June 23
CHINA:
Chinese courts call for death penalty for researchers who commit fraud
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth - a life for a lab book?
In the past few months, China has announced two new crackdowns on research
misconduct - one of which could lead to executions for scientists who doctor
their data.
Scientists have been sounding alarms for years about the integrity of research
in China. One recent survey estimated that 40 % of biomedical papers by Chinese
scholars were tainted by misconduct. Funding bodies there have in the past
announced efforts to crack down on fraud, including clawing back money from
scientists who cheat on their grants.
This month, in the wake of a fake peer review scandal that claimed 107 papers
by Chinese scholars, the country's Ministry of Science and Technology
proclaimed a "no tolerance" policy for research misconduct - although it's not
clear what that might look like. According to the Financial Times, the ministry
said the mass retractions "seriously harmed the international reputation of our
country's scientific research and the dignity of Chinese scientists at large."
But a prior court decision in the country threatened the equivalent of the
nuclear option. In April courts approved a new policy calling for stiff prison
sentences for researchers who fabricate data in studies that lead to drug
approvals. If the misconduct ends up harming people, then the punishment on the
table even includes the death penalty. The move, as Nature explained, groups
clinical trial data fraud with counterfeiting so that "if the approved drug
causes health problems, it can result in a 10-year prison term or the death
penalty, in the case of severe or fatal consequences."
Phony peer review: The more we look, the more we find
We've long called for sterner treatment of science cheats, including the
possibility of jail time - which, by the way, most Americans agree is
appropriate. But we can't support the Chinese solution. Even if we didn't abhor
the death penalty (which we do), the punishment here far outweighs the crime.
Yet if extremity in the name of virtue can be vice, it serves as reminder that
science fraud is, simply put, fraud. And when it involves funding - taxpayer or
otherwise - that fraud becomes theft. Think about it the same way as you would
running a bogus investment fund or kiting checks. So, jail for major offenders
- yes. Execution - no.
One objection to our position here might be that financial criminals typically
don't kill anyone - directly, at least. If you drain my bank account or steal
my 401(k), I'm still alive. A scientist who cheats on a drug study could, at
least in theory, jeopardize the health of the people who take that medication,
with potentially fatal consequences.
But the reality is quite different. In the United States, at least, drug
approvals hinge on data generated from many scientists or groups of
researchers. They never rest on a single person. So unless everyone involved in
a study is cheating, a fraudster's data would stick out if they strayed too
much from the aggregate. Ironically, then, to succeed, a would-be fraudster
would be most successful if they made their bogus results look like everyone
else's - thus diluting their influence on the outcome of the trial.
Should science fraudsters have to serve jail time?
And stopping short of capital punishment, jail time for fraud would itself be a
big change. According to our own research, only 39 scientists worldwide between
1975 and 2015 received criminal penalties for misdeeds somehow related to their
work. However, some of those cases didn't involve research directly but instead
related to incidental infractions, such as misusing funds, bribery, and even
murder facilitated by access to cyanide.
And in the United States, fewer than 2 % of the 250-plus cases of misconduct
over the same period reported by the Office of Research Integrity resulted in
criminal sanctions. Most of the time, fraudsters earn temporary bans on federal
research funding, with some dusting themselves off after a timeout and getting
back in the game.
So there's room to strengthen penalties without taking the draconian step of
invoking the death penalty. Some of that may requiring rewriting relevant
statutes, to give agencies overseeing research funds more authority. And we
acknowledge that not everyone thinks criminal sanctions are a good idea; some
have said that such sanctions would only encourage fraudsters to double down on
attempts at denial through lawyers, and might even dissuade colleagues from
blowing the whistle. That's certainly possible, but it's not as though
investigators' close rate is so high at this point anyway.
(source: Ivan Oranksy; statnews.com)
********************
Woman dealer gets death reprieve
A woman has been sentenced to death - with a 2-year reprieve - for selling and
transporting drugs.
Shanghai No.3 Intermediate People's Court said yesterday that the woman, a
26-year-old mother of 2 children, had previously been sentenced to prison for
the same crime but had avoided serving out her terms.
From June 1 last year, the woman surnamed Zhang, a native of Anhui Province,
sold 400 grams of crystal meth to a man surnamed Chen and bought about 2,000
grams from another man surnamed Li.
Li was sentenced to life, while Chen was sentenced for his involvement in
another case.
According to China's Criminal Law, smuggling, selling, transporting and
producing drugs amounting to over 50 grams of heroin or crystal meth face a
life sentence or the death penalty.
In another case, a woman who is an Indonesian citizen, was sentenced to life
for smuggling about 1,500 grams of cocaine into China, the court said.
She arrived at Pudong airport from Cambodia on May 4 last year with a backpack,
and an X-ray machine detected a suspicious substance in the backpack, later
confirmed to be cocaine.
