[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 20 AUSTRALIA: Bring back death penalty: Lambie Independent senator Jacqui Lambie says Australia should bring back the death penalty for citizens who fight for terrorist organisations overseas. Senator Lambie had previously called for citizenship to be revoked, but took it a step further on Friday morning, calling for courts to have the ability to sentence terrorists returning to Australia to death. "I'm asking that everyone who assists any of the terrorists trying to take out our defence force personnel, that the death penalty be introduced," she told Southern Cross Austereo radio. "But that should be determined by the jury. "I want to give them the option, for terrorism only." While she concedes there is little chance she will get the numbers to support the idea, Senator Lambie says it's good to bring issues like this to the public's attention. Her statement comes just a day after Australian David Hicks was cleared of his terrorism conviction by an American military court, after spending more than 5 years as a prisoner at US Navy base Guantanamo Bay. (source: AAP) IRANjuvenile execution Juvenile Offender Saman Naseem Was Executed The Kurdish political prisoner Saman Naseem who was sentenced to death for offences he allegedely committed at 17 years of age, was executed in the prison of Urmia (Northwest of Iran). Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported earlier that Saman's family were contacted by the authorities yesterday to meet at the prison to collect Saman's belongings on Saturday. According to several independent sources, Saman's family have been asked earlier today to collect Saman's body tomorrow, Saturday 21. February. It is still unclear whether Saman was executed yesterday (Thursday) or today. IHR strongly condemns Saman Naseem's unlawful and inhumane execution. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR, said: Ali Khamenei, the Iranian authorities' Supreme leader must be held responsible for the inhumane treatment and execution of Saman Naseem. We urge the international community to strongly condemn this execution. Saman Naseem's execution takes place despite repeated calls from the international community. Iran's continuous violations of the basic human rights must have consequences for the Iranian authorities". Also FIDH (a founding member of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty) and its Iranian member organisations, the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) and the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC) have strongly condemned "the illegal execution of juvenile offender Saman Naseem that reportedly took place yesterday morning in Iran". Saman Naseem was transferred together with 5 death row prisoners of conscience from his prison ward to an unknown location on Wednesday 18. February. There is no information about the other 5 death row political prisoners: Yunes Aghayan, Habibollah Afshari, Ali Afshari, Sirwan Najavi and Ebrahim Shapouri. There is increasing concern that also these prisoners may be executed soon. Despite ratifying the United Nations' Convention for the Rights of the Child, Iran is the world's biggest executioner of juvenile offenders. Saman Naseem was sentenced to death in April 2013 by a criminal court in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, for "enmity against God" (moharebeh) and "corruption on earth" (ifsad fil-arz) because of his membership in the Kurdish armed opposition group PJAK, and for taking part in armed activities against the Revolutionary Guards. His death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2013. Has was 17 year old at the time of his arrest. According to reports Saman Naseem didn't have access to his lawyer during early investigations and according to a letter he wrote from the prison he was tortured, which included the removal of his finger and toe nails and being hung upside down for several hours. In the letter, Saman said: "During the first days, the level of torture was so severe that it left me unable to walk. All my body was black and blue. They hung me from my hands and feet for hours. I was blindfolded during the whole period of interrogations and torture, and could not see the interrogation and torture officers." (source: Iran Human Rights) ** Illegal execution of juvenile offender FIDH (a founding member of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty) and its Iranian member organisations, the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) and the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC) strongly condemn the illegal execution of juvenile offender Saman Naseem that reportedly took place yesterday morning in Iran. "The continuing execution of prisoners of conscience and juvenile offenders by the Iranian authorities is illegal and reprehensible," stated Karim Lahidji, FIDH President. "Moreover, the regime's deliberate policy of denying information to families of death row
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---worldwide
