July 10
LUXEMBOURG:
Asselborn pursues universal abolition of the death penalty
The Minister of Foreign Affairs maintains anti-death penalty stance in response
to Christian Social People's Party MP Laurent Mosar.
Foreign Affairs Minister Asselborn reaffirmed his ambition concerning the
abolition of the death penalty beyond European borders. The issue came up in
relation to the fate of Murtaja Qureiris, imprisoned since the age of 13 in
Saudi Arabia.
"The youngest prisoner in Saudi Arabia" had been facing the death penalty but
was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison for taking part in an
anti-government demonstration. However, as deputy Laurent Mosar pointed out,
even if Murtaja Qureiris’ life was no longer technically in danger, the problem
remained as relevant as ever, with initiatives such as the United Nations
Children's Fund regularly denouncing Saudi Arabia’s continued execution of
minors.
How then, asked Mosar, was the Luxembourgish government going to react? And
how, he continued, would they address the case on both European (EU) and
international (UN) levels?
Jean Asselborn maintained that Luxembourg seized every possible opportunity to
underline its unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, especially when in
relation to minors. Going beyond the issue at hand, the minister called for the
suspension of "all executions" in order to achieve "a complete and universal
abolition of the application of the death penalty".
Returning to the case of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Asselborn assured that the European
Union would not hesitate to raise the subject with the Saudi representatives
and insisted that Luxembourg would continue to commit in favour of universal
abolition of the death penalty in every way possible.
We can only hope that despite a clear risk of a global regression on the issue,
Mr Asselborn's appeal will be heard. If the Qureiris case has taught us
anything, it is that international pressure can change things.
(source: rtl.lu)
PAKISTAN:
Death penalty in Pakistan: A colonial residue----Capital punishment was used
extensively in colonial India by the British Empire to control its colonial
subjects.
The following is an excerpt from Justice Project Pakistan’s (JPP) book, The
Death Penalty in Pakistan: A Critical Review, to be launched on July 11, 2019
in Islamabad. A culmination of 10 years of JPP’s work, the book documents the
many ways in which Pakistan's application of the death penalty intersects with
legal, social and political realities.
It focuses on how capital punishment impacts some of the most vulnerable
populations: juveniles, the mentally ill, persons with physical disabilities,
low-wage migrant workers imprisoned in foreign jails and the working class.
Relying on public records for multiple JPP clients sentenced to death, nearly a
decade of experience in the field, as well as extensive experience with
legislation and advocacy, this book tracks the many junctures at which
violations occur, from arrest to sentencing to execution.
***
Colonial India (1858-1945)
As the Mughal Empire fell, the British took control and established the Indian
subcontinent as its colony until both Pakistan and India gained independence in
1947. Most of the laws and structures currently in place in Pakistan including
those related to criminal justice and the legal system date to colonial times.
While the British altered the modes of carrying out death sentences and made
hanging the norm,19 they also made it so that capital punishment was
administered more readily and frequently. Whereas the Mughals did not have many
formal prison systems, the building of new and improved prisons marked the
entry of the British into the Indian subcontinent.20 In her book Prisoner
Voices from Death Row, Reena Mary George indicates, ‘Prisons continue to be
located and structured more or less as they were in colonial times. Any change
that has been made has been incorporated somewhat clumsily into the old system
that basically served the triple colonial aims of order, economy and
efficiency’.21
The first formal placing of capital punishment in the legal system, though,
came when the Governor-General of the India Council enacted the Indian Penal
Code in 1860.22 The law, drafted by a group of Britishers making up the Law
Commission, did not attempt to integrate any traditional Indian legal systems
and instead, as the historian David Skuy notes, ‘the entire codification
practice represented the transplantation of English law to India, complete with
lawyers and judges’.23 Since English law at the time was not itself uniform,
this was a first attempt to create such a standard body of law. The current
Code of Criminal Procedure was introduced in 1898 but draws from the very first
code of 1861 that followed the 1857 Indian rebellion.24 Its intent was to
control Indians. Some of the provisions in these laws are termed as ‘draconian
or black laws’.25
In fact, these codes made the death penalty the automatic punishment for murder
with life imprisonment as the exception rather than vice versa.26 The primary
justification of the death penalty itself today stems from the time [the parts
that now constitute] Pakistan was still a colony, namely ‘the belief that
common people can be made to obey the law only through fear instilled by harsh
punishment’.27 This belief persists despite reputable empirical evidence to the
contrary and influences public opinion on the death penalty to this day.