The woman had previously traveled between China, Vietnam and Cambodia on
several occasions, transporting drugs for others in exchange for thousands of
dollars in return, the court said.
In the past 12 months, the court has closed 13 drug cases and handed down
sentences to 19 people with 15 of them sentenced to at least 5 years in prison.
(source: Shanghai Daily)
BANGLADESH:
CHRI: Bangladesh's votes contradict human rights pledges----The report said
that Bangladesh either abstained from voting or voted against multiple
resolutions that drew attention to the deteriorating human rights situations
According to a report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI),
Bangladesh's voting record at the Human Rights Council (HRC) contradicts the
country's pledge and stance against human rights violations.
The report said that Bangladesh either abstained from voting or voted against
multiple resolutions that drew attention to the deteriorating human rights
situations and matters of technical assistance in Belarus, Burundi, Ukraine,
Syria, Iran, Sudan and Sri Lanka.
The CHRI report, titled "The Commonwealth at the Human Rights Council: A decade
of voting (2006-2016)," was launched in Geneva on June 19.
Bangladesh's abstention on a torture resolution is not consistent with their
Constitution or CAT
The report considers the voting patterns of Commonwealth members at the HRC and
provides a basis to determine whether their voting behaviour is consistent with
HRC pledges, repeated commitments to Commonwealth values, votes of other
Commonwealth countries, and their own past votes.
Bangladesh served at the Human Rights Council (HRC) from June 2006 to June 2012
and is currently serving a term that began in January 2015 and ends in December
2017.
The voting pattern of Bangladesh
The report found that Bangladesh abstained from voting on 6 resolutions
concerning religious discrimination, peaceful protest, drones, torture, and
transitional justice.
Furthermore, the country was against 3 resolutions concerning sexual
orientation, gender identity and the death penalty.
Bangladesh joined the consensus to support a decision that said death penalty
verdicts had to be reported to the secretary general of the HRC, but the
country subsequently voted against a resolution that sought to abolish the
death penalty altogether.
In 2011, Bangladesh joined the consensus to support a decision on the promotion
and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests. A year
later, the country maintained the same position while joining the consensus to
support a resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in the
context of peaceful protests.
However, in 2016, Bangladesh abstained from voting on a resolution concerning
the exact same issue.
Regarding issues of religious discrimination, Bangladesh joined the consensus
to support a resolution in 2007, but then abstained from voting on a resolution
concerning the matter.
In 2009, the country again abstained from voting on a resolution concerning
discrimination based on religion.
Bangladesh also abstained from voting on a resolution concerning the use of
remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones while countering terrorism in 2015.
The resolution was sponsored by Pakistan.
In addition, the report said that Bangladesh voted against resolutions
concerning protection from violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity in 2011 and in 2015.
In 2007, Bangladesh once again joined the consensus, this time regarding a
statement on the 20th anniversary of the Convention against torture, only to
abstain from voting on a resolution concerning torture and the responsibility
of medical personnel in 2009.
The country has also joined the consensus to support resolutions regarding
torture and the role and responsibility of judges, torture and the mandate of
the Special Rapporteur, and torture while in police custody in 2010, 2011 and
2016 respectively.
Bangladesh has also joined the consensus to support resolutions on transitional
justice in every year that it was in the HRC from 2007, but the country
abstained from voting on a resolution concerning the issue in 2016.
Bangladesh abstained from voting on twenty resolutions concerning
accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, Syria, North Korea, Iran, and
Sudan. It also voted against 7 resolutions concerning human rights crisis in
Belarus, North Korea, Syria, Burundi, and Ukraine.
The report said that during its candidacy for a second HRC term, Bangladesh
stated that the country's constitution provides fundamental rights that
guarantee, inter alia, equality before law and equal protection of law,
protection of life and liberty and prohibition from discriminatory treatment.
It said that discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, caste or sex is
prohibited.
However, the country voted against 2 Sexual orientation and gender identity
resolutions. Same-sex conduct is criminalised in Bangladesh and carries a
maximum sentence of life imprisonment. It moreover rejected Universal Periodic
Review (UPR) recommendations to repeal the law twice.
During its HRC candidacy, Bangladesh stated that the "protection of life and
liberty" is guaranteed by the Constitution and that Bangladesh is party to the
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CAT).
"Bangladesh's abstention on a torture resolution is not consistent with their
Constitution or CAT," the report observed.
After voting against a resolution on the death penalty, Bangladesh noted that
"a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with a view to its abolition,
required a comprehensive appraisal of the international justice system that had
not been undertaken."
During the UPR II, Bangladesh claimed that it used the death penalty only as
exemplary punishment for heinous crimes and maintains an extremely low rate of
executions.
