[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 31


CANADA/SAUDI ARABIA:

Fear grows for Canadian facing execution


Concern is growing over the fate of Mohamed Kohail, the 22-year-old
Canadian facing a possible death sentence in Saudi Arabia over
allegations he was involved in the killing of a young man in a schoolyard
brawl a year ago.

Particularly alarming are reports that Mr. Kohail's trial has been under
way for at least three months while the court has systematically barred
Mr. Kohail's legal counsel, his father and representatives of the Canadian
embassy from attending.

"There seems to be a lack of clarity and transparency in the case," said
Barry Gaiptman, a guidance counsellor at Place-Cartier, an adult-education
centre in Montreal's West Island where Mr. Kohail was a student before
moving to Saudi Arabia in 2006. "There is a lot of stuff going on behind
closed doors."

"One of the basic principles of a fair trial is that it should be open and
public," said Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International
Canada. "And trials in Saudi Arabia are rarely fair."

"This should be a case of utmost priority concern for the Canadian
government," Mr. Neve continued. While recognizing the sensitivity of the
Saudi authorities to outside intervention, Mr. Neve said that the Canadian
government should remind the Saudis that holding a fair trial is not about
national sovereignty.

"This is about the international values that Saudi Arabia should be
upholding," Mr. Neve said in an interview.

Mr. Kohail and his 16-year-old brother, Sultan, who are of Palestinian
origin, were born in Saudi Arabia, lived with their family in Montreal
between 2000 and 2006 and became Canadian citizens.

After their return to Saudi Arabia, Sultan began attending Edugates
International School in Jeddah, where the brawl erupted on Jan. 13,
leading to the death of Munzer Haraki, 18.

Mohamed Kohail has persisted in proclaiming his innocence in the case,
including in mobile phone interviews earlier this year with The Globe and
Mail from his prison cell. He insists Saudi authorities forced him to sign
a confession.

According to sources close to the trial, hearings have been taking place
every 2 to 3 weeks, with the 7th hearing expected any day now.

The hearing days have a set routine. Mr. Kohail is wakened in his prison
cell at 6 a.m., placed in shackles and driven to a local court room, where
the three judges in the case hear a witness to the incident. Sometimes,
the hearing ends after only 10 or 15 minutes. There is no
cross-examination because the defendant's lawyer is not allowed in the
courtroom, although the victim's family is represented. Witnesses in the
case have reportedly provided conflicting accounts of the brawl that led
to the young man's death. Some say Mr. Kohail beat the young man with a
rock while others have reportedly testified he was completely innocent.

It's still unclear exactly how Mr. Haraki died, although members of the
victim's family insist that the Kohail brothers are to blame and should
pay the ultimate price, death by beheading.

A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department would not confirm reports
that Canadian consular officials have been excluded from the trial.

He said only that embassy officials continue to monitor the case closely
and are in touch with the family of the accused.

(source:  Toronto Globe and Mail)





IRAQ:

Thousands Commemorate First Execution Anniversary of Saddam Hussein


Thousands of people in Iraq and in Arab and Muslim countries are preparing
to commemorate the first anniversary of the execution of the late Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein.

Saddam, who is now considered by the majority of Arabs and Muslims as
martyr was executed in the early morning hours of Saturday 30 December
2006. He courageously met his fate and made history in terms of bravery
and faith in God and his nation up to the last second of his life.

Over 4000 Jordanians demonstrated in the capital on Saturday to
commemorate the 1-year anniversary of his execution.

Some supporters in Amman's commercial downtown district waved black,
white, green and red flags of Saddam's ruling Baath party and distributed
a party newspaper, "al-Wahda", meaning unity, bearing Saddam's picture on
the front page.

Saddam loyalists are expected to gather at his grave at his village of
Awja where he was born and is now buried.

Many are also expected to mark the anniversary in the nearby city of
Tikrit and in the Sunni Arab heartlands north and west of Baghdad.

Saddam was sentenced to death by hanging in a court established under
American-British occupation of the Arab country that began in 9 April 2003
after an invasion led by Washington and London.

Shortly after his hanging, Sheik Yahya al-Attawi said at a prayer service
in a mosque built by Hussein in his home region of Tikrit, "do not grieve
or complain because he has died the death of a holy warrior. Saddam
Hussein is a martyr and God will place him in paradise along with other
martyrs."Iraqi security forces are on full alert for any violence or civil
unrest surrounding Sunday's anniversary, the interior ministry said on
Saturday.

During the final seconds of his hanging, Saddam said, "Ashadu an la ilaha
ila Allah, wa ashhadu ana Mohammedun rasool Allah" Which means, "I witness
there is no god but Allah and that Mohammed is His messenger." These are
the words a Muslim (Sunnis and Shia alike) should say on their deathbed.
He repeated this one more time, very clearly, but before he could finish
it, he was lynched.

The hanging at the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha was meant
to further deepen the rift between Iraqi Sunnis and Shi'ites.

Under the Muslim calendar, the anniversary of the execution has already
passed more than a week ago. Saddam was hanged just two hours before the
start of Eid al-Adha, which Muslims this year celebrated on December 19.

To mark the day, dozens of supporters gathered at Saddam's graveside to
lay flowers and pay their respects.

"Our security forces are ready for an occasion such as this. If we see any
criminal acts aimed at harming our fellow citizens, there are preparations
and procedures in place to make certain that such attempts fail, interior
ministry spokesperson Abdul Karim Khalaf told a news conference on
Saturday.

"We also undertake intelligence activities which are very effective and
backed by the multi-national force," Khalaf added. "We will see what will
happen. Our forces are prepared."

