[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 28 PAKISTAN: Pakistan Abducts Own Citizens, Muzzles Rights Watchdog - U.N. Pakistan must address a catalog of human rights failings including state-sponsored abductions and a death penalty that amounts to torture, but its national watchdog is muzzled, the U.N. Human Rights Committee said on Thursday. Human Rights Minister Kamran Michael defended Pakistan's record before the committee earlier this month, but members of the committee said his delegation had given few responses to their questions and very general answers. They were also concerned at a no-show by the chairman of Pakistan's National Commission for Human Rights, who was allegedly barred from traveling to Geneva to meet them and was not able to probe wrongdoing, they said. "The Commission is prevented from fully cooperating with United Nations human rights mechanisms, cannot inquire into the practices of the intelligence agencies, and is not authorized to undertake full inquiries into reports of human rights violations by members of the armed forces," the U.N. committee report said. Pakistani officials in Islamabad could not immediately be reached for comment on the committee's findings. At the top of a long list of human rights concerns were Pakistan's renewed use of the death penalty, its blasphemy laws, and "enforced disappearances" and extrajudicial killings. Enforced disappearances, seen in tribal areas and Baluchistan for the past 15 years, have become widespread across Pakistan, committee member Olivier de Frouville told reporters. "This is an admitted fact even within the country that this is carried out by agents of the state," he said, adding that the government's own investigations were insufficient. A high number of people were allegedly in secret detention in military internment centers, the committee's report said. Killings were allegedly perpetrated by the police, military and security forces but there was no law explicitly against such practices. The committee also lambasted Pakistan's widespread use of hanging since it lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in 2014, following an attack on a school in which more than 150 people, mainly children, were killed. Death sentences were passed on mentally disabled people and suspects who were minors at the time of the crime, and the method of execution amounted to torture. "There have been reports of botched executions, failed executions, with grave consequences on physical integrity," de Frouville said. Pakistan has executed 468 prisoners since 2014 and has 1,500 people on death row, the report said. Capital punishment was mandatory under blasphemy laws, which often led to false accusations and "mob vengeance", the committee said, calling for those laws to be repealed. (source: Reuters) CHINA: Man gets death penalty for killing 19, including own parents, in pickaxe massacre A man was sentenced to death Friday for murdering 19 people, including 3 children and his own parents, according to a local court in southwest China's Yunnan Province. The people's court of Huize county found Yang Qingpei guilty of murdering his parents in their home in Yema village on Sept. 28 last year after they refused to give him money. Fearing he would be discovered, Yang killed 17 villagers with a pickaxe and fled to Yunnan's provincial capital Kunming. Police arrested Yang the following day. Yang, who was born in 1989, pleaded guilty to all charges and apologized to the relatives of the dead when he went on trial on July 19. He accepted the sentence and said he will not appeal. (source: Xinhua) IRAN: Iran must not squander opportunity to end executions for drug-related offences Iranian lawmakers must not miss a historic opportunity to reject the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences and save the lives of thousands of people across the country, said Amnesty International and Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation today. In the coming weeks, Iran's parliament is expected to vote on a bill that amends Iran's anti-narcotics law, but fails to abolish the death penalty for non-lethal drug-related offences as is required by international law. "Instead of abolishing the death penalty for drug-related offences, the Iranian authorities are preparing to adopt a deeply disappointing piece of legislation, which will continue to fuel Iran's execution machine and help maintain its position as one of the world's top executioners," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. The 2 organizations are calling on Iran's parliament to urgently amend the proposed legislation to bring it into line with Iran's obligations under international human rights law, which absolutely prohibits use of the death penalty for non-lethal crimes. Over the past 2 years, while this legislation was under discussion, numerous senior Iranian