The book will be launched on July 11, 2019 in Islamabad
Along with increasing the number of convicts and prisons and instating harsh
laws, the British increased the number and frequency of executions in the
country significantly. In fact, by the 1920s, fearing that they were losing
their grip on the Empire, the British executed an average of 3 people every
day.28 According to one scholar, Anderson, ‘capital punishment was used
extensively in colonial India by the British Empire to control its colonial
subjects and reinforce its sovereignty’, particularly ‘given to the lower caste
and class’.29 This discriminatory trend persists to this day such that a vast
majority of those on death row are from marginalised communities with poor
socio-economic backgrounds. Time and again, scholars indicate that executions
helped ‘consolidate imperial rule and eradicate resistance against it’.30 These
often took the form of public spectacles to dissuade dissenters and others from
rising up. One example is the blowing up of Indian soldiers by cannons for
mutiny.
These public displays, in fact, sometimes drew from the harsh means of
executions used by the Mughals before them. Other than these public spectacles,
hangings for common crimes from murder to theft to refusal to work were also
used to teach the colonised a ‘lesson’.31 While the actual number of executions
was roughly the same in Britain and India, the difference was that these deaths
were public and directly a way to assert dominance and repress insubordination
to curb challenges to the British Raj. And though there are multiple cases
where the British commuted capital punishment, they often did this in face of a
worse punishment of transportation and indentured servitude elsewhere,
believing that forcing Indians to move would severely affect their religious
practices, funerary rights, and caste structures, and thereby constitute a form
of social death.32 Often, the British would use the bodies of dead prisoners
for research – medical or otherwise. These routine post-mortems became one of
the sets of grievances that led to the Great Indian Rebellion of 1857.33
At the same time, the British put in place numerous due process guarantees. As
part of several reform movements in 1837, the Colonial Office sought to
reconcile law on capital punishment in England with that in the colonies, but
inconsistencies remained.34 As Britain sought to prove its ‘civilizing’
mission, the push for reforms intensified, but in many ways, this did not reach
the colonies they were intended to benefit and the ‘theater of execution’
continued in the Indian subcontinent.35 When makeshift gallows were proved
prone to botched executions, the British, under heavy criticism, set up new and
improved ones. However, problems persisted: ‘the drop was often too short, and
criminals were on occasion hanged weighed down with heavy fetters on their
legs’.36
The death penalty in England itself was inherently problematic. Seeing its rise
in the industrial era, a sentence of death was the penalty for hundreds of
offences from pickpocketing to cutting down a tree to being out at night with a
black face to rape and murder.37 It was only after sustained activism that the
death penalty was narrowed down by 1861 from 200 offences to 4.
Footnotes
19 Treating Indians as automatically of a lower class, they did not consider
beheading which in Britain itself was reserved for upper class men and women.
20 Reena Mary George, Prisoner Voices from Death Row Indian Experiences, (New
York: Routledge, 2016).
21 Id.
22 Divya Metha, ‘Capital Punishment in India: Life, Death and Rebirth?’, Brown
Political Review, November 29, 2016.
23 David Skuy, ‘Macaulay and the Indian Penal Code of 1862: The Myth of the
Inherent Superiority and Modernity of the English Legal System Compared to
India’s Legal System in the Nineteenth Century’, Modern Asian Studies Vol. 32,
No. 3 (July, 1998): pp. 513-557.
24 TNN, ‘CrPC was enacted after 1857 mutiny’, The Times of India, May 5, 2008.
25 George, Prisoner Voices.
26 Id.
27 C. Mohan Gopal, ‘Colonial Legacy’, Frontline, March 8, 2013.
28 Id.
29 Clare Anderson, ‘Execution and its Aftermath in the Nineteenth Century
British Empire’, University of Leicester, last accessed August 17, 2018.
30 Id.
31 Anderson, ‘Execution’.
32 Id.
33 Id.
34 Id.
35 Id.
36 Id.
37 ‘A brief history of capital punishment in Britain’, Historyextra, March 27,
2018.