"For sure there are men who used to support him, and there are still some
of his loyalists left," interior ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf
told a news conference.

"Our security forces are ready for an occasion such as this. If we see any
criminal acts aimed at harming our fellow citizens, there are preparations
and procedures in place to make certain that such attempts fail.

"We also undertake intelligence activities which are very effective and
backed by the multi-national force," Khalaf added. "We will see what will
happen. Our forces are prepared."

(source:  Tripoli Post)




KOREA:

Sentences of 6 death-row inmates commuted under Roh's final amnesty


President Roh Moo-hyun pardoned Monday Daewoo Group founder Kim
Woo-choong and 74 convicted businesspeople, politicians, government
officials and others in the last of its kind in his single 5-year
term. Roh steps down on Feb. 25.

Also included in the amnesty were 6 death row inmates whose sentences
were commuted to life imprisonment, Justice Ministry officials said. There
has not been an execution in South Korea since Dec. 30, 1997, when 23
convicts were hanged. As many as 58 more inmates are still awaiting
execution.

Unlike the 2 liberal presidents over the past decade, conservative
President-elect Lee Myung-bak opposes abolition of the capital punishment,
saying it is needed as a preventive measure against rape, murder and other
heinous crimes.

Kim Woo-choong, founder and former chairman of the now-defunct Daewoo
Group, was convicted of embezzlement and fabricating financial documents
of the major conglomerate that collapsed in 1999 in the aftermath of the
Asian financial crisis.

Most of those who benefited from the amnesty were already out of jail
after serving their sentences or had their sentences suspended. Their
civil rights will be reinstated under the decree.

A number of former Daewoo executives convicted of financial misconduct
were also among the beneficiaries of the amnesty.

Chung Mong-won, chairman of Halla Engineering and Construction, who was
convicted of embezzlement, was also pardoned.

However, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, who was given a
suspended 18-month prison term in September for beating off-duty bar
workers earlier this year, was not included, as his indictment took place
recently.

In addition, Park Jie-won, ex-chief of staff to former President Kim
Dae-jung, had his benefits as an ex-government official reinstated, and
Han Hwa-gap, former chairman of the minor opposition Democratic Party, was
pardoned. Both had been convicted on corruption charges, but Park was
pardoned in February.

Also included in the list of special pardon were 2 former chiefs of
the nation's top spy agency, Shin Kun and Lim Dong-won, both convicted of
ordering eavesdropping on political and business leaders during their
respective tenures under Kim Dae-jung's government.

(source:  Yonhap News)




CHINA:

Former SW China official given suspended death sentence for corruption

A local court on Saturday gave Wang Zheng, the former deputy head of
Yuzhong District of southwest China's vast Chongqing Municipality, a
death sentence with a 2-year suspension for having accepted bribes.

The No. 5 Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing also deprived Wang
of his political rights and confiscated his personal assets.

The court found that Wang had accepted bribes in various forms that
totaled about 9.66 million yuan (1.32 million U.S. dollars),when he was in
charge of the planning department of Shangpingba District and served as
deputy head of Yuzhong District from 1999 to June 2007.

The court said the bribes came from real estate developers who
intended to gain favors in land acquisitions and construction project
contractors.

Wang was given a suspended death sentence because he showed remorse
and admitted his crimes, according to the court.

The court also handed down rulings on Saturday involving Zheng Wei,
the former head of the Yuzhong District Commission of Discipline
Inspection of the Communist Party of China, and Chen Ming, the former
deputy head of Shapingba District.

Zheng and Chen were given 13- and 10-year jail terms, respectively.
Both accepted bribes from land developers at different times, the court
said.


****************

Gansu man gets death sentence for string of 8 murders in NW China


A villager from northwest China's Gansu Province was sentenced to death
for a series of murders that included 6 people in his village and a taxi
driver and a prostitute elsewhere in the province, under a court ruling.

Ran Zhouping, 32, a native of Shangla Village, Dangchang County, got a
death sentence in a new trial after he confessed to further crimes while
serving a life sentence for having murdered a prostitute, the Lanzhou
Intermediate People's Court heard on Friday.

Ran's new conviction, the death sentence, was for the fatal stabbings
of villager Ran Jinshui's mother and four children underage 10. He then
gunned down Ran Jinshui, who was doing farming work, on Sept. 30, 2001.
The court heard that the murder of Ran Jinshui arose from a dinner-time
dispute with the convicted Ran.

An accomplice in this case, Ran Xiangzhong, is still at large.

Ran then fled to Wuwei City, elsewhere in the province, where he and
2 others fatally stabbed a taxi driver surnamed Zhou in a robbery
attempt on Nov. 28, 2001.

He then went to the Gansu provincial capital, Lanzhou, where he used
the pseudonym Zhao Jiangren. There, he killed a prostitute surnamed Wang
after having had sex with her at a hotel on Apr. 6, 2002.

The serial killer was arrested on June 2, 2002 in Lanzhou. But at that
point, he only confessed to murdering the prostitute and was given a life
sentence by the Lanzhou Intermediate People's Court in November 2003.

At the beginning of 2007, prison guards said Ran was mentally
unstable. He was then persuaded to confess to his other crimes.

Ran said he would not appeal against the death penalty. His execution
still requires final approval by the Supreme People's Court.

Mi Xiaojun, an accomplice of Ran in the Wuwei taxi driver murder case,
was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The 3rd suspect in the case, Wu
Junping, has yet to be apprehended.

(source for both:  Xinhua News)