[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., N.C., FLA., LA.
May 2 TEXASimpending execution(s) Texas plans 3 executions as courts mull secrecy of lethal drugs As Oklahoma continues to feel the aftershocks from its botched execution attempt on Tuesday, attention is turning to Texas, where a key secrecy ruling is expected to be made later this month. The next US execution is scheduled for 13 May in the nation's most-active death penalty state, where Robert Campbell is set to be given a lethal injection for the abduction and murder of Alexandra Rendon, a bank employee, in Houston in 1991. The 41-year-old will be put to death using the sedative pentobarbital, but the source of the drug remains unknown amid a series of legal skirmishes, as in Oklahoma, over whether the state is allowed to withhold fundamental details about the deadly chemicals in its possession. Texas has been at the heart of the execution secrecy debate in recent weeks as it has continued to execute prisoners after refusing to comply with freedom of information requests seeking to reveal the quantity and origins of its latest set of drugs. This onset of coyness contradicted previous rulings by the Texas attorney general's office stating that such information should be available to the public. While lawyers for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and death-row inmates litigated the issue in various state and federal courts, Texas officials asked the office of Greg Abbott, the state attorney general, for a new ruling. That request was filed on 25 March and the deadline for a decision is 29 May, though it can be extended by a maximum of 10 days, according to a spokesperson for Abbott's office. Critics of capital punishment said that the messy and alarming way in which Clayton Lockett died in Oklahoma - ultimately of an apparent heart attack after the failure of an execution that was to use an experimental drug cocktail - underlined the dangers of a lack of transparency. What we saw in Oklahoma certainly reverberates in Texas, where the TDCJ refuses to disclose their drug supply, said Kristin Houle, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. The biggest takeaway from Oklahoma is that secrecy doesn't work. The botched nature of Mr Lockett's execution started weeks ago when Oklahoma closed its doors and refused to provide information to Mr Lockett's lawyers, said Maurie Levin, one of the lawyers working on secrecy litigation. Lawyers for Campbell are considering how to pitch possible last-minute appeals in the light of what happened on Tuesday. Officials in Texas should be gravely concerned over the events in Oklahoma. Texas, like Oklahoma, continues to insist on keeping secret the source of the drugs it uses in executions, which precludes any meaningful institutional oversight, said Rob Owen, one of Campbell's attorneys. Transparency is absolutely indispensable to avoiding horribly botched executions like Mr Lockett's. We are still considering what steps might be taken in Mr Campbell's case to try and ensure no such outrage takes place in Texas on 13 May. The TDCJ updated its website on Thursday afternoon to reveal that another three executions have been scheduled for August, September and January. Litigation related to recent Texas death penalty cases is ongoing as lawyers for inmates argue that a lack of available details about drugs which are likely sourced from lightly-regulated compounding pharmacies means that prisoners cannot be certain they will avoid a painfully inefficient death that violates their constitutional right not to suffer a cruel and unusual punishment. In documents filed to a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Wednesday, lawyers seeking transparency in Texas described the current dispute over access to information as a stand-off between inmates and executioners. They added that Lockett's fate gruesomely underscores the importance of transparency, judicial oversight, and the crucial importance of keeping some doors open to death-sentenced inmates to assert their right to be executed in a manner that comports with the eighth amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Lawyers for the TDCJ have previously argued that concerns are baseless since the state now has a solid track record of properly carrying out executions using single-drug pentobarbital since mid-2012 and has conducted its own drug-quality tests. The state also contends that secrecy is increasingly necessary to ensure potential suppliers are not scared off by negative publicity or threats of violence made by anti-capital punishment activists. Death penalty opponents say that officials have exaggerated the risk and are asking for secrecy as a way to hide questionable and ever-more desperate attempts to source drugs that have become scarce mainly because of Europe-led boycotts. Lawyers for Michael Yowell, who was executed last October, alleged in a court document
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 2 MALDIVES: THE MALDIVES: Maldivian gov't criticized for reinstating death penalty Human Rights watchdogs on Friday condemned moves by the Maldivian government to reinstate the death penalty insisting it is causing grave concern. The Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) has condemned the Maldivian government's decision to implement the death penalty in a statement. The MDN expressed great concern over the move to break a 60-year de facto moratorium on the death penalty in the country. New regulations allow for children as young as 7 to be sentenced to death. Given the state of the Maldivian judiciary, which is also perceived to be highly politicized and corrupt, it is most concerning that as grave a matter as life and death of humans is to be decided by it, the MDN stated. Adopted on April 27, the new regulation provides for the use of death penalty for the offense of intentional murder, including when committed by individuals under the age of 18. The age of criminal responsibility in the Maldives is 10, but for hadd offences under conservative Islamic law, children as young as 7 can be held responsible. Hadd offences include theft, fornication, adultery, consumption of alcohol, and apostasy. The MDN's remarks follows a statement by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in which the organization called for the practice to be abolished. We urge the Government to retain its moratorium on the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, particularly in cases that involve juvenile offenders and to work towards abolishing the practice altogether, said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the OHCHR. We equally encourage the government to repeal the new regulations and other provisions that provide for the death penalty, she told reporters earlier this week. However, the Maldivian government has shown no signs of rolling back its push to revive the death penalty. (source: Xinhua) *** Children could get death penalty as Maldives brings back executions The Maldives overturned a six-decade-old moratorium on capital punishment with the adoption of a new regulation this week that allows for the death penalty to be used to punish certain crimes. The Maldivian government enacted the regulation, which makes provision for execution by lethal injection, for the crimes of premeditated murder or deliberate manslaughter. While the age of criminal responsibility is 10 in the Maldives, some crimes under the country's Sharia laws -- known as Hadd offenses -- have an age of responsibility of 7. This means that juveniles could potentially face execution in the archipelago. Execution facilities at the Maldives' Maafushi Prison were being built to carry out sentences. Since reenacted, 20 people have been sentenced to death, although one of these sentences was overturned by the High Court, a report in the country's Haveeru newspaper said. Local Maldives media reported that Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer defended the decision to reinstate the penalty, saying that the Maldives was suffering from overcrowded prisons and a lively criminal environment. He was also quoted as saying that the Maldives was a hundred percent Islamic country and there are certain values that we all believe in. The U.N. and EU have expressed their concerns about the move, which could potentially see minors killed by the state. According to the new regulation, minors convicted of intentional murder shall be executed once they turn 18. Similar provisions in the recently ratified Penal Code, allowing for the application of the death penalty for crimes committed when below the age of 18, are also deeply regrettable, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. We urge the Government to retain its moratorium on the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, particularly in cases that involve juvenile offenders and to work towards abolishing the practice altogether. EU High Representative Catherine Ashton was also deeply concerned about the adoption of the regulations and urged the Maldives to retain the moratorium on the death penalty. The High Representative holds a strong and principled position against the death penalty, a statement issued by her office said. The death penalty is cruel and inhumane, and has not been shown in any way to act as a deterrent to crime. (source: CNN) IRAN: Death row young woman leaves will to mother from prison An Iranian prisoner facing imminent execution has released her will in a voice message from prison. In a heart-rending message to her family - beginning with her mother Sholeh - 26-year-old Rayhaneh Jabbari tells how she trusted the law, but is now facing death for the crime of defending herself against an agent of Iranian regime???s intelligence who tried to assault her. The clerical regime has