(source: dawn.com)
BANGLADESH:
Verdict on plea against Azharul’s death penalty any day
The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict any day on the appeal filed by
Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam against the death penalty given to him
by a war crimes tribunal.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed
Mahmud Hossain kept the appeal as CAV (Curia Advisari Vult, which means that it
will announce the verdict on any day) after concluding hearing on it.
During the hearing, Azharul’s lawyer Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain prayed
to the Supreme Court to acquit his client of the charges saying that his client
was innocent and he is not involved in any crime.
The state has failed to prove any allegation of crime against humanity and war
crimes against Azharul Islam, he argued.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the apex court to uphold
the International Crimes Tribunal’s verdict that sentenced Azharul to death.
The AG told the Court that charges brought against him proved beyond reasonable
doubt.
The ICT-1 on December 30, 2014 sentenced Azharul, assistant secretary general
of Jamaat, to death for committing crimes against humanity during the
Liberation War. Later on, Azharul filed an appeal with the SC challenging the
verdict.
In the appeal, he prayed to the Appellate Division to acquit him of the
charges, claiming to be innocent.
On February 24, 2016, the apex court had concluded hearing on the appeal of
Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali, challenging his death penalty given by a tribunal
for committing crimes against humanity and the war crimes during the country’s
Liberation War in 1971.
The SC upheld his death penalty on March 8, 2016 and he was executed on
September 3 the same year.
Around 25 such appeals are pending with the SC at present.
(source: The Daily Star)
MALAYSIA:
An eye for an eye? Inside the death penalty debate in Malaysia
As Malaysia's government deliberates on the future of capital punishment, we
meet families on both sides of the debate.
A life for a life. An eye for an eye.
It is a deeply divisive issue, and for the 1,281 Malaysian prisoners on death
row, it is literally a matter of life and death.
As the government deliberates on the future of the death penalty, 101 East
meets the grieving families on both sides of the debate.
Yan, Kedah - In January 2019, 4-year-old Nurul Hanim and her younger brother,
1-year-old Mohamad Hafiz, were stabbed to death in their beds.
Their parents, Idris and Shila, are still reeling from the tragedy and want the
alleged murderer to hang.
Malaysia currently has the death penalty for 33 crimes. Murder is one of the 11
crimes that carry a mandatory sentence.
But as the country considers abolition, or potentially giving judges discretion
in sentencing, Idris and Shila fear they may be denied justice for their
children's murders.
For them, and many others following Islamic law, capital punishment is both
sanctioned and supported.
"My friends and I all want him dead," says Idris. But if there is no more death
penalty in Malaysia ... if he gets to be free and he gets to come back ... We
can also murder him."
Sibu, Sarawak - The death of a loved one is heart-breaking, but the often
drawn-out process of a murder case can amplify a family's grief.
Stephen Wong, a 31-year-old bank manager, was stabbed to death in his bedroom.
After a police investigation, his wife was charged with abetting the murder and
sentenced to death by hanging. She is appealing the verdict.
But while the government reconsiders capital punishment, Stephen's family
believe only a death sentence will give them justice.
Ipoh, Perak - The families of death row inmates, especially those claiming
wrongful convictions, are also suffering.
Ah Wai was just 19 when he was arrested for kidnapping and murder.
According to court documents, the evidence against him is circumstantial and
during the trial, his mother testified that he was home when the crime
allegedly took place.
He was sentenced to death and has now exhausted all avenues for appeal.
"My heart hurts for him," says his mother Ng Ah Kwai. "He was such an active
child. But he's been locked up for more than 10 years. It feels terrible. When
I'm unwell, I get scared. Scared that I'll die and that no one will visit him
any more."
Gombak, Selangor - "An eye for an eye" is often used to justify capital
punishment in murder cases. But more than 900 of Malaysia's death row inmates
are there for drug-related crimes.
In 2007, Razali Ahmad was found guilty of trafficking 858 grams of cannabis and
given the mandatory death sentence.
He has been on death row for 12 years.
But the possibility of a change to the law has given him and his family a
glimmer of hope.
"It's only hopefully ... this is the way for my son to come back," says his
mother Siti Zebedah. "Let him take me to the mosque. I want to hold him."
(source: aljazeera.com)
INDIA:
POCSO (Amendment) Bill 2019: Cabinet may consider proposal seeking death
penalty for aggravated sexual assault of children
The Union Cabinet may consider a proposal seeking death penalty in cases of
aggravated penetrative sexual assault of children, irrespective of gender, in
its meeting on Wednesday, sources said.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was
presented in Parliament earlier this year, but was not passed in either of the
Houses.