Feb. 20 ISRAEL: Israeli foreign minister on Facebook: Palestinian prisoners should be executed Israel's hardline right-wing foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman plans to introduce a bill into the country's parliament, the Knesset, which would implement the death penalty for Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli lockup. Alongside a photo reading "Death penalty for terrorists," Lieberman wrote on his Facebook page that his party - Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) - supports the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners. "The struggle against terror is the largest challenge for the 21st century world. This is also Israel's great challenge, but there's a large gap between what Israel preaches and what is done here [in Israel]," Lieberman wrote. "The 1st law that Yisrael Beitenu will propose is a death penalty for terrorists, because otherwise we're ordering up more terror and yet more terror," Lieberman continued. At the time of writing, Lieberman's post had already received more than 1,400 "likes" and had been shared 185 times. The Middle East Monitor first reported on Lieberman's Facebook post early Thursday. An estimated 6,200 Palestinians were in Israeli jails as of 1 December, according to Addameer, a Ramallah-based group that monitors the arrests and detentions of Palestinians. Despite Israel's claims to be a democracy, more than 99 % of Palestinians tried in its military courts are convicted, according a military document leaked to the Israeli daily Haaretz in 2011. Prisoner swaps Lieberman also said that Israel should not negotiate any more prisoner-release deals with the occupied West Bank-based Palestinian Authority or Hamas, the Palestinian political party that governs the besieged Gaza Strip. "Releasing terrorists, including those who carried out the most terrible attacks, like the Ramallah lynch[ing], is the worst possible message that can be conveyed in the war on terror," he wrote, referring to the killing of 2 Israeli soldiers in that city at the outset of the 2nd intifada in 2000. "You've got to signal to terror that you're changing your direction," he said. "That there are no more deals." In 2011, Israel released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli occupation soldier who had been held in captivity in Gaza for 5 years. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners released in that agreement were subsequently re-arrested, despite the lack of new charges against them. Israel agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners in 4 waves as part of precondition to returning to "negotiations" with the Palestinian Authority in 2013. Yet, after the 1st 3 stages were completed, Israel reneged on the agreement and did not let the last 26 prisoners go home. Meanwhile, numerous conditions were imposed on prisoners who were released and many from the West Bank were forcibly transferred to Gaza. Another war on Gaza Lieberman concluded by claiming that another war on Palestinians in Gaza is on the horizon. "It is clear to everyone today that a 4th engagement with Hamas is inevitable, and that what's important is to plan ... now how to avoid the 5th," he wrote. Lieberman's post framed the wars on Gaza as a war against Hamas, although Israeli forces target Palestinians of all political stripes in its military offensives in Gaza. "Every military operation must end decisively; otherwise we erode our capacities and our deterrence," Lieberman claimed. "The fact that we enter into a military confrontation with Hamas every other year makes it impossible for the State of Israel to make long term plans, like a normal state could, in the realms of policy and economics." Israel's latest assault on Gaza - dubbed Operation Protective Edge - ended with a ceasefire in late August. During that attack, Israel targeted Palestinians by air, land and sea and more than 2,200 Palestinians - mostly civilians - were killed, according to United Nations monitoring group OCHA. Lieberman did not specify what he meant by a "decisive" conclusion to war on Gaza, but he has in the past advocated for Israel to reinstate its on-the-ground occupation of the area. Though Israel's settlers were evacuated from Gaza in 2005, it enforces a suffocating siege on Palestinians in Gaza. Shortly before Israel's latest attack on Gaza began, Lieberman called for the "full occupation of the strip," reported Haaretz last June. (source: electronicintifida.net) TURKEY: Senior judge says death penalty should be debated after young woman's death The newly elected head of the Supreme Court of Appeals has joined calls from the government for the reinstatement of the death penalty after the Feb. 11 killing of 20-year-old Ozgecan Aslan on a minibus in Tarsus. Supreme Court of Appeals President Ismail Rustu Cirit, who is said to enjoy good relations with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) led government, said
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KY., ARK., MO., MONT., CALIF., ORE., WASH.
