July 27
IRAN:
A Death Sentence Issued after Consent of the Complainants
The images below are evidences that show the procedure of issuing an execution
sentence for Ehsan Shah Qasemi, who has been charged with murder of a "Nahi e
Monkar", (Vice Preventer), and has been sentenced to death. The images show
that the death time was 3 years after the conflict and the person who had been
beaten up, had already signed a formal consent and had received some money as
well, as compensation or treatment expenses.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA),
Ehsan Shah Qasemi and his friends had a conflict with a member of "Basij",
called Ali Khalili, in July 2011, after he gave them a warning as a "Vice
Preventer" and then in the fighting, Ehsan Shah Qasim knifed Ali Khalili.
Ali Khalili was hospitalized for some time and had couple of surgeries and was
discharged from hospital, but he died three years later, in April 2014.
Ali Khalili and his family in the case of the conflict gave consent to Ehsan
Shah Qasemi, but after his death again that case began to flow and Ehsan Shah
Qasemi was charged with murder. Iran's chief coroner announced that his death
(Ali Khalili) is not unconnected to being stabbed.
Amnesty International also issued a statement condemning the execution of Ehsan
Shah Qasemi and stated that Ehsan Shah Qasemi has not had a good and fair trial
and access to a lawyer of his choice and, in principle, he had been tried once
and was forgiven.
After the death of Ali Khalili, a group called him as a "martyr of enjoining
good and forbidding wrong".
Ehsan Shah Qasemi is now in Rajai Shahr prison awaiting for Ali Khalili
family's consent, or execution to take over.
(source: Human Rights Activists News Agency)
SUDAN:
Attorneys for South Sudanese Pastors Facing Execution Make Final Appeal for
Justice
Attorneys for 2 South Sudanese pastors facing the death penalty made their
closing arguments on Thursday (July 23) before a judge who appears to favor the
prosecution, sources said.
Defense lawyers concluded their case at Khartoum Bahri Court with the assertion
that agents from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS)
illegally arrested Yat Michael on Dec. 14, 2014 and Peter Yein Reith on Jan.
11.
"Justice requires that you don't judge [arrest] simply because you doubt
[suspect] them without any concrete evidence," 1 lawyer said.
Michael, 49, was arrested after delivering a message of encouragement to a
North Khartoum church in the face of a government-aided take-over of the
congregation's property. The 36-year-old Reith was arrested after submitting a
letter from leaders of their denomination, the South Sudan Presbyterian
Evangelical Church (SSPEC), inquiring about the whereabouts of Michael.
During their trial a NISS official accused the pastors of collecting
information for a human rights group. The charges, including espionage and
promoting hatred among or against sects, were formed months after authorities
arrested them.
"The judge in the last hearing seemed to be supporting the prosecution," said a
source who requested anonymity. "The whole issue is politically motivated, and
the 2 pastors are innocent, but the lawyers asked the judge to respect laws and
the constitution and not aid NISS in violation of the constitution."
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 2 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).
NISS has presented as evidence maps and other easily accessible documents taken
from their confiscated laptops, as well as a NISS study guide that the pastors
say was not on their computers when they were arrested. During their trial, the
defense presented an IT expert who testified about how easy it would be for
others to plant the documents on their computers without their knowledge,
according to Middle East Concern (MEC).
A retired general also testified that the documents used as evidence against
the pastors are in the public domain and are not related to military or other
state secrets as the prosecution has alleged, according to MEC.
The defense attorney on Thursday told the judge that Michael did not violate
Sudanese law - specifically, "insulting religious creeds" - while preaching at
Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, as he was just carrying out his duty as a
pastor.
"To urge believers to be zealous for their church is not an insult against
God," the attorney said.
The defense team asserted that the 2 pastors were illegally detained for a long
period without trial.
"This is illegal and against the Bill of Rights called for in Sudan's
constitution," they stated in a filing with the court.