The Bill had also sought amendments to sections 4, 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act to
provide the option of stringent punishment, including death penalty, for
committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child.
The Act defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years and the
amendments are aimed at discouraging the trend of child sexual abuse by acting
as a deterrent.
Besides, Section 9 of the Act was also sought to be amended to protect children
from sexual offences in times of natural calamities and disasters, and in cases
where children are administered any hormone or chemical substance to attain
early sexual maturity for the purpose of penetrative sexual assault.
The offender can be further penalised with a 3-year jail term or fine or both
for transmitting, propagating and administrating such material, according to
the POCSO Bill.
(source: firstpost.com)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
'I'm coming for you': PNG PM furious after children, pregnant women massacred
More than 20 people including pregnant women and children have reportedly been
killed in tribal violence in Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape said those responsible for the
fatal attacks could face the death penalty, warning the perpetrators “I’m
coming for you”.
“Today is one of the saddest day of my life, many children and mothers
innocently murdered in Munima and Karida villages of my electorate by Haguai,
Liwi and OKiru gunmen,” Marape said in a statement on his Facebook page on
Wednesday.
The death toll and dates of the violence in the remote highland province of
Hela varied in reports by the ABC and the Post-Courier newspaper.
Hela Governor Philip Undialu told ABC the latest violence took place on Monday
when 16 people including women and children died at the village of Karida.
The killings were probably retaliation for an earlier attack that left around 7
dead, Undialu said.
"This has escalated into the massacre of innocent women and kids," Undialu
said.
The Post-Courier, based in the South Pacific island nation's capital Port
Moresby, reported as many as 24 people were killed in the villages of Karida
and Peta since Saturday.
6 people had been ambushed and killed near Peta on Saturday, Hela Police Chief
Inspector Teddy Augwi told the newspaper.
The victims' relatives retaliated with rifles the next day, killing between 16
and 18 people at Karida, including pregnant women, he said.
"This is not a tribal fight where the opposing villagers face each other on
field," Augwi told the newspaper.
"This is a fight in guerrilla warfare, meaning they play hide-and-seek and
ambush their enemies."
Many villagers had fled the violence, Hela Administrator William Bando told the
newspaper.
It was not immediately clear if any suspects had been arrested. Papua New
Guinea Police spokesman Superintendent Dominic Kakas did not immediately
respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Tribal violence is common in Papua New Guinea's interior, where villagers
avenge relatives in retaliation known as payback.
The country maintains the death penalty in law but there have been no
executions since 1954. Parliamentarians for Global Action report 9 death
sentences were imposed in 2018 and 20 people remained on death row.
(source: Brisbane Times)
NIGERIA:
Senate Mulls Death Sentence for Rapists
The Senate has initiated moves to actualise capital punishment for persons
convicted for rape.
At its plenary yesterday, the Senate said that the need for stiffer penalties
including death sentence for anyone convicted of rape-related offences, was
imperative.
The senators warned that the rising cases of rape of minors and infants must be
taken seriously by the federal government with majority of them canvassing
death sentence.
They argued that stiffer penalties on rapists of minors and infants in Nigeria
would help curb the menace.
The Senate came to the position following a motion of urgent public importance
sponsored by Senator Rose Oko (PDP, Cross River North), entitled "Rising
incidences of rape of minors."
After considering the motion, the Senate directed its committees on Judiciary,
Police Affairs, Women Affairs and Social Development, when constituted to
interface with the relevant stakeholders in order to evolve ways to enhance the
enforcement and implementation of all legislations and policies aimed at
protecting minors from rapists and other forms of violence.
The Upper House also directed the aforementioned committees to review the
relevant legislations with a view to providing stiffer penalties against sexual
abuse on infants and minors in the country.
The apex legislative chamber urged the police and other law enforcement
agencies to conduct mandatory training for officers in dealing with rape cases
and young victims of abuse.
It charged the judiciary to establish national sentencing framework for child
sexual abuse cases and for judicial officers to impose the penalties permitted
by law on the perpetrators of all forms of abuses against minors to serve as a
deterrent to others.
The lawmakers also urged state governments to domesticate and robustly
implement the Child Rights Act and Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act
2015 to check the abuse of babies and minors.
