also known as Jamiu Owolabi Abashin), Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Martin Anderson and Okwuduli Oyatanze. Veloso, who was arrested in Yogyakarta in 2010 with 2.6kg of heroin in her suitcase, was granted a stay of execution, after the woman she claims set her up voluntarily surrendered to police on Tuesday. Maria Kristina Sergio, who was wanted for human trafficking and illegal recruitment in relation to the Veloso case, handed herself into police in the Philippines province of Nueva Ecija on Tuesday morning. Veloso claims that Sergio enticed her to Malaysia with a job offer, where an associate known as Ike bought her a new suitcase and instructed her to run an errand to Indonesia, where police found the heroin stitched into the lining of her bag. Sergio has consistently denied Veloso's account. A police inspector quoted by Indonesian media said Sergio had surrendered to seek assistance for reason that she has been receiving death threats. The other 8 were tied to wooden stakes and shot by 12 marksmen, 3 of whom carried live rounds. They aimed at crosses marked over the prisoners' hearts. Months of high-level diplomatic representations and high-profile campaigns failed to sway the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, who has described narcotics as a national emergency and pledged to clear the country's death row of drug offenders. 6 people, 5 of them foreigners, were shot in a 1st round of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA.
April 28 TEXASstay of impending execution Texas calls off Robert Pruett execution with just hours to spare The planned execution of Robert Pruett has been stayed to allow for more testing of evidence, about 3 hours before the Texas prisoner was scheduled to be given a lethal injection for the murder of a guard in 1999. Pruett, 35, was convicted in 2002 of killing of Daniel Nagle, a 37-year-old corrections officer who was stabbed to death in his office at a prison near Corpus Christi. The prosecution argued that Pruett murdered Nagle in retaliation for being punished for eating a packed lunch in an unauthorised area. The disciplinary report was found torn up by the guard's body. Blood on the report was tested for DNA, which was found to have come from Nagle. More DNA testing was conducted in 2013, and the results were inconclusive. Pruett's attorneys argued that the evidence had been damaged by being improperly stored but future, more advanced DNA testing techniques might reveal more details that would allow him to prove his innocence and potentially identify the true perpetrator. On Tuesday afternoon a judge agreed to halt the execution, scheduled for 6pm local time, to allow for more DNA testing of evidence. David Dow, Pruett's attorney, said that Bert Richardson, who is now on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals but has previously issued rulings on the case as a district judge, withdrew the trial date to allow for more testing of evidence including the murder weapon - a sharpened metal shank with a piece of tape used as a handle - using currently available technology. Pruett claimed that he had been framed by people worried that Nagle was about to expose corruption in the facility. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and the prosecution???s case was based mainly on testimony from other inmates, some of whom were given favourable treatment as a result. Pruett has come close to death several times before only for stays to be granted. At the time of the killing he was serving a 99-year sentence for being an accomplice, aged 15, in a murder carried out by his father. An appeal was rejected by the federal 5th circuit court last Friday, but Pruett had several appeals pending, including at the US supreme court. (source: The Guardian) FLORIDA: Mentally Ill Florida Man Taken Off Death Row A mentally ill man on death row for killing the policeman who tried to search his shopping cart should not be executed, the Florida Supreme Court ruled. The Aug. 19, 2009, altercation occurred as Humberto Delgado Jr. pushed a shopping cart full of some belongings to a veterans' hospital in Tampa where he hoped to find shelter. Delgado, who used a cane because of chronic knee pain, had walked 15 miles over 8 hours in the rain when Cpl. Michael Roberts of the Tampa Police Department saw him at 9:58 p.m. in an area known for shopping-cart theft. Though Delgado showed his driver's license and a veteran identification card, the officer began searching his shopping cart and the backpack within. Worried that Roberts would find the four firearms inside that backpack, Delgado tried to run away. Roberts used his Taser, a fistfight broke out, and Delagado shot and killed Roberts. Delgado called his uncle and asked for forgiveness and talked about killing himself because he had shot a police officer. A K-9 unit ultimately apprehended Delgado hiding in a woodpile, and a jury that heard evidence of Delgado's history mental illness convicted him and sentenced him to death. Born in the Virgin Islands, Delgado's first job had been as a police officer but his cycle of extreme paranoia and abnormal behavior worsened after he refused an invitation to join the Masons, the Florida Supreme Court said. Believing that the Masons were conspiring to kill him, Delgado split up with his wife, left the police force, and began wandering the streets saying that the rapper 50 Cent was trying to kill him. Fearing that people were following him, Delgado tried to keep his children out of school, and forced them to sleep on the floor or lie down while riding in vehicles in case people were looking through the windows. Delgado would also tell family members that there were demons outside who wanted his sons' special blood or that his children's legs were goat legs and he had to cut them off because the legs were evil. He was hospitalized several times over the years, during which time he also joined the military. It was while hospitalized at Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg when doctors diagnosed him with Bipolar I Disorder with psychotic features, according to the ruling. In that same stay, Delgado tested negative for any type of drug or alcohol intoxication. 1 expert at Delgado's trial opined that delusional thinking would always be present, but that Delgado's medication at that time controlled the intensity of his