The lawyers called on the court to respect the constitution rather than
excessive powers granted to NISS to arrest and detain any person at length
without trial. NISS is manned by hard-line Islamists who are given broad powers
to arrest Christians, black Africans, South Sudanese and other people lowly
regarded in the country that President Omar al-Bashir has pledged will be fully
Arabic and Islamic.
The defense stated that the court should drop charges against the 2 church
leaders due to a critical lack of physical evidence.
"These charges are built on sand," they concluded in their filing.
A verdict is expected at a hearing on Aug. 5.
The Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church that Michael had encouraged in December
was the subject of government harassment, arrests and demolition of part of its
worship center as Muslim investors tried to take it over. Police in North
Khartoum on Dec. 2 beat and arrested 38 Christians from the church that Michael
encouraged and fined most of them. They were released later that night.
On Oct. 5, 2013, Sudan's police and security forces broke through the church
fence, beat and arrested Christians in the compound and asserted parts of the
property belonged to a Muslim investor accompanying them. As Muslims nearby
shouted, "Allahu Akbar [God is greater]," plainclothes police and personnel
from NISS broke onto the property aboard a truck and 2 Land Cruisers. After
beating several Christians who were in the compound, they arrested some of
them; they were all released later that day.
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. The Sudanese 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 since 2012 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 (see Morning Star News).
Sudan fought a civil war with the south Sudanese from 1983 to 2005, and in June
2011, shortly before the secession of South Sudan the following month, the
government began fighting a rebel group in the Nuba Mountains that has its
roots in South Sudan.
Due to its treatment of Christians and other human rights violations, Sudan has
been designated a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department
since 1999, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
recommended the country remain on the list in its 2015 report.
Sudan ranked 6th on Christian support organization Open Doors' 2015 World Watch
List of 50 countries where Christians face most persecution, moving up from
11th place the previous year.
(source: Christian News)
INDIA:
APJ Abdul Kalam: The man who wanted death penalty to go, dies
Former president APJ Abul Kalam Azad did not favour the death penalty like his
predecessor. But unlike his predecessor, he himself heard to the government and
the people.
A defence scientist and a Bharat Ratna before he was elevated as President,
India's bachelor president had spoken out against death penalty on at least on
3 occasions while in office and sent back nearly 50 cases of capital sentences
back for reconsideration.
The only mercy plea that he rejected was from Dhannajay Chatterji, a lift
operator convicted of rape and killing a young girl in Kolkata, in 2004. Kalam
indicated later that he had done so reluctantly.
During his tenure at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Kalam became the only President to
send back petitions from 50 death row prisoners to the government in 2005,
listing out reasons why the UPA government should consider clemency in each
case.
When the home ministry decided to reject his advice in all the cases, he
decided against rejecting any more mercy petitions. Many of them were later
granted mercy when the Centre reconsidered the petitions in UPA II.
A decade later, Kalam volunteered to respond to a law commission consultation
paper on the death penalty. Speaking from his experience at Rashtrapati Bhavan,
Kalam recalled the outcome of the study by the President's office to examine
the mercy petitions. "This study revealed to my surprise that almost all the
cases which were pending had a social and economic bias," the former President
said.
It is a question that Kalam had raised publicly in office too.
The book "Capital Punishment: A Hazard to a Sustainable Criminal Justice
System?" points how Kalam digressed from the prepared text at a lecture
delivered at Hyderabad's National Policy Academy in October 2005. He
rhetorically asked why there were only poor people on death row.
A few days later, he again stressed on the need for a comprehensive policy on
the death penalty after all aspects relating to it and mercy petitions were
discussed in Parliament.
(source: Hindustan Times)
************
CLMC demands abolition of death penalty----"Stop the vengeful execution of
Yakub Memon", the NGO says
The Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC) on Monday came out strongly
condemning the decision of the Indian government authorities stating that it
explicitly disagrees with judiciary on the death penalty to Yakub Memon, who
has undergone trial under a draconian law TADA and convicted by the TADA court.