In the same UPR, Amnesty International reported that "over 1,000 people are on
death row" and that "very few are likely to be pardoned or have their death
sentence commuted."
On the issue of religious discrimination, Bangladesh abstained from voting, and
stated that it could not vote in favour as the ongoing international
intolerance of Islam had not been satisfactorily addressed.
(source: Dhaka Tribune)
BAHRAIN:
Death sentence for fatal car explosion suspect in Bahrain
A court in Bahrain on Monday sentenced to death a defendant accused of planting
a bomb that killed a Bahraini woman and injured 3 children in June last year.
The court sentenced a 2nd suspect to life in prison for his role in the
explosion that shocked the nation.
The woman was killed and the children were injured when their car was hit by a
bomb blast in East Eker, south of the capital Manama.
"A terrorist act claimed the life of a woman and injured 3 children who were
with her in a car that was hit by shrapnel after a bomb exploded," the director
general of Manama's police directorate said.
Ahmad Al Hammadi, the head of the anti-terrorism public prosecution, on Monday
said that 10 suspects were involved in the case.
The investigation launched immediately after the attack led to the
identification of a suspect currently a fugitive in Iran and working for Iran's
Revolutionary Guard who tasked the 2 defendants with carrying out an explosion
attack against police patrols.
The 2 agreed, obtained the explosive device from the fugitive and planted on
the road side.
However, they exploded it as a private car was passing by, resulting in the
death of the woman and the injuries of the children accompanying her.
The 2 perpetrators were eventually identified and arrested, Al Hammadi said.
They can challenge the verdict by taking the case to the Court of Appeals and
eventually to the Court of Cassation, he added.
(source: Gulf News)
IRAN----executions
2 Prisoners Hanged on Drug Charges
Around the end of May, 2 prisoners were reportedly hanged on drug related
charges - 1 at Maragheh Prison (East Azerbaijan province) and the other at
Minab Prison (Hormozgan province).
According to close sources, the execution in Maragheh Prison was carried out on
Friday May 26. The prisoner has been identified as Fakhroldin Roshani. Mr.
Roshani was reportedly arrested in 2012 at the age of 34. The execution in
Minab Prison was reportedly carried out on Saturday May 27. The prisoner has
been identified as Afshar Beiglou, 21 years of age.
A source who asked to be annonymous told Iran Human Rights: Afshar was a driver
of a moving truck. In 2010, when he was delivering furniture from Urmia to
Minab, approximately 2 kilograms and 700 grams of opium and crystal meth were
planted in his truck. He never confessed at any point and always insisted that
he was innocent. Nonetheless, in 2011, he was sentenced to death by a court in
Minab and was executed on the 1st day of Ramadan."
Iranian official sources, including the media and Judiciary, have not announced
these 2 executions.
Iranian parliament members had formerly requested from the Judiciary to stop
drug related executions for at least 5,000 prisoners pending further
investigation. However, the request has not stopped the Judiciary from carrying
out death sentences for prisoners with drug related charges.
******************
110 Death Row Prisoners in Zanjan Prison / 17 in Imminent Danger of Execution
Approximately 1/2 of the prisoners in Zanjan Prison are held on drug related
charges. There are about 2,500 prisoners in Zanjan Prison, and about 110 of
them are sentenced to death. This prison has a ward for juvenile offenders, and
among the prisoners in this ward are 11 teenagers under the age of 18.
Among the 110 death row prisoners, at least 17 of them have had their death
sentences confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court and sent for implementation.
A close source tells Iran Human Rights: "It is highly likely that the execution
sentences of these 17 prisoners will be carried out right after Ramadan."
The identities of the 17 prisoners:
1) Hamza Rahimpour, sentenced to death on drug related charges, arrested in
2014.
2) Najaf Sidi, sentenced to death on drug related charges, arrested in 2011.
3) Mohammad Ali Yari, sentenced to death on drug related charges, arrested in
2013.
4) Bahman Pirouzi, sentenced to death on drug related charges, arrested in
2014.
5) Jamshid Allah Verdi, sentenced to death on drug related charges, arrested in
2011.
6) Jalil Dadyarvand, sentenced to death on drug related charges, arrested in
2012.
7) Mostafa Hassanzadeh, sentenced to death on murder charges, arrested in 2010.
8) Ali Kashefi, sentenced to death on murder charges, arrested in 2011.
9) Abbas Savaghi, sentenced to death on drug related charges, arrested in 2015.
10) Mohammad Feyzabadi, sentenced to death on drug related charges, arrested in
2014.
11) Hossein Ali Mahdavi, sentenced to death on murder charges, arrested in
2011.
12) Yassin Abedi, sentenced to death on murder charges, arrested in 2011.
There are 5 Afghan citizens who are in imminent danger of execution. These 5
prisoners have been detained since 6 years ago.
