Aug. 21
IRAQ----executions
Iraq hangs 36 over 2014 massacre of army recruits
Iraq on Sunday hanged 36 men convicted over the 2014 massacre by the Islamic
State and allied militants of hundreds of military recruits, officials said.
They had be en found guilty of involvement in the "Speicher" massacre, named
after a base near Tikrit where up to 1,700 recruits were kidnapped before being
executed in a massacre claimed by the Islamic State group.
"The executions of 36 convicted over the Speicher crime were carried out this
morning in Nasiriyah prison," a spokesman for the governor's office in Dhiqar,
the province of which Nasiriyah is the capital, told AFP.
"The governor of Dhiqar, Yahya al-Nasseri and Justice Minister Haidar al-Zamili
were present to oversee the executions," Abdelhassan Dawood said.
"They were transferred to Nasiriyah last week after the president approved the
executions," he said, referring to the necessary green light from Fuad Masum.
Following the death of more than 300 people in the worst ever single bomb
attack to strike Baghdad last month, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had said he
wanted to expedite the execution of inmates sentenced to death in terrorism
cases.
The Dhiqar governor confirmed to AFP that the executions were carried out by
hanging.
His spokesman said that around 400 of the Speicher massacre victims were from
the Dhiqar province, which is predominantly Shia and located in Iraq's south.
"Tens of relatives attended the executions," said Dawood. "They shouted Allahu
Akbar (God is greatest), they were happy to see those people dead."
The trials that have led to Iraq's latest batches of death sentences have been
severely criticised by rights groups as failing to meet basic standards.
Amnesty International had slammed Iraq's systematic resort to the death penalty
following the execution of 22 other people in May this year.
"The use of the death penalty is deplorable in all circumstances, and it is
particularly horrendous when applied after grossly unfair trials marred by
allegations of confessions extracted under torture as is frequently the case in
Iraq," the group's Iraq researcher Diana Eltahawy said.
The United Nations had criticised Abadi's call to speed up executions, which
according to Amnesty already topped 100 for 2016 before Sunday's hangings.
"Fast-tracking executions will only accelerate injustice," UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said earlier this month.
The Speicher massacre is considered one of IS's worst crimes since it took over
large parts of the country in 2014.
Combined with a call by the country's top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani, for Iraqis to take up arms against them, the Speicher massacre
played a key role in the mass recruitment of Shia volunteers to fight IS.
(source: Middle East Eye)
************************
ISIS executes 14 civilians in Mosul
A local source in Nineveh province informed on Saturday that ISIS executed 14
civilians in central Mosul, accusing them of collaborating with government and
Kurdish Peshmerga forces..
Sharing details the source said, "ISIS killed 14 civilians in al-Faisaliah,
central Mosul, for the allegedly collaborating with the government and
Peshmerga forces. The entire execution process was filmed on camera by the
outfit. The death penalty against the civilians were issued by the Sharia court
in Nineveh."
(source: iraqinews.com)
INDIA:
Prosecution in Jigisha Ghosh murder case seek death penalty for accused
The special public prosecutor in the case argued that the three men convicted
of the killing had committed the murder for pleasure.
The prosecution in the case of the abduction and murder of IT executive Jigisha
Ghosh has sought the death penalty for the 3 men convicted of the killing. The
Indian Express reported that both Special Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan and the
lawyers representing Ghosh's parents called for capital punishment for the 3
men, with Mohan saying that the convicted had killed the victim for pleasure.
However, the lawyer for 1 of those convicted, Ravi Kapoor, said that the
convicted man was mentally unfit. Arguing against a report on the conduct of
the accused, the lawyer sought a life sentence for Kapoor, saying that he
suffered from a "life-threatening disease". The counsel for the other 2
accused, Amit Shukla and Baljeet Malik, asked the court to look at reformation
as an option for his clients.
The 3 men were pronounced guilty by a Delhi court in July. Ghosh was abducted
and murdered in 2009 after being dropped home from work. The accused were
captured after being caught on camera using her debit card. The Delhi Police
later said the 3 men were also involved in the murder of television journalist
Soumya Vishwanathan in 2008. Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav has
reserved his judgement on the quantum of the sentencing till Monday.
(source: scroll.in)
*******************
Convicts killed Jigisha for pleasure, be given death: Cops
A court here will pronounce the quantum of sentence to three men convicted for
murdering and robbing IT executive Jigisha Ghosh here in 2009 on Monday, with
the Delhi Police today seeking death penalty for them saying they killed her
for "pleasure" and showed no remorse.
Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav reserved the order on sentence after
the arguments concluded today and a pre-sentencing report (PSR) was submitted
by probationary officer.
"Pre-sentencing report received...Copy has been supplied to counsel for the
convicts. Arguments heard. Order on sentence to be pronounced on Monday," the
judge said after hearing the arguments of prosecution, convicts and perusing
the pre-sentencing report which gave details about the bakground of the guilty
persons.
However, the judge ordered for maintaining confidentiality of the report.
28-year-old Jigisha, working as an operations manager in a management
consultancy firm, was abducted and killed on March 18, 2009 after she was
dropped by her office cab around 0400 hours near her home in Vasant Vihar area
of South Delhi.
Her body was recovered three days later from a place near Surajkund in Haryana,
police had said.
Seeking death sentence for the convicts - Ravi Kapoor, Baljeet and Amit Shukla,
Special Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan argued that they had abducted Jigisha,
robbed her, killed her and used her debit card for shopping, and a CCTV footage
of their shopping showed they had no remorse for their act.
"There was no provocation. There is no mitigating factor in the matter. It was
murder for pleasure. The footage shows they had no remorse at all, which is an
aggravating factor," he said.
Rebutting the arguments of prosecution, defence counsel sought minimum sentence
of life for the convicts contending that they did not have any previous
criminal involvement and were young at the time of the incident.
Advocate Amit Kumar, appearing for convicts Baljeet and Amit Shukla, argued
that his clients have already spent over seven years in jail and maintainted
good conduct.
The counsel for convict Ravi Kapoor sought leniency for his client saying he
suffered from a life threatening disease and belonged to a poor background.
The defence counsel also termed the PSR contradictory and biased contending
that it did not mention the incident when convict Amit Shukla was brutally
beaten inside the jail.
During arguments when the SPP referred to the alleged involvement of the 3
convicts in the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case, the defence counsel objected
to it saying it was a separate case which was still pending and referring to it
would cause them prejudice during the proceedings.
The court had, a month ago, held the 3 men guilty of murder, abduction,
robbery, forgery and common intention under IPC, saying it was "abundantly
clear" that they had committed the crime. Kapoor was also convicted for the
offence of using firearms under the Arms Act.
While convicting them on July 14, the judge had said "they committed her murder
and disposed of her body in bushes and circumstantial evidence makes it clear
that it was these men who committed the crime."
\The police had filed the charge sheet in the case in June 2009 and trial began
on April 15, 2010.
\Recovery of the weapon allegedly used in Jigisha's murder had led to the
cracking of the murder case of Soumya Vishwanathan, who was a journalist with a
news channel.
\Soumya was shot dead on September 30, 2008 while she was returning home in her
car from office in the wee hours.
\Police had claimed robbery as the motive behind the killing of both Jigisha
and Soumya.
\The accused had used Jigisha's ATM card to buy expensive goggles, wrist
watches and shoes from Sarojini Nagar market in South Delhi, police had said.
(source: Business Standard)
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