To members of the general public, the Red Chamber charged them to act as
watchdogs and the voice of the voiceless as a way of curbing child sexual abuse
and all forms of violent acts.
Oko, in the lead debate, she brought through Orders 42 and 52 of the Senate
Rule, drew the attention of the Senate to rising incidences of the rape of
infants and minors in various parts of the country, describing the development
as worrisome.
She claimed that 6 out of every 10 Nigerians were being raped on daily basis.
The lawmaker noted the shocking rape story of a 6-month-old baby in Kano as a
case of a minor and others involving students by their teachers and lecturers
in the nation's institutions of learning as concerns to the parliament.
She lamented that law enforcement agencies had not lived up to their
responsibilities in checking the increasing wave of rape in the country, and,
therefore, called on the Senate to evolve ways of providing stiffer measures to
serve as deterrent to rapists.
Senator George Sekibo (PDP, Rivers), who seconded the motion, condemned the act
and called for stiffer penalties against rapists, noting that the current law
on rape was too mild to discourage offenders from the act.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos Central) frowned at the trend, describing
the rape of minors as "extreme wickedness" that deserves the imposition of
death sentence on offenders.
The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central), noted
that the country has sufficient laws on rape but lacked the will power to
enforce them.
He, therefore, called on the Red Chamber to review the existing laws, with a
view to focusing on the sentencing guidelines of the extant laws.
Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North) said that the psychological and
mental health of Nigerians had been called to question, going by the
aggravating incidences of the rape of infants and minors in the country.
He also observed that not much was being done on sex education in the nation's
public and private schools, for the purpose of educating the children on steps
to take when they fall prey to rapists.
Utazi suggested the inclusion of sex education in the curriculum of schools and
a review of the laws on rape.
Senators Chimaroke Nnamani, Abdulfatai Buhari, Ibrahim Oloriegbe and others
concurred that raping a minor is tantamount to destroying that child. They
described it as satanic and urged that steps be taken to end the vice.
... Nothing Will Stop Sen Abbo's Investigation
Meanwhile, the Senate has declared that nothing would stop it from going ahead
with the investigation of Senator Elisha Abbo for assaulting a nursing mother
in a sex toy shop in Abuja.
Consequently, the Senate has invited the owner of the shop where Abbo assaulted
the victim to appear today before its committee investigating the incident.
Others to appear before the committee are the policeman shown in the video
which went viral on the social media, the victim and others who were involved
in the matter.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Sam Egwu (PDP, Ebonyi North) told
journalists after a closed-door meeting with Abbo that the lawmaker explained
what transpired in the past including what the video did not capture.
Egwu said: "We will continue tomorrow (today). All the witnesses, the police,
the victim, the shopowner and all that were involved will appear before the
committee. We want to assure you that nothing will be covered up."
At the beginning of the hearing, Abbo told the committee that the issue was in
court and that he can't answer any question on camera.
"I cannot be speaking before this committee because that would be subjudice
since the matter under investigation is before the court. So, why should I be
facing the camera? he interjected when asked questions by the members.
But, Senator Remi Tinibu countered him when she: "Distinguished, we want to
tell you that you are just joining us. We have a procedure. What we are doing
is as a legislature. Everybody deserves a fair hearing. What is going on with
you affects us as a body. That is why the Senate president constituted this
committee. You can see the level and integrity of members of the committee. You
don't come here and dictate to us the procedure we are supposed to follow. You
are undermining us by trying to do that. You are not evening listening to us.
"Even if we are going beyond what you expect, you can't stop us. Do you want us
to protect you, defend you or do you want to be on your own?" she queried.
While Abbo made efforts to interject by saying, "Distinguished Ma," Tinubu
asked him to off his microphone.
She said: "Put off your mic and let me finish my point. Do you also realise
that this committee can also suspend you? Off that mic; you are digging a hole
for yourself. I am also another woman, you better be careful. We took the
decision and you didn't even wait for us to tell you the method we wanted to
adopt."
But Abbo retorted: "I will not sit down here and watch you threaten me with
suspension. I am a senator like you. I take exception to that."
(source: allafrica.com)
MAURITANIA:
Mauritanian 'blasphemy' blogger repents again
The Mauritanian blogger Mkheitir, who is still being detained despite serving
jail time for alleged blasphemy, has once more expressed repentance, a
condition set by religious chiefs for his release, an official said on Tuesday.
