July 10
GLOBAL:
A global view of America's relationship with capital punishment
China. Iran. Saudi Arabia. Iraq. The United States of America.
What you just read is, according to Amnesty International, a list of the
countries that executed the largest numbers of prisoners in 2014.
While the U.S. Supreme Court was making huge news last month with its decisions
on Obamacare and same-sex marriage, it also issued a ruling on another
hot-button issue: capital punishment. The question before the court was a
narrow one, whether Oklahoma's lethal injection procedure constituted cruel and
unusual punishment. By a 5-4 vote, the court said no.
But the opinions released June 28 reflected a bitter controversy within the
court about capital punishment that coincides with polling indicating a decline
in support for it among Americans.
The arguments for and against capital punishment (the mistakes, the question of
deterrence, unequal application, etc.) are well established.
But the Amnesty report released earlier this year helps put that controversy
into a global context. Simply put, the United States is part of a relatively
small minority of countries - 22 in 2014 - that still impose capital
punishment. And it's fair to say that many Americans wouldn't normally choose
the company the U.S. is keeping on that list. For a number of years now, the
United States has been the only country in the Americas to execute anyone at
all.
The office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, says 160 U.N.
members have either abolished capital punishment or are not executing anyone.
And Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, "The death penalty has no place in the
21st century." The European Union makes abolishing capital punishment a
precondition for membership.
Amnesty, which keeps careful numbers on capital cases globally, acknowledges
that in many countries, the figures are not public and it is hard to know how
many people actually were executed. That is certainly true of China, which
executes far more people than any other country. Amnesty thinks there were
several thousand executions there last year, but China considers the figure a
state secret. There were at least 289 in Iran, 90 in Saudi Arabia, 61 in Iraq
and 35 in the U.S.
The next 5 were Sudan (at least 23), Yemen (22), Egypt (15), Somalia (14) and
Jordan (11). Also not very inspiring company.
While the number of known executions worldwide fell last year, substantially
more people were actually sentenced to death, Amnesty says. That's mostly due
to large numbers in Nigeria and Egypt. Nigeria is battling the Boko Haram
extremist group, and Egypt has been conducting mass trials of members of the
Muslim Brotherhood, which had formed the previously government. But death
sentences and executions are not the same thing.
Just because you've banned or suspended capital punishment doesn't mean your
country is a paragon of virtue, of course. And in those that do conduct
executions, not all cases are equally clear. Few Americans would probably go
along with the decision of Iranian authorities last year to execute a woman who
stabbed a man during a sexual assault.
It's also worth comparing the death sentence Dzhokar Tsarnaev received last
month for the Boston Marathon bombings, which killed 3 people, with the
sentence Norway imposed on right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik for a
much deadlier act of terrorism - a bombing and shooting spree that killed 77
people in 2011.
Breivik famously complained about bad video games in the prison where he is
serving 21 years. If that term seems incredibly light by U.S. standards, it can
be extended indefinitely if authorities determine that he still poses a threat
to society.
Then, there was Indonesia's decision to execute drug offenders in response to
what its new president says is a "national emergency" of drug abuse. 8 -
Nigerian, Brazilian and Australian citizens, as well as one Indonesian - were
shot by a firing squad in late April despite international appeals to spare
their lives.
President Joko Widodo's decision to go ahead with executions in drug cases
appears politically popular with Indonesians.
But overall, capital punishment seems to be one of those issues where public
attitudes don't necessarily influence government policy.
Take these numbers from Russia. Russia suspended executions in the 1990s.
However, a large majority still favored imposing capital punishment for a
variety of offensives (The numbers are a few years old now, but are unlikely to
have changed a great deal). The biggest percentage favored permitting execution
in cases of sexual offenses against teenagers. Only about a quarter of those
polled were in favor of keeping the moratorium or banning capital punishment
altogether.
Then, there's Britain, which hasn't executed anyone for more than 1/2 a century
- since 1964.
Still, Amnesty International said, polls indicated that as recently as 5 years
ago, a bare majority - 51 % - favored the use of capital punishment. By last
year, that figure had fallen to 45 %.
(source: minnpost.com)
ISRAEL:
Likud ministers split over death penalty for terrorists bill----Bill is due to
be put before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday
A bill introducing the death penalty for terrorists who murder Israelis, which
has been put forth by the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, has led to
divisions within Israel's ruling Likud party, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
The bill, which was submitted by MK Sharon Gal is due to be put before the
Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday.
Gal posted on his Facebook and Twitter page a picture in which he is holding up
a sign saying "I too support the death penalty for terrorists," calling on his
supporters to follow his lead and upload similar pictures.
"The bill will be debated in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, and
your support is critical," Gal wrote. "How can you help? Take a picture of
yourself with the line, 'I also support the death penalty for terrorists.'
Upload it here on and your own pages, in order to flood the Web and influence
the ministers."
"We must change the reality and eradicate terrorism," Gal said in his post,
adding that "the death penalty will increase Israel's deterrence. It is moral
to legislate it in order to protect the lives of our citizens."
According to The Jerusalem Post, Science, Technology and Space Minister Danny
Danon, who is also a member of the committee, was the only minister to say he
would support the bill. Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who is also the
committee's interim chairman, intends to vote against the bill.
Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett also announced his support for the
bill, saying "a murderous terrorist, like the murderers of the Fogels [five
family members who were stabbed to death at their Itamar home in 2011], should
know that his life ends when he ends life."
"It's moral and it's right," he wrote on his Facebook page, calling on
opposition leader and head of the Zionist Union party Isaac Herzog and leader
of the Yesh Atid partyYair Lapid to support the bill, "there is no difference
between coalition and opposition on these issues," Bennett added.