Feb. 20 KENTUCKY: Ky. legislature should find out death penalty's cost Let's say you have no moral qualms about the death penalty. You also think, despite compelling evidence to the contrary, that our justice system is meting out the irreversible punishment fairly with negligible errors. You still might not consider the perceived benefits of prosecuting and sentencing a criminal to death worth the cost when compared to some other sentence such as life without parole - if you knew the cost, which in Kentucky we don't. Legislators, who are entrusted with budgeting tax dollars to meet many competing underfunded needs, should want to know the cost to taxpayers. In fact, they should demand to know. Bipartisan resolutions have been introduced in both chambers that would authorize a task force to study the death penalty's cost to the state before the 2016 General Assembly convenes. Senate Resolution 11 and House Resolution 30 have bipartisan support, which makes sense since their bottom line is making the best use of tax dollars, a bipartisan concern. A blue ribbon panel of Kentuckians convened by the American Bar Association studied the death penalty in our state and issued a troubling report in 2011. Since 1976 when Kentucky reinstated capital punishment, 78 people have been sentenced to death. Of those, 52 have had a death sentence overturned on appeal or been granted clemency - an error rate of about 60 %. 3 individuals have been executed. The panel did not study how much that record has cost taxpayers, however, and neither has anyone else. A responsible legislature would fill the knowledge gap. (source: Editorial, kentucky.com) *** Webb Files Bill to Reform Kentucky's Death Penalty On the same day Pennsylvania's governor placed a moratorium on the death penalty in the Keystone state, a Kentucky lawmaker filed a bill to make what she says would be moderate reforms to Kentucky's laws. State Sen. Robin Webb maintains there are so many problems with Kentucky's death penalty that Gov. Steve Beshear should do what Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf did last Friday - suspend the death penalty. "You know, we've had a lot of litigation over our manner of execution and lethal injections, and the cocktail and the protocol and all of that, which is expensive for the state," Webb points out. "And, you know, again there's a humanitarian aspect of this, but there's also a fiscal impact of this." It was 3 years ago December that the American Bar Association (ABA) released a report outlining a myriad of problems with Kentucky's death penalty - citing 95 specific things that needed to be fixed. Webb's bill calls for more law enforcement training on the use of lineups, interrogations, eyewitness testimony and biological evidence. It also proposes more training for judges on mental-health issues. And, it attempts to improve DNA storage and testing - a crucial piece of the bill, says Webb, because of the dozens of wrongful convictions across the country. "It's, you know, not too comprehensive," she concedes. "I'm a realist. I think it's things that we've talked about in the past and hopefully can reach a consensus." Pennsylvania's governor said his state's moratorium will remain in effect until problems cited by an advisory commission are addressed - a situation similar to Kentucky's. When the ABA issued its report in December 2011 the panel of lawyers, professors and retired judges recommended a temporary suspension of the death penalty. (source: WMKY news) ARKANSAS: Justices hear arguments on state's execution law The Arkansas Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday about whether a 2013 law enacted by state legislators gave too much authority to the Arkansas Department of Correction to set lethal-injection protocol. Last year, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen declared that Act 139 of 2013 violated separation-of-powers principles and was therefore a "clear violation" of the Arkansas Constitution. His ruling put lethal injection on hold in the state unless the Supreme Court decides otherwise or legislators rewrite the law. Griffen's ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed in April of 2013 by 9 death-row inmates who challenged the latest rewrite of the Method of Execution Act, which replaced the electric chair with lethal injection in 1983. The inmates had already prevailed in 2 earlier lawsuits challenging legislative rewrites of the law. In his ruling, Griffen said that "Simply put," the 2013 law "suffers from the same separation-of-powers infirmity that caused our Supreme Court to declare its predecessor invalid." In 2012, the Supreme Court said the Legislature "abdicated its responsibility and passed to the executive branch [the Correction Department] the unfettered discretion to determine all protocols and procedures, most notably the chemicals to be used, for a state execu
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., GA., FLA., ALA., OHIO, W.VA.