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., OHIO, MO., NEV., USA
July 28 TEXASexecution S.A. man executed after Supreme Court rejects bid for stay A San Antonio man was executed Thursday night for killing a woman in 2004 after a last-minute request for a stay to the Supreme Court was rejected. TaiChin Preyor, 46, had been on death row for 13 years after a Bexar County jury convicted him of killing Jami Tackett, 24, in a drug-related attack. Preyor was pronounced dead at 9:22 p.m., about 20 minutes after a lethal dose of Pentobarbital was sent through the veins of both of his arms. In a brief final statement, Preyor said, "First and foremost, I'd like to say, 'Justice has never advanced by taking a human life,' by Coretta Scott King. Lastly, to my wife and to my kids, I love y'all forever and always. That's it." Neither Preyor's nor Tackett's relatives were present for the execution, just 4 journalists and some corrections officers. Preyor is the 5th inmate to be executed in Texas this year, and the 16th nationally, according to data provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Earlier Thursday, Cate Stetson, an attorney representing Preyor said via email that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied an appeal and stay for her client, just hours before he was to be executed. Preyor's lawyers had argued that his appeals should be reviewed more fairly because poor legal representation had tainted his case. After that bid was rejected, Stetson then filed a petition seeking a stay from the nation's highest court. That request to Justice Samuel Alito was denied some time after 8 p.m. On Feb. 26, 2004, Preyor said he went to Tackett's Southeast Side apartment to buy drugs and that he defended himself when attacked by Tackett and her friend, Jason Garza, 20. Preyor told police he "poked" Tackett with a knife to defend himself. Preyor was arrested in the parking lot of the Grove Park Apartments in the 2500 block of Goliad Road near Interstate 37 South after he returned to the scene to look for his car keys, according to court documents. He had been covered in Tackett's blood. Tackett, whose throat was slashed, was found when her neighbors heard her screams. Prosecutors told the Bexar County jury that heard the case that Tackett also suffered defensive wounds to her hand and forearm and had cuts on her face and abdomen. Defense attorneys argued that Preyor went to Tackett's house to buy drugs from her and that she and Garza attacked Preyor when he arrived, and intended to rob him. He told police that he pulled a knife and "poked" Tackett with the weapon in an attempt to defend himself. Witnesses testified during the trial that Tackett's throat and windpipe were severed, and that she bled to death in her apartment. Neighbors heard the screams, and Garza, who was wounded in the attack, managed to escape and call 911. Preyor left the scene. He was arrested when he returned to get his keys. (source: Houston Chronicle) ** Texas executes man who claimed his lawyers committed fraudTexas carried out its 5th execution of the year Thursday evening, putting to death TaiChin Preyor in the 2004 murder of a San Antonio woman. After more than 12 years on death row, a San Antonio man convicted in a fatal stabbing was executed Thursday night. It was Texas' 5th execution of the year. TaiChin Preyor, 46, had filed a flurry of appeals in the weeks leading up to his execution date, claiming his trial lawyer never looked into evidence of an abusive childhood and his previous appellate counsel - a disbarred attorney paired with a real estate and probate lawyer who relied on Wikipedia in her legal research - committed fraud on the court. But he lost all of the appeals, with the U.S. Supreme Court issuing a final ruling in the case more than 2 hours after his execution was originally set to begin. At 9:03 p.m., he was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital in Texas' death chamber and pronounced dead 19 minutes later, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In his final words, he mentioned his love for his wife and kids and cited a Coretta Scott King quote, saying, "Justice has never advanced by taking a life," according to TDCJ. Preyor was accused of breaking into 20-year-old Jami Tackett's apartment in February 2004 and stabbing her to death. He was found at the scene by police covered in her blood. Preyor claimed the killing was done in self-defense after a drug deal gone bad, but the jury was unconvinced. He was convicted and sentenced to death in March 2005. No witnesses for Preyor or Tackett attended the execution, according to TDCJ spokesman Robert Hurst. During his latest appeals, Preyor's attorneys argued that his trial lawyer, Michael Gross, was inadequate because he didn't present evidence of a physically and sexually abusive childhood that could have swayed a jury to hand down the alternate sentence of life in prison. "[The