"This Committee strongly believes that draconian laws are made only to target
politically weak communities, especially Muslim community. Earlier, as it has
happened with Afzal Guru and now the same is being repeated with Yakub Memon.
This Committee strongly believes that the death penalty is cruel, inhuman and
degrading and this Committee is opposed to its use, everywhere in the world,
for whatever may be the cause, it is unjust, unreasonable and can never be
acceptable to a civilized society," Lateef Mohammed Khan, general secretary,
CLMC, said in a statement here.
"Memon has surrendered himself with a hope that he will get justice, but the
injustice which is happening to him and previously with Afzal Guru is exposing
the fact that India is under 'Hindutva Raj'," the statement said, adding, "It
is a matter of grave concern that under these circumstances and present trend
of killing in fake encounter and hanging, the people of politically weak
community i.e. Muslims, are feeling insecure and have a threat that they may be
targeted at any time in the name of terrorists."
"Muslims are forced to think that sacrificing Muslims lives has become
necessary to satisfy the 'Parliamentary democracy' and 'majoritarian people'
wishes!!" he said.
"In India it is exposed that death penalty is used against people who have been
tortured into confessing, it is part of a shady criminal justice system and it
is used in unfair or politically motivated trials," Khan alleged. The Indian
system is becoming so prejudiced that if there is any Muslim standing a trial,
he is conceived as a terrorist and deserve capital punishment. And if any
person from other community stands on trial with similar charges, how much ever
dangerous he or she may be, they are perceived to be nationalist and the trial
will go soft and at the end any punishment against them will be out of
question. "This double standard of justice will be great threat to peace,
security and life and liberty of marginalized sections of India," he further
added.
"It is a matter of fact that Yakub Memon is a victim of nexus of corrupt
Parliamentary system of India and compromised criminal justice system. He has
become a scapegoat for despicable politically motivated intentions. Manmohan
Singh led UPA government hanged Afzal Guru to satisfy the 'collective
conscience of people' with a clear intention to please the Hindutva vote bank
for shrewd political calculations. Now Modi led NDA government is on same
stride selecting Memon and trying to hang him as it is required to divert the
attention of masses from the scams and failure of government's sham promise of
'Ache din'," the statement claimed.
The Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee went further to appeal to the people
to raise the voice to abolish the death penalty. The death penalty is an
irrevocable error, because "all legal systems do make mistakes, as long as it
exists many innocent lives will be at the gallows."
"We demand the Government to withdraw its decision to hang Memon because if
this execution sees the light of the day, it will be nothing but hanging of
justice in this nation," Khan added.
(source: twocircles.net)
PAKISTAN:
Pakistan must extend death penalty moratorium
In the week ahead, hangings are to resume in Pakistan as the federal
government's monthlong moratorium on executions has expired with the end of
Ramadan. The hangings should not resume and the government should urgently
reinstate its moratorium on all executions.
That would not only be the principled thing to do, but also a humane and moral
stance - given the gross irregularities that have almost come to define a
broken criminal justice system.
Even then, the death penalty does not have a place in a modern and democratic
society. But advocates of the death penalty here tend to rely on 2 lines of
defense.
First, there are occasions when there is reasonable doubt that the accused has
committed the crime.
In such scenarios, the broader failures of the criminal justice system should
not be used to shield criminals, according to the pro-death penalty camp.
Second, what about the victims' families - do they not deserve justice for
their relatives, in the cases where the death penalty is handed down for
murder? Both those arguments are specious, however.
To begin with, to deny the death penalty to any convict is not the same as
setting him free.
At no point does opposing the death penalty translate into setting criminals
free - death-row convicts ought to remain in jail until a system is in place to
determine fairly and impartially if any of them deserve to be released at some
point before their natural lives come to an end.
A life spent behind bars, cut off from society and deprived of one's freedom,
is a significant and, where applicable, a deterrent-inducing punishment.