Human rights groups have long been campaigning on behalf of Cheikh Ould Mohamed
Ould Mkheitir, who was sentenced to death in December 2014 for allegedly
insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
He repented after being given that sentence, prompting an appeal court on
November 2017 to downgrade the punishment to a two-year jail term, a decision
that sparked protests in the conservative Saharan nation.
His lawyers say he should have been released immediately, having already spent
4 years behind bars. But he remains in custody, a situation confirmed – and
defended – by outgoing President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz last month.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mkheitir had expressed
his repentance on his Facebook page late last Thursday, shortly after a meeting
last Monday between Abdel Aziz and religious leaders to "launch a process of
preparing national opinion" for his release.
Mkheitir – also spelt Mkhaitir – is expected to be freed swiftly at the end of
this process, the source said, without giving a date.
The meeting ended with a decision requiring Mkheitir to express "public
repentance on social media and social networks," the official said.
"As I announced in early 2014 and as I have repeated on every available
occasion in court, I hereby reaffirm my repentance before Allah, the Lord of
the Worlds," his Facebook posting, his first since 2014, said in Arabic.
He was also expected to show repentance on Tuesday on public and private media,
the source said.
A commission of ulemas – guardians of Islamic doctrine – has been set up to
"monitor" the process leading to Mkheitir's release, the official said. A
meeting with him will take place where he is being held, in a fortress in the
capital Nouakchott, the source said. There was no word about when the meeting
would take place.
Mkheitir's lawyer, Fatima Mbaye, said, "This is a good process that is underway
if it leads to the young man's release."
"He should have been free a long time ago, but we know and I have always said,
that only Ould Abdel Aziz can do this," she said. "We now have to wait and see
how things develop."
On 20 June, Abdel Aziz, who is stepping down in August at the end of a maximum
2 terms in office, defended Mkheitir's continued detention, saying it was
justified by "his personal security as well as the country's."
"We know that from the point of the view of the law, he should be freed, but
for security reasons, we cannot place the life of more than 4 million
Mauritanians at risk," he said. "Millions of Mauritanians took to the streets
to demand his execution. His release would mean that chaos would be allowed to
take root in the country," he added.
In an open letter published the following day, 10 rights groups, including the
media watchdog Reporters without Borders, called on Abdel Aziz to use his final
weeks in office to end the "illegal detention". Failing to resolve this problem
would greatly overshadow his legacy, they said.
Mkheitir, believed to be aged in his mid-thirties, was accused of challenging
decisions taken by the Prophet and his companions during holy wars in the
seventh century.
The appeal court decision triggered angry protests, prompting the government in
April 2018 to harden religious laws so that showing repentance for blasphemy
and apostasy could no longer prevent the death penalty.
The law was approved despite an appeal by the African Union's human rights body
for the government to review the bill.
(source: qantara.de)
EGYPT:
Egypt president appoints top judges after constitutional amendments
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi swore in the heads of 2 top judicial
bodies over the weekend following constitutional amendments passed in April
that granted the president increased power over the selection process allegedly
as part of his ongoing fight against terrorism.
In June parliament approved 2 laws granting the president the power to select
heads of the military judiciary and the 5 other judicial bodies in the country.
Previously the president was only allowed to appoint the most senior judge and
courts selected their own chiefs.
Though many Egyptian judges are pro-regime and have issued death sentences en
masse to members of the Brotherhood and other members of the opposition,
including to children, they are not completely under the president’s command.
In January 2017 the Court of Cassation upheld a decision to reject Al-Sisi’s
attempts to transfer the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia,
initially won the previous June but appealed by the government.
In the past Al-Sisi has complained that “the arm of justice is being chained by
the law” and that long appeals were delaying executions. The judiciary’s
attempts to appear independent have also irked the president.
At the time Al-Sisi’s move to consolidate power was contested by Egypt’s
supreme judicial bodies for violating the independence of the judiciary
guaranteed in the constitution. The Egypt Judges’ Club urged the president to
reject the amendments; some judges threatened to strike, others said that they
would not supervise parliamentary elections.
On Saturday, Judge Abdallah Amin Asr was sworn in as the head of the Court of
Cassation, a position that Judge Anas Omara was widely tipped to win. But Omara
had drawn disapproval from authorities after he overturned mass death penalty
sentences, including for members of the Brotherhood.
