June 21
PAKISTAN:
5 Britons set to be hanged as Pakistan starts executing thousands of prisoners
to reduce number on death row
5 British citizens are facing execution for drug offences in Pakistan amid a
surge of hangings in the country.
The existence of the 5, including 1 woman, was disclosed in the Pakistani
parliament by interior minister Chaudhry Nisar.
But he did not release further details - even their names, information about
their crimes or the dates of their trials.
It is thought from the wording of his answer that the 5 may hold both UK and
Pakistani passports.
A Foreign Office spokesman said it was aware of 2 of the prisoners Mr Nisar
mentioned.
There are a further 20 Britons who 'potentially' face the death penalty, he
added, but they had either not yet been sentenced or still had a chance to
appeal.
A total of 179 prisoners have been put to death in Pakistan since December, and
there are more than 8,000 prisoners on death row.
Although Pakistan is obliged under the Vienna Convention to notify the British
Consul whenever a British citizen or dual Pakistani-British national is
detained, in practice this rarely happens, according to a Foreign Office
source.
The source said British diplomats had repeatedly raised this problem with the
Pakistani authorities.
Fears for the 5 have risen due to the surge in executions in recent months.
There had been no hangings since 2008, but Pakistan announced they would resume
in the wake of the terrorist massacre at a school in Peshawar on December 16
last year, when 145 people were killed, including 132 children.
At first, the hangings mostly related to prisoners convicted of terrorist
crimes. They were members of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
(LeJ), the organisation behind the 2007 assassination of former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto.
But a Mail on Sunday analysis of every hanging since the executions resumed
reveals that although at least 11 men from these groups were hanged up to
February 3, no members have been executed since.
The only alleged terrorists executed since then were 4 men who hijacked a plane
in 1998 - they were all members of a provincial separatist group.
On March 10, the government announced it wanted to empty death row, and would
start hanging prisoners who were neither terrorists nor murderers.
It has kept this promise. Under Pakistani law, the death penalty is available
for crimes including blasphemy, drug-trafficking, kidnap and rape.
2 legal sources in Islamabad, who asked not to be named, said the reason for
broadening the scope of executions was a threat from the LeJ leadership.
One source said that he had been told by senior police officers and government
officials that after the government started to execute LeJ members, ministers
were warned explicitly that if the hangings continued, politicians, their
families and friends would become targets for assassination.
By this time, prime minister Nawaz Sharif had promised repeatedly that resuming
executions should be seen as a 'reflection of the government's seriousness' to
end terrorist violence.
The government's response, the source said, was to 'start executing everyone
else instead'.
The 2nd legal source added: 'Various banned organisations threatened the
government including police, judges and prison authorities to stop executions
of their members or they would come after them, and it seems these executions
have stopped.'
Since March, some weeks have seen more than 30 executions, and hangings carried
out at less than 24 hours' notice - leaving prisoners' families no time to pay
a final visit.
The execution of Aftab Bahadur, hanged on the basis of a confession to murder
extracted through torture when he was just 15, provoked outrage around the
world from human-rights campaigners.
There will be no further hangings in Pakistan until the end of Ramadan in
mid-July.
(source: Daily Mail)
NIGERIA:
Corrupt Public Officials Should be Put to Death - Anglican Bishop
According to the Anglican Bishop of Wusasa Diocese in Zaria, Kaduna State, Rt.
Rev. Ali Buba-Lamido, corrupt public officials in the country should be
sentenced to death.
Speaking on Saturday, he said the death penalty option is the only way to put
public officers in Nigeria in check.
"If our leaders know that they would be prosecuted if found corrupt they would
be on their toes to avoid corrupt practices."
He also expressed confidence in the ability of the administration, saying he
had no doubt that President Muhammdu Buhari would deliver.
On the security situation in the country, the bishop said it was bad for a
country like Nigeria to have lost up to 11,000 people to Boko Haram.
"However, I am satisfied with the approach taken by the new administration to
tackle the menace of Boko Haram," he said.
(source: Nigerian Bulletin)
IRAN:
Iranian Writer Sentenced to Death for Apostasy
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) has learned that Hesameddin
Farzizadeh, a 23-year-old former nuclear physics student, has been sentenced to
death for apostasy by the Criminal Court of Meshkinshahr in Ardabil province. A
source with knowledge of the case indicates that Farzizadeh was arrested in a
raid on his house in November 2014 by plainclothes Ministry of Intelligence
(MOI) agents and held incommunicado at the MOI facility in the town for several
days before being transferred to Meshkinshahr Prison, where he has been held
since. The charge of apostasy stems from a book written by Farzizadeh, entitled
"From Islam to Islam", in which Farzizadeh examines the history of Shi'a Islam
and raises questions about certain facets of Shi'a ideology. For instance, in
his book Farzizadeh reportedly questions the existence of the Twelfth Imam,
who, according to Shi'a theology, is a messianic figure who is to eventually
reappear as a latter-day savior of humanity.