In April former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and head of Yisrael
Beitenu, said that the death penalty for terrorists was something his party
would push for during his party's next tenure in the Knesset.
The death penalty already exists in Israel, for genocide, war crimes, crimes
against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and treason during times of
war.
Adolf Eichmann is the only one to have been sentenced to death in Israel. He
was executed in 1962.
(source: i24news.tv)
SUDAN:
Sudan's death penalty added to pastors' trial
A judge in Sudan has ruled there is enough evidence to charge 2 pastors with
crimes punishable by death.
The charges, including espionage and promoting hatred among or against sects,
were filed July 2, months after authorities arrested Yat Michael last December
and Peter Yein Reith in January, both of South Sudanese origin, for their
efforts to encourage a North Khartoum church in the face of a government-aided
takeover of the church's property.
Though South Sudan gained independence from Sudan and the Islamic regime of
Omar al-Bashir in 2011, Christians in Sudan have faced increasing persecution
from al-Bashir and the National Intelligence and Security Service of Sudan
(NISS), according to reports from the Human Rights Watch organization.
Human Rights Watch states on its website that Sudanese authorities regularly
suppress civil society groups, censor the media and detain political activists.
"President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court
for crimes in Darfur, was re-elected in 2015 in a poll that did not meet
standards for free and fair elections," the organization states.
Katrina Lantos Swett, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom, has described the detention of the two pastors as "a clear example of
the Sudanese government's persecution of the country's small Christian
community," Swett said in a statement in June after initial court proceedings
against the 2 pastors.
"They are on trial simply for demanding and urging their congregation to remain
strong in the face of restrictions on their constitutional right to religious
freedom," Swett said of the two men, who are part of the Presbyterian
Evangelical Church Khartoum Bahri.
USCIRF "urges the U.S. government and international community to publicly speak
out against the trial, demand the pastors' immediate release and press the
Sudanese government to abide by its constitutional and international
commitments to respect religious freedom for all," Swett said.
Sudan has been designated as a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State
Department since 1999 for its treatment of Christians and other human rights
violations. Sudan ranked sixth on Christian support organization Open Doors'
2015 World Watch List of 50 countries where Christians face most persecution.
The July 2 ruling opening the possibility of death penalties against the two
pastors appalled but did not surprise observers who have watched as officials
from Sudan's NISS have presented the same evidence taken from the pastor's
computers -- maps and other easily accessible documents -- at each hearing over
the previous 2 months. The American Center for Law and Justice reported that
NISS also presented as evidence a study guide on NISS allegedly found on one of
the laptops confiscated by agents of the intelligence and security agency, and
that the pastors told the judge they do not know how the guide got onto the
computer.
"Besides these documents, the only evidence brought by the prosecution against
the Christian pastors was a sermon Pastor Michael gave, a sermon that was
supported by Christian doctrine shared by their common denomination," ACLJ
international legal director Tiffany Barrans said in a statement.
According to Morning Star News, the charge of spying (Article 53 of the
Sudanese Penal Code) is punishable by death, life imprisonment or prison and
confiscation of property. The charge of promoting hatred among or against sects
(Article 64) is punishable by up to 2 years in prison. The pastors are also
charged with undermining the constitutional system (Article 50), punishable by
death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment and confiscation of property;
disclosure and obtaining information and official documents (Article 55),
punishable by two years in prison or a fine; blasphemy/insulting religious
creeds (Article 125), punishable by 1 year of imprisonment or a fine or no more
than 40 lashes; disturbance of the public peace (Article 69), punishable by 6
months of prison, or a fine or no more than 20 lashes; and joint acts in
execution of a criminal conspiracy (Article 21).
In the July 2 hearing, the judge told defense attorney Mohaned Mustafa he had
10 to 15 minutes to prepare a defense for the 2 pastors, according to the ACLJ.
When Mustafa said he needed more time, a hearing was set for July 14.
Mustafa requested access to his clients at the end of the hearing, but the
judge said he had the authority only to grant him visitation in court, although
the right to access to an attorney is guaranteed under Sudanese law.
The previous day, Mustafa had been arrested along with a pastor of the church.
They were released on bail, charged with obstructing a public servant during
the course of his duty (Article 99), punishable by up to six months
imprisonment, a fine or both.
Michael and Reith were transferred from a low-security prison in Omdurman to
the high-security Kober Prison in Khartoum in early June and were being held in
separate cells. Michael, 49, was arrested after his sermon in December, and the
36-year-old Reith was arrested on Jan. 11 after submitting a letter from
leaders of their denomination, the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church,
inquiring about Michael's whereabouts.
The Presbyterian Evangelical Church where Michael spoke has been the target of
government harassment, arrests and demolition of part of its worship center as
Muslim investors have tried to take it over. NISS is manned by hard-line
Islamists who are given broad powers to arrest Christians, black Africans,
South Sudanese and others in disfavor in the country.
Harassment, arrests and persecution of Christians have intensified since the
secession of South Sudan in July 2011, when Bashir vowed to adopt a stricter
version of sharia (Islamic law) and recognize only Islamic culture and the
Arabic language. Sudan's minister of guidance and endowments announced in April
2013 that no new licenses would be granted for building new churches in Sudan,
citing a decrease in the South Sudanese population. Sudan has expelled foreign
Christians and bulldozed church buildings on the pretext that they belonged to
South Sudanese. Besides raiding Christian bookstores and arresting Christians,
authorities threatened to kill South Sudanese Christians who do not leave or
cooperate with them in their effort to find other Christians.
(source: Baptist Press News)
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