Feb. 20 TEXAS: Rodney Reed From Death Row: "I'm Not Giving Up" About 4 hours east of Bastrop, in the small town of Livingston, is a maximum security prison better known as death row. For the past 17 years, it's been Rodney Reed's home. He spends about 22 hours each day in a cell, clinging to hope and maintaining his innocence. "It's not just what I'm going through, it's what my family is going through," Reed said. "I kind of get emotional when I think about what's going on with them." At the moment, Reed said a radio is his only contact with the world. As the days tick down on his life, he can't see the countless protests and vigils calling for his freedom taking place across the state. The only updates come when family members see him through the glass. "My baby boy, he tells me that he has faith," said Reed. "I have to hold on, I have to hold onto that." Reed is scheduled to be executed March 5. A Bastrop jury convicted him nearly 2 decades ago for the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacy Stites. "I try not to entertain what the state is trying to do to me, I don't want to entertain it," Reed said. But on Wednesday he was forced to. Reed said that before his interview with KEYE TV he was told to complete paperwork for the state identifying which of his family members could be in the room when he's executed. It also outlines what to do with his remains. KEYE TV asked Reed if he thinks it's possible the state will put him to death. "I think that it's possible," he said. "I hope that they don't, but it's possible that they will." Reed says he has known others on death row who have left and never come back, and he knows the routine, but it's not something he wants to focus on. "I have to treat every day the same," he said. "I mean I'm not going to curl up in a corner -- nothing like that -- and stare at the celling all day. I'm going to continue to listen to my music, continue to read and continue to be me." Reed also knows, as have others before him who have also maintained their innocence, that you can return from the brink. At the moment Rodney Reed's fate rests with the courts and Governor Greg Abbott. While campaigning for governor, Abbott spoke to KEYE TV in 2014 on his position on the death penalty in general, saying, "I want to ensure sure that it's administered with absolute fairness and justice." Abbott said, "I led the advancement in this last session to ensure we would have broad-based DNA testing in any death penalty case. If the death penalty is going to be imposed we must be sure that the person who receives the death penalty really did commit the crime." But at each recent hearing, the state consistently fought against additional DNA testing, along with new testing for evidence that's never been through the process, including the belt used to strangle Stites. Reed's attorneys believe the state is ready to move forward with the execution, rather than admit the possibility that the new findings and testimony in Reed's defense show he's innocent. "What the state is trying to do here, in our view, is rush the execution date before we can get to the evidence that establishes Mr. Reed's evidence," said Reed's attorney Andrew MacRae. Their latest appeal argues new forensic evidence, from three renowned forensic pathologists, which they say shows it's impossible for Rodney Reed to be guilty. There are also affidavits from 2 of Stites' coworkers saying they kncew Reed and Stites were in a relationship. It would back up the story Reed has been telling since his conviction. "I've been in this fight, this struggle that long. I'm not giving up -- not my hope, not my faith," Reed said. For now he waits, spending the majority of his time reading, thinking about family and supporters, and glancing at pictures. "I look in their eyes, I look at their smiles, and I see the love," he said. With lingering questions, did the state get it right or will an innocent man run out of time? KEYE TV reached out to the office of the Governor and Attorney General for a comment on this case, but have not heard back. (source: KEYE TV news) Man who killed officer loses death row appeal A convicted killer sent to Texas death row for fatally shooting a Dallas police officer working an off-duty security job at a club more than 13 years ago has lost a federal appeal. Lawyers for 32-year-old Licho Escamilla argued before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that his trial attorneys were deficient for not producing evidence about his troubled childhood - evidence that could have persuaded jurors to sentence him to life in prison, the lawyers said. But the 5th Circuit ruled late Wednesday that evidence of the crime outweighed any mitigating evidence not presented to jurors. Court records show that Escamilla had a history of violence and that Officer Christopher James was 1 of 2 people he killed. James wa
