[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 12 GAZA: Hamas sentences drug dealers to death by firing squadThe accused were convicted earlier this year of smuggling tramadol, marijuana, and opium from Egypt via tunnels. A military court in the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday sentenced 2 Palestinian men, identified by their initials only, to execution by firing squad. The 2 men were sentenced to death in March after they were convicted of smuggling tramadol, marijuana, opium from Egypt via tunnels. However, at that time the means of their execution was not specified. The military court also sentenced 9 others to between 5 and 20 years in prison for involvement in drug dealing. Hamas is routinely condemned by human rights organisations and foreign governments for its use of the death penalty. Statistics compiled by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights state that at least 22 death sentences have been carried out in the besieged Gaza Strip since the Hamas movement won elections in 2006 and took unfettered control of the Strip following internecine fighting with Fatah militants in 2007. After Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar as its new Gaza-based political chief in February, many predicted that death penalties would increase under his rule. Sinwar is notorious for being Hamas' "spy master" and for his militant background. In 1988, Sinwar instigated an operation which resulted in the abduction and killing of 2 Israeli soldiers. His brother, Mohammed Sinwar, is the leader of the al-Qassam brigades - the Hamas military wing which captured Israeli soldier Corporal Gilat Shalit in 2006. Shalit was later released in a prisoner swap in 2011. In April, the Hamas government executed three suspected "Israel collaborators" by hanging after the killing of Mazen Fuqaha, a senior Hamas militant commander. Under Palestinian law, death sentences are not illegal, but all death sentences must be ratified by the Palestinian president before being carried out. However, the Hamas government in Gaza has carried out executions periodically without receiving approval from PA President Mahmoud Abbas, whose rival - and internationally recognised - administration is based in Ramallah in the central West Bank. (source: alarby.co.uk) INDIA: Supreme Court compares triple talaq to death penalty In a very strong observation, the Supreme Court has said that triple talaq is the worst and most undesirable form of ending a marriage among Muslims. The observations were made during a hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of triple talaq. Chief Justice of India, J S Khehar who is heading the Bench also went on to compare triple talaq to death penalty. While arguing the matter, the amicus curae informed the court that all over the world it is believed that if you say triple talaq 6 times, it means once. If a man says talaq thrice, it only means once, Salman Khurshid, the amicus curae said. I personally find triple talaq sinful, Khurshid also said while adding that he believes that anything sinful could not have been ordained by Islam. A sinful act like triple talaq could not be part of the Shariat he also told the court. The SC then asked him,"can anything sinful be taken as ordained by God and made into a law by men?" Something that is sinful in the eyes of God cannot be legal, Khurshid replied. The SC then sought to know how extensive the use of triple talaq was outside India. He replied that it is not practised in anyother country except in India. He then suggested to the SC that the pronouncement of triple talaq is one sitting should also be regarded as pronouncement of talaq one time. This would solve 90 % of the problem that get created by instant divorce through triple talaq in one sitting. The SC then sought to know if triple talaq is India specific, then what led to its repeal in other countries. He replied whatever is happening in India may have happened there and this must have led to its repeal. (source: oneindia.com) *** Is there a viable alternative to the death penalty? Since the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence to the 4 remaining convicts in the Delhi bus rape of December 16, 2012, there have been 2 categories of extreme reaction from the public - one is the cheerleading of the death penalty, and the other is disgust that such a punishment continues to exist. Among those who believe the death penalty is wrong, there are 3 kinds - those who take issue with the arbitrariness with which a crime is deemed "rarest of rare", those who worry about the innocent being punished with death, and those who believe the state should not have the right to take a life away. Even as the media reports on the reactions of the convicts and the plans of their lawyers to file review petitions, I find myself unable to disagree with the death penalty in a case where the involvement of the culprits have been proven beyond all
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., FLA., ALA., LA., KY.. S.DAK., USA
May 12 TEXAS: Deadly gamesThe Court of Criminal Appeals must treat executions with a new sense of skepticism. How can you tell if a criminal is too mentally disabled to merit the death penalty? If you're a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, you look at the prevailing standards of psychology and medicine. If you're a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA), you look at his ability to hustle pool. This mismatched standard has the state's highest criminal court rehearing the death sentence of Bobby Moore, who was convicted for shooting a grocery store employee during a robbery in 1980. Moore's lawyers have argued that he is mentally disabled and executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. In a 5-3 decision released in March, the Supreme Court found that the CCA failed to consider current clinical standards when determining Moore's intelligence and relied too much on invented standards that have no real basis in medicine or law. Among those invented standards were the facts that Moore "lived on the streets, mowed lawns, and played pool for money." Now the CCA is going to reconsider Moore's death sentence, and we encourage them to listen to the dissenting judge who had it right the whole time: Judge Elsa Alcala. Over the past several capital punishment cases to face the CCA, Alcala has refused to shy away from pointing out the flaws in our state's death penalty process. In fact, the former prosecutor and trial judge has twice called for the CCA to address the underlying constitutionality of the death penalty itself. There are 3 key legal arguments to consider: Is the death penalty in Texas unconstitutionally arbitrary because race, rather than violence, is a better predictor of its application? Is the death penalty in Texas unconstitutionally cruel because it essentially requires convicts on death row to sit in solitary confinement for years, if not decades? Is the death penalty in Texas unconstitutionally unusual because, since 2010, capital punishment is practiced in only 16 counties out of more than 3,000 across the United States? Beyond the legal realm of Alcala's expertise, Texas also needs to consider the deep questions of policy and morality wrapped up in the application of government-administered death. Innocent people like Anthony Graves have been rescued from death row. Others, like Cameron Todd Willingham, were executed while questions of guilt still lingered. There's no undoing a mistaken execution, yet Texas persists. The death penalty doesn't save money - the constitutionally compelled appeals process is often more expensive than life in prison. And there's no conclusive evidence that it does a better job at deterring crime. In fact, states without capital punishment routinely have lower murder rates. That's why the rest of western civilization has abandoned the practice. Countries like Iran, China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia sit among Texas' peers in executing criminals - not exactly the company the Lone Star State should want to keep. Questions of life and death aren't a game - pool hustling or otherwise. Nor should executions be treated like a political pawn. The CCA and the entire state of Texas need to address the death penalty with a new and serious skepticism. (source: Houston Chronicle) Jury Clears the Prosecutor Who Sent Cameron Todd Willingham to death rowJohn Jackson did not commit misconduct in 1992 case, a jury finds. After a trial of more than 2 weeks, a Texas jury on Wednesday found that former state prosecutor John Jackson had not committed misconduct in the 1992 death penalty trial of Cameron Todd Willingham. By an 11-to-1 vote, a Navarro County jury rejected claims by the State Bar of Texas that Jackson made false statements, concealed evidence favorable to Willingham's defense and obstructed justice. The state bar had accused Jackson of failing to disclose to Willingham's defense lawyers that jailhouse snitch Johnny Webb had been promised favorable treatment on an aggravated robbery conviction in return for testimony at Willingham's trial. Webb testified at Willingham's trial that while he and Willingham were in the Navarro County Jail Willingham confessed to setting a fire that killed his 3 daughters. In 2014, Webb recanted that testimony, saying Willingham never confessed and that he had testified after Jackson promised him leniency on his own criminal charge. Jackson testified during his trial that he had made no deal with Webb. He said he only made efforts to obtain a reduction of Webb's conviction from aggravated robbery to simple robbery and an early release from prison because Webb was being threatened in prison. Willingham was executed on Feb. 17, 2004 for setting the fire that killed his daughters on Dec. 23, 1991 in their Corsicana, Texas home. The prosecution's