Although Iran's criminal code, known as the Islamic Penal Code, does not define
the crime of apostasy, Article 167 of the Iranian Constitution states that when
the law is silent on a topic, a judge is to refer to Islamic jurisprudence and
make a ruling accordingly. Relying on this constitutional provision, the
Criminal Court of Meshkinshahr has found that Farzizadeh's beliefs, as
expressed in his writings, constitute apostasy. Under Islamic law, denying the
fundamentals of Islam may be the basis for the finding that an individual has
left the faith and therefore become an apostate. The Quran does not prescribe a
punishment for apostasy, but in such cases Islamic jurists rely on other
authoritative sources, such as the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad, known as
the hadith, to argue that apostasy is punishable by death.
In addition to his death sentence, Farzizadeh has also been sentenced to seven
years of imprisonment and 74 lashes. These sentences rise from charges of
insulting the Prophet Mohammad, the Shi'a Imams, and Ayatollah Khomeini.
According to IHRDC's source, local MOI officials also reportedly threatened
Farzizadeh???s family that his death sentence would be carried out if news of
the case were to go public. The source also alleges that Farzizadeh has been
threatened and assaulted in prison in recent weeks.
Charges such as apostasy, which is rarely prosecuted in Iran, and the far more
common charge of insulting religious figures violate basic principles of
international human rights law. The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran has signed and ratified, guarantees
freedom of religion as well as the freedom of expression. Article 18 of the
ICCPR states, "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion
or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship,
observance, practice and teaching."
Article 19 of the ICCPR declares, "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of
expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in
writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his
choice," a right further confirmed by General Comment 34 on the Article as
extending to acts including "religious discourse." In addition, Article 6(d) of
the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance
and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief likewise establishes that the
freedom of conscience and religion includes, among others, the right "[t]o
write, issue and disseminate relevant publications in these areas."
Farzizadeh's sentence does not only violate basic human rights norms. The
ruling from the Criminal Court of Meshkinshahr appears to violate Iran's
domestic criminal procedure laws, as well. Under Article 4 of the Law to
Establish Public and Revolutionary Courts, only Provincial Criminal Courts have
the jurisdiction to hear capital cases such as apostasy, whereas the
Meshkinshahr Criminal Court is a county-level judicial body.
(source: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center)
IRAQ:
ISIS executes ex-parliament candidates in Mosul
3 former candidates for Iraqi parliament were arrested and executed by the
Islamic State on Saturday, according to member of parliament in Baghdad.
Iraqi parliamentarian Salim Joma told Rudaw on Saturday that the Sharia courts
of ISIS issued death sentences for 3 ex-candidates who stood for office in the
recent Iraqi parliament election. He said all 3 were arrested and executed in
the northern district of Mosul city.
"The victims included Salem Badrani, Khalil Naeimy and Farough Shamari. They
were arrested in their own homes and all shot dead," Joma said.
Since June 10, 2014, ISIS militants have occupied Mosul, the second largest
city of Iraq. Since the group took over, many former politicians, soldiers and
police officers have been executed.
(source: rudaw.net)
TAIWAN:
MOJ worries death-row inmates may fake mental illness
The Ministry of Justice is reportedly worried that death-row inmates might
feign mental illness to escape punishment, due to the MOJ's decision to
postpone the executions of 2 inmates on the grounds of mental disorder in the 6
controversial executions that took place on June 5, the United Evening News has
reported.
The 6 controversial executions were carried out in the aftermath of nationwide
outrage over the slaying of an 8-year-old schoolgirl. Prior to sentencing, 2 of
the inmates originally scheduled for execution on June 5 were replaced with
other inmates, as they were deemed mentally incapacitated.
Before Justice Minister Luo Ying-shay gave the execution order, investigation
teams had begun preparatory procedures for the executions with the aim of
ruling out whether the death-row inmates had applied for judicial review,
extraordinary appeal or retrials. The investigation teams then checked with the
Presidential Office as to whether the inmates had been pardoned or were
undergoing amnesty procedures.