Yehia Al-Dekroury issued the ruling blocking the government’s decision to
transfer the Red Sea islands, and it is widely observed that the constitutional
amendments have been designed to block Omara and Al-Dekroury from taking up
high-ranking positions.
(source: Middle East Monitor)
SAUDI ARABIA:
SO MUCH FOR MODERATION… Saudi Arabia executions DOUBLE in 2019 with 122 people
– including kids – put to death this already this year
Saudi Arabia has executed 122 people - including children - during the first 6
months this year, making it one of the bloodiest in the kingdom in 5 years,
according to a new report.
Among the slain were 6 who were arrested as minors, 3 women and 51 were facing
drug charges that would be considered minor offences elsewhere in the world.
More than 100 people have been executed so far in 2019 in the oppressive Arab
KingdomCredit: Rex Features
The latest figure of executions from the oppressive Arab Kingdom is more than
double from same period last year - when 55 people were put to death.
The bloodshed comes despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's pledge to reduce
the use of the death penalty.
The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, an activist group, released
the figures adding they "raise serious concerns about the extent to which the
Saudi government will expand capital punishment this year".
In 2016, the regime executed 41 people in the 1st half of 2017, 88 during the
same period in 2016 and 103 for the first 6 months of 2015.
If this trend is repeated for the 2nd half of this year then it would mark the
bloodiest year for Saudi executioners, the group said.
They added it was aware of at least 23 pending cases for which the death
penalty is possible, including at least 3 children.
It is not clear if the cases involving the minors are still children or were
under 18 when they were arrested.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Among the executed, 58 were foreign nationals and most were accused of
spreading Shia Islam - a crime in the Sunni Arab state.
There were 21 Pakistanis, 15 Yemenis, 5 from Syria and 4 from Egypt.
2 Jordanians, 2 Nigerians, a Somalian and 2 from unidentified nations were also
included in the figures.
On April 22, a horrific mass execution was carried out by the savage regime
involving 37 men being killed including 1 being crucified and another having
his head impaled on a spike.
Those killed during the beheading bloodbath had all been convicted of
"terrorism offences" in the hardline kingdom.
However, one of those beheaded was Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, who was arrested while
attending an anti-government protest when he was aged just 16.
He was convicted of being a "terrorist" in a trial branded a "farce" by Amnesty
International.
He had his head cut from his body in front of a baying, bloodthirsty crowd
along with 36 other men in the medieval country.
At least 1 of the bodies were reportedly crucified and put out on display after
the execution.
'SHAM TRIAL'
Sentencing a person to death who is aged under 18 is banned under international
law.
Another victim, Mujtaba al-Sweikat, was a teenager who was set to start a new
life in the US, studying at Western Michigan University, when he was arrested
for attending an anti-government protest.
The then-17-year-old – who had enrolled in English language and finance - was
badly beaten including on the soles of his feet before he “confessed” to crimes
against the state.
Human rights charities claim he was also tortured into confessing and convicted
in a "sham trial."
The alarming figures come despite Bin Salman's pledge to "minimise" the use of
capital punishment.
In an interview with Time magazine in 2018 he said: "There are a few areas we
can change (or lower the sentence) from execution to life imprisonment.
"So we are working for two years through the government and also the Saudi
parliament to build new laws in that area.
"And we believe it will take one year, maybe a little bit more, to have it
finished... We will not get it 100 %, but to reduce it big time."
Countries that have the death penalty include:
Afghanistan
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belize
Botswana
Chad
China
Comoros
Cuba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dominica
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Ethiopia
Guyana
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Japan
Jamaica
Jordan
Kuwait
Lesotho
Libya
Nigeria
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Somalia
South Sudan
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Sudan
Syria
Taiwan
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United States of America
Vietnam
Yemen
Zimbabwe
(source: thesun.co.uk)
ISRAEL:
Vandals graffiti Palestinian town demanding death for freed rape
suspect----Cars also damaged in hometown of Mahmoud Qadusa, released from
custody last month when charges he assaulted 7-year-old girl in nearby
settlement were dropped over lack of evidence
Threatening graffiti messages were discovered Wednesday in the home village of
a Palestinian man who was arrested in connection with an alleged rape of a
7-year-old Israeli girl, before charges were dropped and he was released.
Police said it had opened an investigation into the apparent hate crime.
