[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 23 SAUDI ARABIA: France urges Saudi Arabia to cancel death penalty for young Shi'ite France called on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday not to execute a Shi'ite Muslim sentenced to death over his role in anti-government protests, saying he was a minor when he was arrested. Ali al-Nimr was given the death penalty in May after taking part in demonstrations three years ago for democracy and equal rights in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province. "France is concerned about the situation of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was sentenced to death even though he was a minor at the time of the events," Foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said. "Opposed to the death penalty in all cases and circumstances, we call for the execution to be called off." France does not usually comment on death penalty cases in Saudi Arabia due to their frequency. It has nurtured strong relations with Riyadh due to its tough stance on their Shi'ite rival Iran and shared positions on Middle East conflicts. The French statement came a day after United Nations rights experts called on Riyadh to halt Nimr's "imminent execution" Nimr was convicted of sedition, rioting, protesting and robbery in the Eastern Province district of Qatif, home to many of the Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom's minority Shi'ites, who say they face entrenched discrimination. Nimr, who activists said was 17 at the time of his arrest in 2012, was also convicted of chanting anti-state slogans in illegal protests and inciting others to demonstrate, according to state media. "Saudi Arabia's plans to behead and crucify someone arrested as a child are indefensible," said Donald Campbell, spokesman for international human rights charity Reprieve. "The international community - particularly Saudi Arabia's close allies, the UK and the U.S. - must stand with the French government and U.N. experts against this outrage, and call on the Saudi authorities to put a halt to this unjustified killing." The conviction of Nimr, a nephew of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shi'ite cleric who is also on trial, followed that of Rida al-Rubh, 26, the son of another cleric who has been critical of the authorities. The clerics are part of a group of around a dozen defendants on trial for their part in protests and violent unrest in Qatif, particularly in the village of Awamiya, where police officers and facilities have been attacked. (source: Reuters) IRAN: UN & Europe Fund Iran's Executions "The death penalty has no place in the 21st century." These words were spoken last year by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Many would agree. In fact, more than 140 countries worldwide have abolished capital punishment, including every country in the European Union. Yet the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and EU member states have financed Iran's drug war, a program that has allowed Iran to be a global leader in per capita executions. The regime in Iran is one of the most repressive governments in the world. In 2015, Iran received close to the lowest possible rating for political rights and civil liberties in a Freedom House report, and was ranked 173 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. Dissidents are routinely arrested and tortured; freedom of speech is limited; and the judiciary provides little if any due process to prisoners. Yet the UNODC has given Iran more than US$15 million since 1998 to support operations by the country's Anti-Narcotics Police. This is despite significant evidence that Iran's governmental drug policies violate international law, and fall short of UNODC's own standards. A 2014 report by Ahmad Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, quoted an experienced Iranian lawyer who said that drug trials "never last more than a few minutes." Prisoners are often denied accessed to counsel, and claim that confessions are forced under torture. By Iran's own admission 93 % of the 852 reported executions between July 2013 and June 2014 were drug related. Iran has already executed more than 750 individuals this year, and is on pace to reach 1,000 executions by the end of the year. Human Rights Watch has accused Iran of using drug charges against political prisoners and dissidents, raising further concerns about the implications of the UNODC's support for the country's anti-drugs program. In 2011, Zahra Bahrami, a citizen of both the EU and Iran was arrested and accused of drug trafficking - a charge she denied. She claimed her confession was extracted under duress, and activists contend that her arrest was based on her political views. Despite the limited scope of the UNODC, Iran???s policy of executions is about more than combating drug problems. Instead of focusing primarily on endemic problems such as poverty and a lack of opportunities for youth that foster drug abuse, Iran continues to enact draconian punishments on individuals, includi
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OKLA., IDAHO
Sept. 23 TEXAS: SALVADORIAN MAN FACES IMMINENT EXECUTION Alfredo Prieto, a Salvadorian man, is scheduled to be executed in Virginia on 1 October. He was convicted in 2008 of two capital murders committed in 1988. There is evidence that he has intellectual disability which would render his execution unconstitutional. Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format, including case information, addresses and sample messages. Rachael A. Raver and Warren H. Fulton III were murdered near Reston, Virginia in December 1988. In 2005, Salvadorian national Alfredo Prieto was identified as a suspect through DNA evidence. His first trial in 2007 ended in a mistrial due to juror misconduct. At his retrial in 2008, he was convicted on two counts of capital murder. The two death sentences were overturned in 2009 because of problems with the jury’s verdict forms. Alfredo Prieto was again sentenced to death in 2010 and these death sentences have survived the appeals process. The question of Alfredo Prieto’s intellectual functioning has been an issue throughout the case. In 2002, the US Supreme Court banned the execution of individuals who have intellectual disability (previously known as “mental retardation”). At the time of Alfredo Prieto’s trial, Virginia law required a capital defendant to have an IQ of 70 or less in order to be considered a person with intellectual disability. Of Alfredo Prieto’s three IQ scores, two were well below 70 (64 and 66), but a third was 73. Prosecutors argued that the two scores below 