[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 24 IRANexecutions 5 Prisoners Hanged in Kermanshah Prison On Friday, July 20, 5 prisoners were executed at Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah. Iran Human Rights sources identified 1 of the prisoners as Alireza Ashouri, 57. The names of the 4 other prisoners will be announced as soon as they are confirmed by IHR. According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 prisoners have been sentenced to death on the charge of murder in Iran in 2017, which 10 of those were carried out in Kermanshah. The statistics show a significant increase in the number of executions compared to that of 2016. In 2016, 142 prisoners were executed on murder charges. (source: Iran Human Rights) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Indian walks free 12 years after getting death sentence in UAEThe Sharjah Police had arrested Sandeep for murdering his compatriot, Mandeep Singh, on November 11, 2007. An Indian man, who was on death row for murdering a compatriot over bootlegging will travel back to his home country a free man, later today. Thanks to the efforts of a Dubai-based philanthropist, Punjab native Sandeep Singh was released 12 years after he was jailed. All odds were stacked against Sandeep, as the Sharjah courts had sentenced him to death and the Federal Supreme Court upheld it after the victim's family refused blood money initially. But Dr S.P. Singh Oberoi, head of Sarbat Da Bhala charitable trust, managed to convince the family to accept the blood money and pardon the convict. But due to some documentation problems, it took 6 more years to get Sandeep released. The Sharjah Police had arrested Sandeep for murdering his compatriot, Mandeep Singh, on November 11, 2007. After standing trial, the Sharjah Court of First Instance awarded him the death penalty. Sandeep appealed the verdict and the Sharjah Appeals Court commuted the sentence to life in jail. However, the Sharjah Public Prosecution referred the case to the Federal Supreme Court, which sentenced him to death. Dr Oberoi approached the Sharjah Appeals Court and asked for a grace period to negotiate with the victim's family as they were not ready to accept the blood money at the time. In December 2012, Dr Oberoi managed to convince the family and paid them the blood money. In 2013, he submitted the attested documents of the compromise at the Sharjah courts and at the Supreme Court. In April 2018, the Supreme Court asked for amendments to be made to the compromise papers, which were done and submitted again. In the same month, the Sharjah Appeals Court judges commuted the death penalty to 3 years in jail. Since he had completed more than 10 years in jail, Sandeep was ordered to be released. However, as 1 clause was missing from the compromise document, the court asked for a fresh set of papers. After this was done, the court issued his release order on July 22. The Indian Consulate issued travel documents for Sandeep and he will fly back to India on Tuesday. (source: Khaleej Times) JORDAN: Amman Court Upholds Death Penalty of Man Rape, Murder of 70-Year-Old The Court of Cassation has upheld a January Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to death after convicting him of robbing, sexually assaulting and murdering a 70-year-old woman in her home in east Amman in February 2017. The court declared the 25-year-old defendant guilty of murdering the elderly women with a gas cylinder while at her apartment in the 5-story building in Jabal Akhdar and handed him the maximum punishment. The court also convicted the defendant of sexual assault and robbery. Court documents said the defendant knew the victim because he was her son's friend. "The defendant decided to rob the victim so he climbed some iron bars to reach her house around mid-night, took a gas cylinder and a television set," court papers said. The defendant then headed to the victim's room where he sexually assaulted her, then struck her with her own gas cylinder, stole her mobile and left, according to court transcripts. In the meantime, the victim's son heard noises and became suspicious because it was late at night so he rushed from his apartment and saw a man running in the street with a TV set and a gas cylinder, the court added. (source: albawaba.com) KENYA: Life in Prison is Enough Punishment, Millie Odhiambo Sympathizes With Ruth Kamande Following the capital punishment meted out to Ruth Kamande for the cold-blooded homicide of her boyfriend in 2015, High Court Judge Jessie Lesiit has come under fire from some sections for the retrogressive ruling. The Judge held that Kamande acted in malice and showed no remorse for the murder in the course of the trial, thereby deserving of a death sentence. Human rights activists have since protested the sentencing and have been joined by vocal lawmaker Millie Odhiambo in calling for an end to the death penalty. According to the Suba
