[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 25 EGYPT: Egyptian court gives death penalty to 7 for killing Christians A court in Egypt today gave the death penalty to 7 people and sent 10 more to life in prison for beheading 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya and for joining a terrorist organisation affiliated to the Islamic State. The Cairo Criminal Court also sent 3 others to 15 years in prison in the same case. The court found that the convicts had joined the "Marsa Matrouh cell", which is affiliated to IS in Libya. They were also found guilty of joining training camps in Libya and Syria, planning terrorist attacks in Egypt, possessing weapons, inciting violence and participating in killing of 21 Christians in Libya in 2015. The court ordered that all convicts, except those sentenced to death, remain under police surveillance for 5 years after serving their sentences, local media reports said. The sentencing came a day after the deadliest terrorist attack on worshippers at a mosque in Egypts restive North Sinai region. The death toll in the attack today rose to 305. The Egyptian security forces, meanwhile, have continued their air strikes against terrorists involved in the attack. Army spokesperson Tamer el-Refai said in a statement that the Air Force destroyed a number of terrorists hideouts and the Army was conducting raids to eliminate terrorists. (source: intoday.in) BELARUS: Belarus president refuses to overrule nation's decision on capital punishment People voted in the death penalty referendum, and I have no right to overrule this decision, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said while talking to the media, BelTA has learned. The head of state noted that Europeans often ask the Belarusian authorities to suspend, prohibit the death penalty. "I can not overrule the decision taken by the people," Alexander Lukashenko underlined. "Should we want to do so, then we must hold a referendum," the president said. "If we take this issue to a referendum, I don't need to tell you what the result will be. You know it yourselves," the Belarusian leader said. When meeting with the German foreign minister I said to him that if Germany takes this issue to a referendum at a time when Europe and many countries are exposed to terrorist attacks you know, what the outcome will be. People see that death penalty may be a strong disincentive for some 'hot heads'. So I tell him that maybe Europeans will soon turn to our experience," he said. "With regard to death penalty, I asked him a question: you are big friends with some countries in the Middle East and other regions, the United States. Why do not you ask them the things that you want from Belarus? He would not answer. Therefore, I think we will come to an agreement in this regard," the president said. The head of state also noted that there are a lot of issues related to security in the world and in the region. Belarus is playing a big role and can play an even bigger one. "Today Belarus is a quiet, orderly, dignified country, a kind of donor of security on the European continent and its status is raising in Europe," the head of state believes. "We see, we hear, we appreciate it and we will always go halfway to accommodate the interests of the European states if we are not made to choose (as it was before, not anymore) between Russia or Europe," he said. The president said that "Russians are our brothers". "Are they good or bad? You do not choose brothers. They may not like us in some things either. But we are kindred people. Therefore, there is no asking us the question who you are with. We will be friends with Europe, we will be working with Europe, but Russia is dear and very important to us," the head of state noted. (source: belta.by) ** PACE discusses abolition of the death penalty in Belarus Andrea Rigoni, a special rapporteur on Belarus of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, is on an official visit to Minsk to discuss the perspective regarding abolition of the death penalty. Negotiations with the Belarusian MPs are taking place against the backdrop of the Eastern Partnership Summit, which kicked off Friday in Brussels, and where Belarus is represented by its Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei. Rigoni, who was invited to the capital of Belarus by the government, is expected to participate in parliamentary discussions on the problems of applying capital punishment in the national legislation. Yesterday, after the meeting with the Vice-President of the Belarusian National Council (Parliament), the rapporteur said that the PACE "wants not only a closer approach from Belarus towards the values of the Council of Europe but also wants the republic to join the organisation". "Currently relations between Belarus and the Council of Europe are very positive. This is also confirmed by the fact that we are presently organising joint events. Belarus is