That also helps address the issue of the rights of the victims' families -
there is certainly punishment involved where a murder has been convicted, but a
punishment determined by the state and not based on bloody notions of vengeance
and retributive justice. That, though, is only a lopsided debate.
The criminal justice system is not about merely the exceptions and the
perceived rights of some individuals - it is about the totality of society and
balancing multiple needs in the most sensible way possible.
In Pakistan, where the criminal justice system routinely convicts roughly 10 %
of the accused, there is extreme disparity in the kind of legal representation
rich and poor accused can access.
It is well-known that the prison population is skewed toward the less well-off
segments of society.
Therefore, even when courts find beyond reasonable doubt that an accused is
guilty of a crime that attracts the death penalty, there is a great deal of
doubt about whether the legal representation of the accused put forward the
best possible defense.
Finally, there is the tragic reality that a wide range of crimes attract the
death penalty in Pakistan - not just terrorism, murder and extreme sexual
violence. Extending the death-penalty moratorium is necessary.
(source: Editorial, Dawn)
GLOBAL:
Death Penalty 2015: The Good and the Bad
The first 6 months of 2015 have seen starkly contrasting developments on the
death penalty. While the bad news has been very bad, the good news has been
very good.
THE BAD
1. Indonesia resumed executions.
The year began on a tragic note when Indonesia, ignoring pleas from around the
world, put 6 people to death for drug trafficking. The executions were the 1st
in Indonesia since 2013.
2. Pakistan may soon be counted among the world's top executioners.
Pakistan is edging closer to membership of the unenviable club of the world's
top executioners (China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and USA). At least 150 people
have been put to death since a freeze on executions was lifted in December
2014, following a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar.
3. Indonesia and Pakistan used crime and terrorism as an excuse to bring back
executions.
Both Indonesia and Pakistan justified bringing back the death penalty by
claiming it is an effective response to crime and terrorism. But there is no
evidence to show that the death penalty is more effective at addressing crime
than a prison term, nor does abolition lead to a sharp increase in crime, as
some fear.
4. Iran looks set to surpass its execution figures for 2014.
Iran has so far this year executed nearly 700 people - many of these executions
were not officially acknowledged. In 2014, Amnesty recorded at least 743
executions in Iran over 12 months. That the country put more than 600 people to
death just 6 months into this year is deeply troubling.
5. Saudi Arabia has already executed more people than it did in 2014.
Amnesty has recorded 102 executions in Saudi Arabia so far this year, exceeding
the total number of executions (at least 90) for 2014. Almost 1/2 of these
executions were for drug-related offences.
THE GOOD
1. 3 countries abolished the death penalty in the first 3 months of 2015.
In January Madagascar abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Fiji followed
suit in February. And in March, the South American State of Suriname also
removed the death penalty from its legal books. The abolition of the death
penalty in 3 countries in the space of 3 months gives further momentum to a
trend that has been evident for decades - the world is consigning capital
punishment to history.
2. Another 3 countries are close to abolishing the death penalty.
The Mongolian Parliament is considering a draft penal code abolishing the death
penalty. Burkina Faso and South Korea are also considering similar draft laws.
3. The trend towards abolition in the USA is picking up steam.
1 more US state, Nebraska, has abolished the death penalty, becoming the 19th
abolitionist state in the USA. And in February, Pennsylvania's governor
announced a suspension of all executions.
4. Those countries that execute are in the minority.
Over the last 5 years, the average number of countries that have carried out
executions each year stands at 22.
5. More than 1/2 the world's countries have abolished the death penalty.
In total, 101 countries have completely abolished the death penalty - that's
more than 1/2 the countries in the world. Another 33 countries are abolitionist
in practice - meaning they have not executed anyone for at least 10 years and
have a long-standing policy of not executing. Despite the sharp rise in
executions in some countries, abolitionist countries still represent the clear
global majority.
(source: Amnesty International)
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