70 were invalid. The jury agreed and sentenced Alfredo Prieto to death, finding that intellectual disability had not been proved. In 2014, the US Supreme Court ruled in Hall v. Florida that states cannot use a fixed IQ score as the measure of whether an inmate can be put to death. Intellectual disability, it said, “is a condition, not a number… Courts must recognize, as does the medical community, that the IQ test is imprecise”. It found that Florida’s rigid IQ of 70 cut-off, which blocked the presentation of evidence other than IQ that would demonstrate limitations in the defendant’s mental faculties, was unconstitutional. Alfredo Prieto’s lawyers argue that Virginia has erred by relying on the unconstitutional definition of intellectual disability to reject Alfredo Prieto’s claim, and that procedural technicalities are preventing them from arguing the claim to the Virginia courts in a full and fair hearing. Governor McAuliffe has indicated that he will make a decision on the case well in advance of 1 October. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION In Hall v. Florida issued on 27 May 2014, the US Supreme Court wrote of Florida’s rigid IQ of 70 cut-off law: “Pursuant to this mandatory cut-off, sentencing courts cannot consider even substantial and weighty evidence of intellectual disability as measured and made manifest by the defendant’s failure or inability to adapt to his social and cultural environment, including medical histories, behavioral records, school tests and reports, and testimony regarding past behavior and family circumstances. This is so even though the medical community accepts that all of this evidence can be probative of intellectual disability, including for individuals who have an IQ test score above 70.” Hall v. Florida reiterated the Supreme Court’s view that dignity is the basic concept underlying the US constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishments”, and asserted that this “protection of dignity reflects the Nation we have been, the Nation we are, and the Nation we aspire to be.” Florida’s IQ cut-off law, it ruled, “contravenes our Nation’s commitment to dignity and to its duty to teach human decency as the mark of a civilized world”. The states of the USA, the Hall v. Florida ruling said, “are laboratories for experimentation, but those experiments may not deny the basic dignity the Constitution protects”. Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format. Name: Alfredo Prieto (m) Issues: Imminent execution, Unfair trial, Legal concern UA: 198/15 Issue Date: 23 September 2015 Country: USA Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! EITHER send a short email to u...@aiusa.org with "UA 198/15" in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent, OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action. Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if taking action after the appeals date. If you receive a response from a government official, please forward it to us at u...@aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below. HOW YOU CAN HELP Please write immediately in English or your own language: * Calling on the Governor to commute the death sentence of Alfredo Prieto; * Noting evidence that he has intellectual disability and expressing concern that procedural
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 23 CHINA: China Arrests U.S. Woman Nabbed by Spy Agency, Husband Says An American businesswoman was arrested in China amid accusations of spying after months of detention, shortly ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's arrival in the U.S. for a state visit. Sandy Phan-Gillis, 55, was formally arrested over the weekend, her husband, Jeff Gillis, said by e-mail Wednesday. She was taken away by the Ministry of State Security in March in the southern city of Zhuhai while trying to go to Macau and is being investigated on charges of spying and stealing state secrets, according to a website set up by Gillis to bring awareness of the case and petition for her release. "I wouldn't say that she was in 'good' health," Gillis said in Wednesday. "She has had 2 hospital emergency room visits during her detention, and one of those with a 5-day hospital admission." She has still not been formally charged with a crime, according to Gillis. Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Tuesday at that the woman was under investigation "on suspicion of activities harmful to Chinese national security," the New York Times reported. "We hope that the outside world will respect China's handling of this case according to the law," the newspaper cited Hong as saying at a regularly scheduled news conference in Beijing. "She is also cooperating." Xi arrived Tuesday in the U.S. and will meet in Washington for a summit with President Barack Obama on Friday. Human rights may be in the agenda along with cyber-attacks and tensions in the South China Sea. China released in June British investigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife, Yu Yingzeng, who were serving prison terms for illegally obtaining private information. A Canadian man who ran a coffee shop near the Chinese border with North Korea was charged with stealing state secrets this year. The punishment for stealing state secrets under Chinese law is life in prison with some severe cases receiving the death penalty. The SaveSandy.org website describes Phan-Gillis as a "hard-working businesswoman" and "not a spy or a thief." She was born in Vietnam, the daughter of a Chinese family whose ancestors come from Guangdong province, according to the site. "To date there has been no detailed explanation for her detention," the site says. "Sandy has now been detained for over 6 months, and she has not been allowed to see or speak with friends, family, or even her lawyers in that time." (source: Bloomberg News) SAUDI ARABIA: UN Human Rights Experts Urge Saudi Arabia to Halt Execution of Minors UN human rights experts called on the Saudi Arabian government to stop the execution of minors, pointing at the case of Ali Mohammed Nimr, who was convicted for a crime committed when he was a teenager, a statement issued Tuesday said. "We urge the Saudi authorities to establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, halt executions of persons convicted who were children at the time of the offence, and ensure a prompt and impartial investigation into all alleged acts of torture," 3 UN officials were quoted as saying in the statement. According to the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the current chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Nimr may be executed at any time. "Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, a high school student, was arrested in 2012 by the Saudi authorities when he was 17 for his participation in Arab Spring protests in Qatif, Eastern Province. During his arrest and detention, he was reportedly subjected to torture and ill treatment by the General Investigation Directorate ... In May 2015, the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced Mr. al-Nimr to death ... and confirmed its sentence in September," the statement read. The UN experts noted that at least 134 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2015 that was 44 more than in 2014. "Such a surge in executions in the country makes Saudi Arabia a sad exception in a world where states are increasingly moving away from the death penalty," the UN employees emphasized. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's leading countries by the number of executions. According to the Amnesty International rights group data, the country was 4th in 2013 and 3rd in 2014, preceded only by China and Iran. (source: sputniknews.com) ** 24 Young Saudi Protestors on Trial, 18 Face Death Penalty The criminal court of the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah has put 24 young prisoners on trial on a charge of participating in peaceful demonstrations, a Saudi activist announced, saying 18 of the inmates are facing the death penalty. Hamza al-Shakhuri said in his Twitter account that the prisoners on trial are aged between 20 and 30. The Al Saud's prosecutor general has deman
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., WYO., NEV., ARIZ., ORE., USA
Sept. 23 OKLAHOMAimpending execution Oklahoma death row inmate challenges new execution date Attorneys for an Oklahoma inmate scheduled to be put to death next week challenged his execution date Tuesday in a motion that claims a court order that set it violates state law. Richard Glossip, 52, was given a Sept. 30 execution date in an order handed down by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals when it set aside his previous execution date and gave him a 2-week reprieve. Glossip's motion asks the appeals court to rescind the portion of its order that set his new execution date. Glossip was just hours away from being given a lethal injection on Sept. 16 for arranging the 1997 beating death of motel owner Barry Alan Van Treese when the appeals court halted the punishment. The court wanted to give judges more time to review Glossip's lengthy death penalty challenge in which he claims he is innocent. The appeals court granted an emergency stay of execution in the order that reset Glossip's execution "without further order" of the court. But Glossip's motion says state law requires that "a new execution date cannot be set before a stay is dissolved." The motion states that once a stay of execution is lifted by the court, state law requires a new execution date to be set for either 30 or 60 days later, not just 14 days as in Glossip's case. "Following the statute would permit an orderly presentation and evaluation of claims," the motion concludes. Aaron Cooper, a spokesman for Attorney General Scott Pruitt, said Pruitt plans to file legal papers in support of the court's order. "The attorney general believes the court's actions were entirely consistent with the law," Cooper said. Glossip was twice convicted of ordering the killing of Van Treese, who lived in Lawton and owned the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. Prosecutors said Justin Sneed, a motel handyman, admitted robbing and beating Van Treese, but said he did so only after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. Van Treese was found beaten to death Jan. 7, 1997, in a room at the motel. Van Treese was staying at the motel while delivering paychecks and picking up large amounts of money for deposit. Glossip was questioned by police, and a day later began selling his belongings and telling people he was leaving town, according to investigators. Police again detained him and found him with $1,200; court records show his net pay that week was about $430. Sneed was found with $1,700 after Van Treese's death. Glossip's case attracted international attention after actress Susan Sarandon, who portrayed nun and death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean in the movie "Dead Man Walking," took up his cause. Prejean has served as Glossip's spiritual adviser and frequently visited him in prison. Had it not been halted, Glossip's execution would have been the first in Oklahoma since a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state's 3-drug lethal injection formula in June. (source: Associated Press) WYOMING: Casper judge sets hearing in round 2 of Eaton death case Convicted murderer Dale Wayne Eaton is set to appear Wednesday before a state judge in Casper. District Judge Daniel Forgey has ordered Eaton transported from the state prison in Rawlins. Prosecutors are asking Forgey to require Eaton undergo an evaluation at the state hospital in Evanston to see if he's competent to face a new death penalty hearing. A federal judge last year overturned Eaton's original death sentence in the 1988 murder of Lisa Kimmell of Billings, Montana, ruling he didn't receive an adequate defense. Eaton's lawyers are appealing the judge's ruling that the state could pursue the death penalty against him again. Casper District Attorney Mike Blonigen says the federal courts could block a 2nd death penalty hearing, but says his office meanwhile has the responsibility to move forward. (source: Associated Press) NEVADA: Death-penalty trial begins over 2010 slaying of US airman from Guam A death penalty trial has begun in Las Vegas for a Nevada ex-convict accused of plotting with his girlfriend the ambush slaying of her husband, a U.S. Air Force servicemember and Iraq War veteran from Guam. Michael Rudolph Rodriguez, 36, waited outside the couple's southeast Las Vegas home and shot Staff Sgt. Nathan Paet 5 times as Paet headed to work at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., late Dec. 1, 2010, prosecutor Frank Coumou told a jury during opening arguments Monday. Police said Paet, wearing his camouflage uniform, was shot several times in the back before stumbling from his garage into his home and collapsing in front of his wife, Michelle Antwanette Paet, and their four children. He died later at a hospital. Coumou told jurors that Michelle Paet had alerted Rodriguez by text message when her husband was leaving the house. "He's rushing to get out the door. Lol," one message sa
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., FLA., OHIO, ARK.