Execution warrants were then issued for prisoners who did not have a valid
reason for avoiding the death penalty.
Heeded Int'l Reports
2 years ago, the MOJ invited international human rights experts to examine
Taiwan's Human Rights Report.
The experts concluded that Taiwan should not execute inmates with mental or
intellectual disabilities.
While the recommendation was not binding on the government, the MOJ still
decided to include mental or intellectual disabilities among the factors that
could influence a decision not to issue an execution warrant.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure Article 465, unless ordered by the
Supreme Court, death-row inmates with mental or intellectual disabilities must
not be executed until they are declared to be recovered by medical experts.
It was reported that the preparatory procedures for the executions of the6
death-row inmates began in April, and the killing of the schoolgirl incident
occurred coincidentally during the final stages of the inspection.
The MOJ investigation team investigated the original 6 inmates who were to be
executed on June 5, but found that one of them claimed to be suffering from a
mental illness, while another had undergone treatment with a psychiatrist. The
MOJ subsequently opted to postpone execution on the 2 inmates and substituted 2
other death-row inmates to be executed.
Low-profile MOJ
The UEN news report claims that the MOJ has been wary of advertising the fact
that those suffering from mental or intellectual disabilities could be eligible
for a postponement of their execution. The UEN claims the MOJ is worried that
other death-row inmates could feign a disability in order to avoid the death
penalty.
However, MOJ officials have said that it is not difficult to uncover incidents
of feigned mental or intellectual illnesses because of advances in medical
diagnoses. Those who have a verifiable mental or intellectual illness remain
exempt from the death penalty.
Taxpayers pay for the psychiatric assessment procedures. For example, the New
Taipei City Prosecutor's Office had to pay approximately NT$300,000 in
assessment testing fees for MRT murderer Cheng Chieh in last year's MRT
stabbing incident.
(source: China Post)
BANGLADESH:
Man gets death penalty for killing uncle in Barisal
A Barisal court has sentenced a man to death for killing his uncle 7 years back
in Barisal's Babuganj.
Barisal District and Sessions Judge Md Anwarul Haq delivered the verdict on
Sunday.
The convict Shamrat Hawlader, 29, is a fugitive from justice.
The court has also fined him Tk 10,000.
Public Prosecutor Gias Uddin Kabul said Samrat Hawlader used to live in his
uncle Habibur Rahman's house at the Upazila's Uttar Rahmatpur village with his
mother since his childhood.
They often used to get into arguments regarding their family land left by his
grandfather. Habibur Rahman had a shop on the land.
"On May 8, 2008, Hawlader got into a dispute with his uncle regarding removing
the shop. At one point, he beat up his uncle.
"Injured Rahman was taken to the Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College
Hospital, where he died the same night."
2 days later, Rahman's son Sarwar Molla filed a case with Babuganj police.
On Jun 26, 2008, the investigation officer SI Monirul Islam pressed charges
against him in the court.
The court heard 8 witnesses before handing down the maximum penalty, said the
PP Gias Uddin.
The defendant can appeal to the High Court within 7 days of the verdict, he
added.
(source: bdnews24.com)
*********************
Mojaheed decides to seek review of SC verdict
Death row convict Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed has decided to file a petition
with the Supreme Court seeking a review of its ruling that upheld his death
penalty for planning and instigating killings of intellectuals and
professionals in 1971.
Mojaheed gave the instruction to file the review petition when 5 of his lawyers
met him at Dhaka Central Jail for 30 minutes around 11:25am, his counsel
Shishir Manir told The Daily Star.
The review petition will be filed in 15 days after getting the full judgement
of the apex court, said Manir, who along with four other counsels met the
Jamaat-e-Islami leader.
"He (Mojaheed) told us (lawyers) that he could not understand that the SC has
sentenced him to death for killing whom," the lawyer said.
Mojaheed is mentally and physically well, he added.
The Jamaat leader hoped that the SC will consider his review prayer and acquit
him of all the charges, the lawyer added.
On June 16, the Appellate Division upheld the death penalty of Mojaheed for
planning and instigating the killing of intellectuals and professionals in
1971.
During the Liberation War in 1971, he was chief of infamous Al-Badr Bahini, one
of the Pakistani occupation army's auxiliary forces, responsible for abducting,
torturing and killing freedom fighters, intellectuals and pro-liberation
people.
This is the 1st time that an ex-minister has been sentenced to death by the SC
for war crimes. Mojaheed is also the 1st war crimes convict facing death for
the killing of intellectuals and professionals.
(source: The Daily Star)
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