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
EGYPT:
UN experts urge Egypt to halt executions after 'flawed trials'----A group of UN
human rights experts on Thursday demanded that Egypt halt the planned
executions of 6 men sentenced to death on the basis of forced confessions.
The 6 men, who were convicted in 2015 of terrorism-related charges linked to
the killing of a police officer a year earlier, saw their death sentences
upheld by Egypt's highest criminal court on June 7.
The men -- Basem Mohsen Elkhorieby, Khaled Askar, Mahmoud Mamhouh Wahba,
Ibrahim Yahia Azab, Abd Elrahman Attia and Ahmed al-Waleed al-Shal -- have all
reported being tortured and forced to confess, the UN rights office said in a
statement.
3 of the men were forced to confess on national television, it added.
"To proceed with the executions of the 6 men on the basis of these flawed
trials would violate international human rights law and constitute arbitrary
executions," the experts said.
"It is extremely worrying that while all 6 men recanted their forced
confessions in court and indicated that they had been obtained under torture,
these were still used as the basis for their convictions."
The experts also stressed that evidence used against the men, including
testimonies from members of the state security forces showed "major
inconsistencies".
Some witness statements for instance did not match video footage of the alleged
crime scene, they said.
The experts pointed out that capital punishment is only permitted under
international law if there is "full respect for stringent due process
guarantees."
"The government must halt these executions and ensure a retrial in compliance
with international law and standards," they insisted.
(source: al-monitor.com)
BOTSWANA:
Death sentence lingers over Gantsi horror murder
2 Gantsi men who robbed, murdered and burnt their former employer in a horror
case that shook the region, today face the death penalty before High Court
judge, Abednego Tafa.
Tshiamo Kgalalelo, 31, and Mmika Mpe, 27, in January 2014 attacked Reinette
Vorster, stealing her Toyota Hilux valued at P300,000, two cellphones and cash
amounting to P11,000. The former employer had been driving from her farm to
Gantsi at the time of the attack. The two then murdered Vorster and burnt her
in the vehicle.
Kgalalelo was arrested on February 3, 2014 at Vorster's farm and Mpe the day
after in connection with a separate incident. The duo had also been charged
with sexual assault, but the court acquitted them of those charges due to
insufficient evidence.
The case was tried last year on July 26, 27 and 28 with Tafa handing down the
guilty verdict on May 18 this year. The state called a total of 18 witnesses
including the Ghanzi District detective superintendent, independent witnesses,
a forensic pathologist and the investigating officer.
The case, already a high profile matter due to the nature of the crime and the
prominence of the victim involved, gained further renown when President Ian
Khama fired Gantsi principal magistrate, Thabo Malambane for reasons related
indirectly to the 2 defendants.
Malambane told the media after his dismissal that his downfall was due to
granting the 2 bail and questioning why their case had subsequently been moved
to Lobatse. On the defence team, Gijima Archibald represents Kgalalelo whilst
Themba Joina is representing Mpe. Lezibo Emang is for the prosecution.
(source: mmegi.bw)
NIGERIA:
Aisha Buhari's aide calls for death penalty for child molesters
Child molestation is becoming a major issue in Nigeria and beyond.
There have been calls for stiffer punishment for those who engage in the act.
Zaynab Ikaz-Kassim, an aide to Nigeria's first lady, has added her voice to the
calls Mrs Zaynab Ikaz-Kassim has called for stiffer punishment for those who
molest children and subject them to abuse. Mrs Ikaz-Kassim who is the personal
assistant to Nigeria's first lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari, made the call via her
Twitter page on Thursday, June 22.
She canvassed that people who engage in the act should be shot and castrated.
(source: naij.com)
INDIA:
Mumbai 1993 blasts: Abu Salem to escape noose?
A special TADA court convicted extradited gangster Abu Salem for his alleged
role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts on Friday, on charges including murder.
However, Salem cannot get a death term or any jail-term over 25 years as per
the terms of his extradition agreed upon by India and Portugal.
CBI's lawyer Deepak Salvi said, "Due to the extradition terms, wherein Salem
cannot be punished with death, we will request the court to give him life-term,
instead of death penalty, even though he deserved death penalty." Another CBI
source said, "Salem's extradition, which was made on the basis of the
International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of which
India and Portugal are signatories, included a few key conditions - if
extradited for trial in India, he would neither be conferred with death penalty
nor be subjected to imprisonment for a term beyond 25 years.
According to Advocate Sujay Kantawala, the awarding of death penalty to 1993
blast accused Abu Salem would not be violating the extradition treaty signed by
India as the crime by Salem was "a crime against humanity and involved
terrorist activity" and so giving him the death penalty would not violate any
extradition treaty.
(source: The Asian Age)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