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 28 INDONESIAexecutions RI executes 8 drug convicts Defying intense pressure from the international community, the government executed 8 death row prisoners early on Wednesday on Nusakambangan prison island near Cilacap in Central Java. We've carried out the executions, said an Attorney General's Office (AGO) official, talking to the press on condition of anonymity. The 8 were Indonesian Zainal Abidin, Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte, Nigerians Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Raheem Agbaje Salami and Okwudili Oyatanze, Ghanaian Martin Anderson. Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines was spared after a woman who allegedly recruited her to act as a drug courier gave himself up to police in the Philippines on Tuesday. The executions were carried out at 12:30 a.m., Suhendro Putro, funeral director with the Javanese Christian Church (GKJ) in Cilacap, said in a short message service. AGO spokesman Tony Spontana said the government had agreed to the final requests fielded by 2 Australian death-row convicts for their bodies to be flown to Australia for burial. A Cilacap Police officer said that after the executions, prayers were said for each person according to their respective religion. The executions went well, without any disruptions, he said. The AGO stated that the executions had been carried out after it had heard all 8 convicts' final requests. The execution was the 2nd round after the 1st was carried out on Jan. 18, during which 6 inmates from Indonesia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Nigeria, Vietnam and Malawi were killed by firing squad (source: The Jakarta Post) * Chan, Sukumaran executed by Indonesia Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have been executed by Indonesia. The Jakarta Post, quoting an Attorney General's Office official, says 8 of the 9 prisoners on death row have been shot dead by firing squad. Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines was spared. The Bali 9 drug smuggling ring leaders were executed by firing squad on the island of Nusakambangan just before 12.30am local time (0330 AEST) on Wednesday. We've carried out the executions, an AGO official, talking to the press on condition of anonymity, said, The Jakarta Post reported. The others executed were Indonesian Zainal Abidin, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte, Nigerians Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Raheem Agbaje Salami and Okwudili Oyatanze, and Ghanaian Martin Anderson. Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines was spared after a woman who allegedly recruited her to act as a drug courier gave himself up to police in the Philippines on Tuesday. Indonesian TV networks TV One and Metro TV are reporting the executions were done at 25 minutes past midnight. Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 34, are the first Australians to be executed since December 2, 2005, when 25-year-old Melbourne man Van Tuong Nguyen was hanged in Singapore after being caught at Changi Airport with almost 400g of heroin. The families spent their final hours with their loved ones on Nusakambangan on Tuesday before returning to the port town of Cilacap. Chan and Sukumaran were allowed to have their chosen spiritual guides with them in their last moments after Indonesian authorities had a change of heart. Salvation Army minister David Soper and minister Christie Buckingham were to give Chan and Sukumaran solace and their last rites. Australia's Consul General to Bali, Majell Hind, and lawyer Julian McMahon are also on Nusakambangan for official duties. Ms Hind will receive the bodies of Chan and Sukumaran and take legal responsibility for them on the island. They will be driven to Jakarta by local ambulance with an Australian consular officer following the execution. The Australians' bodies will then be flown back to Sydney. A Cilacap police officer has told the Post prayers were said for each person according to their respective religion after the executions. The executions went well, without any disruptions, he said. The AGO stated that the executions had been carried out after it had heard all 8 convicts final requests. Michael Chan had earlier tweeted: Counting down the minutes until I loose a great Friend and Courageous brother.!! You will never be forgotten by so many. (source: The Australian) BANGLADESH: Bangladesh's Executions an Affront to JusticePolitical violence and repression are at levels not seen in decades. Last week, thousands of Bangladeshis poured into the streets to applaud the execution of an Islamist party official on charges of crimes against humanity linked to the country's 1971 war of independence. They were joined by supporters of the country's largest Islamist political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, whose members protested against the verdict. Last week's protests were not a unique event: There have been more than 92 days of political unrest this year alone, which the