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., S.C., FLA., LA., ARIZ., ORE., USA
Nov. 25 NORTH CAROLINA: Judge to decide on death penalty in 2 cases A judge will decide on Monday whether or not to pursue the death penalty in 2 murder cases, according to the Burke County Clerk of Courts Office. Judge Gregory Hayes is set to hold the hearings, known as Rule 24 hearings, for Gerald Dean Buff and Steven Adam Taylor during Burke County Superior Court. Both were charged with murder within the last 2 months. Buff, 61, of Morganton, is accused of stabbing his neighbor Jimmy Ray Causby to death on Oct. 6. The stabbing happened on Bill Epley Avenue in Morganton, and Causby was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Burke County Sheriff's Office. A witness previously said the stabbing happened after a brief argument over a stolen welder. "It all just happened so fast," Rebekah Meise said after the stabbing. "I seen him stabbing him, but soon as I seen all that, I grabbed my stuff out of his (Causby) car and tried to get away." In the Nov. 8 shooting of Kevin Lewis McSheffrey Jr. , Steven Adam Taylor was charged with his murder. Taylor initially said McSheffrey Jr. was breaking into his home on Gold Mine Road in Morganton, according to BCSO. However, evidence gathered at the home led officers to believe that the scene had been altered. McSheffrey was found dead inside the home, but blood was found outside, according to court documents. McSheffrey was the ex-boyfriend of Taylor's current girlfriend, Shanna Duckworth, the documents said. Interviews with Taylor and Duckworth led BCSO investigators to believe they both were impaired when the shooting occurred, the documents said. Also on Monday, Jamie Basinger is set to appear in court to see whether or not she will take a plea deal, according to the Burke County Clerk of Courts Office. Basinger is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse after her son froze to death on a porch in March. Attempts by The News Herald to reach Basinger's attorney, Frank Webster, to discuss whether she would take a plea were unsuccessful. (source: The News Herald) SOUTH CAROLINA: Death penalty process will become secret if South Carolina's governor gets his way If South Carolina doesn't pass a law to keep the drugs it uses for lethal injections a secret, the state won't be able to carry out its 1st execution in 6 years on Dec. 1. Or at least that's what South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster spent the week telling state lawmakers. "Here we are at a dead stop and we can't do anything about it unless and until our legislature enacts the shield law," McMaster said at an emergency press conference with the Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling on Monday. There's just 1 problem: The scheduled execution of Bobby Stone, 52, on Dec. 1 was never going to happen because a federal court hasn't reviewed his case yet. McMaster and Sterling created a false sense of urgency to publically call for a law that would make much of the death penalty procedure in South Carolina a secret. Stone's execution was stayed - as expected - on Tuesday. "From where I sit, this looks like political opportunism and an attempt to take advantage of the public's lack of knowledge about how this works," said Cornell Law School's Director of Death Penalty Litigation Kier Weyble, who represents several South Carolina death row inmates. "If the legislature had acted today and passed a secrecy bill and the governor picked up the phone to his favorite compounding pharmacy, Stone's execution was still not going to happen. There was always going to be a stay entered because of where he is in the road of state and federal review." Bobby Stone was convicted of killing a police officer in 1997. He has exhausted his state court appeals, so the state set his Dec. 1 execution date last week. But he's still entitled to the federal review process, so a federal judge stayed his case on Nov. 21, as everyone involved, including the state, expected. "Bryan Stirling, knew a stay would be issued by the court," Lindsey Vann, Executive Director of Justice 360, a nonprofit law firm representing Stone, said in a statement. "[Stirling] nevertheless chose to make public statements implying otherwise in an attempt to force the General Assembly to pass a 'secrecy' bill that would allow the state to purchase unsafe drugs for execution and shield their source from the public." Robert Kittle, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, confirmed to VICE News that the stay was "expected." South Carolina - along with many other states that still enforce the death penalty - hasn't been able to secure the lethal injection drugs necessary to carry out executions, largely because of the stigma surrounding how they're used. In an attempt to free up pharmacists and drug manufacturers to sell drugs to the state without fear of retribution, 15 states have passed shield laws similar to the one that