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., FLA., LA., TENN., NEB., UTAH, USA
July 24 TEXAS: Houston judge jails no-show defense witness in 'honor killings' death penalty trial A Houston judge on Monday ordered the arrest of a defense witness who did not appear as scheduled in the death penalty trial of a 60-year-old Jordanian immigrant accused of 2 "honor killings." State District Judge Jan Krocker, who is presiding over the 5th week of the capital murder trial of Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, said the female witness would be arrested for not showing up to testify. "I hope she shows up and is able to testify or she will have to spend the night in jail and testify tomorrow," Krocker said in court. The death penalty trial of Ali Irsan, a Jordanian immigrant accused in a pair of "honor killings", began Monday. The witness was expected to be the 1st to testify in Irsan's defense, but it was not immediately clear how she is connected to the case. Last month, the woman appeared in court when the trial began and was sworn in as a witness. At that time, Krocker admonished her not to talk to anyone about the case and appear when summoned by defense attorneys Allen Tanner and Rudy Duarte. On Monday, Tanner and Duarte said they told the woman she would have to be in court first thing in the morning. Because she was absent, the defense team asked that Krocker have their own witness arrested. The proceedings delayed the 1st witnesses for about an hour. As law enforcement and investigators for the defense worked to find the witness outside the court, the defense instead called several quick witnesses including police officers and friends of Irsan to testify that he had a good character. The defense also indicated that Irsan may testify in his own defense. Krocker, who telephoned law enforcement while sitting on the bench outside the presence of the jury, said she was issuing a writ of attachment, which enabled law enforcement to arrest and hold the missing female witness. A new state law was enacted during the last session of the Texas legislature after Harris County prosecutors jailed a mentally ill rape victim to ensure she testified against her attacker. The judge also said she expected to appoint an attorney for the woman. Krocker said Irsan had a right to due process and he would not get that if he could not get the witnesses he asked for. Irsan is accused of fatally shooting his daughter's husband, Coty Beavers, and her close female friend, Gelarah Bagherzedeh, in 2012 because they helped and encourage his daughter to convert to Christianity. (source: Houston Chronicle) CONNECTICUT: Death sentence appeal rejected in triple murder case The Connecticut Supreme Court has rejected the appeal by a man who was sentenced to death for killing 2 adults and a 9-year-old girl in Bridgeport in 2006. The 5-0 decision Monday dismisses arguments by Richard Roszkowski that his 2014 death sentence be declared null and void. Roszkowski doesn't challenge the validity of his murder convictions, and much of the appeal was moot because the state Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional in 2015. Nearly all the state's 11 former death row inmates have been resentenced to life in prison, not including Roszkowski. He says erasing his death sentence would free him from stricter prison conditions imposed on former death row inmates. Roszkowski killed his ex-girlfriend, 39-year-old Holly Flannery, her daughter, Kylie, and 38-year-old Thomas Gaudet. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Judge clears way for 4-year-old death penalty case against Michael Jones to proceed A series of rulings Friday cleared the way for the death penalty case against accused murderer Michael Jones to proceed. Jones, 35, is accused of fatally strangling his 26-year-old girlfriend, Diana Duve, in his townhouse west of Vero Beach. The Sebastian nurse's partially clothed body was found in the trunk of her car in a Melbourne parking lot in June 2014. Prosecutors and defense attorneys sparred in court Wednesday over 10 motions Jones' attorneys - Stanley Glenn and Shane Manship, both with the Public Defender's Office - had filed in an attempt to avoid the death penalty in Jones' 1st-degree murder case. In a written order Friday, Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox denied 9 of the motions, most of which are filed routinely in capital murder cases to make sure the matter can be raised on appeal, if necessary. Duve's parents, Bill and Lena Andrews, were present Wednesday in Cox's Vero Beach courtroom. "Go back to your cage," Duve's teary-eyed mother Lena Andrews called out to Jones as he was escorted by bailiffs out of the courtroom to return to the Indian River County Jail, where he is being held without bail. The sole motion Cox did not address centered around the language to be allowed in describing the jury's role in the case's penalty phase. Capital murder cases such as Jones' have separate trial and penalty phases. For