Sept. 23 TEXAS: Case of Texas killer puts spotlight on executing the mentally ill Scott Panetti believes that the gold filling in his mouth is a Bluetooth device that transmits his thoughts to the prison guards who watch over his cell on death row. He told his lawyer that the state wanted to kill him to keep him quiet about prison corruption and stop him from preaching the gospel. He thinks actress-singer Selena Gomez is his daughter and is convinced that CNN's Wolf Blitzer has his prison ID card. "Communicating with Scott is done through the screen of his mental illness," said Kathryn Kase, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, which represents Panetti and other death row inmates. "He has been transformed by this severe mental illness that he will carry to his grave." On Wednesday, Panetti's lawyers will tell a panel of federal appellate judges in Dallas that their client is too disturbed to face execution for fatally shooting his in-laws, and they will ask for money to hire experts to evaluate his mental condition. Prosecutors will argue that Panetti understands why he was sentenced to death and that the continued delays in his punishment should end. Panetti, whose execution was stayed by a federal court in December, has become the poster child for a national debate over the execution of people with mental illness. His case raises difficult questions for the criminal justice system about whether people with serious mental illness ought to be exempted from the death penalty and how courts can fairly evaluate whether a criminal's mind is so addled by illness that his execution would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. "The Supreme Court has said that you can be mentally ill - and even seriously mentally ill - and still be executed, and that is very controversial," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which advocates for ending the death penalty. For nearly 40 years, Panetti has struggled with mental illness, Kase said. In the 6 years before he shot his estranged wife's parents, Joe and Amanda Alvarado, in Fredericksburg, he was hospitalized more than a dozen times, diagnosed with schizophrenia, delusions and hallucinations. On 1 occasion, he became convinced the devil had possessed his home and buried his furniture in the backyard. Despite that history, Panetti was allowed to represent himself at his 1995 trial, where he wore a cowboy get-up with a purple bandanna and demanded the testimony of Jesus Christ, JFK and the pope. His outrageous behavior frightened jurors, who rejected his insanity plea and sentenced him to death. In the 2 decades since, Panetti's appellate lawyers have tried to convince the courts that he is too mentally ill to face execution. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court took up his case, issuing a landmark decision requiring inmates to have a "rational understanding" of their punishment to be considered competent for execution. In other words, they must know that they are being executed as retribution for their crime. The court left it up to states to determine what constitutes a rational understanding. In Texas, the courts have interpreted that ruling broadly. "This is the irony of that" ruling, Kase said. "The state of Texas is still trying to kill him, notwithstanding the extensive history of severe mental illness and delusions." Since that ruling, Panetti's lawyers argue, his condition has deteriorated, but he hasn't been evaluated by a mental health professional in nearly seven years. Though he had been a well-behaved inmate, in recent years, they say, his behavior has become aggressive. Prison staff reported that he banged loudly on his cell door, threw urine on the walkway and threatened to "smite" officers for their "wickedness." A neuropsychologist who reviewed Panetti's records for free at his lawyers' request concluded that his condition was worsening, exacerbated by age and the stress of living under a death sentence. They want the court to grant Panetti funds to hire an expert to determine whether he is competent for execution. Lawyers in the attorney general's office, which is handling the appeals, argue that he has had plenty of time to prove his incompetence and that the courts have rejected his claim. They say he is not entitled to funding because he cannot show that he is too mentally ill to face execution. "Panetti's mental status has at best been severely exaggerated by his counsel," state lawyers wrote in a legal brief. Dr. Joseph Penn, a psychiatrist at the University of Texas Medical Branch who works for the Texas prison system, wrote in an affidavit after reviewing Panetti's records that the inmate "may have had some baseline or chronic residual psychosis ... but nothing severe enough to warrant treatment with medications." State lawyers also argue that in recorded conversations with his parents, Panetti ha