An inscription saying “The death penalty is necessary for Mahmoud Qadusa” was
sprayed on a wall in the West Bank village of Dir Kadis, referring to the
formerly accused man.
The attackers also damaged several cars in the village.
Last month, 12 cars were found with their tires slashed and Hebrew hate slogans
were spray-painted on walls in the nearby village of Sinjil. “We give them jobs
and they rape” read one phrase daubed on a wall, in an apparent reference to
the alleged attack on the child.
Qadusa, a 46-year-old maintenance custodian at the alleged victim’s school, was
released in June after spending nearly two months in detention after the
indictment against him came under fire for its lack of evidence.
The Haaretz daily reported Wednesday that police are currently not
investigating any other suspects.
Qadusa told the Walla news site on Wednesday that he has not been contacted by
police since his release.
According to the dropped charges, sometime “between the months of February and
April” Qadusa dragged the girl from her school to a vacant home in the
settlement, where he raped her as at least 2 of his friends pinned her down.
Shortly after the indictment was leaked, police came under fire for relying
almost entirely on the testimony of the girl, forgoing forensic evidence in
addition to being unable to determine the exact date that the alleged crime had
taken place.
The 7-year-old’s parents have provided police with further evidence they say
points to his guilt, according to Channel 13. The parents have reportedly given
police a nude doll the mother said Qadusa gave her daughter, as well as
drawings her daughter made which the mother said identified Qadusa as her
attacker.
Last month the Israel Defense Forces’ military advocate general announced he
was dropping the charges against Qadusa. The indictment against him had come
under fire for its apparent lack of evidence, a fact that the military
prosecutor, Sharon Afek, acknowledged in a statement to the press announcing
the annulment of the charges.
The statement said that “the evidentiary infrastructure that underlies the
indictment does not at this time amount to a ‘reasonable chance of conviction.’
Therefore, by law, the criminal process cannot continue, the indictment must be
withdrawn and Qadusa released from custody.”
Only two months after the rape was believed to have taken place, police
eventually arrived at the home of the alleged victim to collect her clothes for
DNA testing, an official with knowledge of the investigation said.
An official also confirmed that the girl was only able to ID Qadusa in school
after her mother pointed at him first and told her he was the man who had raped
her.
Moreover, a failed polygraph test cited by the military court in successive
decisions to extend Qadusa’s detention was carried out in Hebrew, rather than
the defendant’s native Arabic, the official said.
(source: The Times of Israel)
YEMEN:
Yemen rebel court condemns 30 to death for spying
A court run by Yemen's Huthi rebels on Tuesday sentenced 30 academics, trade
unionists and preachers to death for allegedly spying for the Saudi-led
coalition, a judicial source said.
The men, among 36 defendants tried by the criminal court in the rebel-held
capital Sanaa, have been in custody for at least the past year, the source told
AFP.
"The criminal court today (Tuesday) issued a verdict condemning 30 people to
death on charges of spying for the aggression countries," the source said,
adding that the other 6 were acquitted.
He said the men were convicted of supplying the coalition with information on
locations for air strikes.
Amnesty International condemned the verdicts, saying they had targeted
"political opposition figures" in "sham trials".
Among those condemned to death was Yussef al-Bawab, a 45-year-old father of
five and linguistics professor, who had been "arbitrarily arrested in late
2016", it said in a statement.
"Since the Huthi de facto authorities assumed control of the justice system in
2015, they have progressively utilised the Sanaa-based SCC (Specialised
Criminal Court) to target persons they deem to be opponents or even just
critics," said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty's Middle East research director.
The military coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015, a few months after
the Iran-aligned Shiite Huthi rebels captured Sanaa.
The coalition backs the internationally-recognised government of President
Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Since the Huthis took control of the capital in September 2014, their courts
have issued several death sentences for spying.
In May last year, a Sanaa court sentenced two men to death for spying for
Riyadh, while in January, the same court condemned to death 22-year old mother
Asmaa al-Omeissy and two men on charges of aiding the United Arab Emirates, a
key partner in the coalition.
On Tuesday, the supreme court commuted Omeissy's death penalty to 15 years in
jail, a judicial source in Sanaa said. There was no decision yet on the 2 men
sentenced with her.
Yemen's conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them
civilians, relief agencies say, and left millions displaced and in need of aid.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
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